Thoughts on Arabic (Gulf) coffee? - Page 2

Coffee preparation techniques besides espresso like pourover.
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another_jim
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#11: Post by another_jim »

EvanOz85 wrote:Jim, how did you brew the roast you did?
Conventionally, cupped and press pot; not in a cezve. This means I missed out on how it would taste when done properly; but I wanted to understand how this roasts compares to others; so I needed a brewing method that's familiar to me.
Jim Schulman

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hankua
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#12: Post by hankua »

I had the same question after roasting up some Yemen Red Cherry to 190c - 12:30 roast time; 5c before my normal 1st crack temp. of 195c.

After watching this YouTube video http://youtu.be/uLWnqufX4Fo the only thing close on Amazon was the Chinese tea pot which is not designed for stovetop cooking.

Ended up ordered a percolator and some cardamon seeds.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NCWQ/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CIAMLO/
This should be interesting.

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[creative nickname]
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#13: Post by [creative nickname] »

I gave this a try during my last roasting session, roasting some DP Yirgacheffe to just before the onset of first cracks. The profile ran about 6 minutes to EOD, with 4:15 minutes spent taking it from 300F to drop at 368F (I would have expected to see first cracks somewhere around 373F with this coffee as measured in my roaster).

Like Jim, I note the absence of any unripe, chlorogenic acid flavors. Instead, there is a pleasant flavor of roasted brown rice, like genmaicha tea without the green tea flavors. It isn't grassy, but it does have some bread notes, along with a nice citric/berry acidity and sweetness, and some floral components in the aroma.

So far my favorite preparation of this has been a V60 brew done over ice. I can imagine it being really refreshing on a hot summer day.
LMWDP #435

particularA (original poster)
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#14: Post by particularA (original poster) »

Thanks, tamarian, for the clarification. I had forgot about the thread after the initial reply, but then it resurrected again, it seems.

So gulf roasted coffee seems to produce a beverage with a somewhat simple taste, although enjoyable and sweet. Would this also hold if the grounds were boiled, as opposed to conventionally brewed as press, cupping or pour over? This would expose the coffee to 100 C water, in stead of ~90-96 as for all other methods (including Turkish/cezve/ibrik).

Jim: Interesting that you think it could be commercially viable (is anybody doing it?). Is it the acidity of Nordic style roasts that makes you think Gulf roast could be more popular? What are you forsaking when roasting this light?

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#15: Post by another_jim »

particularA wrote:Jim: Interesting that you think it could be commercially viable (is anybody doing it?). Is it the acidity of Nordic style roasts that makes you think Gulf roast could be more popular? What are you forsaking when roasting this light?
Nordic roasts are aggressive tasting. This is nice for taste challenged trendies, who can immediately identify this style of roast as "state of the art coffee;" but it is a disaster for anyone who doesn't enjoy the taste equivalent of death metal rock. There are lots of people who even find well roasted light coffees (never mind Starbucks roasts or their dyed blond Nordic twins) too aggressive -- they are called tea drinkers. For this crowd, the Gulf roast (at least in the version I got when I took a shot at it) is perfect; it has the same taste loudness as tea, but opens up a new range of flavors for them.
Jim Schulman

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#16: Post by Nate42 »

Jim, when you did this roast, did you reduce heat to increase roast time, or did you basically stop early on your standard profile?

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#17: Post by another_jim replying to Nate42 »

I ran at reduced heat and stretched out the time to around 11 minutes for the roast as a whole.
Jim Schulman

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#18: Post by Nate42 replying to another_jim »

Cool thanks. Think I will give this a try.

morecoffee1
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#19: Post by morecoffee1 »

I wonder if there is enough interest that one of our professional roasting members would work up a Gulf Roast offering?

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#20: Post by KScarfeBeckett »

This article might be of interest: http://arabiczeal.com/prepare-enjoy-arabic-coffee/

And my Jordanian friends tell me that Bedouin coffee is, traditionally, roasted in a long-handled, heavy, rounded iron dish until light cinnamon colour (a bit darker than Saudi coffee) and then pounded to fine powder with cardamom in a large wooden pestle and mortar. According to their description, the powder is then boiled over the same fire the beans were roasted at - really boiled 'until everything comes out of it' - then poured into the largest of a set of those long-beaked brass coffee-pots and the lid closed. It's allowed to settle near the fire to stay warm, then decanted into the next size down of coffee-pot and again allowed to settle; and so it's successively decanted pot to pot until the liquid is clear, 'triple-refined' or 'quintessential' or however many pots you use. In a traditional long-drawn-out hospitable procedure in which guests are being welcomed in, the whole process takes place start-to-finish in the presence of the guests who'll drink it.

(Hostess note: useful way of keeping unexpected guests in one place for a while as you get the place tidied up elsewhere and get the food going.)

Worth noting too that in a nomadic desert environment, the metal and wood for roaster, pots, and pestle and mortar are (a) hard to get hold of and (b) heavy to carry around - not to mention the beans have to be obtained from Ethiopia or Yemen and the cardamom found too. So coffee is a big deal. I have seen specially woven bags with long handles in Bedouin tradition, called aliga, which I'm told are for transporting and storing valuable small-volume foodstuffs like spices, salt, sugar, and coffee; they hang up in the tent to keep the valuables off the ground and away from vermin. (http://jordantimes.com/woven-treasures- ... n-heritage; disclosure: I edited the volume ... I don't profit, this is not a plug.)

The Gulf coffee I've had was prepared on a stove. The flavour was dominated up front by the cardamom which is bittersweet and strong on eugenol and camphor tastes, with the coffee as a harmonising bitterish aromatic understructure. It's a light, refreshing, stimulating drink. Three good splashes (the standard dose) sets you up nicely without jitters :-)
Bought me a coffee grinder that's the best one I could find