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To get this look,
this feel, and
this flavor,
you have to
use 
At $ 8.48 /lb
plus S&H,
espresso of this quality is a real bargain (min. order 10 lbs)
Click here to Download
brochure: |
Free Shipping
Orders for 100 lbs, or more, of Malabar Gold Supreme will be shipped to any commercial address in the Continental United States free of shipping cost. |
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Consider
as an additional Espresso in Your Cafe
The best way to test this espresso is to order the minimum quantity of 10 lbs and offer it in your cafe as an additional espresso. This way, your customers have a way to sample this unique espresso in addition to whatever may be offered in your cafe on a daily basis.
Malabar Gold Supreme is such a unique espresso blend that it is very different from anything you may be offering.
You will have to call us at 650-366-5453 to place your first order. Once your account is set up, you can place your subsequent orders via e-mail. |
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This e-mail is being sent to you because of your existing relationship with Josuma Coffee Company.
As a result of our sending Espresso Information VII, we received a number of interesting responses. Perhaps the most important of these was asking us to review our approach to blending Malabar Gold Supreme, our flagship product, in the context of that e-mail. I agree that it would be a productive exercise and I have attempted to do so in this issue. I am somewhat surprised that I had not done a formal, and public, review of that nature previously.
If you do not wish to receive information from us, you may safely unsubscribe. If you wish to unsubscribe because a particular e-mail is not of interest to you, you may want to consider joining our mailing list indicating other areas of interest.
We hope you enjoy the contents.
Sincerely, Dr. Joseph John, President
 Josuma Coffee Company Tel: 650-366-5453 www.josuma.com |
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Most Espresso in North America is not Espresso at all
An overwhelming majority, 90 to 95 per cent, of what is made and sold as espresso in North America, whether it is consumed straight or in milk based drinks, is not espresso at all. It is ordinary coffee made with an expensive espresso machine.
There are several reasons for this sad state of affairs:
1. Most coffee shop and espresso bar owners do not appreciate the difference................ 2. Most baristi working behind the counter are not properly trained; ..................
3. Most blends offered in North America are not really blended for espresso; rather they are blended as if for brewed coffee, and then roasted dark and oily; indicating that the roaster believes that it is the dark roasting that makes it an espresso blend.
4. Most espresso machines in North America are configured for production speed.......................
5. Most grinders are purchased on the basis of price ................
note: the highlighted item above will be discussed in more detail in the article below
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Most Blends in North America are not Really Created for Espresso:
But How Does Malabar Gold Supreme Stack Up?
When we first started planning in 1991 to import coffees from India, I was not particularly interested in, nor was I very knowledgeable about, espresso. My initial study of espresso led me to believe that a quality espresso blend can be made only by using coffees from several different origins. Since our plans at that time called for importing coffees exclusively from India, any involvement with espresso seemed well beyond our reach. Hence our sole interest at that time was in brewed coffee.
It was not until about 1993 that I got curious about espresso and started talking to a number of coffee people in the US about the subject. While everyone held strong opinions about it, I did not sense any common understanding nor did I get from them a clear distinction between coffee and espresso. It appeared to me that, according to the North American view, espresso was just another way of making coffee and anything made with an espresso machine should be considered espresso. Unfortunately, much of those same ideas is widely practiced in North America even today.
What was more disconcerting at that time was that many of the characteristics they looked for in a superior espresso were exactly the same as they desired in a premium brewed coffee, e.g. high acidity.
It was not until I started looking towards Italy that I found a clearer consensus about what an espresso is, or should be, and a definite distinction between real espresso and ordinary brewed coffee. It was then that I discovered that real espresso is a very different beverage and possesses characteristics that make it intrinsically superior to brewed coffee.
I also learned that blending for espresso was very different from blending for brewed coffee. What was more important was that the then prevailing idea of requiring coffees from different origins to produce a quality espresso blend was not exactly correct. Instead, what was really accurate was that it took coffees of different types, not necessarily coffees from different origins, to compose a quality espresso blend.
What was particularly revealing was that three prominent coffee growing origins produced all the different types and qualities of coffees called for in a high quality Italian espresso blend; and India happened to be one of the three. This gave us a new, hitherto unknown, incentive to look at espresso blends with the distinct possibility of producing a high quality espresso blend entirely out of coffees from India. But it was not until 1996 that we were able to offer Malabar Gold, a premium European espresso blend, on a commercial basis. One day, I will share with you the trials and tribulations of developing that blend after the concept was fully demonstrated.
