Revisiting Coffee: A Year of Growth

In this episode, I'm doing something I've been looking forward to for a long time — coming back to six coffees I've already judged, brewed, and roasted before. I'm calling it the rematch. These are the exact same coffees: a Colombian medium, a Watermelon medium, a Honduras medium, an Ethiopian light roast white honey, a Honduras light roast, and a Java Nica from L'Kinzel Coffee Company out of Nicaragua. They've been sitting in the warehouse, some in vacuum-sealed bags, quietly aging while I've been out here sharpening my skills. The biggest question isn't whether the coffees changed. The biggest question is whether I have.

I talk through what I remember about each coffee, what I'm hoping to find this time, and why I believe returning to familiar coffees is one of the most underrated tools a home brewer has. I also share a story about a Meyer lemon Colombian I ordered from a Seattle roaster years ago — a coffee that hit like a revelation the first time, then came back as a shadow of itself on the second order. That experience changed how I think about roasters, repeat purchases, and the expectations we bring to a cup. By listening to this episode, you'll understand why going back to a coffee you've already tried is one of the most honest tests of how much your palate and brewing knowledge have actually grown — and how to approach that rematch with curiosity instead of disappointment.

Transcript

Cleaned Transcript with Timestamps

[00:00:00] Six coffees. I've already judged every single one of them. Now I'm not sure if I'm right. I guess this is the rematch.

[00:00:17] Months ago, years ago, I had these coffees. I tasted these coffees. I roasted these coffees. I've had trials and tribulations with these coffees. I've done it all with them. And now it's time to taste them again.

[00:00:45] As you can see right in front of me, I have six different coffees. Well, actually seven — I'll get to that one soon.

[00:01:00] Columbia medium. Watermelon medium. They all smell so good. Honduras medium. Very one-hit wonder. Ethiopian light roast, white honey. This is a Honduras light roast. And the last one — Java Nica. Java Nica from L'Kinzel Coffee Company. Nicaraguan importers that grow their own. Met them last year. This is their coffee.

[00:02:28] I don't know exactly how I roasted it — that doesn't matter, we'll find that out later. The biggest thing here is that these are the exact same coffees. They've been chilling in the warehouse for a while, so there's a little bit of age on them. Some of them had vacuum silk bags on them — nicely self-contained.

[00:02:54] But more importantly, I'm a different person now. I've experienced different coffees. I've grown as a person. I have different gear, a deeper understanding of what I'm doing, different brewing techniques. I even have a water chemistry approach that I'm looking forward to trying on these coffees.

[00:03:18] I'm just in a different place right now. And I would say that I'm very honored and very privileged to be able to come back to these coffees. Taste them for what they are. See if they're better. See if my brewing techniques and knowledge can allow these coffees to be who they truly, really are.

[00:03:51] Probably they're gonna be the same. So how I'm going to put these to the test — I'm simply going to drink them. Some of these coffees may have their own little series. But for the most part, I'm just here to drink them, try to enjoy them, see them for what they are, and see if they're going to be different — especially given the knowledge and skills I have right now.

[00:04:18] I think that's one of the biggest takeaways of all this: the opportunity to test again, to see if time and experience actually matter. That's what I'm looking forward to.

[00:04:44] My predictions for these coffees? I just hope they're tasty. I know that's a cop-out — that's not very specific. But let's talk about the Honduras coffee, for instance.

[00:05:00] What I remember about that coffee is that it has chocolate undertones in the beginning sometimes, but it's layered and entrenched with an orangey type of taste. It's very intense sometimes, especially as a lighter roast. The medium roast is a lot better. For me, being more of a darker roast kind of person, that sweetness and that orangey taste really comes alive. I wonder if there are other flavors present in that coffee.

[00:05:41] Those are the things I'm looking forward to trying. I roasted it light because I wanted to see if I could have another appreciation for light roast. That's what I'm doing here.

[00:05:59] With light roast, for the most part, anything I do with it is about appreciation. That's really all it is. Trying to understand it for what it is, trying to see it for what it is, and to see if there are different variations, different cultivars, or different varietals that I will understand even more.

[00:06:30] Probably I need to find different coffees within the same spectrum. I want to see if my taste buds are changing, and whether I can find some resemblance of greatness in light roast — even in a more one-dimensional, orangey type of coffee.

[00:06:54] I can't remember exactly how I roasted the Java Nica. It looks like it could be a medium light. We're gonna see how this one tastes. We'll test it alongside the other Nicaraguan I currently have as a big bag, seeing if the producers actually matter. The one I got from the importer likes a 1 to 10 ratio — a concentrated approach. This one, I wonder about. It looks similarly prepared, same country. We're gonna find out.

[00:07:48] This Guatemalan over here — not a fan of it. It's just very chocolatey, sometimes a hint of fruit, but most of the time not. I wonder if there are different flavors to it. I wonder if I can see between the layers. I wonder if the ZP6 is going to come into play here. I wonder if this coffee is going to talk to me the way it has for many other people.

[00:08:20] A lot of people love this coffee. I didn't have a light roast Ethiopian — trying that again — seeing all the skills I've accumulated over the past six, seven, almost a year for some of these coffees.

