From the halls of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to the streets of the Grand Bazaar, from the fields of Kaldi the Goat Herder to the room of an Israeli fortune teller; Turkish Coffee runs the gambit. It’s the world’s oldest brewing technique – surviving military coups, government bans, and industry monopolies. It’s unfiltered, strong, and unlike anything else you’ve ever tasted. It has survived the test of time, both served to royalty with panache, and served to commoners streetside.

Episode Six Sources:

• Wikipedia:
  • Turkish Coffee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_coffee
  • Tasseography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasseography
  • History of Coffee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee
  • Pieter van den Broecke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_van_den_Broecke
• “Coffee grounds brewed trouble for Israeli fortuneteller,”  McClatchy Newspapers, by Dion Nissenbaum http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24466912.html
• “Fortune Teller Held for ‘Cancer’ Fraud: https://www.haaretz.com/1.5056803
• All about the Turkish Coffee Pot: http://www.turkishstylegroundcoffee.com/turkish-coffee-utensils/turkish-coffee-pot/
• “Turkish Coffee: A Story of Mystery, War, Romance & Empire,” Perfect Daily Grind, by P. Dobrenov: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2015/09/turkish-coffee-a-story-of-mystery-war-romance-empire/
• “Don’t Call It ‘Turkish’ Coffee, Unless, Of Course, It Is,” NPR by Joanna Kakissis https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/04/27/179270924/dont-call-it-turkish-coffee-unless-of-course-it-is
• Story of Kaldi the Goat Herder: http://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/History-of-Coffee
• “The Coffee Trail: A Muslim Beverage Exported West,” Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation by Salah Zaimeche: http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Main%20-%20Coffee.pdf
• Ukers, William H. (1935), “All About Coffee” 2nd Edition; The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal Company, New York: https://www.amazon.com/about-Coffee-Second-William-Ukers/dp/1614270023
• “The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug” By Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer https://books.google.com/books?id=Qyz5CnOaH9oC&pg=PA3&dq=coffee+goat+ethiopia+Kaldi&lr=&ei=paxHStuDJ4XuzATj97hf#v=onepage&q=coffee%20goat%20ethiopia%20Kaldi&f=false
• “Istanbul’s Historic Coffeehouses,” The Guide Istanbul by Joshua Bruce Allen: http://www.theguideistanbul.com/article/istanbuls-historic-coffeehouses
• Music:
  • Podington Bear, A Gentleman – http://freemusicarchive.org
  • Podington Bear, Don’t Go – http://freemusicarchive.org
  • Podington Bear, 14 Rarified – http://freemusicarchive.org

Episode Six Transcript:

A big part of the difference between coffee brewing methods comes down to the filter. French press coffee is so distinct because of the metal mesh filter that keeps grinds out of your cup, but lets coffee oils into it. Espresso is similar in this regard: the nice layer of crema that great shots of espresso are known for is a result of the metal portafilter that allows these coffee oils into each shot.

Coffee brewing methods that use paper filters strive for a cleaner taste that highlights bright flavor profiles and crisp tasting notes. There’s tons of these filter cones and brewing devices on the market, but the most popular are the Hario v60, the Kalita Wave, the Bee House, the Chemex, and the AeroPress. All of these devices use paper filters, and all are seeking to bring out the best flavors of the coffee you brew in them. At the end of the day, the biggest difference between these devices is the type of paper used for the filter. Coffee brewed in a Chemex doesn’t taste unique because of the shape of the Chemex or the glass cone – it tastes unique because of the heavier paper filter that Chemex makes specifically for their coffee device.

See, every coffee brewer has a different shape and physical aesthetic, but when you get right down to it, the single biggest factor that’s going to alter the taste of your coffee, aside from grind consistency, is the type of filter used.

So what happens when you brew coffee without a filter?

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to Coffee Canon.

The most popular filter-less coffee brewing method is called Turkish Coffee. It’s brewed in a device called a Cezve (Jezz-ve or Chez-ve) spelled c-e-z-v-e – basically it’s a small pot on the end of a long handle. These can be super simple and functional, or incredibly ornate for fancy occasions.

Brewing Turkish Coffee is about as easy as it gets – you grind coffee very fine, to almost the consistency of a powder. Put the coffee in the Cezve, then add water. Next, put your Cezve over a heat source. The point isn’t to get the water to boil right away, but to gradually heat it until the coffee begins to froth. Once that happens, your Turkish Coffee is ready to serve. Simply pour your mixture into small cups or shot glasses.

As you can probably imagine, there is a large amount of sediment in the final product. When drinking Turkish Coffee, you’ll want to stop after consuming about 2/3 of the cup. The last 1/3 to 1/4 will typically be composed of coffee grinds that have settled to the bottom. And that’s the other thing – don’t drink your cup of Turkish Coffee right after it’s served. Let it sit for a few moments to allow the grinds to settle at the bottom. Otherwise you’ll probably have to floss after drinking your cup.

Many restaurants that serve Turkish Coffee will offer both sweetened and unsweetened versions. The sweetened versions that I’ve tried both here in the US and in the Middle East are no joke – sweet, means sweet.

The cool thing about Turkish Coffee is that there’s almost nothing standing in the way of you tasting the bean. There’s no paper filter to block oils, and there’s no metal mesh to block grounds. It’s all there – for better, or worse. The coffee is, of course, very strong and very caffeinated – think something closer to a shot of espresso rather than a sip of filter coffee.

The origins of Turkish Coffee are closely tied to the origins of the coffee beverage itself – it was, perhaps, the very first way coffee was brewed. And so, like with all things on this podcast, we have to go back. Before coffee made its way to Turkey, it was a valuable source of income in Yemen. And before Yemen, it was a wild plant on the Ethiopian Plateau.

The “who” and “when” of coffee’s discovery is steeped in legend – pun completely intended. Most sources I found point to the 10th century as the “when” – the “who,” on the other hand, isn’t a universally agreed-upon person. There are two popular legends however, which tend to get repeated most by coffee books and papers. The authenticity of these stories is definitely suspect, and its likely that they’re more fiction than fact. But hey, who doesn’t like a good story?

The first account talks of Sheik Omar, a man who had been exiled to the Yemeni desert for certain moral remissness. Facing starvation, the Sheik and his followers scavenged the nearby plants for anything to eat. They came across small berries growing on a shrub, which, while appearing to be edible, were also incredibly bitter and hard. To improve the taste, they roasted the beans in a fire. To improve the texture, they softened them in water. Not only did the resulting brown beverage taste good, but it left Omar feeling invigorated and refreshed.

When Sheik Omar returned from exile his salvation was considered a miracle – coffee became famous, and Omar became a saint.

The second legend revolves not around a sheik, but a goat herder named Kaldi (or Khalid depending on the translation). Kaldi worked on the Ethiopian Plateau, the birthplace and original home of the coffee plant. One day Kaldi noticed that when his goats ate the fruit off of particular shrubs, they became energetic and refused to sleep. Dancing caffeinated goats made it difficult for Kaldi to do his job, and he complained about as much to the abbot of the local Muslim monastery. The abbot, seeing a possible opportunity, tried the beans for himself and – wouldn’t ya know it – he felt more alert. He ordered that the beans be crushed and steeped in water, creating a drink to share among his fellow monks. Thereafter no one at the monastery had trouble staying awake during the evening services.

According to this legend, the story of the wakeful monastery spread rapidly through the East, causing other nations to experiment with coffee. This was the beginnings of coffee culture.

While these two coffee origin stories seem to be pervasive, there are other simpler accounts: in one, a Yemeni Sufi mystic observed abnormally active birds snacking on coffee cherries and decided to try them for himself. In another, civet cats are said to have eaten coffee beans in central Africa, carried them to Eastern Africa, then pooped them out in the Ethiopian mountains. Here, the tale says, coffee trees sprouted and were discovered by a traveling Arab merchant. If you’re familiar with modern Kopi Luak coffee (otherwise referred to as cat poop coffee), this brings an entirely new historical dimension to the idea.

Regardless of which account you choose to believe, there are patterns that pop up when you lay these stories next to each other: animals almost always tend to be involved, it’s discovered through observation, nearly always on accident, and Yemeni monks tend to find their way somewhere into the story.

Also, it’s worth noting that all the stories tend to take place within a century or two of each other. When you stop and put this in perspective, it’s actually really interesting. This is a wild plant we’re talking about – not something cross-bred to cultivation perfection in a greenhouse somewhere. The coffee plant and its fruits went undiscovered for thousands of years, slipping through the fingers of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Middle-Eastern, and African worlds. Then, all of a sudden – seemingly out of nowhere, a bunch of legends about how, when, and where coffee was discovered. Still, these are legends – coffee’s rise to world industry was still hundreds of years in the making.

This great book I found called “The World of Caffeine” discusses coffee’s origin story in a really approachable way – and one section caught my eye in particular. Here, authors Bennett Weinberg and Bonnie Bealer discuss at what point coffee went from African legend to primary-document recorded fact:

“Although European and Arab historians repeat legendary African accounts or cite lost written references from as early as the sixth century, surviving documents can incontrovertibly establish coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree no earlier than the middle of the fifteenth century in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen in southern Arabia.”

At this point in world history, Yemen had an important role to play: not only did it have a desirable crop, but it had an accessible trading port as well. This port was in the far southwest corner of Yemen, opening into the Red Sea. It’s name ended up becoming synonymous for quality coffee in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, and while it’s no longer used as a port today, you can find its name on every Starbucks menu world-over. It’s called Mocha.

Yemen had captured lightning in a bottle – their coffee crop was booming, the money was flowing, and they had no real competition. In effect, they had a monopoly on the fledgling coffee industry. And so, as demand for their product grew, Yemen did the natural thing: they stacked the deck in their favor and cut off competition. They made it illegal to sell live coffee trees or seedlings. But, with demand for coffee rising in Europe, and supply limited to the Yemeni bottle-neck, it was only a matter of time until someone stepped in to break the monopoly. That someone turned out to be a Dutch merchant named Pieter van den Broecke. In 1614 he first tasted coffee in Mocha, and two years later he pulled a heist that forever changed the future of the coffee industry: he stole live coffea Arabica bushes, and transported them back to Amsterdam. This single act put into motion a series of events that resulted in coffee as we know it today: a billion dollar industry that is bought, sold, and traded world-round.

Backing up just slightly, in 1555 Yemen was still the world’s coffee powerhouse. The Ottoman Governor of Yemen, (and I’m probably going to butcher this pronunciation) Özdemir Pasha, absolutely loved coffee. Under his rule, a new method of brewing coffee was discovered and established: the beans were roasted over a fire, finely ground, then slowly cooked while steeped water. The Governor of Yemen shared this method with Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the leader of the Ottoman Empire. He loved this take on coffee and popularized it in Istanbul and beyond. Turkish Coffee had arrived.

As you might imagine, brewing coffee for the Governor of Yemen and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire wasn’t as simple as throwing some beans in hot water; no, it was an ordeal. One article I found referenced coffee brewing ceremonies with upwards of 40 assistants needed to properly serve the drink. The brewing ritual was ornate – it included incense, Turkish Delight, and rosewater cologne. The drink itself was spiced with mastic, cardamom, and ambergris. Coffee brewing became so popular that the position of Chief Coffee Maker was added as a legitimate court position – and it was an honor. Apparently a number of Chief Coffee Makers rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Grand Viziers to the Sultan. That would be like the White House barista becoming the President’s Chief of Staff.

About 100 years later, in 1656, the Ottoman Empire pulled a 180 on coffee. Grand Vizier Koprulu helped establish laws which outlawed coffee drinking altogether. Why? Well, as with many bans, the primary reason was, in a word, fear. First, religious fear – apparently people were spending more time drinking coffee and socializing than they were worshipping. Second, political fear. The ruling class of the Ottoman Empire believed that when normal everyday citizens gathered to socialize while sipping coffee, they were more likely to question political doctrines and laws.

If you were caught drinking coffee at this time, the penalties were severe. One article I found related that the first offense would result in being beaten with a cudgel. A second offense, however, would result in being sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the nearest river. I couldn’t find any documents telling of instances where either of these things actually happened – it’s not clear if these were empty threats. But regardless, little was achieved with these new laws – coffee remained popular, and even continued to spread.

If there’s anything I’ve learned while studying coffee’s history around the world, it’s that it’s rarely present without coffeehouses or cafes. The Ottoman Empire is certainly no exception. In an interview with The Guide Istanbul, art historian Cicek Akcil said, “Different historians differ on the exact date, but we know that traders Hakem from Aleppo and Şamlı from Damascus opened Istanbul’s first coffeehouse in Tahtakale some time between 1551 and 1560…the drink didn’t begin to enter regular use in the Ottoman palace until the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent.” Despite the unsuccessful coffee ban, coffeehouses sprung up in both upper-class and lower-class neighborhoods. Akcil, the art historian, discussed this as well saying, “The first coffee houses to open in Ottoman times were based around serving their neighborhoods. Later, many kinds of coffee houses appeared, such as tradesmen’s coffee houses, janissary coffee houses, and firemen’s coffee houses. There were also opium smokers’ coffee houses and public storytellers’ coffee houses, as well as coffee houses for aşıklar — the folk poets and musicians of Turkish oral culture…Sometimes a barber would sit next to the coffee hearth so you could get a shave there as well. The janissary coffeehouses often had Greek dancers for entertainment.”

A great place to see an example of what these 16th century coffeehouses would’ve looked like is the tourist-friendly Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It’s one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, with history dating back to the mid 15th century. It’s considered by many to be one of the world’s first shopping malls. Inside you’ll find a family owned and operated classic Turkish coffeehouse, founded around 1909. It’s set up in much the same way Ottoman coffeehouses would’ve been – a small room, with one side open to the street. Here, customers drink Turkish coffee or hot ginger tea while sitting on small stools and listening to the sounds of the market around them.

If you’ve ever visited Greece or an authentic Greek restaurant, you might’ve seen something called “Greek Coffee.” This actually confused me for a while, by taste I couldn’t tell the difference between Greek Coffee and Turkish Coffee. Both are made without a filter in a Cezve. Both use finely ground coffee, brought to a gradual boil, then served in a small cup – grinds and all. Well, as it turns out, they’re the same drink. And up until the mid 1970s, it was even called “Turkish Coffee” in Greece. The crux of the name change came as a result of the 1974 attempted Greek military coup on the island of Cyprus. For about 10 years, there had been ongoing turmoil between Greece and Turkey regarding who the island belonged to – but in 1974 this all came to a head. On July 20th Turkey invaded the island, and by July 23rd the ruling Greek junta collapsed. As you can probably imagine, this left a lasting impressions not only on the island of Cyprus, but on all of Greece.

Albert Arouh, a Greek food scholar, said in a 2013 interview with NPR, “The invasion sparked a lot of nationalism and anti-Turkish feelings. Some people tried to erase the Turks entirely from the coffee’s history, and re-baptized it Greek coffee. Some even took to calling it Byzantine coffee, even though it was introduced to this part of the world in the sixteenth century, long after the Byzantine Empire’s demise.” By the 1980s it was no longer politically correct to order a “Turkish coffee” in Greece, and by the 1990s brand-name coffee companies were airing TV advertisements saying things like “in the most beautiful country in the world, we drink Greek Coffee.”

Greece isn’t the only country to have adopted Turkish coffee while changing the name. The Armenian Genocide, where the Ottoman empire systematically murdered 1.5 million Armenian people between 1914 and 1923, had a similar effect on the drink’s naming conventions – there, it’s called Armenian Coffee.

Each of these versions of the drink tend to be brewed slightly differently. Whether its a cultural statement, or simply a difference in convention, I can’t say. In some iterations of the drink, smaller amounts of hot water get added to the coffee grounds initially until a thick paste forms, after which the rest of the water is added. Sometimes cold water is used, other times the grinds aren’t added until the water is already warm. If you want to try the different drinks yourself, just make sure you use the right naming convention when you order.

One of the more eccentric uses of Turkish coffee comes in the form of fortune telling. This is done in much the same way tea-leaf reading is conducted – in fact, both fall under the same brand of divination – its called tasseography, or sometimes tasseomancy or tassology. Tasse, being the French word for cup. After drinking a cup of Turkish coffee (or Greek coffee or Armenian coffee…you get the idea), the cup is sometimes swirled, then left alone for a time to allow the grinds to dry. Some traditions call for it to flipped upside down onto its saucer. In the Turkish tradition, the cup is turned towards the querent, then divided into horizontal halves; the bottom half relates messages about the past, while the top half is used to tell the future. The cup can also be divided into vertical halves for yes/no answers to specific questions.

After the reading is conducted, the querent is told to “open the heart.” At this point, they place their right thumb into the coffee grinds and rotate clockwise just slightly. This impression is read by the fortune teller to be the querent’s thoughts or emotions.

I couldn’t find a ton of stories specifically about Turkish coffee tasseography, but one did jump out. In 2007 a famous fortune teller from Israel named Sana Kuma was arrested for practicing magic – a crime punishable under Israeli law with a 5-year jail sentence. One of her clients alleged that she had cheated him out of about $1000 in exchange for fake fortunes. Kuma had been practicing tasseography for nearly 15 years at this point, and she had some fairly high-profile clients including a former Miss Israel. The Israeli law that she violated is vague at best – its okay to read Tarot cards and conduct astrology, for example. This imprecise law must have been enforced  a fair amount – there’s actually an attorney out of Tel Aviv who specializes in defending accused witches.

Basically, the purpose of the law is to keep fake fortune tellers from taking advantage of people – but the only way to imprison these divinators is to prove that they know that they are fakes. Which is actually pretty difficult. In the end, Kuma was able to cut a deal with Israeli authorities – a refund to the accuser in exchange for no jail time.

The only other article I could find about Sana Kuma was a short news article from 2008 – a year later. Apparently, she had charged a woman about $150 in exchange for treating a fake brain tumor with amulets, injections, and concoctions. No word on whether she foresaw the police detaining her.

From the halls of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to the streets of the Grand Bazaar, from the fields of Kaldi the Goat Herder to the room of an Israeli fortune teller; this drink runs the gambit. It’s the world’s oldest brewing technique – surviving military coups, government bans, and industry monopolies. It’s Turkish coffee – unfiltered, strong, and unlike anything else you’ve ever tasted. It’s survived the test of time, both served to royalty with panache, and served to commoners streetside. It’s probably going to outlive us all, so the next time you have the opportunity – taste it. Just make sure someone’s there to tell you if you have any grounds stuck in your teeth.

I’m Colin Mansfield and thanks for listening to Coffee Canon. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends by sending them this link: boisecoffee.org/coffeecanon. Also, if you haven’t already, go to that link and sign up for the Coffee Canon email list. You’ll get exclusive sneak-peaks at upcoming episodes and access to additional content. Finally, do me a solid and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening, and have a great week. Go find some Turkish coffee.

The post Episode Six: Turkish Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Around this time of year we hear stories of people giving back to the less fortunate in their communities. Whether it’s Ebenezer Scrooge from a Christmas Carol forgiving debts, or your local church donating money to a worthy cause, there’s something about the Holiday season that propels people to give.

Last week, just before Christmas, I got the opportunity to interview Nathan Westwick from Wild Goose Coffee Roasters. I wanted to do an episode highlighting Wild Goose because they place a huge emphasis on giving back to their community – but not just during the Holidays.

All year long, for every pound of coffee Wild Goose sells, they donate 10 pounds of food to a local food bank. Purchase coffee here to support their mission. Use the hashtag #1equals10 and let them know you’re taking part.

Through their commitment and actions, the folks at Wild Goose remind us that we each have the power to positively influence those around us in practical ways at all times of the year – and what better time to be reminded, than this Holiday season?

Happy New Year! May your 2018 be filled with love, generosity, and excellent coffee!

Colin

Episode Five Sources:

• Interview: Nathan Westwick, founder/owner of Wild Goose Coffee Roasters.
•  Music
  • Hyson – Silent Knight, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Podington Bear – Winter Walk, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Podington Bear – Threshold, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Fresh Nelly – Auld Lang Syne, FreeMusicArchive.org

The post Episode Five: Season of Giving (ft. Nate Westwick from Wild Goose Coffee Roasters) appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Today on the podcast we’re bending the rules a bit and not focusing entirely on coffee. Instead, in the spirit of Christmas, we’re broadening our scope and looking at Holiday drinks as a whole, and the traditions they come with.

We’re focusing on three drinks in particular: the Pharisee, the Tom and Jerry, and Irish Coffee. All three are steeped in Christmas tradition, and the stories surrounding each are as interesting as they are surprising.

If you’re interested in making any of these drinks at home, here are some recipes I recommend:

• The Pharisee (thespruce.com)
• The Tom and Jerry (punchdrink.com)
• Irish Coffee (foodnetwork.com)

Need last minute gift ideas? Check out the Coffee Canon 2017 Holiday Gift Guide, available as a free PDF here.

Episode Four Sources:

• Pharisäer (Pharisee)
  • Der “Pharisäer nach Originalrezept” (Translation: The “Pharisee according to original recipe”), anwaltseiten24. Link: http://www.anwaltseiten24.de/rechtsgebiete/kuriose-gerichtsurteile/1/news/der-pharisaer-nach-originalrezept.html
  • “Amtsgericht Flensburg – Wieviel Rum macht den echten Pharisäer?” (Translation: “District Court Flensburg – How much rum makes the real Pharisee?”), Wikisource. Link: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Amtsgericht_Flensburg_-_Wieviel_Rum_macht_den_echten_Pharisäer%3F
  • “Zeitreise: Der Pharisäer-Streit” (Translation: “Time travel: The Pharisee quarrel”), NDR.de (only accessible via web.archive.org). Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20161103213817/https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/schleswig-holstein_magazin/zeitreise/Zeitreise-Der-Pharisaeer-Streit,zeitreise1238.html
  • Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisäer_(Getränk)
  • DM conversion tables: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/currency.htm#tables
  • Converting 1981 US Dollars to 2017 US Dollars: http://www.in2013dollars.com/1981-dollars-in-2017?amount=13.82
• Tom and Jerry
  • Wikipedia
    • Egg Nog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog
    • Tom and Jerry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry_(drink)
  • “The Forgotten Christmas Cocktail.” The Atlantic, by Sarah Elton. Link: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2009/12/the-forgotten-christmas-cocktail/32226/
  • “A Regional Oddball, Resurrected for Chilliest of Days.” The New York Times, by Robert Simonson. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/dining/the-tom-and-jerry-an-odd-ephemeral-drink.html
  • “About Those Tom and Jerry Bowls.” PUNCH, by Megan Krigbaum. Link: https://punchdrink.com/articles/about-those-tom-and-jerry-drink-recipe-bowls/
• Irish Coffee
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_coffee
  • “Delaplane honored where he ate, drank and finished his columns / Old friends hang his typewriter in North Beach bar.” SFGate, by Carl Nolte. Link: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-Delaplane-honored-where-he-ate-2557750.php
  • “The man who brought Irish coffee to America.” SFGate, by Carl Nolte. Link: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-man-who-brought-Irish-coffee-to-America-3185886.php
  • “Irish Coffee.” Ireland Whiskey Trail. Link: http://www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com/irish_coffee_history_and_recipes.php
  • BBC Episode about Stanton Delaplane: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ydsdx
  • “The Irish Coffee Story.” The Buena Vista. Link: http://www.thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html
•  Music
  • Dee Yan Key – Sleigh Ride III, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Hyson – Silent Knight, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Borrtex – Love & Generosity, FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Mystery Mammal – O Come All Ye Faithful, FreeMusicArchive.org

Episode Four Transcript:

In Germany, they take Christmas seriously. Every year, starting in late November and continuing all throughout December, most German towns have giant pop-up outdoor Christmas Markets. They’re complete with small shops, delicious foods, and – of course – warm drinks. The Christmas markets are an old tradition, with history dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, and their popularity over the years has turned them from a uniquely German custom into something most of Europe participates in. You can find Christmas markets everywhere from Paris to Copenhagen – but the biggest ones are still in Germany.

The most popular drink at German Christmas Markets is called Glühwein – it’s a hot mulled wine that can be served with or without a shot of brandy. As you walk around the markets you’ll see shop owners ladling out cupfuls of Glühwein from giant vats. It’s customary to pay for the drink, along with a deposit for the decorative Christmas mug it comes in. After finishing the drink you can choose to keep the mug, or return it and collect your deposit back.

Today on the podcast we’re bending the rules a bit and not focusing entirely on coffee. Instead, in the spirit of Christmas, we’re broadening our scope and looking at Holiday drinks as a whole, and the traditions they come with. The origins of some of these drinks, like Glühwein, are straightforward: wine tastes good, so hot wine with spices tastes even better when it’s cold outside. Other drinks have a more interesting backstory – like the Pharisäer, another Germany Christmastime alcoholic beverage. The name literally translates to “Pharisee” – yes, a reference to the Biblical sect of Jews who strictly adhered to ancient laws. But the drink is made from sweetened coffee and a shot of brown rum. So what’s with the name?

I’m Colin Mansfield, Merry Christmas and welcome to Coffee Canon.

It was the early 1870s in Nordstrand, Germany – an island that was home to a pastor named Georg Bleyer. Pastor Bleyer hated alcohol, and the local townspeople knew this. To keep the peace, people abstained from drinking while he was around.

On one particular day, Pastor Bleyer had come to the home of a respected local farmer named Peter Johannsen to baptize his new child. Pastor Bleyer finished giving his blessing to the baby, but decided to stick around for a while and enjoy the cozy home. The other guests weren’t pleased with this – they wanted to start drinking in celebration. Suddenly, farmer Johannsen had an idea. He asked one of the young ladies present to prepare cups of coffee, but to put a nice shot of rum in as well – for everyone, except the pastor. Then, to cover up the smell of liquor, he asked that a nice dollop of whipped cream be placed on every drink.

As you can imagine, a few rounds in everyone was starting to feel very cheerful. But then, misfortune struck and Pastor Bleyer discovered that the other cups contained rum. It’s not clear if the tipsy kitchen staff accidentally added rum to the pastor’s drink, or if he was simply suspicious at how everyone seemed to be getting happier. Regardless, the gig was up and the pastor was angry. After tasting the rum he stood up and shouted, “Oh, you Pharisees!” The name stuck.

Now with stories like this, usually I advise taking them with a grain of salt. Time has a way of shifting the names of people and the particulars of how events happened, but in this case, the story seems to have happened the way its told. One article I found was written in German by the great-great-grandson of Pastor Bleyer. He traveled to Nordstrand last year and met the descendants of the Johannsen family. He even went to the farm where the Pharisee story is said to have taken place – it’s since been turned into a cafe. Each person he talked to told the story the same way – how it was passed down to them from their parents.

The Pharisee became a staple menu item in German bars and cafes – and no wonder: its sweet, slightly bitter, and has nice punch of rum – or at least it’s supposed to.

In 1981 a German dentist named Arnold Rothmaler and his wife entered the Fährhaus restaurant in Holnis on the Flensburg Fjord in far north Germany. He and his wife took a seat, then saw a folded up card advertising the Pharisee drink. The card said that the drink was made, “according to the original recipe.” Mr. Rothmaler ordered two Pharisees, but after taking a sip he noted that the drink was weak – he complained to the wait staff, asking how much rum the drink contained. At this point, the restaurant owner, Mr. Wolfgang Wree, got involved, and he replied that the drinks contained 2 centiliters, or about 4 teaspoons, of rum. Mr. Rothmaler pushed back, stating that the original recipe for the Pharisee required more rum, but the restaurant owner wouldn’t relent. The disagreement escalated, and Mr. Rothmaler refused to pay for the drinks, electing instead to take the restaurant owner to court.

Now to put this in context, each drink was priced at 3.50 DM, or Deutsche Marks. In 1981, 7 Deutsche Marks converted to $13.82 US. Taking inflation into account, that’s $37.22 today.

Arnold Rothmaler got his day in court. The presiding judge, Peter Jacobsen, determined that the only way to know for sure whether or not the Pharisees made with 2cl of rum were weak, was to taste them. The judge ordered several variations of the drink be made, then tasted them with the defendant (Mr. Rothmaler) and the plaintiff (Mr Wree, the restaurant owner). In the end, the judge sided with the defendant – Mr. Rothmaler. I was able to dig up the transcript from the court proceedings – it’s hilarious to read the judge’s verdict in official court documents. Here’s an excerpt. It’s translated from German, but I think you’ll get the point:

“…the plaintiff had rejected the rectification by adding more rum. The fact that the defendant had the opportunity to order more rum in order to make the drink more alcoholic is certainly correct, but here it is insignificant; the defendant would then have accepted the defective performance and would have been additionally charged with a further purchase price claim. The served “Pharisees” were deficient . They have deviated significantly in their quality from what characterizes the “Pharisee” according to the original recipe. It is known to the courts that there are other recipes for this drink that originated on the island of Nordstrand. The original recipe, to which the folding card refers, is based on a drink that is “highly alcoholic” and therefore clearly tastes the rum additive. Because the drink is due to the “hearty” and “decent shot of rum” as “delicious drink warm body and soul.” This is not the case with two centiliters [of rum]. The court has determined by taste that the “Pharisee” tastes bland and expressionless with a rum addition of two centiliters. The rum is barely visible; It is a coffee beverage with a low alcoholic taste, but not a delicious, high-percentage alcoholic beverage. It remains to be seen whether the preparation of a proper “Pharisee” requires four centiliters of rum; In any case, an addition of two centiliters is too small.”

The ruling dictated that Mr. Rothamler did not have to pay back the 7 Deutsche Marks. I guess that’s one way to get free drinks.

In September of last year, 35 years after Judge Jacobsen made his ruling, a German magazine brought the dentist, the restaurant owner, and the judge back together for a reunion at the same restaurant where the infamous drinks were served – they all agreed that “Pharisee peace” has been established.

Each year in October or November, local supermarkets begin carrying a drink that’s closely tied with holiday cheer – egg nog. It’s one of those beverages that people either love or hate, but calling it ubiquitous is probably an understatement – to many people it defines the transition from autumn to winter. Egg nog the beverage dates back to as early as the 17th century, but the name itself likely came about in 1775 – “nog” referring to “strong ale.” One account I read stated that the first US President, George Washington, served an egg nog-like drink which included rye whisky, rum, and sherry.

But while I was doing research about egg nog, I discovered another drink – a close relative to egg nog that was extremely popular around Christmas time in the US for over 100 years. The drink is called the Tom and Jerry. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. Many people now refer to it as the “forgotten Christmas cocktail.”

The Tom and Jerry likely got its name in 1821 from British journalist Pierce Egan. He invented the beverage to help publicize his new book called “Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom.” So no, it’s not associated with the cartoon cat and mouse – if anything, the cartoon, developed in 1940, may be a play-on-words from the drink.

Essentially the Tom and Jerry is a hot version of egg nog that uses milk rather than heavy cream, as well as a significant portion of brandy. It became a well-loved Christmas beverage in both popular culture and homes across the United States. President Warren Harding even served Tom and Jerries at his annual Christmas party. In 1932 writer Damon Runyon wrote a short story called “Dancing Dan’s Christmas” which prominently features the Tom and Jerry. In it, he writes,

“This hot Tom and Jerry is an old time drink that is once used by one and all in this country to celebrate Christmas with, and in fact it is once so popular that many people think Christmas is invented only to furnish an excuse for hot Tom and Jerry, although of course this is by no means true.”

Obviously, the drink was delicious. Most recipes call for 12 egg yolks to be combined and beaten with 1 cup of sugar. From there, the egg whites are whipped in a separate bowl, then folded into the stiff yolk mixture along with a healthy glug of brandy. Put a small portion of this mixture in the bottom of a mug, then add hot milk and more brandy to taste, topping with nutmeg and cinnamon or whatever Christmas spices you desire. The finished product should be hot, creamy, and alcoholic.

Although it’s kind of a pain in the butt to make, the drink became so popular that you could buy Tom and Jerry sets, complete with a bowl to hold the batter and matching mugs with “Tom” and “Jerry” inscribed on them, often in fancy lettering. The first appearance of a Tom and Jerry bowl in writing was in an 1864 New York Times article about a bar fight ending in death. “When deceased ran and jumped over the bar; as he went over he struck a ‘Tom and Jerry’ bowl and fell.” Today, original Tom and Jerry bowls are antiques and collectibles.

But then, somewhere in the mid 20th century, around 1950 or 1960, the drink almost completely disappeared. There’s no definitive reason why, but there are theories. A popular one is that the rise of commercially-produced egg nog, available in supermarkets around the country, dis-incentivized people from making the time-intensive Tom and Jerry at home. The interesting thing is that the Tom and Jerry disappeared from bars and pop culture everywhere except Wisconsin. From what I can tell, the drink somehow solidified itself as a tradition in this cold corner of the US, even while it faded from people’s minds everywhere else. To today, you can buy pre-made Tom and Jerry mixes in local Wisconsin grocery stores.

Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz, authors of “Bottoms Up,” a published survey of Wisconsin’s historical taverns, posit two possibilities for why the Tom and Jerry remained popular in their state: first, it’s a dairy drink, and Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland. Second, Wisconsin is cold about nine months out of the year. John Dye, owner of a Milwaukee cocktail lounge agrees with the weather sentiment, adding also, “Trends just move a little slower here. They have their traditions and they stick to them.”

Over the past decade or so the Tom and Jerry has seen a slight resurgence in bars and restaurants looking to add something classic, yet new to their holiday menu. Whatever the reason for the Tom and Jerry disappearance, my hope is that this hot, delicious holiday beverage sees a revival in American culture. I mean, at this point let’s be honest: store-bought egg nog isn’t doing anyone any favors.

It’s the 1930s in Ireland. A man named Joe Sheridan decides to apply for a chef’s job at an airport in the city of Rineanna. It’s a small airport – a flying boat terminal, in fact, but it’s significant. The airport is named Foynes, and it becomes the first place to host transatlantic flights between Ireland and New York City. Joe Sheridan soon becomes well known as a great chef in this new international hub.

In 1943 a flight departs Foynes headed for New York with dozens of passengers on board, when suddenly a bad storm hits. The pilot is forced to turn the plane around and land back in Foynes, and, as you can probably imagine, the passengers are rather scared.

Legend says that after the flight landed and the cold, shaken passengers got back into the terminal, chef and bartender Joe Sheridan decided to whip up something special. He brewed dark coffee, tossed in some sugar cubes, then added a splash of Tullamore Dew whisky. Finally, he topped the drink with a layer of cold, thick cream.

As he passed the drink out, one of the passengers took a sip, then asked, “is this Brazilian coffee?” “No,” Sheridan said, “It’s Irish Coffee.”

Irish Coffee is pervasive now in the same way that mulled wine or a hot toddy is, and it can be tempting to assume that well-known mixed drinks like these spread in the same way as a viral video online. Somebody, somewhere tastes the drink, enjoys it, then tells their friends. Those friends, in turn, try the drink, enjoy it, then tell their friends. Rinse and repeat.

This might be true for some drinks, but Irish Coffee owes its spread to one man. And while Joe Sheridan invented the drink, he wasn’t the person that transformed Irish Coffee into the fixed icon that it is today. That honor belongs to a man named Stanton Delaplane.

Delaplane was an incredible reporter who worked for the San Francisco Chronicle for 53 years. In 1941 he won the Pulitzer Prize for articles about “the Free State of Jefferson,” a group of four Northern California counties and one Oregon county that threatened to break away and form a 49th state in a dispute over highway construction in the gold and copper mining areas. He also won National Headliner Awards in 1946 and 1959. Delaplane wrote a column five days a week for years and years, and in 1944 and ’45 he served as a war correspondent in the Pacific theater of World War II.

According to a SFGate article written about Delaplane in 2008, he was a perfectionist who enjoyed writing on whatever he had laying around – like old air mail letters – then going through every line carefully, ensuring he wrote exactly what he wanted to say.

Starting in 1953 Delaplane began writing a syndicated humorous travel column called “Postcards.” He used short sentences in a staccato style, which he said was for the benefit of San Francisco Municipal Railway riders who had to read the paper while commuting on the shaky train.

After learning about his death, British commentator Alistair Cooke did a segment on BBC radio about Stanton Delaplane. Here’s a clip from that show, though honestly the entire thing is worth listening to.

“Stanton Delaplane wrote like a young and happy and wholly successful pupil of Hemingway. he rarely wrote sentences of more than six or seven words and he could go weeks without calling on an adjective. His peculiar magic, which I often probed into and never discovered, was to keep these bare sentences rollicking along in the most effortless way, running as clean as spring water over the bed of a brook. He could not help being an entertaining writer and that is a gift that very few writers indeed can legitimately claim from the double-domed philosophers to the light-weight journalists.”

Stanton Delaplane was a tremendous writer, but he was also the man that brought Irish Coffee to the United States – and through that, into mainstream culture. It all started with a trip to Ireland in the 1950s.

By that time the old Foynes flying boat terminal had closed and been replaced by Shannon International Airport. Joe Sheridan – the chef who invented Irish Coffee on that cold, stormy night nearly 20 years prior, had moved to the new airport as well, and he had made Irish Coffee a regular part of his menu.

Delaplane ordered an Irish Coffee, and immediately fell in love. After returning to the states, he took the recipe to his friends Jack Koeppler and George Freeberg, the owners of a San Francisco bar called the Buena Vista Cafe. Delaplane asked for Koeppler’s and Freeberg’s help to re-create the magical drink he had tasted in Ireland, and on November 10th, 1952 they got to work.

On its face, Irish Coffee has an incredibly simple recipe: coffee, whisky, sugar, and cream. But as with any recipe, the ratios of ingredients and the timing of when to add them can turn making a simple drink into a time-consuming affair – especially if you’re a perfectionist like Stanton Delaplane. That night with Jack Koeppler became a study in trial-and-error; the two of them would mix drinks, sip judiciously, and then record the faults. Over time, they acknowledged two recurring problems:

The first problem was that the taste just wasn’t quite right based on Delaplane’s experience at the Shannon Airport in Ireland.

The second problem was that strangely, they couldn’t get the cream to float on top of the beverage. Each time they poured it in, it sank to the bottom.

That night of testing resulted in dozens of failed experiments, and a lot of whisky consumed over several hours. After drinking several Irish Coffees in a row, Stanton Delaplane nearly passed out on the cable car tracks outside the Buena Vista Cafe.

Stanton was heartbroken at their failed evening of experimentation, but Jack remained undaunted. He doubled down, deciding to pilgrimage to Ireland himself and learn the secret of the elusive Irish Coffee. After his return, they were able to solve both problems they had experienced on that hangover-inducing coffee binge.

To solve the problem of taste Stanton and Jack used the same whisky as Joe Sheridan: Tullamore Dew.  The problem with the cream, however, was less-easily solved. They brought their sinking cream problem to the mayor of San Francisco, George Christopher, who also happened to be a prominent dairy owner. It was here they discovered that if the cream was allowed to age for 48 hours, then frothed to a precise consistency it would float neatly on top of their drink just as it had in Ireland.

With the drink perfected, the only thing left was to advertise – a task perfectly suited for Stanton Delaplane. He started mentioning the drink in his travel column, which was widely read throughout the US. Irish Coffee and the Buena Vista Cafe quickly grew in popularity, attracting both local Californians and tourists from all across the United States. Everyone wanted a taste of Irish Coffee. Once Irish Coffee became popular, consumption of whisky at the Buena Vista went from 2 cases a year to about 1,000 cases which equated to almost 10 percent of the United States’ whisky consumption at that time. It’s said that the Buena Vista bartenders made 2,000 Irish Coffees daily, for many years. Meeting that amount of demand required that they become both fast and accurate at making their drink. The bartenders created an assembly-line method for making several, sometimes dozens, of Irish coffees at the same time.

According to one article, the busiest day the Buena Vista has ever seen was the Super Bowl in 1982, 49ers vs. Miami. Three bartenders served 109 bottles of whiskey between 8am and 5pm, and the night crew served another 104. With approximately 29 drinks per bottle, that means the cafe served over 6,000 drinks that day.

By the Buena Vista’s own count, they have served more than 30 million Irish Coffees total.

In 1952 the Buena Vista Cafe took on a new employee; an Irish chef named Joe Sheridan. The very same man who invented Irish Coffee on that fateful stormy night in 1943. Sheridan was asked to come and work at Buena Vista, which he did for ten years. It’s not often that an inventor gets to watch his creation become famous, but Joe Sheridan got that honor. Today, he’s buried in Oakland, CA.

About Irish Coffee, Joe Sheridan offered this advice on what ingredients to use in his famous beverage: “Cream as rich as an Irish brogue; coffee as strong as a friendly hand; sugar sweet as the tongue of a rogue; and whisky smooth as the wit of the land.”

I hope you enjoyed this special holiday drink episode of Coffee Canon. As always, I’m your host Colin Mansfield and I appreciate your support. I recently created a coffee holiday gift guide for listeners of the show. It’s a short PDF complete with pictures and links that outlines some coffee gift recommendations, from brewing devices to grinders to actual coffee. Whether you need a last-minute gift idea, or you just want to pick something special up for yourself, this gift guide is a great resource. You can download it for free now at http://boisecoffee.org/giftguide.

May your Christmas season be filled with warmth and love. Oh yeah – and great coffee.

The post Episode Four: Holiday Drinks appeared first on Boise Coffee.

For thousands of years humans have used fermentation to preserve food, leaven bread, and brew alcohol. In 19th century Belgium lambic beers were brewed using the yeasts and bacteria naturally found in the air. Fermentation is an integral part of the way we process coffee as well, but because of function – not taste. What can history teach us about fermentation, and how can we use that to create even better tasting coffee?

This week’s episode relied heavily on the article, “Looking beyond Origin for flavor diversity” by Lucia Solis. Read the article here. Also, here’s a link to the BuzzFeed video referenced at the beginning of the show. Links to the rest of the sources for this episode are below. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Coffee Canon email list. A special gift is going out this week to those on the list! You can sign up here.

Colin

Episode Three Sources:

• Coffee Fermentation
  • “Looking beyond Origin for flavor diversity.” Where is Scott Rao?, by Lucia Solis. Link: https://www.scottrao.com/blog/2017/10/23/looking-beyond-origin-for-flavor-diversity
  • “A long overdue report on some coffee fermentation experiments.” Pax Coffea, by Peter Giuliano. Link: http://petergiuliano.tumblr.com/post/29438469954/a-long-overdue-report-on-some-coffee-fermentation
  • “How Does Fermentation Affect Coffee Flavor Development?” Perfect Daily Grind, by Tanya Newton. Link: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2017/07/fermentation-affect-coffee-flavour-development/
  • “Beer and Wine are Fermented – So Is Coffee!” Hula Daddy Kona Coffee Link: http://www.huladaddy.com/articles/beer-and-wine-are-fermented-so-is-coffee.htm
• Beer Fermentation
  • “A Brief History of Lambic in Belgium.” https://www.lambic.info/A_Brief_History_of_Lambic_in_Belgium
  • “Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer” by Jef Van den Steen. https://www.lambic.info/Books#Geuze_.26_Kriek:_The_Secret_of_Lambic_Beer
• Coffee Processing
  • “What on Earth is Honey Process?” Seattle Coffee Works Blog, by Sebastian Simsch. Link: http://blog.seattlecoffeeworks.com/roastery/earth-honey-process/
  • “Washed, Natural, Honey: Coffee Processing 101” Perfect Daily Grind, by R. Turp. Link: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2016/07/washed-natural-honey-coffee-processing-101/
• Wikipedia
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_in_food_processing
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_arabica
• Music
  • Dana Boulé, Blue Piano, “Waves” FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Podington Bear, Passages, “Aim Is True” FreeMusicArchive.org
  • Podington Bear, Passages, “Window Shopping” FreeMusicArchive.org

Episode Three Transcript:

About three weeks ago BuzzFeed posted a video called “$1 Coffee Vs. $914 Coffee.” This video is similar to others in this format – a couple guys go to Japan and try three different coffees at different price points. The first costs 100 Yen (or about $1). The second is a specialty pour-over that goes for 400 Yen (or about $4). The final cup is from a small coffee shop in Osaka, Japan called “THE MUNCH.” The drink is brewed using beans that have been barrel-aged for 20 years, and it costs 100,000 Yen, or about $914. The video is worth a watch, if only because watching these guys’ facial expressions after trying the barrel-aged coffee is as close as most of us will ever come to enjoying the drink ourselves. According to them, it was incredibly delicious and completely one-of-a-kind.

But the video got me thinking – what’s the deal with barrel-aged coffee? Is this the newest gimmick on the block, or is there actually something there?

A couple days after BuzzFeed posted the video, well known coffee expert and author Scott Rao helped answer my questions. He posted an article on his blog called “Looking beyond Origin for flavor diversity.” The article is actually by Lucia Solis, a fermentation expert who started as a winemaker. Now, Lucia is a coffee-fermentation designer.

In the opening sentence of the post, Lucia writes that her work comes down to one simple truth: fermentation creates chemical compounds with sensory characteristics. She goes on to say that tiny microbes like yeast and bacteria have the potential to impact flavor in a big way – good or bad. And they’re impacting our coffee now whether we like it or not.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to Coffee Canon.

In this episode I’m going to be discussing fermentation and its application to coffee, both historically and currently. I’m no biologist or zymologist – that’s the science of fermentation for the folks at home keeping score – so keep in mind that everything I discuss here will be based on a source I’ve read or interpreted. As always, a list of my sources can be found both in the show notes and the corresponding post on BoiseCoffee.org.

So what is fermentation? Let’s take a quick crash-course in biochemistry, starting with metabolism. Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of organisms. Metabolic systems aren’t the same across all of life, of course – some organisms require substances that might kill other organisms. For example, hydrogen sulfide is used as a nutrient by some unicellular organisms, but it’s completely poisonous to animals.

Fermentation is simply a metabolic process that consumes sugar in the absence of oxygen. It produces organic acids, gases, or alcohol, and it occurs in yeast and bacteria. Fermentation has been used by humans in food products for likely hundreds of thousands of years with a few key goals: preservation, leavening, and, of course, making alcohol. Pickles, sourdough bread, kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, beer, wine, and hard cider are just a handful of the great things that fermentation has allowed us to produce.

Beer – in particular – is an interesting case study in how fermentation went from an uncontrolled necessity to a meticulously calculated flavor-enhancer. Beer has changed quite a bit over time, and most of the brews you can pick up at a supermarket today are very dissimilar from their ancient counterparts in major ways.

A couple years ago my wife and I got the chance to visit Belgium and while there, to check out Cantillon Brewery. Cantillon brews lambic beers and has since 1900 when the brewery was founded. But the lambic style of brewing goes back way further than that – by some accounts it was being experimented with as early as 1400. How is lambic brewing different from modern brewing? Fermentation. It’s fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria native to the Zenne valley – that’s the area around the portion of Brussels that the Zenne river flows through. So – what’s that look like? Well without going too deep into all the processes associated with beer brewing, basically, brewers would take what’s known as the wort (essentially mashed grain steeped in hot water) and let it sit in a giant circular shallow vat. This would expose the wort to all the natural bacteria and yeast floating around in the air. As it fermented, it took on the unique characteristics of microorganisms found in that region – both tasty, and not so tasty.

Modern brewing techniques ferment through exposure to carefully cultivated strains of brewer’s yeast. We do this today because modern brewers are looking for specific flavors only brought out by specific strains of bacteria and yeasts. Back in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and most of the 20th century, brewers didn’t have the option of picking out their yeasts and bacteria. So, they experimented.

In the 17th and 18th centuries brewers in Belgium were generally considered artisans and were mainly part of the agrarian community. This meant that many of the brewers were farmers themselves, or had close ties to the farmers in the community who supplied the raw materials needed to make beer. According to one author, in 1839 the area in which lambic could legally be brewed was limited to Brussels and the immediately surrounding area – and until 1860 foreign beers, whether imported or domestically produced, were non-existent in Brussels. Why? Well, brewers believed that their beer had a unique taste that could only be created because of the unique micro flora only found in Brussels. Fermentation, they believed, made their product better than anyone else’s. My wife and I agree – the lambic we tried in Brussels was incredible.

But not all regions are created equal, and not all natural yeasts and bacteria taste good. This is one reason why the traditional lambic style isn’t widely brewed today. Now that breweries can pick and choose which “good flavor” bacteria they want to introduce to their fermentation process, they can guarantee a consistent and repeatable flavor for their brews. Ultimately, the consumer wins – we know that when we pick up a 6-pack of brand-name beer from the supermarket it’s going to taste the same as the beer we bought last time, and the time before that.

So what does all this talk about fermentation mean for coffee, and why is it even relevant?

Well, before we answer that question, we first need to discuss how coffee is processed – and to get there, we need to take another step back and talk about how coffee is grown. So, let’s start at the beginning.

The word “coffee,” botanically speaking, is a broad term. It’s like saying “Rose;” just as there are different species of roses, there are different species of coffee. The two most well known coffee species are Coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora, usually referred to as Robusta. Robusta is actually more of a brand name given to Coffea canephora to highlight its strong – or robust – flavor. It was discovered in the Belgian Congo (what is now Zaire) in the late 19th century. At that time Coffea arabica, or just Arabica for short, was the only form of coffee being widely traded and sold. Robusta coffee plants, as it turned out, were able to grow and fruit at lower altitudes and higher temperatures than Arabica. Plus, they were more resistant to disease. This made them ideal to mass-produce and be grown in climates where Arabica couldn’t thrive. There’s just one problem with Robusta coffee – it tastes horrible. The beans have a woody, burnt-rubber quality with low acidity. On the plus side, Robusta beans generally have a higher caffeine content. These days, modern companies like Folgers use a certain percentage of Robusta beans blended in with Arabica beans to keep costs low, and caffeine high.

It’s interesting to note that on a genetic level Robusta and Arabica aren’t siblings or distant relatives: Robusta is actually the parent of Arabica. Some time in the distant past, likely in southern Sudan, Robusta crossed with another species called Coffea euginoides and together they produced Arabica. Coffea arabica spread from there, taking root in Ethiopia where it was first discovered by humans.

Growing and harvesting coffee plants demands a ton of care and patience. A newly planted seedling will take up to three years before it fruits properly. Also, coffee plants are extremely sensitive to temperature, moisture levels, sunlight exposure, soil composition, and altitude. A change in any of these factors can result in a drastically different end-product.

Most coffee trees have one main harvest per year, though some have a second smaller harvest. The first harvest is triggered by a prolonged period of rainfall, causing the trees to bloom in beautiful white blossom flowers with a strong scent, almost like jasmine. Arabica trees are able to self-polinate, though they are often assisted by insects like bees. After flowering, it takes up to nine months until the fruits are ready for harvest. Unfortunately, coffee cherries rarely ripen all at once – this puts growers in a tough place: they can choose to harvest all the fruits at once, then pick out the unripe and overripe fruit before processing, or they can pay pickers to make multiple passes of the same trees to get perfectly ripe cherries. The method used is usually determined by how much money and time the growers have. Regardless of the method, it’s rarely perfect. Some unripe cherries always make it into the processing stage and must be removed later on.

The coffee fruit is usually about the size of a small grape, but unlike grapes nearly the entire inside is dominated by the seed – or bean. All cherries start out green, and turn a bright shade of red or yellow as they ripen. Occasionally, trees that produce a red fruit and trees that produce a yellow fruit will cross breed and to produce an orange fruit. Trees that produce yellow fruit are sometimes avoided, as it can be harder to tell when the cherry is perfectly ripe and ready to be picked.

Coffee cherries essentially have five parts: the outer skin, the internal pulp, the parchment which surrounds the seed, the silverskin – a layer directly around the seed, and the seed itself. The seed is that portion that we’ll eventually roast and brew with, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First we have to peel off the other four layers. The method we choose to peel those layers off is called our “processing method” and, generally speaking, there are three main options: natural or dry, washed, and honey.

First, consider the natural processes, sometimes called the dry process. The natural process starts with removing unripe cherries that made it past the picking stage. That can either be done by hand, or using a flotation tank. If it’s done by hand, people will literally pick out the unripe green cherries from the batch before moving to the next step. But if we’re using a tank, all the coffee cherries are dumped into a massive water tank – because of buoyancy and science the ripe cherries sink to the bottom, and the unripe cherries float to the top. From there, the ripe cherries are spread out in a thin layer on brick patios or specially designed drying tables. The sun beats down on these coffee cherries, drying them until the outer husk of skin and fruit are able to be easily removed from the bean. While drying, the cherries have to be turned often, usually by people using some kind of rake, to keep them from molding or drying unevenly. It’s at this stage that the coffee cherries undergo fermentation as they’re dried in the fruit. This fermentation is what chemically helps the seed separate from the outer layers of the coffee fruit. Once the seeds are ready, they’re physically separated from the husk and fruit using a specifically designed machine. After the seeds are separated, they are rested for 30-60 days and are then mechanically hulled to remove any protective parchment left over.

