Cervantes Coffee Tasting

Back again after a bit of a delay.  For Valentine’s Day, I got a gooseneck kettle with a built-in thermometer, finally allowing me to get some proper use out of my pour-over equipment and using a better water temperature in my French press.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going to taste the Cervantes coffee I received after my visit to their roasting facility and café a few weeks ago using three different brewing methods: pour-over, French press, automatic drip coffee maker. Having most* of the proper equipment now, I was able to do this over the weekend and Monday morning. Maybe I should preface this as well by saying these are not super in-depth reviews at this point…I’m just not that sophisticated yet. These are more reviews for normal people, following a normal routine. As I progress, I imagine they will get better and more detailed, but that is going to involve some learning (i.e., cupping/tasting classes).  So don’t expect a lot of tasting notes to start off with (maybe I will post more about this later, as some of the tasting notes that come with beans seem a bit ridiculous).

Let me set the stage for how these brewing methods are done on my end.  I’ll start off with the automatic-drip, since this is what I drink on a normal basis.  My setup is a Krups brewer (that is what my wife owned), that I setup the night before so it is ready when I get downstairs in the mornings.  [Sidebar: I know some people would say that leaving ground beans exposed overnight might diminish their taste, but for me the convenience overrides that. Plus I used to run downstairs in the mornings and get the coffee brewing and I don’t notice a difference in taste.] Coffee is brewed and transferred to my Contigo travel mug. I wait until I am situated at my desk at work to drink it. 

For the French press and pour-over, I heated up some water in the kettle, letting it get to the “red” zone…noted as being ideal for coffee brewing…and then getting the brew started.  If you want to know the exact temperature of the water, you are out of luck. That is not something I am tracking right now. I also do not measure out how much coffee I am using either. I know there are ideal ratios of grounds to water for all these different techniques, so that is something to ease into as well.

As it was the weekend, I as able to brew the French press and pour-over when I woke up and drink it immediately. 

Comparing the three brewing methods, for me, the pour-over was the best, followed by the automatic drip, and lastly the French press.  The French press didn’t provide a flavorful coffee…it was a bit drab. The pour-over was easy to drink, good flavor, but I will say this particular roast is not very acidic (acidity is good for coffee) and is nothing outstanding...good, but not outstanding.  The drip coffee came out a little more bitter than the pour-over, but was still a good cup of coffee.

On another note, I find that I enjoy the drip coffee even more after I have had some Lance Toasty Peanut Butter crackers (occasionally a part of my breakfast at work).  I think that salt on the crackers helps with the taste of the coffee. Now by no means am I an expert on that, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Part of me takes this taste experience as a reason to believe that something like Third Wave Water might legitimately change and enhance the flavor of coffee.  With the crackers, I did notice a particular note in the taste of the coffee…butterscotch…more specifically Werther’s Original.

* I really need a burr coffee grinder.