Hi Friends,
This weekend, I will be roasting on Sunday, October 4, then shipping and delivering on Monday.
We have some amazing new coffees this week, a fair trade/organic Ethiopian Sidamo from the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU) and a sweet, rich FTO (fair trade organic) Sumatra Mandheling.
And, for espresso fans, we herald the return of Giddy Goats. We had to put the Goats out to pasture for a few weeks, until we got some more of the coffees that make up this top secret blend, but its time to get Giddy again!
With this article, I begin a series on social issues in coffee. In the coming weeks, I'll take you one by one through the major forms of certification (fair trade, organic, shade grown and bird friendly), and share some thoughts about how current economic and cultural forces in the US are impacting our quest for great coffees. Drop me a line if you have questions on any of these areas.
As a background for these articles to come, I'd like to give you a grounding in the macro level coffee market, and explain the forces that shape coffee supply and demand around the world. Taken together, it is these forces that determine the prices received by the vast majority of coffee farmers - and as you will see, these people have embarked on a wild and unpredictable ride.
Most people reading this article are average Americans. We have mortgages or rent, healthcare costs, insurance bills, groceries to buy and the need to clothe and shelter our families. Hopefully, we all still have jobs, and in our jobs, we receive a salary or hourly wage that we expect to be consistent. And each month, we count on there being at the least some predictability in an amount of income, an amount of bills and ideally something left over at the end of all that.
The farmers we know locally have things hard enough, with the ways in which weather patterns (especially this year!), insects and shifting food preferences impact their financial equilibrium, and coffee farmers have all these same adventures. But unlike local farmers, who can sell their crops locally or regionally, the output of coffee farmers is almost always heading away from the countries in which it is grown and into the turbulence of global commodities markets.
Here's what I found when I looked up "Commodity" in Wikipedia:
A commodity is some good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. It is a product that is the same no matter who produces it, such as petroleum, notebook paper, or milk. In other words, copper is copper. The price of copper is universal, and fluctuates daily based on global supply and demand. Stereos, on the other hand, have many levels of quality. And, the better a stereo is [perceived to be], the more it will cost.
One of the characteristics of a commodity good is that its price is determined as a function of its market as a whole. Well-established physical commodities have actively traded spot and derivative markets. Generally, these are basic resources and agricultural products such as iron ore, crude oil, coal, ethanol, salt, sugar, coffee beans, soybeans, aluminum, copper, rice, wheat, gold, silver and platinum.
Commoditization occurs as a goods or services market loses differentiation across its supply base, often by the diffusion of the intellectual capital necessary to acquire or produce it efficiently. As such, goods that formerly carried premium margins for market participants have become commodities, such as generic pharmaceuticals and silicon chips.
Yuck. Do we all consider coffee to be "the same no matter who produces it"? Of course we don't, but on a very important level, the market does - and this is the awful, awful paradox of coffee. A few weeks from now, after the polite grounding, I am going to indulge in a mega rant about the way I think this should be - but not yet.
The "C" Market:
As with the other globally-traded commodities mentioned above, benchmark coffee prices are set by large trading exchanges, here with one for Arabica coffee (most specialty coffee) based in New York, and the other for Robusta coffee, based in London.
The current "C" futures rate is set based on the forecasts of future forces that shape the supply and demand of coffee - to include weather, crop cycles, demand trends, crop yields and business conditions. And this rate is then used as an index against which coffee transactions at every step of the market, from grower to roaster, are priced. Transactions are based on differentials - either a premium or a discount - relative to the "C" price.
In my short time as a commercial roaster, I have seen the C price reach a high in mid-2008 of $1.65, then drop to its current rate of $1.35 (a 20% decline). I read today that the rate for the start of 2010 is predicted to be $1.10 (a 33% drop), based on the bumper crop coming out of Brazil this growing season.
The Big Players:
The output of the world's three largest producers, Brazil, Vietnam and Columbia, has a significant impact on the C price, as they collectively produce nearly 60% of the world's coffee. The forces of nature, such as this year's record rains in Columbia, can drive shifts in the C rate, as can diseases, pests or frosts. Government actions, like Vietnam's surge in Robusta production over the last 20 years, moves the C rate, and can work to the benefit of farmers (when cropland is converted to coffee production) or to traders (as they selectively hold and release coffee to the markets).
The Farmer:
So now back to our farmer. The reason all this matters at the level of an individual grower is that, with very few exceptions, the rates received by growers are also indexed to the C price. And unfortunately, the C price doesn't care about the costs of production in individual countries or regions. It doesn't care about wages, fertilizer, equipment maintenance, the cost of getting to market or the risks of local weather patterns. And when the markets dip, as they have now, farmers with relatively fixed production costs can suddenly find their revenue falling below their cost of growing coffee.
The strategies farmers use to respond to these crises include crop substitutions (growing more profitable crops on the same land), cutting production costs, increasing yields, increasing coffee quality (which can improve the grading of their coffee and increase the price) and conversions to organic growing methods or other growing schemes.
But these strategies take time. They incur costs that may not be possible for farmers of limited means. They carry risks. And they are simply not attainable for everyone. In Costa Rica this spring, we met some entrepreneurial farmers who had invested in micromills for their farms - a strategy that allows much greater control over coffee quality and the elimination of the costs or lower prices resulting from processing coffee at a large, centralized mill. But I remember asking our host about the kind of farmer who can make a micromill work, and he explained that these are people with a unique combination of farmer skills, business savy, daring and mechanical aptitude. And not every farmer is suited for such an investment.
My Concern
I feel like coffee is at a crossroads right now. In the past ten years, a "third wave" of coffee culture has developed in the U.S., Europe and Japan, with amazing improvements in coffee sourcing, roasting techniques, brewing and consumer appreciation of new and different coffees. And with a healthy economy (and a strong coffee market), the incentives were plentiful for coffee growers to push the envelope. Old, lower yielding strains of coffee were replanted. Micromills were installed, allowing special coffees from single plots of land to be isolated, tested and improved to the point of magic. Innovative sorting methods allowed improvements in the processing of coffee, resulting in cleaner, fresher tastes. Environmentally sensitive growing methods improved water quality, reduced water usage and allowed coffees to be grown with fewer chemical inputs.
But every one of these improvements requires the assumption of risk and investment. And if, at the end of the day, the price to be gotten for a pound of green coffee isn't high enough, these investments won't be made, and the great juggernaut of quality will slow or even stop. When our own economy goes south, people here look for ways to save, and the price they are willing to pay for a pound or a cup of coffee goes down. And the traders in New York and London see this trend and lower the C rate. And this then trickles all the way back to the mountains of Guatemala and Sumatra and Ethiopia and the others.
Enough for now - stay tuned for more.
Enjoy the weekend!
Kent
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Post-Roast Life of Coffee
Good morning, Friends,
This weekend, I will be roasting on Sunday, September 20, then shipping and delivering on Monday. Please have all mail orders, local deliveries and wholesale orders in by 10:00 Sunday. We have a few bags here if anyone is in need before then.
I wanted to write today on what goes on in coffee in the hours and days after it is roasted . . . and what this means for you.
Last weekend, when I was getting ready to roast, I got a panicked call from a wholesale customer saying that they had a larger than usual crowd of espresso drinkers that morning, and had run out of espresso. They asked if I had any extra on hand (sadly the answer was no), and then increased their order for the week ahead.
But this wasn't as simple as getting enough coffee to make it through the remaining hours of the afternoon until I could deliver the next morning - it was a problem that was likely to impact the coffee they served over the next 3-5 days or even a week.
Why?
