Presentation and Culinary Experience

"If you care about the steak then you must care equally about everything around the steak." This is something that is so true to me. I've heard it many times before but the other day I overheard it in the cafe and it got me thinking...

What is an amazing steak if the chairs are uncomfortable? Is the coffee just as good if the mug has smudges on it?

In every aspect of the culinary industry there are inherent expectations for certain items - beer and wine will be served in the appropriate glass, you will get a steak knife for your perfectly cooked and prepared meal. Coffee is no different except that the expectations aren't there yet, I don't think. This is one of many aspects of the coffee industry that need to grow if we expect the general public to accept and truly understand coffee as it should be - a unique and exciting culinary experience.



One way to increase expectations and create a quality experience is through presentation. The reason you are willing to go to a nice restaurant and pay $30 for a steak, green beans, potatoes and a glass of wine is because of perceived quality, among many other things (of course the steak tastes great!). I think there is very little perceived quality with coffee, because 99% of people grew up only knowing coffee as something pre-ground that comes out of a tin can.

Last month Kaldi's changed up some things for our traditional drink menu. We now serve all traditional drinks on a large plate with sparkling water, spoon, coffee and a little chocolate covered coffee bean (its a nice treat after your espresso). I've received a ton of positive feedback from customers who were already ordering from our traditional menu, we've also seen an increase in traditional menu sales. People see the presentation and are intrigued because they've never seen coffee prepared this way before. We have to raise expectations for coffee experiences otherwise it might as well be stale coffee from a tin can.

By presenting coffee in a way that you would be presented any other high end culinary experience you are giving the customer a greater expectation of quality. Sure the tulip art on a cappuccino doesn't actually matter to the taste of the drink, but it shows that the drink was made with attention to detail, with care. It raises the bar as to what the customer should expect when they order a cappuccino, it raises the expectation for coffee experiences.

Coffee Consumption II

During the first 40 days of logging each coffee drink, I enjoyed 39 cups of press brewed coffee, 30 double shots and 22 cups of chemex brewed coffee, among other things. The last 40 days I have been drinking more espresso brewed coffee, logging 60 doubles consumed for enjoyment...the total number including training and grind setting would be slightly absurd. A few reasons my espresso drinkin' increased:

Espresso is the best. Oh how things change.
We've got some espresso roast of El Salvador San Eduardo in the cafe, come by and let me pull you a double. It's delicious.
Maybe you've noticed too, it's hot out there, and the less hot liquid the better.


With that said I still love brewed coffee, and I want to drink more of it. I added an Aeropress to my home set-up a few days ago, tinkering around with brew methods and have been enjoying this one so far. It's a really nice brewer and I'm looking forward to getting some different recipes for it. Would like to get better results from finer ground/shorter steeped brews than I have so far.

Back on topic, coffee consumption for the the last 40 days. I really stuck to the new seasonal coffees at Kaldi's this month with the exception of some Honduras from Intelligentsia.

Brewed Coffee and Drinks:

Some Starbucks drip and espresso in there while sitting in the Phoenix airport for hours. The drip wasn't bad all things considered, it was fresh brewed too. But the shot....errhmm...


Daily Consumption:

Lastly, Mike Phillips on Fox News Chicago. What he says about coffee makers half way through is spot on. Do your best to disregard the anchors. Cheers!

FoaMMMM

So I've been skimming the tan foam and fines off my press for awhile, but never did a taste experiment to see the difference between a press that was left in tact, and one that was skimmed. So last week I did a blind taste test with five baristas from Kaldi's and one from Dunn Bros. I used Kaldi's Guatemala San Pedro, the reason I chose this coffee is because it is one I am very familiar with. I wanted to use a coffee that I knew the profile of, so that I could be sure I brewed the coffee exactly right, and so it would be easier to taste small differences in the brew methods.

I prepared both presses exactly the same: 18oz water, 30g coffee ground as coarse as possible. Combine in a press and stir the bloom after ~30 seconds, stir again at 4 minutes. One press I then covered and left alone, the other one was skimmed with a spoon taking out all the tan foam, gasses and fines from the top while trying not to remove any of the brew. I was honestly surprised at how different the brews were.

