To Freeze?

Where to store these little jewels?

Picture this…..There you are at the bakery. You point to the clerk…”I’d like one of those, and one of those, and one of those.” Just baked, and still just room temperature you run home to throw the perfectly delicious raspberry almond, peach, and strawberry pastries into the freezer so they will stay “fresh” for your afternoon coffee party with friends. You go to the freezer 6 hours later to pull your pastries out to thaw in time for your guests’ arrival. Not only are they hard as a rock, but they now smell like the Dino-Nuggets and fish sticks wedged deep in the freezer 18 months ago. You pretend like this doesn’t bother you, and let the baked goods thaw at room temperature, only to find that when finally thawed, the flaky crust, and chewy center, and fresh fruit have been turned into a soggy, flat and sad excuse for the once amazing baked goods you purchased earlier that day. Sure they still taste pastry-like, but you’ve moved them from a “10” to a “6” at best. Your friends officially think you suck, and would like never to be invited for afternoon coffee at your house again.

So what the does that have to do with coffee besides the fact that it’s coffee hour? Everything. If you are going to buy freshly roasted coffee (I mean freshly roasted, like in the past 1-3 days), and you’re going to be able to drink what you’ve purchased over the next 8-13 days, don’t put it in the freezer. Yes, a pastry’s freshness window is really only about 12 hours, whereas coffee is about 2 weeks, so adjust your imagination accordingly. If you can drink the coffee you have purchased during its freshness window, simply store in an airtight, opaque container and normal room temperature. Enjoy it every day until it’s gone. If your coffee came in a foil coffee bag with a one way degassing valve on it, and can be closed well, that’s also a great way to store it.

If you can’t drink the fresh coffee you’ve purchased within the 2 week freshness window, then here are your options. (Pay attention…none of this matters one bit if you’ve purchased old coffee already.)
1. Don’t care, and know that your coffee’s flavor will deteriorate during the time it takes you to drink it. Keep it all stored at room temp in an airtight container.
2. Try to make it better, and take the portion that you can’t drink in 2 weeks and store it in your freezer in an airtight, opaque container. Enjoy the fresh portion you’ve kept out at room temperature until it’s gone. Once your room-temperature stores have depleted, remove your frozen portion from the freezer, and store and use at room temperature from then on. Know that your frozen coffee’s flavor will be less amazing than the freshly -roasted-never-frozen-version of itself. Don’t expect your coffee to hold on in the freezer for longer than a month.

The most important thing to realize is that making a hybrid version of the above is a terrible idea.….thinking that by just KEEPING your coffee in the freezer day after day, that it will stay better. Not true! We all know that anything we freeze changes in texture and taste. Loaf of bread? That Marlin you caught in Cabo last fall? You get the point.

Think of it this way. You’re a young 15 year old girl has just discovered makeup (ok, hang with me here). You ever-so-slightly apply some mascara and eyeshadow to your eyes to highlight their green color, then brush a little lip gloss onto your perfect little lips to brighten your amazing smile. You go out on a date looking this way, and you’re georgeous. The world acknowledges your undeniable beauty and radiance, and compliments come from every angle. The next day, still enjoying yesterday’s compliments, you think to yourself “if some makeup was that awesome, then I’ll, like, just put more on, and everyone will think I’m INCREDIBLE!”

Nope. Wrong. Now you look like a hooker, and not the “good” kind. Don’t turn your coffee into a street walking train wreck by keeping it stored in the freezer. (You know who you are…you have that half-sealed bag sitting in there right now. Every day it goes in and out of the freezer, forms condensation on the beans, picks up the freezer’s odors, and breaks down the fantastic flavor and aroma characteristics to the point where your coffee just tastes like the old ice cubes on the top shelf behind the sad frozen open bag of broccoli).

The best world scenario is to buy only what you need for 2 weeks, get it fresh, treat it with respect, and enjoy it until it’s gone. Then, buy more fresh coffee and do it all over again. Think of the freezer as an emergency situation that’s only brought in when you get invited on a sudden beach vacation to Baja. When you get back, you’ll still be basking in your sun-tanned look and post Tequila fogginess, so you have a few days to burn up the frozen stuff before your brain kicks in to reality and tells you it’s time to buy more fresh coffee.