In the 24-48 hour period after coffee roasts, the newly roasted beans emit a steady flow of "outgassing" carbon dioxide, and the beans go through a series of chemical changes that have a very positive impact on the taste. Thus, we try hard to plan the espresso purchases of the wholesale customers so that their coffee is roasted 3-5 days before it will be used. After "resting" for this period of time, the coffee mellows, much in the way wine does as it ages, and the acidic brightness of the coffee (that can become very pronounced with espresso extraction) fades dramatically.
So for this customer, the question was how to get through not only that day, but the better part of the week ahead.
A comment Tanji and I hear often is "wow, it must be great to be able to always drink all that coffee right after it is roasted." But we also "rest" the coffee we drink, because the differences in taste from day to day over the first week after roasting are noticeable, and I should say, very wonderful.
A lot of you around here get your coffee from us the day after roasting (your roasting date is always stamped on the bottom of the bag), so you can experiment with this phenomenon at home. Try a cup the day you get the coffee, then focus on the taste every day for the next week (or beyond). You should see the progressive mellowing and merging of flavors during the first 3-5 days, and then, if your coffee goes into the second week, you will experience the slight dulling of the tastes of the coffee and maybe even the beginnings of the coffee going stale.
So why does this happen? Much of these changes (especially with espresso) are related to the taste of carbonic acid trapped in the newly roasted beans by the carbon dioxide. When we describe coffee as "acidic," this is one of the acids you taste (and it is present in all coffees at varying degrees). As the CO2 leaves the coffee, it takes some of this acidity with it, and the sharp, piquant taste of newly roasted coffee begins to subside.
This outgassing is responsible for other phenomena too. In the first two days after roasting, coffee brewed by any method will "bloom", or foam, as a result of an intense burst of CO2 being released by the just ground coffee. The valves you see on higher end coffee bags (like ours) are there to allow coffee to be packed just after roasted, then provide a way for the CO2 gas to escape from the bag (otherwise the bags would pop!).
The CO2 also helps to protect the coffee from going stale by forming a cushion of escaping gas around the beans. This gives the beans a temporary break from being assaulted by air (which, along with light and moisture, is a natural enemy of coffee).
A quick word on packaging. The point of a good coffee package (or canister or other sealed storage method) is to guard the coffee from air, light and moisture - thereby keeping it fresher longer. So packaging is an important contributor to the taste of your coffee.
If you buy your coffee by the pound, as most people do, look for a multi-ply bag (that protects the coffee from the air) with a valve (meaning it was packaged right after roasting), and then if you keep your coffee in this bag, roll it up tightly after each use and wrap it with a rubber band. Stay away from coffee sold in bulk bins (a lot of exposure to the air - and is likely to be stale before you buy it) and from simple paper bags or those just lined with wax (almost no protection against the elements). If you need to buy in bulk, buy from a seller that turns over a lot of coffee - and if you used a paper bag with no lining, transfer the coffee into a sealed container when you get home.
Thanks for your support, folks - enjoy the weekend!
Kent
This weekend, I will be roasting on Sunday, September 20, then shipping and delivering on Monday. Please have all mail orders, local deliveries and wholesale orders in by 10:00 Sunday. We have a few bags here if anyone is in need before then.
I wanted to write today on what goes on in coffee in the hours and days after it is roasted . . . and what this means for you.
Last weekend, when I was getting ready to roast, I got a panicked call from a wholesale customer saying that they had a larger than usual crowd of espresso drinkers that morning, and had run out of espresso. They asked if I had any extra on hand (sadly the answer was no), and then increased their order for the week ahead.
But this wasn't as simple as getting enough coffee to make it through the remaining hours of the afternoon until I could deliver the next morning - it was a problem that was likely to impact the coffee they served over the next 3-5 days or even a week.
Why?
In the 24-48 hour period after coffee roasts, the newly roasted beans emit a steady flow of "outgassing" carbon dioxide, and the beans go through a series of chemical changes that have a very positive impact on the taste. Thus, we try hard to plan the espresso purchases of the wholesale customers so that their coffee is roasted 3-5 days before it will be used. After "resting" for this period of time, the coffee mellows, much in the way wine does as it ages, and the acidic brightness of the coffee (that can become very pronounced with espresso extraction) fades dramatically.
So for this customer, the question was how to get through not only that day, but the better part of the week ahead.
A comment Tanji and I hear often is "wow, it must be great to be able to always drink all that coffee right after it is roasted." But we also "rest" the coffee we drink, because the differences in taste from day to day over the first week after roasting are noticeable, and I should say, very wonderful.
A lot of you around here get your coffee from us the day after roasting (your roasting date is always stamped on the bottom of the bag), so you can experiment with this phenomenon at home. Try a cup the day you get the coffee, then focus on the taste every day for the next week (or beyond). You should see the progressive mellowing and merging of flavors during the first 3-5 days, and then, if your coffee goes into the second week, you will experience the slight dulling of the tastes of the coffee and maybe even the beginnings of the coffee going stale.
So why does this happen? Much of these changes (especially with espresso) are related to the taste of carbonic acid trapped in the newly roasted beans by the carbon dioxide. When we describe coffee as "acidic," this is one of the acids you taste (and it is present in all coffees at varying degrees). As the CO2 leaves the coffee, it takes some of this acidity with it, and the sharp, piquant taste of newly roasted coffee begins to subside.
This outgassing is responsible for other phenomena too. In the first two days after roasting, coffee brewed by any method will "bloom", or foam, as a result of an intense burst of CO2 being released by the just ground coffee. The valves you see on higher end coffee bags (like ours) are there to allow coffee to be packed just after roasted, then provide a way for the CO2 gas to escape from the bag (otherwise the bags would pop!).
The CO2 also helps to protect the coffee from going stale by forming a cushion of escaping gas around the beans. This gives the beans a temporary break from being assaulted by air (which, along with light and moisture, is a natural enemy of coffee).
A quick word on packaging. The point of a good coffee package (or canister or other sealed storage method) is to guard the coffee from air, light and moisture - thereby keeping it fresher longer. So packaging is an important contributor to the taste of your coffee.
If you buy your coffee by the pound, as most people do, look for a multi-ply bag (that protects the coffee from the air) with a valve (meaning it was packaged right after roasting), and then if you keep your coffee in this bag, roll it up tightly after each use and wrap it with a rubber band. Stay away from coffee sold in bulk bins (a lot of exposure to the air - and is likely to be stale before you buy it) and from simple paper bags or those just lined with wax (almost no protection against the elements). If you need to buy in bulk, buy from a seller that turns over a lot of coffee - and if you used a paper bag with no lining, transfer the coffee into a sealed container when you get home.
Thanks for your support, folks - enjoy the weekend!
Kent
Roasting Schedule and Random Notes
Good morning, Friends . . .
This weekend, I’ll be roasting Sunday the 17th, then delivering and shipping the following day. Please send your orders by Sunday morning.
The yummy Burundi is moving fast. Try this out if you’d like to experience a very smooth, rich East African coffee – should only be available for another few weeks.
Congratulations is in order for our friends at The Royal Bean – the one year anniversary of the shop. Jim, Bridgett, Matt, Emily, Kate and the others have brought a great café experience to the people of Yarmouth, and our hats are off to them for their commitment to great coffee, customer service and the community. In the next few week’s I’ll send you information on the month of special events they have planned to celebrate the occasion.
It’s been an interesting week from my place in the coffee world, and I thought I’d just share some happenings and news items with you all . . .