The press that was not skimmed was certainly more full bodied and a lot more earthy, with a muddied and slightly bitter aftertaste. Not surprisingly the skimmed press was much more clean and clear, with an increased sweetness. The blackberry acidity was more prevalent in the skimmed press and the aftertaste was pleasant, smooth and lingered on the palate. I think the most interesting thing we found was the skimmed press really built up to the finish. The coffee moved nicely through the palate and finished sweet, while the press that was not skimmed had a much more clouded finish that didn't leave the same desirable aftertaste.

I really suggest trying this at home, skimming your press will provide a much more enjoyable brew, and if you have any doubt just taste that tan stuff...eek!

Coffee Consumption

A few months ago I saw a neat little thing that James Hoffmann did over at his blog. I found this interesting for a few reasons - how much coffee do I drink, what kind of coffee do I drink the most, is this the reason I cannot sleep - all these things I wanted to answer.

So for the last 40 days I logged each coffee consumed using daytum. It was difficult to remember to log each drink, but it ended up becoming routine and I plan to keep this going for some time - how much coffee do I drink in a year?!

Similar with James' experiment I didn't log any coffee consumed while training, cupping, setting the grind, or practicing. Brewed coffee was usually 6oz, cappuccino was usually a 6oz double, brew methods were logged as each 6oz cup consumed.

So in the last 40 days I drank ~130 cups, just about 3.25 per day. Big time coffee days on the 5th and 6th of June (not sure why) with 7 cups each day. Apparently I didn't drink any on the 16th, although I know this is an error on my part - I can't remember the last day without coffee, I simply must have forgotten to log anything that day.

Daily consumption:

Individual drinks/Brew methods:

Brewed coffee:

Dose + Grind + Time = BOOM

Thanks to Jim Schulman, there's a nice discussion over at home-barista.com about adjusting your espresso to reach the optimal taste profile. I've personally only messed with lower dosed, finer ground shots that achieve a nice syrupy mouthfeel, but at the expense of sweetness. I'm not positive about the results he has outlined, but it's nice to see a beginners guide to dialing in an espresso shot. Espresso seems to be kept a mystery in our industry, possibly because it is so fickle and equally dependent on the equipment being used. Either way, nice to see a discussion on the topic.

Chemex!!

Depending on the day this is my favorite brew method, a blasphemous thing to say for sure but you won't find me drinking espresso all the time. The Chemex will give you an incredibly clean and crisp cup, while maintaining strong aromatics and body. The key is the special Chemex filters which are oxygen cleansed and thicker than conventional paper filters. The thicker filter is able to trap more of the undesirable elements and sediment than ordinary filters, resulting in a clear and rich cup.

The tricky thing about this brew method is finding the exact grind size to match your coffee and water ratio while achieving a four minute brew time. A general rule is to use a fine grind that yields a four minute brew time with a coffee/water ratio of 12g to 6oz. This method uses percolation and infusion to brew the coffee. Steeping occurs in the initial stages of brewing as well as gravity forcing the water through the ground coffee. As you can imagine, the more coffee being used will provide more resistance to the water trying to pass through it, and thus you will need a slightly coarser grind when brewing a larger volume.

Okay lets brew some coffee. First you will need to fold and rinse your filter and warm the brewing device. Fold the filter in half, then in half again to form a cone. Put the cone in the top of the vessel with the tri-fold along the spout side. It is very important to wash the filter to remove any paper taste from the brew. In the above picture we have everything we need, along with the pre warmed/wet chemex and filter. Now we weigh our coffee and water to the correct ratio and bring the water to a boil. Once this is done let the water cool down a bit to around 203 degrees and grind that coffee fresh, using a fine grind.

