AeroPress Tips & Recipes From The Cafés That Serve Them

The AeroPress may be one of the newer brewing methods on the coffee block, but it’s also one of the most popular. Easy to use, easy to clean, and easy to begin experimenting with, it’s become a firm favorite of many. What’s more, it’s portable, durable, and a lot cheaper than an espresso machine!

In fact, not only do home baristas love it, but so do a growing number of cafés. I first tried the AeroPress at 5PM in Guadalajara, Mexico, several years ago – although back then it was rare to find it offered in a coffee house. Now, however, a café AeroPress is slowly becoming more common.

So I decided to speak to some cafés that either serve the AeroPress, or are considering it, to find out why and what recipe they recommend. Read on for three must-try recipes and some great AeroPress suggestions.

SEE ALSO: Interview: How Did Alan Adler Invent the AeroPress?

The AeroPress: a fun, easy way to make great coffee. Credit: Ana Valencia

1. The Café That Likes AeroPress’ Ease & Consistency

The first person I spoke to was Maciej Kasperowicz, Director of Coffee at Gregorys Coffee in New York. He started as a barista almost seven years ago, and now is in charge of quality control in roasting and retail.

Maciej tells me that Gregorys Coffee likes the AeroPress for two main reasons: you can brew great coffee with it, and you can brew consistently great coffee with it. But he also likes how quick it is, and the ability to easily experiment.

“You can brew some good coffee on the AeroPress in two minutes, as opposed to the three to four minutes it takes to brew a cup on a pour over,” he says. “And the variables are easy to control. You can try different filters, use the inverted or non-inverted method, different water-to-coffee ratios, and grind sizes”.

With the AeroPress, you can easily control different variables and try different recipes. Credits: Gregorys Coffee

Gregorys Coffee’s AeroPress Recipe

Maciej tells me that they will change the recipe when it suits different coffees, but that this house recipe is the standard in all their coffee shops. He developed it in conjunction with Bailey Arnold, Gregorys Coffee’s Director of Education. Here it is:

Dose: 15g

Water: 8oz/227g

Brew time: 2 minutes

Method: Inverted

1. Preheat the AeroPress, put a paper filter in the the lid, and gather a water kettle, a stirring stick, and a vessel to press the coffee into.
2. Grind your coffee at a medium/medium-fine grind (while this can be hard to pin down, think slightly finer than what you’d do for drip or a pourover).
3. Set up the AeroPress and, using the plastic funnel that comes with the AeroPress, pour the grinds into the fully extended AeroPress chamber.
4. Invert your AeroPress, so that the plunger is on the bottom and the chamber on top. If you’re using a scale, make sure to tare to 0. (If you don’t have a scale, just make sure your AeroPress is extended below the no. 4 circle, before you begin to pour your water.) The capacity of the chamber is around 8oz/227g, minus the volume of the coffee grinds.
5. Heat your water to 200°F (just under boiling), and pour around half of it into the AeroPress. Start your timer as soon as the water hits the coffee.
6. Stir your coffee about three times, making sure all of the grinds are saturated with water, and the crust at the top of the brew has been broken.
7. Pour the rest of your water. Stir again, in the same way as before.
8. As quickly as possible, twist the cap onto the AeroPress.
9. Pre-heat/rinse your plastic funnel (the same one you used to dose the grinds), since you’ll use this to press the coffee into the vessel.
10. When your timer has reached 1 minute 27 seconds, flip the AeroPress onto the plastic funnel and press it into the designated vessel. Press with a consistent pressure, and try to do it in exactly 30 seconds – making your total brew time 2 minutes.
11. Enjoy!

Gregorys Coffee takes care to agitate the grinds. Credit: Gregorys Coffee

2. The Café That Likes to Serve AeroPress With V60

The second person I spoke to was Daria Whalen, Director of Education at Ritual Coffee Roasters in California. She told me that there are many things they like about the AeroPress, including the full body it produces. But what really impressed me is that they train their baristas to make a V60 or other pour over coffee and an AeroPress at the same time. While doing the “pulse pours” for a pour over, they multi-task and also make an AeroPress.

What’s more, this has actually become a selling point for some consumers. They’ll order two cups of coffee, one pour over and one AeroPress, so that they can compare the two. Usually they’ll order the same beans for this service. It’s a great educational tool: consumers love to discuss the differences they can taste in the cups.

Inverted or non-inverted, it’s always fun to experiment with the AeroPress. Credits: Ana Valencia

Ritual Coffee Roasters’ AeroPress Recipe

Just like at Gregorys Coffee, Ritual Coffee Roasters have a house recipe. Here it is:

Dose: 16g

Water: 225g

Brew time: 1:25-1:30 minutes

Method: Non-inverted/traditional

1. Pre-wet the filter.
2. Set up the AeroPress, and put the coffee in the chamber.
3. Add 255g of water just off the boil.
4. Use a stirrer to slowly paddle forwards and backwards, left and right.
5. Insert the plunger into the chamber, pushing it in slightly before slowly lifting it up to create a vacuum seal (note: don’t actually take out the plunger when lifting it up).
6. Take the AeroPress off the scale.
7. At one minute, plunge for 25 seconds.
8. Enjoy!

A full-body cup is one of the many great things you can get out of this brewing method. Credits: E.J. Schiro

3. The Café Still Considering The AeroPress

The final person I spoke to, Eric Mahovlich of Pilot Coffee Roasters, Toronto, tells me that they don’t currently offer AeroPress-brewed coffee – but they’re considering it. Eric tells me he thinks it would get a great response from customers.

Pilot Coffee Roasters recommends it to their customers, because they find it to be a consistent and “forgiving” method that offers a great body. In fact, he tells me that the brewing device is one of their “bestsellers”, often bought by their customers.

One of the “pros” of an Aeropress is that you can take it anywhere with you! Credits: Jen Ochej

Pilot Coffee Roasters’ AeroPress Recipe

When Pilot Coffee Roasters recommends the AeroPress, they also give their customer this recipe:

Dose: 12.5g, ground slightly finer than you would for drip

Water: 200g (1:16 ratio)

Brew time: Approx. 3:30 minutes

Method: Inverted

1. Insert the plunger marginally inside the AeroPress chamber, and then the AeroPress so that it’s upside down.
2. Put the coffee inside the chamber so that it sits on the plunger.
3. Add 20g of water, pre-infuse it, and stir for 3 seconds.
4. Add the remaining water and wait for 3:30 mins.
5. Plunge, and enjoy!

