We continue to journey in real life and coffee life.
This time, I brought back some coffee from Japan that I got during my latest trip. I had hoped to bring some beans from an Okinawan plantation, but those turned out to be more scarce than I expected.
Coffee Beans
The bag was quite small and fairly generic. Some of them had a sticker (spoiler alert: you’ll see that in the next post), but this one was as mysterious as it gets. I believe this is also the first bag of blended coffee beans I’ve tried since starting my journey.
The beans were supposed to be medium roast, but they looked quite light.
Grinded they were loose and had a strong coffee aroma.
The color of the brew was as light as the beans themselves.
Acidity Research
This one was supposed to be highly acidic, according to the shop’s description and it is exactly that, new record achieved.
Here’s the data comparing the reference coffee with all of them till now
| Coffee | Country (beans) | Country (roast) | Temperature | pH | Method |
| Kora Coffee | Dominican Republic | Dominican Republic | 22,8 | 5,8 | 1 – Single pour |
| Auchan (Reference) | Vietnam | Poland | 22,0 | 5,2 | 1 – Single pour |
| Compagnia Dell’Arabica Caffe Corsini | Guatemala | Italy | 22,3 | 5,4 | 1 – Single pour |
| LiLo Coffee Roasters 11th Anniversary GEISHA Blend | Ethiopia, Colombia | Japan | 22,2 | 4,9 | 1 – Single pour (Chemex) |
| LiLo Coffee Roasters 11th Anniversary GEISHA Blend | Ethiopia, Colombia | Japan | 22,2 | 4,9 | 1 – Single pour (Hario) |
This time, I also came back with a new addition to my brewing setup, a paper origami-style Hario dripper in an amazing blue color, just like the Okinawan ocean.
Most future ratings will include brews from both methods, though in the first few tests I didn’t notice much difference, so for now no additional detail.
Coffee Rating
- Flavor – 9 Apparently, there should be a lot going on here (white peach, muscat, lemon, cherry, apricot, candy). While I didn’t pick up most of those, this was one of the first beans that actually made me realize there was something there.
- Bitterness – 8 a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but pleasant and quickly overtaken by other flavors.
- Acidity – 9 should be bad, however good I looked at the pH after I already drank it
- Sweetness – 5 there is something there, wouldn’t call it sweet, however it is still more than I felt in the other
- Initial rating – 9 I was surprised by the taste. I thought I wouldn’t like it due to the high acidity, but it turned out to be one of the best I’ve brewed and tasted.
- After time rating – 9 no change after a month. There won’t be additional second test I simply ran out of beans. Were too good to leave.
Conclusion
These beans were on the pricey side (around 2,500 yen per 100g), but definitely worth it. This experience also made me rethink the idea that started this whole series, that lower acidity means better coffee for me. That belief came from my Jamaica trip, and I never questioned it… until now. I guess it’s time to challenge that idea with future picks.
