Mesquite

Want to talk espresso but not sure which forum? If so, this is the right one.
bernie
Posts: 200
Joined: 16 years ago

#1: Post by bernie »

Several days ago a gentleman called and said he had been collecting, drying and roasting mesquite beans and pods for years and mixing them with his coffee. He wondered if I would consider roasting a batch for him in my commercial roaster. I've never done it and have always considered roasting other than coffee a bit risky. I told him I'd take a look at what he had, although I'm quite familiar with the beans/pods since my property is thick with the plant. It never occurred to me to try making coffee with it. He brought a bag of about 2lbs by and I threw a couple of pods/beans in and dropped them after about 5 minutes. Then I checked to see if any oil or gummy residue was evident, which it wasn't . So we dropped the 2 or three pounds in and I lowered the flame to almost off and dropped them after about 6 1/2 minutes. During the roast the aroma was just very, very surprising. Very distinct. Very powerful. At times very spicy and I thought a strong smell of lavender. After the roast we tried using a spare espresso grinder but the beans are too long. We ended up using a food processor to break them up enough to get them into the grinder and reduce them further. Today I put the rest through an older Bunn grinder with an auger which broke up the beans and then sent them to the discs. Worked very well. My first shots have been surprisingly clean and distinct. A clear taste of mesquite which is not at all unpleasant. I Googled mesquite and find that it has the same history with coffee that chicory has, as a substitute. At this point I'm still laughing that it has turned out so well. Damn good, actually.