Different recipes to experiment with, always great results. Credits: Josh Burke

Three coffee shops, three very different recipes, and three different customer relationships with the AeroPress. If anything, this points to the great flexibility of it. Although everyone I spoke to agreed that it’s easy to brew good coffee with this device, and to control the different variables, they all use different methods. So try these three recipes – and then experiment to find your own favorite!

Written by Ana Valencia.

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Perspectiva del Comprador: Cómo Hacer Frente a Los Defectos de Café en Verde

El control de calidad comienza en la finca pero termina con el barista o tostador y una parte importante es revisar los defectos de los granos verdes. Pero ¿Cómo hace un exportador o tostador para revisarlos? Y si los encuentran, ¿Cómo hacen para prevenir que esto suceda a futuro?

Hablamos con Ricky Balzac y Danner Friedman, analistas de granos verdes y Q graders de Balzac Brothers para descubrirlo. Balzac Brothers es una importadora de café de cuarta generación con sede en Carolina del Sur, Estados Unidos que se provee de 20 países. A continuación lo que nos dijeron.

English Version: Buyer Insight: How to Deal With Green Bean Defects

Evaluando granos verdes durante un curso de CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) en Balzac Brothers. Crédito: Gather Coffee Company

Evaluación de los Defectos

Ricky y Danner explican que siempre obtienen tres muestras para analizar la calidad y los defectos. Luego analizan más muestras cuando el café ha llegado, con el fin de asegurarse de que la calidad se mantiene desde la cosecha hasta el transporte del café.

Balzac Brothers tiene su propio laboratorio certificado por la SCA (Specialty Coffee Association, por sus siglas en inglés) y el CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) el cual según ellos es uno de los 18 laboratorios en los Estados Unidos, el cual pueden utilizar para realizar clases y para evaluar muestras.

“De modo que antes de tostar, clasificamos los granos verdes para identificar los defectos,” dice Ricky. Primero, se seleccionan los granos por tamaño, es decir que utilizan una serie de mallas metálicas con orificios de diferentes tamaños para determinar el tamaño de los granos. El tamaño está correlacionado con la densidad y la calidad, aunque muchos cafés no encajan en este patrón. Además, algunas variedades siempre son más grandes que otras.

Luego de eso, comienzan a buscar los defectos en los granos. Existen muchos tipos de defectos y algunos son más graves que otros.

Muestras de granos verdes listas para catación. Crédito: Balzac Brothers

Orígenes Diferentes, Especificaciones de Calidad Diferentes

No todos los países tienen el mismo sistema de evaluación de la calidad para sus granos.

“El café convencional de Brasil tiene especificaciones muy distintas,” dice Danner, “en comparación con el café de Guatemala el cual tiene como base el Hard Bean System (sistema de grano duro), cada origen tiene sus propias especificaciones de calidad.”

El hard bean system  es una forma de nombrar los cafés tomando como base la altitud y la densidad. Los granos estrictamente duros (SHB siglas en inglés) se cultivan entre 1.600 y 1.700 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Encontrarás una variedad de cualidades antes del SHB desde sobrantes hasta granos duros, todos cuentan con una demanda en la industria.

Balzac Brother se provee de café de 20 países y trabaja con cafés de especialidad y convencional, esto es un primer paso importante para ellos. Además, los defectos comunes y las condiciones climáticas pueden cambiar de forma drástica de una región a otra.

No todos los países evalúan de la misma forma, pero la calidad siempre es importante. Crédito: Evodia Coffee

Cambio Climático y Defectos Regionales

Cada región productora de café hace frente a sus propias pestes, enfermedades y preocupaciones, desde el defecto de sabor a papa en algunas partes de África Central hasta la Roya en Centroamérica. Además, el cambio climático frecuentemente presenta productores con nuevos retos.

Ricky me dice que es importante para Balzac Brothers para estar al tanto de lo que sucede en diferentes regiones de las que se proveen. “Queremos apoyar a nuestros socios y comprar su café o pagarles como premium. Hemos notado en definitiva algunas fluctuaciones en los cultivos con base en el volumen que están produciendo en diferentes orígenes. Por ejemplo, en El Salvador, su cultivo se ha disminuido debido a la Roya, así que tenemos que ajustarnos a esas cosas que no podemos cambiar.”

Pero, ¿Qué pasa si descubren más defectos de los esperados? Les pregunté para poder explicarles su proceso ante ésta situación.

Finca de café en Antioquia, Colombia. Crédito: DelosAndes Cooperativa

Te Puede Interesar: 8 Observaciones de un Comprador De Café Verde

Hacer Frente a los Asuntos de Calidad

No es usual que se presente un defecto en el café que llega si no se presentó en las primeras muestras, dicen Ricky y Danner. Pero Balzac Brothers aún así tiene un sistema para esto.

“Si hay un problema, hablamos con nuestro productor, exportador o socio en origen para ver en donde se originó el problema,” dice Ricky. “A veces podemos rastrear con base en los defectos identificados.” Los daños de los insectos se pueden reconocer fácilmente, por ejemplo, y adoptar medidas en contra.

“Uno de los objetivos principales es apoyar a uno de nuestros socios en origen, así que decir sí realmente algo ocurrió luego de que compramos el café, nosotros no asumimos de forma automática que hay un malentendido. Trabajaremos con ellos para tener un plan de mejoramiento de la calidad en el año siguiente, pero también para ver qué podemos hacer para mover el café y no sacarlo simplemente a secar.”

Él me dice que también tienen procesos organizados para que sea más fácil responder a los inconvenientes. “Sí hay una gran contaminación, esperamos poder aislar los sacos para que podamos investigar a fondo qué porcentaje está contaminado. Preferimos recibir el café en sacos y no es super sacos ya que así es más fácil aislarlos.”

Balzac Brothers brinda retroalimentación a los productores con base en los defectos. Crédito: Balzac Brothers

Defectos en Especialidad vs Convencional

Esto también ayuda a Balzac Brothers a comprar tanto café de especialidad como convencional. También me dicen que es extraño encontrar defectos en el café de especialidad, pero en el café convencional si esperan encontrar. La cantidad de defectos que acepten depende del contrato establecido con el proveedor. También varía de acuerdo con la región en origen: en un café de Ruanda esperan encontrar el defecto de sabor a papa, en un café de Brasil, sobrefermentación en un proceso natural.