The natural process is usually used in areas where access to water is severely limited. Because so many of the steps are manual, an entire batch can easily be ruined by one misstep. But when the beans are processed well, you get some amazing flavors like blueberry, strawberry, and tropical fruit. Bad batches taste like crap, literally. Manure, barnyard, and ferment are common tasting notes in poorly processed natural coffees.

Second, we’ve got the washed process. The washed process has the same goal and end-result in mind: strip coffee cherries down to the seed and ready them for shipment, roasting, and brewing. But the way this is accomplished is very different from the natural process. The washed process is more expensive, mostly because lots of water gets used, but the results tend to be more predictable than with the natural process.

First, the ripe cherries are separated using the tank buoyancy method mentioned earlier. From there, the outer skin and fruit flesh are stripped off of the coffee cherries by a mechanical depulper. Basically, it’s a machine that looks like kind of like a wood chipper, but whole beans go in at the top, and one side spits out the skin and flesh. The other side gives you mostly clean coffee seeds. Next, the coffee beans are placed in a clean trough of water where they are fermented to remove the remainder of the flesh. Coffee fruit flesh contains a lot of pectin that is firmly attached to the seed. Fermentation breaks it down, after which it gets washed away. The amount of time that fermentation takes depends on the amount of water used, the altitude, and the ambient temperature. If coffee is fermented too long, negative flavors can start to creep in, making this a crucial step. This part is key to today’s episode, and we’ll come back to talk about it later – but I want to highlight that the coffee is fermented simply to remove the flesh, nothing more.

The third main processing method is called the Honey Process. It’s most common in Central American countries. The mucilage of the coffee cherry is sticky and slimy, and because of this it’s sometimes called “honey.” During the Honey Process, coffee is dried with some or all of the mucilage remaining on the parchment encasing the seed. Coffee cherries are picked, sorted, and depulped (in the same ways we discussed for the natural and washed processes), and then they’re moved to drying patios for various periods of time. So, in essence, you’re combining some aspects of the washed process with some aspects of the natural process. One of the benefits of the Honey Process is that it doesn’t require as much water as the washed process, making it cheaper, but the results are more predictable than those from the natural process. Honey Processed beans go through little bits of fermentation over short periods of time while their mucilage dries. Coffees processed this way tend to have less acidity than either washed or natural processed coffees, but these bursts of fermentation do allow them to retain some acidity, which manifests itself as some bright flavors in the final product.

So you can see that already, the coffee industry utilizes fermentation in all three of the main coffee processing methods. But in every single one, it’s used as a means to an end – it’s a way to separate the coffee bean away from the outer layers of fruit.

Lucia Solis – the author of the article I mentioned at the beginning of the show – thinks that this is an incredibly narrow-minded way of viewing fermentation and its application with coffee. In the article, She says,

“We have only a handful of words to describe processing methods, for example washed, wet, honey, or natural, but each of these words can encompass very different and complex steps.  The steps and time involved in what someone would describe as “washed” process vary wildly based on the climate, altitude, cultivar, ripeness, tank design and myriad other variables impacting fermentation kinetics.  A coffee could spend anywhere from 8 hours to 72 hours in contact with the mucilage (fermenting) before it is washed.  The words “fully washed” might not even mean that a coffee was fermented – but even if you know with certainty that it had been fermented, a coffee dry-fermented for 8 hours will likely taste different from one fermented underwater for 40 hours; or one fermented at 700 meters altitude (MASL) at 80°F versus 1500 MASL and 55°F; or one fermented in wood versus ceramic tanks. And so on.

Not only do the words we use to describe the process lack specificity, there is little known about the flavor effects of different processes’ steps or the microbes involved during those steps.  This is the focus of my work.”

Later on she makes an incredibly salient point about how the coffee industry largely thinks about fermentation. “I finally realized few people understood the value of fermentation in the first place. I was using the word “fermentation” to describe a metabolic process whereby yeast and bacteria transform sugars into energy and flavor compounds.  Yet the most common working definition for coffee purposes was ‘the step where the pulped coffee sits in a tank until the mucilage falls off’.”

“In the wine industry,” she goes on to say, “fermentation is extensively studied because it is a necessary step in winemaking: you can’t have wine without it. I noticed the coffee industry used the same word, but it had a very different meaning to almost everyone I talked to. I think the main reason for the discrepancy is that “fermentation” is optional for coffee; it’s just one method of isolating the seed from a cherry.”

If you have a minute, I recommend reading her article in its entirety. She’s makes some great points and has some neat hand-drawn diagrams to go with the text.

Ms. Solis’ overarching argument is this: traditionally in the coffee industry we’ve seen coffee fruit as having two “safe states” – that is places where the fruit is stable and not vulnerable to spoilage. These safe states are while the cherry is unpicked and still on the plant, and after the seed has been completely processed and is ready for roasting. In other words, the traditional thinking pattern is that the moment a coffee cherry is picked, it becomes vulnerable to damage and outside factors that may decrease its quality, and therefor its value. Another way of saying that is this: fermentation is unpredictable and “offers no opportunity for flavor enhancement, only risk.”

The new way of thinking about fermentation and coffee isn’t actually that new. It’s used in wine, beer, cheese, chocolate, and bread. This argument states that controlling and extending fermentation can actually yield positive, desirable flavor attributes while mitigating risk. The challenge is that you can’t leave this fermentation up to chance.

Which leads us back to where we started: a BuzzFeed video where an elderly Japanese man charges over $900 for a mug of 20-year-fermented coffee that tastes incredible. See the trick isn’t in the barrel, it’s in the microbes. It’s in the yeasts and bacteria that this man controlled for, yielding an enjoyable cup of coffee.

But using fermentation in tandem with coffee doesn’t have to take decades or cost hundreds of dollars per cup. Advocates say that coffee processors will see immediate results if they treat their beans like brew masters treat their beer – not leaving it up to environmental chance, but instead choosing the results before the brewing process even begins by selecting the right microbes.

But not everyone is convinced. Back in 2012 Peter Giuliano, the coffee expert we heard from in Episode 1 in regards to Japanese Iced Coffee, conducted a fermentation experiment of his own. He has a full write up on his blog, and he begins with a candid disclaimer: “this is not good science…the blinding was marginal, the controls weren’t perfect, we never repeated anything, and we had a ton of bias before even beginning the process. All the same, I feel that I learned something, and I want to share that with others.”

Essentially, Peter Giuliano’s experiment consisted of the same coffee fermented in five different yeasts or bacterias, as well as one control which was un-inoculated. Now, I’ll say this, even a cursory glance at Mr. Giuliano’s experiment makes it obvious that scientific rigor was not the priority here: they used unsealed five-gallon buckets to ferment in, meaning they were open to any other fermentation agents present in the natural environment. Also, the coffees were allowed to soak for only 24 hours, a length that, according to Peter, “is a normal, longish fermentation time.” While this may be true of current fermentation practices, it likely is not the optimal amount of time to generate new and interesting flavors in the coffee. The final thing that stuck out to me is there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why the five fermentation agents were chosen. There may have been a purpose behind those specific combinations, but it wasn’t obvious and it seemed odd to simply pick five at random. To my knowledge there isn’t an establish list of bacterias and yeasts that are best suited for fermenting coffee, so I’m not sure what his selection criteria was for this experiment.

In any case, the results were inconclusive at best. While the buckets had a “dramatic difference in fermentation activity between yeasts” in the form of visual foaming, the actual cups of coffee that were brewed later had only slight flavor differences. In fact, the cupping scores that tasters attributed to all six coffees (control included) fell within the rating margin of error. “In other words, in this test, microbial treatments didn’t have a strong effect on the point score of the coffee.”

Peter does go on to say that the coffees were not unaffected by the treatments; they were different, especially in terms of fragrance and aroma. But the fundamental aspects that made this coffee what it was – the acidity, sweetness, body, aftertaste, cleanliness, etc – were unchanged. He says, “Microbes like yeasts and bacteria may be able to create subtle changes in the perception and articulation of these characteristics, but may not be able to change the coffee fundamentally.”

Respectfully, I disagree. And I think that in time, the rest of the coffee industry will as well. It seems that the main issue with discussing fermentation and its application in coffee is that, like Ms. Solis wrote, we treat it as a way to achieve a necessary physical state of the bean. We know that its happening, but we hand-wave it away as if it’s not already impacting the taste.  But this isn’t the case for other craft foods and beverages where microbes play a significant role.

What would controlling for fermentation look like on a practical level for coffee processing facilities and farms? This is where it gets hairy – as we discussed earlier, processing methods vary widely from region to region. No two cities have the same resources and needs, nor do they have the same kinds of skilled employees. Like with water, some coffee processing techniques are birthed out of necessity rather than out of a desire to make the end product taste better. This is one way where coffee significantly differs from wine and beer. Both can be brewed in 1st world countries that have 1st world resources. Coffee, on the other hand, is almost entirely grown in poor countries. Likely, most farms wouldn’t have the resources to establish the kind of controlled environments that modern breweries use for controlled fermentation.

Ultimately, I don’t know if controlled fermentation is the type of thing the entire industry could shift towards. I think they should – Ms. Solis made a believer out of me – but I’m not convinced there’s an easy path for industry-wide changes to occur. I do, however, think that it’s the perfect opportunity for innovate specialty coffee shops to make better coffee. There are no good arguments against it, and fermentation’s history agrees with me. Please though, someone give me a heads up if a barista somewhere starts trying to implement hops into their roast in some way. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m sure that’s been done.

Thanks for listening to Coffee Canon. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield. If you’re enjoying the show, please do me a favor and give it a five-star rating on iTunes or the Apple Podcasts app – I’d really appreciate that. Also, feel free to drop my a line on email and let me know your thoughts about this episode – I’d love to continue the discussion. You can reach me at BoiseCoffee@gmail.com. Thanks for listening, have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving next week.

The post Episode Three: Fermenting Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Episode Two of Coffee Canon focuses on Italian coffee. We often associate Italy with espresso, but the truth is that true espresso didn’t exist until about 1950. Developing It took the work of key inventors, businesspeople, and visionaries who saw coffee not for what it currently was, but for what it could be.

In this episode I feature a radio interview by Professor Jonathan Morris. You can listen to the whole thing here. Also, he wrote a fascinating paper on Italy’s coffee journey: check it out here.

Enjoy the episode, and feel free to reference the sources below if you’d like to read more. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Coffee Canon email list if you haven’t already.

Colin

Episode Two Sources:

• ‘A History of Espresso in Italy and in the World’ by Jonathan Morris. The primary source for this episode: http://www.academia.edu/262226/A_History_of_Espresso_in_Italy_and_in_the_World_2008_
• Jonathan Morris and Laurie Taylor radio interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tz8v 
• How transatlantic exchange shaped Italy’s coffee culture: https://qz.com/992879/the-curious-tale-of-how-italy-became-the-world-capital-of-coffee/
• Wikipedia, History of the Moka Pot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_pot 
• ‘The Romance of Coffee and Aluminum’ by JT Schnapp, a great source for more on the Moka pot and Italian culture: http://earlymodernconversions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Schnapp-The-Romance-of-Coffee-and-Aluminum.pdf
• Music
  • “Una Cosa” by Podington Bear  – FreeMusicArchive.org
  • “Blues Angeline” by Lobo Loco – FreeMusicArchive.org

Episode Two Transcript:

Everything has an inventor. This is sort of an obvious statement on its face – the fact that crafted things – manufactured things – really everything from modern conveniences to primitive technology has a person or a team behind they’re invention – we know this.

But how often do we actually stop and think about these people? There’s the big names, sure, like Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Elon Musk – people who have famously taken huge risks with their companies or ideas. Risks that worked out for them and shaped the world into what it is today.

But for every Thomas Edison there were 1,000 inventors and creators who’s names we’ve never heard. People who have shaped our world in just as powerful ways, but without the name ID.

Coffee is no different. Every single device and method used to harvest, process, roast, grind, and brew coffee beans has a person or group of people who pioneered that technique or invented that product. Last episode we talked briefly about the Hario v60 and how it reflects both Japanese culture and values. This week we’re going to discuss another country; a place that has its history deeply tied to coffee.

For half of the 20th century inventors, fortune-seekers, and businesspeople tried their hand at creating a machine that made coffee in less time, with better taste. The basic idea was that each customer could have an individual coffee brewed expressly for them, and quickly. The country is Italy and the device, of course, is the espresso machine.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to Coffee Canon.

I’ll confess that up until researching for this episode, in my head Italian coffee has always been espresso. The two are somehow synonymous to me: Italy and espresso. But the reality is that true espresso wasn’t even invented until about 1950. Venice was one of the first European ports to import coffee in the 1570s, and the first recorded coffee house didn’t open in Italy until 1683. This means that for about two and a half of the last three centuries, espresso didn’t even exist in Italian culture. It didn’t exist at all. In these early years Italian coffeehouse owners brewed coffee using infusion based methods that were popular across Europe at the time.

In 1901 everything changed. Luigi Bezzera, an inventor from Milan, patented a steam-powered coffee machine that forced hot water through a coffee cake at about 0.75 atmospheres of pressure. In 1903 Bezzera’s patent was acquired by a manufacturer named Desidero Pavoni who used it to produce the first commercial espresso machine in 1905. He called it the Ideale.

The concept of fresh made-to-order coffee is almost expected from coffee shops today, but in the early 1900s it was a novel concept. Being able to quickly and easily make individual cups of coffee for specific customers meant faster service and better drinks. This new espresso was marketed as a futuristic beverage – in one advertisement, an Italian artist used a steam locomotive to make a visual play on the idea of an express train.

These steam machines created a very different kind of espresso than we’re used to today: temperatures in the group head of the espresso machine rose to 250 degrees F and higher, causing the final drink to appear jet black and taste burnt. Crema – the thin, delicious layer of oil that sits at the top of a modern well-pulled shot of espresso, was never present in these old drinks. The pressure that these steam machines created was just too low, and the steam itself often contaminated the drinks as well. By modern standards, these first generation espresso machines created something closer to drip coffee than actual espresso. Still, the ball was rolling and the way Italians began to think about coffee was changing. In fact, these quick machines started something in Italian culture that remains to this day: standing cafe bars.

If you visit Italy today, there are two basic ways you can order coffee. The first way is to sit at a restaurant, order from a waiter, and be served your drink. This is fairly standard the world over, but the difference in Italy is that you actually end up paying more on your check for table service from he wait staff. The more affordable way to get your espresso or cappuccino is to visit one of the many standing cafes that line the streets of urban Italian cities. Getting your coffee this way means you’ll pay much lower prices – usually one or two Euros – and you’ll find yourself leaning against the bar, brushing shoulders with locals while you sip.

These standing cafe bars came around at the same time the first generation steam-powered espresso machines were popularized. The large machines stood on the counters and would serve dozens of urban Italians that came by to socialize, conduct business, or just for a quick jolt. The interesting thing about these cafes is that they were originally called “American bars” because of the saloon-like layout of the cafe. There were no tables, just one long bar. The first American bar in Italy was Caffé Manaresi in Florence. It was nicknamed “Caffé dei Ritti” by locals – ritti means upright in Italian.

Between the new bars and new coffee machines, Italians were drinking coffee more. Both the consumption of coffee per capita and the number of new cafes increased slowly between 1900-1930 – though it was still mostly the upper and middle classes who could afford coffee. It was still seen as a luxury beverage by many, including the Fascist regime. That’s probably why Italy’s increasingly hostile leadership started taxing coffee imports during the 1930s. This, in turn, made consumption drop.

Nonetheless, the 1930s proved to be an important decade for the development of espresso. Coffee industry leaders knew that the current machines produced bad coffee, and they wanted to fix it. One of the main issues was the contamination and burning of coffee because of steam. Francesco Illy, founder of the Illy caffe and roastery, came up with a compressed air solution to this problem in 1935 that he dubbed the Illetta. Unfortunately, it never saw production. In 1938 two different Italian men – a Milanese engineer named Cremonese and a bar owner named Achille Gaggia, patented a piston solution that pushed water through coffee at higher pressures. But with demand for coffee low and import prices high, producing these machines was just not a viable or financially responsible solution. Then, WWII began and coffee was on the back burner, so to speak.

In 1947 espresso changed forever. Achille Gaggia registered a new patent that year for a lever operated piston incorporating gearing and a spring. This machine was dead-simple to operate by hand, and it’s main function was to take water directly from a boiler, and force it through a compressed cake of coffee. Using a piston meant more pressure – more than 9 times more than the first generation espresso machines. This bump in pressure resulted in a thin moussey layer of tasty coffee oils sitting on top of the extracted end-product. Today, this crema is the defining characteristic that sets espresso apart from all other coffee methods. But in late 1940s Italy, this brand-new take on coffee was seen as an entirely different beverage. It was renamed caffe crema or cream coffee, to distinguish it from the darker, less-tasty standard coffee everyone had grown used to. Sometimes its difficult to let go of the past, even when it tastes like a mixture of burnt rubber and charcoal.

This new take on espresso further drove a wedge between the two places Italians most commonly drank coffee: the home, and the bar. Back in 1933 an Italian inventor named Luigi De Ponti patented a stove-top coffee brewing device that used steam to force water through a valve, through a coffee puck, and up into a serving chamber. If this sounds familiar, it’s because espresso machines at the time worked in much the same way. So just take a second and imagine what this invention would mean for Italian households in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s: you could make coffee in your home with the exact same quality as the cafe down the road. The man who formed the manufacturing company that produced this coffee maker was named Alfonso Bialetti. He called the device the “Moka Express” and in the economic boom of the 1950s, it found its place in nearly every Italian home. This was thanks, in large part, to Alfonso Bialetti’s son Renato. Renato returned from the war in 1946 after spending several years in a German prisoner-of-war camp. Renato brought an entirely new sensibility to Bialetti’s Moka Express; he knew they had something special on their hands, and he focused a huge advertising budget on this fact. He started national campaigns, placing advertisements on billboards, in newspapers and magazines, on the radio, and once TV became widely available, there too. Renato’s focus was on building a strong brand around the distinctive coffee maker. One example of Renato’s intense focus on advertising is this: each year, Italy held a massive trade fare in Milan called the Fiera di Milano. Renato used this as an opportunity: year after year, the Bialetti company purchased every single billboard in the city Milan, plastering images of the Moka Express literally everywhere. Perhaps Renato’s largest contribution to the brand, however, was a distinctive mustachioed cartoon man with his right finger held aloft as if ordering an espresso. This logo still adorns every Moka Express manufactured by Bialetti.

So, here we are in the late 1940s early 1950s with two distinct approaches to coffee: on one hand, you have new engineering breakthroughs with espresso machines that allow cafes to produce truly great tasting coffee for the first time in history. On the other hand, you have Bialetti’s Moka Express that promises to bring the cafe into the kitchen, but with a more, well, traditional coffee taste. This difference in location and taste remains to today; about 90% of Italians have a personal Moka Express for at-home use, yet everyone still gets espresso from their local cafe.

In 1948 Gaggia released his first manufactured lever-driven espresso machines. With slogans like “Natural cream coffee” and “it works without steam,” it’s obvious that Gaggia knew that he had something special on his hands. And he was right –  the market shifted at an alarming rate over the next 10 years. Milan proved to be the epicenter of change, with many of the ideas that shaped the future of coffee originating from Milanese people and companies. Updates to the Gaggia concept were rapid fire: the Cimbali company replaced the spring-loaded piston with hydraulic levers, making it easier to physically operate the machine. Pavoni, the same manufacturer who had acquired Luigi Bezzera’s original espresso machine patent way back in 1903, had the idea of turning the tall boiler on its side, creating a longer horizontal machine that allowed baristas to interact with customers. Ernesto Valente, who split from Gaggia in 1950, introduced an electric pump to his machine in 1961. It was operated by a simple switch – no need to pull any levers. To accomplish this, the machine pulled water directly from the water mains, pressurized it, and heated it before pushing it through the coffee puck. This meant that the barista only had to control the parameters associated with extracting coffee (grinding, time of extraction, etc) but didn’t have to provide the physical power for the process. This type of machine was dubbed “semi-automatic” and became the standard tool for cafes not only in Italy, but all across the world in years to come.

An interesting note about coffee in Italy – not every region has the same tastes. Broadly speaking, southern Italy prefers espresso blends with higher quantities of Robusta beans – the cheaper, bitter alternative to Arabica beans that are standard today. Southern Italy also prefers darker roasts. This was true in 1960, according to a report on the coffee trade for the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. The report stated that coffee drunk in southern Italy and Sicilly was lower quality and would not be acceptable in other parts of Italy. This is still true today – Illy, a premium roaster who sells only one espresso blend using 100% Arabica beans, even Illy sells a darker roasted version specifically targeted for Italy’s southern market.

So far, most of the information and facts that I’ve discussed in this episode have stemmed from the well-documented and researched work of one man: professor Jonathan Morris from the University of Hertfordshire. He works as the Research Professor of Modern European History, and he self-identifies as a historian of consumption, specializing in the history of coffee. Fortunately for us, Professor Morris has written a few wonderful papers about coffee’s spread from Italy to the rest of the world (as I said, one of these essays is the primary source for this podcast episode). Not only that, but Professor Morris has appeared on several documentary films, he’s spoken at specialty coffee events, he’s been interviewed for podcast episodes, and he’s appeared on live radio. Someday, I hope to have him on this show, but until then I’d love to share with you a clip from a radio interview he conducted back in 2007 with Laurie Taylor, an English sociologist and radio host. In this clip, Laurie and Jonathan are discussing how Italian espresso impacted coffee culture in England between about 1970-1990.

It’s here that Italian coffee starts to become the world’s coffee. Espresso spread like wildfire with Brits and Americans putting their own twists on and creating larger versions of Italy’s classical sized espresso drinks. A little roaster opened in Seattle in 1971 serving gourmet beans, but was re-invented as a coffee shop chain in 1987 by a guy named Howard Schultz. Initially, Schultz actually tried to take elements from Italian coffee culture and implement them into Starbucks. In one interview Schultz talks about this saying,

“In that first store, we were determined to re-create a true Italian-style coffee bar. Our primary mission was to be authentic. We didn’t want to do anything to dilute the integrity of the espresso and the Italian coffee bar experience in Seattle. For music, we played only Italian opera. The baristas wore white shirts and bow ties. All service was stand-up with no seating…the menu was covered with Italian words. Even the décor was Italian. Bit by bit we realized many of those details weren’t appropriate for Seattle. People started complaining about the incessant opera. The bow ties proved impractical. Customers who weren’t in a hurry wanted chairs. Some of the Italian foods and drinks needed to be translated.”

Starbucks proved that while Italian coffee culture didn’t work in the U.S., espresso-based beverages did. Americans may never drink straight espresso while standing up, but a carmel macchiato with extra whip? Sign us up. It’s also interesting to note that currently, Starbucks is nowhere to be found in Italy. That’s slated to change next year in 2018, with hundreds of Starbucks locations planned for the Italian market. I guess we’ll have to see how they do.

One Italian company in particular did benefit from Starbucks’ immense growth: La Marzocco, based out of Florence. La Marzocco was founded in 1927 and manufactured quality espresso machines for decades. In 1970 the company came out with a new type of machine that utilized two separate boilers: one for pulling espresso shots, and one for steaming milk. The steaming power was attractive to the American market, what with our love of milky, frothy drinks, and in Starbucks’ early years of growth La Marzocco espresso machines were imported to Seattle for use in their coffee shops. As Starbucks grew, so did La Marzocco, and eventually they opened a US factory in Seattle to meet this demand. In 1999 Starbucks transitioned to an automatic machine, causing La Marzocco to close their U.S. subsidiary, but the company remains incredibly lucrative. Over 90% of La Marzocco’s high-end espresso machines are exported abroad and they remain a name associated with quality in specialty coffee circles today.

Today, Italian coffee culture is more similar to the 1950s than it is different. People still visit their local stand-up cafes to drink an inexpensive shot of espresso. People still use their Moka Express at home. At first glance, this might make it seem like Italian coffee culture is static, or even stuck. But what’s actually changed? Well the rest of the world has. You might say that while Italian’s have known and loved espresso for over 100 years, while the rest of us are just now getting into it. We’ve got a long way to go.

Thanks for listening to Coffee Canon. I’m your host Colin Mansfield, and if you’re interested in learning more about the history of Italian coffee and espresso’s spread to the rest of the world, check out the sources I’ve linked to in the show notes. Namely, check out Jonathan Morris’ paper titled “A History of Espresso in Italy and in the World.” Really, anything that Morris has written or been a part of is interesting and worth checking out. If you want more Coffee Canon between the bi-weekly episodes, head over to boisecoffee.org/coffeecanon and join our email list. This week I’ll be sending out a link to an article that explores the possible flavor benefits of harnessing the power of fermentation with coffee. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, sign up!

As always, thanks for listening, and have a great rest of your week.

The post Episode Two: Italian Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In this first episode of Coffee Canon, we take a look at Japan: a culture rich with history and tradition. Today, Japanese people love coffee – they’ve invented entire brew methods that the rest of the world adopted – but it wasn’t always this way. We study how and why Japan went from rejecting coffee outright, to embracing it completely. We discuss the people, companies, and timeline that pushed Japan to becoming a leader in specialty coffee – and we hear from some coffee experts along the way.

Enjoy the episode, and feel free to check out the sources below if you want to read more. To continue the discussion, hit me up on Twitter or Instagram.

Colin

Episode One Sources:

• A commentary on coffee history in Japan: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-coffee/
• A paper discussing Japan’s coffee history, along with imports and sales of coffee: http://coffee.ajca.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/coffee_market_in_japan.pdf
• Wikipedia Articles:
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee#Japan
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissaten
  • https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ダッチ·コーヒー (with help from Google Translate)
• Specialty coffee in Japan: http://boutiquejapan.com/coffee-in-japan/
• A comparison between third wave coffee and Japanese Kissaten: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2015/09/third-wave-coffee-japanese-kissaten-more-similar-than-you-might-think/
• Citizens of Humanity James Freeman interview: https://mag.citizensofhumanity.com/blog/2016/09/28/james-freeman-blue-bottle-cofffee/
• History of the Hario v60: https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2015/07/hario-v60-the-history-brewing-guide/
• Japanese Iced Coffee
  • Thread where Peter Giuliano explains why he calls it “Japanese Iced Coffee:” http://www.coffeed.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3950
  • Peter Giuliano makes his case for Japanese Iced Coffee over cold-brew: http://petergiuliano.tumblr.com/post/22177089634/why-you-should-stop-cold-brewing-and-use-the
  • Fresh Cup Magazine article by Peter Giuliano, “Discovering Japanese Iced Coffee:” https://www.freshcup.com/discovering-japanese-iced-coffee/
  • Interview with Hidetaka Hayashi: http://www.beanscenemag.com.au/articles/view/hidetaka-hayashis-japanese-journey
• Music:
  • “Blues Angeline” by Lobo Loco – FreeMusicArchive.org
  • “Passing through the Basin” by Lobo Loco – FreeMusicArchive.org

Episode One Transcript:

There is perhaps no better place to start talking about coffee’s journey from obscure plant to modern necessity than Japan. In many ways, Japan is a case-study in how coffee can spread from small import to national obsession in just a few centuries. Japan isn’t the only country that experienced this, but its story is unique in that for about two hundred years and of its own leaders’ volition, Japan was cut off from the rest of the world. Today, Japan is a leader in the specialty coffee world – it’s home to companies that make equipment used in barista competitions and it’s the source of brew methods that people all over the world use to make their coffee every day. How did this happen?

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to Coffee Canon.

To understand Japan’s coffee history, you first have to understand Sakoku: Japan’s period of national isolation. This was the time period where relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited – foreigners weren’t allowed in, and citizens weren’t allowed out. I’m only giving a partial history due to the complexity involved in Sakoku, but it should provide enough context for our purposes here. Sakoku began from 1633-1639 and continued for the next two centuries, ending in 1853 after the famous treaties with Commodore Perry.

Some believe the rationale behind Sakoku was religion-based: colonials from Spain and Portugal had increased Catholic conversions in southern Japan – this may have been seen as a threat to the stability of the shogunate.

Other scholars believe competing religious ideologies to be only part of a larger political reality. Regardless, Spain and Portugal were seen as genuine threats to the Japanese ruling class.

While social, religious, and political factors provide the backdrop for Sakoku, the trigger was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-1638. This uprising consisted of 40,000 mostly Christian peasants, and as is true of many rebellions, was due to drastically increased taxes and religions persecution. The shogunate dispatched over 125,000 troops to quell the uprising and besieged the rebels at Hara Castle. Eventually, the rebels fell. The Catholic leader of the uprising, Amakusa Shiro, was beheaded and the prohibition of Christianity became strictly enforced under penalty of death. Additionally, all contact with the outside world, including trading, became strictly regulated by the shogunate.

If you want to know more about this dark period in Japanese history, check out the film Silence that came out last year. Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Andrew Garfield and Liam Neeson, this film dives headlong into 17th century Japan and the dangers Catholics and Christians faced – it’s really an amazing film.

It is under this backdrop that coffee first made its way to Japan. The year that this first happened depends on which accounts you read – some say it was as early as 1609, while most estimate it to be after Sakoku was established, towards the end of the 18th century. Everyone agrees, however, on who first brought coffee to Japan – the Dutch. The Dutch, in fact, pop up often in coffee history; we have them to thank for most of the big moves in coffee’s spread around the world.

Apparently Japanese people didn’t to the drink at first – they felt coffee was bitter and unpleasant, especially compared to tea. According to some sources, the tiny island of Dejima in Nagasaki had a small coffee culture in these early years due to this being the only area in Japan where European merchants were allowed entrance.

The next big date in Japanese coffee history falls after the end of Sakoku, in the year 1888 when the first European-style coffee shop opened in Tokyo. It was called Kahi Chakan, but it only lasted about 4 years before closing due to a lack of interest from Japanese consumers. Still, coffee imports increased and demand began meeting supply. In the early 1900s coffeehouses finally began experiencing success, and by 1930 there were over 30,000 coffee shops across Japan. In 1937 imports peaked at 140,000 bags of coffee beans. Then, World War I and World War II happened. Coffee availability in the wartime and post wartime periods dropped to nearly 0, but at the conclusion of the wars they again rose to normal numbers.

The introduction of instant coffee had a profound impact on European and American consumption of coffee during and after both World Wars. In Japan, it was no different. The availability and abundance of freeze-dried coffee and canned coffee in the post-WW2 era was making the entire world into caffeine junkies, including the Japanese. This created a market where people were willing to spend money, and franchises quickly picked up on it. Doutor Coffee was Japan’s first large-scale coffee franchise and began opening stores across the country starting in 1980. In the mid 1990s Starbucks branched into the Japanese market as well and quickly expanded across the entire country. Today there are more than 1000 Starbucks locations in Japan.

More recently, McDonalds impacted Japanese coffee culture in a big way. They established standalone “McCafe” shops in 2007, and in just 7 years had spread to nearly 100 locations. This is in addition to the 3,000 standard McDonalds locations. The standalone McCafe locations try to appeal to the more sophisticated coffee drinkers with a pricier menu and higher grade of coffee. Some locations even have the ability to deliver coffee.

Besides huge coffee franchises like Starbucks, Tullys, Doutor, and McDonalds, Japan has a rich history of smaller, local shops called kissaten. Kissaten literally translates to “tea-drinking shop” and was originally a place for business people and the older generations to gather for light meals and discussions. As coffee began to be standard in Japanese culture, kissaten evolved and began to serve the beverage as well. They are a popular place for breakfast, serving thick toast, eggs, and a piece of ham or bacon along with a morning cup of coffee. In Japanese culture, kissaten are distinctly different from cafes. While cafes usually feature a more trendy and modern look and feel, kissaten are older and more classically furnished. Another huge distinction is in tobacco use. Smoking is still a large part of Japanese culture, and kissaten are havens for people to sit down and light up a cigarette to accompany their cup of coffee. Many larger cafes and coffee chains prohibit smoking.

It’s difficult to nail down exactly when specialty coffee began becoming popular in Japan, but it’s important to note that at least some elements of specialty coffee culture as we know it today were actually inspired by Japan. James Freeman, the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee – a popular, large specialty coffee chain – visited Japan as a teenager. In an interview with Citizens of Humanity he said that it “blew me away.” He went on to say, “I’ve really been inspired by Japanese coffee houses, called kissaten. They’re dowdy and unfashionable, but they’re deeply personal.” He also discussed the Japanese concept of kodawari, or the devotion to even the most mundane details in the pursuit of excellence. “All of these kissaten have a deep kodawari” he said.

This idea of kodawari really shines through in Japanese-made specialty coffee equipment – most notably, the Hario v60 manual coffee brewer. The Hario v60 is a fundamentally important brew device in specialty coffee circles. It’s more touchy to brew with than a Chemex or similar drip cones – altering small details can change an entire cup of coffee. In that sense, paying attention to mundane details is essential.

Hario, the company that created and manufactures the v60, was founded in Tokyo in 1921. It started by producing and selling glass products to be used for physical and chemical purposes. After nearly 30 years of research, they produced an environmentally-friendly heatproof glass. In 1949 Hario launched a glass coffee syphon as their first home product, followed by a cloth filter version in 1957. In the early 2000s Hario launched the v60 – its name means “vector 60,” referencing the 60 degree angle of the cone. The v60 was first launched with glass and ceramic variants, but now has plastic, metal, and copper variations. The copper version, while expensive, has awesome thermal conductivity resulting in a better extracted cup of coffee. The v60 is used everywhere: specialty coffee competitions, coffee shops, and in homes around the world. I use my v60 for both hot and iced coffee nearly every day.

2015 was a big year for specialty coffee in Japan. Blue Bottle Coffee opened its flagship shop in Tokyo to much media fanfare, resulting in 2-hour lines just to get in the door. In an article from PerfectDailyGrind.com the author references several other foreign-based specialty coffee shops as being successful in Japan; namely, Oslo’s Fuglen and New Zealand’s Allpress Espresso. These quality shops have played a big role in cementing the demand for third wave coffee in Japan.

An ongoing discussion in the Japanese coffee scene is whether specialty shops and kissaten can co-exist. Kissaten, it seems, are beginning to lose popularity as older generations die and younger coffee drinkers look for a more modern take. Some people seem to think that the more local specialty coffee shops have taken a page out of kissatens’ book with a focus on details and a more relaxed, classic Japanese aesthetic. Others say that kissaten will inevitably die, making way for the next generation to fill the void. While I’m certainly no expert on Japanese culture, it seems to me that their cultural focus on details and doing things well opens the door for kissaten and specialty shops to coexist – but it remains to be seen if the market will support that. If people pick one place to get their coffee from, where will they choose? Only time will tell.

There’s one aspect of Japanese coffee culture that we haven’t discussed yet, and that’s Japanese Iced Coffee, sometimes called flash brewed coffee. The history of iced coffee in Japan isn’t completely clear – but what sets the method apart from other iced-coffee brewing techniques is. Japanese Iced Coffee uses the same principles and methods for brewing hot coffee, but then replaces 50-60% of the hot water for ice. Basically, you brew hot coffee as you normally would, but the hot liquid is immediately cooled when it comes into contact with the ice. Then, as the ice melts, the coffee remains properly extracted. The science behind Japanese Iced Coffee is solid: when you brew hot coffee, the amazing smells that come off of the fresh cup are actually aromatics that are escaping the beverage. You get to smell them while you brew and for a short time after, but the actual cup loses these aromatic compounds. By immediately and quickly cooling down a cup of brewed coffee, these aromatics get trapped in the beverage. When you’re ready to drink it, these smells can escape into your nasal cavity, combining the taste of your iced coffee with amazing smells that might otherwise have been lost. This is one reason why Japanese Iced Coffee captures the dramatic, fruity, and acidic notes that other methods like cold brew have a harder time holding onto.

Japanese Iced Coffee has probably been practiced in Japan for a long, long time. It’s introduction into the U.S., however, is more recent – by my research I estimate Japanese Coffee started being recognized as a unique brewing method about 10 years ago, and almost entirely because of one important figure in U.S. Specialty Coffee: Peter Giuliano. Giuliano was the coffee director and co-owner of Counter Culture Coffee out of North Carolina. Since 2012 he’s been director of the Specialty Coffee Symposium for the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Peter Giuliano is one of the people in the coffee world where when he talks, people listen.

At least since 2009, and probably earlier, Peter Giuliano has been preaching the good news of Japanese Iced Coffee to just about anyone who will listen. He discussed it with a journalist from Imbibe Magazine for an article in 2009, he wrote about it in his blog, Pax Coffea, in 2012, and he wrote an article about it for Fresh Cup Magazine in 2014 to name just a few instances over the years. In the Fresh Cup article, Giuliano explains a little bit about why he’s so passionate.

“In 1994, I visited Japan for the first time. There, iced coffee (called aisu kohi) was ubiquitous. Every pastry place served iced coffee, in a tall chimney glass with a tiny pitcher of liquid sugar on the side. Japanese coffee drinkers would sip it in the afternoon, chatting and eating sweets. I ordered one just to explore. I was expecting the battery-acid flavors I’d become accustomed to back home, but instead I discovered a completely different drink—clear and crisp, multilayered and transparent, refreshing and complex. Aisu kohi opened my eyes.”

In the piece he wrote on his blog titled, “Why you should stop cold-brewing, and use the Japanese Iced Coffee Method.” he explains further saying, “I puzzled over it for years.  Finally, I developed a relationship with Hidetaka Hayashi, who is a kind of specialty coffee idol in Japan.  One of the first questions I asked Mr. Hayashi was how iced coffee was different in Japan.  He taught me a lot over the years, but the thing I figured out was this: many of the iced coffee processes I liked the best brewed coffee hot, then chilled the coffee INSTANTLY by brewing right onto ice.  The dilution from the melting of the ice can be taken account in the brew recipe, leading to proper strength and maximum happiness.”

Calling Hidetaka Hayashi a specialty coffee idol is actually putting it modestly – he’s credit as being the individual who brought true specialty coffee to Japan in the first place. He’s worked in bringing quality beans to Japan since the early 1960s. In one interview I found, Hidetaka gives insight into why the Japanese prefer the brewing methods they use. He said that in the 10-year period between 1963-1972 “Japan was considered a new market, therefore we were given very low quality coffee at very low prices, far lower than what traditional markets or Annex-A countries paid, and with no guarantee of quality.” Japan was given low-altitude, low-quality coffee, and due to this Japanese people looked for ways to get the most out of their sub-par beans. They turned to using paper filters for pour-over and siphon brewing methods – both methods are still mainstays in Japanese coffee culture.

At one point in July 2015, Peter Giuliano addressed the name – “Japanese Iced Coffee” – by posting a short thread on coffee forum coffeed.com. It’s actually really interesting to take a look at, several big players in the specialty coffee world like Nick Cho from Wrecking Ball and Jay Cunningham from Intelligentsia stopped by to write their opinion. Giuliano wrote, “I think I understand the reticence to call it “Japanese” iced coffee. I’ve had people tell me it seems fake, or misleadingly exotic, or inauthentic, kind of like Chinese Chicken Salad or English Muffins. I don’t agree, and here’s why:” he goes on to list three main reasons: first, he thinks its important to recognize and acknowledge the origin of the technique. Second, he believes that one of the great things about food is exploring cultural diversity. Third and finally, he doesn’t think there’s a better term for Japanese Iced Coffee. As he put it, “ “Flash brewing” sounds to me like someone is opening a raincoat just before making coffee.”

In recent years cold brewed coffee has gone mainstream – so to speak – with Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts offering their versions for sale during summer months. Cold brew stands diametrically opposed to Japanese Iced Coffee – it steeps coffee grounds in cold water for extended time periods to try and capture the maximum amount of flavor compounds in the final product. The problem, as we looked at earlier, are those aromatics – cold brew just has no way to get them into the drink. For this reason, while cold brew seems to get more popular with the masses each year, Japanese Iced Coffee is typically hailed as the tastier, more captivating iced coffee by specialty coffee enthusiasts. And here’s another interesting fact about cold brew – in Japan, the term they use to refer to it literally means, “Dutch Coffee” despite the fact that there’s really no connection between the method itself or cold-brew equipment with the Netherlands. If there’s one name that needs to change, it’s not Japanese Iced Coffee, it’s this one.

Like all coffee culture, Japanese coffee culture follows the path of the country’s history. Over time, coffee in Japan has shown itself to be resilient and able to bounce back after cultural shifts and entire wars. While Japanese people were at first resistant to coffee’s bitter taste, today they are one of the world’s largest coffee consumers. You can find instant coffee on every corner in places like Tokyo, along with coffee chains. Kissaten, while once a ritual mainstay in Japanese culture, have begun to give way while specialty coffee shops are flourishing. Where in 1888 the first coffee shop in Tokyo closed after just four years, today Blue Bottle has an incredibly successful flagship store. Japan is the home of world-class businesses who manufacture excellent coffee equipment. And beyond physical products, Japan has forever influenced global coffee culture by inventing and perfecting the Japanese Iced Coffee brew method. Today, Japan is undoubtedly a leader in the world of coffee.

Thanks for listening to Coffee Canon. I’m your host Colin Mansfield, and I hope you enjoyed this first episode. If you want to take a look at any of the sources I used to write this episode, head over to the blog post on BoiseCoffee.org. If you’re interested in getting previews for upcoming future episodes and other premium content, join the Coffee Canon email list. Just go to BoiseCoffee.org/coffeecanon and enter your information.

Coffee Canon will have a new episode every two weeks. Until then, go find a cup of Japanese Iced Coffee to enjoy before it gets too cold outside. Don’t worry, Pumpkin Spice Lattes will be here all autumn.

The post Episode One: Japanese Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Over the past two years I’ve been making The Boise Coffee Podcast – a show about coffee. It started out as a bit of an experiment – I was still trying to figure out if doing an audio show about coffee even made sense. I tried a variety of different formats for the show including opinion-based episodes, interviews with business owners who work in the coffee industry, and history-focused episodes centered around specific narratives. Through research for these episodes, I realized that coffee’s history isn’t at all what I thought it was. I learned about key individuals who pushed both the coffee crop and the beverage forward, and as I dug deeper and made more episodes, it became clear that these stories aren’t widely known.

I decided it was time to take The Boise Coffee Podcast, which for all intents and purposes was a beta test, and turn it into a show focused on these narratives surrounding coffee. I wanted this new show to be primarily concerned with facts – real events and real people. This is where the name stems from: the word “canon” refers to agreed-upon events that are accepted as genuine and having happened the way they are described.

This show is primarily concerned with history and how coffee went from essentially an unknown crop to the billion-dollar industry it is today. But, I also want to discuss the current state of that industry. To do that, from time to time I’ll invite a guest onto the show to talk about some aspect of coffee and the community that surrounds it today.

If you want to look further into any of the episodes or topics that I cover, all of the sources used to research the episode will be available in both the show notes, which you should be able to read straight from your podcast client or app, as well as the accompanying blog post that I’ll post here on the blog.

Coffee Canon will probably revisit some topics that I originally covered in The Boise Coffee Podcast – to be honest, some of the stories are just too good to not re-share. And on that note, all episodes of The Boise Coffee Podcast will remain live – you can always go back and listen to episodes and interviews from the last two years.

Finally, there’s a super-secret email list for Coffee Canon – I’ll be sending out previews of upcoming episodes and links to articles or videos that coffee drinkers might enjoy. To get on that list, simply click here and put in your name and email.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about the show, feel free to shoot me a note on Twitter – my handle is @BoiseCoffee. Thanks for listening – and make sure you subscribe to the show! Episode 1 is launching in just a week on October 16th.

Colin

The post Introducing Coffee Canon appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This episode is all about the product which makes up over half of the global coffee market: instant coffee. As it turns out, instant coffee has more than earned it’s status as a mainstay in hotel rooms and grocery store aisles across the world – it may have even helped the U.S. win a war.

This week’s episode is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. Use offer code “BoiseCoffee” at checkout to receive 10% off your order containing an espresso machine or grinder.

Colin

Episode transcript:

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop – a leading online retailer of espresso machines, grinders and related accessories. Use offer code “BoiseCoffee” to get 10% off your espresso machine or grinder today at MyEspressoShop.com

I spend a lot of time on this show talking about the “specialty” side of coffee. On this end of the spectrum, usually we’re interested in taking each step of the coffee-making process and maximizing the taste we can get from each bean. No step in getting the bean from the ground to the cup is left out – we’re interested in making every aspect of coffee production better, in terms of flavor profile, as well as in terms of bettering the livelihoods of those picking and processing the coffee.

Occasionally on this show, I’ve brought up what I tend to call “commodity coffee.” That is – coffee that is bought and sold as a commodity, rather than a specialty item. Commodity coffee is nearly always stale, having sat pre-ground, in plastic containers and on the shelf at a grocery store for weeks, or perhaps months. You know the names of these companies well – Folgers, Maxwell House, Yuban, and Chock full o’ Nuts, to name a few.

If we’re looking at coffee as a scale from “specialty” to “the opposite of specialty,” you might be tempted to think commodity coffee is at that far end. And in some way’s you’d be right – in terms of normal brewing processes, this scale is about as complete as you’ll get. In terms of total coffee produced, however, this scale is only half the picture.

About 50% of the world’s green coffee market goes towards producing coffee that’s brewed in a standard pot, Keurig machine, or by manual methods like a pour-over cone. The other 50%? That’s used to make instant coffee.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to The Boise Coffee Podcast.

The history of instant coffee dates back to the late 1800’s, and was most influenced by World War I. Before we get into all that, though, I want to take a second to talk about what instant coffee actually is. Basically, in a nut shell, instant coffee is made of coffee flavor crystals that only require hot water to dissolve into. There is no brewing process or filter needed, just a tube or baggie of the coffee crystals. Usually this feat of science is accomplished through a somewhat complex process of preparing green coffee beans as you usually would – roasting, then finely grinding – before hitting them with extremely hot, pressurized, liquid water (around 350 degrees F). After this unconventional “batch brew,” the liquid coffee’s concentration is increased, usually through evaporation. Finally, the concentrated brew is freeze-dried, then broken into small pieces, referred to as “coffee crystals.” Add hot water to these crystals, and you’ve got yourself a cup of instant coffee.

Instant coffee was independently created by three people in three different countries between 1880 and 1901: Alphonse Allais from France, David Strang from New Zealand, and Satori Kato from Chicago. Kato introduced his early version of instant coffee at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York sometime between 1901 and 1910. Shortly thereafter, an inventor named George Constant Louis Washington developed his own process of making instant coffee and began marketing it commercially. While Washington didn’t hold a patent for creating instant coffee, he was the first to pursue it as a commercially viable product. In 1909 his product was first marketed as “Red E Coffee,” then rebranded as “Washington’s Coffee” under the “G. Washington Coffee Refining Company” in 1910.

The advertising angle that Washington’s company took was interesting: they claimed that their instant coffee was more modern and purer than its brewed equivalent. It may sound strange to us now, but the idea that processing foods made them better for humans to consume was a common idea in the early 1900s. Listen to this Washington’s Coffee advertisement that ran in the New York Times on January 2nd, 1922. It reads,

“Do you know coffee? Do you know that there are millions of people who have stopped using the ground bean coffee? Back yonder everyone used whole brown sugar – without refining (I’m adding emphasis here, but the text really is in italics) – now everyone uses refined, white granulated sugar. In the same way, millions have stopped using bean coffee, with its messy grounds – and are using refined coffee (again, italics), made by Mr. G. Washington’s special refining process. G. Washington’s coffee is just as superior to whole bean coffee as modern white sugar is to old-fashioned brown sugar, and you put it in the cup just as you do the sugar. It dissolves instantly when you add water.”

Believe it or not, that’s only half the ad, but I think you get the point.

Instant coffee may have remained as little more than a convenient substitute for traditional brewed coffee, had it not been for a little event called World War I. Coffee consumption was seen as valuable to soldiers largely because of its caffeine boost, and Washington’s product saw major use as combat rations for both the Canadian and U.S. expeditionary forces. By the time the U.S. entered the war in 1917, all of G. Washington’s production shifted to the war and American military use. According to the book “Uncommon Grounds,” other coffee producers began springing up as well to meet the Army’s huge coffee demand. In fact, in the final period of the war the demand for coffee was about 6 times the national supply.

Instant coffee was a huge hit with Soldiers. A quarter ounce double-strength packet of the stuff was included for each man in the distributed food ration packages. It was also included in both reserve rations, and trench rations. Soldiers nicknamed it a “cup of George” and would drink the stuff both cold and hot. Caffeine, after all, was the end goal, not necessarily taste.

In 1918 one Soldier wrote this in a letter from the trenches, “I am very happy despite the rats, the rain, the mud, the draughts, the roar of the cannon and the scream of shells. It takes only a minute to light my little oil heater and make some George Washington Coffee … Every night I offer up a special petition to the health and well-being of Mr. Washington.”

World War II saw another big increase in the market for instant coffee, but by this time other companies had caught on. In addition to G. Washington Coffee, another big player stepped onto the field in 1938 and launched their product using a more advanced refining process – the company was named Nescafe.

The next big advance in instant coffee came after World War II, and as an indirect result of the findings of the National Research Corporation (or NRC). The NRC had developed methods for freeze drying medical products for wartime use, like penicillin and blood plasma. After the war ended, the NRC began to adapt their processes for peacetime uses. They formed the Florida Foods Corporation to produce a concentrated orange juice powder. Originally they had a contract with the U.S. Army, but this dried up as soon as the war officially ended. Turning their focus towards the public at large, the Florida Foods Corporation decided to alter their powdered orange juice formula and produce a concentrate instead. They also changed their name to reflect the time it would take to make a gallon of orange juice from their new product – they called themselves Minute Made.

The freeze-drying findings that the NRC had made towards the end of the war were adapted by large companies like Nescafe and applied to their instant coffee products.

Since that time instant coffee has remained relatively the same. Despite nearly 50% of all grown coffee beans being used to make instant coffee, it accounts for 10% or less of the coffee drank at home in nearly every country on earth, with one notable exception: England. As of 2014, in England, 77% of the coffee bought to drink at home came from instant coffee sales. One BBC article about the popularity of instant coffee in Britain blamed the U.S. saying, “It’s the Americans who are largely credited with giving the UK the stuff. It came over in the ration packs of US troops during World War Two. For a nation of coffee drinkers it was a temporary solution to not having a freshly brewed “cup of Joe”. For a nation of tea drinkers it was something new and exciting and caught on.”

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop, a leading online retailer of espresso machines and grinders. If you’re looking for new espresso equipment for your home or business, My Espresso Shop has some of the best deals and best selection you’re going to find. With over 20 different brands to choose from, comparing equipment has never been easier. Right now the folks at My Espresso Shop are offering Free Shipping & No Sales Tax on all espresso machines and grinders. Not only that, but their Price Match Guarantee ensures you’re getting the best deal on the market. As a cherry on top, My Espresso Shop is offering listeners of The Boise Coffee Podcast 10% off their espresso machine or grinder – just use offer code “BoiseCoffee” at checkout. Take a look now at MyEspressoShop.com. When it comes to great coffee equipment, you’re just not going to find a better deal than this. Again, visit MyEspressoShop.com.

For the better part of seven decades there was no large shakeup in the world of instant coffee. The industry giants had established their marketshare, and everyone else began marching on towards drinking normal, ground and filtered coffee with an increasing focus on how that coffee tastes. In 1971 Starbucks was founded in Seattle, Washington. By 2001 Starbucks had opened over 4,500 stores. Just eight years later, in 2009, they had over 16,500 stores. 2009 was an important year for Starbucks for two reasons: first, they launched the My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program and started taking payments using the Starbucks Card mobile system. Second, they launched Starbucks VIA instant coffee.

