LeroyC wrote:
Most Brazillians need to be a bit darker so they might be just right.
Sorry Leroy - don't want to be pedantic but that is probably not really so true and in fact quite the opposite. Personal roast depth preferences aside, Brazils are a softer bean compared to Colombian, African, Indonesian and Central American coffees. They are grown at lower altitudes and the varietals have less density and moisture levels. The typical Brazil quality coffee is a natural or pulped natural. Yes, there are washed Brazils, but they tend to be less popular or available in Australia. Not sure about NZ, but if we look at the way most of the world order Brazils, it's the naturals that tend to dominate for espresso preparation. Brazils need less heat and more care in the roasting - else they can very easily develop ashy attributes. This can be from any number of roasting defects such as too high charge temp, too fast rate or rise or too dark the final drop temp. The ashy taint is from scorching of the cell structures of the bean - like throwing food on a hot plate that is way over temp - it's a charring. A typical blending mistake by many roasters is to combine a Brazil with something hard and dense for a pre-blend batch, only to discover that by the time they test the coffee, there is a charry-ashy note in the blend from the Brazil and an under-roasted or under-developed hard/dense bean. Brazils of late have been small in screen size - 15 and 16 - making them even more delicate. I buy really high grade, expensive specialty Brazils and some of these have beans as small as 13. The days of getting good sized 17 screen Brazils are pretty much over at the moment. Some blame the drought 14 months ago whilst others inside the industry know the real reason most of the 17 screen has been snapped up by a VERY LARGE GLOBAL COMPANY leaving the rest of us with the slim pickings of smaller screen sized coffees.