> I get inquires in this business that are just fun – this week to include a small, very coffee conscious art gallery off in the hinterland that wants to try our wares and a nice fellow who is opening a small shop and wants advice on how to do coffee right from the start.
> The Aeropress! Jim and I have both been experimenting a lot with this funny little brewing device, which looks like something that may have been stashed away in a corner in a high school chemistry class. The brewer, by California flying disk maker Aerobie (they make those cool rings that fly a REALLY long way) retails for about $25 and it makes great coffee. The brew is like espresso in its level of concentration, very balanced and very clean. The thing is a snap to clean up and it would be a great toy to take camping or out on the water. With the addition of an inexpensive milk frother, its possible to get a very decent latte like setup for less than $50.
> I took delivery of a few bags of Fair Trade Organic Honduras Marcala the other day, to be used for a benefit by the Freeport Rotary Club in support of their amazing clean water initiative in Honduras. The project will provide nearly 2,000 household water filters throughout northern Honduras, preventing a lot of illness along the way. Have a look at the project here:
> Earlier this week, a very heavy coffee industry consultant came through town and spent some time helping out at The Royal Bean; I’ll be working with him in coming weeks to do some tweaking to our roaster and roast profiles, and you’ll be tasting the results of this effort.
> One of my favorite mindless reads is the Starbucks Gossip website, which gives past and present Starbucks employees a forum in which to dish about the company. Of late, a writer with the nom de plume “Juan Valdez” (a former and perhaps disgruntled store manager) does secret shopper visits to Starbucks stores and then shares the experience. Check it out sometime:
> In what can only be described as a form of war, McDonalds this week began a $100 million (yes, that would be eight zeros) ad campaign for its new “McCafe” offerings. Here, the mentality that brought you $.99 high fat, high sodium, bad for the rainforest, raised on corn nutritionally bankrupt cheeseburgers would like to convince you that their bad coffee in a new cup design is now tastier than ever. And in their crosshairs are yes, Starbucks, and also Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks has recently lowered the quality of their mainstream coffee, Dunkin hasn’t changed theirs and McDonalds may have come up a notch . . . leading to a trifecta of mainstream coffee that more or less tastes the same. Don’t be swayed – stick with cafes that make espresso by hand and coffees from different origins by the cup.
> I learned the other day that the company that makes my coffee roaster was the victim of a brazen theft the other day; the list of missing items includes seven commercial coffee roasters. Not good.
That’s all for today – have a great weekend!
Kent
This weekend, I’ll be roasting Sunday the 17th, then delivering and shipping the following day. Please send your orders by Sunday morning.
The yummy Burundi is moving fast. Try this out if you’d like to experience a very smooth, rich East African coffee – should only be available for another few weeks.
Congratulations is in order for our friends at The Royal Bean – the one year anniversary of the shop. Jim, Bridgett, Matt, Emily, Kate and the others have brought a great café experience to the people of Yarmouth, and our hats are off to them for their commitment to great coffee, customer service and the community. In the next few week’s I’ll send you information on the month of special events they have planned to celebrate the occasion.
It’s been an interesting week from my place in the coffee world, and I thought I’d just share some happenings and news items with you all . . .
> I get inquires in this business that are just fun – this week to include a small, very coffee conscious art gallery off in the hinterland that wants to try our wares and a nice fellow who is opening a small shop and wants advice on how to do coffee right from the start.
> The Aeropress! Jim and I have both been experimenting a lot with this funny little brewing device, which looks like something that may have been stashed away in a corner in a high school chemistry class. The brewer, by California flying disk maker Aerobie (they make those cool rings that fly a REALLY long way) retails for about $25 and it makes great coffee. The brew is like espresso in its level of concentration, very balanced and very clean. The thing is a snap to clean up and it would be a great toy to take camping or out on the water. With the addition of an inexpensive milk frother, its possible to get a very decent latte like setup for less than $50.
> I took delivery of a few bags of Fair Trade Organic Honduras Marcala the other day, to be used for a benefit by the Freeport Rotary Club in support of their amazing clean water initiative in Honduras. The project will provide nearly 2,000 household water filters throughout northern Honduras, preventing a lot of illness along the way. Have a look at the project here:
> Earlier this week, a very heavy coffee industry consultant came through town and spent some time helping out at The Royal Bean; I’ll be working with him in coming weeks to do some tweaking to our roaster and roast profiles, and you’ll be tasting the results of this effort.
> One of my favorite mindless reads is the Starbucks Gossip website, which gives past and present Starbucks employees a forum in which to dish about the company. Of late, a writer with the nom de plume “Juan Valdez” (a former and perhaps disgruntled store manager) does secret shopper visits to Starbucks stores and then shares the experience. Check it out sometime:
> In what can only be described as a form of war, McDonalds this week began a $100 million (yes, that would be eight zeros) ad campaign for its new “McCafe” offerings. Here, the mentality that brought you $.99 high fat, high sodium, bad for the rainforest, raised on corn nutritionally bankrupt cheeseburgers would like to convince you that their bad coffee in a new cup design is now tastier than ever. And in their crosshairs are yes, Starbucks, and also Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks has recently lowered the quality of their mainstream coffee, Dunkin hasn’t changed theirs and McDonalds may have come up a notch . . . leading to a trifecta of mainstream coffee that more or less tastes the same. Don’t be swayed – stick with cafes that make espresso by hand and coffees from different origins by the cup.
> I learned the other day that the company that makes my coffee roaster was the victim of a brazen theft the other day; the list of missing items includes seven commercial coffee roasters. Not good.
That’s all for today – have a great weekend!
Kent
The Battle for Hot Milk Supremacy
Good morning, Friends!
I'll be roasting this weekend on Sunday (May 31), then shipping and making local deliveries on Monday, June 1. Please have your orders in by Sunday morning to be included for this week.
The selections for this week are on the website for your browsing pleasure (www.freeportcoffee.com). And alternately, Bow Street Market has a good full selection now (10 different coffees), and you can always find our coffees at The Royal Bean.
Speaking of The Royal Bean, their one-year anniversary is June 20 - a very exciting milestone for Jim and his team of crack baristas. You'll be hearing more about their monthly calendar of special events to mark the ocassion, one of which will be a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony held in their parking lot. Definitely not something that's been done in Yarmouth before.
One of the more amusing phenomena in our culture right now is the knuckles bared battle between Starbucks and McDonalds over the turf of coffee-based beverages. The upstart McDonalds is seizing territory and market share from the Mermaid, which has fought back with's own splashy ad campain touting the perfection and realness of its coffees. Fundmentally, though, it is all about milk, as this comprises the majority of the "lattes" and "cappucinos" that are the subject of this skirmish.
In strict coffee terms, neither company's "lattes" or "cappucinos" adhere to the traditional receipes for making these drinks (a latte being a three to one ratio of steamed milk to espresso, and a cappucino, one-third espresso, one-third milk, and a third foam), but instead are really large cups of too-hot milk and small amounts of automatically-generated espresso. Buyer beware.
I have spoken here before about Ken Davids, one of the true coffee sages. His books on espresso and home roasting are must-haves for any home coffee library, and his Coffee Review site is the best available service and resouce for comprehensive reviews of great coffees. Ken's homepage article this week discusses his semi-scientific reviews of McCafe's new offerings versus those of Starbucks. The article is linked here:
Ken describes the experience of trying to order a shot of straight espresso in a McDonalds. I went through this when I visited a pilot McCafe location about a year ago. The saddest part of my interaction was that the counter person seemed to have no idea what was meant by the word "espresso." Sigh.