At the time, Starbucks billed VIA as a “opportunity to reinvent a category, create new rituals and grow our customer base.” That was Howard Schultz, Starbucks President and CEO. Professor John Quelch of the Harvard Business School, and co-author of the best-selling March 2006 HBS case study on Starbucks, added this:

“Instant, soluble coffee has long been the unspeakable wasteland of the coffee business. Conventional wisdom would be that no premium brand should go near it. But Howard Schultz’s vision from day one has been to bring quality coffee to the mass market. Starbucks VIA Ready Brew continues that effort.” Quelch continued, “Look at the packaging. Taste the product. Starbucks VIA is going to redefine and reenergize the instant coffee subcategory. It will offer time-strapped Starbucks loyalists a chance to stretch their dollars and sustain their Starbucks brand consumption frequency. It will also offer non-Starbucks users an affordable entry point into the Starbucks world; after trying Starbucks VIA, they may want to visit a store for the full Starbucks experience.”

I’m not sure whether Professor John Quelch was payed to say those things…but suffice it to say that the message being sent by Starbucks was that they were taking an old, archaic way of making coffee and re-inventing it to fit the modern lifestyle.

Except really, they weren’t.

The best coverage I could find from 2009 that talks about how VIA is made is from a Fortune.com interview with Andrew Linnemann, who at the time was the director of green coffee quality and operations at Starbucks. In this article, Linnemann discusses some of the processes that Starbucks uses to create VIA. Essentially, it’s a combination of the same coffee crystals we discussed earlier, as well as super-finely ground coffee – they call it “micro-ground.”

“We use the same equipment as the other guys, but how we use the equipment is much different,” Linnemann said in the interview. He explains to the interviewer that while other instant coffee producers are focused on massive yields, Starbucks is more focused on taste. They break the standard industry processes of creating instant coffee into much smaller steps, focusing on how to make each of those produce better-tasting coffee rather than simply more product. Those smaller steps certainly makes for a more expensive process, which helps explain why, at launch, Starbucks was charging $1 per packet of the stuff.

Linnemann went on to say that “it is the micro-grinding technology where we really cracked the code,” but refused to elaborate further. I think it’s safe to assume that when Starbucks says “micro-grind” they mean exactly what they say. After they make the coffee dust, Starbucks likely freeze-dries the crystals and dust together to maximize flavor. But here’s the thing: Starbucks VIA definitely does taste better than standard instant coffee. It’s the closest thing you’re going to find to a real, honest cup of coffee in the instant world. Is it good? Well, I suppose that depends on whether you find yourself normally drinking Folgers instant, commodity coffee from your grocery store, or honest-to-god specialty coffee.

Instant coffee is one of those things that I’m not sure would’ve ever gained a significant foothold in any culture had it not been for World War I and II. The great demands of those wars caused Soldiers and Families to embrace the little things, like a taste from home or the aroma from a time when their lives were simpler and without as much grief. In that sense, instant coffee was invented and mass-distributed at the perfect time in world history. It came at a time when people needed just a little more hope in their lives, andmore caffeine.

Does instant coffee have a home on my shelf? Nah, I think I’ll stick with my manual brew methods and specialty beans. But it certainly deserves an honorable spot in the annals of coffee history.

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast! As always, I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and thanks for stopping by. If you like what you heard, feel free to check out previous episodes of the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you usually get your podcasts from. Today’s episode was brought to you by My Espresso Shop – take a look at their great selection of espresso machines and grinders today at MyEspressoShop.com. Be sure to use offer code “Boise Coffee” at checkout to get 10% off your order. Again, that’s MyEspressoShop.com

Thanks for listening, and have a wonderful rest of your week!

The post S3 Episode 3: The Impact of Instant Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this week’s episode is all about the history of Irish Coffee. Starting in a flying boat terminal in Ireland, then making its way to San Francisco, the story of how Irish Coffee made it into mainstream culture is well worth hearing.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. Use offer code “BOISECOFFEE” to get 10% off your order including any espresso machine or grinder. Visit MyEspressoShop.com today!

You can read the full episode transcript below.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. My Espresso Shop is a leading online retailer of espresso machines, grinders, and related accessories, and with their price match guarantee you know you’re getting the absolute lowest prices on the market. Visit MyEspressoShop.com to find out more.

It’s the 1930s in Ireland. A man by the name of Joe Sheridan decides to apply for a chef’s job at an airport in the city of Rineanna. It’s a small airport – a flying boat terminal, in fact, but it’s significant. The airport is called Foynes, and it becomes the first airport to host transatlantic flights between Ireland and New York City. Joe Sheridan soon becomes well known as a great chef in a new international hub.

In 1943 a flight departs Foynes headed for New York with dozens of passengers on board, when suddenly a bad storm hits. The pilot is forced to turn the plane around and land back in Foynes, and, as you can probably imagine, the passengers are rather scared.

Legend says that after the flight landed and the cold, shaken passengers got back into the terminal, chef and bartender Joe Sheridan decided to whip up something special. He brewed dark coffee, tossed in some sugar cubes, then added a splash of Tullamore DEW whisky. Finally, he topped the drink with a layer of cold, thick cream.

As he passed the drink out, one of the passengers took a sip, then asked, “is this Brazilian coffee?” “No,” Sheridan said, “It’s Irish Coffee.”

I’m Colin Mansfield and welcome to The Boise Coffee Podcast.

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, this week we’re going to talk about Irish Coffee.

There’s these great videos online that I stumbled onto while preparing for this episode. You can find dozens of them by simply typing “Buena Vista Cafe” into YouTube. All of them are similar, and all of them are amazing. A bartender stands behind a row of over a dozen identical glasses – he’s wearing a white shirt, and sometimes a white jacket on top. He wears a tie, and overall has a very professional appearance. About the glasses – they’re not the type of glasses you’d usually drink alcohol out of – they have a short stem, a curved body, and a wide rim at the top. The bartender handles these glasses as if he’s touched hundreds of them before – because he has. First comes the hot water. This isn’t a part of the finished drink, it’s only meant to heat the glass up in preparation. But the bartender doesn’t pick each glass up individually to fill it with hot water – instead he takes his carafe and pours it while gliding his hand over all of the glasses, filling them nearly simultaneously. In one fell motion – whoosh – the glasses are hot. Now, down the line his hands move, dumping the contents of each heated glass into some trough hidden behind the bar.

Next comes the sugar cubes. Quickly, he snatches simple white sugar cubes from a box and – plink, plink – drops two into each glass as his hands move down the line. And now – the coffee. In the same manner he dumped the water, the bartender pulls out a large carafe of piping hot brewed coffee and begins pouring it while moving down the line of glasses, never hesitating or stopping over an individual cup. His pouring arm makes another pass over the glasses, ensuring each is filled to the same level. It’s almost like he sees the group of beverages as a whole rather than dozens of individual drinks.

Next is the stirring – he wants the sugar to be completely dissolved in the hot coffee. Taking a long-stemmed spoon, he stirs each cup, but not with methodical care or any hint of delicateness. No, he stirs rapidly, with fervor, dunking the spoon into a glass, stirring quickly, then onto the next one. The spoon makes this low chunk chunk chunk sound as it slaps against the sides and bottom of each glass.

And now, the whisky – a bottle with pouring spout attached, but no shot glasses used. Instead, the bar tender once again pours down the line of glasses, knowing exactly how much is needed for each drink. The drinks remain perfectly level in relation to one another – they’re identical, like a line of cars rolling off an assembly line one after another. The bartender pours the whisky while holding his army perhaps a foot or two above the glasses. This creates a dramatic moving waterfall of alcohol cascading into the glasses below.

And now, the bartender pauses. He takes a towel, wipes his hands, perhaps he talks to an employee walking nearby. Then, reaching below the bar, he withdraws a metal pot similar to something you might find at a coffee shop used to steam milk – but this is cream, and it’s perfectly chilled. The bartender takes a spoon, lowers it onto the surface of the first drink, then pours the cream on top, letting it settle as a layer on top of the warm coffee/whisky mixture. Then, not losing a moment, he moves onto the next drink. Each pour takes perhaps 1 second, and in less than 15 the entire row of drinks is completed.

And now, the Irish Coffee making process complete, the bartender palms two drinks in each hand, removes them from the assembly line, and carries them off to a customer.

This is the process used to make Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco, California. The Buena Vista didn’t invent the Irish Coffee – that honor belongs to Joe Sheridan at the Foynes flying boat terminal like we heard at the beginning of the episode – but without this American bar, Irish Coffee would likely have never become the standard it is today.

It’s not uncommon for restaurants and bars around the world to develop their own special drinks or dishes. We all know about specials featured at our favorite local spots around town. Few of those specials, though, have been passed along to the corners of the world in the same way Irish Coffee has.

Irish Coffee is ubiquitous now in the same way that mulled wine or a hot toddy is, and it can be tempting to assume that well-known mixed drinks like these spread in the same way as a viral video online. Somebody, somewhere tastes the drink, enjoys it, then tells their friends. Those friends, in turn, try the drink, enjoy it, then tell their friends. Rinse and repeat.

This might be true for some drinks, but Irish Coffee owes its spread to one man. And while Joe Sheridan invented the drink, he wasn’t the person that transformed Irish Coffee into the fixed icon that it is today. That honor belongs to a reporter named Stanton Delaplane.

Delaplane was a reporter – but not exactly your run-of-the-mill variety. He worked for the San Francisco Chronicle for 53 years. In 1941 he won the Pulitzer Prize for articles about “the Free State of Jefferson,” a group of four Northern California counties and one Oregon county that threatened to break away and form a 49th state in a dispute over highway construction in the gold and copper mining areas. He also won National Headliner Awards in 1946 and 1959. Delaplane wrote a column five days a week for years and years, and in 1944 and 1945 he served as a war correspondent in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.

According to a SFGate article written about Delaplane in 2008, he was a perfectionist who enjoyed writing on whatever he had laying around – like old air mail letters – then going through every line carefully, ensuring he wrote exactly what he wanted to say.

Starting in 1953 Delaplane began writing a syndicated humorous travel column called “Postcards.” He used short sentences in a staccato style, which he said was for the benefit of San Francisco Municipal Railway riders who had to read the paper while commuting on the shaky train.

British commentator Alistair Cooke once wrote about Delaplane’s writing style saying, “Stanton Delaplane wrote like a young and happy and wholly successful pupil of Hemingway. he rarely wrote sentences of more than six or seven words and could go weeks without calling on an adjective. His peculiar magic, which I often probed into and never discovered, was to keep these bare sentences rollicking along in the most effortless way, running as clean as spring water over the bed of a brook. He could not help being an entertaining writer and that is a gift that very few writers indeed can legitimately claim from the double-domed philosophers to the light-weight journalists.”

Stanton Delaplane was a tremendous writer, but he was also the man that brought Irish Coffee to the United States – and through that, into mainstream culture. How he accomplished that, after the break.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop, a leading online retailer of espresso machines, grinders, and all the accessories that go with them. The folks at My Espresso Shop are extremely customer-focused – they want you to have the best buying experience possible, and they do a great job. Not only do they have a price-match guarantee to make sure you’re getting the lowest possible price for your coffee equipment, but they almost always have an additional special bonus offer going on. Right now, for example, if you look at their site, you’ll see they’re offering a free Amazon gift card with purchase of almost any Espresso Machine and grinder.

To make things even better, for listeners of my podcast, My Espresso Shop is offering 10% off your order containing a grinder or espresso machine. Just use offer code “BOISECOFFEE” at checkout. This is hands-down the best deal you’re going to find online for name-brand high quality espresso equipment. Head over to MyEspressoShop.com, use offer code BOISECOFFEE, and enjoy!

In the early 1950s Stanton Delaplane visited Ireland. By that time the old Foynes flying boat terminal had closed and been replaced by Shannon International Airport. Joe Sheridan – the chef who invented Irish Coffee on that cold, stormy night nearly 20 years prior, had moved to the new airport as well, and he had made Irish Coffee a regular part of his menu.

Delaplane ordered an Irish Coffee, and immediately fell in love. After returning to the states, he took the recipe to his friends Jack Koeppler and George Freeberg, the owners of a San Francisco bar called the Buena Vista Cafe. Delaplane asked for Koeppler’s and Freeberg’s help to re-create the magical drink he had tasted in Ireland, and on November 10th, 1952 they got to work.

On its face, Irish Coffee has an incredibly simple recipe: coffee, whisky, sugar, and cream. But as with any recipe, the ratios of ingredients and the timing of when to add them can turn making a simple drink into a time-consuming affair – especially if you’re a perfectionist like Stanton Delaplane. That night with Jack Koeppler became a study in trial-and-error; the two of them would mix drinks, sip judiciously, and then record the faults. Over time, they acknowledged two recurring problems:

The first problem was that the taste just wasn’t quite right based on Delaplane’s experience at the Shannon Airport in Ireland.

The second problem was that strangely, they couldn’t get the cream to float on top of the beverage. Each time they poured it in, it sank to the bottom.

That night of testing resulted in dozens of failed experiments, and a lot of whisky consumed over several hours. After drinking several Irish Coffees in a row, Stanton Delaplane nearly passed out on the cable car tracks outside the Buena Vista Cafe.

Stanton was heartbroken at their failed evening of experimentation, but Jack remained undaunted. He doubled down, deciding to pilgrimage to Ireland himself and learn the secret of the elusive Irish Coffee. After his return, they were able to solve both problems they had experienced on that hangover-inducing coffee binge.

To solve the problem of taste Stanton and Jack used the same whisky as Joe Sheridan: Tullamore DEW.  The problem with the cream, however, was less-easily solved. They brought their sinking cream problem to the mayor of San Francisco, George Christopher, who also happened to be a prominent dairy owner. It was here they discovered that if the cream was allowed to age for 48 hours, then frothed to a precise consistency it would float neatly on top of their drink just as it had in Ireland.

With the drink perfected, the only thing left was to advertise – a task perfectly suited for Stanton Delaplane. He began mentioning the drink in his travel column, which was widely read throughout the U.S. Irish Coffee and the Buena Vista Cafe quickly grew in popularity, attracting both local Californians and tourists from all across the United States. Everyone wanted a taste of Irish Coffee. Once Irish Coffee became popular, consumption of whisky at the Buena Vista went from 2 cases a year to about 1,000 cases which equated to almost 10 percent of the United States’ whisky consumption at that time. It’s said that the Buena Vista bartenders made 2,000 Irish Coffees daily, for many years. Meeting that amount of demand required that they become both fast and accurate at making their drink. This is how the assembly line method of making Irish Coffee came into being – the method that I described at the beginning of the show.

According to one article, the busiest day the Buena Vista has ever seen was the Super Bowl in 1982, 49ers vs. Miami. Three bartenders served 109 bottles of whiskey between 8am and 5pm, and the night crew served another 104. With approximately 29 drinks per bottle, that means the cafe served over 6,000 drinks that day.

By the Buena Vista’s own count, they have served more than 30 million Irish Coffees total.

In 1952 the Buena Vista Cafe took on a new employee. It was an Irish fella – a guy by the name of Joe Sheridan, the inventor of Irish Coffee. Sheridan was asked to come and work at the bar, which he did for ten years. It’s not often that an inventor gets to watch his creation become famous, but Joe Sheridan got that honor. Today, he’s buried in Oakland, CA.

About Irish Coffee, legend says that Joe Sheridan offered this advice on what ingredients to use in his famous beverage: “Cream as rich as an Irish brogue; coffee as strong as a friendly hand; sugar sweet as the tongue of a rogue; and whisky smooth as the wit of the land.”

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and you just heard episode 2 of season 3 of my podcast on coffee. If you like what you heard today and want to hear more, you can find previous seasons and episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, or my blog – BoiseCoffee.org. If you want to get in touch with me you can drop me a line at BoiseCoffee@gmail.com, or reach out to me on twitter. My handle is @BoiseCoffee. Today’s episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast was brought to you by My Espresso Shop. You can go online now and save 10% on any grinder or espresso machine by using offer code “BoiseCoffee.” Visit MyEspressoShop.com and get shopping!

Thank you so much for listening, and have a great first week of spring!

The post S3 Episode 2: The History of Irish Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Welcome back to The Boise Coffee Podcast! In this first episode of Season 3 I discuss how a city’s culture influences their coffee culture, then I give some tips on how to find great coffee when you’re visiting a new city. Here’s a quick rundown of those tips:

1. Do your research. Try Googling the name of your city + specialty coffee (for example, “Phoenix specialty coffee”), and then begin narrowing your search terms accordingly. I like to copy the names of coffee shops that look interesting and paste them into the notes app on my phone, that way I have a running list.
2. Prioritize your list of shops based on how close they are to wherever you’re staying (hotel, AirBnB, etc). You don’t want to get your hopes up about a cool looking cafe, only to realize it takes a 45min drive across town to get to.
3. Check out online reviews of the shops that look the most promising. I like to use Foursquare, but any similar service like Yelp or Google Reviews will work just as well.  I find that Foursquare has less paid reviews and better reflects local favorites, but your milage may vary.
4. Be respectful to the staff of the coffee shop you choose to visit. If their coffee doesn’t quite live up to the hype, don’t throw your coffee in their faces – just make a note of it for yourself, and enjoy the caffeine rush.
5. Leave a review using whatever app/service you looked the shop up on. This will help other coffee junkies, and it will leave you a digital paper trail to follow the next time you’re in town.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. Use offer code BOISECOFFEE to receive 10% off your order of any espresso machine or grinder. You’re not gonna find a better deal than this, so if you’ve been looking at a new piece of equipment now is the perfect opportunity to grab it and save some money! Head over to MyEspressoShop.com now!

I hope you enjoy the first episode of this brand-new season! You can look forward to the second episode in just one week – following that, I’ll be reverting back to the normal bi-weekly schedule. Thanks for listening, and if you like what you hear please leave me a review on iTunes!

Colin

Check out the full episode transcript below.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. My Espresso Shop is a leading online retailer of espresso machines, grinders, and accessories, and they make it incredibly easy to find what you’re looking for for your home or business. Visit MyEspressoShop.com to find out more.

Hey, and welcome to Season 3 of the Boise Coffee Podcast. On this show we talk about coffee, its history, and the culture that surrounds it today. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and I’m very excited to be bringing you this next installment after a long winter hiatus. If you’re a first time listener, thanks for stopping by! I hope you’ll find time to go back and listen to previous episodes – there are some really great stories and interviews that I think you’ll enjoy. If you’re a long-time listener, thanks for coming back! I’ve got some great content lined up for this season’s episodes.

Before we jump into this first episode, I want to start the season off by taking a second to talk about coffee and taste. I’m going to put this as plainly as I can: I believe you should drink coffee however you like it best. Whether that’s black, with cream, with sugar, splenda, or sweetener of choice, and whatever flavorings you prefer. With that being said, I also firmly believe that when a coffee shop works hard to make their beans taste great without any additions, you should do that roaster and barista the honor of tasting their hard work black. Then, after trying it, add whatever you want.

I thought it would be fun to ask some of my friends how they drink their coffee. I got a great variety of responses, and I’d like to share a few of those now. This is Stuart – he’s got a pretty strong opinion about how coffee is meant to be drunk.

Next, here’s Jon with a slightly different take.

This is Mary, with a quick-and-to the point answer.

Finally, this is my beautiful mother Susan:

Thanks, everyone, for submitting your responses. If you’re listening to this now and you want to share how you drink your coffee, shoot me an audio recording at BoiseCoffee@gmail.com. I’d love to include your clip on the next episode.

Today we’re talking about coffee, and we’re talking about cities. And we’re going to talk about these two things in a couple different ways.

The first thing I want to bring up is the fact that every city has its own coffee culture. What I mean by that is that every city has its own culture, and that culture extends to food, nightlife, and yes – coffee. Depending on where the city is, that coffee culture may be significantly interwoven with the rest of its culture, or it may be an insignificant side note in an otherwise thriving social setting. That’s a bit confusing, so let me explain with an example.

We’ll start with an obvious city: Seattle. It should come as no surprise to you that Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks and countless hole-in-the-wall specialty coffee shops, has a thriving and vibrant coffee culture. That coffee culture, however, doesn’t stand alone – its very much interwoven into the rest of Seattle’s social environment. Because there are so many great coffee shops around, there’s an understanding that if a nice restaurant or cafe serves coffee, that coffee is going to be good, or at least from a well-known and respected roaster. Many bars serve quality coffee as well, and some even have cold brew on tap during summer months. Coffee isn’t a standalone thing in Seattle – it’s a part of everything.

In contrast, let’s look at New York City. The Big Apple is massive and impossible to generalize, but I’m going to take a stab at it anyways: overall, New York City doesn’t have a great coffee culture. It’s gotten a lot better (especially over the last decade), but it’s not a Mecca in the same way Portland or Seattle is. It’s got some great local and chain specialty coffee shops, to be sure, and because of its attractiveness as an international place of interest, coffee conventions and events happen there often. The sprawling NYC culture, however, does not hold coffee to a high standard in the same way Seattle’s does. If you walk into a diner or greasyspoon cafe in NYC and order a coffee, you won’t be presented with a menu of single-origins and you won’t be given the choice of Chemex or AeroPress. Instead, you’ll be given a diner mug with perfectly average commodity coffee. If you ask a local what their favorite coffee shop is, they’re more likely to tell you Dunkin Donuts than, say, Stumptown.

Let me be clear here: I’m not making a value judgement on these cities based on their infatuation with coffee, I’m merely stating that every city’s culture plays a role in developing their coffee culture. Some cities are completely obsessed with coffee while other’s couldn’t care less. This can become even more complicated when we talk about cities like Rome, Paris, and London – international cities that had a coffee culture long before the United States existed.

So why is this important? For starters, a city’s local coffee culture can give you greater insight into what the city is actually like, away from the tourist traps. Rubbing elbows with Capitol Hill staffers at Peregrine Espresso in Washington D.C. might give you a new level of appreciation for the daily routine of federal government employees, for example. Enjoying an espresso at a small cafe in a side street in Rome might save you a Euro or two and let you enjoy the scenery of everyday Roman life.

On a more practical level, though, knowing what kind of coffee culture a city has can tell you how difficult it will be to find good coffee in that city.

Last summer my wife and I traveled to Italy – you can actually hear an episode of this podcast that we recorded there if you go back a few episodes. Our trip took us all over northern Italy, but we began and ended our vacation in Milan. Milan is an interesting city – it feels more modern and urban than much of Italy, and has far less ancient attractions than Florence, Venice, or Rome. It’s a different kind of city – and, as I found out, it doesn’t have much of a specialty coffee culture.

This came as a huge surprise to me – after all, we were in Italy, the birthplace of espresso! But, as I quickly found out, Italian coffee culture as a whole is different, and in some ways, less concerned with taste than American specialty coffee culture. Espresso is everywhere, but great espresso is a little harder to find.

My plane landed in Milan a few hours earlier than my wife’s did, so it was my job to check into our AirBnB and pick her up at the airport once she landed. I had some time to kill after dropping my bags off at our room, and decided to go looking for great coffee. The first place I turned to was an app I enjoy using for local reviews – it’s called Foursquare and is similar in many ways to Yelp. I quickly found out that searching a review app for “coffee” in Italy didn’t exactly narrow down my options. Next, I turned to Google.

I searched “Specialty coffee, Milan” and clicked on the top return. It was a Barista Magazine article from 2014 titled “The First Great Specialty Cafe in Milan” and was about a local coffee shop/restaurant called Taglio. I searched for the cafe on Google Maps, found out it was about a 20min walk away from my AirBnB, so I got moving.

By the time I got to Taglio, however, they appeared to be closed. This didn’t make sense because the restaurant hours on Google clearly stated that they should be open, and their own hours posted on the front of the shop reflected this as well. The locked door and shuttered windows said otherwise. I decided to go on a walk along the nearby canal instead, hoping to find another cafe along my route. Later that evening I learned my next lesson about Italian culture, which is that many stores, restaurants included, close down for 2-3 hours, usually around 2pm, every day. This is the Italian siesta, or riposo.

Luckily, by the time Taglio opened back up I still hadn’t found a good cafe and was able to settle in and order my first cup of Italian specialty coffee. I decided that I was in the mood for something creamy, and confidently told my server I’d like a latte. My server stood there for a second, then repeated it back to me, “a latte?” “Yep,” I said “one latte, please.” As I waited for my long-awaited drink to arrive, I admired the shop’s well-decorated interior and found myself loving the sounds of Italian conversations nearby.

My drink arrived, I thanked the server, and took my first sip. “Hmmm,” I thought, “This tastes very weak.” I took another sip, trying to find the legendary espresso that the Barista Magazine article had promised me, but I couldn’t find it. There was absolutely no espresso in my drink – it was a mug of steamed milk. I politely caught the attention of my server, and asked, “Um, does this have espresso in it?” “No,” they told me, “you asked for a latte.” That’s when it hit me, and I realized that I hadn’t paid nearly close enough attention to all those Rick Steve’s books I had read to prepare for the trip.

“Latte” in Italian simply means milk. Like a big touristy bafoon, I had ordered a glass of steamed milk. As the realization dawned, I smiled at my server, apologized, and asked if she could make it into a “caffe latte” instead. She laughed a little, realizing my mistake, and said something like, “I was wondering if that’s what you meant!” The drink came back, and I finally got my first taste of Italian specialty coffee. It was amazing.

I learned two valuable lessons that night: the first is to make no assumptions about how a culture works. For the rest of the trip, my wife and I carefully planned our meals around the Italian siesta. The second is that words mean things, especially when the American idea of what something is uses a specific Italian word that may mean something else. Biscotti is another great example of this. The word “biscotti” literally means “cookie” in Italian, and doesn’t necessarily refer to the crisp twice-baked coffee dunker we’re used to in the states. That specific biscotti is called “cantucci” in Italian.

That was a long story to illustrate a simple point: a country’s culture and language influences local culture, which in turn will influence coffee culture.

Using my story as an example, I’d like to make a few suggestions for how to find great coffee when you find yourself in a new place, whether that’s a new country, state, city, or community. These tips don’t just apply to coffee – you could use many of them to help you find a great meal, or a fun place spend an evening. As someone who drinks coffee daily, and doesn’t want to resort to McCafe just because I’ve never been to Salt Lake City before, for example, I find myself using one or all of these tips often to find a great local brew. And we’ll get into them right after the break.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by My Espresso Shop. Here’s the deal – finding high quality espresso machines, grinders, and accessories at a good price point can be a huge pain. The folks over at My Espresso Shop have made finding and purchasing the perfect espresso equipment for your home or business dead simple – and with a crazy number of incentives to make for a great buying experience. Their website makes finding the right equipment incredibly easy, with options to shop by type of equipment, or by brand name. Their incentives include free shipping and no sales tax on all espresso machines and grinders, and they even have a price match guarantee to make sure you’re getting the absolute lowest price for your coffee equipment.

For Boise Coffee Podcast listeners, My Espresso Shop has put together something special. Right now you can enter coupon code “BOISECOFFEE” (one word) at checkout and they’ll take 10% off every order that contains any espresso machine or grinder. Again, head over to MyEspressoShop.com and enter offer code “BOISECOFFEE” at checkout. And please, let them know that the Boise Coffee Podcast sent you over there.

The first thing I’d suggest is that you do a little bit of research before going someplace new. Google is your friend here, but you have to be specific in your search terms. “Phoenix coffee” will give you pages of returns that aren’t valuable, but “Specialty coffee Phoenix,” or “Third wave coffee Phoenix” are getting warmer. As I do my research, I copy the names of shops that I may want to check out and paste them in the notes app on my phone. That way I’ll have a list of places at the ready when the caffeine withdrawals start to hit.

The next thing I’d suggest is that you prioritize your research based on what’s near the place you’ll be staying. You can do this as a part of your research, or you can do it on the fly later. Either way, it may be interesting that a highly reviewed specialty coffee shop exists in the place you’re visiting, but won’t be super helpful if that shop takes a 45min drive across town to get to. If I want a cup of coffee to start my day, I don’t want to spend half of the day getting there. This may seem obvious, but I’ve made the mistake of skipping this step in the past and realized too late that a shop just isn’t worth visiting because of the travel time or an inconvenient location.

Next, I recommend checking out the shops on your list using a review app of your choice. As I said, I typically use Foursquare, but other services like Yelp, Google Reviews, or something similar will work just as well. The idea here is to verify that the shops you’re interested in live up to your expectations. Keep in mind that reviewers and locals may not be looking at a coffee shop through the “specialty coffee” lens, and due to this the statement “Makes great coffee” is a bit subjective. Checking reviews will also help tell you whether or not the shop has a full menu, serves delicious cinnamon rolls, or has good service. You may find that a local specialty coffee shop can double as your lunch stop for that day, killing two birds with one stone.

My next suggestions should be incredibly obvious. I shouldn’t have to say it, but I will anyways because I believe it’s important. Please be courteous to the shop when visiting. If their coffee doesn’t quite live up to your expectations, please don’t be rude to the staff or barista. You’re a visitor here, on their local turf. If they did their best to serve you a product with a smile, you really can’t ask for much more. Live and learn – at the end of the day, you still got that hit of caffeine after all.

If your coffee was incredible, be sure to let them know. Tell them you’re a visitor and that you really enjoyed the brew. You might make someone’s day.

The final thing I recommend is that you leave a review for the shop you visited using whatever app you looked them up on. Not only will this help out other coffee junkies, but it will give you a digital trail to follow next time you’re in town. I’ve referred to my Foursquare history more than once to find a coffee shop I visited years prior. That’s another reason I believe you should choose just one review app and stick with it.

Before closing, I do want to give you one more resource to help out your coffee hunt. Check out Reddit.com/r/coffee. Every once in a while I’ll do a search for whatever country or city I’m visiting on this coffee subreddit, and more often than not I’ll find a discussion thread where other users have suggested great coffee shops in those areas. If you’re not used to Reddit, you can simply add the word “Reddit” to your Google search to help find these threads. So, for example, if you’re visiting Albuquerque, you could search “Specialty coffee Albuquerque Reddit.”

Every country, city, and community has their own unique coffee culture. The next time you find yourself as a foreigner in a new place, I hope these tips will help you out on your coffee quest and to help you find a brew worth writing home about. Coffee isn’t everything, but in my experience it can turn a rather banal trip into an adventure, while teaching you something about the place you’re visiting.

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. You just heard the first episode of Season 3, and am I excited to announce that episode 2 will air in just one week. Following that, I’ll move back to the usual release schedule of every two weeks. Next week’s episode will be a Saint Patrick’s Day special about – you guessed it – Irish Coffee! If you’d like to catch up on episodes from previous seasons, you can find them on iTunes, Stitcher, or my blog – BoiseCoffee.org.

Thanks for listening, and have a great rest of your week!

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast was brought to you by My Espresso Shop. My Espresso Shop is the perfect place to find new espresso equipment at the best price point. Remember to use offer code “BOISECOFFEE” at checkout to get 10% off. Check it out now at MyEspressoShop.com.

The post S3 Episode 1: Cities And Their Coffee Cultures appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Nearly two years ago I wrote a review on Puroast Coffee, and I wasn’t incredibly impressed. Puroast claims that their beans offer 70% less acid than traditional coffee, and 7 times more antioxidants. Back in 2015 I decided to take their health claims at face value, focusing my review instead upon the taste of the coffee – and it left a lot to be desired. I wrote, “The coffee was, in a word, tasteless. It lived up to Puroast’s promise in that it definitely was not acidic, but on the other hand it was also not…anything.” I didn’t hate their coffee, but I also didn’t recommend it based on the product I received and the brewing methods I used.

Then, about 10 days ago I received an email from Puroast asking for a follow-up review. I agreed, finding the prospect of reviewing the same coffee company again both compelling and a little strange. While I’ve never done this before, I’m always keen to offer coffee a second chance.

I’ve done my best to let this review stand on its own – I’d rather not spend time looking back and comparing Puroast’s 2017 product to that from two years ago. With that said, I will admit that I was more impressed with the company’s overall presentation and professionalism this time around. They’ve improved everything from the look of their website to their recommendations for brewing techniques/recipes. Last time I received a pre-ground bag of coffee and no instructions on how to brew it. This time I was given whole-bean coffee and brewing recommendations based on how Puroast baristas make the coffee in their flagship Miami coffee shop.

Puroast sells coffee that contains higher antioxidants and less acidity than your typical brew. These benefits, however, aren’t the focus for their company. As one representative told me, “The roast comes first and the wellness is simply a byproduct of roasting innovation and putting quality above everything else. It can truly be said that no one else roasts their coffee the way Puroast does.”

This is something I can appreciate.

With that said, Puroast definitely makes sure consumers know their coffee’s health benefits. They’re listed front and center on the coffee bags, as well as on the home page of their website. In fact, they have a whole section of their website dedicated to their coffee’s health benefits. This page includes the research done by Dr. Shibamoto from UC Davis – his findings revealed the benefits that Puroast’s roasting process has on their beans.

I’m glad that Puroast’s roasting process makes their beans healthy and potentially more easily consumed by people who are sensitive to acidic beverages. What I’m even more interested in is whether or not their roasting process can produce a great tasting cup of coffee.

This time around Puroast sent me their Espresso Roast to try. Although the bag I received did not have a roasting date on it, it did have a “best by” date of July 31st, 2018. I’m assuming they sent me freshly roasted coffee for this review, but if I was a consumer at a supermarket or resell location, I wouldn’t be able to tell for sure.

Puroast recommended that I brew their beans using a Greca/moka pot. A representative told me that this is the go-to brewing method used in their Miami coffee shop. As a big fan of the moka, I happily obliged.

Their recipe called for a fine ground size, and that the coffee grinds be left uncompressed (not packed down) in the moka filter basket. I found that for my moka pot about 21g of finely ground coffee was the perfect amount.

The thing with espresso roasts is that I expect them to have a darker, richer flavor when compared to roasts intended for filter brew methods. I knew ahead of time that Puroast’s coffee wouldn’t be acidic – that’s kinda their shtick. So in that case, I was looking for tasting notes like chocolate, hazelnut, caramel, or something similar. Unfortunately, I didn’t get those.

The Espresso Roast I received from Puroast was earthy, dark, and slightly bitter. It was distinctly espresso, but the kind of espresso I would expect from a standard second-wave coffee shop, like Peet’s or Caribou Coffee perhaps. It did not resemble specialty coffee.

That’s not to say that it was bad or undrinkable by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I enjoyed several cups, both black and combined with steamed milk to make a faux-latte. I found the coffee to be highly caffeinated – it was enjoyable to sip while burning through my email inbox and getting work to-do’s accomplished. It just isn’t what I expect from specialty coffee.

I actually think that’s okay, mostly because I’m not convinced that Puroast Coffee fits the mold of a specialty coffee company. They don’t sell a variety of single-origin roasts on their website, focusing instead on blends. They have sections of their online store dedicated to both flavored coffee roasts and K-Cup single serving pods. In short, they are selling to a completely different demographic than specialty coffee drinkers.

When compared to commodity-grade diner coffee, or even the more common roasts from big companies like Starbucks, I think Puroast has a great product that I would recommend. On the other hand, they don’t hold a candle to specialty coffee companies like Intelligentsia or Blue Bottle.

This is the first time that I’ve reviewed the same coffee company twice, and I must say that I began with more than a little trepidation. I’m happy to report that my opinion on Puroast has improved since our paths last crossed.

I still would not recommend their coffee to those who are interested in buying specialty beans to brew at home, and I would add that Puroast has a ways to go if they hope to become a third wave coffee producer. However, I think that the average person will find Puroast’s coffee to be rich, caffeinated, and more tasty than the big chains they may be used to. I agree that the moka pot is the best way to enjoy Puroast at home.

Puroast continues to fill a niche for those who’s stomachs may be sensitive to acidity. However, I agree that the quality of their product makes them a great option for anybody who might otherwise buy their coffee from a large chain.

Colin

You can buy Puroast coffee from their online store, here. Right now first time customers get 25% off their order. Just use offer code “Pur1st” at checkout.

The post Puroast Coffee Review, Round Two appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Today, to celebrate the four-episode return of Gilmore Girls, Netflix is turning about 200 cafes from the U.S. and Canada into Luke’s Diner – the iconic coffee shop from the show. On the list is Boise’s own Flying M – which, according to The Idaho Statesman – was randomly selected, then given cups and banners to outfit the shop.

Today also marks the 16th anniversary of Gilmore Girls‘ first episode, affectionately being referred to as the “Gilmoreversary.”

Starting at 6:30am, Flying M will be giving away free coffee in Luke’s Diner cups, while supplies last. According to a source who is participating in the event (my wife) a line is already forming, so head over now to score your free coffee!

Check out the full list of participating cafes here!

Colin

The post Flying M joins 200 cafes in becoming “Luke’s Diner” for the day to celebrate the return of Gilmore Girls appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This weekend is incredibly special: yesterday was National Coffee Day and the 7th Anniversary of BoiseCoffee.org, today is International Podcast Day, and tomorrow is International Coffee Day! This week’s episode discusses each of the holidays, as well as some of the defining moments of BoiseCoffee.org over its history.

Show notes:

• Find out more about International Podcast Day (September 30th) on their website, and with #PodcastDay on Twitter.
• Find out more about International Coffee Day (October 1st) on their website. Check out all of the events happening worldwide here.
• Coffee Studio in Meridian, Idaho is giving away a free 12oz latte to anybody who says the phrase “where love and locals meet” on October 1st.
• Awakenings Coffee House in Boise, Idaho is giving away a free 16oz cup of drip coffee to anyone who says “the birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia” on October 1st.
• Podcast recommendations:
  • This American Life (iTunes | Website)
  • Lore (iTunes | Website)
  • Reply All (iTunes | Website)
  • The RobCast (iTunes | Website)
  • Coffee Podcast by Cat & Cloud (iTunes | Website)
• Check out my first post on BoiseCoffee.org. I’ve come a long way from making vampire apocalypse jokes. Wait, didn’t I make a vampire reference on this episode?

Enjoy your weekend!

Colin

Episode Transcript:

Hey everyone, and welcome to The Boise Coffee Podcast. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and today is a super special day for anyone who loves podcasts – whether you’re someone who listens to them, or someone who makes them. Today, the day this episode is being released – October 1st – is International Podcast Day.

BUT if you’re a coffee lover, there’s something else that’s special about this weekend. Yesterday, September 29th, was National Coffee Day in the United States and a few other countries around the world. Hopefully you were able to get out into your communities and enjoy some free coffee. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE – Tomorrow, October 2nd, is another day dedicated to coffee lovers – it’s International Coffee Day. I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

If all of these national and international holidays weren’t enough, this weekend marks another special milestone for me – on September 29th, 2009 I started BoiseCoffee.org.

So, to review:

September 29th was National Coffee Day, and the 7 year anniversary of BoiseCoffee.org

September 30th is International Podcast Day

October 1st is International Coffee Day

If you think these holidays sound a little made up, you’re definitely not alone. According to CNN’s article about National Coffee Day 2016, it was created by “internet sages and the arbiters of faux holidays.” The crazy thing is that variations of National/International Coffee Day have been celebrated in various countries around the world since as early as 1983 – the All Japan Coffee Association was apparently the first to promote it. Usually coffee celebrations fall at the end of summer or beginning of autumn, though in some countries – like China, Portugal, and Denmark – it’s celebrated in April and May. The United States seems to have landed on August 29th as it’s not-really-official-but-widely-agreed-upon National Coffee Day. International Coffee Day, on the other hand, didn’t get an official date until last year – from here on out it will be on October 1st, annually.

National Coffee Day is usually celebrated by both chains and local shops by handing out free – or heavily discounted – cups of coffee. All the chain coffee companies get involved: this year you could score free coffee from Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and Peet’s Coffee. Starbucks opted out of giving away free brews this year, instead using National Coffee Day as a platform to promote the fight against the coffee rust problem impacting farmers around the globe. For every bag of their Mexican Chiapas coffee sold, Starbucks is donating a rust-resistant coffee tree to farms in need through a company called Conservation International. Pretty awesome.

International Coffee Day is a little different. Last year, the International Coffee Organization (an organization that was established in 1963 in collaboration with the United Nations) official established International Coffee Day as a yearly celebration that happens on October 1st. It’s a lot less nebulous of a holiday – there’s a dedicated website where coffee shops from around the globe can submit their events and specials. There’s a great map where you can scroll around the world and see all the cuppings, barista competitions, and celebrations that are happening everywhere. You should really check it out – visit internationalcoffeeday.org. A cursory glance of their events page shows specials going on in Argentina, Honduras, Greece, Poland, Spain, Malaysia, and Kenya. Many U.S. shops are participating too, so be sure to move the map near your hometown to see if you can score a special.

In my hometown of Boise, Idaho, and the other cities close by, several local coffee shops got involved for both National and International Coffee Day. Flying M, a popular downtown hangout spot, offered a free 8oz coffee in the morning hours on Sep. 29th. Guru Donuts, a newer establishment that locals love, flipped the formula a bit and were offering a free cake donut or vegan mini raised donut with any coffee purchase on the 29th.

Two other awesome local shops are continuing their deals on International Coffee Day (that’s tomorrow, if you’re losing track). Coffee Studio in Meridian, Idaho (near the corner of Chinden and Locust Grove) is giving away a free 12oz latte to anybody who comes in and says the phrase “where love and locals meet.” Awakenings Coffee House (on the corner of Five Mile and Overland) has a similar deal: walk into their shop and say the phrase “The birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia” to score a free 16oz cup of black drip. So many secret phrases! If you’re a Boise local, rewind the episode now and write them down – there’s no excuse on missing out on free coffee!

Alright, so now that you know the differences between National Coffee Day and International Coffee Day, as well as where to look to find the deals, let’s talk a little about podcasting.

Today is International Podcast Day, and it’s being celebrated by listeners and creators around the globe. How’d it get started? According to the official website, internationalpodcastday.com, in the summer of 2013 Steve Lee (founder of Modern Life Network) heard a radio announcement for National Senior Citizens’ Day. He thought that was pretty cool, but it begged the question of why wasn’t there a day to celebrate podcasting. Steve got to work, and by 2014 the first Podcast Day was established – and it was a huge success! To help get the rest of the world involved, it was rebranded as International Podcast day the following year.

International Podcast Day focuses on promoting podcasting worldwide through education and public engagement. Tons of shows are participating, making today possibly the best day to discover shows that you’ve never heard. One easy way to do that is to hop on Twitter and search for #podcastday. For show creators, this is an opportunity to score new listeners, and share the love by promoting other programs that you love. I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend my favorite shows, which I will do in no particular order. I selected these shows based purely on my regular listening habits, and can tell you that all of them are excellent both in content and production quality.

This American Life is possibly the most famous podcast out there, and for good reason. It’s a weekly program put out by NPR that is narrative and reporting driven. It focuses on stories from people like you and me, and each show has a theme that ties those stories together in some form or fashion. The great thing about This American Life is that it’s not always strictly tied to current events – for example, there have only been a handful of episodes talking about the election over the past months. I’ve found that it can be a breath of fresh air when the rest of the media is covering the latest scandal or inflammatory comment.

Next, if you’re a fan of campfire stories and haunted houses, I recommend checking out Lore. It’s a bi-weekly show about the frightening history behind common folklore. The host, Aaron Mahnke, doesn’t do any interviews or have any guests on the show – in many ways, the episodes are closer to chapters from a high-quality audiobook. I started listening to Lore around Halloween last year, and I can tell you that there’s no better way to get into the spirit of ghouls and vampires than by having someone tell you that maybe, just maybe, those fictions are based in fact.

If you like pop culture and stories about the internet, I recommend listening to Reply All, a podcast put out by Gimlet Media. Actually, all of Gimlet’s shows are great, but Reply All is a legacy show that’s been around for years. The hosts, Alex and PJ, explore the weird world of the internet and tell stories in a way that’s palatable and interesting for just about anyone. They’ve dug into questions like why can’t anyone in NYC get Verizon FIOS internet despite all the advertisements plastered on every corner? The answer is a lot weirder than you might think.

If you’re a religious person, or a person who’s tired of religion, give The RobCast a listen. It’s a weekly podcast put out by author and former-pastor Rob Bell. Rob has written some amazing books like “Love Wins” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About God.” He’s both artist and speaker, but approaches the deepest questions about life in a way that’s simultaneously respectful of all belief systems, and challenging to the very core. His episodes are usually short and to-the-point too, making them the perfect companion with your morning commute or Bible study.

Finally, my list wouldn’t be complete unless I highlighted another great coffee podcast. Coffee Podcast by Cat & Cloud is an informal, excellent show put on by Jared Truby and Chris Baca. These guys first met at the Western Regional Barista Competition in 2006, and by now have essentially assimilated into a single entity known as “Trubaca.” Chris is a three-time U.S. Barista Championship Finalist and Regional Barista Championship winner. Jared was a finals in the U.S. Barista Championship, and took first place in the Western Regional Barista Championship. Both of these guys know the craft of coffee, but neither of them are snobby about it.  The show is super laid back, with enough California charm mixed in to make you wish you were hanging out with these guys sharing coffee notes.

As I mentioned earlier, September 29th marks the 7 year anniversary of BoiseCoffee.org. In this last portion of this episode, I’d like to take a minute to reflect on why I started Boise Coffee to begin with, and a little about how it’s evolved over the years.

In 2009 I was working at a local drive-thru coffee shop in Boise, Idaho called Oasis Coffee. Dutch Bros. had recently secured itself as a popular to-go alternative to the traditional coffee shop experience, and the shop I worked at was very much a small, local representation of that same vibe. Because of this, we were constantly looking to draw business to our shop in unique ways. If you remember, this was right about the time that Twitter was establishing itself as a large-scale social network (in many ways on-par with Facebook), and I began developing a social media strategy that included tweeting out daily discounts and a Facebook page that was focused on bringing in new customers. I had one other idea on how to branch out and possibly bring new faces to our coffee stand – blogging. The problem, as I saw it, was that there was a limit to the amount of content I could produce having to do with our one shop. It would essentially turn into another version of our Facebook page, and that wouldn’t really help.

I ran over this idea in my head for several weeks, then talked to my dad about it. He suggested that I was thinking too small – and he knew that my interest in coffee had grown significantly since working at Oasis. He encouraged me to start a blog, but rather than writing about one coffee shop, I could use it as a platform to talk about all the coffee shops in and around Boise. I sat on that idea for a little bit, turning it around in my mind, then decided to go for it. On September 29th, 2009 I wrote my first post.

Over the next several months I used Boise Coffee as a place to review local coffee shops in the Boise area. I hit up most of the popular places, practicing my writing and learning the right ways to give good reviews, and the wrong ways to give bad reviews. I’m sure many of the coffee shop owners weren’t really sure what to do with a high school kid pretending to know something about coffee, but then again this was back when nearly everyone seemed to have a blog and an axe to grind. At one point I was allowed to sit in on a local planning meeting for a popular coffee shop in the Boise area – it was then that I found out I had a long way to go before having a sliver of knowledge about what it truly   takes to run a coffee shop.

In June 2010 I graduated from high school and left Boise to attend the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. I took a hiatus from the blog for several months, then returned with a renewed desire for learning and writing about coffee. This was the first major transition for BoiseCoffee.org – I bought the domain name, redesigned the blog, and shifted focus. I knew that reviewing coffee shops in-person wasn’t an option anymore – my demanding school schedule sucked away any hope for free time to explore the East Coast, especially during my first years at West Point. Instead, it occurred to me that asking local roasters and shops from around the country to send me samples of their coffee to review was my best option – I had done it once before while in Boise, and decided to give it a try again. This turned out to be the single best decision I could’ve made – I soon found out that many shops are eager to get their beans reviewed and all the free press that comes with that. I started receiving a lot of free coffee – sometimes by the pound – and quickly became known as the coffee guy to my new friends at West Point. People made light-hearted jokes, but would never turn down a free cup when I offered.

Other funny experiences came out of this time as well – I did research into Keurig and found out how destructive their products are for the environment and coffee culture in general. When my friends caught wind of this, pranks ensued. K-Cups found their way into my desk, my packages – even my senior year yearbook. Despite the teasing, I still managed to convert a few friends into the wonderful world of specialty coffee.

After graduating West Point and commissioning into the Army, BoiseCoffee went through its next big transition, and you’re listening to a result of that. Last summer I started The Boise Coffee Podcast, and it’s been an amazing ride. I did an entire episode and blog post about the lessons I learned from this first year of podcasting, and I encourage you to listen to that if you want a look behind-the-scenes of what it takes to make this show. Podcasting is a labor of love, and I’m incredibly proud of the results so far.

I’m not sure exactly what the next stage of BoiseCoffee will look like. I do know that the podcast is a lot of fun to make, and I don’t intend on stopping anytime soon. I’d like to put a little more emphasis into my writing – some stories lend themselves better to the written medium than to audio, I think. I’ve found that while I enjoy reviewing coffee, my favorite part about creating new content is finding the history and stories surrounding coffee. There’s a good chance that you’ll see more of that, with less of a focus on reviewing individual roasts. That said, I’m always open to returning to my roots.

I’ll wrap up by saying this: the best thing about coffee, as far as I’m concerned, is that it brings people together. If you do nothing else this weekend to celebrate International Coffee Day, I invite you to take a friend out to your local coffee shop, sit down, and have a conversation. Talk about anything – talk about everything – just connect. Use coffee as an excuse to share some time with a friend – that’s the heart behind these holidays.

As for the podcasting piece, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode! If you are an avid listener of podcasts, I’d love to hear about your favorite shows. Shoot me a tweet – my handle is @BoiseCoffee – and let me know how you’re celebrating International Podcast Day. If you’d like to listen to previous episodes of this show, you can find The Boise Coffee Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and my blog – BoiseCoffee.org. Thanks for listening, and have an excellent, coffee-fueled, podcast-filled weekend.

The post S2 Episode 16: International Podcast/Coffee Day appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Coffee lovers, now is the time to rejoice. This week grants us not one, but two days dedicated to our favorite beverage: National Coffee Day (September 30th) and International Coffee Day (October 1st). Tons of coffee chains and local coffee shops around the world are celebrating by offering deals, discounts, and free drinks for us over-caffeinated to enjoy.

Below I’ve compiled two lists to help you find the deal closest to you, but keep in mind that local coffee shops are likely to be participating as well. Be sure to check in with your local cafe to see what deals they may be offering! In that vein, I’ve included a few deals from coffee shops local to Idaho – my home state.

National Coffee Day (September 30th)

• Coffee Studio (Meridian, ID) is offering a free 12oz latte to anybody who utters the phrase “where love & locals meet.” Find out more here.
• Guru Donuts (Boise, ID) is offering a free cake donut or vegan mini raised with any coffee purchase. Nothing better than free donuts with your coffee!
• Flying M offered (Boise/Nampa, ID) offered a free 8oz drip coffee between 6:30am and 11pm today. Hopefully you scored one!
• Dunkin Donuts is offering medium coffees for only 66 cents to celebrate their 66th anniversary. Find out more.
• Krispy Kreme is handing out a free cup of coffee and free donut to visitors. No purchase necessary. Find out more.
• Starbucks isn’t offering discounts, but they are donating a coffee tree for every brewed cup of México Chiapas coffee sold today. Find out more.
• Pilot Flying J is giving away a free cup of coffee – or any hot beverage – to people who show the coupon found on their website. Here it is.
• Tim Hortons is running some sort of social media campaign using #TimsCoffeeDay and #WhyWeBrew. Check out their Twitter page for more details.
• Caribou Coffee is giving away a free medium brewed coffee for every pound of coffee purchased from now until Oct 2nd. Also, for every cup of “Amy’s Blend” coffee purchased, they’re donating a cup to nurses and caregivers at cancer centers throughout the country. Find out more here.
• Peet’s Coffee is giving away a free coffee with the purchase of any food item.
• Sheetz is giving away free cups of their new cold brew. You must be a loyalty card holder to qualify.
• Wawa is keeping it simple with a free cup of coffee (or any 24oz self-serve beverage) all day. No purchase necessary.

International Coffee Day (October 1st)

International Coffee Day is a bit different, and quite frankly more organized, than National Coffee Day. There are dozens of events happening around the world on October 1st, so I’ve chosen to highlight a few notable ones. You can find the full list here. You can even sort by events happening close to you!