“En el mundo de especialidad tendemos a comprar solo los mejores cafés,” dice Ricky. “Pero tenemos que recordar que existe el resto de la finca y que tiene que haber un lugar para ese café. Tiene que haber más tolerancia de defectos con el fin de vender ese café y así brindar subsistencia a estos productores.”

Catando cafés de especialidad en Balzac Brothers. Crédito: Balzac Brothers

En un mundo ideal, los defectos no deberían existir. Pero sí existen y también es importante que los importadores y exportadores tengan la habilidad para medirlos y la  inclinación al trabajo con los productores para prevenir esto a futuro.

Ricky y Danner me dicen que se consideran sistemáticos, también creen en la confianza y las relaciones estrechas. Esto es lo que les permite encontrar cafés de alta calidad mientras que apoyan los productores y tostadores.

Escrito y traducido  por Angie Molina Ospina

Balzac Brothers fue un patrocinador del  Micro Festival El Salvador. Esta entrevista fue realizada de acuerdo con nuestras políticas editoriales y Balzac Brothers no ha tenido mayor influencia en la copia final que otra de las personas entrevistadas.

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This Is How You Pronounce “SCA”

The dust is settled, the merger is final: the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe have joined forces into a single entity, dubbed simply the Specialty Coffee Association, or SCA. This new coffee Borg will be tasked with putting on the largest coffee trade shows and competitions on earth from now until Trump nukes the planet from space (much to the delight of most of the merger’s opposition).

Just one question remains: how do you pronounce SCA? Under the old regime, SCAA was simply “Ess-See-Eh-Eh”—or was it? In Europe, it was common practice to hear SCAA pronounced as “Ska“. So too was there some confusion on how to pronounce SCAE—in America we spelled it out phonetically, as “Ess-See-Eh-Eeee”, but over in Europe they’d call it “Skye“.

Skye and Ska, phonetics and colloquialisms. It’s confusing for sure, but thankfully that’s all over now. There’s just one global coffee organization running the show, and we must learn to pronounce its name correctly.

You pronounce it “Schwa”.

Yes, that’s correct—SCA is pronounced “Schwa“.

“SCHWAAAAAAAAH.”

Here’s a handy pronunciation video in case you’re still confused.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you at the Schwa Global Specialty Coffee Expo this April in Seattle!

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Going Somewhere Solo: Esther Shaw of Coptic Light Coffee

Welcome back to a new feature series on Sprudge, Going Somewhere Solo, in which we profile the people behind the new wave of so-called “nano-roasters”, the tiniest of new coffee concerns pushing quality and entrepreneurship in a big way. These are seasoned coffee pros who’ve struck out on their own (often in unexpected places) to launch roasting enterprises outside of the traditional coffee shop format, instead growing their businesses within collaborative spaces, home offices, garages, and of course, online. Know of a gutsy coffee startup? Email us!

This week’s spotlight is on Esther Shaw, a longtime Chicago-based coffee professional who recently relocated to Astoria, Oregon to pursue a roasting dream.

Hi! Tell us what your roasting business is called and where you’re located.

Coptic Light, located in Astoria, Oregon.

What equipment are you currently roasting on?

A seven-kilo Diedrich for production roasting, and a Quest M3 for sample roasting

Who else is involved in the business right now?

David D’Andrea of Samaritan Press designs all of our beautiful packaging. He creates all of the art for our company and presses each box himself on this amazing 100-year-old letterpress machine. JR Robinson is an essential creative force who plays a major role in generating the aesthetic of our company and is in production and sales. And I am in charge of anything coffee-related—logistics, roasting, green coffee buying, etc. We each bring something different to the table and collaborate wonderfully together—I love working with JR and David!

What’s your background in the coffee industry?

My first coffee job ever was as a Quality Control lab assistant at Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago—my dream job for starting out in coffee. From there, my position expanded fairly quickly. I started managing the lab, building QC data systems, coordinating green coffee inventory, and contributing to coffee buying decisions. After that, I was offered a very appealing position working with the amazing Dark Matter Coffee crew, heading up and building their quality control systems. They were always hugely supportive of my decisions yet always challenged me to view coffee and quality from a different perspective. Then, I did a short stint over at Quasar Coffee as well which was such an immense learning experience.

And drawing from all those valuable experiences, I am now able to run Coptic Light alongside David and JR. I also have a few side projects. I began working with cooperatives in Pu’er, Yunnan, China a few years ago and actually imported my first partial container last year. I also work as an SCA specialized instructor teaching cupping and roasting classes with a focus on China and Taiwan and help translate curriculum and testing materials from English to Chinese for the SCA.

How are you currently sourcing your coffees? What do you look for?

Being a new business, I knew we would be moving through a smaller quantity of coffee at a slower pace. I focused on sourcing delicious coffees which would be super sturdy and cup well over time. So I started off safe, solely sourcing washed Ethiopian coffees and then gradually some natural Ethiopian coffees. I get them through my friend Sean Capistrant over at Trabocca who is wonderful to work with.

However, as mentioned earlier, I have another passion which is working with coffee cooperatives in Pu’er to elevate specialty coffee standards. It was a personal venture I started exploring a few years ago. Last year, I started making a conscious effort to connect specialty coffee roasters to quality coffee from Pu’er. I was actually successful enough in 2016 to import my first partial container. I chose to purchase one of their experimental coffees in order to closely track its quality from start to finish, seeing it all the way through. This will be the next new offering on the Coptic Light menu.

What—or who—inspired you to go out on your own with roasting? Is there a coffee (or other) company you admire and would love to grow up to be like

I was at a point where I needed a bit of solitude in my life and was also realizing that life is fleeting. I felt an urgency to make a huge change in order to pursue all of my dreams and passions. So I chose to move away from my lovely friends and life in Chicago to the small town of Astoria, Oregon. And with that came Coptic Light, which represents this inspiration of starting something new, beautiful, and independent.