The Final Yard….

A little logo that means so much

Auditors I’ve met in the past usually come clad in suits, and spend most of their lives tediously sorting through papers in locked off areas of offices to which one only goes when one’s manager wants to have a “word”. Today’s visit was luckily different—at least from a fashion point of view. As someone who regularly audits agricultural processing operations like dairies, she seemed happy that she didn’t have to come to this audit wearing her rubber boots, and could instead arrive in her every day comfort-footwear, with not a suit in site. She also happened to be a coffee business owner and roaster herself, which, if anything else, just made me feel like we’d be speaking the same language for the day. Ready to go, our audit started with an inaugural espresso before we took a seat and dug in to the pages of our application.

What is certified organic coffee anyway? Here it is…in plain words: Starting with the grower, coffee is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Then, after coffee is grown and harvested, certified organic handling standards are met throughout the supply chain to ensure that when coffees arrive at the coffee roasters’ doors, the integrity of the organic quality is maintained. Why then, wouldn’t that be considered certified organic coffee, you might ask? Good question!

If you can imagine a quarterback tossing a perfect spiral throw to the receiver, who then runs it 60 yards toward the end zone…but instead of crossing the line for the touchdown, he stops just a yard short, sits down, and calls “close enough” a “touchdown”. Well, it’s not a touchdown. And at a yard short, it’s not certified organic either.

The coffee roaster – the one responsible for the final yard before reaching you, the customer – must also become a certified organic processor for the coffee to be sold as USDA Certified Organic on the label. It’s a commitment to the organic product, by which the roaster ensures that handling, roasting, and packaging methods are performed per certified organic processing standards.

All of this is for us, the consumer. Can you believe it? The USDA actually cares about us and the validity of the organic product we might choose to purchase. Believe it or not, the use of the term organic is still highly abused within many industries, including the coffee industry. Strict labeling requirements define who, how, & where you can actually use the term “organic”. It seems like it’s a confusing thing to understand, but the good news is that at the consumer level, we don’t need to know all these rules. We can just look for that little round “USDA Organic” logo on the front packaging of a product claiming organic, and know that this is actually what it says it is. The entire supply chain, including the final processor, is certified. It’s just that easy. Thank you great regulators of the world. We like pictures.

So finally, after hours of scouring every one of our policies, practices, forms, and processes (probably topped only by the amount of paper that Brad and Angelina had to file to adopt their soccer team of kids) our auditor left. We’ll had to patiently wait for what we hope to be the good news. And good news it was. We’ve officially been granted our organic processors certification, and are now a certified organic coffee roaster. Now that……..that is a touchdown.

Who Invited the Russian Judge?

I am the Russian Judge. It’s possible I’ve been bribed by Don Carlos, or the little girl I call the Candy Lord (she’s mastered the art of manipulation using her endless supplies of hard candies). I can be bought, and I know nothing of what I speak. I could hold up a “10” when all the other judges are holding a “6”. Just stand back and be ready to gasp at the results….

Breathing a big sigh of relief I woke up from this morning reality TV dream and got my bearings. It was day 2 in Monserrate, Colombia, and I was there to judge 59 coffee farmers’ hard work with a sniff, a slurp, and a pencil. The top 5 winners would take home cash prizes, and enjoy extra per-pound profits as a result, not to mention earn the respect and envy of every neighbor on the coffee growing hill top. That’s a lot of pressure, and the hopes and dreams of these coffee farmers were waiting on the judgment of 9 people, one being me.

My dream wasn’t far off, because among the room of judges were experienced Q Graders, coffee roasters with several years’ experience, and coffee industry professionals who’ve collectively slurped and spit more coffee than I’ve roasted in my career.

So here’s the gig: “Cupping” is the act of “tasting” coffee. There is a strict protocol to create an equal playing field for the coffees to compete. All must have been roasted the same way, ground the same, measured to precisely 12 grams, brew using water at 203 degrees for exactly 4 minutes, and then be tasted on characteristics ranging from aroma to acidity to body to aftertaste, among others. Scores are tallied and compiled to widdle these 59 coffees down to the top 10 on the final day for a showdown between the best.