• Italy – Free guided tour and coffee at MUMAC coffee machine museum. Find out more.
• Norway – Join the world’s largest coffee party in Oslow. The Norwegian Coffee Association is attempting to set a world record in coffee brewing. Their goal is to serve at least 5,000 cups of freshly brewed coffee to coffee lovers in the afternoon on October 1st. Find out more.
• Canada – Experience the tastes and aromas of small batch roasting in Nova Scotia. River Run coffee shop is hosting an open house; the grounds will be open to explore, and the animals for petting, but inside is where the excitement will take place. They will be holding 30 minute coffee roasting demonstrations at 10am and 1pm. Find out more.
• South Africa – Enjoy the tasting menu at Bean There Coffee Company in Johannesburg. Try a Chemex, Hario V60, AeroPress, or French Press combo for just R30. Find out more.
• New Zealand – Vanguard Specialty Coffee presents a screening of A Film About Coffee. Tickets are $17 and are available through our Facebook event page or by emailing ahead. Screening is being held Saturday October 1st, at 6:30pm. Every attendee will receive a complementary cold brew concoction created by local roaster/coffee guru Jason Moore using a single origin Ethiopian Dumerso. Find out more.
• Germany/Online – Save 20% on the Hile Set by Hile Products. The Hile Set includes Sola paper filter holder and Kapu (a measuring spoon/fastener in one), handcrafted in Finland.  Use offer code HILE1 on their online store. Find out more.
• France – Free cupping of AVPA award-winning coffees in Paris. Find out more.
• Australia – Coffees from around the world at Pomeroys in Queensland. They will have coffees from a range of origins, brewed using a variety of methods. Find out more.
• Austria – Coffee Battle: Head to Head for the Best Espresso in Vienna. From 9am-7pm baristas will be duking it out to see who makes the best espresso. Find out more.

Did I miss anything? If so, comment on this post and let me know. Enjoy your free coffee, and have a great day!

Colin

The post The Official Guide to (Inter)national Coffee Day 2016 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

September 30th is International Podcast Day, and October 1st is International Coffee Day. As you can imagine, I’m pretty stoked that these two are back-to-back, and I’m organizing a special podcast episode to celebrate both. 

I’m trying to get as many Boise-based coffee shops to run promotions on gear/coffee, which I’d shout out on my podcast completely free of charge. If you’re interested in being featured in the show, shoot me an email (boisecoffee[at]gmail.com) or comment on this post and let me know!

Colin

The post Calling All Coffee Shops in the Boise Area! appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Over the last two weeks my wife, Hannah, and I were celebrating our anniversary in Italy. We got the opportunity to try coffee from the Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice, Rome, and Milan, and we learned a lot about Italian coffee culture as we went. At the end of our trip Hannah and I sat down and recorded this episode, discussing Italian coffee, the culture that its integral to, and how it’s different from U.S. brews.

For a humorous take on the “10 Commandments” of ordering coffee in Italy, check out this post from The Telegraph.

The two specialty coffee shops that are briefly referred to in the episode are Taglio in Milan, and Ditta Artigianale in Florence. Taglio won 3rd place in the 2014 Italian Aeropress Championship, and Ditta Artigianale took 6th place in the 2015 World Barista Championship (Seattle) and 5th place in the 2016 World Barista Championship (Dublin).

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. If you are looking for a fully automatic commercial coffee machine for your office or workplace, look no further than WMF. Their offerings range from state-of-the-art filter coffee machines all the way to professional, barista-grade equipment. To find out more, visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com.

Colin

The post S2 Episode 15: Italian Coffee ft. Hannah Mansfield appeared first on Boise Coffee.

If we’re honest with ourselves, coffee shops provide a very utilitarian function during most of our week. They’re there to provide us with morning-saving caffeine-infused goodness on our way to work. In this episode we dive headlong into the world of to-go coffee by looking at the story of Leslie Buck and his famous Anthora Cup. To get there, though, we’ll first need to talk about water and the Spanish flu.

This week’s episode is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. Whether you’re looking to build a new coffee workstation for your business, or you’re looking for a simple drip brewer for your office, WMF has plenty of options to choose from. Find out more at wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com.

Colin

Episode Transcript:

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. WMF is the leading international manufacturer of fully automatic commercial coffee machines, and their offerings range from state-of-the-art filter coffee machines all the way to professional barista-grade equipment. To find out more, visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com. Again that’s wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com.

There’s nothing quite like relaxing in a coffee shop and enjoying a latte or drip coffee on a lazy Saturday. Whether you’re reading a new novel, thinking about the week ahead, or enjoying some casual people watching, the coffee shop ritual has something to offer for everyone. For the introvert it can provide a haven of self-reflection and alone time. For the extrovert it can be a meeting place for friends. Coffee shops provide a ubiquitous appeal for the casual date, and act as a home-away-from home for millions of people around the world.

But if we’re honest with ourselves, coffee shops provide a more utilitarian role during our work-weeks. More often than not, they are simply a place to go and grab coffee on our way to work.

On this podcast I tend to focus more on the romantic, lazy-Saturday approach to coffee. On this week’s episode, however, we’re going to plunge headlong into the hustle and bustle of to-go coffee, and more specifically, a cup that the New York Times described as “perhaps the most successful cup in history.” To get there, however, first we need to talk about water, and a flu pandemic that killed 1 out of every 20 people on earth.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to The Boise Coffee Podcast.

-Theme-

In the late 19th century and early 20th century America entered into a period now known as the Progressive Era. During this time many Americans saw the government and big-business as corrupt, and they sought reform. One of the byproducts of this era was the Prohibition. Born out of a desire to break up the political power of local bosses based in bars, combined with influential protestant ministers and their congregations, organizations like the Anti-Saloon League sprang up across the U.S. This movement wasn’t unique to the U.S., however (although banning Alcohol nation-wide was). Temperance, the social movement against the consumption of alcohol, had been around as early as 1820 and had taken various shapes and forms not only in the U.S., but England, New Zealand, and Australia as well.

One of the ways that subscribers to the Temperance movement provided an alternative to alcohol was through communal water fountains and temperance wagons. The water fountains were a stationary way to help quench the thirsts of would-be drunks, while the wagons provided a mobile solution that could travel bar-to-bar. Folks that were trying to stay away from the dangers of alcohol could climb aboard. If they succumbed to temptation…well, that’s where the term “off the wagon” came from.

All of this water-sharing was usually done with a communal cup, or mug. That’s fine, unless, of course, you know about germs. Not a lot of people did in the early 20th century, but word started to get around because of people like Lawrence Luellen, a Boston lawyer and inventor. He had an idea that was in direct opposition to the thrifty culture of lower and middle-class America at that time. He suggested that instead of sharing one cup, each person could have their own, disposable cup. He invented a primitive paper cup which he called the “Health Kup.” Five years later, however, he changed the name to that of a popular line of toys: Dixie Dolls. And thus, Dixie Cups were born.

In 1918 the Spanish flu swept in, and it turned into one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. It infected 500 million people across the world – roughly one-third of the world population – and resulted in the deaths of anywhere between 50 million and 100 million people. Most influenza breakouts  were known to kill juvenile, elderly, or already weakened patients. The Spanish flu, on the other hand, killed seemingly healthy young adults. In fact, more U.S. soldiers died from the flu after returning from war then were killed in battle. The Spanish flu didn’t let up until the summer of 1919 and by then being a hypochondriac was the norm. Disposable items like paper cups suddenly weren’t seen as a wasteful commodity, but as a healthy way of living.

The transition from drinking water out of disposable cups to drinking coffee from to-go cups was completely natural. In 1933 the first patent for handles to attach to paper cups was filed, and three years later a cup with handles was invented to mimic mugs. By the 1950s patents were being filed for paper cup lids, specifically designed with hot beverages like coffee in mind. It makes sense – WWII-era adults were drinking more coffee, more often than we do today. Generic to-go coffee cups were hitting the mainstream, but one thing they lacked was a sense of style.

Laszlo Büch was born on September 20th, 1922 in Khust, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). His family was Jewish, and in WWII both of his parents were killed by Nazis. Laszlo and his brother were survivors of Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps.

After the war, the brothers made their way to New York City, Americanized their names, and ran an import-export business. Over the next 20 years the brothers, now known as Leslie and Eugene Buck, epitomized the spirit of American entrepreneurship by participating in, and eventually shaping, the paper to-go cup market that was just beginning to evolve.

In the late 1950s the brothers started Premier Cup, a paper-cup manufacturing company that they ran out of Mt. Vernon, NY.  In the mid-60s Leslie began working for Sherri Cup, a startup, as the company’s Sales Manager. That was a bit of a misleading title though, as Mr. Buck actually made up their entire sales-force. As the company grew, however, Leslie became its Director of Marketing.

At this time the businessmen and women of New York City were fueled by diner coffee. Their morning coffee experience wasn’t dissimilar from today’s ritual; in the early hours of the morning customers would flock to their nearest diner and order coffee to-go, then sip it on their commute to work. Each of these to-go coffees needed a to-go cup, and so coming up with a unique design that New York diners would prefer to serve their morning brew in became a top priority for companies like Sherri Cup.

Leslie Buck started looking around at the diners in New York City and noticed something interesting: many of them were owned by Greeks. Though he had no formal training in art or design, Mr. Buck decided to come up with a new cup that popular diners in NYC would want to buy above all others. He started with the colors of the Greek flag: blue and white. From there, he added a pattern of interlocking right-angled spirals, better known as a Greek key, along the top and bottom. He placed a set of Grecian Amphora vases along the sides, and in the middle, surrounded by a white plane and above a trio of steaming cups of coffee he wrote a phrase in gold, Greek-styled lettering:

“We Are Happy To Serve You.”

Leslie named the cup after the Amphora vases that he used to decorate it, but in his Eastern European accent it sounded more like “Anthora.” The name stuck.

How the cup was received, after the break.

-Ad break-

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. If you’re like me and you’re always looking for new coffee gear to try out, WMF offers a wide variety of accessories to take a look at. These include a heated cup rack, complete with four shelves and an illuminated back that lets you set the color, a paper-cup dispenser that’s perfect for your workplace or small gathering, and a mobile coffee station capable of handling both fresh water and waste water. WMF doesn’t stop there, however. Their website is complete with online coffee recipes. They break down classic espresso-based beverages like the cappuccino and espresso macchiato into layman’s terms, and they have a gallery of specialty drinks as well. These include the “Mozart coffee” containing espresso, steamed milk, marzipan cream liqueur, and chocolate sauce, as well as the Sweet Coconut Dream containing espresso, milk foam, Batida de Coco, and chocolate sauce. To check out all of WMF’s accessories and their full list of coffee recipes, visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com. Again that’s wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com

-End Ad Break-

The cup was an instant success. Between the mid-60s and the 1990s, hundreds of millions were sold annually. It took on a symbolic role as well – showing up in TV shows like Law & Order, and movies like Men in Black. This helped solidify the Anthora Cup as a representative for more than just coffee – it was a symbol for New York City itself. At the cup’s peak, in 1994, the Sherri Cup Company reportedly sold 500 million Anthora Cups. Not only that, but Solo – the makers of the ubiquitous and infamous red cup – ended up acquiring Sherri Cup Company largely due to the success of the Anthora Cup.

Leslie Buck received no royalties for his design, but he did so well on sales commissions over the years that it hardly mattered, according to his son. Mr. Buck retired from the Sherri Cup Company in 1992, and as a going-away gift the company presented him with 10,000 Anthora Cups that were printed with a testimonial inscription.

Since the 1990s, demand for the cups has waned. In 2005 a Solo spokeswoman told The New York Times that Anthora cup sales had dipped down to 200 million that year. By 2007, the cup was considered an endangered artifact. The reasons for the decline are likely tied to the 1994 arrival of Starbucks in NYC – they became the go-to morning coffee destinations for many New Yorkers, causing diners to try and compete with trendier cup designs. 9/11 likely played a role as well. Following the terrorism attack many restaurants began offering patriotic and flag-themed cups.

In 2014 John Tramaglia, a representative for Dart Container Sales Company (the company that had acquired Solo years earlier), set out to find an Anthora cup to be displayed in a New York Historical Society exhibit titled “A Brief History of New York: Selections from A History of New York in 101 Objects.” His search led him to an online store called New York First Co., and he discovered something fascinating: the cup was living on.

John said, “I found New York First was selling it to places like the Standard Hollywood Hotel in West Hollywood, California, so East Coast visitors and transplants could ‘feel at home’ in L.A. They also sell the Anthora cups as props to a few film companies, including Martin Scorsese’s production company.”

The cup lived on in other ways too. The Museum of Modern Art started selling ceramic versions, and its likeness was licensed for coin purses, cufflinks, and watches. Not only that, but knock-off cups bearing similar Greek designs but a slightly altered inscription were being sold city-wide as well.

“It seemed clear that with so many knock-off Greek prints based on the Anthora design from our competitors in the New York market, there was an opportunity for us to get back in the game with the original design.” That’s John Tramaglia again.

After a nine-year hiatus from regular circulation, Dart Container Sales Company brought it back. Starting in July 2015 the Anthora Cup returned as a regular stock item in the New York City Market.

There’s no question that the Anthora Cup is an icon of New York City. Because of its abiding presence, however, it goes beyond merely east-coast fame. For many people, whether they know it or not, the Anthora Cup is a seminal icon of western coffee as a whole. What it represents, however, goes much deeper than cup sales and diners. The Anthora Cup stands for the efforts of a man looking to rebuild. It symbolizes rebirth, in more ways than one, and what can be achieved at the intersection of hard work, tenacity, and a little luck. In many ways, it represents the American Dream.

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and I’m excited to announce that next week I’ll be traveling to Italy for a much needed vacation and to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with my wife. The next episode will air in 3 weeks, and my wife and I are going to sit down together and record our thoughts on Italian coffee. I’m excited to share our experiences in the place best-known for espresso. If you’d like to listen to other episodes of the podcast, you can find them on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and my blog – BoiseCoffee.org. If you’d like to get in touch with me you can hit me up on Twitter – my handle is @BoiseCoffee. Thanks for listening, and I’ll talk to you again in three weeks from beautiful Rome. Ciao!

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast was brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. Whether you’re looking for a simple office machine or robust professional barista grade equipment, WMF has what you’re looking for. Visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com to find out more. Again, that’s wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com.

The post S2 Episode 14: We Are Happy To Serve You appeared first on Boise Coffee.

To celebrate one year of The Boise Coffee Podcast I made an episode that highlights some of the key lessons I’ve learned while making the show. Most of the things discussed in this episode apply to the creative process in general; artists, writers, and other creatives will be able to identify with the struggles and successes I’ve experienced in the last 12 months. To those that have been with me since the beginning: thank you! If you’re new, welcome aboard. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. WMF is the leading international manufacturer of fully automatic commercial coffee machines, and they have something for everyone. Whether you’re interested in a simple office machine or professional barista grade equipment, WMF has what you’re looking for. Visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com to find out more.

Colin

The post S2 Episode 13: One Year Podcasting appeared first on Boise Coffee.

One year ago I had the crazy idea that 1) people might want to listen to my voice and 2) people might want to listen to my voice while I talk about coffee.  I walked into making a podcast with the same delusions of grandeur that I always do when approaching a new project – optimism is much easier to maintain before the hard works starts.

I quickly found out that podcasting is hard, thankless work. I learned a lot through trial and error. I started listening to more podcasts in general, then had to correct my style when my wife told me I was sounding too much like another guy who hosts a podcast I love. I learned a lot more than lessons that pertain only to podcasting, however. I discovered a lot about making things in general, both good and bad. I found out that having an idea is the easy part, and making that idea a reality is the next easiest part. The hard part is getting people to give a shit about what you make.

The hard part is getting people to give a shit about what you make.

Below are some basic principles and lessons that I’ve learned from my awesome journey through this first year of podcasting. I still don’t have it completely figured out – I’m not sure I ever will – and I’m constantly looking for new ways to improve.

If you’re new to podcasting, the absolutely best advice I can give is this: stick with it. It’s worth the journey.

Producing every aspect of your own show is time consuming. I thought I knew this when I started out, but oh how naïve I was. Having spent many hours behind a computer desk editing videos, I figured that editing audio-only content would be a peace of cake. What I quickly found is that absent visuals, the quality and standard of an audio show needs to be top notch. Scratchy mics, “um’s” and “uh’s,” as well as basic body shuffles while recording can create a frustrating editing experience, especially if you can’t afford the tools that pros use. At the start of the show I was using my iPhone 6 Plus to record, then editing using iMovie. Yes, iMovie. I resisted using GarageBand early on, simply because I was used to editing in iMove, and it has a built in “audio-only” mp3 export mode. Once I got a little more comfortable with recording and editing, I upgraded to a Blue Snowball mic and GarageBand, which is the setup I am currently using. It’s by no means high-end, but a pop-filter and a quite room can do wonders with even a half-decent mic. Another great program I use to help standardize sound across my recordings is Levelator which you’ll find as a recommended program by any podcaster worth his salt. If you’re more of a PC person, a great free audio editing tool is Audacity, though it does have a bit of a learning curve if you’re new to editing.

Producing an episode every week is not sustainable. I have a full time job with the U.S. Army, and I quickly found that trying to fit in writing, recording, editing, uploading, and sharing a podcast episode every weekend is not sustainable for my life. I received a couple complaints after moving to a bi-weekly schedule, but it was my only choice. What’s cool is that this change inadvertently increased the quality of my show – more time between episodes means more time to fully develop the idea for the episode, as well as a looser production schedule. Even more importantly, it means more time with my wife.

The best ideas aren’t forced. This may seem obvious, but the very best ideas that I’ve had for a podcast episode came when I least expected them to. I was least productive during the times where I was rushed, trying to force creativity and come up with a unique idea. Sometimes it helps to go on a walk, watch a TV show, or just get your mind off whatever you’re trying to make.

I’m not concerned with episode length. At the beginning, I swore that I was going for “short form” podcasts – about 20 minutes max. Honestly, this was a limit that I put on myself because I didn’t think I could even reach that. What I found was that some topics (especially interviews) demand longer episodes. No need for fillers to bloat the episode length, or deep cuts to make a time hack. I’ve found that letting the subject-matter determine the episode length just works.

Ideas are easy. Marketing is hard. Or: nobody gives a shit about what you’re making. Here’s the deal: the internet is filled with people trying to sell something. Whether it’s automatically generated ads on Google, or your I-kinda-know-that-person Facebook friend inviting you into their totally-not-a-pyramid-scheme multilevel marketing business, the fact is that nearly everyone is confronted with hundreds of opportunities to spend money online every day. This matters, even if you’re not selling something. I’ve found that friends approach listening to my podcast the same way that they would approach me if I was going door-to-door trying to sell new sets of steak knives. They say “oh that’s nice, I’d love to try that someday” and then shut the door. It’s not personal, it’s not intentionally rude, but it is a reality that I’ve come to accept. Part of my problem is that only a small subset of my friends actively listen to podcasts in the first place. The venn diagram between those friends who do and those friends who are interested in specialty coffee creates a pool of maybe 4 people. So, with that said, Facebook has not been a very great tool for me to advertise about my podcast. Instead, I’ve relied on a combination of SEO, Twitter, Instagram (with plenty of #hashtags about #coffee), Tumblr, Pinterest, and good old fashioned word-of-mouth. Surprisingly, I’ve developed a strong Tumblr following, gaining over 1000 followers in only a matter of months. Twitter has also been huge – I’ve had some success with cold-Tweeting to people using #coffee, #Chemex, etc., but the real gold has been having a few fans tweet about my podcast to their friends. That’s where word-of-mouth fits in.

Marketing is this weird combination of effort, tenacity, skillful targeting, and pure luck. I had one of my episodes get picked up on Reddit, making the front page and garnering my website over 14,000 hits in two days. It was the highest traffic BoiseCoffee.org had ever seen in the 7+ years I’ve had it, by about double. It was great. But, within 3 weeks, it was over. Did I gain any listeners? I’m sure I did, even if just in the short term. What it really showed me, however, is that viral links are flashes in the proverbial pan. The real test is what you do after the moment has passed. Do you chase after the crowd, or do you keep doing what made the crowd show up in the first place? To me, making an episode that I’m proud of trumps targeting a specific demographic of people.

Small bursts of encouragement help a lot. I’ve had a handful of listeners reach out to me over the last year to let me know that they appreciate my podcast and enjoy the content. I didn’t start the podcast to be appreciated or noticed, but I’ve found that it really, really helps. Most weeks are filled with a low volume of listeners and not a lot of discussion. Many times, these small rays of encouragement show up at just the right time, and they mean a lot to me.

I solo differently than I interview. I started the podcast with a free-form style where I used a list of bullet points and tried to steer myself in a general direction. I found that this made editing a pain in the ass (lots of pauses and filler words as I gathered my thoughts) and the best fix was to write myself a script. I ended up liking scripting more as it put a bigger emphasis on preparing for an episode as opposed to just winging it. It has also given me more time to work on my writing, which is always a plus. Scripts really don’t work when I interview a guest, however. Keeping it a discussion is the best way to relax a guest (it’s much more natural than trying to stick to some lines you wrote), and to flow from topic to topic without having to figure out some kind of weird segue.

Editing long-distance interviews can be totally easy, or totally sucky. If you’re going to interview someone over Skype, FaceTime, phone or any other similar means, ensure that your guest has a way to record only their voice on the other end. For these purposes, an iPhone or Android phone will work just fine – their mics really aren’t too bad. When you record on your end, use headphones so that your computer is only recording your voice. Ask your guest to do the same. After the interview/episode is over, ask your guest to send you their “half” of the interview (Dropbox or something similar works great). This will give you two files: one with just your voice, and one with just their voice. From here, you can edit them together, which gives you much greater production freedom, as well as the ability to eliminate any sound hiccups or delays that happened as a result of a poor internet connection. If you do this any other way, you’ll be left with a single take that either sounds good or doesn’t, and editing will be a crap shoot at best. Trust me. On the first interview I recorded, I stuck the mic next to my computer speakers to pick up the Skype call. It worked, but only just.

Advertisers are easier to pick up, but difficult to make money off of. I’ll be honest: it would be awesome to make big bucks off of my podcast. I’d love to attract thousands of listeners per episode, and be approached by MailChimp to be the next Serial. But, let’s be honest: it’s unlikely. I decided early on to not consider advertising until I felt comfortable with the format and content of my show. Once I hit that point, I started with an Audible affiliate account. Soon after (by coincidence, mostly), I was approached by both an interested advertiser (real money), and a company that aggregates prospective advertisers (affiliate). I’m not exactly rolling in the Benjamin’s, but it’s a great start.

Let’s be real here, you probably aren’t going to make the New and Noteworthy section. I know I’m skipping around a little bit here, but this piece of advertising is worth revisiting. Most online “start a podcast today!” tutorials mention making Apple’s “New and Noteworthy” section as a goal for any prospective podcaster. I’ll say it now: don’t do that. Don’t make a popularity contest be the goal of your new podcast from the get-go. Start by making something you’re passionate about and proud of. If it makes New and Noteworthy, awesome. If it doesn’t, keep pushing. Don’t sweat it. I say this, because I really really really wanted to make it in New and Noteworthy. I really thought I would, too. But then I didn’t, and I got sad for no reason. Then I realized that I was making a kickass show, and it didn’t really matter if I made it onto some list. I enjoy making the show, which is why I do it. It helps to have listeners, of course, but I’m fine with a core group of dedicated people who actually like what I’m making. Again, don’t focus on the flash-in-the-pan advertising opportunities.

Don’t miss a week. If you’re going to be one, two, three, four days late uploading an episode – fine. But don’t miss a week. I get it, life gets in the way. Try to plan ahead, create some spare episodes for a rainy day, or something similar. Or hell, if you have enough episodes already uploaded, feel free to re-post an old one. Just don’t miss a week. If you do, your stats will go down, your listeners might unsubscribe, and the world might end. But really – it’s a matter of respect. You have this unspoken contract with your listeners. They look forward to your content, and you provide that content. If you can’t or don’t provide it, they’ll stop looking forward to it. It’s that simple.

Music matters. Like in any form of media, great music can turn a decent show into a truly awesome one. Checkout Lore as a great example – his writing, combined with the soft piano creates this creepy, unsettling tone that’s absolutely perfect for the show. I’m still working on this for The Boise Coffee Podcast, but I think I’m moving in the right direction.

Use podcasting communities. This is perhaps one of the least talked about elements to getting your show out there. Most podcasters listen and review other podcasts. If you’re trying to get some listeners early on, an easy way to do that is to approach communities like /r/podcasts and /r/podcasting on Reddit. They host weekly threads, starting on Mondays, where you can drop a link and description to your newest episode. Most online communities don’t take kindly to self-promotion, but these are exactly the opposite. There are even users who will provide you with feedback on how to make your show better, completely free of charge. These communities are also question-friendly. If you want to get some second opinions about the best mics or software to use, these subreddits are a great resource.

Apart from Reddit, there are plenty of podcast hosts on Twitter who are eager to swap information and get a little quid pro quo out of your online interaction: tweet about their show, and they’ll tweet about yours. There’s no substitution for true word-of-mouth from people who enjoy your podcast, but then again free press is free press.

To wrap up, over the last year I’ve learned a ton about all the effort that artists and producers put into their projects. My appreciation for professionals has increased tremendously, and I stand in awe of the part-timers who’s shows sound like they are professionally made. I’m still very much in the learning phase with my own show, and I’m excited to see where this next year of podcasting will take me. Most importantly, I’ve truly had a lot of fun figuring out what The Boise Coffee Podcast brings to the table, and I’m proud of the result.

Check out The Boise Coffee Podcast on iTunes here. If you like what you hear, please leave me a review!

Colin

The post What I’ve Learned From A Year of Podcasting appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Making coffee is as much an art as it is a science. As with any culinary endeavor, the amount of time and energy you put into the ingredients, the preparation, the creation, and the presentation of a cup of coffee or espresso, the better the end product will be. The ingredients of a cup of coffee start at the farm where coffee beans are grown and continues through the processing, storing, and roasting.

As I discussed last episode, any one misstep in this enormous supply chain will leave you with a sour, bitter cup of coffee. But there’s more to it than just ingredients – preparation plays a huge role as well. If a perfect batch of roasted beans makes it into the hands of an untrained or careless barista, you won’t get the variety of flavors and complexity in your end product. Finally, there’s presentation to be considered. As much as I’d like to tell you that the environment and atmosphere where you drink your coffee, together with how the coffee itself looks, doesn’t impact taste, I’d be lying. There’s a reason why high-quality filet mignon isn’t served in a styrofoam carryout box and fine wine doesn’t arrive at your table in a red solo cup. We human beings care a great deal about how something looks – and we make judgement calls about how food and drink tastes before it ever touches our lips.

In 1988 Espresso Vivace opened. Its founder is an overqualified eclectic scientist named David Schomer. Schomer’s path to coffee is as winding as they come – he spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, training in electronic calibration and repair, then a stint as a metrologist (the science of measurement) at the Boeing Class A Standards Lab. For a time he was the Canvas Coordinator for Greenpeace NW, and he holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a BFA in Flute Performance from the Cornish College of the Arts. In short, he’s both an artist, and a scientist.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. WMF is the leading international manufacturer of fully automatic commercial coffee machines, and they’re proudly made in Germany. Whether you’re looking for a simple office machine, or robust professional barista-grade equipment, WMF has what you’re looking for. Visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com to find out more.

Colin

Check out David Schomer’s 2014 TEDx talk here.

Episode transcript:

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. WMF is the leading international manufacturer of fully automatic commercial coffee machines, and they’re proudly made in Germany. To find out more, visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com

Making coffee is as much an art as it is a science. As with any culinary endeavor, the amount of time and energy you put into the ingredients, the preparation, the creation, and the presentation of a cup of coffee or espresso, the better the end product will be. The ingredients of a cup of coffee start at the farm where coffee beans are grown and continues through the processing, storing, and roasting. As I discussed last episode, any one misstep in this enormous supply chain will leave you with a sour, bitter cup of coffee. But there’s more to it than just ingredients – preparation plays a huge role as well. If a perfect batch of roasted beans makes it into the hands of an untrained or careless barista, you won’t get the variety of flavors and complexity in your end product. Finally, there’s presentation to be considered. As much as I’d like to tell you that the environment and atmosphere where you drink your coffee, together with how the coffee itself looks, doesn’t impact taste, I’d be lying. There’s a reason why high-quality filet mignon isn’t served in a styrofoam carryout box and fine wine doesn’t arrive at your table in a red solo cup. We human beings care a great deal about how something looks – and we make judgement calls about how food and drink tastes before it ever touches our lips.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to the Boise Coffee Podcast

—Boise Coffee Podcast Theme—

In the 1980s coffee companies began springing up all across Seattle, Washington. In 1982 Howard Schulz became the CEO of a promising coffee chain named Starbucks, and focused on expanding. As we know, he succeeded – by 1994 there were over 400 locations. But Starbucks is far from the only successful or meaningful coffee company to be birthed from the overcast counter-culture friendly environment found in Seattle. In 1988 Espresso Vivace opened. It’s founder is an overqualified eclectic scientist named David Schomer. Schomer’s path to coffee is as winding as they come – he spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, training in electronic calibration and repair, then a stint as a metrologist (the science of measurement) at the Boeing Class A Standards Lab. For a time he was the Canvas Coordinator for Greenpeace NW, and he holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a BFA in Flute Performance from the Cornish College of the Arts. In short, he’s both an artist, and a scientist. He’s spent the last 30 years concerning himself with the preparation and presentation of espresso-based beverages and is widely considered to be the man who pushed and perfected espresso, paving the way for the worldwide specialty coffee culture. He’s also the man credited with bringing latte art to the US and inventing several of the delicate patterns that we’re familiar with today.

For as popular as espresso became in the 1980s and 1990s, not a lot of thought had been put into how to make it better. In many ways it was the wild west of specialty coffee – drinks like the latte and macchiato hadn’t yet hit the main stream, and there was no real standard to judge any particular drink against. To make matters worse, the common thought amongst coffee shop owners was that the variables that go into making coffee were so varied and complex that no matter what you did to perfect your technique and maintain consistent quality, each drink would taste different. These variables include grind size, dosing size, tamping pressure, brew time, and many many more. David Schomer, however, wasn’t fazed. He set out to create the perfect shot of espresso.

David put it like this – coffee should taste like it smells. He believed that the intoxicating, complicated rush of aromas that hits you right after you open up a bag of fresh coffee should be present in each shot of espresso. That single notion pushed Schomer to travel to the mecca of Espresso; and so, in 1989, he set off to Northern Italy.

David’s coffee research trip through Italy included testing coffee, watching how shots are pulled, and watching how drinks are made in about 400 different shops. This trip, combined with a second that he took in the early 90s, was instrumental in solidifying David’s plan to get the smell of coffee into the end product. Not only did he learn that indeed, the variables inherent in the brewing process are the limiting factors to how good a shot of espresso can taste, he also was exposed to and fell in love with latte art. More on that in a minute.

Over the next decade David began perfecting each and every variable that goes into pulling a shot of espresso. He brought in employees, many of which still work at Espresso Vivace to today, and created an environment where great coffee wasn’t the goal, it was the norm. But even as he began approaching near-perfection in the manual steps associated with making espresso, he still wasn’t satisfied with the way his shots tasted. He hadn’t yet achieved putting the smell of coffee into the taste. He started looking at the automatic steps that most baristas take for granted – namely, water temperature. He knew that temperature played a huge role in brewing, and he knew that 203 degrees Fahrenheit was the optimal point for espresso machines to brew with. But what if that temperature wasn’t being held constant throughout the brewing process? What if there were fluctuations that weren’t being accounted for or controlled?

David returned to his metrologist roots and began experimenting with his own machine to find out whether or not the brewing temperature was being held constant. He rigged up a digital thermometer to one of his portafilters, and set out across the west coast to find out if he was right – and he was. He found out that across the board, all professional espresso machines had temperature variances somewhere between 6 degrees and 20 degrees, and it made him furious. In a 2014 TEDx talk, Schomer said, “a $39 Mr. Coffee has better control than these $10,000 machines that are all over the place.” He wrote about this huge problem in a series of articles titled “Engineered Mediocrity” but the coffee community simply wasn’t listening.

In 1995 Schomer experimented on his own La Marzocco espresso machine and was able to fix its brewing temperature to within 2 degrees of the optimal 203 degrees Fahrenheit. But, by his own estimations, this wasn’t good enough. Through testing and measuring he determined that the taste of espresso was impacted by as small as a 1/10th degree of change in brewing temperature. If he could attain a half degree variance, it would put him in the right ballpark for attaining perfect espresso, but two degrees was simply unacceptable. So he continued to push. It took David six more years until he found a way to fix this problem. The solution, after the break.

—Ad Break—

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. Their fully automatic commercial coffee machines are made with the highest quality materials, and their product line covers a broad spectrum of needs. Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, WMF is dedicated to providing you with easily maintained equipment that produces high quality, fresh coffee no matter who is operating it. Their most recent, next-gen coffee machine is the WMF 5000S, capable of making 250 cups per day and equipped with a simple, touchscreen interface. With three hoppers for espresso beans, decaf, and hot chocolate, the WMF 5000S can make up to 42 different drinks, each of which is fully customizable on-the-fly. And for longer meetings, you can even brew a full pot of coffee. To find out more about the 5000S or any of the high quality coffee machines that WMF offers, visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com

—Ad Break Finished—

On February 28th, 2001, David Schomer solved the temperature problem. Together with Roger Whitman of La Marzocco and John Bicht of Versalab, he took an omega PID controller – a computerized thermostat – and stabilized the brewing temperature of an espresso machine to 203 degrees Fahrenheit with a half a degree of error, for the first time in human history. Over time, his findings and solution rippled across the coffee community, and today, every espresso machine has a PID controller built in. Not only that, but espresso machine manufacturers and coffee shop owners are constantly looking for new ways to attain an even higher degree of temperature consistency. A barista can always work hard and perfect their technique, but it won’t matter if their equipment doesn’t perform at the highest possible levels.

Solving the variable problem wasn’t the only thing David brought back from that 1989 Italian coffee crawl, however. As I briefly mentioned, latte art was another huge aspect of coffee that Espresso Vivace popularized with Schomer at the helm. Latte art isn’t simply a pretty way to display coffee, however – it’s also the mark of well-steamed milk. The act of heating and steaming milk isn’t hard. Doing it well is. Poorly steamed milk can be either too bubbly and airy, resulting in a head of foam that makes getting to the “coffee” part of your beverage a difficult task, or flat and uninteresting. Well steamed milk has a rich, velvety texture that’s viscous, yet smooth. It contains tiny bubbles, called microfoam, that makes drinking your latte or macchiato a pleasant experience, with rich milky goodness and espresso mixed evenly.

When steamed properly, the milk and microfoam can be poured into a cup containing espresso in such a way that the barista is able to create interesting and unique patterns on top of your drink. In the early days of latte art at Vivace, David and his employees were trying to come up with as many designs as possible. In fact, David bet one of his baristas, Lisa Parson, $50 that she couldn’t make a heart using latte art. Not a good bet.

Today, you can find a variety of different latte art designs from coffee shops all over the world. Some of the most common are the rosetta – which resembles a leaflike or fern pattern, swans, fossils, and of course – hearts. More complicated designs mix these patterns, creating designs like swirls and wreathes.

Over the years, latte art has become a source of competition between baristas across the globe. There are many regional, national, and international competitions that aspiring latte artists can compete in, including Coffee Fest and the World Latte Art Championship founded by the Specialty Coffee Associations of Europe and America. This year’s World Latte Art Championship is being held in Shanghai and has 37 competitors from all over the world. David Schomer himself has judged latte art competitions at the Coffee Fest championships, according to a Barista Magazine post in 2013.

Latte art isn’t the only kind of competitive coffee making out there; many coffee trade shows and conventions host variations of espresso competitions. Sometimes these are done solo, with individual baristas directly competing for who can pull the best shot. Other times, it’s a group effort. At a coffee convention I attended a few years ago, a coffee shop environment was simulated, with teams competing against each other; they were judged on quickness of service, accuracy of orders, quality of product, and a “special drink” that each team was asked to invent.

In a 2015 Seattle Times article, Schomer commented on these espresso competitions, saying “The critical thing is that I’m in a happiness business. I’m here to make you happy. I want to know what you want and I make it as quick and as fast as I can. The espresso contest kind of sets up these young people to fail. It makes them feel like some kind of a rock star or something. And the customer is kind of left behind. I don’t like that.”

David’s point is salient, given his many years in the industry, but it also gives us a look into the heart behind his passion: he’s there to create a good experience for the customer. If a barista pulls an absolutely perfect shot with a PID controlled machine and flawless form, it matters little if the customer isn’t happy. This is important because coffee, like anything else, is a business. David Schomer isn’t influential because he invented a way to make better espresso, or because he introduced latte art to the U.S. His influence comes from a deep-set desire to create a positive environment for anyone entering his shop, and he’s been immensely successful at that. Like all baristas, he’s not really in the coffee business. He’s in the happiness business.

Getting coffee from the ground to your cup takes science, engineering, logistical management, expertise, trial and error, and tenacity. The beans that make up the beverage in your mug pass through the hands of tens, maybe hundreds of dedicated individuals. But as we’ve seen, it’s also an art. Baristas, roasters, and coffee shop owners spend years perfecting the way they make coffee and deciding how they want to present it. They create the ambiance of their shop and teach new employees the best way to approach talking to a customer to make their product desirable for you. This $46 billion industry, this intersection of art and science — it all hinges on making you, the customer, feel welcome and happy about your drink. At the risk of asking you to go through an existential crisis, the next time you’re holding a cup of coffee fresh from your local shop, ask yourself: are you happy?

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. As always I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and I really appreciate your support. Thanks to the listeners who have contacted me and shared the show recently – shoutout to Barry from Maryland.

If you liked this episode, please go on iTunes and give me a review. If you’d like to contact me, you can shoot me an email at BoiseCoffee@gmail.com or reach out to my on Twitter; my handle is @BoiseCoffee. Finally, if you’d like to listen to other episodes of the show, you can find them on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or my blog – BoiseCoffee.org.

This episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast was brought to you by WMF Coffee Machines. Whether you’re looking for a simple office machine or robust professional barista grade equipment, WMF has what you’re looking for. Visit wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com to find out more.

Thanks for listening, and have a great rest of your week.

The post S2 Episode 12: Developing Latte Art & Perfecting Espresso appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Before coffee is brewed and ground, before it is roasted, sold, or traded, and before it’s processed and picked, it must first be grown. Coffee, like most commodities, is a plant. At one time it was wild, and now it’s cultivated. In previous episodes I’ve covered the history of coffee, showing that individual people were key to coffee’s spread through Africa to Europe and eventually to the Americas. The historical narrative of coffee from the time of African legends to the time of Starbucks may seem like a relatively straight trajectory, but it’s actually not. There were people ahead of their time who saw coffee for being more than simply a way to get a caffeine buzz. There were people who jumped history and made a name for themselves in coffee long before Dunkin Donuts graced the city streets of the East.

In this episode I talk about coffee production. The episode is divided in two sections. In the first section, I use the story of early specialty coffee pioneers as a lens through which to view the importance of production. In the second section I discuss coffee production, and how a bean gets from the soil to your cup.

Sources for this episode include The World Atlas of Coffee and this Smithsonian Magazine article. Thanks for listening!

Colin

Episode transcript:

The more I research coffee, the more I find it woven through people’s lives and lacing the pages of history books. For example, while I was looking up a story to start this episode with I happened across something that totally blew my mind. In today’s episode I’m going to talk about coffee in the most naturalistic sense possible; I want to discuss coffee plants, why beans from different places in the world taste differently, and why this is important to you. See, before coffee is brewed and ground, before it is roasted, sold, or traded, and before it’s processed and picked it must first be grown. Coffee, like most commodities, is a plant. At one time it was wild, and now it’s cultivated. In previous episodes I’ve covered the history of coffee, showing that individual people were key to coffee’s spread through Africa to Europe and eventually to the Americas. The historical narrative of coffee from the time of African legends to the time of Starbucks may seem like a relatively straight trajectory, but it’s actually not. There were people ahead of their time who saw coffee for being more than simply a way to get a caffeine buzz. There were people who jumped history and made a name for themselves in coffee long before Dunkin Donuts graced the city streets of the East.

There was a famous man, known throughout the U.S., who loved coffee so much that his drinking vessels were said to be more like bathtubs than mugs. Whether the legends are true or not, this man was said to have drank a gallon of coffee per day at his peak. His kids went on to found a chain of what today we would call “specialty coffee” shops in 1919 – a time when the world was recovering from the first global war and alcohol was about to be federally banned. Oh, and did I mention that this man had been the President of the United States? I’m talking about President Teddy Roosevelt, and I think his love of coffee builds the perfect bridge between the beverage we know and love, and the plants that it all comes from.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and welcome to The Boise Coffee Podcast.

I’m going to do this episode in two sections. In this first section I’d like to finish the tale of the Roosevelt family’s love affair with coffee. I think it’s a great way to show that quality coffee isn’t a byproduct of culture or trends – it’s always been there, waiting to be discovered. Also, I just think the story is amazing and needs to be shared. In the second section I’m going to transition into talking about the coffee plant and fruit.  I’ll get into why coffee growing regions exist, and answer some common questions like “what makes a Guatemalan bean different from an Ethiopian bean?” Let’s get started.

As most of us know, Teddy Roosevelt was a sickly chid. He suffered from debilitating asthma and overall poor health. His father was known to take young Theodore on nighttime drives with the windows down. Teddy would stick his head out the window in an effort to force air down his suffering lungs. Strongly brewed coffee was another home remedy for Teddy’s asthma attacks – perhaps this was when he developed his taste for the beverage.

While President Roosevelt certainly loved coffee, it was his kids that created a business around it. Kermit Roosevelt, the President’s second son, had developed a love for coffee in South America. From 1913-1914 he and his father explored the Amazon Basin of Brazil together, and from 1914-1916 Kermit was the assistant manager for the National City Bank in Buenos Aires. During his time in South America Kermit noticed that the coffeehouses of the region were strikingly different from those back home; not only did they serve coffee that was freshly ground, but the atmosphere of the shops was more casual and laid back than he was used to. And he liked it.

It’s important to note here that coffeehouses did exist in places like New York City, but they were not at all the kinds of shops we’re surrounded by today. Generally coffeehouses were more ethnic, catering to recent immigrants and foreigners. Upon Kermit’s return to the states, he saw a huge opportunity to bring what he had learned from South America to a more mainstream audience on the streets of New York. Kermit approached his siblings with the coffeehouse idea, and they were all on board. Kermit, Ted, Archie, Ethel, her husband, and their father’s cousin Philip Roosevelt made up the initial business venture – and they were all between the ages of 21 and 31.

The business was based on two key things: first, Kermit was willing to bet that the relaxed atmosphere he had experienced at coffeehouses in South America would appeal to New Yorkers as a way to get away from busy city life. Second, prohibition was about to hit the United States. Overnight, all legal alcohol sales would dry up, meaning that there was a whole new group of people willing to trade one vice with another. The Roosevelt siblings wanted coffee to fill that hole.

In November of 1919, just a month after the Volstead Act had passed (a pre-curser to the Constitutional Amendment that would enforce prohibition), the Roosevelts’ Brazilian Coffee House opened. The press was quick to spread the news – a New York Times multitiered headline read “Roosevelts Start Coffee House Chain; Houses Similar to the Ancient Institutions of London to be Established.” The interior design of the coffee shop was likely handled by Ethel Roosevelt – it featured walls papered with green and gold print of Brazilian bamboo, and hanging portraits of celebrated coffee lovers. Voltaire, Shakespeare, and her father Teddy all had their own spots on the wall.

The room itself was strikingly similar to what we’re used to today. Thirty small oak tables and chairs scattered the floor, and each table had a compartment containing ink, envelopes, and special stationary inscribed with “Brazilian Coffee House.” Dictionaries and Encyclopedias were within reach as well. It’s not unreasonable to draw a correlation between modern computers and the internet to these analogue counterparts. Philip Roosevelt told a reporter, “What we desire to do is to provide a place for people to come, where they can talk, write letters, eat sandwiches and cake, and above all, drink real coffee.” If that doesn’t sound like exactly the sort of thing a modern coffee shop owner would say, I don’t know what does.

The store’s manager, a young Brazilian named A.M. Salazar, functioned as barista and head coffee snob. He would often say things like “Americans don’t really know how to appreciate good coffee” and lamented at how modern techniques boiled coffee and killed the tastes that make each bean unique. He would put on elaborate demonstrations, grinding coffee in front of customers and producing pour-overs through a specially prepared strainer. He was known to lecture people on proper temperature and roasting, and he discouraged customers from adding milk or cream to their beverage. Sound familiar?

In 1921 the Brazilian Coffee House was forced to change its name after a brief legal squabble, and they settled on rebranding it as the Double R Coffee House – the R’s stood for Roosevelt and Robinson (Monroe Douglas Robinson, Teddy’s nephew, had joined the venture as well). Eventually, the Double R grew to include four locations around New York City, named after various South American Regions: there was the original Brazilian branch, the Argentine, the Colombian, and the Amazon. The Roosevelt clan had plans to take the chain national – Archie even scouted sites in Chicago and had trips to Boston and Philadelphia planned as well.

Although their national coffee chain dreams were never fully realized, the shops did succeed in a major area: they brought people together. The original Brazilian location was situated in New York City’s arts district and attracted actors, artists, writers, newspapermen, and musicians. H.P. Lovecraft, the famous fiction writer who inspired a generation of novelists including Stephen King, was known to frequent the location along with his circle of friends. He even wrote a short ode titled “On the Double R Coffee House.”

“Here may free souls forget the grind
Of busy hour and bustling crowd
And sparkling brightly mind to mind
Display their inmost dreams aloud”

The Roosevelt siblings had interests as diverse as their father’s: by the end of the 1920s their minds were beginning to drift away from coffee. In 1928 Ted Jr. and Kermit were planning their newest expedition – a lengthy exploration of Indochina to collect plant and animal specimens. These eccentricities led the siblings to survey potential buyers of their coffee houses. The obvious choice would’ve been Maxwell House; Teddy Roosevelt had apparently loved their coffee – they claim that their slogan “good to the last drop” was uttered by the President himself, though the truth of both the statement, and whether or not T.R. had actually said it are disputed to today.

In the end, Maxwell House didn’t buy the Double R. Instead, a couple named Zivko and Aneta Magdich purchased the local chain. Their interest was as much financial as it was emotional: the couple had first met at the Double R. Unfortunately, it’s not clear what happened after the Magdich’s came into ownership. The best guesses say that their business went on until the 1929 stock market crash. While a sad ending, the Double R was around serving great coffee for nearly 10 years. That’s a great run, even by modern standards. More importantly, the Double R showed something that nobody had yet proven. More about that, after the break.

—— Ad Break ——

This week’s episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by Audible. Audible is the best way to listen to audiobooks and spoken word programs whether you’re working out, in the car, or relaxing at home. A series that I’ve loved listening to on Audible is the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King. Half noir fiction, half thriller, the series has three books: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch which was released just this week.  The series follows ex-cop Bill Hodges as he attempts to solve nail biting mysteries. In my opinion, they’re among King’s best novels. Audible is giving listeners of The Boise Coffee Podcast a free book – all you have to do is visit audibletrial.com/boisecoffee to claim it.  You can choose anything from their list of over 180,000 unique titles. Again, visit audibletrial.com/boisecoffee.

——End Ad Break——

The story of the Roosevelt family’s Double R Coffeehouse illustrates a key point that I’d like to highlight before moving on to the next section of this episode. At the time that the Roosevelts created their business, coffee was seen as a static beverage – almost like a soda. There was no well-known way to make coffee taste any better or worse – it was all just coffee, as far as the average American consumer was concerned. The Roosevelts showed that coffee has latent potential that nobody was tapping in to at that time. And, more than that, they showed that there was a market for it. Their business venture was about 80 years ahead of its time, yet it still captured the hearts and minds of New Yorkers. As we move into talking about coffee in terms of botany, processing techniques, and origins, I’d like you to keep this in mind: great tasting coffee isn’t new. While it’s en vogue now, quality beans have been around for centuries. Kermit Roosevelt became passionate about coffee because he saw it at its source. Now, I’d like to give you brief look at how coffee is processed, and where it comes from.

The word “coffee,” botanically speaking, is a broad term. It’s like saying the word “Rose;” just as there are different species of roses, there are different species of coffee. The two most well known coffee species are Coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora, better known as Robusta. Robusta is actually more of a brand name given to Coffea canephora to highlight its strong – or robust – flavor. It was discovered in the Belgian Congo (what is now Zaire) in the late 19th century. At that time Coffea arabica, or just Arabica for short, was the only form of coffee being widely traded and sold. Robusta coffee plants, as it turned out, were able to grow and fruit at lower altitudes, higher temperatures, and were more resistant to disease. This made them ideal to mass-produce and be grown in climates where Arabica couldn’t. There’s just one itsy bitsy problem with Robusta coffee – it tastes horrible. While the very best Robusta can potentially taste better than the worst Arabica beans, that’s not really saying much. Coffee aficionados generally describe coffee made with Robusta beans as having a woody, burnt-rubber quality with low acidity. Suffice it to say that most people don’t enjoy common Robusta coffee.

That doesn’t mean that Robusta flat-lined: it’s actually still widely grown today. The Italian espresso tradition commonly uses Robusta beans for their strong brews, but its bigger market is something we’re all familiar with: instant coffee. In instant coffee, price is king above flavor, and Robusta is much cheaper to buy on a large scale. Some big coffee companies like Folgers and Maxwell House actually mix Arabica and Robusta beans to keep prices low. Robusta coffee also packs a bigger caffeine punch than Arabica, meaning that coffee companies can get people hooked on their bitter brews much more easily using this mixed method.

It’s interesting to note that on a genetic level Robusta and Arabica aren’t siblings or distant relatives: Robusta is actually the parent of Arabica. Some time in the distant past, likely in southern Sudan, Robusta crossed with another species called Coffea euginoides (I’m probably butchering that pronunciation) and produced Arabica. Coffea arabica spread from there, taking root in Ethiopia where it was first discovered by humans.

Currently there are 129 species of coffee that have been identified, mostly through the work of Kew Gardens in London. Most of these look very different from the coffee plants and beans we cultivate today. Many of these species are indigenous to Madagascar, though others have been discovered in parts of southern Asia and as far as Australia. Also, none of these plants are being grown or produced commercially, though scientists are beginning to show more interest for the simple fact that there’s little genetic diversity in the plants currently cultivated. This lack of diversity puts coffee plants at risk: a disease that can attack one plant can potentially attack them all.

For the rest of this episode, when I refer to coffee beans, plants, and cultivation techniques I’ll be talking about Arabica exclusively. Not only is it the plant most widely produced and harvested, it also is the only species from which specialty coffee is made.

Coffee plants demand a ton of care and patience to grow and harvest. A newly planted seedling will take up to three years before it fruits properly. Additionally, as we’ll discuss a little later, coffee plants are very sensitive to temperature, moisture levels, sunlight exposure, soil composition, and altitude.

Most coffee trees have one main harvest per year, though some have a second smaller harvest. The first harvest is triggered by a prolonged period of rainfall, causing the trees to bloom in beautiful white blossom flowers with a strong scent, almost like jasmine. Arabica trees are able to self-polinate, though they are often assisted by insects like bees. After flowering, it takes up to nine months until the fruits are ready for harvest. Unfortunately, coffee cherries rarely ripen all at once – this puts growers in a tough place: they can choose to harvest all the fruits at once, then pick out the unripe and overripe fruit before processing, or they can pay pickers to make multiple passes of the same trees to get perfectly ripe cherries. The method used is usually determined by how much money and time the growers have. Regardless of the method, it’s rarely perfect. Some unripe cherries always make it into the processing stage and must be removed later on.

The coffee fruit is usually about the size of a small grape, but unlike grapes nearly the entire inside is dominated by the seed – or bean. All cherries start out green, and turn a bright shade of red or yellow as they ripen. Occasionally, trees that produce a red fruit and trees that produce a yellow fruit will cross breed and to produce an orange fruit. Trees that produce yellow fruit are sometimes avoided, as it can be harder to tell when the cherry is perfectly ripe and ready to be picked.

Coffee cherries essentially have five parts: the outer skin, the internal pulp, the parchment which surrounds the seed, the silverskin – a layer directly around the seed, and the seed itself. Most coffee cherries actually contain two seeds, facing each other. Occasionally, only one seed inside a berry will germinate and grow – these are known as peaberries. Peaberries are usually set aside to be sold separately. Some coffee drinkers claim that peaberries are more flavorful and sweeter, while others say there’s really no difference.

