Its been a while since I meet this guys. A coffee roaster by profesion, he’s, at least for me, one of the great mind in Indonesian coffee industry. Over some coffee he roast, looking at traffic jammed road in front of his shop, we chat about friends, love, and of course coffee. Here are some snippets of our conversation.
On green bean
“even when u control the temperature, humidity and airflow, (coffee) green bean quality will drop tremendously with time (in storage)”
“I thought with the price hike quality will also rise. Sadly its the other way around. People start avoiding Indonesian beans”
“Do you know that you can buy a 2nd grade (etiophian) Yirgachefe much cheaper than buying Indonesian beans in Indonesia, and it gives better flavor/cup?”
“Another thing about Yirgachefe. The product is almost constant (quality wise) throughout the year. Indonesian beans far from that”
“With Indonesian beans, the quality could even differs from one bag to another, let alone time of year”
“the Indonesian green bean people should b cautious. Dont let this high prices and unstble quality kill the future (purchase)”
on roasting
“if you think cleaning an espresso machine is a hassle, try cleaning out a roasting machine. Both have to be cleaned regularly”
“they broke their probat? I thought probat supposed to be unbreakable”
“How you regulate the airflow is what make or break your coffee. You have to know when to open, close or put it in between”
on brewing
“everything will taste good as a cappuccino”
“when you brew coffee, its all cameback to the person who brew it. Does he/she have the capability to brew it properly, and make a good cup of coffee?”
“Fresh is not always better. Some coffee, especially blends, need time to go through the degassing process and developt their own flavor characteristics”
adi.taroepratjeka 