[00:08:40] I just want to see if what I'm doing right now is making a difference. I wonder if I can play around with different things — the filter paper, the cone shape, the flat bed — to see if I can truly bring out whatever I want out of these coffees, or just let these coffees talk to me.

[00:09:07] Truthfully, what may also happen — and it's not out of the realm — is that these coffees are exactly what they are, and they're probably going to be slightly worse just because of age. Being in the green process for this long — I know my Honduras coffee is old. I wonder if those flavors and characteristics are still going to shine through. Maybe that's where it needs to be. Maybe it needs to be a little more mellow, which could allow the other flavors to start to shine. I don't know. Those are some of the things I think about.

[00:10:00] The reason why this situation is important to me, and hopefully to you, is this: you are a different person. You like different things. You may like slight variations in things. What I'm saying is that if it's possible for you to get that same bag of coffee — probably freeze one and enjoy the other — take notes, jot them down, see what you like and what you don't like about that coffee. Then, many months later, come back to it. Experience it. See how it's different. See if what you tasted before is still there. Do you feel the same way about that coffee? Those are the things that are extremely important in all of this.

[00:10:53] This is more of a rematch for me, and I think it can also be a rematch for you. And I'm not saying this to slight anybody, but those coffees are different. That roaster has probably roasted it slightly differently at different batches. Seeing if you can pick that up — those are some of the things that are going to be fun and magical about this whole experience, just being one with these coffees.

[00:11:34] I still have about a week left before I actually start drinking these coffees. I'm looking forward to it. It's been almost a week already, so about two to two and a half weeks, then I'll go ahead and get started.

[00:11:54] I'm going to leave you with this before we end today. This is extremely important, critical to me, and very impactful — and it ties into what I try to do with everything that I do.

[00:12:06] Years ago, I used to buy coffee. Buying roasted coffee from all around the States. I still do when I travel. And I befriended a roaster in Seattle — I'm not going to say his name, he's still doing his thing. Whatever was on the website was on the website, but he'd give me different tips and pointers about the coffees he had and roasted. I'd see him online and ask different questions.

[00:12:57] And then I saw this Colombian. I don't know which exact coffee it was — the origin, the cultivar, the variety. That didn't matter to me back then. I just saw the descriptors, and what stuck out was Meyer lemon. I was like, what is that? Can a coffee really taste like a Meyer lemon? What does a Meyer lemon taste like — is it acidic and sweet, or just a softer kind of lemony acidity?

[00:13:36] I didn't know, but I got it. My expectations for this coffee were already high because of what I probably hadn't really experienced or tasted before. So I opened the bag, put it on my Hario V60 — that's all I had at the time. It was magical. It was delicious. It was talking to me. It was really a one-hit wonder, but I didn't care. It was tasty, and I could see exactly what he was talking about with that Meyer lemon taste.

[00:14:20] I cherished that bag. I didn't want to finish it. Kind of like a couple of these coffees I have right now. And I finally finished it. A month went by.

[00:14:39] I think I emailed him asking if he had the Meyer lemon, and he said yeah, he still had some but was about to be finished with it and didn't know when it was coming back. So I ordered another bag of that same coffee.

[00:14:54] I opened the bag. Started to brew. Something wasn't right. It was flat. Very little bit of that Meyer lemon taste on it. It was a skeleton of itself — a fraction of what it was. It wasn't itself.

[00:15:32] And as I sat there starting to get frustrated at the roaster and all that, I started to think about the things he probably went through. The coffee just being older, probably him not having the best day when he roasted it. I started to give some grace to that person, because that is a person — most of the time still hand-roasting your coffee.

[00:16:03] I think about that moment a lot, because that's just the state of humanity. That's just the state of life. What I mean by that is: nothing is ever going to be the same ever again. I can't get that coffee to be exactly the way I had it before. There are other elements in between that are making it do what it does, and I am a totally different person too when it comes down to all of this.

[00:16:37] And that's the only thing I care about right now. I care about my experience, my understanding, my wonder, and the hope that I will get from these coffees. Because don't get me wrong — I'm salivating right now. I'm excited about trying these out again.

[00:17:01] I'm not so worried about being disappointed. This coffee will do what it will do or it won't. But the biggest thing is just experiencing it, enjoying it for what it is.

[00:17:17] Six coffees right in front of me. And I'm just hoping for the best. Really, just for me to see all of the skills I have accumulated over the past six months to a year since I first tried these coffees. Seeing if my knowledge, my expertise, the gear I have, the instruments I have — and the water chemistry I haven't told you about yet, that I'll be trying on these coffees.

[00:18:05] That's exciting.

[00:18:09] So my predictions: I hope that I taste something totally different with each and every one of these coffees. I hope that they talk to me — that I understand exactly what I'm doing in order to bring out the best in them. I hope that my skills and my experience feel comfortable. I hope that I just taste what's amazing about these coffees. I want to find out what is special about every single one of them, in their own way, in their own right. Some of them have a lot more capacity compared to others, but at the end of the day, I just want to find what's special about them.

[00:19:01] So yeah — let me know what you think. This is Oke, Everyday Beans. I'll talk to you later.