Here’s where things start to get interesting: not all Coffea arabica is the same. The species, Arabica, is divided into about 15 varieties with distinct biological makeup. I’m going to list them in a second, but it’s important to note that when people talk about different kinds of coffee, usually they’ll do so in reference to the countries where the coffee is grown rather than varieties. There’s not a lot of research around how the variety of the arabica tree impacts the end result in your cup, and for that reason I’m not going to dwell on them too much. Also, you might sometimes here the word “Cultivar” tossed around in relation to coffee plants – this is simply a mashup of the words “cultivated variety” and is swapped interchangeably.

Alright, here are the coffee varieties: Typica, Bourbon, Mundo Novo, Caturrah, Catuai, Maragogype, SL-28, SL-34, Geisha or Gesha, Pacas, Villa Sarchi, Pacamara, Kent, and S795. There are also wild arabica varieties which are usually crossbreeds that haven’t been specifically identified. Not much work has been done so far to catalogue or explore the genetic diversity and cup quality of these wild varieties.

After coffee cherries have grown, ripened, and been picked, they have to be processed. As I discussed earlier there are outer layers of the coffee cherry that need to be stripped away in order to get at the internal seed. This may sound like a simple thing to do, but when you’re dealing with thousands of cherries at once, you have to get creative. There are essentially two types of processing: natural, sometimes called dry, and washed. I’m going to break these down into their basic steps, but know that there are also hybrid and derivative processes used in some parts of the world that mix these two due to the needs of the farmers, or the desires of the buyer.

The natural process starts with removing unripe cherries that made it past the picking stage. That can either be done by hand, or using a flotation tank. If it’s done by hand, people will pick out individual green cherries from the batch before moving to the next step. When a tank is used, all the cherries are dumped into a massive water tank – the ripe berries sink to the bottom, and the unripe berries float to the top. From there, the ripe cherries are spread out in a thin layer on brick patios or specially designed drying tables. The sun beats down on these cherries, drying them until the outer husk of skin and fruit are able to be easily removed from the bean. While drying, the cherries have to be turned often, usually by some kind of rake, to keep them from molding or drying unevenly. Once ready, the beans are separated from the husk and fruit mechanically, using a specifically designed machine. After the seeds are separated, they are rested for 30-60 days before they are shipped. Before shipping, the beans are mechanically hulled to remove any protective parchment left over.

The natural process is usually used in areas where access to water is very limited. Because of the many manual steps involved, an entire batch can be easily ruined by one hiccup, and for that reason the dry process is somewhat polarizing in the coffee community. The natural process usually imbues the final beans with fruity, complex flavors sometimes described as blueberry, strawberry, or tropical fruit. In bad batches, however, they can taste more like barnyard, wild, ferment, and manure.

The washed process has the same goal and end-result in mind: strip coffee cherries down to the bean and ready them for shipment. The way this is accomplished, however, is very different from the natural process. The washed process is more expensive, but the results are more predictable and dependable.

In the washed process, the ripe cherries are separated using the tank method mentioned earlier. From there, the outer skin and fruit flesh are stripped off of the coffee cherries by a mechanical depulper. Next, the coffee is placed in a clean trough of water where they are fermented to remove the remainder of the flesh. Coffee fruit flesh contains a lot of pectin that is firmly attached to the seed. Fermentation breaks it down, after which it’s washed away. The amount of time that fermentation takes depends on the amount of water used, the altitude, and the ambient temperature. If coffee is fermented too long, negative flavors can start to creep in, making this a crucial step.

After the coffee is fermented and washed, it’s left out in the sun and turned regularly to dry before being rested for the same 30-60 days mentioned earlier. Also, just as before, the beans are hulled one last time prior to being shipped off.

The method and quality of processing impacts the way a cup of coffee tastes a great deal. Regardless of which method is used, I can’t emphasize enough just how strenuous and time consuming this step in coffee production is. This is a big reason why specialty coffee shops and roasters are getting more involved at the farm level in recent years: they want to make sure that their coffee is being taken care of from the time the tree is planted, to when the green beans arrive at their shop ready to be roasted and sold. It’s also important to point out that these coffee farms rely on the quality of their end-product a great deal. For many communities in poorer parts of the world, coffee is their primary way of making money. If their product is bad, it won’t sell. If it doesn’t sell, they might not have enough money for food, let alone clothing, education, etc. This is a big reason I believe it’s important for companies that buy coffee from the source to create a relationship with the farmers and find out how they can help the community best. It’s also important as a consumer to know where your coffee comes from, or at a minimum that the shop you’re buying it from has integrity and strong moral values. This isn’t always easy to spot from the outside, but it’s nonetheless extremely important.

As I mentioned earlier, usually when we talk about different types of coffee we do so by country. For example, you might see a sign at your local coffee shop advertising new guatemalan beans, or something similar. I’d like to take a moment to touch on the big coffee producing countries, and what sets their beans apart.

The first thing you need to know is that Coffea arabica is extremely sensitive to changes in climate, altitude, and sunshine. For that reason, farms are incredibly specific about where and when coffee trees are planted. You’ll find some farms on the side of a hill, under natural shade – the farmers likely found the perfect altitude and ambient temperature needed to grow the ideal beans for their region.

Because of these reasons, not all coffees from an individual country taste the same. There are actually several coffee growing regions within each country that produce unique beans due to their climate, altitude, soil composition, and other factors. There are literally entire books written about coffee growing regions, so I won’t be able to get into all of them here. I can recommend that you pick up “The World Atlas of Coffee,” a book that I’ve used as a source for much of the content in this episode. It’s a well-put-together book that breaks complicated subjects down into easily understandable english, and it’s a great reference for coffee all-around.

We’ll start with the original home of coffee: Africa. The first regions we’ll tackle is Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a well-known coffee producer with six main regions. Ethiopian coffees are grown in forests, gardens, as well as large plantations. My favorite coffee from Ethiopia comes from the Yirgacheffe region. These beans are well-known in the specialty coffee world for their explosively aromatic flavors full of citrus and floral notes, along with a light and elegant body. Most Yirgacheffes are grown between 5,750ft and 7,200ft and are usually subjected to washed processing. There are naturally processed coffees as well, and these can be just as unique as their washed counterparts. Other regions in Ethiopia include Sidamo, Limu, Jima in the southwest, Ghimbi/Lekempti, and Harrar. Many Ethiopian coffees, regardless of the region, are light and floral in taste, but Harrar has the distinction of growing coffees in areas requiring extra irrigation. Great Harrar beans are extremely complex, and have opened the eyes of the specialty coffee world to how every flavor doesn’t necessarily fit in a neat and tidy description.

Other coffee growing powerhouses in Africa include Kenya, with 10 separate regions, Tanzania, with six regions known for their acidic beans, and Zambia, with only one region. Zambia was largely overlooked in the specialty coffee community for some time, but when you can get your hands on some beans you’ll find them to taste bright, clean, and highly complex. Their are many other coffee growing countries and regions in Africa to look into, but for now we’ll move on to Asia.

Asian coffee growing countries include India, with their famous Monsoon Malabar beans – produced through controlled monsoons using lots of water, Papua New Guinea, with 3 separate growing regions, Vietnam – though a high quality Vietnamese coffee is difficult to find – the country largely produces Robusta beans, Yemen – known for their wild, pungent, and distinctive coffee that extremely polarizing – you either love it or hate it – and Indonesia. I’d like to take a second to talk about a few growing regions in Indonesia, starting with Sumatra. Sumatra is an island with three separate internal growing regions. Many times, when you buy a bag of Sumatran coffee, you’re getting beans from all three regions creating a literal “mixed bag.” Because of unchecked coffee plant breeding and the time that green beans can sit at the port of Medan before shipping, Sumatran coffees can vary greatly in quality. The best Sumatrans are usually low in acidity, with a heavier body and a slightly spicy flavor.

Other growing regions in Indonesia include Java, with their large coffee estates due to the colonial history of the Dutch, Sulawesi, Flores, and Bali. Bali is a more recent addition to the team, and its coffee production suffered following the 1963 eruption of a volcano on the east side of the island. 2,000 people died, and it took until the early 1980s for coffee production to get back to relative normalcy.  Today, around 80% of the coffee produced in Bali is Robusta.

Next we’ll talk about the Americas. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, and I’ll be skipping around a bit. We’ll start with Brazil.

Coffee was first brought to Brazil in 1727, and by 1830 Brazilian grown coffee made up 30% of the world’s supply. By 1840, it was 40%. Unfortunately, until the middle of the 19th century the Brazilian coffee industry was reliant on African slave labour. When the British put an end to Brazil’s international slave trade in 1850, they turned to migrant labor. Their second big boom came came in the early 20th century. This was partially due to increased demand worldwide, and internal systems that kept Brazilian coffee flowing, even during rough periods. The Brazilian government established systems, not unlike those in place in many countries today, where the government would buy coffee for an inflated price during periods where the market was low, and hold it until the market was high. This kept prices relatively stable, and prevented oversupply from lower coffee prices.

Today, Brazil is home to a billion dollar industry surrounding coffee. They are undeniably the most advanced coffee producing country in the world, with industrialized techniques focused on yield and production. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of taste. Most coffees grown in Brazil are from large farms, where the bottom line is more important that consistent quality. For example, unripe cherries often make it through to the end product. Still, great Brazilian coffees are out there. They usually have low acidity, with chocolate and nutty flavors that are sweet rather than savory. There are at least 9 different growing regions in Brazil including Cerrado, Espirito Santo, and Bahia.

Colombia is the next powerhouse we’ll discuss. Where Brazil has focused on their mass farming techniques, Colombia has poured most of its national effort into developing its brand. You’ll often see “100% Colombian Coffee” or “Mountain Grown Coffee” on bags from Colombia, and just about everybody has heard of Juan Valdez, the farmer who represents the Colombian brand. He’s probably the country’s greatest success, having been portrayed by three different actors over the years and adding a recognizable flair that’s popular in the U.S. Colombian coffees have a large variety of flavors ranging from heavier, sweeter beans to complex, fruity lots. That’s no surprise, considering there are about 13 different growing regions throughout the country. These include Sierra Nevada, where coffee is grown at lower altitudes; between 3000ft and 5200ft, where coffees are heavier and not very lively, as well as places like Nariño, where coffee lots are found between 4900ft and 7500ft. These higher altitudes can often produce challenges for plant growth, but Nariño is close enough to the equator that the effects are negligible. The coffees produced here are stunningly bright and very complex.

Next up is Ecuador, where coffee production is beginning to live up to potential. Manabi, one of four regions in Ecuador, produces 50% of the country’s total Arabica yield, but is at an unfortunately low altitude. Loja, in the mountainous south, is the best place to look for specialty-level Ecuadorian beans. Unfortunately, difficult whether has had a history of damaging crops here as recently as 2010. The most expensive coffees from Ecuador come from the Galapagos islands, where proponents claim that the climate mimics higher-altitude growing regions. Exercise caution when looking into purchasing Galapagos beans: a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean a better product.

Guatemala is next, where coffee was allegedly introduced by the Jesuits around 1750. As with Colombia, Guatemalan coffees range from bright and acidic, to chocolatey and rich. Some of my very favorite coffees come from Guatemala – unfortunately you’ll have to wait until next winter to find them: the Guatemalan harvest happens between January and March, depending on the region. Regions include well-known Antigua – so well-known, in fact, that its fallen victim to copycats and mislabeled fakes from across the world. It’s still possible to find genuine Antigua coffees, but I’d recommend only purchasing them from a transparent specialty coffee roaster or shop to ensure authenticity. There’s also Atitlán, with its private nature reserves, and San Marcos where early rainfall provides challenges to post-harvest drying. In all, Guatemala is home to 8 different growing regions.

Jamaica is another huge name in the coffee world. Their Blue Mountain region is the subject of perhaps the most successful pieces of marketing in coffee’s history. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee can only be grown between 3000 and 4900ft in the parishes of Saint Andrew, Saint Thomas, Portland, and Saint Mary. Any coffee grown at higher altitudes is known as “Jamaica High Mountain,” and anything lower is “Jamaica Low Mountain” or “Jamaica Supreme.”  Despite these strict guidelines, the Jamaican Blue Mountain brand is still fraudulently used to mislabel coffees for a higher price tag. Properly labeled bags of Jamaican coffee will not only say whether or not they’re “Blue Mountain,” but will also state the mill at which the coffee was processed.

Finally, we’ll end in the only place where you can buy coffee grown in the United States: the Hawaiian islands. Kona, one of the best known regions in the world, has a long history of coffee production that helped cement the reputation of the region. Unfortunately, with a big reputation came big problems. Finding genuine Kona coffee is a chore, resulting in the carefully controlled “100% Kona” trademark. A farm called Kona Kai in California had previously fought the awarding of this trademark, or any similar name, but in 1996 the executive was found to be filling his bags of “Kona Coffee” with beans from Costa Rica.

Hawaiian coffee is rarely complex, with low acidity and more body. It’s an approachable coffee, despite the hubbub from casual coffee drinkers. It’s grown on six islands, separated into 11 different regions. As with any island grown coffee, Hawaiian farms are at a lower altitude, with the highest at just over 2400ft.

As we wrap up, I want to be clear that I’ve barely scratched the surface of worldwide coffee production in this episode. If you found this interesting, I’d encourage you to do some digging or contact me for more information about coffee origins, growing regions, and tasting notes.

Whether we’re talking about the Roosevelt family’s headlong plunge into the early world of Specialty Coffee, or the altitudes where you can find acidic beans in Guatemala, I hope that this episode has imparted the fact that growing coffee, producing it, and selling it is incredibly complex. The people that get the bean from the ground to your cup do so with passion, tenacity, and the hope that you’ll come back for more. Regardless of where you get your coffee from and where you drink it, I hope that the next time you’re sipping and “displaying your inmost dreams aloud” as  Lovecraft wrote, you take a minute to appreciate the many hands that brought you the beverage you love.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast. As always, I’m your host Colin Mansfield. Today’s episode was brought to you by Audible: to start your free trial and receive a free book of your choice, visit audibletrial.com/boisecoffee. If you liked today’s episode, please leave me a review on iTunes and let me know your favorite part. If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can contact me on my website, BoiseCoffee.org, or on Twitter. My handle is @BoiseCoffee. The information in this week’s episode comes from the Smithsonian Magazine’s article about the Roosevelt Family’s Coffeehouse, as well as The World Atlas of Coffee. Thanks again for listening, and have a great rest of your week.

The post S2 Episode 11: Coffee Production appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This week on The Boise Coffee Podcast I’m joined by fellow coffee fanatic, and founder/coffee director at Crema.co, Emily McIntyre. Emily and I originally connected over Twitter and after talking with her I was intrigued by her company. In this episode we discuss how she got started in coffee, the future of coffee subscription services, the need for coffee education, and how Emily thinks Crema.co addresses these issues.

If you’d like to get in touch with the Crema.co team, shoot them an email here.

Check out their awesome Hario v60 brew method video (as mentioned in the episode).

Thanks for listening!
Colin

The post S2 Episode 10: Crema.co ft. Emily McIntyre appeared first on Boise Coffee.

“There are few things I care about less than coffee. I have two big cups every morning: light and sweet, preferably in cardboard cup. Any bodega will do. I don’t want to wait for my coffee. I don’t want some man-bun, Mumford and Son motherfucker to get it for me. I like good coffee but I don’t want to wait for it, and I don’t want it with the cast of Friends. It’s a beverage; it’s not a lifestyle.”

Tony Konecny, founder of Tonx (which was acquired by Blue Bottle Coffee), wrote a great piece partially in response to this quote, and partially as a way to call out the specialty coffee community. He’s been involved for nearly 15 years, and his voice means something to many active baristas, roasters, and writers. If you care about coffee, stop what you’re doing now and go read it.

I’d like to highlight some of Tony’s thoughts and share a few of my own.

I’ve been working in and writing about coffee for the better part of the last seven years. I’ve attended coffee conferences and reviewed coffee shops and roasters from around the world. Early on, I discovered that the bitter coffee I grew up watching my mom drink wasn’t necessarily what coffee had to taste like; I found a world of flavors, brewing techniques, and gadgets that could help me achieve a better cup. I started experimenting – first on my own, and then with the help of recipes I found online or from other coffee fanatics. I found what I liked and what I didn’t, and I learned that there’s a huge gray area between “good” coffee and “bad” coffee. I also found out that people will vehemently defend their definition of “good” coffee.

Something that I had taken for granted, until I read Tony’s piece, was the culture. If you’ve ever been into a specialty coffee shop, you know the culture I’m talking about. It’s the same environment that Anthony Bourdain was speaking about in his throwaway comment. Call it hipster, call it trendy, call it whatever you want. It’s the environment that reeks of arrogance, upturned noses, and high school level cliqiness (if that’s a word). Perhaps you’ve felt it when you’ve walked into a coffee shop and suddenly had the overwhelming sensation that you just don’t belong. That somehow, someway, everyone behind the counter knows something that you don’t. Maybe it’s the way the barista won’t meet your eye. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone in the shop is staring at their MacBook screens behind designer glasses.

Or maybe it’s the coffee.

The reason why I say that I took the culture for granted is because I never really stopped to think about it. In the beginning I felt out of place – like attending a metal show in cargo shorts and a polo shirt. I pushed through, ordered my coffee, and got on with my life. Who really cares what the vibe of the coffee shop is as long as the coffee tastes good, right?

Now I have more buy in. I’ve dedicated time and effort towards the coffee community, because I think it’s worth it. I’ve met some amazing people that are doing incredible things in war-torn countries using coffee. I’ve looked into the history of coffee and discovered that it wasn’t pushed forward because of large scale corporations or faceless kingdoms – coffee became the widespread commodity it is today because of individuals who cared. I’ve researched the Chemex and Aeropress – some of the brewing devices that specialty coffee fans love to brew with – and found that their inventors were eccentric, interesting, and passionate people.

Slowly, over time, I’ve become a coffee disciple. And so, I started to proselytize.

Often, I talk with my friends and colleagues about how they can brew their coffee better. I frequent online coffee forums to discuss brew ratios like some people discuss MLB stats between games. I’ve been trying to get people to come to specialty coffee.

Tony’s post showed me that I have it backwards. Specialty coffee needs to come to people. Craft beer has done it. Why hasn’t coffee? To a large degree, I think it’s because of the culture that we (the specialty coffee community) has developed. The outrageous barista competitions. The atmospheres at coffee shops. The sanctification of coffee, as if brewing it is some lofty religious experience. At some point down the crazy, windy road that coffee has taken over the past two (or more) decades, we lost sight of the fact that it’s a beverage that many people – not a select few – enjoy. It’s a ubiquitous drink that we’ve turned into a rare experience.

I’m not trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater here – I will remain passionate about coffee. I can’t help that. I strongly believe, however, that the community as a whole needs to do a much better job of reaching out to the millions of people drowning in K-Cups, Nespresso, and Burger King coffee and extend a lifeline. We need to make specialty coffee 1) affordable, 2) as good as we claim it to be, and 3) approachable.

Buying specialty coffee brewed in a coffeehouse is expensive. Buying a bag of specialty coffee and brewing in your home is much more affordable, but most consumers won’t start there. If we’re talking about bringing great coffee to the masses, we need to begin in coffee shops. As it stands, paying upwards of $4 for a cup of third wave coffee is normal. That’s just too expensive. Tony has been working to achieve a “buck-a-cup” coffee, as this article points out. I like this project, and I love the point that it’s making: affordable specialty coffee is possible.

If we’re going to be bringing coffee to the average joe, it needs to taste amazing. This may seem like a given, but trust me when I say it’s not. Just because a coffee shop roasts their own coffee doesn’t mean they do it well. On top of that, just because a shop offers $6/cup single origin roasts doesn’t mean the product is actually worth the price tag. Consumers play a big role here: if the coffee you’re getting sucks, respectfully talk to the barista or manager. If they’re a truly great coffee shop, they’ll make you a new drink. If they’re a crappy coffee shop, they’ll refuse. If they refuse, never go back. It’s that easy.

This is also a call for specialty coffee roasters and shops to take a good hard look at their product. Take the time to make sure the product you’re putting out will convince an average coffee drinker to come back to your shop. Again, this may seem obvious. It isn’t.

I’m talking specifically to coffee shops here, but I think the overarching concept applies to the community as a whole. Approachability is where the culture, environment, and other intangibles that make a coffeehouse unique come into play. Customer care also has a vote. I’d like to be clear: I’m not advocating for a certain atmosphere, music choice, or style of doing business. Instead, I would argue that whatever the atmosphere you choose to develop, make it inviting. New customers should feel welcomed, not like they’re on the outside of some sort of secret handshake. They should feel free to ask questions, not scared that they’ll be judged because they’re used to Folgers. What a coffee shop’s brew tastes like starts way before it touches a customer’s lips.

I don’t own a coffee shop. I do, however, own the words that come out of my mouth. This discussion has given me new insight into how I approach specialty coffee, and to be more precise, how I don’t want to act. Coffee became a passion of mine because it was something that seemed so simple on its face, but held so many mysterious beneath the surface. If we’re going to change the culture, we need to do a better job of shifting the paradigm to show that those mysteries are available to everyone.

I spent the first seven years trying to convince my family and friends that specialty coffee is special. I’d like to spend the next seven helping show that there’s nothing special needed to achieve a great cup.

Colin

The post Coffee doesn’t have to suck, and neither do the people who make it. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Peter Schlumbohm was a larger-than-life inventor, marketer, and idea-man. At over 6 ft tall and around 300lbs, he was a hard man to miss. He loved food, women, and coming up with new ways of streamlining and solving old problems.

Schlumbohm filed a patent for a brand-new coffee brewing device on April 13, 1939. By 1944 it was featured in the Museum of Modern Art as one of the best designed products. It’s simple, yet elegant – utilitarian, yet beautiful. It’s called The Chemex, and as its inventor put it, “with the Chemex, even a moron can make good coffee.”

The Coffee Guy

Episode Transcript:

It’s hard to remember a time when war wasn’t controversial.  Being against conflict is easy for us today – for the most part human rights violations and bombings don’t impact our everyday lives. War is expensive in more ways than one, and unwieldy. Historically speaking, being on the right side of war is most strongly correlated with whether or not your side won. Winston Churchill famously said, “history is written by the victors.”

In 1937 the United States was condemning the war in Europe while maintaining formal neutrality. The U.S. was supplying Britain, the Soviet Union, and China with war materials, but was largely staying out of the ground, sea, and air conflicts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was adamant on this point, while still using harsh rhetoric to condemn the actions of Nazi Germany. On October 5, 1937, President Roosevelt gave a famous speech, now called the “Quarantine Speech.”

-FDR Quarantine Speech-

Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, the discussion changed, and so did the tide of the war.

-FDR War Speech-

The principles of peace that the U.S. adopted following WWI were now being bent to end tyranny abroad.

World War II gives us a massive look into the American psyche, and in many ways shaped the DNA of the nation. Nobody was exempt from the war. There was no ignoring it, and everybody was expected to contribute. High tax rates were put into effect, and the income levels associated with those rates were lowered. For example, the income levels associated with the highest tax brackets were lowered from $5 million/year to $200,000/year.

The ways the war impacted everyday Americans didn’t stop at taxes, however. In 1942 a rationing system was implemented to limit the consumption and use of necessities needed for the war effort, while at the same time guaranteeing a minimum amount for everyone, especially poor people.

Tires were rationed first – supplies of natural rubber had been interrupted – followed by gasoline. By 1943 rationing had extended to basic household items like sugar, meat, cheese, butter, clothing, bicycles, shoes, and yes – coffee. American citizens were given government-issued ration coupons to purchase specified amounts of all of these items, and more.

While extremely uncomfortable and irritating for average Americans, this rationing system did get a lot of public support. Everybody knew that supporting the soldiers and sailors overseas wasn’t an option or preference, it was a necessity. Winning the war was important to everyone, and so people gave.

The private sector quickly picked up on this American sentiment, and everything from design to sales mirrored this shift in public opinion. Frivolous design was replaced with simple, utilitarian composition, and products were being made using materials considered less important to the war effort. You can practically hear a 1940s salesman convincing an American prospective buyer that by purchasing this simply made, conventional product you’re “helping our boys kill Nazis.”

It’s no secret that World War II-era Americans loved coffee. Some statistics indicate that in the 1940s and 50s, twice as many Americans drank coffee than they do today, and on average they would drink 2-3 more cups per day – maybe coffee rationing wasn’t such a bad idea.

Out of this new public perception, war-effort salesmanship, and love for coffee arose a beautiful alternative to conventional brewing. A german inventor and immigrant to America named Peter Schlumbohm filed a patent for this new brewing device on April 13, 1939. By 1944 it was featured in the Museum of Modern Art as one of the best designed products. It’s simple, yet elegant – utilitarian, yet beautiful. It’s called The Chemex, and as its inventor put it, “with the Chemex, even a moron can make good coffee.”

I’m Colin Mansfield, and this is The Boise Coffee Podcast.

Peter Schlumbohm was a larger-than-life inventor, marketer, and idea-man. At over 6 ft tall and around 300lbs, he was a hard man to miss. He loved food, women, and coming up with new ways of streamlining and solving old problems. At one point he invented an original all-in-one-machine: it was an electric oven, ice-cream maker, frozen food chest, thermos, dishwasher, and air conditioner called the Tempot. He managed to get Time magazine to report on this crazy invention in 1946, though later they found out he had only ever made 20 of them. Like most inventors, Schlumbohm had a roller-coaster life before creating his famed coffee brewer.

Schlumbohm was born in 1896 in Kiel, Germany. Shortly after graduating from the German equivalent of high school, he was conscripted into the German Army to fight in World War I. After returning to Germany in 1918, Schlumbohm began his academic pursuits, convincing his family to pay for his school in return for giving up his father’s eventual inheritance. At around this time he expressed anti-war sentiments, going so far as to call for the abolition of the military.

Schlumbohm attended the University of Berlin and spent eight years pursuing a doctorate in Chemistry, which he achieved. In the years following graduation, Schlumbohm kept himself financially afloat by selling patents and working on various scientific and personal projects.

In 1931 Dr. Schlumbohm visited the United States in hopes of selling patent rights related to the manufacture of dry ice. This experience proved to be surprisingly lucrative for the German chemist, and while he hated the corporate mindset of American businesses, patent regulations in the United States proved too good for him to pass up.

Between 1931 and 1939 Schlumbohm filed dozens of patents, many of which were centered around refrigeration – something he considered particularly important for the modern era. His other patent filings included applications for unburnable gasoline, a method of illuminating rooms, and a writing utensil. The loud, boisterous man was digging into every nook and cranny of his expertise to find the golden egg that would give him the financial independence he had been seeking since achieving his doctorate.

Finally, in 1939, Schlumbohm had his first apparent break. After showcasing his latest attempt to perfect refrigeration at the New York World’s Fair – a device he had been working on for several years – Schlumbohm was approached by a prospective investor. The offer was straightforward: the investor would provide enough money to make the prototype device a reality in exchange for a controlling interest in the company.

Agreeing to these terms would not only mean an opportunity to finally get a device he invented on the market, it would also mean up-front cash.

His decision, after the break.

-Advertisement-

Today’s episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast is brought to you by Audible. With over 180,000 audiobooks to choose from, Audible is the best way to find a title you’ll love and listen to it wherever you are. I recently picked up “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth. It’s a look into the real reason why some people stick through challenges and thrive, while others give up. Based on her psychology research, Duckworth says that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent, but instead a special blend of passion and persistence that she calls “grit.” If you enjoy books from Malcolm Gladwell or titles similar to Freakenomics, you’ll love this book.

Audible is giving listeners of The Boise Coffee Podcast a free 30-day trial, as well as a free audiobook of your choice if you sign up today. Visit audibletrial.com/BoiseCoffee to get your free book and support my podcast. That’s a-u-d-i-b-l-e-trial.com/boisecoffee.

-End Advertisement-

Schlumbohm said no. He simply couldn’t stomach giving away any percentage of his company as a cash grab. He said, “To afford that refusal, I had to take an appraising look at the other arrows in my quiver. There was this new patent for the coffeemaker, with its broad appeal. Within a week, I had sold half-an-interest in it for $5000 and planned to license it.” Turning the last several years of his work in refrigeration on its head, Schlumbohm rushed headlong into the world of coffee.

On April 13, 1939 patent no. 2,241,368 for a “Filtering Device” had been filed. The original version of the Chemex included a spout and handle and was intended for uses both in a laboratory and at home.

Later that year, Schlumbohm, an acquaintance named Isaac Harter, and a man named Edward Turner incorporated The Chemex Corporation in New York State. As per state regulations, two-thirds of a company’s directorate had to be American citizens – Edward Turner was brought in to fulfill that requirement, and was given a minority holding of one share for his troubles.

In that same year, Schlumbohm was perfecting an updated design for the product – the same design that would end up in the Museum of Modern Art just 5 years later.

The Chemex is essentially a big glass beaker, somewhat in the shape of an hourglass. It features a molded groove on one side, allowing for easy pouring, as well as a glass level button towards the bottom. The middle of the Chemex is sheathed in a wood corset tied together with a rawhide strip and round wood bead. When assembled, the wooden sheath provides protection from the hot glass, making the Chemex easy to hold and pour from. As for the filter – Chemex recommends you use their circular paper filters, folded to form a simple cone shape.

The Chemex originally sold for around $6, and was produced by Corning Glass Works in NY after Schlumbohm received approval from the War Production Board in the U.S. – remember, this was during the World War II rations period.

While other similar products used in-demand materials like aluminum and chrome, this all-glass coffee maker was both functionally relevant and designedly desirable to U.S. citizens. The Chemex is strongly tied to the Bauhaus style, also called the International Style, an approach to design that argues there should be no distinction between form and function. It’s marked by the absence of ornamentation and the marriage between the function of an object and its design. The Bauhaus style was dominant in the US in the 40s, largely because of the war effort.

Schlumbohm capitalized on the success of his new coffee maker well into the 1950s, placing cartoon advertisements in every magazine he could, and showing it off at trade shows and international expositions. Schlumbohm used other non-conventional methods of advertising as well; he believed in the soft sell, giving the Chemex as a gift to famous cartoonist Charles Addams, President Harry Truman, and President Lyndon B. Johnson. And…it worked. If you look closely, you can find Chemex coffee makers in media, television, and books to this day. It appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the pilot of 90s sitcom Friends, Don Draper’s kitchen in Mad Men, and is even in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel “From Russia With Love.” Apparently, Mr. Bond makes his coffee the American way.

Peter Schlumbohm spent his later years as a carefree bachelor with an erratic work schedule. His daily agenda in the 50s consisted of sleeping well into the afternoon, coming into his New York City studio to work at around 5pm, then leaving for dinner after only an hour or two. But “dinner” was usually an all-night affair, consisting of Schlumbohm taking to New York City in his Cadillac Coupe De Ville (complete with gold Chemex hood ornament), often with friends. They’d stop at one of the inventor’s favorite restaurants, eat a course, then pile back into the car to move on to the next joint. Schlumbohms friend, cartoonist Roy Doty, remarked on these common all-night jaunts saying “Eventually you’d be somewhere eating streusel with him and by that time it was two or three in the morning.” This was when Schlumbohm, according to himself, did his best work. Surrounded by other night-owls, he would begin discussing new ideas and making calls well into the morning. Eventually he would return to his Greenwich Village penthouse to enjoy a German beer or some wine before bed.

Peter Schlumbohm died of a heart attack in 1962. He held the rights to over 300 inventions, which he had continued to make and sell even after the success of the Chemex. In a eulogy for Schlumbohm shortly after his death, the notable design author Ralph Caplan described the typical Schlumbohm invention as “a synthesis of logic and madness.”

Today, the Chemex is used in specialty coffee shops, cafes, and homes all around the world. There are multiple sizes of the famous coffee maker, along with a glass-handled variant that is absent the wood corset. As for price, it runs from $40-$50 depending on the style and purchasing location.

The Chemex, for some reason, has an incredible staying power in culture. While the rise of specialty coffee in recent years has brought about a new wave of appreciation for simple brewing techniques, the Chemex seems timeless. The coffee that the Chemex produces is void of all fine coffee grounds that might muddy the taste, producing a cup that has distinctly clear flavor profiles, and consistently great quality. Some people argue that its the design of the Chemex – the angle of the cone, or maybe its smooth glass. Others say its the filters – the folded, circular paper filters are unique to the Chemex, even to today. I tend to believe that, like its design, there is no one factor that sets the Chemex apart from other manual drip cones. Instead, its the synthesis of everything: that marriage of design and utility, the logic and madness of the inventor; all of it coming together in a focused way to do one thing well: make great coffee.

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. As always, I’m your host Colin Mansfield. I really appreciate your support and the great dialogue I’ve had with some of you recently. If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can find me on twitter, my handle is @BoiseCoffee, or my blog, BoiseCoffee.org. If you like what you heard today, check out my other episodes on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud and leave me a review. Today’s episode was sponsored by Audible. To claim your free audiobook and get a 30-day free trial, visit audibletrial.com/BoiseCoffee. Thanks for listening, and have an awesome rest of your week.

Sources used for this episode:

• “Mr. Chemex: The Eccentric Inventor Who Reimagined the Perfect Cup of Coffee,” Collectors Weekly
• “DR. CHEMEX,” Gourmet
• “Marc Harrison Papers,” Hagley Museum and Library
• “Chemex Brewing: Paper vs Metal Filters,” Clive Coffee
• “Peter Schlumbohm,” Wikipedia

The post S2 Episode 9: The Chemex – A Synthesis of Logic and Madness appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Alan Adler founded his company, Aerobie, around his flying disc by the same name. He essentially perfected the Frisbee, then went on to sell 1.4 million of them in just two years. Not only that, Alan’s flying disc broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s farthest throw.  Alan has three parts to him: he’s an inventor, an entrepreneur, and most importantly for us, a coffee fanatic.

While he started with flying discs, Alan went on to invent something completely different. His invention took the coffee community by storm, and is now the basis for international coffee competitions. Not only that, it’s a staple in third wave coffee shops and cafes around the world. It’s simple, inexpensive, and a little alien looking. It’s unlike anything the coffee community had seen before, or has seen since. It’s called the AeroPress.

Check out AeroPress recipes that have won the World AeroPress Championship here. You can check out the Boise Coffee recipe here.

The Coffee Guy

Episode transcript:

The AeroPress

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Over time, however, humans have proven that they define “necessity” in many different ways.

You know those big popcorn tins that you can buy around the holidays? Those have been around for a while. In fact, in 1937 Fred and Lucile Morrison were enjoying popcorn from exactly that kind of tin. They noticed that the lid, a circular metal lid, could fly a good distance when they tossed it. They had an idea – but first they needed to find a cheaper object to throw to each other.

A year later, Fred and Lucile made their way along the Santa Monica beach in California with a stack of cake tins in tow. People on the beach, as it turned out, were more than willing to pay 25 cents to buy a cake tin and toss it to each other for a little fun. Fred and Lucile’s new business, aptly titled “Flyin’ Cake Tins,” became the first flying disc company.

Their business continued to thrive until WWII, when Fred left to fight as a pilot. Fred flew P-47s and was shot down over Italy. Subsequently he was captured, and taken as a prisoner of war for 90 days. During his time in the Army Air Force, Fred sketched a new, more aerodynamic design for his and his wife’s flying disc idea. By 1957 he had a patent for the design, a successful company, and a new name: Frisbee.

The frisbee is now the most iconic toy flyer in the world – many people have gone on to iterate the design, and even make improvements. One of the most famous individuals to do this was Alan Adler. Alan has three parts to him: he’s an inventor, an entrepreneur, and most importantly for us, a coffee fanatic. While he started with flying discs, Alan went on to invent something completely different. His invention took the coffee community by storm, and is now the basis for international coffee competitions. Not only that, it’s a staple in third wave coffee shops and cafes around the world. It’s simple, inexpensive, and a little alien looking. It’s unlike anything the coffee community had seen before, or has seen since. It’s called The AeroPress.

I’m Colin Mansfield, and this is The Boise Coffee Podcast.

–Boise Coffee Theme–

Alan Adler got his start as an engineer, working on things like submarines, nuclear reactor controls, and aircraft instruments. He’s a curious person at his core; always learning and finding new hobbies to delve deep inside. Case in point: as an amateur astronomer in the early 2000s, Alan invented a new type of paraboloid mirror. Not only that, he wrote a computer program called Sec that assisted the way astronomers select secondary mirrors.

Later, Alan became interested in sailing. But, true to form, he didn’t settle for merely learning the craft – he wanted to excel. Alan designed a boat that competed in the Transpac race – a sailing race that goes from San Francisco to Hawaii. His boat took first place.

But back in the 1970s, Alan wasn’t dreaming about sailing or astronomy – he was dreaming about flight. He set out to design a flying disc – something that was “easy for the average person to throw with very little effort.” By 1978 he had gone through dozens of iterations, and had finally finalized a design that he called the “Skyro.”

Alan Adler created the Skyro around a fundamental principle of aerodynamics: a flying ring requires an equal amount of lift in the back and front. In order to keep the ring from dipping or lifting too far while in flight, he fine-tuned a donut shaped disc with a large hole in the middle, and thin edges. Later, Alan altered the design to create an airfoil for his flying disc. This required a molded spoiler lip around the outside of the rim.

Upon testing his new airfoil design on Stanford’s campus, he remarked that the disc flew “as if sliding on an invisible sheet of ice.” He dubbed the new design the “Aerobie Pro.” This finely crafted product sold 1.4 million units worldwide just two years into production. Its success has stood the test of time: it is still on-sale today and popular on college campuses and in parks nearly everywhere.

Alan’s company, now called “Aerobie,” has gone on to design flying discs and toys of all shapes and sizes: there are flying triangles, yo-yos, frisbee golf discs, and two sizes of the original flyer among others.

The Aerobie was, and still is, a massive success. But after 2008, it was Alan’s second best-selling product.

Alan Adler had long considered himself a “one cup kinda guy” when it came to coffee. His home coffee maker yielded 6-8 cups per brew, and this frustrated him to no end. The rest of us might have let it go, or simply brewed less coffee. But Alan? He’s not like the rest of us. He set out to invent a better way to brew a single cup of coffee in the best way he knew how: engineering.

By 2005 specialty coffee was already becoming a trend in modern culture. Alan noticed that while most people were fine with automatic drip coffee pots, the hardcore coffee fans preferred manual pour-over methods. Alan started his coffee engineering journey by testing these various methods, and he noticed something key: manual-drip coffee takes time. By his estimate, the Melitta cone, one of the popular pour-over coffee cones, takes about 4-5 minutes of steep time – or “wet time” as he called it. In his opinion, the longer the wet time, the more bitter the cup of coffee.

Alan considered this a problem: bitter coffee, as far as he was concerned, is bad coffee. To him, the solution was simple: shrink the wet time, shrink the bitterness. His first step in achieving this solution, however, is probably not what most people would jump to. It struck him that air pressure was the key to shortening brew time, and achieving a naturally sweet cup of coffee.  And after only a few weeks in his garage, he had a working prototype.

The design was straightforward: a plastic tube, a plunger device, and a paper filter. Put the coffee in the filter, attach the filter to the tube, pour in hot water, and insert the plunger on the opposite end. Then, press.

After brewing his first cup of coffee, Alan knew he had made something special. He immediately called his business manager,  man named Alex Tennant. Tennant came over, tasted the coffee, and took a step back. “Alan,” he said, “I can sell a ton of these.” They called the new coffee brewer The AeroPress, but as it turned out, the road ahead wasn’t nearly as easy for Aerobie as Alan and Alex seemed to think it would be. More on that after the break.

–This episode’s sponsor is Audible.com–

Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible. With over 180,000 titles to choose from, Audible is the best way to listen to audiobooks wherever you are. I recommend the Red Rising Trilogy – if you cross the Hunger Games with Game of Thrones, you’re getting close to Red Rising. I recently spent an entire international flight immersed in book 1, and I think you’ll really love it. Audible is giving listeners a free 30-day trial, as well as a free audiobook of your choice if you sign up today. Visit audibletrial.com/BoiseCoffee to get your free book and support my podcast. That’s a-u-d-i-b-l-e-trial.com/boisecoffee. The best part? If you don’t want to stay signed up, audible will let you keep your book, no questions asked. Again, visit audibletrial.com/BoiseCoffee

The AeroPress debuted at Seattle’s Coffee Fest in 2005 where it was well received by coffee aficionados. The price didn’t hurt it’s reputation – at only $29.99 it was an impulse buy for many people who just wanted to try it out.

To this day, the AeroPress has only three main components: the filter basket, the tube, and the plunger. In their recommended brew recipe, Aerobie says you should use about 2-4 scoops of coffee grounds, and water heated to 165-175 degrees. Since then, people have created their own methods of making coffee with the aeropress with all different varieties of brew ratios.

One great feature was unintentional – the AeroPress is self-cleaning due to the tight seal that the rubber plunger creates. No coffee residue is left in the tube after the brewer completes their press. Instead, a single puck of coffee grounds remains after pressing. It’s easily disposed of by removing the filter basket and holding the AeroPress over a garbage can. From there, you give the plunger a final press to release the coffee puck.

Despite its low price point and great features, the AeroPress was not an overnight success. Tennant still recalls pleading with one sales rep group not to drop the product due to low sales. Adler himself said,

“Aerobie spent over 20 years establishing distribution for sporting goods, and all of a sudden we were confronted with creating distribution for kitchenware. We didn’t leap into this lightly.”

The AeroPress had a hard few years ahead of it. At one point in 2007, the company was receiving even lower sales than they had gotten the previous year. It appeared as though their revolutionary product might fizzle and die. The fact that this weird-looking coffee maker was being made by a toy company wasn’t helping. Bent on succeeding, Adler decided to try a grass-roots approach to selling the device.

Aerobie began leaning into its products biggest asset: it brews amazing coffee. In that vein, they attended coffee trade shows to get more exposure to the specialty coffee community, and sent free products to coffee experts and food writers to try. Finally, in 2008, sales began to climb.

Adler believed that his product’s eventual success was due to one main thing: the way people viewed coffee changed. More and more individuals were becoming less interested in standard $30-$50 coffee pots – they wanted something that would brew good coffee quickly and well.

2008 was also the year that the World AeroPress Championship was conceived. Three Norwegian friends brewed coffee in their AeroPress’ competitively to see who’s coffee was best. In 2009, the competition had 22 competitors. Last year, in 2015, the competition was held in Seattle and boasted 35 competitors and an audience of 500 spectators. This annual event alone has boosted international sales of the AeroPress to 38% of Aerobie’s overall revenue.

Today the AeroPress is sold in 56 countries worldwide. It’s especially popular in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland where the average individual is incredibly serious about their coffee. The AeroPress is also Aerobie’s best selling and fastest growing product. Since 2005 Aerobie has sold over one million units, and it’s not slowing down.

It’s easy to get the AeroPress confused with the French Press due to the naming similarities. The two brewing devices, however, could not be more different. While the French Press usually uses a metal mesh filter to strain coffee, the AeroPress relies on air pressure and a paper filter. You can expect to get a full-bodied, oily, rich cup of coffee from a French Press, while AeroPress coffee is bright and clean, with individual flavors easily distinguishable. AeroPress coffee is akin to drip coffee in many ways, although the shorter steep time usually makes for a sweeter cup. Because of the many possible brew methods that the AeroPress is capable of hosting, however, it’s hard to nail down what an average “AeroPress coffee” tastes like. Some people even claim that with enough coffee, the AeroPress can even create something very similar to espresso.

Many consider the AeroPress to be a hackable product – its design and craftsmanship make it easy to think up new and interesting ways to brew coffee. One popular method, the inverted method, allows coffee to steep longer in the AeroPress before pressing.

To accomplish this, the plunger is inserted in the tube just enough to create a seal. The AeroPress is then placed on-end so that the portion of the plunger that you would normally hold is flat against your table or countertop. From there, coffee and hot water is put in the tube, where the brewer can let it steep for any length of time before attaching the filer and flipping the device on top of their mug to press. While Adler himself is not a big fan of the method (after all, he created the AeroPress to get away from long steep times), it is nonetheless very popular.

Other alternative AeroPress brew methods include using multiple paper filters, after-market metal filters, and various coffee-to-water ratios. After the World AeroPress Competition every year, the winners publish their recipes online. This makes it incredibly easy to try a variety of methods, even for the casual coffee lover.

The AeroPress is one of my favorite coffee products. I believe that it contains the heart of the specialty coffee community, mostly because it contains the heart of Alan Adler. Alan’s creativity and explorative personality ooze out of this product in surprising ways – everywhere from its endless brewing possibilities to its eye-catching design. I recommend the AeroPress to everyone – whether you’re a lifelong coffee expert or simply someone looking to get a better cup. The AeroPress is still available for $29.99, and you can buy it from Aerobie’s website, Amazon, or your local specialty coffee shop.

Thanks for listening to The Boise Coffee Podcast. I’m your host, Colin Mansfield, and I really appreciate your support. You can check out more episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, or my website – BoiseCoffee.org. If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can reach me on Twitter – my handle is @BoiseCoffee. Earlier this week I launched the Boise Coffee store. Shirts, mugs, hoodies, and more are on sale there with sleek coffee designs and sayings. Check it out at BoiseCoffe.org/store.

A big thanks this week to Audible – my first podcast sponsor. You can listen to Audible on your phone, tablet, or kindle using their app – it’s really a great experience. Visit audibletrial.com/boisecoffee to get a 30-day free trial and audiobook of your choice.

Thanks for listening, and have an awesome rest of your week.

The post S2 Episode 8: The AeroPress appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Use Instagram? Check out the below graphic to get some fresh new coffee pictures in your feed! I’ve found Instagram to be a great way to meet fellow coffee fans and to share ideas for brewing ratios, recipes, and coffee love in general. Here are the names and links, in the order they appear in the graphic:

• Junichi Yamaguchi
• Elyse Bouvier
• Cabell Tice
• Benjamin William Essex Morrow
• Alan Chan
• Øystein T. Berntsen
• 梁凡
• Tho Keller
• Christopher ‘Nicely’ Abel
• Asaf Rauch

And, of course, you can follow Boise Coffee on Instagram as well!

Thanks to the fine folks over at Espresso Works in Perth, Australia for the below image.

The post Infographic: Baristas You Need to Follow on Instagram appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Call it Spring Cleaning, call it a long-overdue update, or call it a much needed refresh. Whatever the verbiage, BoiseCoffee.org has undergone some big cosmetic changes over the past few weeks. As you can see, I’ve been putting some work into making the website feel cleaner, less cluttered, and overall a better reading/browsing experience. I’m really excited for how the site looks, and I hope that as it continues to evolve it will make it easier to listen and read the things I create.

But, actually, this update goes a bit deeper and has been in process for much longer than a few weeks. Over the past year or so BoiseCoffee.org has been changing, largely because I’ve been changing. I’ve taken a bit of a step back from the straightforward coffee reviews, and have nearly stopped my impromptu coffee shop reviews altogether. Some of that is on purpose; reviewing coffee well takes time and effort. It also necessitates truth – reviews that aren’t real and honest are just advertising, after all. If I’m honest with myself, however, the real reason I haven’t been reviewing coffee as much is because I haven’t been writing as much. I’d like to change that, and plan on bringing bigger and better textual content back to the site.

I love writing, but it honestly takes a good chunk of time to put a piece together that I’m comfortable posting and sharing. I’ve never wanted BoiseCoffee.org to turn into a site based around listicles, memes, or other “vapor” content. I want to make stuff that has value and that’s fun to read. I want to write things that are meaningful in their own way.

In case you haven’t noticed, my big focus lately has been on my podcast. I’ve put some serious hours into this sucker, and I’m really proud of how it’s been developing. I’ve gotten to interview a couple stellar individuals who are doing amazing things in the coffee industry. I’ve talked about everything from the history of coffee to the debate between fair trade and direct trade coffee. As an avid podcast listener, I love striving to create something that I would want to listen to, and that I think other people who love coffee will enjoy.

Recently something really cool happened in regards to my podcast – I got my first advertiser! I’ve never made monetizing the blog a focus, and I have no intention of turning the podcast into a cash machine. On the other hand, I think that sponsorships and well-done advertisements add to the air of legitimacy for any podcast and can even be enjoyable if they’re relevant and well-placed. Also, it was a huge encouragement to me that I’m on the right track. So, I’m proud to announce that the next episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast will be brought to you by Audible.com. Speaking of Audible, I think that I’ll try my hand at a quick plug.

If you like books, you’ll love Audible. With over 180,000 audiobooks to choose from, Audible is truly the best way to download and listen to audiobooks anywhere, and on any device. I’ve been using Audible for several years and have fond memories of listening to It by Stephen King while doing yard work, and most recently Red Rising by Pierce Brown during long flights and layovers. So, check it out: you can get a free 30-day trial of Audible, plus a free audiobook of your choice if you use my promo link here. The great thing is that even if you decide to leave Audible, you’ll still get to keep your book. There’s no contract and no funny business. Try Audible today and support my podcast while you’re at it.

Moving forward, I’d really love to get some coffee-specific advertisers on board. That’s actually something I could use your help with – if you know of any small to mid-sized local coffee shops/roasters/suppliers that are looking to expand their audience, could you send them my way? You can even shoot me an email to let me know or use the form below to send me a message. I’d love to support other companies with my content, and this is an easy way to start building those relationships.

The last thing I’d like to bring up that’s new at Boise Coffee is the online store. Previously, I had a half-assed Amazon Affiliate store linked in with the blog. I never updated it, and it quickly fell into disrepair. The new store is completely revamped and is centered around specialty coffee themed gear. The products reflect my new vision for the website and podcast: they’re clean, simple, and have humor (albeit pun-centered, but hey, who doesn’t like a good chuckle??) mixed in for good measure. The items are a bit pricey – something I’m well aware of – but they’re completely original and custom made-to-order. If you’d like to see something added (like hats, hoodies, or tank tops) hit me up and let me know.

Before I sign off, if you haven’t left my podcast a review on iTunes yet, I’d really appreciate it if you did. Reviews help me know what people like to hear, and what I can improve on.

Thanks for reading, listening, and supporting Boise Coffee. Brew on, my friends.

Colin
“The Coffee Guy”

If you’d like to advertise on The Boise Coffee Podcast, or if you’re interested in being interviewed for a future episode, please fill out the form below. Thanks!

The post Update, Renew, Refresh appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’m joined this week by Mary Lansden Rees-Jones (formerly Brewbaker), one of the founders and the current Managing Director at Good Grounds Coffee Co.

Good Grounds is a coffee pre-financing, export/trading company based in Congo and the United States. Mary and her husband Huw, along with their business partner Dan, have developed a sole partnership with a coffee cooperative on Idwji Island, Congo that employs former Congolese rebels in an effort to bring peace to a place that has known war for far too long.

Mary and Huw live in nearby Rwanda – a three hour drive and one hour boat ride away from where the Idwji coffee beans are grown. I got the chance to speak with Mary at length about Good Grounds, Fair Trade, and what the future holds for coffee in Congo.

Please support Good Grounds Coffee Co. by contributing to their Indigogo page, here.

More about Good Grounds (from their About Page):

Our purpose is to transform the lives of former Congolese rebels by giving them the option to lay down their guns. In Congo employment is scarce, so men join rebel groups to provide for their families. Good Grounds brings lasting change in both the short and long run by providing cooperatives with cash to process cherries and export beans to roasters and consumers in North America. We also guarantee the purchase of all the coffee we pre-finance, eliminating risk for smallholder farmers.

Rather than starting anew, Good Grounds builds relationships with local cooperatives composed of former rebels and rebel widows.  Good Grounds is focused on quality because we believe in sustainable business and we know that our market demands only the best.

Now that we’re back on schedule, The Boise Coffee Podcast will be returning to a bi-weekly release schedule. Thanks for your patience!

The Coffee Guy

The post S2 Episode 7: Good Grounds Coffee ft. Mary Lansden Rees-Jones appeared first on Boise Coffee.

The Pareto principle states that for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. For a business, this means that 80% of sales comes from 20% of customers. One of the keys to having a successful company, then, is to find those 20% of customers and keep them coming back for more.

For a coffee company to be successful, they need to establish loyalty with their customers. In this episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast I discuss the history of loyalty programs over the past two centuries, and why I think it’s important that we support our local coffee shop with our wallet.

