Len Brault

Might be the process here that seems to hold in many countries, that is, that the method of making coffee is traditional and people "know" how it is supposed to be made and how it is "supposed" to taste. Of course, Turkish coffee and Moroccan coffee and Italian coffee are all entirely different, but I think the people who are used to these methods and roasts have a comfort factor in thinking that this is what coffee "is". In a way, sometimes this is good, in my opinion, because it preserves some unusual ways of making coffee, in particular, ways that people adapted to the varieties that grow in their regions. Other times it seems some odd habits have simply become dogma and are passed around as an acceptable way to do things, and it just doesn't get challenged for some reason.

Have you considered using presspots? I brew the coffee in my favorite brewer so that it is exactly the way I like it and then put it in presspots (airpots) and people just pump themselves a cup. I find that sitting in a presspot, coffee stays fresher because the temperature is very constant, gradually cooling. Seems to take 6 hours before it is not "hot" any more, if it's a good quality pot. I buy my presspots at Asian grocery stores whenever possible, got a decent one that holds 16 cups for $13.50 the other day. The bigger ones are usually anywhere from $40 to $80. The nice thing about the small ones is that you can do a decaf and regular and you don't need two urns, just a second press pot. I keep the backups for the presspots in giant thermoses (thermi?), $10.00 from Super88. Some other nice things about presspots is they don't need proximity to an electrical outlet and the coffee can be made before arriving at the event (which might actually not be an advantage I guess, depending on who is making it).

Shall I Fedex you some? Actually, now that you mention in, I'm not sure I've seen whole bean here. This is my new project! ← Hi--- I am new to this forum and was drawn in because I see people visiting my site from this forum, my server tracks the hits. It great to see a site where people actually want to explore new things... coffee forums tend to be highly biased and actually not adventuresome at all. First I will point out that I sell Trung Nguyen coffee, so I suppose anything I say in that regard should be taken as commercial shill, although I do protest that I in fact came to import Trung Nguyen because I searched for months for my favorite coffee, then negotiated to import it because I thought it was the best. It works for me. I also am looking to inport other grower/producer direct-marketed coffees that are environmentally sustainable and fairly traded, so I appreciate any hints from anybody here. I have also tried to get the wonderful Barako (Liberica) from the Philippines but it is in too short supply, apparently. I am simply in a search for the worlds best coffees that fall into this category, it's my avocation and the web site is my "project" not my full time occupation (which is art director). As far as whole bean Trung Nguyen goes, I asked the company to package their whole bean for sale in the USA and they obliged. They use the same packaging as the ground, since this is not a commercial product for them... in Asia they sell the whole bean only in bulk. So I do have it available in 100 gram and 500 gram bags, all the blends that are available in whole bean. Some of the blends, such as the Passiona naturally low caffeine, are not available in whole bean because the mix of beans is too important to enable random grinding and still get the desired result (if you are grinding for one cup, you may get 80% one bean instead of 50%, that won't really work). --- I also wanted to comment on iced coffee in general. I use the cold brewing method. After trying commercial cold brewers and not being happy I settled on a simple system: 1:4 coffee to spring water, mixed in a glass jar, mixed again 30 minutes later to make sure the grounds don't float too high, then after 4-6 hours, drain through a cloth filter or ordinary kitchen fine strainer, then through a fine mesh filter. This makes a concentrate that stores in the frig for 3 days. Beyond that time I find deterioration of flavor. This method is what I use to make large quantites for sampling at Farmer's Markets, etc., but also to make my own pot at home (just use less quantity). Cold brewing delivers all the caffeine and the volatile flavonoids. It greatly reduces the acids and oils. This can be wonderful, especially for people looking to reduce acid, but it does alter the flavor. Some prefer it, but some miss the "hot brewed taste". I personally think that some coffees work better than others, but for those coffees for which this method works, the taste is unparalleled! Len Brault