A great espresso made by the hands of a trained barista is a joy to behold. You get to watch art in action, as beans are ground to order, the shot tamped and the shot timed to perfection by a person, not a microprocessor. If you are having a cap or a latte, watch the barista draw art with the milk on top of your beverage (rather than the milk glopping out of a machine like a tired soft-serve ice cream machine at the end of a hot summer day). Craddle the well-rounded ceramic cup in your hands and behold the smell and visuals of the rich, red-brown crema. Then sip. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Smile, then repeat. When you have finished your beverage (and just before you order the next), see how the espresso has coated the walls of your cup, a sign that your coffee was made by hand using fresh beans.
And support your local independent cafe. They deserve it, and so do you.
Thanks for your support, folks - enjoy the weekend!
Kent
I'll be roasting this weekend on Sunday (May 31), then shipping and making local deliveries on Monday, June 1. Please have your orders in by Sunday morning to be included for this week.
The selections for this week are on the website for your browsing pleasure (www.freeportcoffee.com). And alternately, Bow Street Market has a good full selection now (10 different coffees), and you can always find our coffees at The Royal Bean.
Speaking of The Royal Bean, their one-year anniversary is June 20 - a very exciting milestone for Jim and his team of crack baristas. You'll be hearing more about their monthly calendar of special events to mark the ocassion, one of which will be a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony held in their parking lot. Definitely not something that's been done in Yarmouth before.
One of the more amusing phenomena in our culture right now is the knuckles bared battle between Starbucks and McDonalds over the turf of coffee-based beverages. The upstart McDonalds is seizing territory and market share from the Mermaid, which has fought back with's own splashy ad campain touting the perfection and realness of its coffees. Fundmentally, though, it is all about milk, as this comprises the majority of the "lattes" and "cappucinos" that are the subject of this skirmish.
In strict coffee terms, neither company's "lattes" or "cappucinos" adhere to the traditional receipes for making these drinks (a latte being a three to one ratio of steamed milk to espresso, and a cappucino, one-third espresso, one-third milk, and a third foam), but instead are really large cups of too-hot milk and small amounts of automatically-generated espresso. Buyer beware.
I have spoken here before about Ken Davids, one of the true coffee sages. His books on espresso and home roasting are must-haves for any home coffee library, and his Coffee Review site is the best available service and resouce for comprehensive reviews of great coffees. Ken's homepage article this week discusses his semi-scientific reviews of McCafe's new offerings versus those of Starbucks. The article is linked here:
Ken describes the experience of trying to order a shot of straight espresso in a McDonalds. I went through this when I visited a pilot McCafe location about a year ago. The saddest part of my interaction was that the counter person seemed to have no idea what was meant by the word "espresso." Sigh.
A great espresso made by the hands of a trained barista is a joy to behold. You get to watch art in action, as beans are ground to order, the shot tamped and the shot timed to perfection by a person, not a microprocessor. If you are having a cap or a latte, watch the barista draw art with the milk on top of your beverage (rather than the milk glopping out of a machine like a tired soft-serve ice cream machine at the end of a hot summer day). Craddle the well-rounded ceramic cup in your hands and behold the smell and visuals of the rich, red-brown crema. Then sip. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Smile, then repeat. When you have finished your beverage (and just before you order the next), see how the espresso has coated the walls of your cup, a sign that your coffee was made by hand using fresh beans.
And support your local independent cafe. They deserve it, and so do you.
Thanks for your support, folks - enjoy the weekend!
Kent
Royal Bean Anniversary Celebration and the San Francisco Coffee Scene
Hi Friends,
OK, I am back in town again, and happy to serve your coffee needs this weekend. I’ll be roasting on Sunday the 21st, then shipping and delivering on Monday.
Royal Bean Anniversary Celebration this Saturday
This Saturday, The Royal Bean celebrates a year of bringing great coffee and a great café experience to Yarmouth. Its been fun watching them grow, and we congratulate Jim and his great team of crack baristas on their success.
You are all cordially invited to join the anniversary party this Saturday (June 20) at the café. The festivities kick off at 10:00 with a kid’s art program (crafts and face painting), a customer appreciation cookout at 11:00 and music by Strause and Co. at 1:00. There will be raffles and giveaways all day.
And, Tanji and I will be doing a show and tell featuring our strange collection of brewing devices, a roasting demonstration, a tasting of some really nasty robusta (every coffee drinking has to try this just once) and answers to any and all questions you’d like to throw our way. We’ll be there all morning starting at 9:00.
A Coffee Geek on the Streets of San Francisco
En route to the airport the other day, I decided to check out the explosive San Francisco coffee scene. Some great new cafes had sprung up since I moved from there 12 years ago, and I wanted to experience three of these that are getting a lot of attention for their devotion to quality coffee:
Four Barrel Coffee
Four Barrel, located at one end of Valencia Street in the trying so hard not to be trendy Mission District, exudes warm elegance and a dedication to great coffee and little else. It is nearly a precondition that cool restaurant spaces in San Francisco be old warehouse space, and this is no exception. This deep, wide room, with high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows at the front and back, showcases a roasting operation in the back (a funky old Probat with an afterburner) and the front seating area is comfortable and airy. Over an original shiny concrete floor with worn shades of red paint from the previous tenant, chairs seeming from a Gulag era Soviet gradeschool sit against angular tables of old wood. A low wraparound counter of wide planks houses their two three-group La Marzocco Mistral espresso machines, a cash register and a small pastry counter that offers a choice of two different croissants.
That’s it. No mints. No cookies or preprepared salads. Certainly no blender. I didn’t see decaf. No smoothies, bottled beverages, t-shirts, travel mugs, brewing equipment or cookies. Shelves on a wall offer eight very high-end coffees for sale in austere paper bags, and there is the impression that when those are sold that will be it for the day. Like a bakery in a way.
I said I was from Maine and leaving today so unfortunately I couldn’t come to the cupping event they hold each Wednesday. The awesome counter guy said he used to live in Portland and work for Coffee by Design. I told him I was a roaster and he gave me a shot of espresso gratis. The espresso was very nice. I had some of their Costa Rica, which I felt was a bit on the bright side, but then that’s how Costas are.
Ritual Roasters
I started smiling the moment I entered Ritual. Their shop is deeper still into the Mission, down where the character of the neighborhood is still preserved. Many people on the street speak Spanish, the block is shared with an Indian restaurant, an auto repair place, some mystery storefronts and a used bookstore or two.
Just inside the front door is a long, Last Supper style communal table, some seen better days palm trees and some comfy couches. Suspended from the high painted ceiling are some old fans, diner type lighting fixtures and some cool bare lightbulbs at the end of long black tentacles. Jimi playing Voodoo Chile.
Three espressos are available from the four group Syneso. They have a Clover, the exciting $10K single cup brewing technology whose lifebreath was severed when Starbucks bought it. The Clover just brewed my now cooling cup of Sumatra Sidikalang (Jim, this one is for you).
I am not overwhelmed by this coffee, but it is a nice cup and unique for a Sumatra.
I am enjoying a nice gingerbread from the generous pastry case (note to Four Barrel – man doth not live on coffee alone).
A dog barks outside, wanting its master to stop drinking coffee and come play. Laptops adorn tables. Yet another old Probat lives in the back, ministered to by a tattooed roaster. Hey Joe comes on. Shops like this are so tied to their neighborhoods, they could be set up in the middle of the street and no one would notice.
It makes me happy every time I come back here that it is still possible to find experiences that feel like San Francisco.
Before leaving, I ordered a shot of their Hopscotch espresso. Much more interesting than the Four Barrel shot – better as a single shot and very unique. Long line at the counter now as the city wakes up.
