Hawaiian Coffee (World's Best Coffee?? - DEBATE)

[coffeeroom]

I find the best coffee to be Hawaiian coffee. I'm curious to hear opinions about this.

Some people think Jamaican Blue mountain is superior. I find it too acidic. Any comments?

 

[Rowley]

I would agree that hawaiian coffee is best, although my judgement is biast as I have never tryed any jamaican blue mountain. I've heard all of the good things about Jamaican Blue mountain beans though, and many 90% of the time they do say jamaican Blue mountain is better then Hawaian, or anything else out there for that matter.

 

[Coffee Guy]

It all comes down to personal taste. Actually I like both for their differences. For example on a cool day I enjoy a good Iced Kona with a splash of creamer in a tall glass, whereas after dinner with maybe some sweet dessert I prefer JBM. :lol:

 

[Alun_evans]

Well call be biased (or damn biased), but I reckon there are some Indonesian coffees that are up there with the best. There are at least 3 Sumatrans and a Java that I would rate very highly...and if you compare them $ for $ against a Jamaican or Hawaiian coffee...well it makes them more attractive still!

 

[donlp37]

I'm sorry but I believe neither to be the best in the world because of their prices. No one can make me believe that Jam or Haw is worth three to five times the price of some other coffees. We used to get both from the best plantations, but I've also had so many varietals that would be thought superior to the other two in blind taste tests. The popularity of both arose years ago from being better than the rest. Now I believe the demand is solely on the experience of drinking what is labeled the best coffee in the world.

 

[Coffee Guy]

Well D37 as I said it all comes down to personal taste. Price only comes into play when those who set the price. It's the old supply and demand thing. If Jamaica suddenly started flooding the market with it's coffee, then the price would come down. I guess it's the image of drinking coffee that's not affordable just to say you've tried it. That's like having a shot of some of the world's finest Scotch, it would cost about $200 a shot. Personally I don't like Scotch, but if someone were to offer me a taste I wouldn't turn it down :wink:

 

[Quink]

I have tried both coffee's over the years, and apart from the poser value of them, neither have made me go WOW best coffee ever. Supply and demand probably comes in to it, as both regions don't produce that much coffee so they come at a price if you want something a little exclusive. On another note If price is what determines the worlds best coffee wheres the kopi luwak?? Tried it, liked it, much more than kona or blue mountain. Could this have been my wallet overiding my tastebuds?

 

[Alun_evans]

Hey Quink. I don't know. While I thought the Kopi Luwak I roasted and tried was interesting...I would not go as far as saying it was the best coffee I have ever tried. Heck, believe it or not I even have my own Luwak who produces small quantities of beans :wink: If I was going to nominate a coffee.... I would say it was a 10 year old Java (from central-east Java). I got the greens from a guy who has a huge warehouse here. Very mild, super smooth and velverty. But as CG says in his post...guess much of this comes down to personal taste

 

[Quink]

believe it or not I even have my own Luwak who produces small quantities of beans :wink:

:shock: Really, God knows if I had one of those I'd be force feeding the little poop machine with nothing but beans :lol:
I dont really think its the best in the world, but I did prefer it to the other two. To me it had a really coffee like smell to it, if that makes any sense. I mean that it smelt the way I would think coffee would smell rather than what it actually smells like. I know, you now think I'm going mad :wink:
I was really just saying that when your paying that much for coffee your expectations of it go up. Hell for the price I paid for Luwak I wanted an out of body experience. I've always fealt a bit let down when kona or jbm taste like coffee after paying for what is supposed to be the best.
Actually I'm drinking kona at the moment (Smith farms estate) and really do like it, its not the first time that I've bought there kona either. Thought I'd add that as I think this may come over as kona and jbm bashing, which is not my intention.
One other thing I'll admit to, is that apart from the smell of the luwak it took a more delicate palate than mine to determine the diference between that and any other Sumatra coffee

 

[Coffee Guy]

Ahh all interesting views...Truthfully I've never tried kopi luwak coffee. I've always heard the legends of it's almost God like taste, but that's about it. But if it's all about the poop berry :twisted: , umm just wondering what I can come up with :shock:

 

[Alun_evans]

Hey Quink..."an out of body experience" is surely what you get drinking Luwak :lol: ! Good point about the differences in a standard Sumatran when tasting along side Luwak. I was lucky when I roasted mine up. The kopi luwak came from the same plantation we get our standard beans from... so I quess I had a fair control sample to cup against.

As to the Luwak... he,s a little blighter. Eats like there is no tomorrow- mainly fruits. Not too friendly and has very, very sharp teeth. Its not arabica season here just yet....but when the cherries begin to rippen no more papaya or bananas for him!

 

[Steve_B]

I of course prefer Australian grown coffee

Hi:

Of course, I would be biased, but I believe Australian grown coffee to be the world's best.

True, to make such a statement presumes a vast taste experience of the coffees of the world, which few people can honestly claim to have.

However, my coffee experience is reasonably broad, and so I'm sticking to my view.

I had almost stopped drinking coffee entirely until my conversion to Australian grown coffee about 1 year ago. Have barely touched any other stuff since, and when I have I soon stepped back onto the One True Path.

Granted Australian grown coffee is not as exotic and rarefied a bean as coffee that is excreted from (SARS-carrying) civet cats :grin: , but personally I don't take that as a failing.

Steve B.

 

[Alun_evans]

Hehehe.... good point Steve B! I had a look at the Aussie website and was quite surprised at the number of growers, especially in NSW! I would be keen to get some samples up here to test roast. I am assuming you are fairly unbiased.... so what would be your general recommendations

 

[Steve_B]

Thanks Alun.

If you were after some wholesale quantities of DGB to roast up, I'd recommend two large and high quality growers from different ends of Australia - Skybury in QLD, near Cairns, and Mountain Top Coffee from NSW, near me in Nimbin. They both concentrate on growing high quality DGB for export markets primarily, although both also do have some retail exposure via sales to local roasters and cafe chains. Given their great distances apart, but otherwise identical attributes as high-quality growers using mechanical harvesting, wet processing etc, it will also let you check out some of the influences of terroir on local coffee taste.

If you were after smaller quantities of beans, from NSW you could try Carool Coffee Traders, Zentvelds and for example Rosebank Gold for an interesting selection, and from QLD you should try Coast Coffee from Bundaberg, or Jaques from near Cairns. These are all very nice coffee's, and yet each has their own personality.

Nat Jaques from Jaques Australian Coffee is also a regular visitor to your part of the world, I understand.

Steve

 

[Alun_evans]

Thanks Steve. I am more keen to try these out for myself, so would be looking for smaller volumes I expect! Of course I may be so taken with the samples that I have to look at changing the tag line of my business! Looking at the map of where these coffees are grown... what kind of altitudes are we talking about? One of the websites had a interesting collection of photos of how the cherries were picked... would be very interesting to see that kind of mechanisation here in Indo!!!