I love DP African coffees! I happily put-up with minor flaws, stones, clay, nails, etc., but a Harrar from my local roaster gives me the occasional shot that has a mold taste.

I cannot visually spot a moldy bean (that has been roasted). What I would like to know is whether a moldy taste is from a moldy bean, and is this an expected flaw to come from DP African coffee, or is it the fault of my local roaster? In other words, is this mold something I should put up with, or call my roaster and tell him his Harrar is starting to mold?

Mark

Mold taste is unacceptable in any coffee. Besides tasting bad, molds can be dangerous, creating toxins like ochratoxin.

Inferior Dry Processed Ethiopians are dried on the ground or on the road, sometimes (but not always) on a rough tarp. While this might seem romantic and rustic, it is really an inferior way to process coffee since it exposes the drying fruit to all sorts of ugly things like bacteria, mold, and earth.

It should be said that these sorts of Dry Processed Ethiopians have NOTHING to do with the great bed-dried dry process coffees like Beloya, Misty Valley, etc. There is a movement towards better-processed coffees which we all should support. They are more expensive, but free from any defect and really make a difference in the cup.

I wouldn't drink the coffee, and I'd encourage your friend to take a hard look at the coffee itself.

Peter G

Defect should NEVER show up in a consumer's cup.
If you get defect - talk to the roaster.

Thanks for the comments. The taste is readily apparent when a bad bean makes it into the pf, and I would never actually drink a moldy cup.

After my hot-air roaster died, time constraints have stopped me from making a decent roaster and roasting my own. So I am stuck ordering from roasters nearby. I have tried ordering from many of the popular US roasters, but USPS takes an average of 10-11 days to get the coffee to me, and it is not cheap to mail.

This makes me my local roaster's worst customer - you know the kind that order a fair amount of product, but asks them to roast the way you like, and then complains about it having stalled? The first time I ordered his Harar, I opened the bag and was dismayed to see a Viennese roast.

Back when I was roasting my own, the DP Misty Valley is what got me going on DP African coffees. Stuff like that is not available here from roasters, as the market for coffee above the /lb cost of $bux is probably not worth serving. So I am stuck trying to get what I can from local roasters.

I'll let him know that his Harar has some moldy beans and see what he says - which will likely be nothing at all.

Mark