Our favorite is Tim Horton's coffee. It is like the "Starbucks" of Canada. There is a Tim Horton's on every street corner, almost... For me, it is the best treat in the world to have a cup of Tim's coffee. Their coffee is not bitter, but very smooth, and well... just amazing! When we run out of Tim's coffee, we drink Folgers Columbian medium roast.
As for drinking coffee in the sanctuary... our current sanctuary is our home, where several families come to meet together on Sunday afternoon... and coffee/tea/water/lemonade, it's all part of our meeting. I love being able to relax with a cup of tea or coffee in my hand, and worship the Lord.
Our favorite is Tim Horton's coffee. It is like the "Starbucks" of Canada. There is a Tim Horton's on every street corner, almost... For me, it is the best treat in the world to have a cup of Tim's coffee. Their coffee is not bitter, but very smooth, and well... just amazing! When we run out of Tim's coffee, we drink Folgers Columbian medium roast.
As for drinking coffee in the sanctuary... our current sanctuary is our home, where several families come to meet together on Sunday afternoon... and coffee/tea/water/lemonade, it's all part of our meeting. I love being able to relax with a cup of tea or coffee in my hand, and worship the Lord.
No, not all coffee is created equal. Some beans are better than others. There are two main types of beans Arabica and Robusta. Robusta beans have more caffeine however they offer less flavor. Arabic beans produce a better flavor but less caffeine. Many of the commercial coffees will use Robusta beans unless otherwise indicated. Robusta plants tend to be heartier however Arabica because of its flavor profile is the more highly prized. Arabica makes up about 75% of the commercial crop.
Coffee that we drink comes from the roasted seeds of the coffee cherry. In most cases coffee cherries produce 2 seeds. However in a small percentage of cases, the cherry only produces a single seed. These single seeds are called Peaberries. Because the shape of the peaberry is different, they roast differently. Thus these beans have to be sorted out. Because of the shape these berries tend to roast more evenly and thus produce a different flavor profile than traditional coffee beans.
Region plays some role in the flavor and quality of the coffee. There are many regions that produce coffee. Most are familiar with Columbian coffee but that is primarily because large American coffee companies branded their coffee as “100% Columbian” and it has little to do with Colombian coffee being superior. There are a number of regions that produce superior coffee. The islands of the Caribbean, Kona, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Kenya etc. produce very high quality coffee.
Then there is altitude. Some believe that higher altitude grown coffee tend to develop better flavor. Kona, Caribbean and some Ethiopian coffee is grown at higher altitude.
No matter where coffee is grown, there is some controversy related to HOW the plants themselves are grown. Traditional methods are to grow the plant in the shade of larger canopy trees that produce natural fertilizer for the coffee plant. More recent methods have been developed that allow for planting in full sun however, this method requires artificial fertilizer and tends to require greater use of chemicals to control pests and weeds. Sun grown methods produce more coffee beans per acre than shade grown. However the berries tend to ripen faster in the sun grown trees. The shade grown method while producing a smaller crop, often produces deeper flavor profiles because the berries ripen at a slower rate. People who take issue with the use of chemicals will prefer the shade grown method. From a flavor standpoint alone I prefer the shade grown method.
The method used to pick the coffee berries also impacts the quality. Traditional methods require hand picking only the ripe berries. This provides for a higher quality. However modern machines have been developed that strip the plant of all the beans on the plant and then the beans are sorted by ripeness. This leads to greater chance of sorting problems and thus lower quality coffee.
Once the beans are picked there are 2 different methods of processing the beans, the most widely used is a dry method where the cherries are dried in the open or by machine then the pulp is removed to reveal the green bean. The other method is a wet method that involves fermentation of the cherry before removing it from the bean. This method tends to produce a milder coffee however there is no impact to caffeine and while milder, that does not necessarily mean “less” flavor. In fact in some instances the flavor profile is broader because the more subtle flavors are not overshadowed.
Ethiopian Yergacheffe is one of the more famous wet processed coffees. This is one of my personal favorites. As a general rule the essential oils in the green bean begin breaking down quickly. The sooner roasted the better.
After the bean is processed, it has to be roasted. There are many methods and many styles and many different views on roasting. Everyone knows about “dark roast”, “medium roast” etc. but there are actually more. I personally prefer a medium or “city roast” as you tend to see a wider flavor profile without the bitter notes associated with darker roasts. It should be pointed out that most people who claim to prefer a “dark roast” do so not for the flavor profile but because they assume that means a stronger coffee. That simply is not the case. Roasting breaks down the oils and caffeine in the bean. The longer the roast, the less caffeine there is. That is not necessarily a bad thing and we are talking mild degrees not massive swings in caffeine content. However, simply saying you want dark roast because you want strong or highly caffeinated coffee is a misnomer.
Roasting really is an art as the master roaster is looking for a number of things and not simply color or temperature. There are sounds and smells that are vital to understanding how a coffee is roasted that are just as important as anything else in the roasting cycle. Two beans picked and processed the exact same, may very well taste completely different in the hands of two different roasters. Master roasters typically have a “recipe” they follow where they adjust the temperature at different stages in the roasting process to generate the flavor profile they are looking for. Often this “recipe” is adjusted for different beans from different regions or by variety or variant and even from one estate to the next depending on what flavor profile the roaster is looking for.
Time between roasting and brewing is also a factor. get fresh roasted coffee! also grind at home. Burr grinders are better than blade as they crush the bean instead of cutting it. That releases the essential oils better. Also grind your own beans. ground coffee sitting in the bag is drying out every second it sits there.
There is a great deal of art that goes into making a perfect cup of coffee. And not all coffees are the same. I do love me some coffee…. I call it the elixir of the gods.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Sometimes I tell my Toronto coworkers on a conference call that I need to go to "Tim's" downstairs to get some coffee. They have Tim Horton's in the lobby of their building, and I work at home in Texas.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
Sometimes I tell my Toronto coworkers on a conference call that I need to go to "Tim's" downstairs to get some coffee. They have Tim Horton's in the lobby of their building, and I work at home in Texas.
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