The reality is that small, local coffee shops rely more heavily on regular customers than you could ever know. Don’t waste your loyalty on chains that want to squeeze money out of you to stay on top.

The Coffee Guy

The post S2 Episode 6: Loyalty Programs and Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Coffee brings people together. It encourages conversations, stimulates thought, and provokes epiphany. Everyone seems to agree with this – or do they?

It turns out that throughout history, not everyone has supported coffee or even believed it to be healthy. Sometimes these people have been motivated for political purposes. More often than not, however, fear of coffee, its effects, and those who popularize it, has been the chief reason people have attacked it.

In this episode, I talk about five instances where state and religious leaders fought to outlaw or ban coffee.

Subscribe to The Boise Coffee Podcast here.

(Episode Transcript Below)
The 5 Attempts to Ban Coffee throughout History

Coffee brings people together. Whether it’s 2016 and estranged friends meet at a coffee shop to catch up on each others lives, or its 1780 and American revolutionaries are sharing political opinions over cups of coffee, that one fact seems to be irrefutable. Coffee encourages conversations, stimulates thought, and provokes epiphany. Everyone seems to agree with this – or do they?

It turns out that throughout history, not everyone has supported coffee or even believed it to be healthy. Sometimes these people have been motivated for political purposes. More often than not, however, fear of coffee, its effects, and those who popularize it, has been the chief reason people have attacked it.

In this episode, I’d like to talk about five instances where state and religious leaders fought to outlaw or ban coffee. We’ll start in Mecca in the early 16th century, and we’ll end at the end of the 18th century.

Attempt 1: Mecca, 1511

In the early 1500s, Khair Beg, the young governor and chief of police of Mecca, learned that satirical verses were being written about him at coffee houses and shared openly. He, along with more conservative Muslims, pushed the idea that coffee was as much an intoxicant as wine – a beverage that is banned by the Koran. Khair Beg, a politician in every sense of the word, saw an opportunity to stop this sedition and undertook a campaign to show the destructive capabilities of coffee. Beg convinced two well known Persian physicians, as well as a host of coffee drinkers, to issue pronouncements about coffee’s intoxicating and dangerous affects to an assembly of jurists representing various schools of Islam. The jury ruled in Beg’s favor, and the young governor sent a copy of the findings to his boss, the Sultan of Cairo. In 1511 Beg outlawed coffee and coffee-houses within Mecca.

At that time, coffee was widely used by Muslims to prepare for and stay awake during late-night prayer vigils; some even believed that the heightened sense of awareness brought them closer to God. Some of these Muslims were present during Beg’s coffee court and even went so far as to defend the drink on the record – but to no avail.

After reading the results of the jury’s findings, Kansuh al-Ghawri, the Sultan of Cairo, was furious. Kansuh had appointed Khair Beg, and insisted that no ban could be instated without his prior approval. The sultan was likely a coffee drinker himself, and was surrounded by some of the best physicians the Arab world had to offer – none of whom agreed with Beg’s findings.

History is a little unclear as to what transpired next; some reports indicate that the sultan lifted the coffee ban, charged Khair-Beg with embezzlement, and put him to death. Others say that the sultan simply replaced Khair-Beg with a new governor in the following year who wasn’t averse to coffee. Regardless, the world’s first recorded coffee ban didn’t last long.

Attempt 2: Venice, 1600

While muslims in the early 1500s outlawed coffee on the basis that its effects were similar to wine, a century later Italian Catholics tried to outlaw it because it was seen as the opposite. Wine, in the catholic tradition, is a staple of the Eucharist – one of the sacraments that the church holds as a rite with particular religious significance. In 1600, catholic clergymen in Venice knew that coffee was popular with Muslims, and they saw the drink as a sort of antithesis to wine, even going so far as to call it the “bitter invention of Satan.”

The political goals of the clergymen are unclear to us now – what we do know, however, is that suspicion and fear are powerful motivators. They saw their religion being threatened by outsiders, and coffee was an easy target. Like-minded catholics issued appeals to ban the drink within Venice, and the controversy grew to a breaking point. Finally, the pope was called in to settle the dispute.

Upon tasting coffee for the first time, Pope Clement VIII is said to have exclaimed “This devil’s drink is so delicious…we should cheat the devil by baptizing it!” Many historians believe that coffee’s spread through Europe over the next century was encouraged most because of this single papal endorsement.

Attempt 3: Constantinople, 1623

Murad IV was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, and he took the throne at the age of 11. Shortly after becoming sultan, Murad made it his goal to clean up the corruption that had plagued previous sultans. As a part of this campaign, Murad banned alcohol, tobacco, and coffee in Constantinople – going so far as to order executions for breaking this ban.

Some records indicate that Murad’s punishments started less severe – beatings, and casting violators into the waters of the Bosporus: a strait that connects the present day Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. Other records say that he was truly without mercy; there are stories of Murad IV disguising himself in commoner’s clothing and prowling the streets and taverns of Constantinople late at night, looking for violators of his decrees. Upon finding someone sipping coffee under cover of darkness, he would reveal his identity and behead the law-breaker on the spot.

Murad IV died in 1640 from cirrhosis and was replaced by the sole surviving Ottoman prince, Ibrahim. Murad IV had killed all four of Ibrahim’s brothers and sisters during his reign of terror, and Ibrahim lived in constant fear that he would be next. Nonetheless, he ascended the throne, but proved to be more interested in harems than in enforcing the coffee ban of his predecessor.

Attempt 4: Sweden, 1746

In 1674 coffee arrived in Sweden for the first time, but wasn’t truly popular until about 100 years later. By the 18th century, it was a staple beverage for the wealthy worldwide, and Sweden was certainly no exception.

Unfortunately, this popularity didn’t diminish the power of fear and suspicion surrounding coffee for certain individuals in Sweden – namely King Gustav III. He was convinced that coffee, for all of its wonderful benefits, had to contain negative drawbacks that hadn’t yet been discovered. To his benefit, he decided to go about this with a scientific mind – though his methods remain in question, to say the least.

In 1746 Gustav issued a royal addict against “the misuse and excesses of tea and coffee drinking.” He commanded the state to levy heavy taxes on consumption – if someone bought coffee and didn’t pay the tax, they were heavily fined, and their coffee paraphernalia – including cups and dishes – were confiscated by the state. Later, Gustav banned coffee completely, though this simply drove consumption underground.

It was at this point that King Gustav III decided to prove once and for all that coffee has negative health effects that could be scientifically proven. So, he decided to hold an experiment.

Gustav III used two identical twins for his coffee experiment. Both twins had been tried and condemned to death for crimes that they had committed previously, but Gustav promised them mere life imprisonment on one condition: one of the twins had to drink three pots of coffee every day, for the rest of their life. The other had to drink the same amount, but of brewed tea. The twins agreed.

Two state-appointed physicians were given the task of supervising the twins and providing accurate and detailed reports to the king on their findings. Unfortunately, both physicians died of natural causes before the experiment was completed. Even more unfortunate, Gustav himself was assassinated in 1792 before either of the twins met their end.

The twins, it would seem, were the only ones to survive, and perhaps benefit from the experiment. The tea drinker was the first to perish at the ripe age of 83. The coffee drinker lived even longer, though his exact age at death has been lost to the history books.

While Sweden continued to try to ban coffee until the 1820s, none of their attempts were successful. Ironically, today Sweden has some of the highest coffee consumption per capita in the world.

Attempt 5: Prussia, 1777

Frederick the Great of Prussia was a brilliant military leader, politician, and proponent of the arts and the enlightenment in Prussia. He achieved some of the greatest military victories of his country’s history, including victory against great odds in the Seven Years’ War. He was also well known for his love of beer.

In 1777 Frederick noticed that beer consumption in Prussia was declining. In an effort to combat this, he issued a manifesto calming that beer is far superior to coffee, and that the country’s coffee consumption was interfering with their beer consumption.

An excerpt from the manifesto:

“It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence. Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His Majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.”

In 1781 Frederick the Great made coffee a royal monopoly. He commissioned the help of disabled soldiers and employed them to spy on citizens, sniffing in search of illegally roasted coffee. It may come as no surprise that the general population was incredibly annoyed with this.

Interestingly, in his later years Frederick the Great was known to rise before dawn and consume six to eight cups of coffee before attending to state business. Perhaps his positive relations with the newly formed coffee-loving United States of America had some influence on his preferred morning beverage later in life.

As interesting as these five examples are, my hope is that they illustrate a larger point: coffee, throughout history, has been as much something to be enjoyed as it has been something to fight for. Over time, leaders of powerful nations have made it their work to snuff out coffee consumption and sales, yet all have failed. Perhaps this is simply because coffee is well loved – it provides energy, and it’s tasty – but I think it goes deeper than that. We, as humans, for whatever reason, are tied to coffee. Nearly every culture that has come into contact with it has fought to integrate coffee into their daily routines and rituals – and when threatened, have risen up to support and defend it. Often, coffee is tied to nostalgia – it reminds us of home. It brings us together, and it gives us an excuse to talk and share ideas.

Coffee may not speak to our hearts with the same level of passion as ideas like freedom and justice do, but it does speak. And history has shown that when it speaks, people of all demographics and backgrounds listen.

The post S2 Episode 5: The Five Attempts to Ban Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In this episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast I take a breather from the normal routine to have a conversation with my wife and my parents about our coffee roots. Thanks to my mom, Susan, my dad, Dennis, and Hannah – my beautiful wife!

If you’d like to get in touch with my dad, you can find him on Twitter, his website, or his publisher’s website. Check out his newest book, Cocoa The Blind Dog: A Daily Devotional About Devotion!

At the end of the episode I feature four individuals from the Anchor community who responded to my request for personal accounts/stories having to do with coffee. Thanks to Brandon, Eric, and Seth!

Please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and leave me a review!

The Coffee Guy

The post S2 Episode 4: Family Coffee Break appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In this episode of The Boise Coffee Podcast I discuss coffee flavors and aromas, and how you can use the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel to put words to what you experience when you try a new coffee. You can see all three versions of the wheel below.

In January 2016 the SCAA came out with an updated wheel, as well as a full description of how and why they changed it.

If you like this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave me a review on iTunes! Thank you and have a great rest of your week.

The Coffee Guy

The original SCAA Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel:

The 2014 Counter Culture Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel:

The 2016 SCAA updated Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel:

The post S2 Episode 3: Coffee Flavors and Aromas appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Everyone knows that Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to buy chocolate and flowers, but did you know that there are some sweet coffee deals to scoop up as well? Whether you’re married, dating, or celebrating Single’s Awareness Day, check out these sweet Valentine’s Day 2016 coffee deals:

• Starbucks has released three limited-edition Valentine’s Day drinks that are only available this week: the Molten Chocolate Latte, Molten Chocolate Frappucino, and Molten Hot Chocolate. Also, you can give your special someone a Starbucks Themed Valentine’s Gif by clicking here.
• Dutch Bros: On Feb. 14th Dutch Bros. will be donating $1 from every drink sold towards local food banks as a part of their #DutchLuv campaign.
• Caribou Coffee is offering discounts on their coffee gift sets right now through their online store.
• Peet’s Coffee is offering free shipping on all orders over $40 that contain a Valentine’s Day gift item from their store. Use offer code 16COFFEELOVE to claim!
• PapaNicholas is offering 10% off plus free shipping when you spend over $50 on their store. Use offer code HEART16 at checkout to claim.
• Groundwork Coffee is offering 20% off of orders for $75 or more on their store. Use offer code LOVEISSWEET at checkout to claim.
• Kobrick Coffee in NYC has free shipping on orders over $30. Use offer code “SWEETHEART” to claim at checkout.
• Fellow Products is giving away a free mug with a purchase of their  Stagg Kettle. Use offer code “Baeday” at checkout to claim.

I will be adding more deals as the week goes on! Also, don’t forget to check out your local coffee shops to see what their special deals are.

Want me to add a deal that you found? Shoot me a note on Twitter!

The Coffee Guy

The post Valentine’s Day Coffee Deals 2016 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In this follow up to The History of Coffee Part 1 I discuss how coffee made its way from Europe to the United States, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and beyond. Focusing in on the 17th-19th centuries, I tell the stories of key individuals who pushed coffee forward and made it the multi billion dollar industry it is.

If you enjoyed this series, please subscribe to The Boise Coffee Podcast on iTunes and leave me a review! Look forward to a new episode in two weeks.

The Coffee Guy

Episode Transcript:

The History of Coffee Part 2: The Favorite Drink of the Civilized World

17th-19th centuries

By the mid 1700s there were over 300 coffee shops in London alone, which attracted artists, businesspeople, merchants, and other like-minded people of various intellects and backgrounds. As we discussed at the end of the last episode, Dutch colonists were the first to transport coffee to their villages in the New World, but it was by-far not the most popular caffeine-laced beverage.

The British love their tea, and prior to 1773 so did their American counterparts. A little incident called the Boston Tea Party changed this sentiment forever, causing a major shift in the political implications of drinking coffee.

Choosing to drink tea in colonial America was as much a political statement about your association with Great Britain as waving a British flag outside your window. Some historians see the Tea Act (and similar taxation-without-representation acts) and the events that followed as a “straw that broke the camel’s back” leading to the Revolutionary War.

Tea was out, and coffee was patriotic.

But back to the Dutch. In 1714, King Louis XIV of France was presented a gift by the Mayor of Amsterdam – a young coffee plant. The king ordered that it be planted in the France Botanical Gardens in Paris, and in 1723 a young French naval officer by the name of Gabriel de Clieu arranged to transport a seedling from this plant.

Through rugged storms, tumultuous winds, and a would-be saboteur who intended to destroy the seedling, Gabriel carried the seedling to the Caribbean island of Martinique where he planted it. According to the National Coffee Association, the seedling not only thrived, but is credited with the spread of over 18 million coffee trees on the island over the next 50 years. Not only that, but this seedling receives credit for being the parent of all coffee trees throughout the Caribbean, South, and Central Americas.

In Brazil, the history of coffee is no less interesting. In 1727 a man named Francisco de Mello Palheta was sent by the emperor of Brazil to French Guiana in hopes of obtaining coffee seeds or plants. The Portuguese were looking for a way to undercut the coffee market, but had been unsuccessful with obtaining any viable plants due to the governor of French Guiana being unwilling to export seeds.

Francisco made his way across the border with hopes of diplomatically solving this problem, but was unsuccessful in convincing the governor. While there, however, Francisco did befriend the governor’s wife. Depending on the story, he either seduced her, or she was taken by his good looks – but either way, the result was the same. While diplomacy did not rule the day, Francisco nonetheless returned home with enough coffee seeds to successfully start the Brazilian coffee business. Today, Brazil is home to a billion-dollar industry around coffee.

In 1824 Founding Father and the third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson deemed coffee “the favorite drink of the civilized world.” According to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, he enjoyed the coffee houses of Williamsburg and Paris, and served coffee at the President’s House, Poplar Forest, and Monticello. He preferred beans imported from the East and West Indies and abhorred the “green” or unripe beans that were popular in America at the Time.

It’s estimated that a pound of coffee a day was consumed at Monticello during his retirement. To store his coffee, Jefferson kept unfrosted beans in barrels in his cellar. These barrels weighed as much as 60 pounds. Small portions of coffee were roasted and ground in Jefferson’s kitchen, then served at breakfast and after dinner. Jefferson designed and commissioned the smithing of a silver coffee urn which he would use to share the beverage with visitors to Monticello.

As you’ve heard over the last two episodes, the history of coffee is far from boring. Monopolies have been built on coffee, and smugglers have brought them down. Entire modern industries are based on coffee because one person did their job and brought home viable seeds. While some might argue that the spread of coffee was inevitable due to its characteristic caffeine buzz and the fact that its popularity almost always preceded its availability, I argue instead that it succeeded only because specific individuals pushed it forward.

Coffee didn’t succeed merely because of traders, kings, emperors, or political agendas. It succeeded because of specific individuals – people. People who believed that coffee could make them and their country better. People who believed that coffee was worth the time and effort it took to grow, process, grind, make, and brew.

In first world countries today, coffee is treated equally as a commodity and a specialty beverage. In places like LA you can find a $1 brewed cup of coffee at a diner, or you can travel to your nearest third-wave shop and drink a brew crafted to perfection for closer to $4 or $5. This wide availability and craftsmanship did not come all at once, or because of one group of people. The history of coffee spans centuries, nations, and the lives of specific people who thought coffee was worth it.

The post S2 Episode 2: The History of Coffee Pt. 2 – “The Favorite Drink of the Civilized World” appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’m super excited to bring you Season 2 of The Boise Coffee Podcast, and we’re kicking it off right with a two-part season premiere. I haven’t written or talked much about the history of coffee, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to give a little context to the drink we know and love.

In this episode I start with the discovery of coffee in the 9th century, then talk about the overall movement of coffee from the Ethiopian plateau to Yemen, then eventually to large cities like Mecca and Cairo. Finally, we’ll trace coffee’s European origins and how it became both a source of curiosity and fear.

Don’t forget to subscribe to The Boise Coffee Podcast on iTunes, and leave a review if you like what you’re listening to!

The Coffee Guy

This is a two part episode. Check out The History of Coffee Part 2: The Favorite Drink of the Civilized world.

Episode Transcript:

Part 1

9th century – 17th century

As with any historical narrative, the stories range from completely apocryphal to mostly true. Regardless, we know that the outward spread of coffee happened, and that it was as much due to the slow globalization of culture as it was to luck and a few key historical figures.

The initial discovery of coffee is steeped in legend, but we know that the coffee plant has its origins in the Ethiopian plateau. To this day, the coffee trees in Ethiopia are the most ancient in the world and arguably produce some of the most delicious beans you can find. The higher altitude (compared to the rest of Africa) produces coffee that, when lightly roasted, is fruity and very bright.

Legend says that coffee was first discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi. He noticed that when his goats ate the fruit off of specific plants they got jittery and excitable, so he tried some out for himself. He became so energetic that he couldn’t sleep, and his excitement prompted him to report his findings to the abbot of his town’s monastery.

The monk, as it turns out, was having his own trouble’s with sleep; he couldn’t seem to stay awake for the long evening prayers. The red fruit gave him enough energy to stay vigilant, so he decided to share his new found miracle-fruit with the other monks. Slowly, knowledge about these energy-inducing cherries spread east, eventually reaching the Arabian peninsula.

Coffee history picks back up in the 15th century in Yemen, the country that was a primary importer of beans from Ethiopia. Yemeni traders began growing their own crops, and were the first to actively cultivate the plant mainly for use in their Sufi monasteries. The Sufi monks experienced a kind of “intoxication” during their Godly chants and used a beverage made with coffee beans as a way to stay concentrated both day and night.

Coffee continued to spread throughout the Arabian peninsula, becoming popular in remote villages and big cities alike. The Yemeni port in Mocha was the primary export location for coffee, and by the early 1500s cities like Mecca, Medina, Cairo, and Baghdad became importers as the demand for coffee grew. This “wine of Araby” was brewed in coffeehouses that attracted people from all walks of life to participate in conversation about local politics and culture, prompting them to be called “Schools of the Wise”

Coffee’s journey to Europe started as legend. Travelers to the near east brought back tales of this unusual dark beverage. By the 17th century, coffee was extremely popular in Europe, but not everyone trusted these bitter beans.

Around the year 1600 Venice experienced immense conflict surrounding coffee. The local clergymen treated the drink with suspicion and fear, going as far as to call it the “bitter invention of Satan.”

One of the basis for the Venetian conflict around coffee was its popularity with Muslims at the time. It was seen as a sort of antithesis to wine, a staple in the Catholic Eucharist.

The controversy grew, prompting appeals to ban the drink. Finally the pope was asked to intervene and decide once-and-for-all if coffee was allowed, or if it was an evil to be avoided.

Legend says that upon tasting it, Pope Clement VIII exclaimed “This devil’s drink is so delicious…we should cheat the devil by baptizing it!” The controversy dissolved, and the spread of coffee through Europe continued at break-neck pace.

Until 1616 coffee was essentially a monopoly run by the country of Yemen. Merchants in Mocha were forbidden to export live coffee trees or coffee beans viable for planting. Because of this, demand for coffee across the world could not meet the bottle-necked Yemeni supply. That all changed when a Dutch merchant named Pieter van der Broecke stole some closely guarded coffee beans from Mocha and smuggled them back to Holland. He planted them in the greenhouses of the Amsterdam botanical gardens, where they were closely monitored and bore the first European-produced coffee fruit.

This one event received little press or publicity, but ended up having a major impact on the spread of coffee to the world. These few coffee trees adjusted well to their new home and ended up producing many healthy Coffea Arabica plants. In 1658, nearly forty years after van der Broecke’s coffee heist, the Dutch transported coffee plants from Amsterdam to begin cultivation in their settlements in Ceylon – present day Sri Lanka – and later in souther India.

Within only a few years these Dutch colonies, including Java in Asia, became the main suppliers of coffee to Europe. The Yemeni monopoly was broken.

The idea of coffee houses was not unique to the near east – European consumers quickly found them as a way to share ideas, and they drew people from all different backgrounds. Cities in England, Holland, Germany, Austria, and France were epicenters for coffee houses. In England you could go into a coffeehouse and pay only a penny for a drink and stimulating conversation prompting the nickname “Penny Universities.”

In the mid-1600s coffee received its next big push forward, thanks to the Dutch once again. Dutch colonists were the first to bring coffee to their little colony called New Amsterdam – which would later have its name changed to New York by the British.

The post S2 Episode 1: The History of Coffee Pt. 1 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Hey everyone! After taking the holidays off, I’m ready to get back to podcasting. Season 2 of The Boise Coffee Podcast will start in early February with a two episode season premiere on the history of coffee. After that, I’ll be changing my schedule to a new episode every two weeks.

If you’re interested in advertising on my podcast, shoot me a note on Twitter.

Thank you, and happy brewing!

The Coffee Guy

The post Season 2 Preview appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In their blog post from earlier this evening Stumptown Coffee Roasters wrote,

“As of this week, we have been acquired by Peet’s Coffee & Tea. We’re excited about the opportunities this will provide for us as we continue to grow.”

Stumptown goes on to explain how this acquisition will not impact their goals, or how they plan on achieving them. If anything, it appears as though Stumptown is getting a financial boost from Peet’s Coffee & Tea. In addition to the New Orleans location mentioned in the blog post, I would expect more stores to begin to show up across the U.S.

What does all this mean? Well, hopefully, not much. Except a whole lot more Stumptown.

If you hadn’t noticed, cold brew was a big craze this summer – to the point that Starbucks even cashed in on the hype. In many ways, Stumptown pioneered this coffee fad with the introduction of their squat bottles filled with cold brew in 2011. According to the NY Times article about this acquisition, this is around the time that Peet’s started to notice that Stumptown was doing something different.

My call? If anything, this is a great move for Peet’s. While they have been a mainstay in the coffee industry for decades, their image is closer to Starbucks than it is to Stumptown. Not only will this press be good for them, but the money that Stumptown brings in every summer with cold brew – along with their new stores – will make Peet’s tons of money.

Stumptown seems to be pretty solid on the idea that they are staying the same as a company. As a fan of their product, I definitely hope so.

The Coffee Guy

The post Peet’s Coffee & Tea Acquires Stumptown Coffee Roasters appeared first on Boise Coffee.

A lot of firsts on this week’s episode of The BoiseCoffee Podcast! First week live-streaming the entire podcast – if you missed it, be sure to tune in next week on Meerkat and Periscope (follow me at both @ColinMansfield and @BoiseCoffee). More importantly, this was the first week where I interview someone.

Gilles Brunner is a co-founder of Algrano, a social network that connects coffee producers (farmers) with coffee buyers (roasters, coffee shops, etc). He was kind enough to grant me an interview and let me pick his brain for the better part of an hour.

To support Algrano, follow them on twitter and keep an eye out for some sort of surprise from them in the coming weeks. Listen to this week’s episode to get some context.

Have a great week!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 8: Social Networks and Coffee ft. Gilles Brunner from Algrano appeared first on Boise Coffee.

National Coffee Day (or International Coffee Day, as it has come to be known) is here once again! Every September 29th various coffee companies, both chains and local shops, provide all kinds of deals on this day. While the origins are largely unknown, I’ve never been one to argue with free coffee.

Below is the ultimate list of where to find free/discounted coffee throughout today. Enjoy!

Dutch Bros.

Buy any large drink, receive a punch card with 9 stamps already punched! (10 gets you a free drink)

Dunkin Donuts

Free medium cup of their dark roast – hot or iced!

Krispy Kreme

Free small coffee and free original glazed donut. All other drinks, $1

Peet’s Coffee & Tea

Free small cup of Peet’s Major Dickason Blend with purchase of a baked good, oatmeal, or a fresh food item.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Half off select iced coffee beverages all day.

WaWa

Free coffee, any size

LaMar’s Donuts

Free 12oz cup of coffee and free mugs

Sheetz

Free cup of coffee, any size

Whole Foods

One cup of coffee costs only 25 cents

Hillside Donut & Coffee Company

El Paso, TX
Free brewed coffee all day

The Coffee Box

El Paso, TX
20% off all Americanos

Flying M Coffeehouse/garage

Boise, ID – Nampa, ID
Mention their Twitter post and receive a free 8oz brewed coffee

Guru Donuts

Boise, ID
Free cake donut with any coffee purchase

Caribou Coffee

For each cup of Amy’s Blend coffee sold, Caribou will donate a cup of coffee to nurses and families in cancer centers.

Starbucks

For every bag of coffee purchased, Starbucks will donate one coffee tree to a farm in need.

Follow @BoiseCoffee for more updates on National Coffee Day and great deals!

The post National Coffee Day 2015 – The Ultimate List of Free Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Allann Bros Coffee was founded in 1972 in Ashland, Oregon – just north of the California/Oregon border. Like most of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon has a broad coffee culture with a brew-thirsty population. To fill this demand, it’s not uncommon to see coffeehouses come and go with some frequency. When a coffee shop, cafe, or roaster sticks around for any length of time, it generally means they have rapport with people in the area, and a great product. It’s important to keep this in mind when I say that Allann Bros has been in business for over 40 years – that’s no small task. My first question was how they managed to accomplish this. The answer? Evolution.

Allann Bros. has undergone some serious changes and image overhauls since their founding. As best I can tell, the overarching spirit of the company has stayed the same while employees, coffees, and even growers/farms have changed. That’s fine – and I imagine just about any coffee company with Allann Bros. longevity has experienced similar changes. Coffee, after all, is a very different today than it was 40 years ago – at least in the minds of consumers.

If Allann Bros’ recent blog posts are any indication, the most recent changes to the company have likely been the most massive. The most recent post – from July 27th – has this to say:

For over a decade, Allan Bros has worked diligently to keep the price of our specialty coffee in check. As a commodity, coffee often undergoes significant price changes… often on a daily basis! Since 2008, we have absorbed much of the cost in serving fantastic coffee. As we approach the end of 2015, we have had to make changes to some of our cost structures, including adjusting pricing to be in line with acquiring and roasting some of the world’s finest green beans. While we regret that this can result in a negative reaction, please be assured that we work tirelessly to keep prices down, without sacrificing quality.

Read: “Prices are probably going to go up, but that’s because we’re changing who and where we’re buying beans from. In the end, it will mean better coffee.”

Personally, this is great news to me. Allann Bros clearly has a customer base that is accustomed to paying a certain amount of money for a drink, or a bag of coffee. These new changes may mean losing those customers that simply want cheap coffee. The fact that Allann Bros cares more about putting out a great product than keeping it at a specific price point speaks volumes to me. So, how does that product taste?

Allann Bros Coffee sent me two blends: “Phoenix and the Turtle,” a medium roast, and “Maestro’s Blend,” a dark roast. My thoughts on each are below.

Phoenix and the Turtle
I’ll be upfront and honest: I did not enjoy this coffee very much. I
brewed several cups in my Chemex, and found the end taste to be very bitter, albeit with a slightly pleasant aftertaste. While Allann Bros claims this blend to be a medium roast, I found it to be far closer to a dark roast, and the taste profile backs this up. I found cocoa notes to be fairly clear, but besides that I largely found the taste to be smoky and earthy.

Phoenix and the Turtle had a mild mouthfeel, and reminded me more of smoking a smooth cigar than drinking a cup of coffee. The smoky, bitter taste combined with a smooth finish may have gone better late at night than first-thing in the morning.

Maestro’s Blend
After finding that I didn’t enjoy The Phoenix and the Turtle as much as I thought I would, I was sure I would hate the Maestro’s Blend. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m not a huge fan of dark roasts. This coffee, however, won me over in the end.

I brewed this blend in a variety of methods including my stovetop Moka pot, my Aeropress and a large French-Press. I found the end-results to be largely the same, but the methods that didn’t use the paper filter yielded a less bitter product.

The coffee was tangy, which is fairly uncharacteristic for a dark roast. While it was bitter on the back of my tongue, I found it to be a fairly mild taste at first sip. This shifting taste of mild to bitter, combined with the tangy spiciness made me want to take another sip…and another…then pour another cup. I found myself checking the bag to make sure this was indeed a dark roast, and not some imposter.

Allann Bros Coffee surprised me. I expected to find a Peet’s Coffee knockoff with a rich history and a shallow product. Instead, I found something in mid-evolution. I found a coffee company that isn’t afraid to grow and change. And, even better, I found that they can put out a truly intriguing product that I enjoyed. While Phoenix and the Turtle may not have been my favorite blend, Maestro’s Blend was absolutley something I would consider Specialty Coffee. It was roasted by folks who love the craft and have been doing it for decades, and the final result was a cup that I kept coming back for; it made me want to try their Single Origin roasts to see what else they can do.

If you’re interested in trying coffee that tends to be roasted on the darker side (at least in my experience), I would certainly recommend giving Allann Bros a shot. Based on their blog post from earlier this year, I’m excited to see where the company is going. If the small glimpse of their products is any indication, they’re headed in the right direction.

The Coffee Guy

The post Allann Bros Coffee: Evolution in Motion appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This long-awaited next installment of the BoiseCoffee Podcast #KillTheKCup saga is here! I took a month off to get married, and am ready to return to getting this podcast out weekly. You can listen to Part 1 here.

This week’s episode is a bit shorter than most, but it is succinct in its brevity. The reality is that K-Cups are horrible for the environment. In this episode I outline why this is, and what Keurig has (or, more appropriately, hasn’t) done to combat this.

If you enjoy this episode, please leave me a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to subscribe!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 7: #KillTheKCup Pt. 2 – The Environment appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This installment of The BoiseCoffee Podcast continues a long tradition here on the site: talking about all the reasons you should avoid Keurig coffee makers and the brew they produce. This is the first of a two-part episode, and I focus on the history of Keurig and the math behind why it is an extremely expensive way to brew coffee at home.

If you’d like to go deeper, check out  my short diatribe called “It’s Time to Kill the Keurig” here. I updated it in March, and it succinctly lays out why I think Keurig is poisonous to consumers.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my podcast on iTunes here. If you like what you hear, I’d greatly appreciate a rating and review there as well! Have a tremendous rest of your week.

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 6: #KillTheKCup Pt. 1 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Episode 5 of The BoiseCoffee Podcast centers around two very different, yet connected ways of sourcing coffee: Fair Trade, and Direct Trade. In this installment I outline the history of FLO, and give my reasons why I believe that Direct Trade – as outlined by Intelligentsia here – answers many of the questions and fills many of the holes inherent to Fair Trade.

The two main sources I used for this podcast are this and this. I pulled additional information from here, and I found Intelligentsia’s video at Google SMO in 2011 very enlightening. It’s a long one, but well worth the watch.

The PBS clip that I use at the beginning of this episode has some great graphics to go along with it. Check out the full clip here.

What do you think? Is Fair Trade good as it is, or do you agree that it was flawed since the beginning? Does Direct Trade fix enough of the gaps created by Fair Trade, or do we need to go a step further to help farmers? Drop me a line in the comments below, or let me know on Twitter: @BoiseCoffee. Have a great week!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 5: Fair Trade vs. Direct Trade appeared first on Boise Coffee.

A refreshing blend of cold brew coffee and coconut water in a convenient grab and go bottle

Loco Coco is a unique product that mixes coconut water and cold brew coffee to produce a beverage unlike any you’ll find currently on the market. They’re currently on Kickstarter, and just passed their financial goal. You can find more information about them on their website.

While they certainly don’t advertise it only as a sport’s drink, the concept of using coffee to fuel up before, or after a workout intrigued me greatly. The folks over at Loco Coco provided me with samples of their two flagship products: Original, and Black. Before I get into those, let’s take a look at the two main ingredients.

Coconut water has been touted as a miracle beverage, a great source of hydration, and a tasty post-workout drink by consumers and companies alike. Nearly 4 years ago NPR ran a fairly critical story about it, but that hasn’t stopped it from flying off store shelves.

While coffee is rarely advertised as a sport’s beverage, it shares key characteristics with energy drinks and pre-workout supplements – namely, caffeine. Caffeine is thought to be a dehydrator, yet the Army found that one 6oz cup per day has little impact on how our bodies hold onto water.

So, in theory, these two ingredients could be a killer combo. Most studies and research papers I found (like this one from Vanderbilt) showed that caffeine is one of the best ways to get a boost on physical performance; essentially you’re able to do more while feeling like you’re doing less. This, combined with the potassium, antioxidants, and vitamins found naturally in coconut water is a force to be trifled with. Regardless of your stance on coconut water’s miraculous qualities, the fact remains that it’s quite good for you.

My assessment is that Loco Coco is making a product that has all the markings of something that is as unique as it is healthy. But this is a coffee blog, and I’m all about taste. The next question on my mind: is it any good?

Loco Coco uses cold brew coffee presumably brewed in a Toddy based on their Kickstarter pictures. The only information given on their page refers to the coffee as “organic fair trade” which doesn’t give me much to go off of. This is understandable given that they may have to choose a variety of coffee roasters in order to scale their production to meet demand.

I was sent two versions of their product to review: Loco Coco Original and Loco Coco Black. I’ll be upfront: I liked them both, but I preferred Black. Here’s the breakdown.

Loco Coco Original

Their “original” beverage combines coconut water, cold brew coffee, coconut milk, and a pinch of pure cane sugar. This is a sweet beverage, more akin to something you might find from a big name coffee company appealing to the mass public’s palette. I certainly don’t count this against Loco Coco – after all, their goal is to appeal to a wide variety of consumers.

The coffee itself was heavily masked under the flavors of coconut water and coconut milk – but it was still present. I enjoyed the way all three flowed together to make something completely new, yet distinctly recognizable at the same time. The only thing I can compare this taste fusion to is caramel – sweet, rich, and slightly heavy. I didn’t hate it, but the coffee-lover in me wanted more. Thankfully, Loco Coco rose to the occasion in their other offering.

Loco Coco Black

I really enjoyed Black. It had the best parts of Loco Coco Original, and none of the drawbacks. The taste of fresh cold brew coffee shown through brightly, while at the same time accented with the crisp taste of coconut water. The coffee itself was somewhere between a light and medium roast, though the origins were hard to place.

Each sip made me nod in agreement with my taste buds, and when the bottle was finished I wanted another almost immediately. The aftertaste was bittersweet, yet with a soft edge that had to be the coconut water. I would far prefer this to something like Red Bull or Monster for a pre-workout beverage.

Loco Coco has already reached their $10,000 goal on Kickstarter, but I decided to back them anyways (if nothing else I’ll get some sweet gear!) It was an easy choice for me – I love coffee, and I enjoy coconut water. Loco Coco Black offers the best of each, and it’s a product I would really enjoy seeing on store shelves someday soon.

If you’re more into sweet things, you’ll love Loco Coco Original. According to their information page, Loco Coco is developing recipes for other sweet variations as well: Vanilla Chai, Cinnamon Bun, Mocha, and Chocolate Raspberry.

As of this writing their Kickstarter has a little more than two days until it’s complete. If you head over that way now, you can score a 4-pack of Coco Loco plus custom sunglasses for $50 – a small price to pay if you want to support some entrepreneurs who have developed a legitimately delicious product. Shipments start in October.

Can coffee and coconut water combine to make a sport’s drink? I think so. And if there’s anybody to tackle that question, it’s Loco Coco. Lord knows that they’ve made something tasty.

The Coffee Guy

The post Can Coffee Be A Sport’s Drink? My Review of Loco Coco appeared first on Boise Coffee.

The v60 is a staple in specialty coffee; it’s used at home, in coffee shops, at brewing competitions, and just about anywhere else that you find great coffee. It’s a fickle beast, not nearly as forgiving as the Chemex, and deceptively simple when you first try it out.

Brewing in the v60 takes time and practice, but once you get it down it’s really not difficult to throw together your morning cup of coffee. I talk about the highlights in the below video, but here are a few other things to keep in mind.

• Use fresh beans – There’s nothing worse than going through the trouble of manually brewing coffee only to remember that you’re using month old stale beans. Freshly roasted coffee beans have a shelf life of about 2-3 weeks before they start losing the tastes that make them unique (read: go stale).
• Grind your beans properly – You’re going to want to use a burr grinder set to a medium grind (also often called a drip grind). Too course and the water will fall straight through, too fine and you’ll be left wondering why it’s taking so long to brew while the water pools. To hit that sweet spot, try a few different grind settings hovering around medium to find what works best for you.
• Bloom – Let your coffee breath. The bloom is critical and essential when doing any manual pour-over brew method, but I can’t stress its importance enough with the v60. I start with 60g of water and let the coffee bloom for 30-45sec. What’s a bloom? Basically, you’re letting the coffee grounds release the unwanted CO2 that’s trapped inside.
• Coffee-to-water ratio – The brew method I use is 415g of water to 28g of coffee. There is an endless supply of brew methods online (here are a couple from Intelligentsia and Stumptown).
• Don’t be afraid to play – Figure out what works for you, then run with it. If you don’t like the product that my recipe turns out for you, change the coffee-to-water ratio or the bloom time. Play with it until you get something you enjoy drinking.

Get brewing!

The Coffee Guy

You can buy the Hario v60 for about $16 on Amazon as of this writing. Now you have no excuse.

The post Hario v60 Brew Method appeared first on Boise Coffee.

In this 4th installment of The BoiseCoffee Podcast I talk about cold brew coffee – what it is, how you make it, and why it’s suddenly become a cultural phenomenon this summer. For a quick guide on brewing, check out this post from earlier this summer.

I recommend using the Toddy Cold Brew system, available on Amazon here. Alternatively, you can use the French Press method or simply a mason jar with cheese cloth.

To read more about the $9 million that Bulletproof Coffee scored to launch their brick-and-mortar stores, check out this report from Fox.

The music used in this podcast is from the Free Music Archive. The songs are Strong Black Coffee by Jared Mees & The Grown Children and Loaded by The Losers.

Read my full review of Green Alert here, and support them on Kickstarter here.

Want to share your cold brew recipe or learn more about how to brew in a Toddy? Leave a comment on this post or hit me up on Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Have an awesome week!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 4: Cold Brew appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Green Alert, a new proprietary blend of fair trade organic coffee and tea, keeps caffeine drinkers energetic all day.

When I first heard about Green Alert I was skeptical. Very, very skeptical. My love affair with coffee and my newfound appreciation for tea have rarely intersected, and I’ve never once considered mixing the two. Nonetheless, the idea piqued my interest and I reached out to them for a review sample.

I received both versions of the product that Green Alert is raising money on Kickstarter to get to market: Primal and Refresh. Primal is a mix of Wulu Green Tea and a darkly roasted Sumatran Coffee, while Refresh combines Moroccan Mint Tea with Ethiopian coffee – also roasted dark. I’m not the biggest fan of dark roasts in the first place, and combining that with loose-leaf tea just seemed like a horrible idea to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Lucas Rayala invented Green Alert the way all great things are invented: by messing around. One morning he decided to mix his morning coffee grounds with green tea in a French Press, and after a self-described “tentative sip” he was hooked. Even better – he didn’t experience the seemingly-inevitable afternoon caffeine crash, nor was he jittery throughout his workday.

He began experimenting with different coffees and various types of tea, inviting friends over to taste and give feedback. Pretty soon, he found some killer combos and wanted to share his findings.

On his company’s Kickstarter page, Lucas talks about why he believes Green Alert is so effective, but yields differing results from drinking coffee or tea independently. “When you combine coffee and green tea,” he writes, “you actually get more caffeine than your regular brew. Green tea also contains a substance called theanine. Caffeine and theanine are the key ingredients in typical energy drinks like Redbull, but Green Alert is made from organic, fair trade ingredients without any preservatives or additives — an energy drink you can feel good about drinking.”

An energy drink you can feel good about drinking.

He also goes on to talk about the antioxidants found in Green Alert, and the health benefits associated with both coffee and tea, including improved memory, lower cholesterol, and improved blood flow.

I was able to try both the Primal and the Refresh blends. Because I’m just dipping my toe into the world of tea, I shared them with a close friend who’s been a tea drinker his entire life. Surprisingly, our notes were very close.

Lucas recommends brewing Green Alert at about 180ºF in a French Press with a 3.5 minute steep time. In our tests, we found that closer to 200ºF worked just as well and that you can play around with the steep time to taste.

I expected that while brewing Green Alert I would experience neither coffee nor tea – I figured that the smells and flavor profile would be a new beverage that I would either love or hate. Quite frankly, I expected to hate it.

The reality was exactly the opposite. While brewing, both the Primal and the Refresh smelled like you were simply brewing coffee and tea right next to each other. The Primal specifically gave off both the smell of fresh dark coffee, and the light freshness of green tea all at once, yet these odors complimented and danced around each other in a most pleasant way.

The actual flavor of Green Alert was similar; while I expected a brand-new beverage that would perhaps have elements of coffee and tea, I found that both taste profiles were completely whole in my cup. I could taste the dark Sumatran – which was clearly roasted well – as well as the Wulu Green Tea all at once, and neither flavor crowded or influenced the other. I can’t express how surprised I was to discover this, and how happy it made me!

The Refresh was much the same. I’ve never been a big mint person, but I found the Moroccan Mint Tea to be as subtle as it was tasty, and a perfect compliment to Ethiopian dark roast. It was refreshing, crisp, and full of flavor.

I wasn’t able to test Green Alert using other brew methods, and I’m curious how a paper filter might impact the final taste results. Using an immersion brew method like the inverted Aeropress or the Clever Drip Brewer would be something worth looking into – though I suspect a big reason the French Press works so well is due to the nature of brewing tea. Nonetheless, I look forward to experimenting with Green Alert more – and perhaps that, more than anything, shows that I’m sold.

I don’t think my expectations have ever been proven more wrong than they were with Green Alert. On top of that, in no way was it an acquired taste. If you like coffee and you like tea, you’re going to like Green Alert – it’s as easy as that. Lucas Rayala and his team have seemingly done the impossible – they’ve managed to do both coffee and tea justice simultaneously. The result is a beverage that exceeds expectations and – according to their findings – leaves you without jitters or a crash.

I pledged money to Green Alert’s Kickstarter campaign, and I encourage you to as well. They are good people with a great product,   and they aren’t asking for much. As of this writing they have 16 days to go and have already reached almost 80% of their goal. I hope that you’ll help them get to 100%.

The Coffee Guy

The post Coffee or Tea? The Answer is Green Alert. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Episode 3 of the BoiseCoffee Podcast centers around the five essentials for home brewing:

1. A high quality burr grinder
2. Freshly roasted, delicious coffee beans
3. A way to brew
4. Some type of water kettle
5. A kitchen scale that reads in grams

While there are many other elements and things to consider when brewing coffee at home, getting these five things right will set you up for success and get you a great cup of coffee.

At the beginning of the podcast I discuss coffee news this week. The article on Kopi Luwak is here, and the C-Net article on caffeine hungry beetles is here.

Want to discuss brew methods or learn more about home brewing? Leave a comment on this post or hit me up on Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Cheers to a great week!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 3: Home Brewing appeared first on Boise Coffee.

This week’s episode of the BoiseCoffee Podcast centers around the three waves of coffee, starting in the 40s and moving through time until today. Also, if you like the audio clips that bookend the episode, check the links below to watch the full videos.

Have questions or want to discuss the three waves? Hit me up on Twitter, Tumblr, or just leave a comment on this post. Stay groovy.

The Coffee Guy

Check out the YouTube videos who’s audio is featured in this episode: Hipster Cafe by Collective Noun and Hipsters Love Coffee by Nacho Punch.

The post S1 Episode 2: Coffee Waves appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’m super excited to announce the brand-new hot-off-the-press BoiseCoffee Podcast! After much deliberation, I’ve decided that Podcasting is too fun to pass up. These short-form (usually 15-45 min) episodes will be aimed at coffee newcomers and veterans alike.

In this pilot episode I refer to my 2011 post The Definitive Guide to Ordering Coffee and take it a level deeper with a brief discussion on why supporting your local coffee shop is important. If you’d like to continue the discussion, leave a comment here or shoot me a tweet.

Edit: You’ll have to pardon my Podcast newness! At about the 14 minute mark I mention a couple beverages that you should check out, but I never got around to talking about them! So sorry about that. Below are the drinks in question.

• Cubano Shot: A shot of espresso pulled through sugar. For best results, the barista should use Sugar In the Raw! This produces a very sweet, very powerful pick-me-up that has its origins, as the name implies, from Cuba.
• Shot in the dark/red eye: a cup of drip coffee with one or more shots of espresso tossed in. If you’re a caffeine junky, this is the drink for you; beware though – the combination of brewed coffee with strong espresso makes for a rather bitter beverage.

I’ll make sure to brush up on my Podcasting skills for future episodes. Cheers!

The Coffee Guy

The post S1 Episode 1: Let’s Order Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Coffee and photography are a match made in heaven. Coffee shops are perfect places to capture pictures of real life unfolding as it usually does, while at the same time providing an elegant backdrop in a way few other places can.

Dave Cossey, who blogs over at Photography Dock, noticed that there aren’t many places online to find tips on how to capture the perfect coffee picture. He threw together this handy guide to help give some direction to people looking to get a great shot – coffee and camera puns totally intended. Why? Both coffee and photography are passions of his.

Here is a short breakdown of his tips (check out his post for the full explanations!)

1. Shoot the coffee itself
2. Get some customer shots
3. Remember the cashier & workers
4. Get behind the scenes
5. Notice the environment

Whether you’re a photography pro and looking to expand your portfolio, or you’re an amateur (like me) who’s learning the basics, this is a great place to start. Check out his blog, and let him know what you think!

The Coffee Guy

The post Coffee & Photography appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I received a link to this fascinating infographic from FoodPackagingLabels.net. It’s all interesting, but let’s hope America is known for more than Starbucks!

The Coffee Guy

The post Infographic: Coffee Etiquette Around the World appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Let’s start with what cold brew is not: it’s not iced coffee. Iced coffee is exactly what its name implies – hot coffee that has been iced and cooled to help you beat the heat. And while there’s nothing wrong with enjoying iced coffee, you might find that you end up liking cold brew more – and here’s why. Properly brewed hot coffee requires water temperature of about 200 degrees F – just under boiling in most places. This temperature is ideal to help exctract the flavors that make your coffee unique. Too hot, and you’ll find that your coffee is bitter and over-extracted. Too cool, and you’ll be missing the tasting notes that make your coffee special. Dumping iced cubes into hot coffee may be a good way to get you through a summer day, but it will alter the taste of your coffee, generally for the worse.

Cold brew coffee takes a different approach. Rather than using hot water to quickly extract a cup of coffee from ground beans, cold brew requires that you soak a large volume of coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period of time (typically 8 to 24 hours). The result will be a strong coffee concentrate that you can mix with water or milk to give you a nice chilled coffee beverage without sacrificing the great taste of the beans you purchased. There are other ways to achieve cold brew, but the above explanation is the easiest to understand.

There are tons of cold brew coffee brewers on the market, and most are very affordable. That being said, all you really need is a jug or jar to soak your coffee grounds, a refridgerator to keep them cool, and a filter to get the end result.

I use the Toddy – a simple system that uses a large jug and includes a rubber stopper and reusable filter. It goes for $34.95 on Amazon, and you can find out more here. I used Toddy’s recommended brew method: 170grams (about 6oz) of course coffee grounds (ground slightly courser than French Press) followed by 1 cup of water. Add 3 more cups of water to wet the rest of the coffee grounds, followed by another 170grams of coffee. After 5 minutes, add the last 3 cups of water. Toddy recommends that you do not stir to avoid a clogged filter, so it’s important to add water in such a way that all the coffee grounds are wet. 

After adding all the ingrediants, simply put your jug in the refridgerator for 12 to 18 hours. Once brewed, set the jug on top of the included glass carafe and remove the rubber stopper to allow the coffee to exit through the filter. 

I used Dark Horse Coffee Roaster’s Guatemalan Hunapu for my latest batch of cold brew in my Toddy, and it turned out fantastic. If you want to give Dark Horse a try, check them out on Tell Market here.

If you’re more inclined to use materials that you already have at home, a mason jar and cheesecloth can work great. HuffPost has an entertaining (if slightly provocative) article about how you can do this. Check it out here.

What are you waiting for? Go give cold brew a try! Have a different method that you prefer using? Drop me a line in the comments and let me know.

The Coffee Guy

The post A quick guide to cold brew: what is it, and how do you brew it? appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Specialty coffee has an intrinsic problem. The best coffee is often from local, small batch roasters who get their beans from small farms in unknown corners around the globe. The issue is that terms like “small” and “local” don’t translate well to having a large advertising budget. And while hipsters might love the idea of drinking coffee before it’s been discovered by people on the other side of the country, it doesn’t give these roasters the kind of attention they deserve for putting out a great product.

There is no shortage of coffee services that deliver quality beans straight to your front door. For a long time, my favorite service has been Tonx (now partnered with Blue Bottle). These days, nearly every specialty coffee roaster has some service that allows you to get fresh beans delivered weekly, bi-weekly, or whenever you feel like it.

The problem with these services is that you are always getting beans from the same company – which may not be an actual problem if you really really like that roaster. However, this poses a dilemma for people like me that want to try coffee from everywhere, not just one roaster. Variety is the spice of life, isn’t it?

If, for example, a roaster from California wants to get their beans to a consumer from New York, how might they do that? They could take out an ad in Facebook, become active on Twitter and try to amass followers from NY, or they could simply put up their online marketplace and hope for the best. The truth is, there is no centralized location for smaller roasters to become discovered by people not in their local community. Or, at least, there hasn’t been one until now.

Enter Tell Market – a centralized marketplace for the everyday joe to find products from local companies from across the United States (they promise international expansion forthcoming). The best part? Tell market is an app (iOS link), which means access from anywhere, anytime.

Tell Market isn’t just for coffee – though that is a particular focus of theirs right now. They have all kinds of categories from Fashion & Art to Hot Sauce. The thing that sets Tell Market apart from other online marketplaces is two-fold.

1. Companies use short-form videos to communicate with their consumers about their company and individual products. For example, if you find a type of coffee that you are interested in, the accompanying video (usually 30 seconds to 2 minutes long) is from a barista telling you why this coffee is great for home brewing, and what methods they prefer to use to brew that particular bean or blend. It’s amazing.
2. Tell Market includes coffee shops and roasters (as well as merchants in their other categories) that are local to their community, and not very well known otherwise. You can bet that you’re getting coffee from a company that cares deeply about their product. The best part? You can actually speak to the company directly from the app using an integrated chat. That way, you can have any questions answered before you place your order.

I just ordered a Guatemalan Hunapu from Dark Horse Coffee Roasters out of San Diego. I will write a follow-up post about my experience with the delivery and communication integration in the app, so stay tuned!

The Coffee Guy

To download Tell Market for your iPhone or iPad, click here.

The post Tell Market – The best way to find new coffee is in an iPhone app appeared first on Boise Coffee.

When I typically write about coffee, I like to stress the importance of local coffee shops that are making a tangible difference in their city and community.  The best coffee shops I’ve visited host events, sponsor local artists and musicians, and act as a destination location for those seeking a great conversation and those looking to get some work done alike. Cafes have been a part of the social bedrock from ancient times until today, and there’s nothing I appreciate more than a small business that steps up and takes this mantle on with vigor.

Caffe Dalí takes this notion of a coffee company that is more than a coffee company to the next level. And while they haven’t poured their heart into a local community in the form of a brick-and-mortar coffee shop, they are doing much, much more with the resources they have amassed.

