Hand Punch is a world that as soon as you get started, you discover more and more worlds to understand.
Different treatments, roasting levels, and coffee aroma characteristics can all influence us to use different brewing frameworks to develop the aroma beauty of new coffees.
Over the years, anaerobic, yeast, red wine and other treatment methods are dominant, and these novel post-coffee processing methods not only change the flavor of coffee, but also change the physical properties of coffee beans.
Naturally, our brewing habits also need to be adjusted accordingly.
Recently, I have encountered two topics related to anaerobic bean brewing, so I have the idea of sharing this article with you.
1
Anaerobic is best finished within two minutes
Recently, a familiar roaster encountered a problem encountered by guests asking for advice on brewing anaerobic treatment coffee.
It turned out that this guest bought a packet of Ethiopian anaerobic treated coffee for his colleagues, but how the colleagues rushed was bitter, but the guests themselves would not.
Because the roaster was once the champion of the hand-brewing coffee competition, he has a certain understanding and mastery of the professional brewing. So the guest asked the baker if his colleague should adjust from the water temperature, or the degree of grinding, or where?
The baking bean chef asked the guest about his own usual brewing experience, and then asked the guest colleague's brewing method, found that the two of them are similar in both filter cups or filter paper and even grinding, and finally the baking bean chef asked the guest: Ask your colleague, how long is his total extraction time?
The response to a guest's question to a colleague was about two and a half minutes. (Using V60, powder 20 g)
The roaster replied that at this level of grinding and water temperature, if you want to use V60 to brew this bag of anaerobic coffee, it is recommended that your colleague first control the total extraction time within two minutes.
Why is time so important? I asked the baker why he suggested adjusting from time.
The bean baker told me that anaerobics are made in a special way, and his experience is that the extraction rate of anaerobic beans is usually easier to increase quickly.
The recommended coffee bean extraction rate in the Golden Cup Law is between 18-22%, but which beans are lower than the extraction, and which beans are suitable for high extraction, depends on the overall result from processing to roasting.
However, because of the characteristics of the anaerobic treatment method, this coffee is easy to accidentally increase the extraction rate, so it is easier for consumers to learn to control it from the total extraction time. This is why he suggested ending the extraction within two minutes of the standard rod.
2
Anaerobic is best coarsely ground with high concentration and low extraction
There are many regions of the world's specialty coffee estates, have more or less begun to use anaerobic fermentation to process coffee, of which Colombia is a very active embrace of anaerobic fermentation post-processing countries.
In 2018, Paradise Manor's Bourbon, made with a double anaerobic method, won the tenth place in the Cup of Excellence competition that year, and the COE bid for this coffee was as much as $11 per pound of the first-place coffee.
The second shared brewing case comes from anaerobic coffee at Paradise Manor.
Pictured: Columbia Paradise Estate is famous for its anaerobic treatment of coffee
A coffee circle friend who studied agronomy shared with me a few tips for brewing anaerobic coffee such as Paradise Manor from the perspective of post-coffee production, and he said this:
Coffee made with anaerobic fermentation can extract fewer paragraphs, especially the post-processing method has a great chance of increasing the lactic acid concentration in coffee.
So if the extraction rate is too high, there is a high probability that you will get very sour coffee because you extract too many organic acids, making the acid and sweetness unbalanced.
Pictured: Anaerobic fermentation tank at Paradise Manor
So if you want to brew anaerobic coffee like Paradise Manor, if you want to make a little sweeter, the brewing framework should try to think about how to maximize the material in the middle.
The recommended boiling method is to lower the water temperature, grind coarsely, cooperate with the number of water breaks, the tail section does not take (Bypass) and other methods, using high concentration and low extraction techniques, avoid high acid, try to make the sweetness a little more extracted.
The above two shares I have heard are related to some of the caffeine problems caused by anaerobic treatment.
These anaerobic coffee problems observed by roasters or agronomic researchers are all things that we need to consider when thinking about brewing anaerobic coffee.
There are two high-profile European and American coffee circle seniors, comments on anaerobic coffee, provided for everyone's reference.
3
Anaerobic coffee changes the taste of the region
The third wave of coffee trends, very much emphasis on the "regional flavor" of coffee, that is, the so-called Terrior. The protagonists of the third wave of the coffee movement were the growers and the land.
Coffee people who support this concept believe that the first focus of coffee tasting is on the characteristics of coffee terroir, that is, the unique flavor of coffee terroir bred by the individual geographical climates of the world.
Pictured: The taste of coffee terroir is an object of appreciation for the third wave of coffee movements
The so-called regional taste or terroir flavor of coffee is the interaction between coffee varieties, land and climate, and the care and cultivation of growers.
However, the flavor brought about by anaerobic fermentation does not belong to the taste of the region, but the new flavor given by the post-production method.
Coffee Review, a well-known roasted coffee bean evaluation website in North America, wrote a special article in February this year to discuss that the typical terroir of Colombian coffee, affected by the prevalence of post-processing such as anaerobic fermentation, is disappearing. (For Coffee Review articles, please click here to access them.)
Because of the anaerobic coffee flavor, it is a flavor that is added in the coffee making process the day after tomorrow, and has nothing to do with the flavor that was originally bred in the land.
