Let’s talk about coffee.

[Surfergirl]

Originally Posted by jp77

Sorry forgot the pics

I think I want to move.. a beautiful place to live with all the fresh coffee you could ever want.

[Surfergirl]

Originally Posted by Gringo

LaGringa and I are both morning coffee fanatics. We buy espresso and brew it like it was normal grind, and the two of us split a 12 cup pot every morning.

We like it strong. We brew coffee that will bitchslap you if you don't pay attention to it. Coffee so strong you can't use plastic spoons to stir it. Coffee that makes rustling noises, and has been known to get dragged home in handcuffs. Our coffee removes rust stains, and can be used to touch up gun bluing.

Yeah, we like it.

We normally buy either Pilon or Bustelo....depends on what we can get at the store here.

I agree!!! I like my coffee thick. You can always thin it with ameretto.

[HOLWACHAGOT]

JP.
The pictures of your land are stunning. You seem to be a blessed man. I bet the only coffee better than your best brew is the cup you drink outside in that mountain air. I swear I can smell coffee when I view your pictures.
I have a question or twenty...
In some of the pics I see mist or fog. I also see what looks like some sort of controlled burning going on.
Is this fog the mountain? Or is that smoke from the burning as well?
What is the purpose of the burning? Pest or disease control maybe? Or does this do something to the growth cycle of the trees/plants? Flavor of the coffee? Please spare no details, what is mundane to you is fascinating to many of us...well, to me anyway.
Holwachagot

[jp77]

Originally Posted by Surfergirl

I think I want to move.. a beautiful place to live with all the fresh coffee you could ever want.

Coffee is waiting. Also El salvador have really nice spots were you can surf. Hope some day you can come around.
Saludos JP77

[jp77]

Originally Posted by HOLWACHAGOT

JP.
The pictures of your land are stunning. You seem to be a blessed man. I bet the only coffee better than your best brew is the cup you drink outside in that mountain air. I swear I can smell coffee when I view your pictures.
I have a question or twenty...
In some of the pics I see mist or fog. I also see what looks like some sort of controlled burning going on.
Its fog. Most of the controlled burnings are done in the sugar cane plantations not in coffee. Coffee has an annual production so you have to take care of the coffee for a long time. We have farms with coffee trees as old as 100 years.

Is this fog the mountain? Or is that smoke from the burning as well?
Fog is very common in the winter time. They are gaises that are common on the high lands near coffee plnatations.Most of the coffee planatatins are in volcanic areas

What is the purpose of the burning? Pest or disease control maybe? Or does this do something to the growth cycle of the trees/plants?

Must of the burning is made (Not in coffee, But in sugar cane)
A) Burn all the leaves before picking the cane( easy ton handle)
B) To evaporate some amount of water ( more sugar particles) Less weight.
Flavor of the coffee?
Here we got a long one. Well Ill try to explain, coffee flavor come from
A) Altitude
B) Variety
C) Type of soil
The altitude is very important on coffee growing; In El Salvador are plantations from the 800 meters from the sea level up to 1800 meter from the sea level. If the altitude increases the complexity of the flavor increase. Low lands coffees are plain, low acidity, low body. High altitude coffee, have a complex flavor with a medium to high acidity creamy body and very sweet.

Variety
We produce mainly 3 varieties Pacas Bourbon, and Pacamara. All of them have different flavors.
Pacas : Mild chocolate, some honey notes.( most common in the low lands)
Bourbon: 60% of the coffee population of the country, Has a creamy body really sweat with dark chocolate notes, the acidy is citric with an aftertaste of plums
Pacamara: Creamy body with citric flavors, caramel notes. Really complex some times.
(These is just a over all description of the coffee flavor it can vary (I can tell you these because I just cup some samples)

Type of soil
Here we have 6 different regions were we plant coffee, most of them have volcanic soil (really high in nutrients (These is really good for bourbon)
Pacamara like more the soils that have more clay on them (For 3 year we have been investigating these)

Please spare no details, what is mundane to you is fascinating to many of us...well, to me anyway.
Holwachagot

I hope you understand its kind of complicate, Let me know any question and Ill try to answer it. Is really nice to know people are really interested on coffee.
Saludos JP77

[merry marlin]

Cool Thread JP77
I've always made a point of drinking Ivory Coast Robusta!
As I'm not a very big coffee dude could you explain the difference between Arabica and Robusta ???
MM

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Man that is interesting stuff! I really appreciate you taking the time. Looking forward to more.
Holwachagot

[gottaflylee]

I asked this a few responses back and guess you missed it. Can you tell me/ us the difference in the cream colored beans and the dark ones, saw both in your hand in a picture.

[jp77]

Originally Posted by merry marlin

Cool Thread JP77
I've always made a point of drinking Ivory Coast Robusta!
As I'm not a very big coffee dude could you explain the difference between Arabica and Robusta ???
MM

Well, here in EL Salvador we only plant Arabica( for export or consumption) the difference between those two species of coffea is really easy to differentiate. As a plant the Robusta is as a tree(4 to 8 meters) the Arabica is a bush.
In the cup is a different world. The Robusta as its name describes it, is tough, really high metallic acidity, heavy creamy body and rubbery finish. Its world wide used to be filler to Arabica. I’m not saying is bad but is tough. You can read the difference of the Arabica in an older post.

[jp77]

Originally Posted by gottaflylee

I asked this a few responses back and guess you missed it. Can you tell me/ us the difference in the cream colored beans and the dark ones, saw both in your hand in a picture.

Gottaflylee
Sorry I miss that post. Those are some Bourbon coffee beans(as you pick them from the tree. why the different color? the red ones(dark) are the original color, the clear ones are a mutation of a bourbon plant(its really common) they also change to orange.
When cupping them, there is a small difference in sweetness between yellow and red.
saludos jp 77