Other companies I currently admire or would like to grow up to be like—I have a lot of respect for what Steve Mierisch has done at Pulley Collective. He pursued a concept fairly outside of the box and the resulting collaborative model is so exciting to be around every time I visit them over in Brooklyn. I also really admire coffee roaster guru Chris Schooley and his company Troubador Maltings. He is one of the most giving, intelligent coffee people I know. He works hard, creates wonderful quality products, and naturally draws people to want to be around him.

What kind of risks have you taken in striking out on your own to launch an independent roasting business? Did you make any unusual decisions?

Nothing really out of the ordinary. I knew that starting off it would be difficult to distinguish ourselves from other coffee roasting businesses. I knew it would take time to gain some recognition and grow, so I would need to be patient and smart with the money I had saved up to start this business. I wanted to keep true to a few principles—simplicity, quality, and beauty. I aimed to keep the logistics and initial investment simple. I didn’t want to purchase a roaster and rent out a store space right off the bat, so instead we rent roasting time from a local roaster and focus on alternative outlets for sales. By simplifying the logistics, we are able to focus our time and money towards the important stuff, towards pursuing high quality coffee and beautiful packaging. The simplicity allowed us more freedom to execute things the way we wanted to do them.

How are you reaching customers without a retail cafe? Do you plan to have one someday? Where can people buy your coffee?

David D’Andrea has a huge following as a talented artist and printmaker. JR Robinson is a wonderfully talented musician with a following of his own as the leader of the band Wrekmeister Harmonies. And me–I know some people I guess! We just reach out to the following we currently have via social media by posting photos of our lives, our work and our beautiful product. We sell our coffee on our website copticlight.org, at a few cafes, grocery stores, and interestingly most of our sales happen when we are on tour with Wrekmeister, which I also play in, at the merch table. It’s actually my most favorite place to sell. People love seeing our coffee being sold as merch, and it naturally leads to many questions and conversation. I also love seeing when the music world and coffee world collide and chatting with people who are passionate about both.

Yes, we would love to have a retail café someday—it’s the dream. I have a plan for that maybe a few years down the road after we get our current online retail sales and wholesale accounts more steady.

It strikes us as a measurement of where the specialty industry is now that many small roasters are now cropping up across the landscape without a physical location to hang a shingle on. How will you stand out from others competing for shelf space in the world’s decreasing multi-roaster cafes?

Haha, I don’t know! I just know I love doing what we do. I love putting out delicious coffees in beautiful packaging and scheming with David and JR about the possibility of future Coptic Light events and pop-up shops. I am happy to keep this company at a small scale but would be happy if it does grow—like I said before the simplicity of our business model allows for this freedom.

Lastly, how would you describe your vibe in general? Is there a kind of music you like to listen to when you roast, do you wear lucky shoes, etc.?

Check out the song Coptic Light by Morton Feldman—it is actually what we named our company after and definitely representative of our general vibe. The piece is classical yet experimental. It is quiet and soothing, a bit noisy, mystical and beautiful.

Thanks, Esther!

Find Coptic Light coffees through their website at copticlight.org, follow them on Instagram, and like them on Facebook.

Liz Clayton is the associate editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge.

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Cascara Latte VIDEO Review: Can This Drink Be Third Wave?

Starbucks recently started a new coffee trend: cascara latte. But what is cascara? How is it normally drunk? And is there a third wave version of the cascara latte? Find out in today’s curated video article.

What Is Cascara?

Cascara is the dried skin of coffee cherries, and it’s typically brewed as an infusion. Find out more about it in this excellent introduction and recipe from The Roasters Pack. And note how they talk about the flavour profile and aroma: just like with coffee, the cherry’s origin, varietal, and more can affect the final cup.

SEE ALSO: How to Make 4 Different Cascara Tea Drinks: A VIDEO Guide

So What’s a Cascara Latte – Starbucks Style?

A cascara latte is a Starbucks invention: one latte, one cascara-infused shot of syrup, and some cascara-infused sugar granules as a garnish. In total, a grande contains 36g of sugar (8 teaspoons). Starbucks says it has a sweet taste profile, with notes of maple syrup and dark brown sugar.

Is There a Third Wave Version of the Cascara Latte?

Gail from Seattle Coffee Gear called for users to share recipes with her – and they did, with Polly sending one in. But unlike Starbucks’ version, this one features actual cascara tea. The result is a heavily caffeinated drink with plenty of opportunity for experimenting with flavour profiles. Watch as Gail makes and reviews the cascara latte.

SEE ALSO: 6 Tips for Blow-You-Away Specialty Coffee Cocktails

SEE ALSO: Starbucks’ Cascara Latte: What Does It Mean for Specialty?

Feature photo credit: Migle via Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Please note: Perfect Daily Grind does not own the rights to these videos and cannot be held accountable for their content.

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All Apologies: Toronto’s Sorry Coffee Company Inside Kit And Ace

The view into Sorry Coffee Co. from the Kit and Ace showroom.

Kit and Ace, a clothing-and-luxury lifestyle brand known for its proprietary blend of machine-washable cashmere, has seamlessly merged lattes and athleisure in Toronto’s upscale Yorkville neighborhood with the introduction of Sorry Coffee Co.

Founded in Vancouver by Shannon Wilson, a former lead designer at Lululemon Athletica, and her stepson JJ Wilson, Kit and Ace now has more than 60 stores worldwide. But the Yorkville shop is one of only two that also houses a Sorry Coffee Co. (the other being in London, England).

The view from Sorry into Kit and Ace.

Dylan Wu, once at De Mello Palheta Coffee Roasters and Voodoo Child Espresso & Cocktail Bar, is the coffee director at Toronto’s Sorry outpost. Of the cafe’s repentant name, he says, “To Kit and Ace, ‘Sorry’ is a distinctly Canadian phrase and our way of poking fun at ourselves. Around the world, Canadians are known for their boundless civility and for apologizing for things we didn’t do. By pairing Sorry Coffee with Kit and Ace, it can act as a gentle reminder to the rest of the world that we are a Canadian company.”

“We’re so Sorry”: Dylan Wu (right) with barista Kait Winter.

Sorry’s Toronto location sources beans from in-town roaster De Mello Palheta. “Though Kit and Ace is a global company,” Wu explains, “each of our showrooms features hyper-local elements based on the neighborhood, community, or city it is in.” An ongoing series of custom designs for Sorry’s takeaway cups features the work of local artists; this quarter’s designs were created by Toronto artist Andrew Kidder, also known as Rcade.

