Coffee Canon

You are reading Introducing Coffee Canon from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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.

You are reading S3 Episode 3: The Impact of Instant Coffee from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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.

You are reading S3 Episode 2: The History of Irish Coffee from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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.

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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 [email protected], 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.

You are reading S3 Episode 1: Cities And Their Coffee Cultures from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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:

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 [email protected]. 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.

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You are reading S2 Episode 16: International Podcast/Coffee Day from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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:

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.

You are reading S2 Episode 15: Italian Coffee ft. Hannah Mansfield from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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

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You are reading S2 Episode 14: We Are Happy To Serve You from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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.

You are reading S2 Episode 13: One Year Podcasting from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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.

You are reading S2 Episode 12: Developing Latte Art & Perfecting Espresso from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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 [email protected] 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.

You are reading S2 Episode 11: Coffee Production from Boise Coffee. Please share it with friends!

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

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.

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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.

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