Kervin Kaffee
Friday, July 24, 2015
Long Time, No Blogging…
Well, that's sad…
BUT, it's never too late, and so…
The deal with Ash-Ling didn't work out, so you can't find my coffee there anymore. However, you can get a cup of Joe, or a bag of ground beans at Annie's at Alley's Market and Deli in Lakemont (old Lakemont, like near the lake Lakemont). annies at alleys
I'm also working on supplying a local store that specialized in local stuff(s) of all nature. Is stuffs a word?
Regardless, if you like coffee, I mean REALLY LIKE coffee, find some locally roasted, FRESH roasted coffee.
And if you need a gift…friends don't let friends drink bad coffee.
This weekend I'll be helping celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of 12 Spies Winery in Mountain City. They're having a great shin ding. Come get some wine, some BBQ (Wounded Warrior Benefit lunch) and check out other local vendors. 12 Spies Anniversary!!!
Oh, and buy some coffee, you need it.
Good Luck and God Bless, I have to go roast a few pounds.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Good Read and Good Coffee...
WE'RE NO LONGER AT ASH-LING BOOKSELLERS
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Dear Toccoa / Stephens County,
Are you looking for a great place to relax, find a book,
Jessica and company will not only help you find a great read,
Why Ash-Ling? Why Kervin Kaffee Coffee?
That's Freshness you can TASTE!
Last week, Ash-Ling Booksellers hosted a midnight release party for the book "Origin". In honor of the event, Kervin Kaffee created the "Origin Jungle Blend", a 100% Arabica blend of Costa-Rican, Brazilian, Papua-New Guinean, and (ta-da!) REAL Jamaican Blue Mountain (Mavis Banks).
This week, Ash-Ling has a new 100% Arabica Medium Blend. It's a blend of Honduran, Peruvian, Papua-New Guinean, and Brazilian. A little more body than the Origin Jungle Blend, maybe not as sweet, but roasted less than a week ago.
Make sure you ask about Ash-Ling's trade in policy for used books while you're there.
And mark your calendar for Saturday, September 29th. That's
National Coffee Day,
and I'll be doing some roasting and tasting throughout the day at Ash-Ling Booksellers.
Hope to see you next time I'm on Doyle Street.
If you're interested in a bag of coffee, or have any coffee questions, email me at:
kervinkaffee@gmail.com
Thursday, September 6, 2012
What? My Roaster's On Fire???
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One of the lieutenants was a nice "good ol' boy" from South Carolina. Nice fella, thick southern accent. Kept his hair buzzed, almost like a crew cut, yet put lots of "product" (mousse?) in his hair.
This Lt. is at the buffet table and leans over to get some item that was out of his reach. Unfortunately, he leaned over a candle, and the open flame took the opportunity to jump to the flammable stuff in his hair.
His wife screamed and tried to throw a glass of wine on his head, but missed. Every other officer decided it was a good idea to beat the fire out, so we all gathered around and smacked the lieutenant's head.
As he suffered this tumult of head slaps, he pulled back, pushing against us and, after a clearing a free area in front of him, he struck what we would call a dramatic pose and queried:
"What, mah, hairs on fahr?"
(Translated to "What? My hair's on fire?")
Fast forward to the past few weeks. I was watching our toddlers and roasting coffee on the deck. I had completed several roasts (about 8 oz per roast), and was finishing the last one, when I smelled the aroma of a French Roast, maybe even an Italian. That's my cue that the batch has gone beyond the second crack (coffee speak for going tooooo dark).
As I walked to the roaster, I immediately saw the copious quantities of thick smoke billowing from the roaster. I next noticed the actual read flames shooting through the roasting chamber. For a micro-second I considered how beautiful it looked; dark clouds of smoke, short fingers of fire coursing through...it reminded me of seeing lightning inside clouds.
I then extinguished the fire.
I determined that the beans I had been roasting were chaff heavy. Too much chaff that couldn't clear well enough, and eventually that started increasing the temperature in the roasting chamber. As the temp. increased, the beans started roasting darker, which increased the amount of volatile oils coming out of the beans, which oils then aided the chaff in catching fire. And once the chaff started burning, those same oils helped the beans actually ignite and burn.
The roaster took some damage, but I'll be able to rebuild it. And, thank God I have a back-up roaster, so all was not lost.
Today, I was again roasting several varietals to make a blend for some local customers. When I got to the same beans that caused the fire, I sat glued to the roaster. I watched the color, smelled the smoke, listened to the beans cracking, and got a lovely dark roast from them.
I had a stopwatch running, so I thought I could roast another set of the same beans, and use a timer to monitor the progress.
I even checked on the roasting twice during the fifteen minutes I had on the timer. And I was sitting in the sun room beside the deck, working.
My lovely daughter then announces, "Daddy, your coffee is on fire!"
Sure enough, the chaff collector had bright orange flames licking through the grate. One bottle of water and the flames were doused, the roaster turned to cooling mode, and the emergency abated. I pulled the chaff collector off and poured another glass of water through it, and a third glass over the exhaust port of the roaster.
After cool-down, I opened up the chaff collector and found an overload of chaff, thickened with oils and char, covering most of the screen of the chaff collector. Once again, too much chaff blocked the exhaust flow, increasing the temperature inside the roaster, and this time, the heat ignited the chaff in the collector only.
More cleaning and repairing for me, but the roaster is fine, and so is our family.
I still have several pounds of "those" raw beans (the burned ones got tossed). I'll try them one more time, but I will start each batch with a bone dry and clean roaster and chaff collector. And I'll sit there.
Oh, the lieutenant? After his question, we all yelled in the affirmative and continued smacking his head and pouring beverages on him until the flames abated.
Someday I'll have to tell the story about putting out a fire with a bottle of Moet. Talk about decisions!
In the meantime, if you'd like some fine 100% Arabica Coffee Blends, email me at:
Kervinkaffee@gmail.com
Thanks,
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Welcome!
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Thanks for checking out
KervinKaffee
I'm a home roaster / hobbyist coffee roaster in North East Georgia.
All the coffee I roast is 100% Arabica (coffea arabica).
Most is Organic and/or Fair Trade.
I usually create blends of different varietals to mix the complex tastes of various coffees.
I package the beans as I roast them, and I do drink the coffee I roast.
Coffee is truly a miraculous gift from God. There is a fascinating process to go from raw, green beans..
...to the palate-pleasing, nose-titillating, delectable drink that is one of the top commodities in the world.
Life is too short to drink bad coffee. For several decades, we've gotten used to mediocre (if not truly bad) coffee. Considering how much this beverage is a part of the American lifestyle, it's a shame that so many people are spending so much to get so little.
Micro-roasting and home-roasting are changing the face of coffee consumption.
As a hobbyist, I don't roast 50 pounds a day, or anywhere near that. But I do roast about every week, and anyone who's had fresh-roasted (REAL) coffee can tell you there is no comparison to whatever that stuff is you've been buying.
If you're drinking KervinKaffee coffee, rest assured that you're drinking some of the freshest roasted coffee available (unless you do it yourself).
That freshness is a difference you can taste!
I'd like to use this blog, not only to market KervinKaffee, but to educate people on the history, harvest, rearing, and roasting of coffee. We'll talk about light vs. dark roasts, caffeine, the pedigree of the beans, and several all-out trivial facts.
In the meantime, feel free to send me an email:
Kervinkaffee@gmail.com
(photo credits to wikipedia and google images)
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