Rcade-designed cups at Sorry Coffee Co.

Sorry pulls shots of espresso on a two-group La Marzocco GB5 using a pair of Mazzer Robur grinders, all of which have been custom-coated with copper by the folks at Espresso Parts. Sorry doesn’t serve drip, but the shop does prepare seasonal single-origin pour-overs on Hario V60s using a Mahlkönig EK 43 grinder, a Marco Ecoboiler hot water tower, and Acaia scales. This cafe uses conflicting “sorry” and “not sorry” custom cups and dishes from notNeutral.

If visiting Sorry Coffee Co., know that the shop only accepts cards, and doesn’t include tipping in its service model. “Kit and Ace is a cashless company, so it follows suit that Sorry would be as well,” says Wu. “The main idea is that we seek to save our guests time in both the products we sell and how we sell them. By being cashless, there is no more fumbling around for change or the mental arithmetic that comes with dealing in cash, so you get your coffee that much quicker.”

Sorry Coffee Co. is located at 102 Bloor Street West, Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them Facebook and Instagram.

Ashley Tomlinson is the founder of The Little Black Coffee Cup, a digital coffee publication based in Toronto. Read more Ashley Tomlinson on Sprudge.

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Jen Apodaca: How to Improve Your Roasting Skills

Jen Apodaca has been pushing the roasting industry forwards for nearly 13 years. And now she’s agreed to talk with me about the different ways you can improve your roasting skills.

She’s an Executive Council Member of The Roaster’s Guild and a Coffee Committee Chair at Good Food Awards. She’s worked at some of the industry’s biggest names, including Intelligentsia and Blue Bottle. And now she’s Royal Coffee’s Director of Roasting at their soon-to-open educational facility The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room.

But while her CV may be formidable, Jen isn’t. She’s friendly, full of smiles, and on the go non-stop. The past couple of months, she’s been travelling from state to state to lead Royal Coffee’s Crown on the Road educational roasting seminars. Luckily, I managed to grab her between Milwaukee and Costa Rica to find out more.

SEE ALSO: Step-by-Step VIDEO Guide to Developing a Roast Profile

Jen checks a roast’s progression. Credit: Royal Coffee

Do I Need to Improve My Roasting Skills?

If you’re reading this article, chances are that you want to improve your roasting skills. But for experienced roasters, it’s not often that they’ll need to follow all these procedures. While some are basic requirements, others are more time-consuming and don’t need to be applied every time.

“You know your machine, you have your style,” Jen says. “The only time you really start exploring different roast profiles is when you run into a problem.” These problems can include maturing coffee or new, but “difficult”, coffees. They come out well on the sample roaster, but not on your production roaster. That’s when these steps can help.

Alternatively, for budding roasters these processes can be a great training exercise. They’ll help you develop a strong understanding of the craft.

When a roast goes wrong, it’s time to proactively look for ways to improve. Credit: Thump Coffee

1. Know Your Machinery

“The whole point of [the Crown on the Road roasting class] is to master a machine and understand its full potential,” Jen explains. “Learning how to manipulate a roaster and control the heat transfer in the drum is powerful.”

This point might seem basic, but it’s important. It’s what will allow you to choose the best profile for any coffee. It’s what will allow you to control that roast to produce the exact flavour profile you want. And it’s what will allow you to keep producing the best flavour even as the coffee matures, or as one coffee in a blend is substituted for another.

Every machine is different. Credit: Royal Coffee

2. Keep It Varied

Jen emphasises that there are many different roast styles. She tells me that often people don’t realise this, or how important that fact is.

“There is no one way to roast a certain type of coffee and there is no magic formula to use as a shortcut,” she says. “Not only do roasters deal with variance in green origin, cultivar, screen size, process, moisture content, density, and water activity, but if a roaster plans to roast a coffee over the course of several months then the green coffee will begin to mature and lose some of its acid structure, requiring roasters to adjust their roast profiles.”

In her classes, she introduces three coffees with different origins, processes, moisture content, and screen size variance. Then she explains three different roasting styles, and the impact the their authors believe they’ll have.

This has little in common with the daily routine of a small-scale roaster. But it’s important despite that. It pushes you to understand how different factors impact the final coffee – and how different coffees must impact your roasting style.

There’s no magic formula for roasting. Credit: Talor and Jørgen

3. Roast Together

Jen knows it’s not always easy to roast with people, but she’s firm about its importance. “When I first started roasting, I was very isolated, like many roasters,” she says. “It was just me, in a building, with two roasting machines. At that time, there were very few resources. In town, when I asked for help, I got the cold shoulder. Very few people reached out and talked to me, and I’m very grateful for those who did.”

Roasting with others allows you to get feedback on roast profiles. Even when your roasts are great, it provides you with new perspectives on them. And that will improve your roasting. What’s more, it’ll do it quicker than studying a book or using trial and error.

Jen tells me about her experience of working with people from different roasting backgrounds. “We were all from different schools of thought, with different roast styles, but we all had to roast to the same flavour profile.” This pushed the team to think about roasting in different ways.

Some roasters are lucky enough to work in a team. For those that aren’t, Jen recommends workshops, the Roaster’s Guild Retreat, and Roaster’s Camp to build your own community.

A team will support you in your progression as a roaster. Credit: Royal Coffee

4. Roast, Cup, Discuss

The great thing about roasting in a group is that you can roast, cup, and then discuss. And that last part, the discussion, deserves some focus. Go in depth. Don’t just say which coffee is “better” or more to a particular taste, but discuss all the ways in which they differ.

Jen explains that her Crown on the Road classes end with questions like: Do the roasting styles pair well with a particular brew method? Origin? Density? Which roast is the sweetest or the most acidic?

It’s better with a group, but you can also ask yourself these questions if you’re roasting alone. To force yourself to be more detailed, write your answers down.

Jen prepares a cupping table so she can evaluate several roasts. Credit: Royal Coffee

5. Consider Complementary Studies

Jen tells me that there’s more to roasting than, well, just roasting. Green coffee analytics is “invaluable to any roaster”, she says. She also teaches a Menu Development & Inventory Management course focused on topics such as scheduling coffees and production flow. Whether you attend a course, receive in-house training, or pick them up in other ways, these additional skill sets are highly beneficial.

