A high level of "quakers" seems to be a common thing in Ethiopian dry processed coffees and I've found CoffeeSnobs Harrar to be especially bad in this respect. I was disappointed with my first couple of roasts so I've taken to roasting it first and using the quiet times during subsequent roasts to pick out as many quakers as I can: I typically get about 5% of the roast weight.
I thought the result was a great improvement but that could be all in the mind. As a test I kept the last couple of pickings aside and today I ran a comparison side by side with the Harrar from which they came.
Same grinder and coffee machine settings, same brew routine etc etc.
20.5 g of coffee in a 20 g VST basket, 10 s preinfusion then 20 s shot length, aiming for ~ 2:1 ratio (although the quaker shot ran faster so I ended up with ~ 2.5: 1)
Interestingly I found no difference in extract level: both came out at 22.2% (using an Atago PAL refractometer). I wasn't expecting that, I thought the quakers would be much lower.
The results in the cup however are chalk and cheese: the Harrar (minus quakers) had its usual fruit / chocolate / earth intensity. The quakers, well, thin grassy and acidic doesn't begin to describe the lack of pleasure in this cup. In the interests of science I tried a few sips but it was really a sink shot.
I thought the result was a great improvement but that could be all in the mind. As a test I kept the last couple of pickings aside and today I ran a comparison side by side with the Harrar from which they came.
Same grinder and coffee machine settings, same brew routine etc etc.
20.5 g of coffee in a 20 g VST basket, 10 s preinfusion then 20 s shot length, aiming for ~ 2:1 ratio (although the quaker shot ran faster so I ended up with ~ 2.5: 1)
Interestingly I found no difference in extract level: both came out at 22.2% (using an Atago PAL refractometer). I wasn't expecting that, I thought the quakers would be much lower.
The results in the cup however are chalk and cheese: the Harrar (minus quakers) had its usual fruit / chocolate / earth intensity. The quakers, well, thin grassy and acidic doesn't begin to describe the lack of pleasure in this cup. In the interests of science I tried a few sips but it was really a sink shot.




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