Dump the ground coffee into the cone filter and start a timer to check your brew time. First we will pour a little water over the grounds to wet them. Try to pour just enough so that all the grounds are wet, but none of the water is actually passing through into the bottom of the vessel (far left picture above). After about thirty seconds its time to pour the rest of the water (or if you're brewing a large volume, just up to the top of the brew vessel) over the grounds. During this step it is best to use a circular pour motion staying mostly in the center of the cone, this prevents grounds concentrating in the center and choking the end of the brew. The middle picture above is the brew just after the initial pour, on the right is about halfway through brew time.

Now we're almost finished brewing. Above is what your Chemex should look like after about three minutes or so. When the time reaches four minutes there shouldn't be any water left in the cone. Now for my favorite part of the Chemex...clean up. Just throw the filter out and enjoy your coffee. If after four minutes there is still water in your filter, next time coarsen your grind up a bit. Finished brewing too soon? Fine your grind and it should be just right. Enjoy!

Coffee Origins

You can’t just grow great coffee anywhere; coffee needs a specific environment to flourish. The best conditions are near the equator at medium to high elevations, with a mild climate. If it is too cold the leaves will freeze and die, too hot and the plant may flower too quickly.

Many coffee producing countries grow both Arabica and Robusta cultivars, I will only be talking about Arabica. Within the cultivar of Arabica there are many different varietals, most stemming from the Typica and Bourbon varieties, and each coffee producing region will usually have these varietals. Along with those two common varietals, each country can have many more varietals, some exclusive to that country or region. In general, the three coffee producing regions are Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Central/South America.

Arabica coffee originated in Africa, specifically the country of Ethiopia around the 6^th century, and is grown in many other countries on the continent. Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and others provide a significant amount of Arabica beans. Many countries have distinct varietals that can only be found in small regions per country. Examples of this are the Harrar/Gimbi varieties found in Ethiopia, they are distinct for being mostly dry processed and possessing a peculiar mouth feel and acidity, along with a specific chocolate/mocha flavor. To my knowledge this variety developed naturally, other African varietals have been bred specifically to fight off disease, insects, leaf rust, provide higher yield, or greater cup quality. One country that grows many different varietals is Kenya, using the SL28, SL34 and K7 varieties. The reason for this may be that Kenya is more susceptible to drought, temperature variance, insects, or other things that could leave undesirable characteristics in the cup. Many of these varieties were taken from the Bourbon, and Typica varietals grown in India in the early 1930’s. Overall it could be said that African coffees tend to have a pronounced acidity stemming from citrus or vegetable tartness. Generally they are somewhat light in body (although many coffees would beg to differ!) and they can offer a sweet aftertaste.

South Asia and the Pacific was the second place to acquire coffee through trade with the middle east and colonization by Europe. I believe the Dutch, French and English all had a part in coffee being planted and transported between Africa, the Middle East, Asia, around the whole world probably. As far as I know the most popular places to grow Arabica coffee in Asia are Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Papua New Guinea. My coffee knowledge is limited to begin with, and on top of it I’ve only cupped maybe two or three Asian single origins. This is something I plan to change in the short future. As it stands I would say that these coffees tend to have more balance than their African counterparts. The acidity isn’t as pronounced and they tend to be more earthy, with a thicker body. I feel that these coffees hold an important role in our industry because for me they are easy to drink, something I could have multiple cups of throughout the day. I think this is a valuable selling point to customers who might be looking for an easier drinking, less acidic brew.