I tentatively dipped my spoon into the first cup of joe for a slurp. Nope, it’s not a dainty act. It’s a big airy suck of wind that sprays the coffee into your mouth in order to expose all the flavors the coffee has to offer. A quick swish and the coffee is spit into my personal little spit-cup. Within that mini-moment, I’m supposed to get my head around that coffee. Does it taste like mango dancing in the sunlight of a lemon field laced with a cashew velvet? It was up to me to decide.

At first it was really really hard, and although I wasn’t completely off base, I felt like my assessments were contrived and unnatural. I talked with the others as they all gave me tips on what “body” really felt like, on what number to assign “aroma” and how to detect what really was a “nuttiness”. I was really trying to pick apart every bit of the coffee and mechanically decipher its features and benefits (the downfall of being a boxes and squares kind of gal). I quickly realized this just wasn’t going to work for me, and began wondering where the bribers were hiding because I was pretty sure my vote could be bought at that point.

We came back to the cupping table number 2 and I just decided that I was going to block out all the noise and words that I was trying to put to the coffee and just taste. The clouds parted, and I believe the Virgin herself paid me a visit because all of a sudden this coffee cupping pace gained a momentum and ease that could only be matched by a near effortless downhill ski run in fresh powder. I know, cheesy, huh? But really….just the same. If someone would tell you how to ski and describe every angle of the turn from your knees’ degree of bend, to the pressure assigned to each foot, to the intensity of the grip on your pole, you’d crack. Your first turn would end with a faceplant and yardsale. But instead, if you eased up, let go, and just felt the snow and what it needed to provide you a pillow upon which to arc your perfectly glossed boards? Pure Warren Miller ski movie magic baby.

In two and a half days of tasting, some tables were easier than others, but I seemed to be getting it. Even though my descriptions of the coffees lacked more than 3 adjectives, I could say yum, yuck, and so-so to every coffee on the table right at pace with the group. They taught me so much, gave me so much insight, and made me happy that I wasn’t the only one who could accidentally dip my nose into the cup, or choke on a slurp.

The grand finale was on the final round when we discussed our rankings of the coffees at the table. I knew which coffees I liked and wanted to share with my customers, and I knew what I didn’t like. I learned that not everyone has the same favorite, but I also realized that when a coffee was great, it was great. It was such a joy to realize we’d all voted on the winning coffee when all 9 of our hands went up in unison, and I was not, in fact, that crazy Russian Judge at all. Suck that Candy Lord.

Coffee Peep Show

Somewhere back in the 70s or 80s, grocery store shoppers were introduced to the wonderful world of bulk products. These grand rows of foods ranging from candy to flour to beans and cereal were displayed in large, “fancy” plexiglas containers, inviting the shopper to overindulge in goodies and staples at prices that couldn’t be resisted. All the while the shopper felt so victorious thinking of all the money she was saving by choosing products sans packaging, regardless of the fact that she bought lentils, which she never eats. The grocer looked like a hero to the shopper, showing a generous tolerance to shoplifters of 1-2 gummy bears, or that old lady who always used her hands to dig out a few more dried apricots. It certainly paved the way for today’s bulk food and junque giant, Costco.

Although these bins are less common in grocery stores now, they still hang on in patchouli scented health food stores, and in nearly every grocery store I’ve seen for the display and dispensation of coffee. If you buy your coffee at the grocery store, I know you know exactly what I’m talking about. There, shining in the distance is a shelving display stacked 6 across and down filled with what you believe to be fresh coffee. You get closer, and notice that almost every container’s front surfaces is a greasy brown textured mess as the beans have created etched in goober streaks as a few ounces of coffee are emptied out into your awaiting paper-ish bag. Usually accompanying this display is a grinder that lets you destroy your coffee even further as you select a grind from “drip” to “ Turkish” at the turn of the dial. How convenient. You scamper off happy with your fresh, bulk food purchase.

Let me tell you what you’ve just paid $11.95 for…

Let’s just back up to the facts about proper coffee storage. Coffee’s mortal enemies are light, air, and moisture. To properly store coffee, it must be in an airtight, opaque container at room, or slightly below, temperature. These bins have everything going wrong for them. They’re not airtight, opaque or moisture barriers (that being the least of the possible problems in this storage situation…but we’ll skip that tangent). The worst of the situation is that they’re almost NEVER clean. That chunky brown greasy front is the coffee’s oils building up on the surface as week after week, the beans are left to grow old and stale. There are 2 reasons that coffee oils are on the surface of the bean. Reason 1- the coffee was roasted very dark, and the oils emerged from inside the bean to the surface. Reason 2- the coffee is old, because as any degree of roast ages, the oils migrate to the surface.