Roasting is only half of a roaster’s job. Credit: Bunker Coffee

Further Reading

There you have it – Jen’s five-step process to improving your roasting skills. But she’s not done with advice just yet. She finishes by telling me that roasters wanting experience of different styles could look to Scott Rao’s The Coffee Roaster’s Companion, which recommends a decreasing ROR to increase sweetness, and Rob Hoos’ Modulating The Flavor Profile of Coffee, which suggests increasing the Maillard reaction time for greater body.

She also mentions a technique developed by Ed Leebrick of Lighthouse Roasters in Seattle: “After first crack begins, rest the roast by turning the heat down to low. The drum temperature should drop several degrees before kicking the heat back on and finishing the roast.”

Never stop reading about coffee. Credit: Chonchon Christian

Roasting can be lonely and challenging. But one sniff of those freshly roasted beans, one sip of a coffee you’ve helped craft, and you’ll understand why people do it. And the moment you realise how different one coffee can taste, just because of how you roast it – you’ll never want to give it up.

Roasting coffee is an act of passion, dedication, and expertise. And becoming better at it doesn’t just improve your coffee: it also improves your experience. So whether you’re a professional, home roaster, or someone considering picking up the craft, look to Jen’s five steps to help you become the best roaster you can be.

Royal Coffee is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind. This interview was conducted in accordance with our editorial policies, and Royal Coffee has had no greater influence on the final copy than any of our other interviewees.

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Capacitación: Cómo Mejorar Tu Carrera o Negocio en Café

A todas las empresas le gustaría tener buenas ganancias y eficiencia, y cada empleado quiere sentirse realizado con su trabajo. Pero ésto no sucede por suerte, es el resultado de arduo trabajo, decisiones estratégicas de negocio y buen entrenamiento. (Y tal vez un poco de suerte).

Así que hablé con Ildi Revi, la Directora de Educación en Ally Coffee con el fin de descubrir lo que hace que la capacitación sea la mejor. Ildi me compartió tres cosas que cada programa debería tener, también necesidades específicas de entrenamiento para baristas, productores y propietarios de tiendas de café y/o torrefacción.

English Version: Training Tips: How to Improve Your Coffee Career and/or Business

Ildi Revi (centro) y el equipo de Ally Coffee evaluando los tuestes de las muestras. Crédito: Ally Coffee

Consejos Clave para Capacitar a Los Empleados

Cuando la gente trabaja, quiere satisfacer más que sus necesidades básicas. Los salarios, la salud y las vacaciones son importantes. Pero también los son la realización y desarrollo profesional. Tus empleados saben lo que quieren ser en la vida y estarán motivados a dar pasos que los lleve a ello.

Al mismo tiempo, cada minuto es valioso para un miembro de un personal muy ocupado. Lo cual quiere decir que el entrenamiento es necesario, visiblemente efectivo y aplicable inmediatamente.

“La educación tiene que ser algo que fundamente esa realización, de modo que se debe asegurar que los empleados no pierdan su tiempo al comenzar cualquier programa de entrenamiento.” dice Ildi.

Ildi recomienda que las empresas deben ser honestas consigo mismas acerca de su estado actual. Y así pueden trabajar en lo que necesitan para cerrar la brecha entre su objetivo y la realidad. Esto asegura que el programa de entrenamiento sea valioso. Los resultados detallados y medibles harán que ese valor se haga más evidente.

“La educación en la etapa en que somos adultos que trabajamos, debe ser valiosa y aplicable de forma inmediata. Ésta es la filosofía que tengo siempre que debo realizar un programa para Ally Coffee. Debo ver lo que la gente necesita aprender y encontrar expertos y especialistas que ayuden a diseñar un programa que sea interesante y práctico para que de forma inmediata puedan volver al trabajo a empezar sus prácticas.”

Pero, ¿Qué entrenamiento deben recibir los productores, baristas y propietarios de tiendas de café y tostadoras? Le pregunté a Ildi que opina.

Ally Coffee con los productores y Gianni Cassatini de Nuova Simonelli (extremo izquiera) en Brasil. Crédito: Ally Coffee

Programas de Capacitación para Productores

Ildi me dice que los programas de capacitación para los productores deben estar enfocados en ayudarlos a maximizar la calidad y las ganancias, y es clave un entendimiento de la cadena de suministro como un todo.

Por ejemplo, me dice que los productores necesitan entender a lo que sabe su café. Lo cual incluye programas de catación, degustación y preparación. Esto les permitirá analizar su producto de la misma forma en que lo hacen los compradores y con base en eso tomar decisiones.

Ildi recuerda haber brindado una capacitación a un grupo de productores africanos con un jardín de variedades. Cataron los cafés y ella explicaba qué perfiles prefería el mercado, de esta manera estaban en la capacidad de seleccionar los mejores tres varietales del jardín para enfocarse en ellos. Ildi dice, “ellos sabían qué factores era importante tener en cuenta en una buena taza de café, lo cual le dió una mayor motivación y herramienta de toma de decisiones.”

Otra recomendación es que los productores deben estar atentos a lo que sucede en otros países incluyendo sus técnicas de producción. Esto les brinda perspectivas importantes acerca de la producción en su propio país.

Pero ella también recuerda que las condiciones de las fincas son diferentes a las de un laboratorio y es importante dar a entender esto en una capacitación. Ally Coffee diseña programas de capacitación para los productores los cuales enseñan en sus fincas. Ildi explica que lo que lo hace difícil es la falta de equipos y agua limpia, pero indica que la capacitación es más aplicable.

Daniel Vorgapel en Finca Vorgapel, Espirto Santos. Crédito: Ally Coffee

Programas de Capacitación para Baristas

Ildi enfatiza la necesidad de que la capacitación para un barista sea científica, lógica y organizada. Según su experiencia, la capacitación formal diseñada para cubrir necesidades específicas, es mucho más efectiva que un tipo de aprendizaje ad hoc.

Le pregunté a Ildi en qué áreas se deben enfocar los baristas, ella dice que pocos baristas son los propietarios de las tiendas en las que trabajan. Con base en eso, el negocio debe considerar que habilidades tienen más prioridad para la tienda de café y no para el barista.

