The Coffee Rabbit Hole

Someone gifted me some coffee beans from Mostra Coffee which I just finished. I looked up the coffee company just recently and learned that Mostra is located in San Diego and their coffee is not cheap.

I also learned that Mostra roasts some of the best coffee in the world according to Coffee Review. Mostra Coffee describes Coffee Review as "an online publication that reviews coffees on a 100-point scale and comments in formally written tasting reports."

Of course, I had to check it out.

Mostra has 24 reviews on Coffee Review with scores in the low to mid-nineties meaning their coffees are exceptional or better. Their coffees that rated 95 and above are considered "flawless, ... shockingly distinctive and beautiful."

By contrast, Starbucks has four reviews with only one receiving a score above 85 which makes them "fair," at best. One, Pike Place Roast, scored 78 which is considered "poor." (Pike Place Blend, apparently different, scored 84. One, Sumatra Dark, rated a 90 or "very good to outstanding."

None of my local roasters even made the list (or have not been tested by Coffee Review).

Nevertheless, down the rabbit hole I went. 

I found this article on Coffee Review: How Do Six National Specialty Coffee Brands Stack Up? (As previously mentioned, Starbucks did not do well.) As it happened, after I read this article, I found myself in a grocery store perusing the coffee aisle and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the highest rated coffee reviewed in that article: Forty-Six from Counter Culture Coffee. I was very excited to try it.

My first impression was "bright" which I would maybe describe as sour. So, I went to the Counter Culture Coffee website to see if I could learn more about the coffee I had purchased and what I was tasting. It certainly didn't taste like the coffees that I had become accustomed to and I didn't see what was so special about it.

Down, down, ....

That's where I found brewing instructions: using 18 grams of coffee, "weigh your ground espresso and adjust the dose to ensure accuracy. We recommend dosing within 0.2 grams of the target weight." 

Oh, I was deep down in the rabbit hole then.

I got out my kitchen scale and tried again. It was still sour. Or, was it bitter? 

Next, Counter Culture's website suggested adjusting the grind. So I tried it with a finer grand. Then, I tried it with a courser grind. I was getting downright scientific about it. But I kept at it and now I've found the perfect combination of grind, bean, and water to make a cup of coffee I genuinely look forward to in the morning and enjoy.

The point is I'm trying new things. I suppose there were easier ways to get there but, hey, no one said life was easy.

Neither is a good cup of coffee.