Caked on coffee oils and residue. Yuck!

This Grocery store bin display actually has an OPEN 5 lb bag of beans sitting atop the display itself.

I can almost promise you that it’s likely that you’re not in the presence of freshly roasted dark, oily beans when staring into the tempting little box of coffee in a miniature peep-show of sorts. The reality is that it’s more likely that those coffees are weeks or months old. They arrived from the roaster in a bulk 5 pound bag, and the grocery store stock boy poured the next “fresh” batch onto the remnants of the last order. I’m merely guessing here, and I don’t know what the grocery store protocol is to clean those bins, but the reality is that there’s usually so much gunk built up inside those little boxes that you can see it from isle 4. What’s the problem with coffee oil? When coffee oil comes in contact with oxygen, the process of rancidification begins within 45 minutes. Once rancid, oils boast unpleasant noxious odors and flavors. Ever had rancid butter? I rest my case.

The only time I’d buy coffee out of an open bin or container is if I visited the roaster’s shop, and that morning’s coffees were displayed for sale just like a baker has today’s fresh breads out. You ask for your fresh beans, and get a 12 oz bag that you’ll immediately place in your countertop airtight canister when you arrive home..just like you’d put the ice cream into the freezer when you arrive home (read carefully here…Ice cream in freezer, Coffee at room temperature). At the store, you’re much better off buying something that’s sold in an airtight bag, as long as you can figure out how old it is. Don’t waste your money on anything that you can’t finish up within 2 weeks of the roasting date. Buying anything other than that? You’re just spending your money on “day olds” so to speak. The bummer is the store isn’t giving you the “day old” price.

Dispenser loaded with rancid oils and caked on gunk—Stay away!

Make Your Latte On Your Home Machine (video of ‘to-go’ version)

I am often caught in the act of using a butter knife as a screwdriver, and a little voice inside my head, which sounds strangely like my husband says “is that really the right tool for the job”. I say “no”, voice, “because I’ll probably soon slip and gouge my left arm with the rounded tip and somehow manage to pierce my skin, or have to explain at my next dinner party why the tip of 8 of my knives are slightly twisted to the right.”

So inevitably, I put the butter knife down, walk the 8 billion steps out to the garage to get the right tool, and resume the project. I have to admit to myself once again, that with the right tool in hand tasks always work lickity split, just like they should, without damage to my arm or an innocent utensil.
So if you find yourself at home attempting to make an espresso beverage with the wrong tool (machine) for the job, you may want to read on. I’m not saying we have to buy the equivalant of a sixty piece screwdriver kit with color coded tips and ergo handles. No, we just need a Phillips and a flathead, in maybe a couple sizes. This piece of equipment will be meant to do the job we�re asking of it, it will be built to last, and it will be easy enough to understand that we�ll actually use it.

I’m pretty much convinced that it’s nearly impossible to get anything good enough for under $800, but I could certainly be very wrong. What I do know is that many people aren�t going to enjoy going through the process of making an espresso beverage, such as the ever popular caf� latte, at home at 6:30 a.m. if there’s a ton of work to be done. We’re also not going to go through any process if the drink doesn�t taste good to us. We�re about being easy and yummy. This is why I�m a big fan of the super-automatic espresso machine for the home espresso drink lover. Yes, it’s not going to be by-the-book perfect in every way, but it can be very good, and honestly as good or better than what you may be buying out of the home right now.

Here’s what to look for in the machine you look to buy:
It’s capable of producing 135 PSI, and 198-201 degrees Fahrenheit water temperature, it’s able to adjust the degree of grind and the volume of coffee per dose, and it has other fine tuning programming options, like pre-brewing, water temperature control, and an automatic on/off timer.

