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More on Blonde Roast
From Coffeegeek.com
Posted Wed Jun 18, 2003, 11:04am
Subject: Blond coffee or How light is light?
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Do you like to experiment? What am I saying, this is a home roasters list!
Last week, I had a great bonding experience with my retired father. I showed him my roasting equipment and
green beans and we sat down to roast something he's talked about for some years.
The Arabic description or name for this coffee translates as 'blond coffee'. Brewed, it smells and tastes
great. Recipe to follow.
For background, he's an Arab and grew up in the Middle East before immigrating to the US. Strangely, while
he'll drink it, he's not fond of even most traditional Arabic and Turkish coffee's (they are a little different), but
instead subscribes to a what he calls a traditional bedouin technique which I've since managed to find
reference to in Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast and a Middle Eastern cookbook as Saudi coffee.
My father is a funny man, and he likes to claim that not only is this the original and correct method of
preparing coffee, but that all other coffee is burnt and why would anyone burn their food?
The cookbook description is partially roasted.. I would tend to agree except that really all roasting is a matter
of degree. We started with 85 grams of SM Yemen Mokha Ismaili (Hirazi) and my HWP (Hottop has not yet
arrived from SM) and of course, I forgot to time it and my father picked the color of the bean. When I
reproduce it for my sisters, I'll time it and report here for the curious.
The roast color is between light brown and the beginning or so of 1st crack, but still MUCH lighter than a City
roast. Reference SM roasting chart for an idea.
When ground, the color is similar to ground ginger, perhaps a bit darker. When brewed (with ginger and
cardamom, no sugar), the taste is similar to some herbal teas.. a bit grassy, roasted grain notes (ever had
green tea with roasted rice?), not sour at all, which is what I excepted.. and while served in a shot glass, it
has a caffiene kick like a mule!
Recipe follows:
Roast coffee just barely to or just short of 1st crack.
Grind VERY coarsely.. traditional grind is in a mortar with a pestle.
Also grind (using whatever you have handy) ginger and cardamom (to taste). If the ginger is not fresh, use
more.
Measure 1-2 large teaspoons coffee per cup of water and mix with the spices.
Two ways to brew..
Boil water in an ibrik or small pot.. perhaps 2 cups.
When water boils, lift off the fire and add the coffee. It will FOAM...
As the foam subsides, lower the pot to the heat just enough to keep it boiling/foaming. If it foams too much,
raise it, if it stops foaming, lower it.
Brew several minutes until the coffee looks cloudy yellow, like green tea. Set off the heat for a few moments
to allow the grounds to settle and then serve in small glasses (shot glasses work).
Aproach 2 that also worked :
Load your portafilter, tamp and pull a double shot.
As usual, don't try to get anything more than a double shot (second one tasted bad) from the same grounds.
If you must, sweeten it, but the heat from the ginger and spiciness from the cardamom obviate that. Do try to
taste it unsweetened.
Of course, my daily drink is still espresso, but what fun to have another technique of roasting and brewing at
hand for my guests and fun conversations.
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Posted Wed Jun 18, 2003, 12:17pm
Subject: Re: Blond coffee or How light is light?
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Thanks for the post with the exact instructions. I've had coffee similar to this once, at an Ethiopian restaurant.
It was roasted, mortar and pestled, then brewed immediately with spices, I could taste the cardamum, not
sure about ginger. It was more like tea than coffee, but quite good. Perhaps, this is the way coffee was
made orignally, and was taken by Arab traders around the Indian Ocean? The darker roast and ultra-fine
grind of Turkish coffee may be something that happened in the large cities on the Mediterranian side.
Anyway, I'll have to try it. There's a spot just before the first crack, when the beans are a uniform brown/tan
color and smell nice (they get uneven again during the first); maybe that's the place to stop the roast for this
style of preparation?
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