Lastly, we have the Central and South American growing region, these coffees have turned into my personal favorites. I think the reason I have developed an affinity for these coffees is the great diversity between each producing nations crop, along with a balance between complex acidity and sweetness. You can find coffee with a rich, bright acidity, something you might think was from Africa. On the other hand you could drink an earthy, nutty, bigger bodied coffee and swear it was from Asia. My favorite example of this is Kaldi’s Mexico Natural from last year, and this years Nicaragua Segovia. The Mexican coffee was bright, sweet and light with berry acidity. The Nicaragua is also sweet, but stemming more from a toasted nut/caramel sweetness with a thicker tobacco/leathery body. So many countries in this region support coffee growth, but the big Arabica growers are Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and certainly not last, Brazil. Like Africa this region also offers many distinct cultivars, many found in Brazil. The Mundo Novo varietal is found in Brazil, it is a cross between a Typica cultivar from Sumatra and a Bourbon cultivar found in Sao Paulo in 1931. The Mundo Nova has now replaced much of the Typica growth in Brazil, most likely due to its higher yield. This Mundo Novo varietal was then crossed with a Caturra cultivar, which resulted in a better yielding, higher quality varietal known as Catuai. El Salvador also possesses some unique varietals; the Tekesik varietal was found here and is now used around Centeral America, also the Pacas varietal, a Bourbon mutant was found here in 1909. I think El Salvador is a good place to end this monologue. It is certainly the place where my favorite coffee has come from, which doesn’t say much considering my limited palate and knowledge. But the PT’s Finca Las Mercedes from El Salvador was just sublime. It was terribly complex with a nutty/chocolate sweetness, balanced perfectly with a cherry acidity that finished very clean. The body and mouth feel were just perfectly balanced with the taste notes, smooth and very rich. A coffee you could sit and discuss for an hour at the cupping table, or enjoy multiple cups out of a Chemex. It’s coffee like this one that make you want to seek out the next perfect cup, and to no surprise the new Kaldi's Organic Bolivia Yungas and Brazil Mogiana FAF have got me pretty excited.

Freedom Press

Before I started working for Kaldi's a little over a year ago, I really liked coffee. I worked in a few cafes here and there, had some pre-ground drip in the morning, and a nice, over extracted americano in the afternoon. What a delicious beverage, one that also kept me awake (for the most part), and something about it was always intriguing to me. Little did I know there were people inhaling coffee from a spoon, talking about body, acidity, roast level, varietal, and region. Now I too am one of those people, and can safely say that I really, really love coffee. You say you love coffee too?

The best way to dive into specialty coffee is by finding a quality cafe and visiting with some knowledgeable baristas. But what if you live somewhere that doesn't have any specialty cafes? Home brewing is the answer! Here you are free to brew and experiment in any way you like. All you need is some high quality, fresh roasted coffee (like Kaldi's!), fresh filtered water, gram scale, a coffee grinder, and a brewing device. This morning I felt like a french press of some Counter Culture Kenya...

First, you'll want to decide how much you're going to be brewing. A general rule of thumb is about 12g of coffee to 6oz of water. For my personal taste I use about 11g to 6oz when brewing with a french press. Now you'll want to weigh your coffee and water to the proper brewing ratios. This is what your trusty gram scale is for (get one with an ounces mode too!)

Now that everything is weighed and the water is boiling it's time to grind that coffee. It is important to grind to a consistent particle size. The more variance in particle size, the bigger variance in extraction time between particles and this will result in an inconsistent brew. I will be using the Capresso Infinity burr grinder, which grinds pretty darn consistent. Below is some coarsely ground coffee for our french press. The particles are pretty big, perfect for our steeping brew method.

The time has come to brew, take that boiling water off the stove and let it cool just a bit until it's around 203 degrees or so. Dump the freshly ground coffee into the press pot, start that timer and pour the water over the grounds. Be sure to soak all of the coffee. A proper french press takes 4 - 5 minutes to brew depending on your personal taste and grind size. The finer the grind, the shorter the steep time. This is something I will be experimenting with in future posts. After about 45 seconds to a minute you want to break and stir the "bloom" of coffee on the top of your press pot.

Now all we have to do is wait. After the brew time is up just push down on the plunger of the press slowly. If you encounter any resistance pull back up a bit then down slowly again. Serve and enjoy!

What a delicious and complex coffee. Delicate floral notes in the nose along with toasted caramel and vanilla. A fair body with modest acidity that doesn't over power like some other African coffees. A slightly tart acidity with a savory mouthfeel reminiscent of blackberry and blackcurrant. For a single lot Kenya it is much more balanced than I expected, a very remarkable coffee. Highly recommended!