If you get all of the above, you’re sure to have all of the other necessary details. Don’t be sucked in by machines that offer complex frothing contraptions, or have internal milk compartments that spit out foam. The mess and ick created by the perceived convenience won�t be worth it. When you bring your new baby home, read the manual (which may be against all natural instints but you’ll be much better off if you understand your machine) and make the adjustments to your machine as you practice making shots. Here are my drink making directions to help you get up to speed, and to help you figure out how to program your machine:

Steaming milk (do this first on a home machine because you can�t pull a shot and steam at the same time in units in this price range)
1. For a latte, pour about 2/3rds of the volume you�ll want to end up with into a frothing pitcher to steam.
2. Steam the milk just under the surface, just off center to “stretch” it up until it’s 100 degrees in temperature. You can always do less foam, but don’t do longer.
3. Once 100 degrees, lower the wand into the milk and angle it so that the milk circles in a whirlpool and heat up to 150 degrees. There should be no big bubbles, just a smooth silky, foamy milk.

Espresso shot
1. Use fresh coffee, and choose a blend that is recommended to brew as espresso. Fresh coffee alone will help you produce an amazing drink!
2. Use clean, filtered water (yucky water = yucky coffee)
3. Each shot should be about 1 oz in volume, and should take 20-30 seconds to pour. The coffee should stream, or stream with breaks like thin shoelaces..or maybe like warm honey dripping. The coffee will pour out dark brown, and then evolve into a soft creamy consistency and lighter red/brown color (known as crema).

Assemble the drink:
1. Coffee in the cup first, swirl your foamed milk around in the pitcher a few times to make sure it�s slippery and uniform in texture, and then pour into the cup. We could have lots of words about foaming, latte art, and other stuff, but we’re just trying to make it good here. Extra pretty can come later.
2. If you want, you can even pour the espresso shots into a waiting cup of steamed milk…again, no latte art is possible this way, but it’s perfectly acceptable, and after a couple swirls will be nearly as incorporated into the milk as doing it the other way round. Yes, rule breaking, but reality rules at 6:30 a.m.

So that’s it. It sounds so much more complicated than it actually is. Here�s a little snippit of me making a Latte “to go” on my own home Gaggia Titanium machine. Check it out, and see if you think you can do this yourself (this link will take you YouTube) Making a “to-go” cafe latte at home

How to Save Money but Still Live Like a Celebrity

We�ve all see those snapshots in the grocery store checkout line–a Hollywood starlet on the front page of a magazine, darting out of a well known coffee chain with huge white paper cup that is only eclipsed by the size of her sunglasses and gigantic �hobo� bag.

At an easy four bucks a pop (after dropping the change in the tip jar) those drinks add up fast. When did we become ok with buying a drink containing 70% milk for more than the price of a half-gallon of milk alone? Not going on vacation this year because of the economy? Can�t by those fancy shoes because you�re cutting back? I think you�re looking for your lost kitten hiding right under your own couch. What are you spending on coffee beverages at your local palace of caffeine? Here�s the truth.

If you buy a drink that costs you $3.50 per day, and drop the change in the tip jar, that adds up to over $1200 per year. �Holy Monolo Blahnik!� Oh, sorry guys �Holy Sony flat screen!� Pair up your consumption with your significant other, and we�re talking about at least $2400 bucks per year spent on coffee, sugar and milk. I�m telling you, without hesitation, that every one of us can learn to make these snazzy drinks at home in no time�but why would we?

Well, the last time I checked, most of us don�t have movie deals in the works, nor are we secretly enjoying a trust fund set up by our long lost uncle in the oil business (you�re going to tell your girlfriend about it just as soon as you figure out if she loves you for you and not for your money). So why are we spending so much of our hard earned money on something we really can do ourselves? The reality is that you�ll never be able to make your own 4� heals to wear to this year�s Christmas party, and you�ll never be able to build your own television. However, you can learn to make a darn good latte with just a little practice and guidance, and probably do it better than 90% of the �baristas� out there working at your local cafes.

Excuse: I don�t have time to make a drink.
Reality: You have 9 minutes to go to a caf� to buy your drink every morning.

