Chiapas
at three roast levels

This organic Mexican coffee from the Chiapas region of Mexico comes from a co-op of small, mainly indigenous landholders. It is carefully milled and processed near the growing region and beautifully sorted for export.

At a single roast level this coffee is pleasant but dainty, with sweetness but not much complexity. But roasted at different levels and then blended together (called melange roasting in the coffee biz - a practice sadly out of fashion these days) it really comes alive: hints of sage and leather, a touch of wood smoke - a John Ford western in a cup. More important than any implausible grasping for adjectives, is that this is an excellent food coffee - a bacon and eggs coffee. Big bowls of chilaquiles, stacks of pancakes, buttered brioche: the Chiapas is a lovely companion to almost all conceivable breakfast foods. Takes milk well. Stalwart black.

Invite some friends over, make waffles, and drink some coffee. Lots of coffee.

Best for Filter drip, french press, mokka pot espresso makers.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

The Yirg is the most delicate of all Ethiopian coffees: the mint-julep-sipping younger sister to the burly, assertive Harrar, or the conniving Sidamo. At this roast-level (which we are calling a medium plus), much of the oven-cleanery aftertaste is eliminated, and what we are left with is a mild cocoa powder and vanilla bean flavor, with reasonably good body, and low but interesting acid. As it cools, hints of jasmine float delightfully to the surface.  This is a coffee on the demure side: this organic Yirgacheffe is to hearty robust fudginess as Rickie Lee Jones is to impeccable diction. In spite of the above, it takes milk or cream reasonably well, and is best as a filter or French press.

Best for Filter drip, french press, mokka pot Espresso makers.

Hayes Valley Espresso
(available February 2005)

This espresso is quite a departure for us here at the BBCC, but it's working out quite spectacularly at the majestic La Marzocco at our Kiosk on Linden Street. As opposed to the other espressi we offer, this is more of an "American-style" espresso - darker, lower-toned, no brightness, plenty of chocolate - thick and rich at 195 degrees at the portafilter - with an engaging complexity as a straight shot. The shots are gorgeous: achingly heavy with voluptuous red-brown crema, and the silky, somewhat dangerous-looking viscosity of a power-steering stop-leak product once used on our coffee roaster's (now departed) heroically battered 1983 Peugeot. In milk, it tastes like chocolate ovaltine, and holds its own from the daintiest 3 oz Macchiato to our towering 12 oz caffe latte.

If the crema is a little fizzy, wait a day and try again, or shorten and slow down the shots. Our protocol at Linden St. is to dump the first eighth of an ounce and end up with approximately 1.5 oz doubles at a languid thirty to thirty two seconds.

 

Three Africans

This coffee is a blend of Ugandan and two different Ethiopian coffees that produces a big, chocolately aroma, and excels in either the French press or the Mokka pot. Unlike our some of our Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market specials, which tend to be nichey and polarizing, this blend has a very easy-to-like personality, good body, unthreatening complexity, and reasonably clean aftertaste. We love Ugandan coffee  here at BBCC, as long as there are mitigating influences.  The Ethiopians - Yirgacheffe and dry processed Sidamo - clean up the slightly off raisiny aftertaste inherent in the Uganda, leaving the subtle imprint of dried blueberries and cardamom. A fairly dark roast, this African blend will take milk or cream quite well. Some say damn well.

 

Bella Donovan

The Bella is the wool sweater of our blends - warm, comforting, familiar. Wild and citrusy organic Ethiopian paired with earthy organic Sumatran makes a for a vivid and fairly complex Mokka/Java blend. It seems to weather the rigors of the automatic drip machine well ... this is, perhaps, why it's our most popular blend. It's also on the darker side: nice and thick without being inelegant. Bella stands up to milk or cream well, and is easily enjoyable black. 

Best for French press, filter drip.

Alma Viva

A blend of organic Costa Rican and Mexican coffees, Alma Viva excels as a drip or French press. You don't have to be a Flaubert scholar to realize that the Alma Viva is the Emma Bovary of our blends: snappy and forthright, with echoes of orange peel and toasted almonds when no dairy is added, but demure to the point of passivity with milk or cream. Medium to light roast level.

Best for filter drip especially if you do not use dairy.

Espresso Temescal

If we were to commission a sonnet for one of our blends, the Espresso Temescal would be the hands-down choice for this honor. It's complex, poetic, finnicky - if you make coffee in a in your garret, loft, studio, pied-a-terre, atelier ... this is your blend. A medium roast that is a complex blend of coffees from Sumatra, Costa Rica, Mexico and Ethiopia, the Espresso Temescal reigns supreme in the Mokka pot. It also pulls a fascinating shot on a lot of espresso machines.

Best for Espresso Machines, Mokka pot espresso makers, filter drip.

Decaf Noir

A Swiss water process decaf that is vivid and packed with flavor. Decaf Noir is made from 100% organic Swiss Water Processed decafinated beans from East Timor, Sumatra and New Guinea. If you drink it strong, store it carefully and use it up quickly (buy a small amount and try to use it up in a week), you will be rewarded with very big flavors.

Best for French press, filter drip. Not recommended for the Mokka Pot.

Roman Espresso

A bit of a hothouse flower, the Roman Espresso can turn on you in an instant if one of a dozen or so brewing parameters is not to its liking. Generally, it likes lower brewing temperatures (approx 184 at the portafilter), and slower extraction times. In the right machine, it is a crema bomb, pouring oceans of the red/brown frothy stuff into your unsuspecting demitasse. When all is well, the result is a sweet, carmelly, fruity medium-bodied espresso that takes modest amounts of milk in the most delightful way.

As pleasant as it is, after a couple of years of tweaking and fine-tuning, it doesn't much resemble the espresso enjoyed in Rome any more, but we're not about to shell out another twelve bucks for a new rubber stamp when we have a perfectly good one right here.

Best for Espresso Machine, filter drip, and Mokka pot.

100 % Yemen Sana'ani

This is an intoxicating coffee that produces a huge aroma, and, at this medium-to-dark roast level, it is one of the few single-origin coffees that makes an excellent shot of espresso. Also terrific as a filter or presspot, coffee from Yemen is still farmed much the same way as it was 1200 years ago: harvested by hand from ancient, often wild, non-hybridized cultivars, dried on local patios, and processed locally before being shipped. While not certified organic, Yemens are considered pesticide-free owing to the strong farming traditions which predate pesticide use. One more thing: you might not like it. Lovers of clean, snappy Costa Ricans, or Colombians might consider drinking a cup of Yemen uncomfortably similar to being picked up by the lapels, shaken, then tossed into a grimy Manhattan snow bank. But for some of us, this is the most complex and desirable cup in town.

Best for Espresso Machine, filter drip, and French press.

Giant Steps

A blend of Sumatran and Ugandan organic coffees that is quite dark and chocolaty. Maybe a bit more one-dimensional than the Bella Donovan, but it's a good dimension. Giant Steps is delightfully fudgy and thick in a French press or drip pot, and stands up to cream quite well. If it were any heavier-bodied, you could pour it on pancakes.

Best for French press, filter drip.