Page 44 - #53 English

People

Story / Photo : Wei Haen Wang
Do not lose sight of yourself

Wei Haen Wang (Han)

“This might sound very geeky,
but for example, the coffee I used for
my milk based drinks are roasted over
14minutes with a development time of
23%. However, my espresso roast pro-
files are pretty similar to my filter roast,
9minutes – 11minutes total roast time
with not more than one and a half min-
utes of development time, depending on
the coffee, sometimes even less than a
minute. “
So the keyword behind all above
that I said, is the word “enjoy”. When-
ever I cupped a coffee I roasted myself,
the very first question I asked myself is.
“Will my customers enjoy this coffee?”
And the very second question is the
most important question that I asked
myself. “Do I enjoy serving this coffee?”.
I’ve seen many skilled roasters work so
hard to satisfied their client and often
forgotten their own identity. Is almost
sad for me to watch. I myself had almost
walked that path, and actually led me to
hate my job.
So what is the problem with
roasting dark roasty coffee that made
it such an un-enjoyable job for coffee
professional? Tasting. Coffee profes-
sionals have a much more sensitive taste
buds than most of our clients do. For us,
bitterness always stands out most in an
over developed coffee. Is not bright, the
interesting fruits notes are all gone, is
dull and flat, smoky often and we felt dis-
gusted by it. So much eventually we gave
Coffee is a very subjective product. Different people enjoy different roast pro- up tasting it or pay actual attention to the
files. Not just our customers, we as a coffee professional too have different preference. roast profile itself. “Yeah, is dark roasted
I personally enjoy my coffee taste “naked”, to fully present the terroir of the coffee. I anyway, nobody can taste the difference,
like to taste its origin, the cultivar, the processing, everything about where the coffee so whatever.” As soon as you said this to
came from. In the most extreme way, I actually hate it when I can identify my own yourself, you had already lost your iden-
roast in a coffee that I roasted. It almost felt like I want my coffee comes in a roasted tity without knowing it. Can it be fixed?
form right after it’s been de-pulped. This is what I am constantly chasing after, and this No, not really, roasty coffee will always
is what kept coffee interesting, at least for my case. The type of light roast I present be roasty. However, roasty coffee can
often receive feedbacks like “your coffee is grassy”, “your coffee is under-developed”, be enjoyable if we try. I had the sweetest
“your coffee is too acidic” even from coffee professionals. To be honest, I don’t really smoothest dark roasted filter coffee in a
care, but as part of customer service we do need to satisfy a full range of customer’s tiny breakfast retail that I cannot even
preference. Because in the end, we need money to keep doing what we believe is right. recall its name in Tokyo. Ask yourself
So, in my café and roastery, I do serve some much more developed coffee to satisfy some uncanny questions, often question
clients that enjoys roasty flavors from coffee, but at the same time, I have to make sure that seems impossible to achieve. “What
it will still be a product I myself enjoys. if I can reduce this bitterness while not
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