The following recipe being described is one taken from a tobacconist written in a pamphlet in 1883 called 'Bentley's Acme flavors for the Tobacconist' by S.O. Bentley.
I had tried this recipe a while back and saw NO real positive results. As time went on I would lay in bed at night and wondered...why would Bentley go the the trouble of writing this recipe and speak so highly of it if it didn't yield positive results?
Re-reading the recipe I realised it was ME who had not really followed the instructions properly. I had guessed at certain things. One of the biggest fails was from not being able to grind the green coffee beans to a fine enough texture to boil. My 'bean soup' was half the strength that it should have been. There are hidden sugars that needed to be released that weren't.
The difficult problem was grinding green coffee beans is near impossible. They're like rocks and will ruin your grinder and can NOT pulverized properly in a blender. My attempt at making a powder of the beans was the big fail.
So, I set out to try this one more time following Bentleys very specific instructions to the letter. After all, he was a druggist and chemist by trade. Low and behold a check on Amazon and there was green coffee bean powder on my doorstep three days later. Beautifully ground green coffee beans as they should be. Boiled them up as per instructions and it made a much richer, full bodied green solution. Filter for use was tricky. It would almost instantly clog a coffee filter so it needed a series of steps to complete.
The other items listed are measured in Drachms. In order to do this precisely an inexpensive digital scale measured everything perfectly. I converted all measurements to teaspoon and tablespoon for future use. The only item not added was the 'oil of bitter almonds'. I wanted no flavors added.
Green coffee powder... 1 oz. = 28.3 grams = 6 tablesppons
Water... 1 pint (finished solution after boiling)
Glycerin... 1 1/4 Teaspoon
Nitrate of potash (KNO3) ... 1/4 Teaspoon
Sprayed front and back of leaves and let them sit for three days then dried to proper case for rolling.
BTW... green coffee mixture is acidic and would help lower the PH of the tobacco. A big plus.
The end result was a VERY smooth and delightful cigar that tasted just like... tobacco. No added flavoring. I tested this with friends and they also agree. My best cigar to date.
Thank you Mr Bentley you were right after all.
No #1 Flavor for Havana...Page 11
https://archive.org/stream/bentleysacmeflav00bent#page/n1/mode/2up
I had tried this recipe a while back and saw NO real positive results. As time went on I would lay in bed at night and wondered...why would Bentley go the the trouble of writing this recipe and speak so highly of it if it didn't yield positive results?
Re-reading the recipe I realised it was ME who had not really followed the instructions properly. I had guessed at certain things. One of the biggest fails was from not being able to grind the green coffee beans to a fine enough texture to boil. My 'bean soup' was half the strength that it should have been. There are hidden sugars that needed to be released that weren't.
The difficult problem was grinding green coffee beans is near impossible. They're like rocks and will ruin your grinder and can NOT pulverized properly in a blender. My attempt at making a powder of the beans was the big fail.
So, I set out to try this one more time following Bentleys very specific instructions to the letter. After all, he was a druggist and chemist by trade. Low and behold a check on Amazon and there was green coffee bean powder on my doorstep three days later. Beautifully ground green coffee beans as they should be. Boiled them up as per instructions and it made a much richer, full bodied green solution. Filter for use was tricky. It would almost instantly clog a coffee filter so it needed a series of steps to complete.
The other items listed are measured in Drachms. In order to do this precisely an inexpensive digital scale measured everything perfectly. I converted all measurements to teaspoon and tablespoon for future use. The only item not added was the 'oil of bitter almonds'. I wanted no flavors added.
Green coffee powder... 1 oz. = 28.3 grams = 6 tablesppons
Water... 1 pint (finished solution after boiling)
Glycerin... 1 1/4 Teaspoon
Nitrate of potash (KNO3) ... 1/4 Teaspoon
Sprayed front and back of leaves and let them sit for three days then dried to proper case for rolling.
BTW... green coffee mixture is acidic and would help lower the PH of the tobacco. A big plus.
The end result was a VERY smooth and delightful cigar that tasted just like... tobacco. No added flavoring. I tested this with friends and they also agree. My best cigar to date.
Thank you Mr Bentley you were right after all.
No #1 Flavor for Havana...Page 11
https://archive.org/stream/bentleysacmeflav00bent#page/n1/mode/2up