Black coffee is coffee in its purest form. Without the guise of milk, there is nowhere for its character to hide.
Black coffee reflects the true quality of the coffee and the barista's skill. It can be sensational at best, but an average one can be unbearable!
Many people prefer not to drink black coffee because it is generally bitter, sour, very toasty (intense), or burnt. That’s why milk and sugar are often added to hide it's flaws and make it more enjoyable.
Nowadays, the demand for specialty coffee has grown dramatically.
We now have access to better coffee beans due to the better technology, resources, cleaning and caring methods. As a result black coffee can be sweet, fruity, complex, clean and sound.
So if you want to try a black coffee, where should you start?
At Maven's Brew these are our golden rules and the standards we live by!
Every industry has a small range of high end products (eg Ferrari or Hermes), and specialty coffee is the high end product in the coffee industry.
According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), coffee beans with a quality score of 80+ is classified as specialty coffee, and this standard will be able to produce a quality black coffee.
Arabica is the better type of coffee over Robusta, which we will explore in future blog posts.
All our drip coffee bags use Arabica beans and are specialty graded coffee beans.
When we cook an expensive premium grade wagyu beef, there's no need to marinate or add too much sauce on top, because we want to experience the full goodness of the meat.
Drinking black coffee is similar. To experience the uniqueness of the coffee bean, we should drink it straight to appreciate its flavour.
If you are a milk coffee drinker, try to avoid putting milk into a coffee with a high acidic profile. Imagine drinking a citrus milk shake...not that impressive!
That's why we recommend when drinking our Poet drip coffee bags to enjoy it as a black without milk due to it's floral and citrus flavours.
There are different brewing methods in making black coffee, such as V60, chemex, aeropress and siphon.
These techniques involves water, filter, ground coffee and some equipment. It is easy to make, but takes time to master the brew.
That’s why our drip coffee products can help. We've measured everything and packaged the beans into drip coffee bags so that people can enjoy a no equipment, no mess and no fuss method of brewing the perfect cup wherever they are.
Happy brewing,
Gordon.
