coffees from zimbabwe and sumatra for coffee of the month club

ENJOY STIRRING MOMENTS THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY WITH THESE TWO DIFFERENT COFFEES FROM ZIMBABWE and SUMATRA. . . AND YOUR FAVORITE COFFEE OF THE MONTH CLUB . . .

ZIMBABWE AA

— FULL CITY ROAST —

Zimbabwe, nestled in southeastern Africa between Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa, produces a large quantity of very good arabica coffee. This coffee has the same fine family characteristics shared by most African coffee, including high acidity, intense aroma and full body. Truly, African coffee has the best of everything! The over-abundance of flavor and aroma comes through in a sharp note, due mostly from its high acidity.

African coffee is graded with a double letter mark. AA is the highest grade, denoting largest bean size and fewest defects per pound. (Defects are unripened beans or black beans, or small stones or sticks which find their way into the coffee through harvesting and processing. Any defect that finds its way through the roasting and grinding processes can give a pot of brewed coffee an off-flavor.)

Following AA are the grades of AB, BB and CC, on a descending scale. Your favorite Coffee of the Month Club is proud to bring you only the best — Zimbabwe AA, perfectly roasted to a full city roast — as one of this month’s selections from The Coffee Tasters Club.

SUMATRA MANDHELING

— VIENNA ROAST —

By far one of the most popular coffees in the specialty coffee market, Sumatran coffee has a heavy bodied flavor that appeals to many coffee drinkers. We have found over the years that people who do NOT care for high acid African coffee (such as Kenya) tend to be Sumatran and Indonesian coffee drinkers. Sumatra, and its cousins Timor and Java, have a heavy body. They are highly aromatic and lower in acid than other coffee.

Physically, Sumatran coffee is a large bean, more oval in shape than round. The beans tend to be multi-colored with a mottled look, with slight variances throughout the roast. This coloration is not caused by improper roasting, but rather the result of the drying process this coffee is exposed to.

Most Ethiopian coffee is also processed the Natural or Dry way, as is this Sumatran offering. The method involves spreading the coffee cherries out to dry on concrete beds. Occasionally the coffee is raked to let it dry evenly in the sun. Because this manual process is not perfect, some spots do not dry as thoroughly as others. This becomes visible in the roasting of the beans, showing slightly different shades throughout a single roast.

THERE’S NO TIME LIKE SUMMER FOR COLD-BREWED ICED COFFEE!

Combine 8 quarts of cold water and 1 pound of good, richly roasted ground coffee in a large, covered container. Stir to ensure all grounds are moistened. Let sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours. Pour coffee/water mix through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Allow to cool in the refrigerator.

To make perfect iced coffee, pack a tall glass with ice cubes and fill 2/3 full with iced coffee. Add your choice of half-and-half or milk, plus 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar or sweetener. (Or, my favorite: Add 3 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, topped off with a splash of half-and-half or whole milk.) Stir, sip, and smile.