Excuse: I can�t make the drink as yummy as they do with the foam and stuff.
Reality: You can totally make the foam, and you can totally pull a great espresso shot. You just need to have the right equipment and get a little instruction. By my calculations you have $1000 bucks this year to spend on a new espresso machine that will last you the next 7 years. You�re at least as clever as �Sideburn Jimmy� who works down at the you-know-where who learned how to make your drink up to those �standards� in no time. Yes, the other 10% may never ever be attained, but you can sure give it a good try. Chances are you�re not getting that extra fancy 10% now, even at the $3.50 a cup.

Excuse: I don�t know where to get good coffee
Reality: Try finding and tasting fresh coffee from a local or online coffee roaster until you find a coffee you enjoy drinking. According to my calculations, you can spend about $16 for a 12 oz bag and land at the savings I mentioned above.

Excuse: I have a huge crush on the girl who makes my grande latte down at Kitty Cat Coffee Bar and I�m sure one of these days she�ll realize I�m spending $4.50 a day just to see her and hope that she�ll look into my eyes and fall in love.
Reality: She has no idea you exist except for the fact that you�re grande latte guy and you tip her a buck every morning. Ask her out, win her heart, and pretty soon she�ll be making your drinks at your house every morning instead. You can use those extra bucks for something sparkly.

More excuses? The reality is that making a great coffee beverage isn�t that complicated at all. If 300,000 22 year olds working at coffee chains across the country can figure it out, so can you. For those of you who are graced with an amazing local shop that actually makes you an over the top drink with beautiful microfoam and a rosetta design on top�you�re spoiled now, but even that can be achieved with a little practice.

There are great super automatic espresso machines out there that you can buy to make drink making a snap at home, and there are fantastic fresh coffees available to buy. Need the tips for pulling it all together? Right here, next week�I�m going to share all the secrets with you to make your own yummy latte. In the mean time? Think of what you�ll do with all that money you�ll be saving, and make sure your passport is up to date.

Sideline Caffeine

This Saturday morning we woke up to the surprise of 2 inches of snow on the ground. Expected, partly, because the forecast called for it, but unexpected, because as anyone who lives in ski towns knows, if you�re expecting the snow, it probably won�t come. Don�t expect it, and there it is: Magic�even in October. My soccer-obsessed kid couldn�t wait to suit up for his last game of the season on the powder covered grass with a bunch of his little buddies. Parents were a little more reluctant in their enthusiasm as they stood bundled up on the sidelines, sporting an overwhelming lack of appropriate footwear. When snow comes in October, and you need to be somewhere by 10 a.m. the only easily accessible shoe choices are things like flip-flops, sandals, running shoes, or clogs. Avoiding clogs at all costs is my advice, but you know that about me already.

Dozens of moms and dads stood in support of our little Beckems and Beckemettes, clutching onto their travel mugs and paper cups filled with a hot coffee of some kind. One of my friends said to me, teeth chattering as she grasped her little plastic mug, �thank god for caffeine�. I had to agree. Caffeine rocks. I assure you the fans� cheering was mostly measurable by the amount of caffeine each person had ingested to that point. God only knows it�s hard to be a cheerleader when your toes are freezing. I know there�s a lot of this and that about it�it�s good one minute, bad the next, ok in moderation, a drug of the devil, a juice of the gods. I can�t possibly play ball in the caffeine good or bad debate, as I took the road back in college to study business instead of science. Since I don�t have a lab of my own, and can�t report my own findings, I�ll share with you some of what I�ve learned. (There are lots of places you can go to research actual milligrams present in each cup, so don�t base your caffeine consumption on what I�m about to say, and if your eye pops out of your head due to caffeine overdose, it�s your fault, not mine.)