Now heading back to Blue Barrel. I went there earlier, but the person who knows how to run the $20K Japanese four-station siphon brewer wasn’t in yet.
Blue Bottle
I had some trouble finding Blue Bottle the first time through. Its tucked into a short alley behind the old SF mint building on the fringe the South of Market district, and the only marker for the business was an iconic blue bottle on the corner of the building.
The interior is austere – all gray and fifties hospital green and old government building white. And they too are mostly about the coffee. They offer espresso two ways, their house blend in shots and milk drinks via a three group La Marzocco machine, and a single origin espresso of the day pulled on an old Bosco lever machine.
The centerpiece of the operation is a long counter anchored at one end by a tall “Kyoto Style” cold coffee drip brewer, a nearly four foot tall array of beakers that would seem at home in a college chem. lab, and at the other, a five station halogen siphon station.
For food, they offer just a few brioche, and other drinks include some teas, a gourmet hot chocolate, somebody’s signature apple juice and a variety of other coffee preparations. A coffee of the day (in this case a Mesa de los Santos Colombia) is made at a pourover station.
I ordered a small wet process Ethiopia Koratie ($6) from the siphon, and sat sushi bar style on the other side of the glass as the barista prepared my pot. Preheated water is added to a perfectly round flask sitting on a stand above a halogen heating element. The coffee (35g for about ten ounces of coffee) is ground to order, then added to another flask placed above the first, this one with a rubber sealing gasket. As the water boiled, the top flask is snugged onto the lower to seal the connection, then the steam pressure pushes the water up a spout into the top chamber, where it is stirred and left to steep for 30 seconds. The heating element is then turned off and a siphon action pulls the brewed coffee back into the lower chamber. Coffee Theatre at its finest.
The cup was good, but I was paying more for the experience than the coffee. I thought they had used a bit more coffee than necessary and the strength overwhelmed the sweetness of the Ethiopia.
Then to complete my round of intense caffeination, a shot of their espresso. I didn’t care for this one, as the flavor was too far away from what I expect in espresso and there was an almost soapy character at play.
In conclusion, after visiting all these hallowed reputations, the best cup I had was the Sumatra at Ritual, and I liked their espresso best of the bunch too. And really, I like our coffee, and I like the way the prepare coffee at The Royal Bean. This comparison makes me feel like we are doing many things right.
Coffee Cinema
If you have been wondering which is better coffee among Greek, Israeli (with cucumbers!) or made on a cheap plastic espresso machine, you won’t want to miss this short:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/81494-How-To-Brew-the-Best-Coffee
Or not.
See you soon – enjoy your weekend!
Kent
OK, I am back in town again, and happy to serve your coffee needs this weekend. I’ll be roasting on Sunday the 21st, then shipping and delivering on Monday.
Royal Bean Anniversary Celebration this Saturday
This Saturday, The Royal Bean celebrates a year of bringing great coffee and a great café experience to Yarmouth. Its been fun watching them grow, and we congratulate Jim and his great team of crack baristas on their success.
You are all cordially invited to join the anniversary party this Saturday (June 20) at the café. The festivities kick off at 10:00 with a kid’s art program (crafts and face painting), a customer appreciation cookout at 11:00 and music by Strause and Co. at 1:00. There will be raffles and giveaways all day.
And, Tanji and I will be doing a show and tell featuring our strange collection of brewing devices, a roasting demonstration, a tasting of some really nasty robusta (every coffee drinking has to try this just once) and answers to any and all questions you’d like to throw our way. We’ll be there all morning starting at 9:00.
A Coffee Geek on the Streets of San Francisco
En route to the airport the other day, I decided to check out the explosive San Francisco coffee scene. Some great new cafes had sprung up since I moved from there 12 years ago, and I wanted to experience three of these that are getting a lot of attention for their devotion to quality coffee:
Four Barrel Coffee
Four Barrel, located at one end of Valencia Street in the trying so hard not to be trendy Mission District, exudes warm elegance and a dedication to great coffee and little else. It is nearly a precondition that cool restaurant spaces in San Francisco be old warehouse space, and this is no exception. This deep, wide room, with high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows at the front and back, showcases a roasting operation in the back (a funky old Probat with an afterburner) and the front seating area is comfortable and airy. Over an original shiny concrete floor with worn shades of red paint from the previous tenant, chairs seeming from a Gulag era Soviet gradeschool sit against angular tables of old wood. A low wraparound counter of wide planks houses their two three-group La Marzocco Mistral espresso machines, a cash register and a small pastry counter that offers a choice of two different croissants.
That’s it. No mints. No cookies or preprepared salads. Certainly no blender. I didn’t see decaf. No smoothies, bottled beverages, t-shirts, travel mugs, brewing equipment or cookies. Shelves on a wall offer eight very high-end coffees for sale in austere paper bags, and there is the impression that when those are sold that will be it for the day. Like a bakery in a way.
I said I was from Maine and leaving today so unfortunately I couldn’t come to the cupping event they hold each Wednesday. The awesome counter guy said he used to live in Portland and work for Coffee by Design. I told him I was a roaster and he gave me a shot of espresso gratis. The espresso was very nice. I had some of their Costa Rica, which I felt was a bit on the bright side, but then that’s how Costas are.
Ritual Roasters
I started smiling the moment I entered Ritual. Their shop is deeper still into the Mission, down where the character of the neighborhood is still preserved. Many people on the street speak Spanish, the block is shared with an Indian restaurant, an auto repair place, some mystery storefronts and a used bookstore or two.
Just inside the front door is a long, Last Supper style communal table, some seen better days palm trees and some comfy couches. Suspended from the high painted ceiling are some old fans, diner type lighting fixtures and some cool bare lightbulbs at the end of long black tentacles. Jimi playing Voodoo Chile.
Three espressos are available from the four group Syneso. They have a Clover, the exciting $10K single cup brewing technology whose lifebreath was severed when Starbucks bought it. The Clover just brewed my now cooling cup of Sumatra Sidikalang (Jim, this one is for you).
I am not overwhelmed by this coffee, but it is a nice cup and unique for a Sumatra.
I am enjoying a nice gingerbread from the generous pastry case (note to Four Barrel – man doth not live on coffee alone).
A dog barks outside, wanting its master to stop drinking coffee and come play. Laptops adorn tables. Yet another old Probat lives in the back, ministered to by a tattooed roaster. Hey Joe comes on. Shops like this are so tied to their neighborhoods, they could be set up in the middle of the street and no one would notice.
It makes me happy every time I come back here that it is still possible to find experiences that feel like San Francisco.
Before leaving, I ordered a shot of their Hopscotch espresso. Much more interesting than the Four Barrel shot – better as a single shot and very unique. Long line at the counter now as the city wakes up.
Now heading back to Blue Barrel. I went there earlier, but the person who knows how to run the $20K Japanese four-station siphon brewer wasn’t in yet.
Blue Bottle
I had some trouble finding Blue Bottle the first time through. Its tucked into a short alley behind the old SF mint building on the fringe the South of Market district, and the only marker for the business was an iconic blue bottle on the corner of the building.
The interior is austere – all gray and fifties hospital green and old government building white. And they too are mostly about the coffee. They offer espresso two ways, their house blend in shots and milk drinks via a three group La Marzocco machine, and a single origin espresso of the day pulled on an old Bosco lever machine.
The centerpiece of the operation is a long counter anchored at one end by a tall “Kyoto Style” cold coffee drip brewer, a nearly four foot tall array of beakers that would seem at home in a college chem. lab, and at the other, a five station halogen siphon station.