Sin embargo, dice que existen habilidades básicas que todos los baristas deben saber y además la capacitación en esto debe ser aplicable de forma inmediata. Desde reducción del desperdicio de leche hasta habilidades de atención al cliente y capacitación en equipos, el personal y  empresas similares verán inmediatamente el impacto.

Un miembro del equipo de Ally Coffee catando cafés. Crédito: Ally Coffee

Te puede interesar: Entrevista: Cómo el Entrenamiento a los Catadores Brinda un Apoyo al Café de Especialidad en honduras.

Programas de Capacitación para los Propietarios de Tiendas de Café y/o Torrefacción

En cuanto a los propietarios de tiendas de café y torrefacciones, Ildi me dice que la capacitación en desarrollo de liderazgo y talento puede ser sumamente útil, debido a que son los empleados quienes crean la cultura de la empresa, los propietarios deben estar atentos a las necesidades y potencial del personal.

“Un negocio es como una obra de arte que está en constante desarrollo. Depende de que el propietario mire el canvas que están creando y de forma objetiva realice los cambios con el fin de mantener su empresa de la forma en que la quiere llevar.”

Pero ella también cree que los propietarios de los negocios se deben enfocar más en la opinión de los clientes. “en nuestra industria, nos vemos tentados a hablar mucho de nosotros mismos pero debemos hablar más de los consumidores.”

Los paneles del consumidor en las tiendas de café son el camino a seguir, dice Ildi. En Ally Coffee tienen un programa llamado Consumer Product Testing (ensayo de productos de consumo). Este enseña a los dueños de empresas cómo hacer pruebas de producto. Primero identifican el objetivo con el método de prueba y luego identifican las personas apropiadas para incluir en el panel.

Por ejemplo, si un tostador necesita sustituir un café, Ildi cree que el panel debe incluir consumidores. Luego tratan de encontrar un café de Guatemala que pueda sustituir el café de Colombia mientras que los clientes regresan por más.

 Equipo de ally Coffee en una sesión de catación. Crédito: Ally Coffee

Capacitarse no es fácil, pero todos sabemos lo importante que es. Cuando la gente siente que está adquiriendo desarrollo profesional, se sienten realizados con su trabajo. Este es uno de los aspectos clave para tener empleados felices y motivados. Al mismo tiempo, ellos harán un mejor trabajo y tomarán decisiones más informados ayudando a que el negocio perciba mejores ingresos.

Así que recuerda: analiza tus necesidades, elige un programa de capacitación con un valor visible y prioriza que sea aplicable de forma inmediata.

Escrito por Angie Molina Ospina

Editado por Karla Ly

Ally Coffee es patrocinador de Perfect Daily Grind. Esta entrevista fue realizada de acuerdo con nuestras políticas editoriales y Ally Coffee no ha tenido mayor influencia en la copia final que ninguna de las demás personas entrevistadas.

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Limitless Scrutiny Over Claims Of “Clean Coffee”

Some people will say anything to hawk their wares. Case in point: Limitless Coffee in Chicago, who claims to provide the “cleanest coffees” in the world. What’s the source of this belief? Is it that the flavor profiles are exacting and pronounced? Nope. According to the Chicago Tribune, it’s that they don’t use naturally processed coffees.

It all started when Limitless co-founder Matt Matros went on a yoga retreat in Bali. During that trip, Matros stopped by a coffee farm where he was “horrified” by how dirty naturally processing coffee was:

“They’re fermenting and decomposing and dying and attracting bugs, birds and wild animals,” he says. “I saw this with my own eyes. And then it might rain, and then the sun comes out, and you get mold.”

After returning to the States, Matros learned about washed processed coffees, which I guess are supposed to have fewer mycotoxins or something? I dunno. They sure sounds scary, though. Anyway, washed coffees equal clean, naturals equal dirty. Got it? Good.

He’s sold washed coffee in Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook.

And you can’t just jam that super clean coffee into any ole roaster. That’ll get you the cancer. At Limitless, they use an air roaster. Because of the chaff and the smoke and the carcinogens and the cancer. OH GOD THE CANCER! From their website, without a single word or bit of punctuation changed:

“The significance of [air roasting] is that any and all loose chaff is immediately swept away from the beans. The chaff is unsinged. Whereas, in a drum roaster, most of the chaff rides on the tumbling beans and burns and smokes. This smoke, fumigates all other beans, giving them a harsh bitey taste. The smoke also deposits on the surface of all other beans, resulting in darker bean surfaces than interiors, and oil surfaces. This carbonization of the drum roasted chaff creates volatile products similar to those found in cigarette smoke and charcoal preparation from wood. These are classified as carcinogenic chemicals.

Fuckin’ chaff collectors, how do they work?

If none of this has convinced you to switch to Limitless Coffee for the rest of your life, don’t worry, Matros has an appeal to emotion (that emotion being fear) that’ll definitely do the trick.

“At the end of the day, if you had two cups of coffee in front of you, would you want the one with toxins in it or not?” he asks. “Maybe some people don’t care. I know some people who eat at McDonald’s, but I don’t want to.”

Unsurprisingly, some folks in the coffee industry are calling bullshit on this whole clean coffee thing. Terms like “offensive”, “hyperbole”, and “confused about science” get tossed around in the Tribune’s article, with one person stating, “I don’t think he knows what the (heck) he’s talking about.” I don’t think he said heck.

But if there’s a silver lining to this cloud, it’s that you can get a 12 ounce bag of “Geisha Super Premium Blend Roast” variety for only $19.99, so that’s pretty cool, right?

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

*all images via Frinkiac

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5 Summertime Coffee Drinks From Brazil

Brazil has hot summers, and, depending on where you live in the country, summer lasts pretty much the whole year. The country is also the world’s largest coffee producer and a heavy consumer of cafezinho, as we call it here (hot filter coffee served in a china demitasse). It would be logical that we venture into the art of preparing cold drinks made with coffee as well, since we love coffee so much. But sometimes it’s just too hot outside to even imagine sipping a quick espresso. However, we are a little behind—Brazilians are rather traditional in the way they drink their coffee, and are still somewhat reluctant to try alternatives like iced coffee or even cold brew.