In the last issue I covered a number of problems I have with the espresso blends that are commonly available in North America. I will use the same format, Seven Cardinal Sins of Espresso Blending, to evaluate Malabar Gold Supreme, our flag ship product:
1. Selecting Beans Based on Cupping Data:
I had learned early on that it is the emulsification of oils in ground coffee that transforms strong brewed coffee into an espresso and results in a completely different beverage whose measurable physical properties and taste characteristics are distinctively different from those of coffee.
Hence, all our selections of coffees for espresso blending were based on data obtained with actual espressos made with each set of coffee beans. When cupping data were used, they only served to eliminate coffees that were considered unsuitable for espresso use. What was unexpected was that all types of coffees that we deemed necessary to produce a quality Italian espresso blend were already in our inventory, or soon would be.
2. Producing Blends That Are High in Acidity:
I had always believed that high acidity in an espresso is a definite No, No!! Since real espresso is 6 times stronger than ordinary brewed coffee, the acidity one can tolerate, let alone enjoy, in an espresso is a lot less than in brewed coffee. Thus we needed to find a low acid coffee that can become the base for an espresso blend. It was extremely fortuitous that we found the Monsooned Arabica, already a part of our offerings, as an exceptional candidate for the base. It was arguably the lowest acid coffee in the world because of the unique post-harvest processing this coffee undergoes in India. This coffee provided some added bonus. It was very high in body and was a copious producer of crema, both critical parameters in the selection of an outstanding base for an Italian type espresso .
However, it had one serious drawback. Since espresso exaggerates all the features of the coffees in the blend, both good and bad, we found the Monsooned Malabar-AA to be too musty and to have strong overtones of mildew. We found no other coffee to be a serious contender for the base, in terms of low acidity, high body and crema production capability, that we were forced to find a cure for the mildew taste. This was accomplished by the creation of a new grade of monsooned Arabica, called Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade, that is now exclusive to Josuma. Creation of this new grade required modifications of the monsooning process; particularly significantly upgrading the quality of the raw material. It demanded the purchase of fully ripe coffee cherries for natural Arabica production that were more suited for washed coffee production directly from the estates and eliminated any dealings with the coffee trade in India. If you are interested in more details of this upgrade, you may download this brochure.
There were also other changes that made significant improvements in quality. One such improvement was achieved when we found a way to separate out the partially monsooned beans when the monsoon rains have stopped and the monsooning process had, therefore, ended.
Despite these quality improvements achieved in producing the Super Grade, we are sorry to say that the original Monsooned Malabar-AA grade, that is commonly available in North America even today, continues to be musty and mildewed.
3. Overlooking the Significance of Crema:
I have often stated that Crema is the single most important indicator of espresso quality. It is the first evidence that oils in ground coffee have been emulsified, a pre-requisite for the strong coffee to transform itself into an espresso. Crema also represents the unique mechanism in espresso to capture the aroma molecules, that are released during extraction, and hold them in the cup; instead of allowing them to simply escape into the room, which is what happens in the case of brewed coffee. | | 3. Same as #2. except this is toward end of the pour |
 | | 1. Malabar Gold Espresso |
 | | 2. Espresso with Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade Only in time sequence same as #1. |
Malabar Gold, our premium European espresso, has always been famous for the quantity and persistence of crema it produces. See Figure 1 above. Everything that flows out of the portafilter with that blend is crema. As the crema fills the cup, the coffee concentrate begins to separate out at the bottom. And the crema lasts for as long as forty five minutes before it breaks in the middle to reveal the dark coffee brew underneath.
Most people in the North American coffee industry dismissed this spectacular performance as a product of the small amount of high quality washed Robusta we use in Malabar Gold, thereby implying that they could produce as much crema if only they were "permitted" to use some Robusta in their blend. I have always maintained that the Robusta does not produce much more crema, but does help the crema already produced by the base coffee to stabilize, or last longer.
Figure 2 above is espresso produced using only Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade and no Robusta at all. It is taken in the same time sequence as the Malabar Gold espresso shown in Figure 1 to the left. It takes 30 seconds for the pour to complete and the glass is then moved about 20 feet to where the photography set up is located. Elapsed time between the end of the pour and the photograph is about 5 seconds.