For food, they offer just a few brioche, and other drinks include some teas, a gourmet hot chocolate, somebody’s signature apple juice and a variety of other coffee preparations. A coffee of the day (in this case a Mesa de los Santos Colombia) is made at a pourover station.
I ordered a small wet process Ethiopia Koratie ($6) from the siphon, and sat sushi bar style on the other side of the glass as the barista prepared my pot. Preheated water is added to a perfectly round flask sitting on a stand above a halogen heating element. The coffee (35g for about ten ounces of coffee) is ground to order, then added to another flask placed above the first, this one with a rubber sealing gasket. As the water boiled, the top flask is snugged onto the lower to seal the connection, then the steam pressure pushes the water up a spout into the top chamber, where it is stirred and left to steep for 30 seconds. The heating element is then turned off and a siphon action pulls the brewed coffee back into the lower chamber. Coffee Theatre at its finest.
The cup was good, but I was paying more for the experience than the coffee. I thought they had used a bit more coffee than necessary and the strength overwhelmed the sweetness of the Ethiopia.
Then to complete my round of intense caffeination, a shot of their espresso. I didn’t care for this one, as the flavor was too far away from what I expect in espresso and there was an almost soapy character at play.
In conclusion, after visiting all these hallowed reputations, the best cup I had was the Sumatra at Ritual, and I liked their espresso best of the bunch too. And really, I like our coffee, and I like the way the prepare coffee at The Royal Bean. This comparison makes me feel like we are doing many things right.
Coffee Cinema
If you have been wondering which is better coffee among Greek, Israeli (with cucumbers!) or made on a cheap plastic espresso machine, you won’t want to miss this short:
http://www.howcast.com/videos/81494-How-To-Brew-the-Best-Coffee
Or not.
See you soon – enjoy your weekend!
Kent
Coffee Brewer Bender
Hi Friends,
Well, according to the weather outside, we are now a good six hours into the beautiful Maine summer, and what a summer it is.
Sitting on the veranda, sipping a cold Caipirinha, watching the surfers glide across the waves . . .
Washing off my muddy mountain bike, drying out my winter socks, shivering in front of the fire, bemoaning the rain delays in Sox games . . .
Hard to tell where summer starts and the winter ends this year, but there is of course always good coffee.
This week, I'll be roasting on Sunday, July 12, then delivering and shipping the next day. Send your orders in by noon Saturday to be included in this week's roasts.
Coffees for this week include the following:
> Brazil Mogiana Fazenda Cachoeira
> Burundi Bwayi Lot 8
> El Salvador San Emilio Pulped Natural (espresso fans - try this one as an SO shot; niiiiiiice!)
> Sumatra Gayo Mountain (Fair Trade Organic)
> Giddy Goats Espresso
> Indo Limbo French
> Medianoche Decaf Espresso (Water Process)
> Brazil Mogiana Yellow Bourbon Decaf (Water Process)
> Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick Decaf (Water Process)
I've been on a bit of a bender over the past few months, in a mad rampage of collecting alternative ways of brewing coffee . . .
Last night on eBay, it was a traditional Vietnamese brewer, an odd variation on a tin cup in which a verrrrry slow drip brew comes to rest on a bed of sweetened condensed milk in a clear glass (picture the tequila sunrise effect in sepia tone).
Somewhere en route in the transportation network out there in the hinterland is an antique ibrik like device from the collection of a WWII soldier. I'll be putting some effort into figuring out exactly what to call it - it could be an ibrik, but it could just as easily be a cezve, a briki or a kanaka.
There's the Bonjour Smart Brewer, one of several new drip devices that combine the best of French Press and filter brewing. I'm not satisfied with this one, as it seems inclined to pour coffee all over our counter when I am not looking, so I've also ordered it's kissin' cousin, the Clever Coffee Dripper, from Sweet Maria's. Its a real bargain at $13.50, and you can order one here. Follow the links to see more on how to use this.
The Aerobie Aeropress (ironically made by a Frisbee company), with its hypodermic like operation, gives new meaning to the term "coffee junkie." I like this one because I can prepare an "Aerocano" in under a minute and coffee is really, really good.
We have an ibrik, used for making Turkish style coffee with cardomom and sugar.
And then, the creme de la creme of brewers, the exotic and wonderful two chamber blown glass syphon pot, part theatre, part brewer for a crowd.
To our growing collection of mostly unused moka pots, there's the see-through cheeseball plastic model, which from a distance at the garage sale looked like an awesome find but wasn't, but I bought it anyway (for a quarter) because its a cool way to demonstrate the method.
Sitting there, unused since two days after we brought it back from Costa, Rica is the Chorreador de café, looking something like a gym sock suspended from a tie rack. Here's a nice picture of an old one.
And what coffee geek's collection would be without a set of French Presses - though I confess that the reason we have a "set" is that we break them a lot.
These all compete for space with a pretty blue enameled cowboy coffee pot, several pourover drippers, the strange little infusion thing I take when I travel (now sort of broken), a funky camping mini espresso maker that makes a "serving" of just over two tablespoons at a time, the espresso machine and some grinders.
The real trouble here is that I only can handle 2-3 cups of coffee at a sitting, so I begin each day turning in circles in the kitchen trying to figure out which one to use. Maybe I should just chuck them all - I heard there's this new stuff called "instant coffee" that only needs a teaspoon for brewing.
Or not.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Kent
Well, according to the weather outside, we are now a good six hours into the beautiful Maine summer, and what a summer it is.
Sitting on the veranda, sipping a cold Caipirinha, watching the surfers glide across the waves . . .
Washing off my muddy mountain bike, drying out my winter socks, shivering in front of the fire, bemoaning the rain delays in Sox games . . .
Hard to tell where summer starts and the winter ends this year, but there is of course always good coffee.
This week, I'll be roasting on Sunday, July 12, then delivering and shipping the next day. Send your orders in by noon Saturday to be included in this week's roasts.
Coffees for this week include the following:
> Brazil Mogiana Fazenda Cachoeira
> Burundi Bwayi Lot 8
> El Salvador San Emilio Pulped Natural (espresso fans - try this one as an SO shot; niiiiiiice!)
> Sumatra Gayo Mountain (Fair Trade Organic)
> Giddy Goats Espresso
> Indo Limbo French
> Medianoche Decaf Espresso (Water Process)
> Brazil Mogiana Yellow Bourbon Decaf (Water Process)
> Sumatra Lintong Triple Pick Decaf (Water Process)
I've been on a bit of a bender over the past few months, in a mad rampage of collecting alternative ways of brewing coffee . . .
Last night on eBay, it was a traditional Vietnamese brewer, an odd variation on a tin cup in which a verrrrry slow drip brew comes to rest on a bed of sweetened condensed milk in a clear glass (picture the tequila sunrise effect in sepia tone).
Somewhere en route in the transportation network out there in the hinterland is an antique ibrik like device from the collection of a WWII soldier. I'll be putting some effort into figuring out exactly what to call it - it could be an ibrik, but it could just as easily be a cezve, a briki or a kanaka.
There's the Bonjour Smart Brewer, one of several new drip devices that combine the best of French Press and filter brewing. I'm not satisfied with this one, as it seems inclined to pour coffee all over our counter when I am not looking, so I've also ordered it's kissin' cousin, the Clever Coffee Dripper, from Sweet Maria's. Its a real bargain at $13.50, and you can order one here. Follow the links to see more on how to use this.
The Aerobie Aeropress (ironically made by a Frisbee company), with its hypodermic like operation, gives new meaning to the term "coffee junkie." I like this one because I can prepare an "Aerocano" in under a minute and coffee is really, really good.
