Strong Coffee

It's been a busy couple of months - we're enjoying being at the lovely Torphins market every Wednesday and getting the chance to meet some of our customers.   Banchory farmers' market has also been a great addition, and last week we were at Criagievar Community Hall producers' fair.  Going forward, we'll be at the new Aboyne Farmers' Market on the second Saturday of the month (next one on Sat 8th June) and Stonehaven Farmers' Market on the first Saturday of each month (starting on 6th July).  

Talking to folk who visit our stall, we are finding that one of the most frequently asked question is "what is your strongest coffee?"   This can be a tricky one to answer, but we do our best! In simple terms, the strength of a cup of coffee is down to how it is brewed. This includes things like how much ground coffee you use when brewing, how much water, the brewing method (cafetiere, filter, pourover, aeropress etc.) and how finely the coffee is ground.  It can also depend on the darkness of the roasted beans - there seems to be common (perfectly understandable) belief that the darker the roast, the stronger the coffee.  This may be because darker roasted beans are more often used to brew espresso coffee.  In fact, espresso coffees found in coffee shops are often made using Robusta beans, or a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans, while all our beans are single origin Arabica beans (that is a whole other blog post!). Most of our beans are medium-roasted - neither dark nor light.  Different beans have different roast profiles, meaning that in order to bring out all the flavours in the best way possible, each type of single origin bean is roasted in a slightly different way.  That's where the skill of our chief roaster comes in!  

This is only the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to what "strong coffee" really means, and is entirely our view on this complex subject.  For more information you may wish to read this article in Extracted Magazine and this article on the Perfect Daily Grind website, if you are wanting to make the most of your freshly roasted coffee beans, by learning a bit more about extraction/brewing methods.

Recommended to be read with a delicious cup of coffee, of course...  Enjoy!