So here�s some stuff that might surprise you:
� A 6 oz cup of coffee prepared as drip coffee has about 60% more caffeine than a 1 oz single shot of espresso (that�d be comparing serving to serving). Extracting your coffee as espresso only pulls out about 60% of the total available caffeine in the volume of ground coffee, due to the short 25-30 second brew cycle. So it�s true, you get less caffeine when brewing your coffee as espresso, serving per serving, compared to drip.
� There are two main cultivated species of coffee, simply put, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans are what all the quality coffee brands use�otherwise known as the good stuff. Robusta is what you�ll find in the cheapo-budget brands and lots of gas stations across the country. Robusta actually contains about 50% more caffeine than its much lovelier cousin, the Arabica species. I guess it�s not a mistake that crappy coffee and truck stops go hand in hand. It�s the high-test stuff that gets us through that 10 hour stretch in the Nevada desert that gives us the most caffeine per cup. If you drink the quality stuff, which will taste way better, you�d have to pee more, and we all know that�s just not cool on a road trip. Unless, of course, you�re stopping for more coffee anyway.
� Different coffee varietals contain slightly different amounts of caffeine, and can vary season to season. Brewing factors can vary also, even in your own kitchen, so no two cups are exactly the same.
� The darker the coffee is roasted, the less caffeine usually ends up in your cup. Comparing the same coffee bean, and all else being equal, the darker a coffee is roasted, the puffier the beans become, and therefore the fewer beans are used when you use your measuring scoop. It�s a slight difference, but contrary to what people believe, roasting darker doesn�t bring on more caffeine. The bean has what the bean has, and you can�t �grow� more caffeine in a coffee bean by roasting it darker. So sad but true, those black beans that you think pack more of a punch just because they�re darker, really don�t.
� Black tea has about 1/3 the caffeine as the same amount of drip coffee.
� Decaffeinated coffee still contains a few milligrams of caffeine.
� Caffeine can be found all over our diets in foods, drinks, candies, and medicines.
� Caffeine rocks. (Oh sorry, that�s just me and the rest of the soccer moms and dads talking).

Fun times in the snow...

Espresso Confusion

There you are, standing in the grocery store isle about to pick out your next bag of coffee. You say to yourself �self� (�cause you�re talking to yourself) �find the espresso beans�. You hunt and peck around and find 5 choices at least to tell you you�ve found espresso beans. Yippie for you. You make your selection and would even skip down the isle were it not for the 250 pound cart you�re pushing in front of you loaded with the week�s worth of groceries and 2 bags of dog food. Skipping causes broken ankles anyway.

The next morning you get up to brew your espresso beans because they, of course, are the most flavorful beans ever grown on any coffee shrub, anywhere. Imagining this special shrub and how it looks, you daydream of tiny little demitasses, saucers, and mini spoons hung all about in a sort of cheering section for the fantastic espresso beans as they emerge from tiny little blips to full grown brown beans just ready to be ground and married with hot water to create the miniature delight in your miniature cup.

��.errrrrrrrrrrrrcccccchhhhh. Dream sequence over. Dude, espresso is a drink, not a coffee bean. Let me say that to the other half. Dudette, espresso is a drink, not a coffee bean. It�s not your fault that you believe this either, because the marketing is as confused as Sarah Palin is by Katie Couric�s questions.

Here�s the truth, no matter what the ridiculous marketing on your bag of coffee is telling you: Espresso is a beverage that can be prepared from any coffee bean at all. Yep, that�s what I said. There is no such thing as an �espresso bean�. No, it�s not a smaller bean or something blacker, or something special that only tastes a certain way because of the way it�s grown. It grows as a coffee cherry just like every other coffee bean in the world. It�s nothing but a way to prepare a coffee beverage. And yes, an espresso is a kind of coffee beverage.

How is an espresso coffee made? Espresso coffee is a small 1 oz. shot of pressure-brewed coffee using about 1 Tablespoon (7 oz) of finely ground coffee per serving �shot�. Hot water of about 197-203 degrees Fahrenheit is forced through the beans at about .9-1 bar (or around 130 PSI) of pressure for 20-30 seconds. Properly brewed, an espresso will slowly pour out in a thin ribbon and feature dark syrupy liquid topped by a layer of rich dark golden �crema� on the surface. This beverage can be taken in just like that, with sugar, cream, or both, or topped in various combinations and quantities of foamy milk, whipped cream, or other goopy �toppings� that an American coffee chain has cooked up to add more than your fair share of daily calories in a 16 oz paper cup.

The truth is that yes, any coffee bean can be made into espresso coffee, but not every coffee will taste good made as an espresso coffee. A well created coffee blend that will shine when brewed as espresso is usually a combination of 3, 4, or more coffees from different origins, each roasted individually or blended together before roasting. A coffee suited for making espresso can be roasted to many degrees of brownish. It�s not just a dark black roast as many believe, so don�t be surprised if something called an �espresso roast� isn�t that expected color. Additionally, any blend created with espresso coffee in mind may not taste as good when made with a drip machine or press pot. You need to be the judge and the one who makes the final call next time you�re making a coffee choice.

