Coffee Descriptions

We have been going through the process of building a new web site & shopping cart. It has been a challenging and time consuming endeavor as many of you know. Part of my job as the roaster was to come up with descriptions of all our coffees and blends that sound appealing and hopefully believable. Some of the cupping notes I already had and were sure about- some we had to re-cup to determine the descriptors. It is finished now for the time being. Check it out : http://www.joebellacoffee.com

I often read roasters descriptions of their coffees and wonder if most consumers really grasp what we are talking about. The descriptions that coffee roasters give to coffees are determined through a cupping process. During the cupping we evaluate many aspects of the coffee including; the fragrance of the dry grounds, the aroma of the wet grounds, the flavor attributes,the mouth feel or body, the acidity or brightness, the aftertaste or finish,and the overall quality and consistency. While evaluating these things we discover qualities or taints that we put into words- adjectives if you will- that describe a particular coffee. These observations become our cupping notes which are used to create often flowery and sometimes unbelievable descriptions on the website.

I think that if you try these top quality coffees armed with these descriptions you can taste for yourself some or all of the flavors and aromas that we do- and some of your own. Let me know what you think.

I hope you enjoy and use our new website.

New Week Begins

On Mondays before most of the first 1/2 of the weeks orders are called or emailed in we do a preliminary session of roasts . This consists of roasting at least 1 batch of all of our production roasts. As many as we can fit into a 3 1/2 hour morning session. Right now, Ryan is working the roaster like a well oiled machine and Aja just arrived to start calling accounts for their orders. All this happens before 9 am. The weather is damp today with a humidity of 65% -the small amount of smoke released by the roaster when the beans are dumped into the cooling tray is hanging in the air a bit more than usual. Gotta go open up the cieling vent.
Later- after roasting - we will challenge ourselves with a triangulation cupping. This is a blind cupping where we taste 3 cups- 2 the same coffee -1 different- and try to pick them out. FUN!

This is my first post as I am just now creating my first weblog. My name is Joseph and my wife Isabel and I have been building a coffee roasting business here on the Central Coast of California ( where it happens to be raining ferociously right now) for going on 7 years now. We love the coffee business and coffee people and the daily challenges that being involved in this industry and culture present.
Short and sweet-- gotta get some rest because I open the coffee shop in the morning.