The world of Honey process

My very first Costa Rica coffee was honey processed.  Since then, for some reason, whenever people ask for Costa Rican, my recommendation stays with honey.  There was two reason: Honey process 1) often has high enough sweetness level to diminish acidity, 2) has clear and clean flavor works well even with coffee machine.  Although the name of “Honey Process” often misunderstands to come from general cup impression, “sweet like honey”, it relates to “sticky fluid substance”, called mucilage, covers the beans after pulping.  
In traditional Fully-washed process, mucilage are totally washed off after the skin and pulp is removed in mechanical washing process with rollers.  However, honey process allows the mills to determine degrees of mucilage removed, which also decide “the colors” in honey process as follows:

Black Honey: 0% of mucilage removed, dried with cover and left to ferment with short drying time.
Red Honey: about 25% of mucilage removed, dried without cover.
Yellow Honey: about a half, 50%, of mucilage removed, dried without cover.
Golden Honey: about 75% of mucilage removed, dried without cover.

There are also so called “White Honey” with 100% of mucilage removed, but this maybe similar to “natural” in other reasons. 

 Regarding the flavor, the most important point, Black Honey is characterized deep sweetness and full bodied, when Red sweet/syrupy, yellow light/floral, Golden citrus-like/crisp, and White balanced/clean.  It is said that the more mucilage left on beans, the deeper in sweetness and richness.  There are no scientific research submitted, maybe only I have never seen the one, so there are no proof to backup besides sensory experiences the cuppers have.  Also, the degree of mucilage left strongly depends on the mills/producers, of course.  Blessed with Specialty coffee movements, the growers and producers focus on the market segmentation, which might refer as “segregation”, and produce/heighten the values of their cultivation.  Colors in honey process might be the part of it.  There will be more chance for the coffee geeks to find honey process colors in Costa Rican COE, but still less chance to compare flavor difference between “colors” by mills, unless you are a green beans buyer or a professional coffee roaster.

Deep appreciation to COE to bring Black honey accessible.  
Otherwise, colors in honey process stays "covert" in coffee professionals in Costa Rica. 

Have a pot?

What coffee means to your life?

Coffee is entertainment and "LIFE" itself.
That is why there are various tools around to make coffee time as much enjoyable as possible.

Talking about pour-over, a kettle is the key.  Correction, one of the key.
Many talks about the shape of  spouts, related to degree of flow control, how faithfully water responds to your maneuver through a spout.  I honestly love Takehiro Kettles, which gives superior and magical flow control.  However, Takehiro needs a highly "skilled" coffee professional to exercise 100% of its ability.

Kalita and Hario also have spouts for better pour control.  So does Bonavita.  
But they are all Silver shiny kettles, designed to satisfy professional needs.

No one needs the tools designed for professional use if he/she cannot exercise 100% of tools' ability! So, here is my favorite Getto kettle: glass enameled yellow pot.

This gives good enough flow control for everyday use and entertains my eyes in kitchen.
Takehiro has its job in professional situation and this Yellow baby chick works anytime.  Good flavored coffee always entertains and calms us, but tools also have power to make us relax through five senses.  Personally, I believe color is the most important.  

Barista Championship Southwest regional

It's time for Barista Championship!!

Barista Championship Southwest regional is held in Santa Cruz hosted by Verve coffee from Mar.15th to 17th.  There are the finalist:
Charles Babinski, G&B Coffee, L.A
Eden-Marie Abramowicz, Intelligentsia, L.A
Truman Severson, Portola Coffee Lab, Costa Mesa
John Martin, Intelligentsia, Pasadena
Stacey Kock, Verve Coffee Roasters, Santa Cruz
Kevin “Tex” Bohlin, St. Frank Coffee, SF

Needless to say, this competition is pre-competition of USBC, The United States Barista Championship, prior known as NABC,  the North American Barista Competition.  USBC has been organized in 2003, honored Heather Perry of Klatch Coffee as the first champion .
USBC has grown rapidly together with SCAA, Specialty Coffee Association of America, as the third waver overtake the market.  Barista does not mean an expert in "espresso" but an expert in coffee with several serving skills.  Nowadays, there are variety of serving skills to compete.   

In Southwest regional, there are two categories; espresso and pourover.  As usual, there are barista from notable cafes/roasters such as counter culture,  Intelligentsia, Klatch and, certainly, Verve.  
USBC is not only the path to WBC, The World Barista Championship, but the premier competition in the States.  Now the USBC regulation has becoming more and more comprehensive and unified to measure barista's brewing skills to knowledge of coffee in general.  Certainly.  This competition, - maybe these competitions since Barista championship is the world wide phenomena, - is the tool to spread the gospel of specialty coffee, and  had worked as it designed.  A national coffee roasters/cafes is more advantageous than a local to be recognized having an champion or the final stage nominees.  I assume this is the one of the reason has caused temperature difference toward USBC in the industry.  There are issues behind the curtain, which nothing to do with competitors.
USBC has raised the bar of the barista profession and brought fantastic/high quality/accessible coffee market to the States.  If good flavor and high quality coffee became more and more available, that benefits our coffee life in general.  
      

Roaster in Dream: Cafe Vita

Do you have a coffee roaster dreamed to visit?

I do: Caffé Vita in Seattle.

Seattle is well known as "the World Coffee Center".  Not only mega-chains such as Starbucks, Tully's and Seattle's Best,  but also independent coffeehouses & roasters do establish and deepen coffee culture in Seattle.  Among all the independent roasters/coffeehouses,  Caffé Vita coffee roasting Co. has been leading Seattle's coffee culture as the ARTISAN coffee roaster since 1995.  This brief history of Caffé Vita reminds me of Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco.  

History of Blue Bottle Coffee begins in Oakland.  Blue Bottle has grown and been growing one of the leading ARTISAN coffee roaster in/out of greater San Francisco, the epicenter of slow food movements.  
San Francisco appreciates high quality of foods and Seattle high quality of coffee.  Both city has the base to grow and to support genuine artisan foods. 

Based in San Francisco area, Seattle, somewhat, does not appeal so much; however, the name "Caffé Vita" has printed on my brain as a place to visit.  The deeper I dive in coffee world, the more I deserve to visit this roaster.  It is maybe because of my trusted "coffee mentor", Jay, loves and recommends this roster, but, I think, that is not only reason. 
Caffé Vita's clown like symbol fascinates me more and more, deeper and deeper, enchanting me whit fragrant aroma with beautifully done roasting.