Coffee people: What to do with this?

[Tsuchiya]

I picked this up last week when doing our grocery shopping after reading about the variety in the past. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee gets a lot of praise and I was surprised to see it in ground form amongst the regular brands I usually find. It seemed a bit expensive at £7 for a small box, but decided to give it a try.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003TFE5...de=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B003TFE53G

It's awful.

In a french press it's too thin and weak at the usual concentrations I use for other coffee. Adding in more coffee the second try did make it a bit better, but it was still bad.

Next I tried my Moka pot, it's still not great.

I'm thinking that the grind is just poor. It's probably not representative of the variety as a whole and it's probably a bit cheap for the real thing (I looked online and found that prices for the roasted beans costing just under £100/Kg)

However, I still have more then half a box of this stuff left and was wondering what to do with it (short of throwing it out).

Any ideas? Am I just brewing it poorly? I stuck to 2 table spoons per cup with the french press, then messed about with the ratio afterwards. Still, nothing. I won't claim to be an expert on brewing, but I can for the most part produce a decent cup using my regular grind.

edit: I should mention that I have some idea what to expect with this variety (i.e. a mild flavour, lacking bitterness. Perhaps a bit sweet), but the flavour this grind was producing lacked any flavour whatsoever.

 

[vrDrew]

As a general rule, coffee always tastes better if it is ground right before brewing. Once the beans are ground, they inevitably begin to lose some of the essential oils and flavenoids that gives it is great flavor. Vacuum-packing, sealing, etc. will retard this process - but only so much. (The essences still escape into the package/can and are lost when you open it up.) If you are so inclined, buy a burr-grinder (that allows you to get a consistent, and adjustable, grind) and buy only good-quality unground beans that have been recently roasted to your tastes.

My guess is you got a batch that had been roast and ground too long ago, and had lost most of its flavor.

My recommendation? Throw it out. Its not going to get any better.

Personally, I would have to note I'm not a fan of Jamaican Blue Mountain in general. I find it a bit thin - even when using a generous amount of the costly beans - with a somewhat "gritty" texture. A Jamaican Blue Mountain that was past its sell-by date would be, IMHO, a recipe for disappointment.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Indeed, never buy preground coffee. I'd write it off as a loss and be glad you didn't spend more.

 

[artgalgenius]

It's probably a combination of factors. The coffee may not be pure, or it may even be old, and it sounds like it was not ground evenly.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I agree with all of the previous posters. I'm a coffee fan, so I feel your pain on this.

Some years ago, I bought some Jamaican Blue Mountain Ground Coffee in a blend (and managed, as well, to get a very small amount of the 'pure' coffee to try out). Like the OP, I felt that as it had been so highly rated, I had longed to try it out, and expected and expected that it would be sublime. Mine was a pretty fresh batch, but, I must admit, that while it was perfectly pleasant, it was not worth the price charged. Actually, even freshly ground, I'd regard coffee made from that particular bean as over-rated.

I think that you may well have bought a batch that had been roasted and ground too long (ground coffee should have a date - two dates on the packet - roasted date and best before date; the closer to the former date you drink it, the better the coffee will taste). As such, it will not have much of a taste.

I doubt that the actual coffee can be rescued; either throw it out, or blend it with something else which has more depth and flavour if you wish to try to drink it.

 

[Huntn]

Chock it up to a lesson learned. As far as drinking it, so as not to waste it, you could mix it 25%-75% with other approved coffees until it's gone? I did this once with some god aweful French Roast.

 

[ender land]

This cannot be worse than the peppermint coffee that was a gift that I made... one pot of, then, couldn't even finish a cup of

 

[Demosthenes X]

I brought back some coffee beans from Jamaica, and it was delicious, so it's too bad to hear you didn't have good luck.

As has been said, mix it with some good coffee and at least you won't have thrown away your money. And next time, look for unground beans. There are some reasonable (albeit still not cheap) sources online.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Chock it up to a lesson learned. As far as drinking it, so as not to waste it, you could mix it 25%-75% with other approved coffees until it's gone? I did this once with some god aweful French Roast once.

You could also ask around for anyone who bakes. They may actually like some to use in a recipe. I also thought used coffee grounds were good in the garden.

 

[Abstract]

Perhaps the grind was the wrong size for your french press.

 

[Shrink]

Perhaps the grind was the wrong size for your french press.