Caffe Dalí sent me a number of pamphlets with phrases like “Can a Cup of Coffee Change a Life?” and “So good…it’s surreal!” While skeptical of the actual claims and message, I was intrigued. I navigated over to their website and found a host of material and links that made everything make more sense. Let’s start with their first big promise.

Caffe Dalí will directly impact the lives of the most innocent and the most vulnerable: Kids around the world who are orphans, infected with AIDS, and those young girls who have been sold into horrific sex trafficking industry. A minimum of 20% of all Caffe Dali’s profit will go directly toward rescuing these kids.

Along with this amazing pledge, Caffe Dalí uses phrases like “innovative marketing strategy” and “innovative business plan” to describe how they are getting their message to the world at large. Unfortunately, with the exception of the above quoted promise, Caffe Dalí doesn’t offer specifics as to how they plan to bring their good cause to the public at large. It is possible, however,  to glean some specifics from a separate page on their website titled Opportunity.

Caffe Dalí has a host of opportunities for people and businesses in nearly every sector of life. Their overarching categories include restaurants, educational organizations, non-profits, and religious organizations (including churches, synagogues, and mosques). Essentially, if any of the above organizational structures want an alternative way of making money, Caffe Dalí is eager to step in and fill that gap by providing coffee, and help you set up a business plan to boot.

Their website appears a mile wide and an inch deep in some respects, but I think it’s due to their understanding that every business and every person has a unique situation. Nearly every page has a form to fill out in order to get in touch with them, and this availability makes me hopeful that they are focusing on less talk and more do.

So, what about the actual coffee? Is it any good?

Caffe Dalí sent me their “Apocalypto Blend” which is a mix of beans originating from Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil. It’s a dark roast.

I brewed the Apocalypto Blend in my Hario v60, using my standard coffee:water ratio of 28:415grams. While brewing I noted that it had a nice bloom – a sign of freshness. My brew time was about 3 minutes when all was said and done.

Now I must put a disclaimer here: I’m not really a fan of dark roasts. It’s not that I think there is anything intrinsically wrong with them, I just prefer the flavors that tend to shine in lighter roasts. Knowing my predisposed feelings towards dark roasts, I went into tasting this coffee with as much of a blank slate in my mind as I could muster. I’ve had some pretty nasty dark roasted coffee before – but I’ve also had some pretty great ones. Clearing my head as I poured my first cup, I was ready for whatever Caffe Dalí had for me.

And you know what? Their Apocalypto Blend was pretty great. It had a somewhat nutty initial taste, with a light bitterness all the way through the taste. But this bitterness wasn’t the sharp, dirty bitterness that I find all too often in Starbucks brews. No, this was a back-of-the-tongue bitterness that had just a hint of the earthy tones that make dark roasts unique. I found this bitterness was much less noticeable when I paired the coffee with spicy or oily foods (like, say, a pepper jack cheese omelette and avocado).

The coffee is much more pleasant than a Starbucks dark roast, or really any 2nd Wave coffee. That being said, I think this coffee suffered from what so many blends do – it tries to do too much with too many types of coffee from various regions. We could debate the merits of single-origin vs. blended coffees all day, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the far side of blends – like when you mix too many paint colors and end up with a gross brown or a completely undesired gray. This coffee isn’t gross, but neither is it very different from other upper-level dark roasts. This is only a small ding, however, because these upper-level dark roasts are some of the best of that genre.

In all, I applaud Caffe Dalí for sending me a dark roast that I didn’t hate – and more than that – one that I actually found myself enjoying.

The one thing missing from Caffe Dalí big promises and hopeful verbiage is a page of success stories. They don’t list businesses or churches that have used Caffe Dalí to increase their profits, nor do they have any pictures of real people who are selling their product. Caffe Dalí has only been around since 2013, so it’s likely that they are still waiting on those success stories to roll in.

Based on what I’ve tasted, what I’ve read, and the information I’ve been given, I hope Caffe Dalí is successful. Lord knows, our world could use more coffee shops that are more than coffee shops.

The Coffee Guy

The post Caffe Dalí Is More Than A Coffee Company appeared first on Boise Coffee.

El Paso, Texas is at a tipping point. I’ve only been living here for about six months, but locals clued me into this fact within my first few weeks of being in town. In the last decade El Paso has joined the likes of Phoenix and Albuquerque as oases of culture and forward thinking in terms of art, music, and business in the southwest. While El Paso hasn’t reached the heights of hipsterness that you’ll find in Seattle or Portland, it has several hangout spots and restaurants where wearing tight jeans, carrying the latest technology, and listening to music you’ve probably never heard of feels very familiar.

While El Paso’s west side is largely considered the most trendy part of town, downtown has increasingly become an area of focus. The historic San Jacinto Plaza has been under renovations since July 2014 – a fact not lost on Miguel Veloz or Abel Baca, co-owners of the new El Paso Coffee Box.

The Coffee Box is right across the street from the mass of construction that will someday become the new-and-improved San Jacinto Plaza, on the corner of Mesa and Main st. I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening ceremony on April 29th, and Abel granted me a brief interview about why he believes The Coffee Box is important for El Paso.

The Coffee Box received a warm welcome from locals and media alike; I counted at least five separate video cameras from various news stations. After a brief speech, the masterminds behind El Paso’s newest coffee shop popped open champaign bottles  and a DJ began spinning records in the background. It was following all of this fanfare that I was able to speak to Mr. Baca and ask him a few questions about The Coffee Box. Check out the short video below, then follow my interview with Abel below.

A very exciting day for @elpasocoffeebox as they uncork the champaign and celebrate their grand opening! #ElPaso

A video posted by The Coffee guy (@boisecoffee) on Apr 29, 2015 at 11:00am PDT

Abel: Yes, this is my first business.

Did you start this business because you wanted to add something to El Paso, because you have a passion for coffee, or for some other reason?

I started this business because I realized that downtown is growing and developing. I know that once the plaza opens and gets built that it’s a perfect location for something like this – that’s why this specific area attracted me.

Okay, so why coffee?

Why coffee? I know that most everybody young and old love coffee. It’s basically the most consumed drug.

That’s a good point! I can’t argue with that.
So as far as the design of your coffee shop – I’m curious because it looks a lot like TI:ME, the center on the west side. Was it inspired at all by that?

Our main focus was using recycled materials, and the design developed from that starting point.

As a coffee consumer, I’m a little partial to pour-over coffee. Have you guys considered doing that, or are you going to stick with the espresso for now?

Yes, we are considering it and will probably switch to that method of brewing in the future.

If you’re interested in finding out more about The Coffee Box, you can visit their website, like their Facebook, or follow them on Instagram. They use locally roasted coffee from BLDG 6 coffee roasters, and I can personally say that it’s great stuff. Stay tuned for a full review down the line.

The Coffee Guy

The post The El Paso Coffee Box Grand Opening appeared first on Boise Coffee.

From their website:

The Puroast roasting process involves no extraction or chemical treatment of our beans in any way.

All other “Low Acid” coffee products are coffee substitutes, neutralize acid with chemical additives or decaffeinated style extractions.

Puroasts’ rich gourmet taste is derived from its unique, proprietary roasting technology which does not alter the bean in any way.

No other “Low Acid” coffee company has done as much research with consumers and the bean. We continue to strive to provide not only an incredible tasting coffee, but one with health attributes that every consumer can benefit from.

Their claims are backed by Dr. Taka Shibamoto from UC Davis – a “coffee research chemist” who ended up using the findings from Puroast’s unique coffee to write a research paper. While I couldn’t find the actual paper, the summary to his findings were available in this PDF from Puroast’s website.

Not only is Puroast coffee less acidic, but it “has more than 7 times the antioxidants found in green tea and on average, more than 5 times that of the other coffees tested” as reported by Nasdaq’s GlobeNewswire. This is a fairly unprecedented finding, and while Puroast doesn’t openly disclose the roasting method that achieves these results, they do say that they spent some time coming up with it. Their full story is worth a read, as long as you can get past Comic Sans as their main font choice.

Puroast reached out to me to do a review for them. I’ll take their health-benefit claims at face value – I have no reason not to believe Dr. Shibamoto’s findings, and the folks at Puroast seem honest. With that in mind, I approached this review with one main question in mind: is their coffee good? Their slow roasting technique and small, dedicated beginnings echo many stories I’ve heard from other specialty coffee shops. So do they fit the bill?

Puroast sent me their signature “Low Acid House Blend” which, according to them, is perfect for all day, every day drinking.

The first thing that I noticed was not a positive. Puroast sent me pre-ground coffee as opposed to whole bean. Perhaps this was a simple oversight, but I couldn’t find the roasting date anywhere on the bag. As you may or may not know, pre-ground coffee has a very short shelf-life before it starts going stale; pre-ground coffee begins losing the flavors that make the coffee unique in about three days. Due to mail delay and how soon I was able to brew their coffee, it’s likely that the product I tasted was already stale.

The other huge concern with pre-ground coffee is that, besides visually looking at the coffee, I had no way of knowing  what type of brew method the coffee was intended for. It was clearly close to a medium grind, but the bag was void of any specifics as to the actual grind size or recommended brewing technique.

Sending a batch of pre-ground coffee was at best an oversight, and at worst a sign of ignorance to coffee shelf life. Because Puroast seems like a group of well-seasoned coffee professionals, I’ll choose to believe the former.

As for brewing, I used my Hario v60  with a coffee:water ratio of 28g:415g. I went with a 50g bloom for 30 seconds. The total brew time was about 3:00. Before tasting, my main clue as to the staleness of the coffee was that it didn’t bloom. At all. The water basically drained straight through the grounds – never a good sign. This was probably a result of the grind size as well.

When I’ve tasted stale coffee in the past, it’s been extremely bitter. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case with Puroast’s house blend. While this was a positive, the taste itself was not.

I can’t in good faith recommend Puroast coffee. In the sample that I was given, nothing unique stood out save for the lack of acidity. On that, they kept their promise.

What I will say is this: if you are someone who has a sensitive stomach towards anything acidic, by all means give Puroast a try. But in my experience, acidity is not a bad thing. Many of the best coffees I’ve had the pleasure of trying have been incredibly acidic. Acidic notes in coffee are closely tied to the “bright” taste that sets many specialty coffees apart from Starbucks, or commodity coffee.

Puroast fills a niche for everyday coffee drinkers that have a sensitivity towards acidic coffees. From what I was given, however,  Puroast does not make great coffee, especially when compared to the fantastic specialty coffees that I can get from my local roaster.

The Coffee Guy

You can buy Puroast’s coffee here.

The post Is coffee with lower acidity worth it? My review of Puroast Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’m very proud to announce that BoiseCoffee has been listed alongside many notable websites as being a “best coffee blog” of 2015 by Market Inspector! More specifically, we have been placed under the heading “The Blogs That Have Made the Biggest Contribution to Global Coffee Culture.” See the full list here.

I can personally recommend some of the other blogs that made the list. Check out Coffee Nate (Nate Smith), The Coffee Adventures (Jamie Ferguson), Corner of the Cafe (Drew Moody), and of course the great Dear Coffee, I Love You (Brian Jones). I’ve had very positive interactions with these folks over the years.

If you’re interested in building your own coffee-focused news feed, this list is the perfect place to start!

The Coffee Guy

Source Link: Market Inspector’s List

The post BoiseCoffee listed among “best coffee blogs of 2015” appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Back in November I wrote a short diatribe about Keurig – the massive, rich coffee company that is on just about every kitchen countertop these days.

In January 2015 this mysterious video hit YouTube titled “Kill the K-Cup.”

Pretty cool, right? I thought so, but the best part about this video is that it got a lot of press.

By the end of January the video had been covered by and discussed on Huffington Post and NPR along with a host of fringe blogs. More recently, as of the writing of this prologue The Atlantic is the latest big name to cover the video in their piece titled “A Brewing Problem.” The Atlantic took it a step further by interviewing Keurig co-founder John Sylvan as well as some higher-ups inside Keurig itself. The consensus? Nobody is happy about where K-Cups are at, and where they are heading.

As a result of all this discussion and increased awareness, I decided to update my diatribe. It now features a brand-new prologue as well as an edited conclusion to help the Keurig faithful turn a new leaf.

Below is the PDF. Please download it and share it with your friends, family, and co-workers. I’m not making a dime from any of this, and couldn’t care less about exposure. My only goal is to get these facts out in the open.

Click to access Its-Time-to-Kill-the-Keurig-v3_with-prologue.pdf

Together, we’re killing the K-Cup. Keep it up.

The Coffee Guy

The post We’re Killing the K-Cup appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Starbucks has been making big headlines lately after they announced, earlier this month, that they will be offering a new drink at store locations all across the U.S. The drink in question? The flat white. While New Zealand has been trying to stake its claim in the invention of this drink, the general consensus is that it is Australian in origin. Apparently Aussies are even laughing at Starbucks’s attempt to mass market their famous milk-based espresso drink.

So what’s the big deal?

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of visiting Australia and staying with a close friend. I had heard much about Australian coffee, and I was excited to grab a cup as soon as I got into town. And then I looked at the menu.

Short black. Long black. Flat white. Cappuccino.

Three of these are not like the other.

Thinking that I’d try something new, when the waitress came back to our table I proudly announced that I would like a short black, please. When she brought me a shot of espresso back, I was rather confused.

Through trial and error, I was able to glean that a “short black” is a single shot of espresso, while a “long black” is an Americano (or sometimes a brewed coffee). A flat white seemed simple enough – I’ve heard people order cappuccinos “flat,” and I naturally assumed that it was the same thing. But upon ordering it, I received a latte instead. What?

At this point I was learning to just roll with the punches, and I got on with my life. Like an ex-girlfriend who has my new phone number, however, the flat white is back in my life and demanding I make amends. It’s making headlines across the U.S. and I’m forced to once again wrestle with the uncomfortable notion that there may, in fact, be a difference between a a flat white and a latte.

As it turns out, there is a rather large difference. The main, obvious dissimilarity is that a flat white is traditionally served in a much smaller container compared to a latte; typically a flat white is around 150-160 milliliters while a latte is 200 or more.

The source of my confusion isn’t how the drinks are different on paper, however, but how they are actually so similar in America.

A flat white is supposed to be halfway between a latte and a cappuccino. While a latte is supposed to be almost entirely steamed milk and espresso, with a dollop of foam at the very top,  a cappuccino is supposed to have a large head of foam that one must sip through before getting to any milk. But if you separate milk-based espresso beverages into their individual parts, there is a third, very important, piece that is not usually focused on in either lattes or cappuccinos. It’s called microfoam. Whether or not it makes it into you morning cup of coffee depends entirely on the quality of barista.

When a bad barista steams milk they pay little regard as to what kind of foam is created. Lattes get no foam, cappuccinos get lots of foam.

When a great barista steams milk, they are able to control how much foam there is. Foam can either be very bubbly, or have a velvety texture filled with extremely small bubbles – microfoam. The best baristas will knock the milk container, or perhaps swirl the milk inside, in an attempt to pop the largest bubbles and maximize the amount of microfoam. Microfoam makes it possible to make latte art, while the thick foam found in many cappuccinos is harder to work with. The barista can then decide how much foam makes it into the finished beverage based on their pour.

A latte is supposed to have no foam, or a very small amount. A cappuccino is supposed to have a wealth of foam. A flat white is supposed to have a dense layer of microfoam. See what I’m getting at here? Many American third-wave coffee shops have turned a “latte” into a flat white. The evidence of this is latte art; the only way to make great latte art is by creating a layer of microfoam with which to draw. The only thing truly setting these drinks apart is the serving size, and that’s where the Starbucks marketing team comes in.

Americans are going to be confused by the flat white. They’re going to call BS on the marketing for it, claiming it’s a cash-grab for a product that Starbucks has sold for years. In my opinion, however, this confusion is actually rooted in the fact that we have been spoiled by well-made lattes topped with a delicious layer of microfoam for years.

If this means the bad baristas are going to have to learn the magic of creating delicious, velvety microfoam in an attempt to copy the Starbucks flat white, I think this will ultimately be a fruitful endeavor. In my experience, the Australia model, while confusing at first, produces outstanding coffee.

The Coffee Guy

For a more in-depth analysis of the differences between a latte and a flat white, check out this great post.

The post The Rise of the Flat White appeared first on Boise Coffee.

If you’ve been following coffee news lately, you know that the new Keurig 2.0 system is receiving less than stelar reviews – and for good reason. Their new DRM system is making a lot of enemies with businesses that once supported the Keurig brand, and it’s prompting some people to go as far as hacking their coffee machines.  I’ve never been a fan of K-cups: they brew weak coffee with stale beans, they are over-priced, and they are environmentally irresponsible.

With Black Friday approaching and the holiday season following close behind, I believe that it’s time to step up and voice our concerns with friends, family, and co-workers to keep these things out of homes and businesses. It’s time we step in to kill the Keurig.

To help with this, I’ve written a short essay and am distributing it as a PDF. I’ve embedded it below, and you can also click here to download it. I’ve included the introduction text in this post to give you a little taste.

Please share this with your friends on Facebook and tweet it. Send it to your favorite coffee shop. I didn’t put this together for blog hits or for exposure – I did it because I love the coffee community, and I hate seeing it tainted by overpriced, bad beans.

Click to access Its-Time-to-Kill-the-Keurig-v2.pdf

———–

The process of getting a coffee bean from the plant to your mug is incredible. Expert growers spend their entire lives painstakingly cultivating their farms and creating relationships with distributors. Master roasters spend years practicing and alternating between degrees down to the decimal point to find the perfect temperature for their single origin and blended roasts. Baristas train and compete, taking great care and putting incredible effort into each and every cup that crosses their portafilters and pour-over cones. I have a huge amount of respect for the individuals that take part in this process daily.

The more I learn about the method and skill necessary to create high quality coffee, the deeper my resentment towards Keurig gets.

This short diatribe is primarily meant to be informational – as backwards as that sounds. As I’ve talked to people about Keurig, I’ve found that many folks like their coffee and the variety of options that they make available, but don’t know much about their coffee or what differentiates their machines from traditional brew methods. If that’s you, I beg you to read on. If you’re like me and dislike Keurig already, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along with my conclusions – I ask you to share this with your friends that fit into the first camp.

This essay contains three short chapters, and trust me when I say that each only scratches the surface of their respective topics. We’ll begin with history, then discuss math and money, and finally talk about the environment. I encourage you to do your own research on these topics as well.

In the sage words of Khan in the newest Star Trek film – “Now, shall we begin?”

Edit 11/20/14
This post has received a strong positive response with over 600 views and great discussion. Thank you for passing it around! I encourage you to continue to do so, especially as we get closer to Black Friday. #KilltheKCup

Edit 01/12/15
The campaign that this post and essay pushed is over, but I hope they both continue to shed light on why I believe Keurig is a less-than-stellar way to make coffee. Keep sharing the love!

The post It’s Time to Kill the Keurig, and I Need Your Help appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Every September big name stores and local coffee shops alike celebrate National Coffee Day – and this year is no exception! Below is a list of stores and franchises offering specials today only. Happy National Coffee Day!

1. Peet’s Coffee and Tea
Buy any two coffees or espressos for the price of one.

2. LaMar’s Donuts
Get a free coffee with a purchase of one donut.

3. Krispy Kreme
Free coffee, straight up. No purchase necessary, but let’s be honest, you’re gonna get a dozen donuts.

4. McDonald’s
If your Mickee Dee’s is still serving breakfast, get a free coffee with the purchase of a McMuffin.

5. Brooklyn Water Bagels
Get a free coffee with any purchase.

6. Dunkin Donuts
Get a cup of Dunkin’s newest coffee today. It will remain at a reduced price until October 5th.

7. Tim Hortons
Get any freshly brewed coffee for only $1.

8. Starbucks
Samples of The Green Siren’s newest “Anniversary” blend are free until noon.

9. Dutch Bros
Buy one coffee, get one free.

10. QuikTrip
Free coffee, no purchase necessary.

Does your local coffeehouse have any specials? Comment below and let me know!

The Coffee Guy

The post Happy National Coffee Day 2014! Here are the best deals to help you celebrate. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

When Coldplay’s Viva la Vida came out, I loved the title song. I loved it so much, in fact, that I decided it would be a great idea to wake up to it every morning. After about a month, I hated Viva la Vida. I still jolt into a post-sleep scare whenever my ears pick up the now haunting intro strings. Surely there has to be a better way to wake up.

Designer Josh Renouf has been making news in a big way over the last week because of his newest creation: the Barisieur.

The Barisieur is an alarm clock and coffee brewer. It eases the user into the day with the subtle movement of stainless steel ballbearings that boil the water through induction heating, accompanied by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. It encourages a ritual before going to sleep, signalling to the body and mind that it is time to unwind and relax. Living slow even when times are fast.

The Barisieur looks exactly like what I would want an alarm-clock-turned-automagic-coffee maker to look. Sleek. Sexy. Like it belongs in George Jetson’s home if he moved to Portland, Oregon and wore flannel scarves to work every day.

The method behind the Barisieur is fairly simple: you load up the coffee contraption before heading to bed, then set the alarm. When you wake up, a piping hot cup of freshly brewed pour-over coffee is ready for you. The setup even includes a milk container and a drawer for grounds and sugar.

I’m not sure I’d ever purchase the Barisieur, mainly because I enjoy the full ritual of brewing coffee too much. That said, I certainly approve of the form-factor and the heart behind this invention. Even if I did want one, unfortunately they aren’t for sale – yet. Renouf’s website says that when it launches, the Barisieur will retail for between $250-$420. Quite a price spread for something that may end up ruining your bed sheets if you’re inclined to an early morning arm stretch.

Keep your eyes peeled and your wallets waiting if you want the Barisieur when it comes out. My sincere hope is that this never turns into someone’s Viva la Vida.

Until it debuts, why not pick up an Aeropress for 1/8th of the price?

The Coffee Guy

The post This alarm clock/coffee brewer combo is a reminder that coffee is still the best way to wake up in the morning. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Special thanks to DCILY for bringing this video to my attention.

3FE (3rd Floor Espresso) is a Dublin-based coffee company founded by Colin Harmon. His story, featured in the video below, is as wild as it is wonderful and it shows how passion and fulfillment beat money every time. Colin’s enthusiasm is palpable and illustrates how the complete coffee process is equal parts art and science. Check it out.

The Coffee Guy

The post Colin Harmon’s Story and 3FE appeared first on Boise Coffee.

When I think of Utah, the first word that doesn’t come to mind is coffee.  It’s Mormons. Being from Idaho and having plenty of LDS friends, I understand Mormon customs well, which is why I was surprised to find truly excellent coffee in the Salt Lake City airport.

I travel a fair amount, and in my experience airport coffee is rarely palatable. For all the crap I give Starbucks, you’re probably not going to find anything better than the Green Siren in most airports. When I first stumbled upon Milcreek Coffee in SLC, I was more than surprised: I was overjoyed. Not only do they make great lattes and espresso beverages, their brewed coffee is surprisingly great.

Millcreek Coffee Roasters started in 1993. Like many coffee origin stories, theirs started with a small roaster in a little downtown building. Millcreek now roasts their coffee daily so that their two locations can brew the freshest cup possible. They have a store on Main street in downtown Salt Lake City, and in the SLC airport.

Their airport location is an interesting choice, but makes sense given the demographic they are surrounded with. Located at the end of Terminal C, the spot is a walk-up coffee bar with fresh pastries and bags of coffee for sale as well. It’s a little bit of a hike to get to if you fly into another terminal, but well worth it. Their baristas are friendly and knowledgable, and their menu is simple.

I’ve never been let down by Millcreek’s coffee in my many visits to Salt Lake. The latte I had while passing through today was well balanced, and the espresso they used was excellently pulled. I enjoyed it to the last drop, and it left me wanting another. Their coffee is selected from all around the world and you can buy a bag on their website for around $14.

Millcreek stands apart for two reasons:
1. They offer green coffee beans for sale on their website. This is great for home roasters, but also illustrates that they care as much about their unroasted coffee as they do about their finished product. This speaks volumes about their partnership with coffee growers as well.

2. Their website offers a few pages of education about growing, roasting, and brewing coffee. While it’s not the most robust set of knowledge available online, it is well put together and instructionally correct. Millcreek’s tips about brewing and storing coffee are right on. This reinforces their dedication to the entire coffee process and their desire to create a better-informed customer, which is especially notable.

Local coffee shop owners would do well to follow Millcreek’s lead in focusing not just on their product. It’s obvious to me that the owners have a passion for the coffee process from start to finish, and it shows in finished cup.

In a world where airport coffee is dominated by chain shops and big brands, sipping Millcreek coffee is a refreshing reminder that some folks still care about every step that it takes to get a coffee cherry into a roaster, then into my cup. Next time you fly through Salt Lake City, take a short detour to Terminal C. I promise that you won’t be let down.

The Coffee Guy

Like Millcreek Coffee Roaster’s Facebook page here.

The post Millcreek Coffee Roasters appeared first on Boise Coffee.

If you quit Starbucks for a year, you’ll have enough savings to buy an iPad. Let’s do some simple math.

As I’ve talked to people about my upcoming book, the line I often start with is “did you know you can actually save money by drinking better coffee?” If this doesn’t catch their attention, my next line always does. “All you have to do is stop drinking Starbucks or K-Cups, and start brewing your own.” Insulting popular brands is a sure-fire way to turn heads, at least from their devout.

But it’s true, and the math behind it isn’t hard at all. In this post I want to focus in on Starbucks coffee. Keep in mind that this same thought process applies to all chain coffee places (I’m looking at you Dunkin Donuts, with your $1.50 small brewed coffee). The price isn’t the issue here, the value is. If you want cheap bad coffee, look no further than your coffee aisle at the supermarket; I’m sure Folgers or Maxwell House will gladly take your money. If you want expensive bad coffee, chain coffee will run your wallet dry. Here’s what I mean.

First, we’ll assume that you drink 5 cups of coffee per week (you’ll need sleep at some point). Given that there are about 52 weeks in a year, that means you’ll consume about 260 cups of coffee per year. At Starbucks, a brewed coffee is about $2, depending on size. Remember, this isn’t one of the fru-fru fancy drinks – it’s just your run-of-the-mill black brewed coffee. At this price point, you’ll be spending $520 per year on coffee.

Now let’s look at specialty coffee. We’ll start with a 12oz bag of coffee for $14 (this and this are two good examples). A 12oz bag of coffee converts to about 340 grams. Using an AeroPress brewer, you’ll need about 15 grams of coffee per cup, depending on brew method, which translates to about 22 cups per bag of coffee. If we take the 260 cups per year that we used earlier and divide it by 22 cups per bag, it comes out to 12, 12oz bags of specialty coffee per year. At $14 per bag, this means you’ll spend $168 per year on some of the best coffee money can buy.

Without considering any other factors, that’s a savings of $352 per year. If you need to purchase an AeroPress, decent grinder, and hot water heater, ($26, $25.43, $14.73 respectively), you’ll still save $285.84 that year. Did you know that an iPad mini costs $299? Quit Starbucks, and you’ll be able to buy an iPad with the money you saved. Or go have a shopping spree at your local Dollar Store. Whatever you want.

But what about all those Starbucks gift cards you have laying around from Christmas or your birthday? Turns out, Tonx will let you exchange them for credit towards buying beans. Now you truly have no excuse.

My upcoming book, The Beginner’s Guide to Excellent Coffee, is all about this kind of thinking. How can you save money by drinking better coffee? Turns out, it’s not as hard as a lot of people think. Please sign up for my email list below, and I’ll send you deals, news about my book, and interesting tid-bits about coffee about once a week. Also, please share my book’s landing page with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks!

Colin

P.S. Here’s my AeroPress brew method if you’re just getting started.

The post Starbucks isn’t the devil. But it is a giant waste of money. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Whether your Valentines Day is being spent with a significant other or alone with the new House of Cards season on Netflix, I’ve got great news: there are some awesome coffee deals to be had. The list below should help keep you on a great caffeine high throughout the day, at little or no cost.

• Starbucks is offering a buy-1-get-1 free deal on all lattes.
• The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is having a buy-1-get-1 free on all drinks.
• Caribou Coffee is having a buy-1-get-1-free on all drinks.
• Dutch Bros. is using Valentines day to give back to local communities. Bring in canned food and make someone else’s Valentine’s Day! Bonus: free Dutch Valentines Cards here.
• While not exactly coffee, if you buy a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, they’ll give you 12 Valentine’s Day cards – each good for one free donut! I hear these go great with a cup of joe.
• Lia Griffith is giving away some free printable Valentine’s Day coffee cup wraps. A nice last-minute touch to surprise your special someone in the morning.

If you find other freebies out there, feel free to comment and let me know. Have a great Valentines Day and enjoy your free coffee!

The Coffee Guy

The post Valentines Day Coffee Deals 2014 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Last week the media was abuzz about a new coffee shop in LA. While the coffee itself was nothing too special, the name was provocative to say the least. “Dumb Starbucks” had a near-identical menu to the coffee giant, with one exception: the word dumb preceded every drink. And while I imagine it was silly to order a Dumb Grande Dumb Latte, I couldn’t help but chuckle. How was this legal? According to a well written FAQ available in the Dumb Store, the shop falls under a “parody art” loophole in the law. By their own claim, Dumb Starbucks isn’t a coffee shop; instead, it is a parody art gallery where the art in question is the coffee being sold.

Starbucks eventually responded, saying: “We are evaluating next steps and while we appreciate the humor, they cannot use our name, which is a protected trademark.” And, as expected, Dumb Starbucks got shut down yesterday by the LA County department of health services.

As it turns out, this was all an elaborate prank from Comedy Central’s Nathan Fielder to promote his upcoming new show, Nathan For You. While this initial stage of the joke is complete, he plans to take Dumb Starbucks to Brooklyn next. I’m hoping I can make it down there and get some live coverage of the shenanigans whenever they end up unfolding.

The attraction generated a host of media coverage, everywhere from USA Today to The Verge. A name well known to the specialty coffee community threw in his two cents as well: tonx co-founder Tony Konecny. He actually got eyes-on the store and shot the instagram photo above before tweeting:

hey @dumbstarbucks, if you guys need some beans and some help moving this line, I might like to help.

— tonx (@tonx) February 10, 2014

In my view, Dumb Starbucks is pretty dumb. But they illustrate a great point: people enjoy making fun of anything too ubiquitous or too large. Perhaps the tide is turning for Starbucks and other similar coffee giants. And man, what I would give to have tonx beans available at your corner cafe.

Stay tuned for more coverage down the road.

The Coffee Guy

The post Dumb Starbucks is Dumb, but Illustrates a Good Point appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Lola coffee, located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, was recommended to me by a local friend. He said that Lola “is where you go if you want a great cup of coffee.” That prospect was good enough for me, and I set out with a few family members in tow. Located on the corner of Roosevelt and 3rd Ave, Lola isn’t especially large. It does, however, have a patio area for sitting outside when the Phoenix heat is tolerable.

A few things immediately struck me when I walked inside: the people who run Lola clearly have an eye for design. The small-ish area for sitting is maximized with bars along the back wall and front window. A few leather chairs and a couch decorate the interior, and three large, wooden tables great for using a laptop or (as one couple was doing) completing a crossword puzzle. The back wall is decorated with a massive, somewhat abstract, oil painting on four large canvases. A large glass case stands in front of the espresso machine, filled with baked goods and topped by jars of homemade cookies and croissants. On the front wall hangs an old wooden door with a glass panel – black marker spells out the relatively simple, no-frills coffee menu. Beside the door a metal sheet with “Lola” cut out hangs.

Lola’s menu is comprised of espresso drinks and automatic drip coffee. No manual drip methods are available, but what Lola does do, they do well. I chose a normal latte, which they served in a ceramic mug with simple coffee art on top. My dad ordered a hot chocolate (I didn’t inherit my love of coffee from him) and they asked if he wanted whip cream. My dad said yes, and instead of pulling out a pressurized can of store-bought whip cream, the baristas used their own, homemade, brown sugar whip. I tried some of my dad’s, and it far exceeded my expectations.

The espresso was great, and it’s no wonder considering Lola roasts all their own coffee. I enjoyed my latte immensely – it was creamy and smooth from the well frothed milk, and left a bright finish from the lightly acidic espresso. Along with coffee, my family purchased a “Sal De mar” chocolate chip cookie, sprinkled with Maldon sea salt. The cookie was delicious and went perfectly with our respective cups of coffee.

The baristas at Lola were cheery and helpful, speedily pulling our shots and smiling the whole way through. I could tell they enjoy working there, and their happiness was well represented in our mugs.

Phoenix isn’t exactly known for its coffee scene, but places like Lola make me re-think my preconceived notions about where a great cup can come from. Lola and smaller coffee shops like it are living reminders that you don’t need to be from Seattle, New York, or San Francisco to make great coffee. Dedicated employees, a passion for design, attention to detail about the small things, and a cheerful attitude go a long way in pushing forward quality coffee all around the world.

Next time you’re in Phoenix, don’t hesitate to stop by Lola Coffee. You won’t regret it.

The Coffee Guy

Links:
Lola’s website
Facebook

The post Lola Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

During Christmas time, nothing goes with coffee better than a story.

I’ve been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. In an effort to fix this, I decided to write a short story based on Capital Light’s Christmas song, “His Favorite Christmas Story.” If you haven’t heard it, please buy it on iTunes or listen to it on Spotify. I love this song and thought that perhaps I could build on the lyrics with my own take. I changed a few things, but kept the spirit of the song very much intact. Feel free to share this with others, and have a Merry Christmas!

Click the link below to read the story!

————————

His Famous Christmas Short Story

Song by Capital Lights, short story by Colin Mansfield.

James Parker had planned on staying home that evening. His dad was by the fireplace reading, a book of poetry in one hand and his large half-bent billiard pipe in the other. The mix of strong tobacco and smoke from the fire filled their small three-bedroom house with a scent that James now associated with home. This time of year was especially difficult for the Parker household. The memory of losing his mother and younger sister eight Christmases ago was far enough behind them that it wasn’t often discussed, but recent enough to make the wound feel fresh as the snow began to fall each year.

19 year old James sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes gazing into the burning fire. Memories from the year passed before his eyes: 1937 had brought the Hindenburg disaster, the disappearance of famous aviator Amelia Earhart, and the continued rise of the Soviet Union as a world power. His eyes traced the red bricks that were gleaming around the fireplace. Red and blue candles burned on the mantle above his and his father’s stockings, next to a medal his dad had won in the Great War. The same candles that his mother had insisted on displaying each year. His father was still grieving, to be sure. But somehow he had managed to maintain the memory of James’ mother and sister without constantly making it front-and-center in their lives. James’ dad worked at the lumber mill and promised to get James a job next year. He was a good man.

A large *thump* against the window broke James’ train of thought and sent him careening back to reality. A round blotch of snow was stuck to the window.

“James!” yelled voices from outside.

*thump* another snowball hit the window, and James’ dad looked up.

James got up, ran to the window, and opened it just as another snowball was about to hit its mark. He  suddenly realized that he should probably check– too late. *pfff* the snowball hit him directly in the face. Wiping away the slush from his nose and eyes, James saw his two best friends – Tom and Robert – standing outside wearing what appeared to be their Sunday best. The only difference? Mittens and snowballs in hand.

“There you are!” Tom yelled, “You comin’ with us to the Christmas party, or what?”

Arden was a small town located in northern Delaware, but the one thing it boasted every year was a beautiful and well-executed Christmas Eve party. People from big cities like Dover and Wilmington frequented the party annually, and sometimes folks from Maryland and New Jersey braved the snowy December drive.

James, still upset about the snowball, yelled back – with the best sarcasm he could muster – “With you two idiots? Not a chance!”

Robert replied, “Don’t make us come up there and drag you out!”

James shut the window and looked at his dad.

“Go on, kid. You know I’ll be fine here. You can wear my suit if you’d like.”

James had never been much for parties, even Arden’s famous Christmas bash. He enjoyed the company of his friends, sure, but the introverted side of himself was always at odds with the spirit of parties in general. A night inside with the warmth of the fire and the presence of his father seemed much more appropriate for Christmas Eve, anyways.

*thump* another snowball hit the window.

“If you’re not gonna go, you better have the money to fix that window when Tom breaks it.” said his dad, taking a puff from his pipe.

James smiled, opened the window again and yelled, “I’m coming already! Give me a minute to get dressed.”

Donning his dad’s black suit, James came back out to let his father give him a once over.

“Looking good, kid.” His dad said, eyes scanning. “Come here and let me fix that tie.” His dad’s practiced hands undid James’ sloppy knot and quickly fixed it with a masterful full-windsor.

“Better hurry, it’s almost 10. I’d hate for you to miss that dance.”

James’ mom and dad had always danced when he was young. Everything – salsa, ballroom, swing – they knew it all. James himself had only learned a few steps, and would hardly call himself confident. Dancing was not on his agenda for tonight – besides, the only girls he knew in Arden were married or gone. A live band was supposed to be playing the party this year, though, and at least that would give him something to tap his foot to.

James wrapped the scarf his sister had knitted for him years ago around his neck, pulled a jacket on, and shut the door behind him.

“We thought you had fallen into the toilet or something.” Tom said, slapping James on the shoulder.

“Let’s go rescue us some damsels in distress.” said Robert, only half-joking. He had always been the ladies man, and James often lost track of his many girlfriends. Tom and James shook their heads as Robert led the way.

They approached the dance-hall, a place Arden had built a few years ago to house the ever-growing Christmas Eve party. The music was loud from the outside, and James could already smell gingerbread and peppermint. As usual, the town had spared no expense. In the distance, James could hear the local church carolers singing their hymns and songs on someone’s front porch. He smiled, then stepped inside.

The Christmas Eve party of 1937 was the biggest any of the boys had ever seen. Red and green streamers hung from the large, domed ceiling and electric Christmas lights with big clear bulbs were wrapped around a huge, 25ft Christmas tree in the middle of the room. Around the tree stood people James had grown up with, along with strangers that he knew had made the pilgrimage from out-of-town – all in their very best attire. James saw men with suits and hot-cocoa in hand, ladies with dresses and sparkling smiles, and the occasional child trying to make mischief. Behind the tree was a stage where the band stood and played Christmas tunes. The lead vocalist was singing the 1934 hit, “Winter Wonderland” while the bassist behind him plucked at his large cello and the pianist masterfully led the tune. The city had even brought in a big brass band; trumpets and trombones filled in between lyrics. James had never seen such a beautiful spectacle, and for a second he stood at the entrance stark-still taking it all in.

“You comin’ bud?” Tom said, pulling at James’ collar to follow.

The boys took off their coats, grabbed an Irish coffee each, and started talking with friends. James remained reserved, stopping every few moments to admire the decorations and music. His foot tapped along with the Holiday favorite “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and he admired the couples dancing between the giant tree and the band’s stage.

A half-hour passed, and James had found a seat away from the crowd. He sat and watched Robert get denied a dance for the third time that night. Tom stood with his work friends and laughed as they took turns telling jokes. Suddenly, James caught a blur of red from the corner of his left eye. He turned, and as he did he could swear that somebody darkened the lights. In James’ mind the only light that remained in the room was in the back left corner of the dance hall. A young lady, perhaps 17 or 18, stood there in a bright red dress that fell to her calves. She was slender, but not short – perhaps five foot six or seven. her blonde hair cascaded to her shoulders in big round curls, and she was laughing. James couldn’t hear her laugh from his side of the room, but he imagined that the only sound that could come from a girl like this would have rivaled the angels’ chorus to the shepherds on the first Christmas night. Her eyes were shut as she laughed, and then they opened and glanced over at James. He looked away quickly, then back, and met her eyes again. She was talking to someone, but her eyes were focused on James. He looked at his watch to try and break the stare, 10:40. The party would end at 11, as it did every year. James cursed under his breath for not noticing the girl earlier – had he been blind, or had she just arrived?

He looked back at her, and saw that she was no longer engaged in conversation with anyone. She stood there, alone, one foot tapping to the music. She looked at the tree, tracing its boughs to the top where a star was placed like some kind of watchful spirit. She looked at James again, this time with only a fleeting glance. He saw her press her lips together as if she had just put on lipstick – then he noticed that she had. It was red – the same shade as her dress – and he found himself captivated by even just the image of her.

Everyone has a few moments in life that they can perfectly recall from memory. For James, this was one such moment. His mind sketched out her every curve and movement. The way she swayed from side to side, her dress rippling under the white Christmas lights. The way she kept her foot perfectly in time with the music. The way she looked at him, and held his gaze.

James found himself standing up, almost automatically. He left his empty drink at the table and started to walk towards the girl, holding her gaze the whole time. Robert and Tom both watched from the other side of the room as he walked straight through a circle of conversation without paying anyone mind. He walked up to the girl and was only a few feet away before he realized that his mind was completely blank. He didn’t have a thing to say to her. His bravery was failing him fast, and he had to think of something quickly. If there was such thing as love at first sight, this was it. James knew that he had one chance with this girl – he had to make an impression. Gathering every ounce of courage he had left, James said,

“Would you like to dance?”

The girl smiled, her red lips parting to reveal perfectly straight white teeth. She took his extended hand and replied,

“Certainly.”

James’ thought that his ability to dance would be rusty after so many years without practice. But in that moment every dance with his mom rushed back into his arms and legs and muscle memory saved the day. He wrapped his right arm around her waste and they began waltzing around the dance floor. The song changed, this time with more trumpet and bass than the last, and James took her right and left hands as they began swing dancing. She followed him, movement for movement, as if she had been doing this her entire life. James was in awe of how easily they flowed together – he had never danced with anyone so steady and easily led. Their eyes flitted back to each other’s frequently, and James was in awe of her smile each time.

Just as quickly as it started, it was over. The clock struck 11, the band played their last notes, and the Christmas lights were turned off. The mass of people inside began putting on their coats and moving outside. James was still holding the girl’s hand when he saw Robert and Tom moving towards the exit. Robert had given up on conversations with women just in time to get outrageously drunk and Tom was helping him towards the door, holding James’ coat and scarf. He looked back and saw James.

“Let’s go!” he yelled, “help me out with Robert!”

James looked back at the girl, her green eyes sparkling. He held one hand to her face, closed his eyes, leaned down, and kissed her on the lips.

James knew that this would be his only moment with the girl. In towns like Arden you didn’t date anyone long-distance. He didn’t have a car or the money to travel. Besides – he wasn’t sure he was ready for a family. He was barely about to get a steady job, and no amount of wishing would give this girl the home and support she deserved. It was better to break it off before it ever began. He released her hand, and walked away before she opened her eyes. By the time she did, he was already gone.
—

Three Years Later

“I’m a draft dodger.”

This thought permeated James’ every waking moment and stuck with him at every new stop.

It had started in September when President Roosevelt enacted the first peacetime conscription in the history of the United States. James’ dad had briefly served in the first World War, but rarely spoke of it. Robert and Tom had signed up before the draft came to Arden, deciding that becoming officers in this next conflict might keep them alive. They had caught the fever of “serving the country” and had urged James to do the same.

James had never been a fighter. He knew that certain things in life are unavoidable, but no matter how hard he tried he could never will himself into believing in this war. He wasn’t sure if his inability to be patriotic at a time like this came from some hidden cowardice, or rather a desire to live his own life, uninhibited by demands of the state. Either way, he had left town on a cold fall night with all the money he had saved from his job at the mill, leaving only a note for his father to find the next morning. His dad would understand, of that James was sure. But the guilt of abandoning his country haunted James even as he enjoyed the freedoms of traveling the country.

James had stowed away on trains at first, mostly. Eventually, he found a cheap motorcycle for sale in a Boston suburb and purchased it for more than its projected cost. He had a little extra money, and this was Christmas, after all. He might be a draft-dodger, but a Scrooge he was not. Riding his motorcycle in October and November hadn’t been so bad, but the snows of late December made his stops more frequent, and his desire for a hot beverage and a warm meal insatiable.

He tore down the New York highway, his sister’s scarf covering his face to prevent frostbite, and his gloved hands cranking the throttle. New York’s Hudson Valley was a welcome reprieve from the dangers of bustling big cities that James had once admired. Dodging the draft meant that he had acquired a new sixth sense, having to steer clear of police and government officials in places like Manhattan. He had followed the Hudson river north, using his intuition and a map tucked in his back pocket to guide him to his next stop.

The only sign that illuminated the otherwise dark building read “DINER” in big, capital letters. White Plains, NY was a small enough town that James didn’t have to fear discovery, but big enough to have a diner and a motel across the street from one another. James turned his bike off, grabbed his bag, and went inside.

The diner was the same nondescript, typical eatery located all along the East Coast. It’s shiny, chrome-plated decorations sparkled from a few Christmas lights here and there. It was empty save for one waitress and the cooks. James walked inside, grabbed a stool at the bar, and waited. He didn’t need to look at the menu – bacon, eggs, and coffee were all he wanted. Maybe a muffin too – it was Christmas Eve after all.

“Merry Christmas,” said the waitress, smiling as she walked out from the kitchen, “what can I get for you?”

She was beautiful. Long dark hair, pulled back in a bun, and eyes to match. She was maybe 20, but looked like she had been working in this diner her whole life. Perhaps she had been.

“Bacon, two eggs, and coffee please,” said James, smiling back. He had no intention of flirting with the waitress – romantic connections had been given up long ago for his life on the road. But despite his three years of travel, James had promised himself to never lose his courtesy or optimism. “And what kinds of muffins do you have on hand?”

“Blueberry, apple cinnamon, and chocolate,” the waitress replied, “but you want blueberry. Don’t tell the cooks I told you this, but the other two don’t even come close.”

“Blueberry it is!” responded James, enjoying this exchange. New Yorkers are famous for their cold attitude to strangers, and it was clear this waitress was a diamond in the rough. Her cheery attitude wasn’t lost on James.

The waitress nodded, then went back to the kitchen. A moment later she returned, her eyes sparkling, two muffins in hand. She plopped one down next to James, then nibbled at the other. As James broke a piece off, the waitress asked,

“What’s someone like you doing at a place like this on Christmas Eve?”

James was used to this kind of question and had a few alibi stories always prepared just in case.

“Headed up to Poughkeepsie to visit my uncle.” he responded.

“Alright then. Good thing you’ll be there by Christmas! The holidays just aren’t the same without a family to share them with.”

James nodded in agreement, breaking off another piece of his muffin.

The waitress grabbed a mug, filled it with coffee, and set it down next to him. “Someone like you probably has all kinds of stories.” She declared with confidence. She motioned to the room and said, “I wish I could leave town and experience life outside of this place.”

“Enjoy it while you’re here,” James said, “it’s easy to take everyday life for granted.” Truthfully, James missed his dad’s voice as he read poetry aloud and the smell of fine tobacco in his house. Even the open air of the country paled in comparison.

“Do you have any good Christmas stories?” the waitress asked, taking another bite of her muffin.

James took a sip of coffee as his mind wandered off to the Christmas Eve party three years ago. It was the last one the town had thrown when war seemed eminent. The girl’s red dress flowed before him, and her smile was as close to his face right then as it had been when they danced.

“I’ve got a great story.” he said, his eyes glossing over, a smile edging at his lips.

The waitress leaned in, elbows on the bar. James began telling the story, from when his friends picked  him up, through a description of the dance hall, clear up to falling in love at first sight.

“I wasn’t sure I had the courage to speak to her as I approached,” James explained, “she was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.” The waitress blushed. “Finally, I managed to ask her to dance. She obliged, and at a quarter-til-11 we started the most memorable dance I will probably ever experience. When the music stopped, I leaned in and kissed her.”

“What happened next?” the waitress asked, “please tell me you two got married.”

“No, that was the last time I ever saw her.” James replied. “It might be my biggest regret to this day. I had every reason to not pursue her, of course. But I wish I could see her just once more to tell her how much that experience meant to me.”

“What was her name?” the waitress asked.

“I never got it. And she never got mine. I left before she even opened her eyes after our kiss.”

The waitress leaned back.

“That might be the most beautiful, tragic Christmas story I’ve ever heard.” She replied.

The cook sounded off “order up!” from inside the kitchen and the waitress handed James his meal.

“Make me a promise,” she said, forcefulness in her voice, “never lose hope.”

—–

10 Years Later; 13 Years From the Dance

James was 32, and had quite the reputation in the Hudson Valley. It was the year 1950, and the Second World War had ended five years earlier. James had never left his life on the road, but by now his draft-dodging days were nearly forgotten. He was a hard looking man, scars etched on his arms and face from a few encounters with drunk locals. He had kept his smile and sense of humor intact, and had been back to visit his father and hometown a few times since the end of the war.

He had decided long ago that settling down wasn’t for him. He had never married, and the little he had to show for himself was a brand-new motorcycle and a series of journals that he had kept through the years. He preferred his simple life, and had picked up construction jobs here and there throughout the years to pay for the necessities. Despite his nomadic lifestyle, James had made friends all around New York, and had often returned to that White Plains diner where he had stopped 10 years ago.

His Christmas Story was a holiday favorite for the locals of the Hudson Valley. Every year as the snow began to fall James would make his way to restaurants and diners and share the tale of “The Girl With No Name,” as it had become known. The gigs gave him money to stay warm during the winter and provided him with a little extra money to save. He wasn’t sure what it was about the story – maybe the simultaneous beauty and sadness of the tale struck a chord in the local’s hearts and gave them a reason to be thankful for what they had. Regardless, James enjoyed telling it.

The more he told the story, the more clear the details became. James could remember the texture of the girl’s hands, the glossiness of her red lipstick, each pluck of the band’s tunes. He could recall the look on his friend’s faces as they called for him to come outside. He remembered the Christmas tree – its shape, height, and decorations as if it was standing before him right then and there. There were always out-of-towners at James’ gigs that were confused why he was at the diner, reciting an old love story. But inevitably as James began his descriptions, the naysayers fell silent. It was too beautiful to bicker at, and too tragic to forget.

“Have you found the Girl With No Name?” James was asked, year after year.

His response never varied.

“No, but perhaps I’m not supposed to. Everyone’s life can only hold so much beauty, and mine was all used up on that one night.”

James was content with his life, but the girl in the red dress was always on the back of his mind. Town after town, city after city, James was always half-expecting to walk into a bar or diner to see her sitting there, ordering food or talking to a friend.

But it never happened, and it would never happen.

—–

21 Years Later, 34 Years From the Dance

When James turned 50, he decided it was time to go home. His dad had passed nearly a decade before, and had left everything to James. It took him some time to give up his life on the road, but in the end he was ready for a change. When he walked into his house for the first time in almost 10 years, the old scent of tobacco and smoke greeted him like a welcome friend. Tom and Robert had moved back to Arden as well, and already had families of their own. They had taken care of the place until James was ready to return. All of his father’s things were still in place – the old medal on the mantle, his dad’s pipe, and even the Christmas decorations. His friends knew what the Holiday season meant to James and had readied the house for his return.

He was 53 now and had grown back into the Arden community. Every year, Tom and Robert invited James over to their house for Christmas dinner and fellowship. His answer was always the same: a polite “no thank you.”

James’ habit of telling the story of The Girl With No Name every year followed him to Arden. On Christmas Eve he would sit inside the dance hall and relay the story to anyone that cared to listen. His biggest fans were the children – virtually every child in the community would sit and listen carefully, hanging on James’ every word. He spoke to them about love of the deepest kind, about his romantic dance, and the kiss that followed. And then he spoke about his premature departure, and his life on the road. Kids on Christmas morning would retell the story to their older siblings and parents, never sparing a detail. James enjoyed each retelling more than the last.

The story became as much a part of James as his time traveling. The two were intimately connected, and his reputation in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, and further up and down the coast had become larger-than-life. Yet still, the girl was never found. James imagined her living in some far off country with a good-looking husband and kids to call her own. He imagined her laughing on the beaches of California or smiling at sunrises in Texas.

When a few Christmases had passed, James could tell the story, then pause and let the children tell him what came next. His tale was as much a part of the community as caroling or opening presents on Christmas morning. The children invited James to their schools in the fall, and he coached baseball in the spring. Ever day he would return to his house, smoke his pipe, and sit where his father had sat years before. And as the snow began to fall each December, he always half-expected a snow ball to pelt against his window.

He never encountered the Girl With No Name. But as the waitress had made him promise all those years ago, he never lost hope.

——–

20 Year Later, 54 Years From the Dance

It was December 25, 1991. James was laying in his hospital bed, cold from the morning air flowing in through his open window. It was Christmas, James realized.