In the big cities, though, things are starting to change. Thanks to climate change—record-high temperatures this summer felt like 122ºF in Rio, for instance—or to the younger coffee consumer crowd, we now have some creative coffee shops and bar owners willing to challenge Brazilians’ taste buds with coffee-based cold drinks. To our delight, these drinks have come to stay, and we selected five of them for you to try when you come for a visit, or even to prepare in the comfort of your air-conditioned home in whatever season you like.

 

“Tropicália” at Café Secreto

One of the good things about living in Rio de Janeiro—or any other beach city, really—is relying on an endless supply of fresh coconut water. Gabriela Ribeiro and the Café Secreto crew always wanted to work on a coffee drink that used that ingredient, she tells me. First they started with filtered coffee (actually brewing the coffee with coconut water) but they realized the flavors didn’t come out right. Then they tried it with espresso—pulling a shot regularly and then mixing it with coconut water—and it was an instant hit. I tried it and it is indeed delicious—and I’m not much of a fan of cold espresso drinks. Ribeiro was kind enough to share the recipe with us, but when in Rio, don’t forget to try this refreshing concoction at Café Secreto.

One shot of espresso, around 30 milliliters

150 milliliters of fresh coconut water

Ice

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail mixer. Strain to serve. Enjoy.

Café Secreto is located at Casa 8, Rua Gago Coutinho, 6, Rio de Janeiro. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

 

“Caipicoffee” at Noete Café Clube

Caipirinha is Brazil’s national drink, and the original one is made with cachaça, Brazil’s national liquor. Guilherme Costa and Gabriel Cabral, founders of Noete Café Clube in Belo Horizante, thought they ought to come up with a way to incorporate coffee and cachaça together. After all, Minas Gerais, the state where they are located, is world famous for its highly rated specialty coffee and award-winning aged cachaças.

The result is a sweet and delicious drink that could perfectly fit as an appetizer for a late summer afternoon. If you have a good cachaça—or vodka, as Cabral suggests—at home, it is also easy to reproduce. Here is Noete’s caffeinated take on caipirinha:

75 milliliters of aged cachaça

1 tablespoon of honey (Noete uses honey extracted from coffee tree flowers)

Ice

25 milliliters sparkling water

75 milliliters cold brew

Half a lemon, squeezed

3 slices of lemon

Mix the honey, cachaça, sparkling water, and squeezed lemon together. Pour it in a glass with ice cubes. Add the lemon slices. To finish, top off with cold brew. Stir and enjoy.

Noete Café Clube is located at Rua São Domingos do Prata, 475. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

“White Brew” at Um Coffee Company

A few months ago, Midori Martins, one of the baristas at Um Coffee Company, was challenged by the coffee shop owners Garam and Boram Um to come up with coffee-based cold drinks for their summer menu. After a few iterations, the White Brew was created. Martins tells me she always wanted to do something with coconut and coffee, so she started by adding coconut milk and then changing the proportion of the other ingredients until she found the ideal recipe.

When I asked for the exact measurement of each ingredients, Martins and Garam Um laughed and just tipped me off about the proportions. I did it at home using the proportions below and got a very dessert-y, liquor-y type of drink. Now, in order to try the original White Brew, you need to go to their beautiful shop located in the Bom Retiro neighborhood in downtown São Paulo.

Sweetened condensed milk

Frothed milk

Coconut milk

Cold brew (at Um Coffee Company they use their natural Yellow Bourbon cold brew)

1 large ice cube

* The proportion suggested is that the cold brew amount is nearly half the amount of the three milk ingredients together. Experiment with it until you find your sweet spot (pun intended).

Mix the 3 milk ingredients with a wire whip.

Place the ice cube in a large glass—the ice helps keep the three parts of the drink separate. Add the milk mix. Add the cold brew very carefully, so that it doesn’t mix with the rest. Martins tops it off with milk froth.

Pro tip: serve it with a straw so that the drinker can stir the three parts together before drinking.

Um Coffee Company is located at Rua Júlio Conceição, 553—Bom Retiro, São Paulo. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

“Coffee Mojito” at CoLAB

Judging by the name, you were probably thinking this drink involved rum. Wrong. At CoLab in Rio de Janeiro, the coffee replaces the rum in their version of a caffeinated mojito. The taste reminds me, of course, of a mojito, and it indeed feels like an alcohol drink—perhaps from the concentration of the espresso joined with the lime zest. A very good drink for a hot summer afternoon (or morning, why not?).

Approximately 10 mint leaves

30 milliliters sugar cane syrup

1 shot of espresso, around 30 milliliters

15 milliliters lime juice

Sparkling water

Lime zest (to taste)

Crushed ice

Gently crush the mint leaves so that they release their oils and aroma. Combine mint, lime juice, sugar cane syrup, and espresso into a glass. Stir. Add the crushed ice and top it off with sparkling water. Garnish with mint leaf, and enjoy.

CoLAB is located at Rua Fernandes Guimarães, 66—Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

“Café Spritz” at Birita Casa de Cocktail

Diogo Cypriano is a mixologist who happens to love coffee. He is now working with a good range of specialty coffee drinks and beans at Birita Casa de Cocktail, a cocktail bar in Vitória, Espírito Santo. One of his inventive drinks is the Café Spritz, which uses pitanga, a very acidic and energizing fruit native to Brazil. Again, cachaça is brought together with coffee in this drink, but in a more elaborate manner. This feels like a real cocktail, one that demands time to make—and to drink. Extremely aromatic, citrusy. Perfect for closing a hard workday.

50 milliliters French press coffee (Cypriano suggests preparing it with 10 grams of coffee to 100 milliliters of water, 2 minutes infusion time)

6 ripe pitangas

40 milliliters of lemon syrup

40 milliliters of cachaça

6 ice cubes

120 milliliters sparkling Muscatel

1 slice of orange

1 slice of lime

Macerate the pitangas about 5 times and then shake them together with the other ingredients in a cocktail mixer. Put the ice cubes in a wine glass. Top it with the Muscatel and the coffee. Add the pitanga mix and then the orange and lime slices. Enjoy.

Birita Casa de Cocktail is located at Avenida Anísio Fernandes Coelho, 1741—Loja 01 /02—Jardim da Penha, Vitória. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Juliana Ganan is a Brazilian coffee professional and journalist. Read more Juliana Ganan on Sprudge.

Photos courtesy of Cicero Rodrigues, Servulo Coutinho, and Andrea Son.

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