We have an ibrik, used for making Turkish style coffee with cardomom and sugar.
And then, the creme de la creme of brewers, the exotic and wonderful two chamber blown glass syphon pot, part theatre, part brewer for a crowd.
To our growing collection of mostly unused moka pots, there's the see-through cheeseball plastic model, which from a distance at the garage sale looked like an awesome find but wasn't, but I bought it anyway (for a quarter) because its a cool way to demonstrate the method.
Sitting there, unused since two days after we brought it back from Costa, Rica is the Chorreador de café, looking something like a gym sock suspended from a tie rack. Here's a nice picture of an old one.
And what coffee geek's collection would be without a set of French Presses - though I confess that the reason we have a "set" is that we break them a lot.
These all compete for space with a pretty blue enameled cowboy coffee pot, several pourover drippers, the strange little infusion thing I take when I travel (now sort of broken), a funky camping mini espresso maker that makes a "serving" of just over two tablespoons at a time, the espresso machine and some grinders.
The real trouble here is that I only can handle 2-3 cups of coffee at a sitting, so I begin each day turning in circles in the kitchen trying to figure out which one to use. Maybe I should just chuck them all - I heard there's this new stuff called "instant coffee" that only needs a teaspoon for brewing.
Or not.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Kent
Myths and Habits in Coffee
Good morning, everyone,
I am now back from the road, and the roasting schedule should be back to normal for a while. I'll be roasting this Sunday (August 16) and shipping and delivering on Monday. Please send your orders by the end of the day Saturday. We also have a few bags from this week's roasting if anyone needs coffee before Monday. Have a look at the website to see what is available this week (www.freeportcoffee.com).
Someone I work with asked me yesterday if I had enjoyed a relaxing two week vacation. Not really, I replied - I am not a relaxing vacation kind of guy. Tanji and I covered over a thousand miles in New Brunswick and Quebec (yes, with some R&R along the way) and my annual mountain bike trip with one of my sons took me through all the states of New England.
When I travel, I always have an eye on coffee. Are there small cafes that serve well-prepared drip coffee and espresso drinks? Are there regional roasters? What is available in the grocery stores? And what is the coffee experience of those who live in a place?
My wish for the world is that there would be more knowledge of good coffee - leading to a better coffee experience for those who drink it and more demand for the coffees grown by small farmers outside the commodity markets. But this is hard in the heartland, where coffee is one of many product offerings in stores and an important profit center in restaurants. And this trip was no exception. We saw just one local roasting business (La Brûlerie du quai in Carlton, Quebec), some grocery store offerings from the larger Van Houtte roaster and a smattering of espresso drinks on cafe menus.
Long drives offer one more opportunities to think than usual, and in the endless forests of northern Maine and New Brunswick, I considered some ideas of how to gently increase the knowledge of coffee and therefore the experience of the coffee drinker.
Coffee education comes in several forms; one is to know more about where these beans come from (and the differences in taste between different origins), how they are processed and the best ways of preparing coffee. But another is unlearning some misinformation and habits that are relics of our parent's generation. I'd like to share some perspectives on these.
Myths
Coffee is "fresh" if it is in packaging: False. Good quality packaging (we use a three layer bag) and nitrogen flushing will delay staling, but it doesn't stop it. And older coffee in the best package will go stale very quickly once the bag is open. Try to purchase coffee that is within one month of roasting.
Dark roast has more caffeine: Yes and no. Coffee swells a lot when it is roasted dark (that's why the bags of dark are so big), so if you measure your coffee by volume (as most people would at home) and use the same amount as you would for a lighter roast, then your cup will have relatively less caffeine. If you measure by weight, you'll likely have more.
Oily beans are better: Almost always false. All coffee beans have oil in them and when your beans are shiny, it just means the oil has come to the surface. Oil emerges when coffee is roasted dark - and also as coffee ages. And, when the oil comes to the outside of the bean, it goes rancid faster (the smell you associate with stale coffee). Especially beware very oily beans sold in bulk in a store with low turnover.
Espresso is a type of bean: False. Coffee comes from countries, not from "espresso." When you buy a shot of espresso or a drink made with espresso, the coffee is usually a blend that has been developed to work well when prepared in an espresso machine.
Espresso is a roast level: Again, false. There is out there in coffee land beans sold as "espresso roast," and sadly this often means a very dark roast level. This is done in large part so that the coffee taste can be detected when it is drowned in large quantities of milk. (Our Giddy Goats is roasted medium, and you won't see any oil on it unless it gets old.)
If it comes out of an espresso machine and it is brown, it is good espresso: Don't get me started on this one. Far and away the greatest misuse of coffee is the business that jams out its espresso in five second shots, adds a bunch of oversteamed milk and then charges the big bucks for a "cappuccino" or "latte." I see this happen far too often on $10,000 espresso machines and I want to cry. A good shot of espresso takes 25-30 seconds.
Decaf has no caffeine: False. By standard, decaf can have 3% caffeine. And in practice, it seems to sometimes have more than that.
It is too expensive to change the way I am doing things: False. I can improve your coffee experience for far under $10 (write me back if you want specifics). If you spend too much time on CoffeeGeek and other websites (as I have), you can believe that you need the swanky gear to make good coffee. What you really need, more than anything else, is a desire to make good coffee.
Caffeine is bad for you: I would never tell you this, but then I am not a doctor. Here's some more information for you: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20187977/ns/today_health/
Habits
At some point, I talk with almost everyone I encounter about coffee - and the habits of coffee consumption repeat themselves with amazing regularity. I'd swear there was an addiction at play here! :)
Drinking the same coffee: I hear this one expressed as "we always buy . . .". I'd guess this has a lot to do with a confidence in a certain brand, origin or roast style - perhaps with some bad experiences that made someone regret experimentation. Here, I'd say if you feel the urge to tiptoe beyond your comfort zone, stay in reach of what you are used to; try a less dark roast, another coffee from the same part of the world or coffee from another origin that is roasted the same way as what you usually drink. I'll be happy to offer some suggestions or send some samples with your next order if you'd like to give this a try.
Brewing the same way: This is the most common habit of all, and the brewer of choice is usually an automatic drip coffee maker. If that coffee tastes great to you, then by no means change it. But, if you have a feeling something isn't right, then try some experiments. Use more coffee. Use less coffee. Grind finer or more coarse. Take the coffee off the burner when the brewing is done and put it in a thermos or carafe. Taste the water you are using to brew - does it taste funny in the same way the coffee does? Change the water source or filter it. Change brewing methods.
Storing the same way: Try to get a sense of what stale coffee smells like, and then pay some attention to how you store your coffee - including what you use to store it, how tightly you seal the bag or vessel, whether it is kept at room temperature and if you are storing it around other foods with strong smells. There's an article in the preparation section of our site with some more suggestions.
Grinding the same way: Yes, the grinder police are back - but just for a moment. Make sure you match your grind size to the brewing method you are using. Use a coarser grind when the coffee will be in contact with water for a long time (as with a French press) and a finer grind when the contact is shorter (as in espresso).
Accepting office coffee: Coffee fuels the productivity of the modern worker. Feed the worker bad coffee, get bad work. Good coffee equals good work. If your workplace still has one of those dreaded machines where someone makes coffee first thing in the morning and others reluctantly drink the increasingly concentrated dregs throughout the day, fight back! Start an office coffee club. Make your own. Go out on strike unless they buy you all a Keurig. Go to the Royal Bean before and during work.