He had been admitted to the hospital a month before after suffering a near-fatal heart attack. Stephen, Robert’s oldest son, had visited James to hear his famous story when he found him on the floor. He called the ambulance, and James barely made it through the night.

Although he had survived the heart attack, the hospital had concluded that James’ heart was failing. He had almost nobody left – the children had grown up, the town had grown out of James’ story, and he was left with an empty bedroom and heart that could give out at any moment. Robert and Tom’s kids cared about James – but their busy lives permitted only brief visits to pay the bills and say hello. The doctor told him that although surgery was available, it was extremely unlikely that James would survive the procedure. James opted to spend his last days in the comfort of the hospital, and he was content with dying there.

“Merry Christmas James, how are you feeling today?” asked the nurse, coming in to do her daily check up.

“Fine, thank you.” James muttered, his voice hoarse, “It is Christmas, isn’t it? And I haven’t a thing to wear.”

The nurse chuckled. “Not to worry,” she said, “we just got a new nurse in today who will be working with me to take care of you. I’m sure your personality will impress her more than any clothes you could wear.”

James smiled. The hospital was a nice place, and although the sanitary smell of rubbing alcohol and latex was no match for his favorite tobacco, he couldn’t complain about the cheery atmosphere.

“Carol, why don’t you come in here and meet James.”

The nurse left, and the new nurse entered James’ room. She was an older woman, and James couldn’t catch a good view of her from his position on the bed.

She stepped closer and sat on a stool next to him. “Hey there, I’m Carol. Nice to meet you James.” she said with bells in her voice.

The light from the window was on her face and James couldn’t quite make out what she looked like. Then again, his sight was failing him almost as quickly as his heart.

James’ mind went back to all the Christmases before. He had always been the one to share his story, and in his old age it had gotten harder and harder to tell. He had wanted to share it with the hospital staff – if nothing else it would help him get his mind off of the pain. But the difficulties of old age and his fading mind made it difficult to form the words. He had made it a point to replay the story in his head so he never lost it, but telling it was getting harder and harder.

On this Christmas morning, all James wanted to do was listen. He didn’t have the voice to share anymore.  He had lived a full life, and his stories had run their course. On this cold December 25th, the only present James wanted was to hear somebody else’s Christmas tale.

“Nurse?” James asked, “What is your favorite Christmas story?”

The nurse paused, folded her hands on her lap, and smiled. The sun glinted off of the red glasses she was wearing, and she leaned in.

“When I was 18 years old, I met a man in northern Delaware. I was visiting with a friend from college, before the war started. It was December 24th, and it was the most beautiful celebration I had ever been to. I’ll tell you what, that town sure knew how to throw a party. I noticed a young man sitting at a table alone in the distance. He met my eyes, but looked away. I wasn’t sure if he already had a girlfriend and was waiting for her, or if he was just enjoying watching the party from a distance. But I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. Something about him – a sense of adventure that I had never seen before – made me want to have a conversation. All of a sudden, he got up and started walking towards me. When he got close, he stopped and tried to gather his words. He must have been so nervous – but all of a sudden he asked me if I wanted to dance. I of course said yes, and he took my hand. He was the most fabulous dancer I have ever met, and I had a hard time following. It was close to the end of the evening, but even in those few minutes I knew that I loved him. I don’t know how I knew – I just did. The band stopped playing, and our dance came to a close. Now – I’ll tell you, I wasn’t the type of girl to kiss just any man I danced with. But I was so caught up in him, and I knew that I had to kiss him. There was no hesitation when he reached for my face and pulled me close. Our lips met, and I shut my eyes. A moment later, I felt him release me from his embrace, I opened my eyes, and he was gone. I never got the chance to ask him his name, and I never understood why he left, but I know that it wasn’t out of fear. He had the courage to ask me the dance, and I am forever grateful for that. I just wish I could have told him how much that moment meant to me. That night has always stuck with me, and to this day it is my favorite Christmas story. When the war started, I left to be a nurse overseas. I always kept my eyes open for that man, hoping that I might see him as a soldier or officer. And although tragic, the beauty that I saw on that night has driven me to be a kinder, gentler, more loving person. I owe that all to the man with no name.”

James was weeping.

“What’s the matter, James?” Carol asked.

“You’re favorite Christmas story is my favorite Christmas story.” James said, grabbing her hand.

Carol looked into his eyes, and realization cascaded over her. “James…” she said, her voice trailing off.

The only thing James had ever wanted in his life was to meet the Girl With No Name again. Now it was happening, and in the most unexpected, unprecedented way. At this moment, James realized that he had nothing left to live for. The loose ties of his life were being drawn shut, and he could feel the impending end closing in. James’ thoughts drifted back to his life: the children, his motorcycle, his life on the road, and the waitress. He realized that this one belief that he might see the Girl again had kept him alive all of these years. It had given him purpose, and now that purpose was gone. He could not let that happen to Carol, not when she was still so healthy and beautiful. Not when she could touch so many other’s lives still. Carol could retell their story, but to do that she needed one thing.

James’ breath got heavy, and his eyes began to shut. “Make me a promise, Carol…” James said, in a whisper.

“Anything.” Carol said, realizing that this may be her last moment to speak with the man she loved so much over 50 years ago.

“Never lose hope.”

James let out his last long breath.

The post A Christmas Story With Your Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

The Boise Weekly recently posted a great article about pour-over coffee in the Boise area. I’d like to throw in a few thoughts for consideration and thank them for promoting the local coffee scene.

When I started this blog in 2009, I was a high school student with very little experience in coffee. I worked at a local Boise drive-thru coffee shop during my sophomore and junior years of high school, and I trecked around Boise checking out what local coffee had to offer. In those not-so-long-ago days there were two primary methods of brewing coffee in Boise: espresso and drip. My first foray into new coffee territory was when I purchased my Aeropress as a college freshman in 2011. The Aeropress is a unique brewer because it’s not quite pour-over, but it definitely is not espresso and brews a better cup than standard drip machines. I began researching new methods of brewing coffee, and this led me to experimenting with pour-over coffee in 2012, starting with the Clever immersion/pour-over combo device, and eventually the Hario v60.

In my opinion, nothing is quite like coffee brewed using a pour-over technique. Making a great cup of pour-over coffee requires dedication and persistence. The method matters: everything from the type of kettle you use to the style of pour, the length of pour, the temperature of the brewing device and the cup, and especially the grind of the beans. That’s why I’m always thankful when coffee shops with expert baristas offer pour-over coffee. I know that they know what they’re doing, and it’s always impressive to see their experienced hands at work. I’ve had great cups everywhere from Seattle to New York.

But, strangely, my growth into appreciating pour-over coffee has not been matched in Boise. The coffee community is largely stuck in the same place they were when I left town for college: espresso and drip. According to the Boise Weekly article, this may be changing.

The District Coffee House and  Neckar Coffee now offer coffee brewed using the pour-over method. The article does a great job of outlining their process and why they believe that pour-over offers something completely absent in the Boise coffee community so far. My hope is that other coffee houses like Dawson’s Downtown and the Flying M will follow this same path – their locally roasted coffee would taste wonderful coming out of a Chemex or a v60.

My call is that the scene is beginning to change and soon pour-over coffee will be in every coffee shop and cafe in the Boise area. This will do wonders for pushing locally-roasted coffee back to the front and will ultimately benefit the community as a whole. The more people experience this unique and delicious style of brewing, the less they will desire to purchase from large chains like Starbucks, Dutch Bros, and Thomas Hammer. And while the huge chains do the service of selling comfortable coffee that meets expectations, when people taste great coffee that blows expectations out of the water they will never want to go back.

Dawson’s Downtown has a bumper sticker in the back of their store behind the counter that says “friends don’t let friends drink Starbucks.” My hope is that the Boise coffee scene will pursue pour-over coffee to give people one less reason to spend their money on bad coffee.

The Coffee Guy

Links:
Boise Weekly Article
The District Coffee House
Neckar Coffee Company

The post Boise Pour-Over Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

My favorite part about reviewing coffee is coming into contact with family roasting companies that have been around for generations. When I’m able to review or buy coffee from a shop that has been around for decades, passing recipes and roasting techniques down as they go, I know I’m in for a treat. Mills Coffee is one such company, having been founded by Thomas Mills in 1860. The roasting company is currently being run by fourth and fifth generation Mills who recently launched TheQueenBean.com, their online retailer that sells their signature roasts and blends.

After Thomas Mills emigrated to the United States in 1860 from Scotland he opened Mills Teas and Butter. Eventually he decided to expand to include his new favorite beverage: coffee. In the late 1800s Thomas began roasting his own beans, beginning a tradition that would continue for over a century. Today, Mills Coffee is run by Susan and her brother David. David took on the role of master roaster while Susan handles financial and creative dimensions of the company. Susan’s son Dave now works in the family business, being an all around go-to man and stepping in to roast when David is away. Her daughter Nicole handles online retail through their new website. Mills Coffee is a family company through-and-throug and they carefully select their coffees from high quality, sustainable, eco-friendly, socially-conscious environments. One of the places they get their beans is La Cotorra farm, located in a remote portion of the Dominican Republic. They helped La Cotorra get out of a tight financial spot, simultaneously contributing to the local DR community.

Their online store is easy to navigate, with coffees in the $20/lb range (upwards with shipping). The “coffee 101” and “about” sections of their website are fine, though they don’t give nearly as much information as the handout they included with my coffee. Their story is fascinating to read, and I think it would benefit them greatly to include it on their website. Additionally, the art on their shopping portion of the website is a bit much and doesn’t tell me a lot about the coffee, besides the name. The rest of the website has a lighthearted yet still professional feel, while the art seemed to stick out as being not entirely cohesive with the rest of the site. Perhaps determining a consistent theme and then departing from that according to the specifics of each coffee would help. Ordering coffee is a breeze, though the descriptions of their roasts and blends are hit and miss. Some are great – offering flavor profiles and specifics about where the coffee was grown. Others are more general and could use some more details about what makes that coffee unique. I’m probably a bit oversensitive here: I really like to know what coffee I’m getting and where it came from. It could be that this simply isn’t as big of a deal to the average consumer. Overall, I’m excited that they decided to open up an online store this year, and I think Mills Coffee is taking steps in the right direction.

Mills Coffee sent me two coffees: their Dominican and El Salvador roasts. I ended up enjoying the Dominican more, but both brought interesting flavor profiles to the table.

The Dominican is a lighter roast with strong, earthy notes and mild acidity. Brewing it in my v60 created an expected clean cup of coffee, and I found the aftertaste to be almost sweet. The flavor is strong and present throughout each sip, never wavering. It reminded me of a macadamia nut – smooth, yet bold all at once. It kept me coming back for more, and the steadiness of each cup increased my trust in this coffee.

The El Salvador, conversely, is more citrusy/chocolatey in flavor. It reminded me almost of a chocolate covered peanut, which is welcome to be sure. My only qualm with this coffee was that each sip finished extremely dry. While it wasn’t inherently bad, I found myself desiring no more than one cup in a sitting, followed by a glass of water.

I absolutely recommend buying Mills Coffee. Their family origins and their passion to make a great product is evident. Their coffee is delicious, and their website is a very capable medium to purchase from. My experience with them has only been positive, and it is evident that they really do care about the quality of their roasts.

The Coffee Guy

Follow me on Twitter!

Mills Coffee Social Media Links:

Website: thequeenbean.com
Twitter: @QueenBeanCoffee
Facebook: Like their page

The post Queen of the Hill: Time Tested Roasting Meets Ordering Online appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I made a short video that shows my brew method for the Hario v60, and has a pretty fantastic song to go along with it! Enjoy, and please share yours in the comments.

Heat water to 200 degrees F.
Grind 28 grams of your favorite, fresh coffee at a medium grind in a burr grinder.
Wet filter and preheat vessel.
Pour 60g of water and let the coffee bloom for 1 min.
Finish pour to 415g.
Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy!

The Coffee Guy

The post BoiseCoffee’s Hario v60 Brew Method appeared first on Boise Coffee.

The fine folks over at Coffee Lovers Mag have featured my New Orleans Coffee Crawl in their 9th issue! This free-to-try iPad/iPhone magazine is a great way to explore what’s going on in the coffee community, and I am humbled to be a part of the September issue. Please download it and share with friends!

(iTunes link to download)

The Coffee Guy

The post BoiseCoffee featured in Coffee Lovers Mag! appeared first on Boise Coffee.

One of the perks to going to school an hour north of NYC is that I occasionally get to venture into the city for an adventure or two. The problem is that the barriers to entry are large – logistics of where to stay, how to save money, and who to hang out with have prevented me from getting into the city nearly as often as I’d like. Today is one of those opportunities I rarely have – a free evening in New York City with little on my plate, and a hankering for good coffee.

Today I find myself at Bluebird Coffee Shop in East Village, Manhattan. Good coffee has slowly been seeping into this turf – one that until recently has been heavily steeped in the likes of Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. In March of 2010 the NYT ran an article titled “New York Is Finally Taking Its Coffee Seriously” where it outlined some of the quality coffee that was only then starting to pierce the veil of commodity coffee. One of the coffee shops covered in that article is Bluebird Coffee Shop, where I just ordered a standard latte.

Bluebird Coffee Shop is small, located on the corner of 1st Avenue and 1st Street in East Village. It has a bar that can be sat at from the inside or outside, and three small tables (they can fit your coffee or your laptop – not both). Half of the room is dedicated to the coffee bar and storage shelves in the back. They serve whatever is in season from Counter Culture, with several roasts for sale by the bag. Their menu is composed of espresso drinks and drip coffee. To my chagrin, no pour-overs are available. Still, the coffee is excellent, and the shots are pulled well. The environment is minimalist, the music is low but enchanting. It’s the type of place to stop while on your way elsewhere, not necessarily ideal to stop and smell the roses.

Since I’ve been sitting here, several locals have come in for an espresso shot and to discuss coffee with the barista. This is a place that depends on regulars.

Lattes are hard to make poorly, but equally as hard to make excellent. I ordered one because, well, I felt like one. That being said, it was excellent. And I don’t use that term lightly. The barista frothed the milk to exactly the right consistency, and the shots were pulled without flaw. The latte art was impeccable (I had already taken a sip in the picture on the right) and from the conversations the barista was having with customers I could tell he loves his craft.

While it was hard to tell the specific notes of the espresso due to the creamy and delicious milk, I could tell that they had light, fruity tones to them. Definitely nice for a summertime latte. I just got into town, and it was exactly what I needed after a day of flights and time change.

Bluebird Coffee Shop is worth visiting if you can make the trek to East Village or if you live nearby. A few notes: they have a $10 minimum for card swipes, but gladly accept cash. They have bags of freshly roasted Counter Culture for sale, and they also sell KeepCups (which I can personally endorse having used one for months). Additionally, wifi is free, as is people watching!

The Coffee Guy

Find Bluebird Coffee Shop Online:
BluebirdCoffeeShop.com
Bluebird’s Facebook Page
@bbcsnyc
Instagram

The post Bluebird Coffee Shop Review appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Located in East Nashville on Gallatin, the outside of Barista Parlor is basically a three door garage. Inside, however, is a different story. The front of the coffee shop is a large island with two bars – one side seems reserved for espresso, the other for manual brew methods. Past the island, and on either side, are long wooden bars to sit at and enjoy your food and drink. Larger tables are in the back for bigger groups of friends. The sides are sprinkled with smaller round tables. The back-left wall displays coffee equipment and beans for purchase, the far wall contains a large pixelated image of a ship being tossed by a storm. Lights are suspended throughout the coffee shop – hanging from the high ceiling, but providing a warm yellow glow to the whole room.

When I arrived at the Parlor, the aesthetically-pleasing inside caught me off guard – it’s beautiful. The second thing I noticed was that there were a lot of people hanging out and sipping coffee. This is obviously a community favorite. The third thing I noticed was the most surprising – the Barista Parlor serves six coffees from six different roasters used for by-the-cup pour over methods and three coffees for espresso. This is more than any other coffee shop I’ve ever seen. Intelligentsia, Stumptown, Handsome, Sightglass, Four Barrel, and Madcap coffees are all available. This means tons of coordination on the part of the coffee shop, and it really impressed me.

I ordered a cup of the Kenyan Gotomboya from Four Barrel made in a v60, and a shot of Bandy espresso from Handsome. I was hungry as well, so I ordered the “Huntsman” – scrambled eggs with pepperjack, bacon, and cornbread.

My coffee was out in a flash, followed quickly by my plate of food. While the food wasn’t quite the portion I would have liked, it was incredibly delicious. I suppose after supping on large homemade southern breakfasts for the last several weeks it’s not quite fair of me for me to dock Barista Parlor points for this; truth be told, their breakfast was scrumptious.

The coffee was up to par with what I would expect from Handsome and Four Barrel. But a bad barista can make even the best beans taste off-kilter. Props to the baristas that work at the Parlor, they gave both my espresso and my pour-over the taste they deserve.

The espresso from Handsome had hints of chocolate, smooth carmel, and provided a lovely spike on the palette. I found myself nodding my head in approval and flicking my tongue to get the most taste out of each sip.

I wasn’t sure I liked the Four Barrel pour-over at first, possibly because of the slightly skunky smell. But as the cup went on I found it to be quite delicious. It had an even profile, not very acidic. I’m used to an acidic cup these days, I think. Still, it tended to have brief spikes of flavor. It was a nice cup to enjoy on a chill day like the one I was having, that’s for sure. By the end of the cup I nearly ordered another.

The Coffee Parlor is filled with the chatter of meetings, the laughs of friends, and the sounds of coffee-creation. The music was playing lightly in thebackground – a playlist with some bands I have never heard as well as the Rolling Stones. Everything creates a vortex of background noise that is quiet enough to read a book in, but forgiving enough to allow for normal conversations.

Laptops and tablets littered the bar and tables everywhere, and ample outlets provided plenty of power. That said, a fairly large amount of people were reading paperbacks too. I like this conflux of mediums, and I like that the Barista Parlor is the type of place to let both thrive.

As a coffee geek, I felt right at home. Huge siphons, v60 drip stations, and coffee paraphernalia were out for the world to see at the brewing bar, and it was cool to be able to look over and see coffees being made with ease by the well-seasoned baristas.

The Barista Parlor is the type of place that’s good for just about everything. Meetings could be held in the back of the room, small gatherings of friends would be a perfect fit for the smaller tables, and sitting alone while reading a book works perfect at one of the bars. Laptops fit everywhere, and plenty of power means lots of time to get that project completed. It’s a versatile coffee shop space, and I would recommend it to just about anyone.

The wide range of coffees made by skilled baristas means a quality cup and a great experience. In short, I can’t recommend the Coffee Parlor highly enough. It is one of the best coffee shops I have ever had the pleasure of reviewing (and their food is great too!)

The Coffee Guy

Find the Barista Parlor online here:

BaristaParlor.com
Twitter: @BaristaParlor
Facebook.com/BaristaParlor

The post Nashville’s Barista Parlor appeared first on Boise Coffee.

A coffee crawl is similar to a bar crawl – multiple locations are hit up for the benefit of sight-seeing and experiencing things that you might not just sitting in one location all evening. I wanted to get a feel for where New Orleans was at in their coffee scene, especially since my time in the south has largely left me with a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to their coffee – literally.

It was a great time! I got the chance to walk all around New Orleans, and my coffee experience ran the gambit from truly great to extremely distasteful. NOLA is well on its way to a great coffee scene. Check out the video I made during my experience, below. I’ve listed out individual observations for the various coffee shops below as well.

Located on Magazine street, Velvet Espresso Bar didn’t look like much from the outside. The inside doesn’t have a ton to offer either: two bars with stools to sit and have a quick lunch is all the seating available. They use square and an iPad to process orders, and their menu is written on the wall in chalk. But a majority of the one room building is dedicated to what actually matters: coffee. A large espresso machine, siphons, and a pour station give way for plenty of ordering options. On the wall opposite the espresso machine the available coffees were lined up. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Velvet serves Stumptown coffee. After spotting the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, I ordered a V60 pourover with a shot of espresso on the side.

There were two other gentlemen in the shop with me, and both were eating sandwiches when I entered. After ordering, I took a seat and admired the local art that amply decorates the walls. One of the gentlemen asked if I wanted half of his sandwich since he wasn’t going to eat it, and I happily obliged. Velvet knows how to make an egg-and-jam sandwich! After sucking up the last bite, my coffee was ready. The presentation was phenomenal, and the barista was sweet.

I found my espresso to be a little flat, and while I’m not sure the exact type of coffee they were using for it, I was surprised. It was smooth on the palette, but had a rocky finish that wasn’t quite to my taste. The pour-over was extremely well made, however. I love a good Yirgacheffe in the first place, and this one exceeded expectations. The sweet, fruity-carmel notes were present throughout each taste. The cup was clean and well balanced – every sip left me wanting another. As it cooled the cup took on richer flavors of chocolate that only got more delicious.

I can’t recommend Velvet enough as a place to pass through or grab a quick sandwich and pour-over. It’s not an ideal place to try and get work done, but the coffee is worth making it a destination spot.

On my way to find the New Orleans classic Cafe Du Monde, I ran into this record store. They had a sign that proudly proclaimed “cafe” on the outside, and I figured any record store that felt it was worth advertising their coffee was worth me checking out. I’m glad I did! Peaches is filled with character. A store that felt similar to Boise’s Record Exchange, it is as quirky as it is homey. I found myself engaged in a conversation with one employee about the merits of records becoming popular once again – a subject I couldn’t have cared less about mere minutes ago.The staff was engaging, helpful, and in the end they made a killer espresso.

The espresso was much better than Velvet’s – a welcome surprise. It was full bodied and rich, nutty notes throughout. In one employee’s words, “people from other countries come here and say it’s the best espresso they’ve ever had.” I was happy to indulge while listening to great music (Preacher Man played on the speakers overhead).

Peaches is located on N. Peters Street right in the hubub of downtown. If you need a quick reprieve from the hustle and bustle of tourists I would highly recommend grabbing an espresso or latte and taking a seat at one of their several tables. Or, if it’s your thing, talk up one of the employees about records. They sell plenty of those as well!

If you’re in New Orleans for any stint of time, someone will tell you that you have to visit Cafe Du Monde. While they are probably most famous for their beniegets (a French type of donut), they also boast about their chicory coffee. Chicory is plant which has been used as a coffee substitute/additive off and on for centuries. I had never tried it myself, and Cafe Du Monde seemed like the place to do it.

There are several locations inside and outside of New Orleans, the most famous being the one in the French Market. This location was established in 1862. Open 24 hrs a day, it only closes on Christmas and when the occasional hurricane messes up the daily routine.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect at Cafe Du Monde even after hearing so much about it. As I took my seat at one of the many outside tables, I was struck by just how many people were there. There was something about the smell of fried dough, mixed with the 40-something fathers with cameras draped around their necks and young children running around that made me instinctively look around for where my Mickey Mouse ears went.

A small order of beniegets and a small coffee cost me only $5 (cash only). The coffee is really not that good. Unfortunately, it seems as though the chicory is present to mask the burnt coffee taste. An initial sip revealed the presence of a foreign substance immediately – undoubtedly the chicory. It isn’t unpleasant, but it’s definitely not delicious or desired. Akin to eating a skittle and expecting an M&M, perhaps. The beniegets are another matter altogether, however. As someone with a bit of a sweet tooth, I admit that I loved the ample amount of powdered sugar present on each one. They were really delicious.

Cafe Du Monde is worth visiting simply to say you did. If you’re looking for a great place to have a seat and enjoy a conversation over a cup of coffee, look elsewhere. The loud crowds and unsatisfactory brew make this tourist destination worth the pictures, and that’s about it.

Desiring to end my day on a high note, I walked through the French Market over to Royal street in the hopes that a cafe named The Orange Couch would give me some relaxation and a good cup of coffee. Situated in a much quieter part of the city, no tourists were fighting to get inside the small doors. The Orange Couch uses white as its primary decorative color, giving the room a fresh, clean feel. Situated in the middle of the coffee shop towards the front is a bright orange couch.

After inquiring and being told that they, unfortunately, do not serve pour-overs, the knowledgeable barista recommended I try their cold brew. Iced coffee did sound good after the hot walk from Cafe Du Monde, so I consented and found a table to sit at. The Orange Couch has plenty of tables, couches, and chairs. Free wifi and plenty of power outlets make this a great location to get school or work done.

The cold brew was quite good. Nothing strikingly original made it stand out, but by the end I felt refreshed and highly caffeinated. The body was tart, and the end was smooth, if a bit watered down from the ice.

While I wouldn’t go to The Orange Couch expecting to be blown away by their coffee, the environment was the best I experienced all day. The staff was friendly, and the peaceful atmosphere made me glad I had made the trip.

In all, my New Orleans coffee crawl was a success. While it’s clear that NOLA has a ways to go in its coffee scene, there were plenty of options that I wouldn’t mind coming back to. Velvet and The Orange Couch rank up there with some of the best I’ve had, while Peaches felt like a welcome little taste of home.

If you’re ever in the New Orleans area, I’d love to hear about your coffee experiences. Feel free to leave a comment or hit me up on Twitter.

The Coffee Guy

Velvet Espresso Bar
Peaches Records
Cafe Du Monde
The Orange Couch

The post New Orleans Coffee Crawl appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’m a strong believer in using technology to make the things I do every day a little easier. The rise of smartphones and tablets has made the ubiquitous “app” not only popular, but powerful. Apple’s popular “there’s an app for that” campaign is true if my iPhone’s homescreen is any indication, and with the number of interested developers out there, it’s safe to say things are just getting started. So what are the best coffee apps, and what gives them that title?

The apps that this post deals with are those that have to do with making your coffee-making experience a little easier. Some of them have timers, some include information about beans, and some have maps with their shop locations built in. All of them are high-quality software, and I’m happy to have them on my phone. I think you will too.

The apps I’m discussing are Intelligentsia, Bean Seeker, and Bloom [iTunes links]. Additionally, I am reviewing the apps released for iOS. I cannot comment on any versions on other platforms.

Intelligentsia coffee has become one of the most popular names in the specialty coffee community, and for good reason. Their beans are fresh, their passion is ever-present, and their experience is nearly untouchable. Check out this great video that shows their passion front-and-center.

When I stumbled onto Intelligentsia’s iPhone app, I was extremely excited. I’ve never seen them put out a product that is less-than-exceptional.

Their app has four main sections with buttons at the bottom of the app: Coffee, Brewing, Brew Timer, and About. The ‘Coffee’ section has their bean offerings separated into “Single Origin,” “Black Cat Espresso,” and “Blends and Decaf Coffee” with beautiful images accompanying bean types. The ‘Brewing’ section has six different brew methods to choose from: Cafe Solo, Pourover, Chemex, Cupping, Siphon Brewer, and French Press. Tapping on any of these will bring up a comprehensive, illustrated, step-by-step brewing guide for that method. The ‘Brew Timer’ section has a timer that uses pre-installed times from the previously mentioned brew methods to help you get your extraction times just right. Unfortunately, it is not customizable. The ‘About’ section includes links to Intelligentsia’s website and twitter page. Check out the slideshow below for screenshots from the app. As you can tell, this app was developed for pre-iPhone 5 screens. Due to this, my app was letterboxed. Hopefully they will come out with an updated version soon.

Chinatown Coffee is located in Chinatown, Washington D.C. I had the pleasure of visiting them last summer, and my experience was very positive. When I found their app, I was thrilled. Their app features a vertical list of options upon launching: World Coffee Map, Menu, Coffee, Brew Methods, and About. ‘World Coffee Map’ has three sub-options: Nearby, Browse, and Submit. ‘Nearby’ pulls up a map with your location, and options to search at varying distances away from you to find a quality, specialty coffee shop. ‘Submit’ brings up links to Email  or Tweet to Chinatown about a location you think they should add. ‘Browse’ is the most powerful of the three options, allowing you to pick your continent and city of choice to find great coffee shops. Unfortunately, Boise isn’t a current option (they better fix that!)

The other sections of the app are similar to Intelligentsia’s offerings, but less robust. Their ‘Brew Methods’ only feature Chemex, French Press, and Pour Over. You can also find Chinatown’s menu so that you know exactly what to order next time you’re in the area.

This app was letterboxed as well due to being designed for pre-iPhone 5 screens. Screenshots are below.

Bloom is by far the best of the three apps discussed in this post. While it won’t help you when you’re out on the town looking for coffee shops, it is indispensable when it comes to home brewing. Bloom is exclusively a coffee timer/recipe maker, and it comes with plenty of pre-set options: Aeropress, Beehouse, Bonmac, Chemex, Clever, Eva Solo, French Press, Kalita Wave, Siphon, and V60.

Each preset comes with the recommended coffee/water ratio, bloom time, steep time, and pour time. The best part about Bloom, however, is its ability to be customized. Any of the recipes can be tweaked according to your personal preferences or type of bean. You can make entirely new recipes as well. Then, when you’re ready to start brewing, all you have to do is tap the play button.

Bloom keeps track of those recipes you used recently under the “recent” header for easy access. It’s become my regular go-to app for simple and consistent brewing.

Do you have any coffee apps that you regularly use? Drop me a link in the comment box!

The Coffee Guy

Links:

Intelligentsia app
Bean Seeker
Bloom

The post The Best Coffee Apps appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I stumbled onto Bill’s Beans after having a conversation with @ryHanson on Twitter. We communicate about what we’re drinking from time to time, and Ryan has made it clear that he swears by Bill’s Beans, a microroaster founded, owned, and operated by Bill Angle in Pocatello, Idaho. I’m from Idaho originally, and I’ve been to Pocatello a few times. Make no mistake, it’s a great place. But it’s not exactly known as a mecca of coffee.

I was hesitant from the get-go, but Idaho will always have a special place in my heart. BoiseCoffee started in Boise, after all, and I try to get back to my roots as often as I can. This seemed like a great opportunity, so I sent Bill a message about possibly reviewing his coffee. After a brief online exchange, my coffee was in the mail.

First, a little about Bill’s Beans. His website says,

All coffee bean orders are roasted within 1-2 days of the date the order is place.
All coffee beans are roasted at an elevation of 6014 ft and are roasted in a Diedrich IR-7, an Idaho made roaster.
All coffee beans are roasted and shipped from Pocatello, Idaho.
All coffee bean orders are a full pound (16oz), and come in a one way valve zip bag.

Bill just recently made the jump to selling his coffee online. His website isn’t perfect, but he does have fairly good descriptions of each coffee that is available to purchase. He sent me “Bill’s Blend” and “Bill’s Espresso Blend.” Let’s get started.

Bill’s Blend

Bill’s blend smelled delicious when I opened the bag: like a chocolate cake. The smell filled the room instantly, and I loved it. I brewed Bill’s Blend in my Clever drip brewer and received varying results depending on the coffee-water ratio that I used. The best result I got was when I used 26 grams of coffee with 380 grams of water. This cup was clear and had a solid taste full of deep, low nutty notes. Brief flashes of acidity sparked my palette throughout the cup, creating an interesting combination of low notes and high notes that was more than welcome. I could tell that this was a blend right out, but it was definitely one of the better blends I’ve tried.

The cup kept me coming back for more, and I highly recommend purchasing a bag for yourself.

Bill’s Espresso Blend

I encountered an immediate problem when I opened Bill’s Espresso Blend: I don’t have an espresso machine. However, I do have an Aeropress, and it can adequately be used to create what I like to call “fakespresso”; a highly concentrated shot of coffee, but not pulled with enough pressure to deem it true espresso. I haven’t indulged in fakespresso in a while, and I was excited to give Bill’s Espresso Blend a try. The results were incredible.

Bill’s Espresso Blend pulled some of the best shots I’ve ever had, and the best I’ve ever had using an Aeropress. Strong chocolate notes rang through with some nutty notes, akin to what I experienced with Bill’s Blend. However, they were intertwined in such a way that the best word I can use to describe the taste is “Almond Hershey’s Bar.” And it really was like a delicious candy bar in a shot. The acidity of the shot was present, but fairly even and played off the tongue nicely. There wasn’t any sour aftertaste, which was great. This would make excellent espresso to go with any desert after dinner.

Bill’s Beans was the definition of what I think of when I hear the word “microroaster”: a small, relatively unknown roaster who produces an excellent product. It was evident that Bill’s almost 20 years of roasting experience really make his coffee unique and delicious. His shipping prices vary depending on where you live in the U.S., but I would highly recommend you give him a shot. Pun totally intended.

Bill’s Beans online:
Website
Facebook
Reddit

The Coffee Guy

The post Bill’s Beans: Delicious Coffee from Southeast Idaho Microroaster appeared first on Boise Coffee.

What is coffee to you? Your morning injection of energy? Your passion? Your addiction? Regardless, coffee is incredibly ingrained in our society today, and it’s probably not going anywhere. In this video titled ‘Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever’ it’s spelled out just how pervasive and important coffee is in our daily lives.

With crazy facts like “in terms of coffee, for every kilogram of mass you have, you’ll need to drink a latte to have a visit from the grim reaper” this video is as informative as it is funny.

Let’s not forget one of the most important parts about coffee, though: the taste. Contrary to what some big-business coffee companies would have you believe, stale ash is not the default taste profile of any coffee. And frankly, if that’s what you’re settling for, you’re missing out. Come to the dark side of specialty coffee and enjoy the best of both worlds: delicious coffee, and an awesome caffeine rush.

The Coffee Guy

The post Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever, or Just a Necessity? appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Here at BoiseCoffee, we understand that you might not have the cash on hand to invest in a brand new coffee brewer, and even if you did, it wouldn’t do you any good right now. I mean right now – this very second. This list is to help you perfect your current routine by giving you 5 helpful tips and tricks to improve the cup of coffee made with whatever gear you currently have. Unless it’s a Keurig. Then you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit. #killthekcup

Here are 5 Ways to Make Your Cup of Coffee Better…right meow.

1. Get your water to the right temperature. Many off-the-shelf drip brewers don’t heat water to at least 190 degrees F, the minimum needed temperature to properly extract coffee.
2. Use the right grind size. No matter what grinder you already own, you can affect how large or small your grind size is. Burr grinders will grind coffee more evenly, making for a truer taste. Blade grinders produce lots of “fines” (coffee dust) that will turn your cup bitter. Still, if you’re using a blade grinder to coarsely grind your coffee for a drip brewing technique, it’s adding insult to injury. Here’s a good list of what grind size to use.
3. Preheat your mug. While this might not seem like a big deal, temperature differences greatly affect the taste of coffee. While your coffee is brewing, use some hot water to preheat the inside of your favorite mug. Plus, it does double duty as a rinse.
4. Keep your beans fresh. If you’re using pre-ground coffee, these same tips apply, but please realize your coffee will naturally go stale much faster. The best place to store coffee beans is in a sealed, airtight container that is kept in a cool place out of direct sunlight. Avoid the refrigerator or freezer, as foreign odors and precipitation can slip into your beans.
5. Try something new. Do you normally take two packets of sugar and some cream? Black coffee isn’t palatable to a lot of people because of negative preconceived notions or memories from childhood. Try looking past that and opening your horizons to the true taste of whatever coffee you purchased. Cream and sugar do a good job of masking many of the flavors that make quality coffees unique.

I hope tomorrow’s cup is better than today’s!

The Coffee Guy

The post 5 Ways to Make Your Cup of Coffee Better…right now. appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Happy Valentines Day! If cupid put an arrow in your heart and this day is full of hearts and rainbows for you, I hope you enjoy your cherished time with your significant other. If today looks more like Single’s Awareness Day to you, no worries! BoiseCoffee has you covered. One thing we all have in common is our addiction to coffee, and it turns out that Valentines Day is a great day to score some great deals on coffee, beans, and equipment. Here are a list of links to help you find the best deals today.

• Peet’s Coffee has a Buy One Get One Free coupon on their Facebook page, good through Feb. 17th.
• Caribou Coffee has Buy One Get One Free drinks all day. Use this printable coupon.
• Try a free cup of Denny’s new coffee. Not the best cup you’ll find all day, but I can’t argue with free.
• Starbucks has a buy one get one free for featured drinks. Use this coupon, or show it on your mobile device.
• Use the code 1MUG on York Photo to get a custom mug for $1.
• Amazon has loads of coffee-related deals today.

If you find something that I missed, drop it in the comments!

The Coffee Guy

The post Valentines Day Coffee Deals 2013 appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Commodity coffee and specialty coffee are viewed as polar opposites in the coffee community today. In reality, they are appealing to two very different markets. On one hand, commodity coffee is looking for the every day coffee consumer that grew up drinking tar from a mug. They want to wake up, open their can of coffee grounds (a la Maxwell House or Folgers), and feel the familiar “click” of pressing the button on their time-weathered coffee pot. Specialty coffee, on the other hand, is meeting the needs of the coffee enthusiast and the coffee professional. Often, all it takes for the “every day consumer” to turn into the “coffee enthusiast” is to have a single cup of specialty coffee. Still, the division exists. Coffee enthusiasts and professionals are seeking to upgrade their ritual to the whirrr of a burr grinder and the smell of their brew as it blooms in a Chemex or V60.

Is it possible to meet somewhere in the middle? My initial response is no. But Rogers Family Company challenged this notion when they sent me four of their coffees to try: the Fog Chaser, French Roast, Colombia Supremo, and Breakfast Blend. Let’s get started.

The Rogers Family Company (RFC) website is wrought with large, high definition images all throughout. It touts specials, coupons, and various tiers of pricing, and is easy to navigate. It’s clear they have a great team of professionals that know what they’re doing, but ironically it lacks the very thing that stands out about their name: a sense of family. It feels more like the Walmart of coffee than it does a small-town Mom & Pop store. That’s not necessarily a negative, but it’s something that jumped out at me.

The coffee that I received was pre-ground and in sample-size 2oz bags. The ground size wasn’t specified on the bag or on the included receipt, and the bags weren’t resealable. This meant two things for me: first, I didn’t know what I was supposed to brew it with. I opened one of the bags and saw that it was probably a slightly-coarse Medium grind, which means trying the coffees in a French Press was a no-go; luckily my press pot broke a couple weeks ago anyways. That leaves me with an Aeropress and Clever. Luckily, both of these brewers do a good job of extracting the unique tastes of coffees even if the grind size isn’t perfect.

The second thing this meant for me is that I would have to consume all of the coffee relatively quickly. Despite the bags’ claims that the “specialty valve” on the packaging, combined with the vacuum sealing, kept the coffee at “roaster fresh” taste, ground coffee is ground coffee. I didn’t know when it was roasted, when it was ground, or how long it was exposed to air before being packaged. As soon as I cut the top off each bag it was go time. Ground coffee takes about two or three days to go stale when directly exposed to air.

Because I only received sample sized bags, I can’t speak for the usual customer experience when RFC ships out coffee. But I can say this – a little bit of detail goes a long way. Tonx coffee, for instance, provides zip-lock resealable tops built into their bags. In addition, while I was sent pre-ground coffee, whole bean coffee is the default setting when you go to purchase form RFC’s website. I recommend to always buy whole bean coffee so that you can grind it to the proper size for whatever brew method you choose. In addition, whole bean coffee stays fresher longer.

When it comes to taste, RFC walks a fine line between commodity coffee and specialty coffee. The coffee I was sent to test was under their “San Francisco Bay” name, which appears to be their flagship brand. It’s all arabica coffee, so in that sense it is very much on the specialty coffee side of things. However, with one exception, the coffees all seemed rather mediocre. Not bad, not awful, not gross. But definitely not up to par with Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, or Stumptown. Still, it’s worth pointing out the good and bad in each individual roast.

Fog Chaser

Unsurprisingly, this coffee had a hazy taste, with some dark woody notes. Aptly named, to be sure. It flared with some acidity on the edges of my tongue, which was welcome, but overall played very bland notes. Hints of apple and wood – or is it applewood? – floated in and out of the cup. I didn’t dislike this roast, but it didn’t especially stick out.

Colombia Supremo

Very palatable coffee, and definitely closer to specialty coffee quality. This was my second favorite roast and provided rich, earthy tones. It had some slight burnt notes as well, which were unwelcome. Overall, this coffee was worth a second cup.

French Roast

This was by far my least favorite of the four. The packaging reads, “We roast this longer, turning the beans almost black, and brining the natural oils out, for an intense, caramelized taste.” In my tests I could see what they meant by “carmelized” and “oils,” but I don’t think it had the desired affect. The coffee tasted like ash and was closer to Starbucks than it was to anything else. Which, I suppose, is still a leg up from Folgers, so it’s not all bad.

Breakfast Blend

This was easily my favorite roast. The coffee smelled delicious coming out of the package and while brewing. It produced a light and easy going cup, but with a nice solid body. It was consistent with a smooth finish, and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it. Notes of maple and oak permeated the cup, and I can definitely say it would have gone nice with some bacon and flapjacks.

I think RFC believes in their product, and strives to make it the best that they can. I also think they are appealing to a different audience than, say, Counter Culture Coffee is. Nowhere on their website do they tout the “specialty coffee” moniker – instead they refer to their product as gourmet coffee. And in that sense, they 100% accomplish their goal. RFC’s product is better than any you will pick up in a can from your grocery store – it really is gourmet. Can a company walk the line between commodity coffee and specialty coffee? Rogers Family Coffee appears to do it with ease and, if appearances are any indication, it has served them well.

In principle I cannot recommend them above Tonx, Stumptown, or your local specialty coffee roaster. I can say that if you need an alternative to the stale can of Folgers sitting in your cupboard, RFC is definitely a step up. Their business principles are solid, their product is good, and they have a passion for what they do.

The Coffee Guy

Find Rogers Family Coffee here:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Google+

The post Rogers Family Company Coffee: the Intersection of Commodity and Specialty appeared first on Boise Coffee.

An interesting article over at Fast Company talks about the benefits to doing work in a coffee shop, even when you have an office readily available. Some of the reasons include stimulating creativity, fewer distractions, and the ability to meet new people. The author also talks about how he doesn’t bring a power cord for his laptop as a way to give himself a backstop and a reason to focus.

Give the article a read for yourself.

I’ve always been a fan of setting up shop at cafes or coffee shops, especially when I’m in an unfamiliar town. There’s a sense of community that inherently comes with sitting down and enjoying your favorite hot beverage. Leaving my laptop charger at home is something I haven’t tried yet, but I think I’ll give it a shot next time I get the chance!

The Coffee Guy

The post The Benefits of Making a Coffee Shop Your Office appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Ever heard of a Bro ‘Spro? How about a Facemelter? This post caught my eye on the front page of the /r/coffee subreddit earlier today. Ben Schott, a contributing columnist from the New York Times, put the below image together depicting various terms, phrases, and monikers used in local coffee shops across the United States.

The image below is a thumbnail to the full image, which can be viewed at the original article here. If you get stuck behind the NYT paywall, click on the thumbnail below for the full image.

The Coffee Guy

The post Java Jive – The NYT takes on Coffee Vocabulary appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Thrash Lab put a great video together which profiles three specialty coffee roasters/houses. LAMILL Coffee, Handsome Roasters, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Without giving too much away, it’s a great look into what it takes to create great coffee, and the types of people that work together to get the bean to the roaster, to the mug, to your hands. Check it out!

The Coffee Guy

The post The Subculture of Specialty Coffee appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Welcome to the new, improved, BoiseCoffee.org! If you’re coming from the old BoiseCoffee.wordpress.com, you’ll notice a few changes. I’ve updated a few aesthetics of the blog to reflect the type of environment I enjoy when drinking coffee – simple, clean, and homey.

If you were subscribed to the rss feed of my wordpress.com site, you don’t need to change anything. I’ve updated everything through feedburner, so you’re good to go.

There are some great things on the horizon for BoiseCoffee, so stay tuned! I’m currently working on a project that could make some fun ripples in the coffee community. As that project moves toward testing and finalization, you’ll be the first to know.

For those of you who have followed this blog since its beginning, thank you so much for your continued support. For the newbies who are reading this post as their first – welcome! This blog very much reflects my evolution from coffee consumer to coffee enthusiast – and the transformation is far from complete. I invited you to join me in this conversation about coffee – a beverage that brings people together from all parts of the world in community. I look forward to future adventures and memories.

The Coffee Guy

Also, here’s a cool Vine I just made!

How to brew #coffee in a Clever coffee dripper. Passion Pit included. vine.co/v/bneBFjqdhup

— Colin Mansfield (@ColinMansfield) February 6, 2013

The post New Look, Same Great Taste appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Passion is one of those free-radicals in life that is hard to define, and even more difficult to harness. It is often the reason, the why, behind what makes something that is great, great. While it might be hard to explain, we know it when we see it.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters is one of the biggest names in the third wave of coffee, and they are unquestionably passionate about what they do. But passion isn’t derived from a business as a whole, it comes from each individual person.

Stumptown released a video where they highlight just that: the people that make them who they are. Each person tells their story of why they love what they do, and why they think it’s important to the coffee process as a whole. Katie Berstein, a barista at Stumptown, gives a particularly powerful quote that she got from her dad. “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Check out the full video below.

STUMPTOWN from Stumptown Coffee Roasters on Vimeo.

And that’s it, isn’t it? Coffee is worth being passionate about because in all the details about roasting, brewing, grinding, tamping, and pouring it becomes clear that this process is a reflection of a much larger lesson. Working with others to create something beautiful  is a part of the human experience that makes living truly worth it. It connects us all.

The next time you purchase some coffee and brew that first drip or take that first sip, take a moment to appreciate the many individuals that went into putting that cup together. That coffee has been hard-earned by the passion of many sets of hands.

The Coffee Guy

The post The Coffee Experience: Passion and Stumptown appeared first on Boise Coffee.

A little over a year ago I wrote about how music is integral to what I dubbed “the coffee experience.” What I’ve found since then has only reinforced this belief. I’ve created a Spotify playlist that I have aptly named “Coffee.” It’s great to brew to, and I’ve found that it’s a great playlist to simply chill out with. There’s all kinds of music: everything from pop to more obscure folk. I’ve embedded it below, or you can go straight to it on Spotify here. Listen in and share with friends!

The Coffee Guy

The post Something To Brew To: My Coffee Playlist appeared first on Boise Coffee.

Chilmark Coffee Company is one such company. In fact, those three words used above are pulled straight from Chilmark’s website. They’re all about pulling together experts together to perfect every stage of making a great cup of coffee.

Chilmark Coffee Company sources and roasts everything so you don’t have to. They have a store that is open seasonally (starting in about May), but they primarily sell their product through 13 other markets, farm stands, and cafes. The full list of where to find Chilmark Coffee is here. Additionally, you can purchase Chilmark online.

You’re not going to find a bunch of coffee gizmos and gadgets on Chilmark Coffee Company’s website. As they put it,

We aren’t selling you 30 different coffees and all kinds of accessories you can actually buy locally at your neighbors family owned store; we’re giving you an invitation to our select breakfast party; let’s say it’s part of a starter kit for a new day.

You can buy Chilmark bag-to-bag, or you can hop on their 6-month subscription service for $30 a month. You’re hard-pressed (pun totally intended) to find a better subscription deal than this online.

Chilmark Coffee Company sent me two coffees. Their Costa Rica: Tarrazu Asoproaaa, an estate coffee, and their Honduras: Seydi Argueta, a Certified Organically produced, Fair Trade coffee.

I tried the Costa Rica in my Clever Coffee Drip Brewer, Aeropress, and french press. After brewing in the Clever the coffee gave off a rich butter nut smell. It had a full taste, and the richness matched that of the scent. In the Aeropress I noticed the flavors tended to pop a bit more – the chocolate really poked through here. As was expected, in the french press the cup was overall more full bodied and heavy. This medium-roast was a very well rounded coffee, and I found I immensely enjoyed it regardless of the brew method.

The Honduras was my favorite of the two, and it actually produced the best cup of coffee I’ve ever made with my Clever. The grounds had a very bright smell to them, and when they were extracting a sweet aroma filled the entire room. The Aeropress seemed to not pull quite as full-bodied a cup as the Clever, but that could have been due to some over extraction on my part. The coffee has bright initial notes, like lemon, and it finished with a nice spark on the the tongue as well. In the French press the cocoa and caramel notes really came through, though the bright citrus was still evident to some degree.

I feel honored to have reviewed Chilmark Coffee Company. They represent everything that is right in the coffee community right now. They’re in it to make a quality product, and to make sure all parties along the way get fairly treated. Their commitment to excellence makes them stand out, and I highly recommend their coffee.

You can find Chilmark online in several places:
Website
Twitter
Facebook

The Coffee Guy

The post Chilmark Coffee Company is Passionate About All the Right Things appeared first on Boise Coffee.

I’d like to start off by saying that my experience may have been unique due to two factors: first off, I’m not a customer. Java Bean Plus generously sent me three samples of their coffee for this review. The great thing is that they were kind enough to send them for free. Unfortunately, this means I didn’t get to interact with their customer service department – I’ll talk about that in a bit. The second reason my experience with Java Bean Plus was probably unique is due to the fact that this review is long overdue. Being a part-time blogger and a full time student, it’s taken me far too long to get to this post. I’d like to publicly thank Java Bean Plus for their patience with me!

Those two points aside, I feel as though Java Bean Plus is worthy of a quality review because of their clear dedication as a wholesaler.

On their website they list three points that set them apart from competitors:

1) Unlike many other coffee and tea suppliers, we don’t compete with our customers. We will not sell to individual consumers for home use

2) We aim to ship all orders within 24 hours. We understand the importance of your order and your need to maintain a fresh stock of coffee and tea for your customers

3) We are dedicated to quality and service. If you are not satisfied with your order please call or e-mail us and we will be sure to refund your purchase

Java Bean Plus’ website feels cold and calculating to me, robotic even. There’s not a sense of community here – it’s simply an online store. Browsing around and looking for various coffees feels like a generic experience. “Freshness guaranteed” doesn’t sound like a rallying cry to me, it’s actually the bare minimum of what I would hope for from a quality coffee supplier. That being said, their promise of providing information to small business on a case by case basis seems like it would be indispensable to a local coffee shop trying to get on their feet.

What JBP lacks in the overall feel of the website, they make up for with their clear focus on the customer. Small businesses reign supreme: JBP will allow you to pick bag colors, use a label you design, and customize a variety of other factors. “Customer Service” is a link that appears on the top right of every page on the website. You can contact them by phone, email, form on the website, or even by sending a letter to their address. In small business little things make a huge difference, and it seems like Java Bean Plus hit the nail on the head in this regard.

Java Bean Plus’ website is full of different headers and menus used for shopping for different regions, roasts, and types of coffee. They sent me three coffees: the Guatemala Antigua, Mexico High Growth, and Costa Rica Tarrazu.

The Guatemala Antigua had a rich flavor, but not a very full mouthfeel. It was definitely the most mild of the three, with a low acidity. The flavor was constant, and each sip provided wave after wave of deliciousness. While I’ve never licked a tree in my life, the word “dogwood” came to mind as I sipped the brew. Take that for what it’s worth!

The Mexico High Growth was straight up bitter the first time I brewed it. High acidity gave it a poor aftertaste that I wasn’t a big fan of. After using both my Aeropress and Clever to brew various cups, I realized it was actually a very complicated coffee. Something must have been off in the brewing process for my initial taste test that muddled the notes and caused the coffee to taste bad. I gave it a chance and came away with another opinion. The coffee itself smells fresh, like tilled soil with hints of fruitiness and some flowers. In that sense the acidity definitely peeked through and gave it a  unique zing. While I initially didn’t like the coffee at all, I ended up appreciating it the most out of the three.

The Costa Rica Tarrazu had a rich, carmel-esque smell when I brewed it. On my initial taste, the first word that struck me was “depth.” The coffee had an earthy mid not with a bright aftertaste, leaving your tongue dancing and waiting for the next sip. There were definite hints of oak.

Java Bean Plus isn’t something I would recommend to the average consumer – which is a good thing. They aren’t trying to cater to the average consumer. Instead, they are trying to bring good, quality specialty coffee to businesses that will cater to the average consumer. And quite frankly, they are perfect in that regard. Their website may not be the flashiest on the web, but it is functional, and it is easy to find coffee in. I found their coffee to be delightfully delicious.

The thing that I love most about a great cup of coffee is that it is the result of the combined efforts of people from all over the world. Everyone from the grower to the barista has a say in how the final product will turn out. I am happy to say that Java Bean Plus does their job in that process well.

The Coffee Guy

Find Java Bean Plus here:
Website
Facebook
Twitter