So, if the bag you’re considering buying says �Espresso Blend�, it’s simply telling you �Hey you� (�cause the bag is talking now), �I�m a coffee that my roaster thinks tastes best made as an espresso coffee�. Then, make your fantastic espresso coffee from your selected beans, and sit back to enjoy the dream sequence where Sarah gets interviewed by a talking bag of coffee. Fun times.

…….have something to say? We want to hear you! Comment on this post, ask a question or make us laugh.

Strong Coffee

My latest conversation with friends has been about my curiosity to know what flavor qualities people find pleasing in the coffee they choose to drink. Most people don�t call out a brand�s coffee by name, but what I hear a lot, is �I like strong coffee�, or �I don�t like strong coffee�. I�m not sure what people are actually meaning by �strong� when it comes to flavor since strength isn�t a flavor, after all, it�s a level of intensity of the flavors their chosen coffee brings to them. In other words, it�s literally the �strength� that one brews his coffee. i.e., there you are in your undees standing in the kitchen making the morning�s brew, and you pump in 3 Tablespoons of coffee per 6 oz cup instead of the average 2. Therefore, you�ve made strong coffee. You can brew any coffee �strong�, in theory, because you can make it �stronger� than �normal�.

So what is flavor and where does it come from? The bottom line is that coffee is always going to taste coffee-ish. It won�t ever taste like pancakes, a candied apple, or beef jerky. However, coffee can certainly have flavor characteristics like these (ok, yeah, beef jerky is pushing it). Green coffees are graded on a scale. Simply put, there�s a range from bad to good to excellent. Not complicated right? Then, to get even more to the point, within the highest grade, known as Specialty Coffee, exists a sub-range from just ok to top quality. So if you�re following me, you could have �just ok” Specialty Coffee, or you could have �where are my socks because they�ve been knocked off� Specialty Coffee. A coffee is graded first by its physical characteristics, and then judged by what qualities it brings to the cup when drinking it. Considered in the rating of the coffee are flavor, fragrance, aftertaste, acidity, body, sweetness, uniformity, & balance. A good coffee importer goes to origin countries and makes buying selections based on the actual flavor in the cup when tasting the coffee. No kidding�sweet job. Coffees can have any range of ratings of the above categories, with an overall score being given to the complete cup.

Next, the roaster chooses coffees and determines how to roast and perhaps blend the coffees purchased in order to accentuate the flavors that they bring to the cup alone or blended with other coffees. Flavor impressions can run anywhere from blueberry to chocolate, to mango, to smoke, to cherry, to cinnamon, to caramel. The degree of roast then also adds an element of flavor�lighter or darker on the very same coffee will actually taste very different! Some coffees need to be roasted lighter to highlight their best flavors, and some need to be taken darker to do the same. A very dark roast can be tricky because it will completely overpower any of the subtle flavor characteristics and replace them with one flavor-burned campfire logs.

So �strength� isn�t really what people should be looking for when selecting a coffee, and a wide range of people associate �dark roast� with �strong�, and therefore choose that for a lack of a better idea of where to start. To help you decide what you�ll like best, look for:

� Quality of the bean being offered, remembering that Specialty Coffee can range from ok to fantastic.
� Freshness of the roast (even fantastic coffee will not have good flavor once it�s old).
� Flavor characteristics that sound good to you (meaning chocolate, citrus, smoke etc.)

Take the coffee home, and brew it to the strength you enjoy. If you�ve made the right pick for yourself, you�ll get the full on �oh yeah that�s some good stuff� feeling when you sip. If you make your coffee �strong�, but still don�t taste any flavor, you�re probably drinking something stale. If you taste flavor, but just not the flavor you like, pick a different coffee next time. Most websites or store shelves will describe their coffees� flavor characteristics as well as roast degree to help you make a choice.

And finally, if you are, or you know this person, stage a flavor intervention:
�I really like my coffee to taste painfully nasty because then I feel more manly being able to choke it down�.Meaning, I buy crappy, over-roasted, stale coffee, and brew it well above the normal scoop-to-water ratio to accentuate the nastiness even more. I impress my friends by doing this.