Common Coffee Misconceptions
There is too much to know about coffee. Trying to learn all of it would be an impossible task, even for those of us that work in the industry. There are, however, a few ideas that are often miscommunicated or misunderstood that I will try to clear up for the interested coffee consumers out there. Some of this might seem obvious, some of it might seem counter-intuitive. But all of these are questions that our baristas get daily, and I'm going to try my best to set the record straight. And by that I mean I'm going to reveal how ambiguous and uncertain coffee knowledge can be.
Misconception 1: Fresh is Best
To be fair, this is a "yes and no" answer. Fresh is best only some of the time in the coffee world, and it all depends on where you are in the process. Coffee cherries need to be processed fresh at origin or they will develop off-flavors. It's also best to roast green coffee beans as fresh as possible. The longer the green coffee sits in a warehouse or a roasting room, the more the quality falls. Sugars and aromatic compounds will degrade, costing the coffee sweetness and flattening out its unique flavors. However, quite a bit of time can pass before this loss of quality will become apparent to the majority of consumers. It is not uncommon for green coffee to wait a year before roasting. A shorter interval is definitely preferable, though.
After the coffee is roasted, the idea of fresh is best gets a little tricky. Coffee beans have a lot of gasses inside of them, a big one being Carbon Dioxide. The heat from the roaster expands the beans and releases a lot of this gas, but some is still trapped inside. Over the next several days the beans will undergo a process called off-gassing during which more of the gas is released. That's why most coffee bags have a little valve on them, to prevent the bag from popping due to a buildup of pressure during off-gassing (with an added benefit of getting to smell the beans inside). It's also why a pour-over "blooms" when you first pour hot water on your grounds. That's the gasses escaping more rapidly. Off-gassing takes time, and coffee will not taste its best if you prepare it too close to the roast date. We recommend waiting at least 3-5 days after roast before using coffee beans. For our roasting style, we have found that peak coffee quality usually hits around 2 weeks past roast. So in short, give your coffee a chance to rest after roast, and keep this in mind when grabbing a bag off the shelf.
After you brew your coffee, fresh is definitely going to be best. Reheating cold coffee will make it taste much worse, however, you might be pleasantly surprised by the flavor of a slightly cooled off cup. High-quality coffee beans will maintain their sweetness even as they cool. Lower quality beans will start to taste muddy and bitter after a little cooling, but great coffee can change flavors in interesting ways as the temperature changes. Often, the fruity and floral notes of coffee shine through when the temperature cools off. If you're using great coffee, next time you make a cup don't drink the whole thing piping hot. See if you can tell the difference in flavor after a few minutes.
Misconception 2: Espresso Roast Means Dark Roast
This misconception has its roots in Italian style roasting. Many people associate espresso with Italy (rightfully so, a lot of coffee words are Italian, "espresso" included). Italian coffee is typically roasted very dark, to the point that the beans look black and oily. This does not mean that all espresso roasts are going to be dark. An Italian Espresso Blend likely will be, but not all the time. There is no standard in the industry for what constitutes an "Espresso Roast". The Harvester Blend at Honeybee, what we use for espresso, would be considered a medium roast by most. It is nowhere near the black oily beans of a traditional Italian espresso roast. It's also much darker than a traditional Nordic Roast, the lightest of the light. We want our espresso to be chocolatey and nutty, sweet, bright, and balanced. It is meant to be a high quality yet approachable blend of coffees. We don't want to scare anyone off with a crazy fruity espresso, but we also want it to hold up to our standards. All of this to say Espresso Roast can mean anything. If you're at a café, you should simply ask the barista what their espresso roast is like. Not to be an elitist, but if they can't answer you, then you might want to find another café. If you're buying beans at a grocery store, a quick google search of the brand should tell you a bit about what it's like. Unless explicitly stated on the bag, it's never safe to assume that espresso means dark roast.
Misconception 3: Dark Roast is the Most Caffeinated
People like to call dark roasts "strong" or "bold" cups of coffee. We all know coffee is caffeinated, so it seems to make sense that a "strong" cup of coffee would have a lot of caffeine. The hip thing to say is that the opposite is true. People claim light roasts are more caffeinated because roasting bakes out the caffeine. The truth is that either one can be true, it just depends on how you measure your coffee. Caffeine content per bean actually stays relatively the same during the roasting process, unless you completely scorch it, which no good roaster would ever do. Beans do, however, lose more water weight and expand to a larger size the longer they're roasted (imagine it kind of like a less extreme version of popping popcorn). What does this mean for caffeine content? Well, if you measure your coffee by volume, such as using a tablespoon, scoop, or eye-ballin' it, then a light roast will have more caffeine. There are more actual coffee beans in a scoop of light roast than in the same sized scoop of dark roast. Dark roasted beans are bigger; they take up more space, so you get less caffeine per cup. It would be like a scoop of kernels vs a scoop of popcorn. But, if you weigh your coffee with a scale, then a dark roast will likely have more caffeine. You'll end up with more coffee beans in your cup because dark roasts weigh less per bean compared to light roasts, thus upping the caffeine content. All of this, however, is completely dependent on the type of coffee you're using. You cannot directly compare two coffees of different roasts unless they are the exact same coffee bean. Different varietals will have different caffeine contents. Some are denser than others. Some react differently in the roaster. If you're really trying to get a good caffeine buzz, your best bet is to just drink more coffee or add extra espresso shots to your drink. You can't really know one way or the other which coffee in a lineup is going to be more caffeinated unless you happen to carry around a UV range Spectrophotometer.
Misconception 4: Coffee is Bitter
If you're not used to drinking specialty coffee, it's completely understandable to think that all coffee is bitter. Most people are only ever exposed to bitter coffee at restaurants, diners, and certain cafés. Specialty coffee, the kind of coffee that Honeybee serves, should not be bitter ever. Bitterness, in our eyes, is a defect or off-flavor. Coffee is a complex product, and it's a shame that the majority of it is served bitter. We work hard during every step of the process to make sure our coffee does not end up bitter, espresso included. We only order green coffee that is acidic, sweet, bright, clean, and balanced. Many of our coffees taste fruity, floral, chocolatey, nutty, spiced, or some combination of these. Some cups can taste like a strawberry pop-tart. Some taste like a lavender cookie. Some taste like a Nutella milkshake. None of these I would describe as bitter.
We believe that coffee shouldn't be something you have to choke down or douse with cream and sugar. The beans can speak for themselves. It's our job to let them. If you've ever ordered a cup at Honeybee and it tasted bitter, let me apologize, because it shouldn't have. This was likely due to the coffee not being dialed-in correctly. There are dozens of variables that affect coffee flavor, and sometimes one or two will get the best of us. There are a million ways to make coffee wrong, and only a few to make it right. And if you ever get a bitter cup at one of our cafés, please tell the barista and we will make it right.
In Conclusion
Coffee is complex, and coffee is confusing. We're always learning, and we'd love to teach you what we find out along the way. Curious customers are our favorite kind. Please ask us your questions. If we don't know the answers, we'll try to figure them out.
Author: Alex Wuethrich