This^^^

French press requires a very coarse grind. (Drip requires a medium grind, espresso a fine grind).

All the advice above about pre-ground coffee quickly losing it's flavor is absolutely right. Also, although I don't know how large the package was, £7 for Jamaican Blue Mountain is exceptionally inexpensive, and it leads me to wonder how long that pre-ground coffee had been sitting on the shelf.

If you really care about your coffee, grinding your own beans is a must. Also, storing the beans properly, and using them within a period of no more than 2 weeks after opening the (vacuum sealed, I assume) package at the most is also essential.

 

[katt]

maybe you should try different ways of brewing it?

 

[acidfast7]

do you have a burr grinder?

 

[Designer Dale]

I wouldn't buy foodstuff from Amazon. You never know how old it is, and that's important with coffee. The older it is the more bitter it will be.

I find that reading the comments will help make decisions where you can't handle something. From the Amazon link:

• Disappointing Coffee
• A Disappointment
• Dire - sorry that's the only word I can print
• A lovely cup of coffee!

Also: "The only Blue Mountain coffee to be roasted and packed in Jamaica." Those Rasta men roast and pack a different brew...

Dale

 

[inscrewtable]

A French press is rubbish at making coffee.

Aeropress, say no more.

 

[Huntn]

You could also ask around for anyone who bakes. They may actually like some to use in a recipe. I also thought used coffee grounds were good in the garden.

All my coffee grounds go into the garden.

 

[Shrink]

A French press is rubbish at making coffee.

Aeropress, say no more.

There are at least 8 or 9 people who might disagree.

As far as that thing making "espresso"...

 

[joepunk]

Chock it up to a lesson learned. As far as drinking it, so as not to waste it, you could mix it 25%-75% with other approved coffees until it's gone? I did this once with some god aweful French Roast once.

I've done this on many occasions. One example is after I take home some of those hotel coffee packets I combine one regular with one decaf.

 

[inscrewtable]

There are at least 8 or 9 people who might disagree.

As far as that thing making "espresso"...

In order to disagree one must compare would not you agree. Personally no one I know who has tried it disagrees. In fact mostly they go and buy one.

Espresso relies on forcing water through a tamped puck. The tamping and pressure must be just right in order to get the water through the coffee in the required 15-20 seconds which is the perfect amount of time. However the water does not go through the puck of coffee evenly. And worse in order to maintain the correct average temperature, the water starts out too hot thereby burning the coffee and ends up too cold thereby not extracting properly.

The aeropress on the other hand contacts all the coffee with the water at once and then it's all removed in a few seconds after the 15 second wait. Plus even the finest sludge is removed from the coffee. It's simple physics, an espresso machine simply cannot do this. Ergo...etc..

Also regarding the French press, it's objectively rubbish at making a good coffee simply for the fact that it relies upon the coffee soaking in the water for a considerable period of time which extracts all the bitterness and other rubbish that ruins the coffee, that is not to say that someone may still enjoy it as that is subjective. In fact coffee that may be considered not very good in a French press will come out considerably better in the aeropress. In fact in order to appreciate the true subtleties of any coffee the aeropress is unsurpassed due to both it's consistency and absolute perfection of preparation.

Also if 'espresso' is considered to be a shot made especially for you then the aeropress once again makes a better 'espresso'. In fact it can make a half shot just as well.

 

[acidfast7]

Espresso relies on forcing water through a tamped puck.

steam (gas at 9psi), not water (liquid)

 

[Tsuchiya]

Perhaps the grind was the wrong size for your french press.

Perhaps, it doesn't seem finer then the usual coffee I use though.

You could also ask around for anyone who bakes. They may actually like some to use in a recipe. I also thought used coffee grounds were good in the garden.

Good idea, I'll look into this.

do you have a burr grinder?

Not yet, though I'm considering getting one so I can grind beans at home.

I wouldn't buy foodstuff from Amazon. You never know how old it is, and that's important with coffee. The older it is the more bitter it will be.

I find that reading the comments will help make decisions where you can't handle something. From the Amazon link:

• Disappointing Coffee
• A Disappointment
• Dire - sorry that's the only word I can print
• A lovely cup of coffee!

Also: "The only Blue Mountain coffee to be roasted and packed in Jamaica." Those Rasta men roast and pack a different brew...

Dale

I only found the link afterwards tbh, I found the coffee in a Waitrose. It was more of an impulse buy because I recognized the variety.

Cheers for the replies guys