One can see by comparing photos 1 and 2 that much of the crema from the Malabar Gold espresso is preserved during this time and only a small amount of liquid coffee concentrate has separated out. The photograph 2 taken using only Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade, the base coffee, shows that the amount of crema remaining is far less than the Malabar Gold case and much more liquid coffee concentrate has separated out than before.
To demonstrate that the same total amount of crema is produced from the base coffee alone as with the Malabar Gold blend that has some high grade Robusta in it, we have taken Photograph 3 above towards the very end of the espresso pour and without spending time to move the glass to the camera location. Photograph 3 was taken with the glass still on the espresso machine and with somewhat compromised lighting. This last picture shows that liquid coffee concentrate has begun to separate out even before the pour is completed.
This set of three photographs shows that the base coffee, Monsooned Malabar-AA Super Grade, is responsible for the copious production of crema and that the crema thus produced would rapidly dissipate if it is not stabilized, or preserved, using a clean Robusta with somewhat higher fat content.
The common claim that they could produce as much crema as Malabar Gold does, if only they could use Robusta is an alibi in which many roasters have taken refuge. Their claim is not true, since most base coffees they use simply do not produce enough crema.
4. Believing that an Espresso Blend HAS to be Dark Roasted: I am not saying that an espresso blend should not be dark roasted. I know and like several espresso blends that are dark roasted. That is very different from someone believing that if it is not dark roasted it cannot be an espresso blend.
Malabar Gold is actually medium roasted, to "full city," which to us is the darkest you can roast before the freshly roasted beans begin to oil. This way the beans in those blends retain their varietal characteristics rather than displaying the monotone of caramelized sugars if they were dark roasted.
5. Creating Espresso Blend with too Many Different Beans: In the last issue we demonstrated serious problems with shot-to-shot-variations using a blend that contains more than three or four beans in it.
The Malabar Gold family of espresso normally contains only three beans and they will never contain more than four. That formula keeps the shot to shot variations under control within the constraints of producing a flavorful espresso blend.
You may be confused by the use of two espresso brands in the Malabar Gold family. One is called Malabar Gold and the other is named Malabar Gold Supreme. If the beans are roasted by Josuma Coffee Company, it will be sold exclusively under the brand name Malabar Gold Supreme. If a third party roaster purchases the ready-to-roast blend from us and does the roasting under license from us, it will called by the original brand name Malabar Gold. Thus the principal difference between those two brands depends on who actually roasts the beans.
There are some other minor differences between the two brands, but are not of a material nature at this time.
6. Embracing Seasonality as if it is a Virtue: Many roasters claim that their espresso reflects the seasonality of the beans that make up their blend. They then go on to describe how coffee is an agricultural product and one should expect variations in the product from crop to crop, as though this is a newly discovered phenomenon.
Like most professional coffee blenders, we have embraced the traditional approach to blend these crop to crop variations away and make the espresso taste the same today as it did yesterday, and taste the same tomorrow as it did today.
We make most of our coffee purchases in large lots, 260 to 300 bags per lot, of high grade, homogenous beans that have been bulked and "reposed" at the origin. Once we select one bag out of a lot for espresso blending, we reserve the entire lot for that purpose. Thus bag-to-bag variations are small except for aging effects which are carefully compensated for. Even that effect is at a minimum since the primary aging effect on coffee beans is loss of acidity, which is rather small for these low- and medium-acid coffees.
Those who hide behind seasonality simply do not understand espresso or blending. It is in fact an open admission of their inability. It is also a real insult to the intelligence of the consuming public.
7. Promoting Single Origin Espresso to Avoid Blending Altogether:
We do not offer any "single origin espresso." We do not consider espresso as just another way of making coffee to accommodate such a product in our offerings.
Creating a quality espresso blend is really hard and is beyond the reach of many that call themselves coffee roasters. Out of nearly 4,000 organizations roasting coffee in North America, only a handful of them have succeeded in creating a masterful espresso blend. Others are trying to convert their shortcomings to their own marketing advantage.
If we were not fortunate enough to have developed Malabar Gold, may be we would have had to embrace the idea of a single origin espresso too!! Who knows? The average consumer is ignorant enough so we could have probably gotten away with it!!!
For a detailed description of blending for Italian espresso, see the two part article I had written for Roast Magazine a couple of years ago. You may download Part I and Part II |
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