butter beans!

[bjeck14]

Hi guys

I have recently returned from a trip to Laos and Vietnam. I cant wait to try some of the beans I bought home - especially those from the Bolaven Plateau in Laos!!

In Vietnam, I purchased (out of interest) a few different types of beans that had been roasted in what I am sure is butter. Can any one explain the reasoning behind why you roast with butter?
And is it ok for me to grind these beans in my EM0480?

Cheers,

Ben

[bolb]

Re: butter beans!

Hi bjeck14
What makes you think they have been roasted in butter?
If they are oily then that is an indication of the roast profile/style of the bean

Mal

[acoggins]

Re: butter beans!

I think this is common in South East Asian countries.

On Sunday I was speaking with someone from Malaysian Borneo who said it was common there to roast the beans in a wok with butter.

I think it occurs in Thailand also.

[Thundergod]

Re: butter beans!

I had a discussion with an old school friend two weeks ago who had seen the same thing and also reckoned they through in some corn.

[bjeck14]

Re: butter beans!

I am 99% sure it is butter. And it is really disappointing because it really affects the aroma of the bean - butter is such an overpowering taste. The beans themselves, however, look wonderful!

Would it be ok to grind them?



p.s TG i really hope theres no corn in there!!

[fatboy_1999]

Re: butter beans!

I would be suspect about grinding them.
How oily do they appear?
My concern would be leaving residue behind in the grinder.
If they were indeed roasted in butter, that residue will go rancid faster than coffee oils left behind. Combine the 2 and I think you have a potential for a bit of a mess in the grinder.

[NewToEspresso]

Re: butter beans!

I believe they roast them in margarine, not butter. Butter is too expensive (in Asia) to use for roasting butter. Margarine, however, is cheap. I believe it is roasted in margarine to give it a stronger fragrance. Most of the beans roasted this way are robusta, so the margarine gives the beans a fragrance and a different flavour. A lot of the coffee is drunk in condensed milk as well, and black coffee is drunk with a lot of sugar.

Its a bit like comparing delicate french cuisine with chinese food... With the delicate cuisines, the tastes are derived mainly from the meat or fish being served, it is lightly flavoured with minimal salt, and subtly flavoured with herbs but you taste the meat or fish predominantly. Asian food is heavily flavoured by sauces and youd be hard-pressed to find chinese food (high end stuff excluded) not high in monosodium glutamate.... Same with coffee in SE Asian countries. There are exceptions of course where you might get a serious coffee connoiseur outlet specialising in the stuff CSers like, but if you walk to a typical eatery and ask for coffee, that is what youd get mainly.

As for using your grinder to grind them; I gave my mum a Breville BCG450 grinder for her to use for her plunger. She brought it home to Malaysia and after exhausting the beans I roasted fo rher, she went out and bought locally roasted beans which were pan roasted with margarine and sugar. Ground the coffee with the BCG450 for a few days and after that she called me to tell me that the grinder wasn;t working. Her description of the fault was that the burrs were still spinning but nothing came out. You guessed it, the chute was blocked up by oily sugared coffee grounds left in the chute. The humidity didnt help matters but Id say it wouldn;t be a good idea to run these beans through the grinder unless youre prepared to clean it up thoroughly after every grind.

[bjeck14]

Re: butter beans!

awesome response. Thanks NTE.

I understand what you are saying with the enhancing of fragrance, but it really does smell over powering in nearly all beans that i looked at.

I think Ill stay away from the grinder - really disappointing though!!!

[NewToEspresso]

Re: butter beans!

If your grinder is easy to pull apart to clean, you can still use them. The BCG450 is a dog of a grinder to pull apart because it has triangular screws and parts that may break if you apply too much pressure to pull the bits apart.

[GrindOnDemand]

Re: butter beans!

Do as the French do with butter with virtually everything - keep tossing, saute, reduce, and then eliminate the butter.

Then roast the buggers after theyve been seasoned.

Very slow roast then to SC, for uniformity.

I cant see any probs with butter added ... when in Malaysia & Sth Korea, it was mainstay tradition.

I drank the tea though

Tony

[martybean]

Re: butter beans!

I would try grinding some beans in my grinder but after you finish clean the grinder and burrs thoroughly.
It would be a shame to go to the trouble of getting these beans and not use them, even if they taste yuk. At least you can say you tried it.

[bjeck14]

Re: butter beans!

marty - true. but i do have a number of other beans that arent buttered (or margarined as the case may be!)

ah well, the sunbeam grinder is easy to clean so I might brave it. I think ill try the laos beans first - they smell so god damn good!

thanks everyone for the advice

[martybean]

Re: butter beans!

Just remember to have a bit of fun experimenting, dont let others discourage you from doing something that you were going to do. [unless its gonna damage your coffee equipment].