The Way (Growing, Buying, and Enjoying) of Coffee

It almost goes without saying that the key metric of any given coffeeshop is going to be the quality of its espresso. You can have funky couches, game nights, and your own private-label ice cream, but in the end, if your espresso isn’t up to par then your coffee business is on borrowed time. Not just because it’s what’ll define your local reputation, but because wholesale sales are often what drives a shop’s profitability, and espresso is always going to be your key wholesale driver.

But what makes a good espresso blend? That’s not an easy question to answer. Not just because there are literally hundreds if not thousands of equally good blends that can be created, but because when you’re running a shop there are more parts to the question than what coffees taste good together. A better way to phrase the question might be, “what makes a good espresso blend that I can consistently sell?”

The Flavor Factor

All other factors put aside, if your espresso simply doesn’t taste good, then nothing else matters. Selecting beans that work well together can be a fun but also frustrating challenge–some coffees that taste great on their own don’t play well in espresso, and coffees you might overlook as a single-origin offering might really shine when joined to the right blend. Beyond that, there are a thousand tiny things that can radically change a potential espresso’s cup profile: roast level of the individual coffees, dosing amount in the portafilter, water temperature, and so on.

This is the hard work. It takes time, and the ability to roast each coffee to a given roast profile consistently, and a proper palette, and just the raw patience for continuous trial and error. But it’s also the most fun part, experimenting with and really getting to the essence of individual coffees.

Yeah, But Can I Get It?

Creating an espresso blend isn’t just about flavor, though. For any given blend you like the flavor of, you’ve got to find out if you can get it consistently at the volume you’ll need for your store at a price that you can afford. Many coffees–especially the best coffees–simply aren’t available all year, and may have a lot of competition for the lots. You might create an espresso that features a really distinct estate coffee that make for an amazing shot of espresso, but if that estate’s farm only produces 100 bags a year and you have a busy shop, you won’t be able to offer that espresso once the lot runs out. One thing some roasters do to address this is deliberately build a flavor profile around five or six coffees in a balanced percentage, to ensure that they’ll never need so much of any one coffee to risk running out of inventory; that is, they can offer it consistently because they don’t need as much of any coffee, so it’s more likely to be available.

Price is also a critical factor. One of my favorite espresso blends that I ever created was a blend that used a rare-ish Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence coffee as a base and featured a heavy percentage of Kaapi Royale, a high-grown Indian Robusta. The shots were amazing, but it costs me over $8/lb to make, meaning I’d have to raise all my retail drink prices by $1.50 to sell it without losing money. And daily customers aren’t going to pay $3.99 for an Americano, no matter how good it is (nor should they).

The Certification Issue

Things get even more complicated if you plan on offering an espresso that’s 100% organic or Fair Trade. Your available choices are more limited, with some regions of the world cut out entirely (such as most African coffees), and what’s available is not only going to be more expensive, but–to be blunt–may not be the best-tasting coffee from a given region. It can be a gamble, but it’s also a proven sales booster to offer an espresso with certifications, so the roaster has to weigh the pros and cons.

Choosing Which End to Start From

Many roasters create an espresso blend by starting from the logistical end: they look at the coffees that are available all year round within a certain price range, and then start blending from there. Others start from blending whatever they can find to create the best flavor, and then working backwards to find what coffees they can realistically source to fit that flavor profile. I admit I do the latter, which isn’t always the most reasonable way, because it can frequently mean finding a great blend but having to start all the way over if one of the coffees is too expensive or too rare and there’s no adequate substitution. But my primary concern is always sourcing the best-tasting coffee I can possibly find, and then figuring out later how to get it and keep it. Price, certifications, etc., all come later.

But whichever end you start from, the result should be the same: the best-tasting espresso you can get year-round at a price that’s reasonable.

Been dead-quiet around here for a long time–but not because nothing’s going on. After a lot of personal transitions (all good!) and tons of just plain ol’ busywork, I’m ready to unveil both the new design of WayOfCoffee.com and the new design of FremontCoffee.net.

For most of this year I’ve been relegating my blogging to my “personal” journal and in the background I’ve been doing what it takes to help get the roastery off the ground–just the day-in, day-out grunt work of obtaining permits, troubleshooting ductwork and utility lines, solidifying my list of suppliers, getting a credit account for the business, etc. etc. I’ve been a coffee roaster for a long time but I’ve never started from scratch on the business end, and let me tell you: it’s a long journey to get from an empty basement of a retail operation to a production roastery.

But we’re open, Fremont Coffee customers seem to be positive on our coffees, we have our first few wholesale accounts, and all those early kinks seem to be pretty much worked out. That includes updating Fremont Coffee’s website, http://www.fremontcoffee.net, as well as the new look for Way of Coffee. Hopefully they’ll both be easier to read and navigate.

I’ve always disliked it when bloggers come back from a long period of not posting just to apologize for not posting, so I just want to note that I’ll be moving all blogging duties to this blog over the next week or two. That does mean that Way of Coffee will have more elements of a personal blog than a news site, but I think that’s a good thing. I don’t want Way of Coffee to become yet another news content aggregator, and that’s admittedly what it became by the time I took a break from posting in January–there was a lot going on getting the roastery setup, but I didn’t think the world would be excited by tales of beauracratic runaround.

So starting now Way of Coffee will essentially replace my personal journal (although it will remain coffee-focused–not surprising since my life involves coffee quite a bit) and FremontCoffee.net will be where we post news relating to the roastery, including cuppings, art shows, new products, and more.

Many of us already think we’ll lose our minds if we don’t have that first cup of coffee in the morning, but scientists are discovering a link between coffee consumption and a lower risk of dementia in later life.

This is a preliminary result of a 21-year study conducted by Danish and Swedish researchers who monitored the health habits of about 1400 middle-aged men and women.  While there’s no definite evidence yet of a hard link, observations are showing a 65% reduction in the likelihood of developing of dementia or Alzheimer’s among the study group.

From the New York Times article:

Dr. Kivipelto and her colleagues suggest several possibilities for why coffee might reduce the risk of dementia later in life. First, earlier studies have linked coffee consumption with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, which in turn has been associated with a greater risk of dementia. In animal studies, caffeine has been shown to reduce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.Dr. Kivipelto noted that previous studies have shown that coffee drinking may also be linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease.

There’s no indication that coffee will have a protective effect for those already developing dementia, but in the meantime, it’s always good to have an excuse to make another pot.