Pictured: The traditional Colombian treatment method is washed
Coffee review sites first said that more and more anaerobic post-processed coffee from Colombia is appearing, accounting for about 25% of the total.
In February alone, 16 of the 63 coffee samples were anaerobic treated coffee.
Among the anaerobic coffee samples sent for evaluation, the coffee that received a high score of 93 or more favored by the reviewers used these few words to express the reasons for liking them.
"Three samples this month involved changes in anaerobic fermentation or carbon maceration, and these three types of coffee are not extreme examples of anaerobic styles.
All of these high-score samples retained the familiar sweet and sweet tendencies of yeast fermentation, while the rich bacterial fermentation associated with anaerobic or carbonic acid methods was only moderately affected. ”
Chart: Coffee review site article explores the shift in post-coffee production trends in Colombia
4
Anaerobic coffee may use inferior raw beans
Patrik Rolf Karlsson, founder of April Coffee, who finished runner-up at the 2019 World Coffee Brewing Competition, once filmed a video reviewing the anaerobic coffee atmosphere in the coffee circle from the perspective of a roaster, as well as some questions to ponder.
In this video, he discusses two serious questions, one related to what coffee is appreciating, and the other related to whether the price of anaerobic coffee is equal to whether its flavor quality is equal.
Regarding appreciation, Patrick first emphasized that he supports the "taste of the region" genre, he believes that the flavor added by anaerobic coffee does not belong to the farmer's hard work and natural environment, these flavors are acquired through the anaerobic process of food processing, additional coffee.
But from a gastronomic point of view, consumers can of course only ask whether it is good or not, regardless of whether the taste is natural from the land and the natural output of the coffee fruit.
However, another thing That Patrick reviewed was that many inferior raw beans tried to increase the flavor of the coffee through anaerobic methods to cover up the problem of poor quality.
Interested and good English skills of friends, you can click on the following video to watch (no Chinese translation of pure English speech), do not want to listen to English readers, for Patrick to share my long story short.
In this video, Patrice highlights two important points:
First: Not all coffees are crowned with anaerobic treatment to ensure good flavor.
“We need to understand that not all coffee are tasty just because they have a fancy processing method” (请参上面视频3分08秒处)
Second: More often than not, anaerobic coffee uses defective beans.
Patrick is a well-known european roaster who roasts their own beans in the WbrC Coffee Hand Punch competition for European players.
As a roaster, every year he needs to cup raw bean samples sent by green bean dealers around the world, but he finds that many anaerobic coffees do not seem to perform the defective fruit screening procedures required by specialty coffee during coffee processing, and use unqualified fresh fruits for post-processing, resulting in such anaerobic coffees having a strong alcohol taste, and many of the defective flavors belonging to raw beans are in it.
“I’ve also tried just as many anaerobic coffees that just taste like alcohol or that just tastes like really bad sorted coffees with plenty of defects and a bit of ferment on it “ (请参上面视频7分26秒处)
In the video, Patrick emphasizes that anaerobic coffee is generally more expensive to sell (because it uses more investment, manpower, and time in processing), but it uses coffee that is "not good enough in essence", and the problem with this type of coffee is that the defective taste of raw beans is more, although it also adds a good flavor that belongs to anaerobic effect.
5
Brewing caution: Avoid high extraction
Pictured: Anaerobic fermented sun-dried coffee
The first example I mentioned today is the advice of a well-known specialty coffee roaster from Taiwan and also a Taiwan hand punch champion.
He said that because anaerobic coffee has a softer texture and low density, even shallow roasted anaerobic coffee will have a brewing experience similar to that of medium and deep roasted beans when extracted.
Because the pores of coffee are large, the extraction will be relatively fast, and the flavor substances will dissolve much faster than the usual sun or wash.
Therefore, if you want to avoid the miscellaneous odors produced by overextraction, the best way is to shorten the total extraction time to reduce the total extraction rate.
6
Brewing note: use high concentration and low extraction
As for another precaution for brewing, it is in case you get anaerobic coffee, in the post-processing link, the defective beans proposed by April coffee are not screened, or may be due to improper fermentation control, resulting in excessive fermentation, with a sharp sour taste, what to do?
Pictured: Lactic fermented honey processed coffee
If the coffee has blemishes, usually these blemishes are similar to sharp acid (unripe beans), alcohol, not sweet enough... At this time, what kind of brewing means can emphasize the advantages and avoid the disadvantages?
The possible way is to use high concentration and low extraction (the so-called tail section do not bypass), combined with the brewing method that reduces the concentration of organic acids, and pulling the middle and middle sweet extract together.
At this time, you can refer to the four or six brewing methods of the 2016 World Coffee Brewing Championship champion I shared before, especially the punching method that strengthens the sweetness (with reference to the sweetness punching method of Zhe Gugu), with the bypass method of removing the tail section, to reduce the dissolution of unpleasant flavor in the latter section, which are the directions we can think about when brewing anaerobic coffee.
The ultimate purpose of all the techniques is to help us express the good flavor contained in coffee better.
Different coffee processing methods may affect the extraction method of coffee flavor, and learning to hand punch can pay more attention to the flavor characteristics caused by various processing methods in order to conceive a corresponding brewing framework.
I hope that today's sharing can give you more help in brewing anaerobic coffee.