Obsessing over coffee quality while traveling: I had a conversation with some people about this one yesterday, and I realized that I had only snapped out of this habit less than a year ago. Here, you end up in a hotel somewhere and the only available coffee is awful. You then get up earlier than you should and drive or walk endlessly looking for a great cafe that isn't there, then settle for Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or something worse. I did this for so long, and some of the successful adventures were awesome. But too many were not. My solution was to get a funky little camping grinder and tea infuser and make my own. But don't give up on the searching; doing some research in advance of your trip can help you know whether the killer cafe pulling SO shots of DP Ethiopian Ademe Bedane on a vintage manual piston La Marzocco is there to be found.
Thanks as always for your support, folks. Enjoy the dog days of summer!
Kent
I am now back from the road, and the roasting schedule should be back to normal for a while. I'll be roasting this Sunday (August 16) and shipping and delivering on Monday. Please send your orders by the end of the day Saturday. We also have a few bags from this week's roasting if anyone needs coffee before Monday. Have a look at the website to see what is available this week (www.freeportcoffee.com).
Someone I work with asked me yesterday if I had enjoyed a relaxing two week vacation. Not really, I replied - I am not a relaxing vacation kind of guy. Tanji and I covered over a thousand miles in New Brunswick and Quebec (yes, with some R&R along the way) and my annual mountain bike trip with one of my sons took me through all the states of New England.
When I travel, I always have an eye on coffee. Are there small cafes that serve well-prepared drip coffee and espresso drinks? Are there regional roasters? What is available in the grocery stores? And what is the coffee experience of those who live in a place?
My wish for the world is that there would be more knowledge of good coffee - leading to a better coffee experience for those who drink it and more demand for the coffees grown by small farmers outside the commodity markets. But this is hard in the heartland, where coffee is one of many product offerings in stores and an important profit center in restaurants. And this trip was no exception. We saw just one local roasting business (La Brûlerie du quai in Carlton, Quebec), some grocery store offerings from the larger Van Houtte roaster and a smattering of espresso drinks on cafe menus.
Long drives offer one more opportunities to think than usual, and in the endless forests of northern Maine and New Brunswick, I considered some ideas of how to gently increase the knowledge of coffee and therefore the experience of the coffee drinker.
Coffee education comes in several forms; one is to know more about where these beans come from (and the differences in taste between different origins), how they are processed and the best ways of preparing coffee. But another is unlearning some misinformation and habits that are relics of our parent's generation. I'd like to share some perspectives on these.
Myths
Coffee is "fresh" if it is in packaging: False. Good quality packaging (we use a three layer bag) and nitrogen flushing will delay staling, but it doesn't stop it. And older coffee in the best package will go stale very quickly once the bag is open. Try to purchase coffee that is within one month of roasting.
Dark roast has more caffeine: Yes and no. Coffee swells a lot when it is roasted dark (that's why the bags of dark are so big), so if you measure your coffee by volume (as most people would at home) and use the same amount as you would for a lighter roast, then your cup will have relatively less caffeine. If you measure by weight, you'll likely have more.
Oily beans are better: Almost always false. All coffee beans have oil in them and when your beans are shiny, it just means the oil has come to the surface. Oil emerges when coffee is roasted dark - and also as coffee ages. And, when the oil comes to the outside of the bean, it goes rancid faster (the smell you associate with stale coffee). Especially beware very oily beans sold in bulk in a store with low turnover.
Espresso is a type of bean: False. Coffee comes from countries, not from "espresso." When you buy a shot of espresso or a drink made with espresso, the coffee is usually a blend that has been developed to work well when prepared in an espresso machine.
Espresso is a roast level: Again, false. There is out there in coffee land beans sold as "espresso roast," and sadly this often means a very dark roast level. This is done in large part so that the coffee taste can be detected when it is drowned in large quantities of milk. (Our Giddy Goats is roasted medium, and you won't see any oil on it unless it gets old.)
If it comes out of an espresso machine and it is brown, it is good espresso: Don't get me started on this one. Far and away the greatest misuse of coffee is the business that jams out its espresso in five second shots, adds a bunch of oversteamed milk and then charges the big bucks for a "cappuccino" or "latte." I see this happen far too often on $10,000 espresso machines and I want to cry. A good shot of espresso takes 25-30 seconds.
Decaf has no caffeine: False. By standard, decaf can have 3% caffeine. And in practice, it seems to sometimes have more than that.
It is too expensive to change the way I am doing things: False. I can improve your coffee experience for far under $10 (write me back if you want specifics). If you spend too much time on CoffeeGeek and other websites (as I have), you can believe that you need the swanky gear to make good coffee. What you really need, more than anything else, is a desire to make good coffee.
Caffeine is bad for you: I would never tell you this, but then I am not a doctor. Here's some more information for you: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20187977/ns/today_health/
Habits
At some point, I talk with almost everyone I encounter about coffee - and the habits of coffee consumption repeat themselves with amazing regularity. I'd swear there was an addiction at play here! :)
Drinking the same coffee: I hear this one expressed as "we always buy . . .". I'd guess this has a lot to do with a confidence in a certain brand, origin or roast style - perhaps with some bad experiences that made someone regret experimentation. Here, I'd say if you feel the urge to tiptoe beyond your comfort zone, stay in reach of what you are used to; try a less dark roast, another coffee from the same part of the world or coffee from another origin that is roasted the same way as what you usually drink. I'll be happy to offer some suggestions or send some samples with your next order if you'd like to give this a try.
Brewing the same way: This is the most common habit of all, and the brewer of choice is usually an automatic drip coffee maker. If that coffee tastes great to you, then by no means change it. But, if you have a feeling something isn't right, then try some experiments. Use more coffee. Use less coffee. Grind finer or more coarse. Take the coffee off the burner when the brewing is done and put it in a thermos or carafe. Taste the water you are using to brew - does it taste funny in the same way the coffee does? Change the water source or filter it. Change brewing methods.
Storing the same way: Try to get a sense of what stale coffee smells like, and then pay some attention to how you store your coffee - including what you use to store it, how tightly you seal the bag or vessel, whether it is kept at room temperature and if you are storing it around other foods with strong smells. There's an article in the preparation section of our site with some more suggestions.
Grinding the same way: Yes, the grinder police are back - but just for a moment. Make sure you match your grind size to the brewing method you are using. Use a coarser grind when the coffee will be in contact with water for a long time (as with a French press) and a finer grind when the contact is shorter (as in espresso).
Accepting office coffee: Coffee fuels the productivity of the modern worker. Feed the worker bad coffee, get bad work. Good coffee equals good work. If your workplace still has one of those dreaded machines where someone makes coffee first thing in the morning and others reluctantly drink the increasingly concentrated dregs throughout the day, fight back! Start an office coffee club. Make your own. Go out on strike unless they buy you all a Keurig. Go to the Royal Bean before and during work.
Obsessing over coffee quality while traveling: I had a conversation with some people about this one yesterday, and I realized that I had only snapped out of this habit less than a year ago. Here, you end up in a hotel somewhere and the only available coffee is awful. You then get up earlier than you should and drive or walk endlessly looking for a great cafe that isn't there, then settle for Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or something worse. I did this for so long, and some of the successful adventures were awesome. But too many were not. My solution was to get a funky little camping grinder and tea infuser and make my own. But don't give up on the searching; doing some research in advance of your trip can help you know whether the killer cafe pulling SO shots of DP Ethiopian Ademe Bedane on a vintage manual piston La Marzocco is there to be found.
Thanks as always for your support, folks. Enjoy the dog days of summer!
Kent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)