Fresh Cup Magazine | December 2018 by Fresh Cup Magazine

POWER OF PURPOSE | HOLIDAY RECIPES | PIT TSBURGH C AFÃ&#x2030; CR AWL | SPECIALT Y COFFEE IN PARIS

December 2018 freshcup.com

Coffee Almanac

Felix Roasting Co. PAGE 26

T H E M AG A Z I N E F O R S P E C I A LT Y CO F F E E & T E A P RO F E S S I O N A L S S I N C E 1 9 9 2

Coffee Almanac Contents D EC E M B E R 2 0 1 8 | VO L . 2 7 . N O. 1 2 | F R E S H C U P M AG A Z I N E

D E PA R T M E N T S

14 The Buzz Over CBD Brews

26 Felix Roasting Co.

16 Power of Purpose

30 Pittsburgh, PA

20 Cups of Good Cheer

38 Worcester, MA

22 Mozart’s Coffee Roasters

66 The Last Plastic Straw

#Trending By Jodi Helmer

In House By Michael Ryan

Café Spotlight By Caitlin Peterkin

Café Crawl By Kristine Hansen

Unique Drinks By Fresh Cup Staff

Café Spotlight By Susan Johnston Taylor

Café Crawl By Ryan Cashman

Holistic approach to sustainability By Robin Roenker

F E AT U R E S 44 Café de Spécialité

How café culture continues t o shape specialty coffee in Paris By Lacey Gibson

50 Espresso and Extraction Tips from the barista professionals By S. Michal Bennett

56 Coffee Sourcing as Investment Green Coffee Procurement, Part 3 By Rachel Northrop

LET TER FROM THE EDITOR

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CONTRIBUTORS

C ALENDAR

AD INDEX

COFFEE ALMANAC | 9

Letter from the Editor “LOOK FOR THE HELPERS”

hese words by the beloved Fred Rogers seem to be circulated around social media on a near-weekly basis these days, as many search for meaning and hope after tragedy strikes. The story goes that when-

ever a young Mister Rogers would be frightened by what was happening in the world, his mother would say, “Always look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is trying to help.” The last weekend in October brought the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. But the despicable event brought out the best in the people of the city: Pittsburgh’s Muslim community organized to raise money for the victims’ families; performing artists dedicated their concerts to the victims; and cafés—those unwavering hubs of community—showed their support in unique ways like providing therapy animals and hosting events to raise funds for the victims. What we had originally planned as a simple “Café Crawl” through the city for this month’s issue turned into a reflection of how these businesses truly function as institutions of helping and fostering their community (p. 30). As we close the year, amid the loss and turmoil the last few months have brought, let us turn to our neighbors, to those helping in times of tragedy, to our community leaders—including café owners—who instill a sense of celebration, belonging, and hope. Here at Fresh Cup, we’re honored to bring you our last issue of 2018, the Coffee Almanac, in which we highlight café owners, baristas, and coffee professionals around the world dedicated to helping their own communities alongside the greater coffee industry. In these pages, you’ll read about how shop owners in Austin cultivate monthlong holiday spirit and bring cheer to their city (p. 22); how baristas in Paris are finding a balance between celebrating their tradition while incorporating the specialty movement (p. 44); how organizations are leading initiatives to create more sustainable practices in sourcing green coffee (p. 56); how a collaborative team in New York City has created a thoughtful, beautiful space in its busy neighborhood (p. 26); and much more. We also crawled our way through cafés in Worcester, Mass., where Ryan Cashman spoke with David Fullerton, owner and head roaster of Acoustic Java, who spoke these words of wisdom: “Civilization continues to strive. Coffee helps with the striving.” As long as coffee exists, so too will the dedication, perseverance, and spirit of the people it serves—and who serve it.

CAITLIN PETERKIN, EDITOR editor@freshcup.com

OnThe Cover:

Felix Roasting Co.’s Hickory-Smoked S’mores Latte. Photo by Special Sauce

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Contributors

S. MICHAL BENNETT co-owns Coffee Roboto, a mobile coffee cart that traverses the streets of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Besides slinging shots, she’s been actively putting pen to paper since she was 15, writing about food, health, and most things literary. In this issue, Bennett digs into basics of espresso extraction with champion baristas on p. 50.

RYAN CASHMAN is a Central Massachusetts-based freelance writer, playwright, and actor. He often loses track of the amount of coffee he drinks in a day. In this issue, he crawled his way through Worcester, Massachusetts, in search of some of the city’s top cafés. Read more on p. 38.

LACEY GIBSON is a Boston-based freelance writer, global health research consultant, and RYT-200 yoga teacher. She graduated in 2017 with her Master of Science in Global Health and Population from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also served as a Food Literacy Project Fellow. She previously earned her B.A./B.S. in French and Physiology from Southern Illinois University. For this issue, she tapped into her love of French culture in “Specialty Coffee in Paris,” p. 44.

Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in a neighborhood blessed with three coffee roasters, KRISTINE HANSEN covers coffee, wine, and culinary travel for publications and websites including Vogue.com, Fodors.com, ArchitecturalDigest.com, and USA Today’s Go Escape Magazine. She also co-authored The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Coffee & Tea. High on her list when exploring a new destination—whether on assignment or on vacation—is hunting down the best coffee shop. Read her café crawl of Pittsburgh on p. 30.

JODI HELMER is a North Carolina-based freelance writer covering the intersection between food and business. In this issue’s #trending section, she explores the rise of CBD-infused coffee—see p. 14.

RACHEL NORTHROP penned part three of our ongoing series on green coffee procurement, this time analyzing how sustainable importing practices yields healthy supply chains—see p. 56. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Northrop is communications manager with Ally Coffee and the author of When Coffee Speaks: Stories From and Of Latin American Coffeepeople.

Lexington, Kentucky-based freelance writer ROBIN ROENKER has extensive experience reporting on business trends, from cybersecurity to real estate, personal finance, and green living. For Fresh Cup, she covers sustainable and eco-friendly trends in cafés in The Last Plastic Straw, on p. 66.

MICHAEL RYAN is the Director of Coffee and Green Buyer at Dapper & Wise Roasters, the Resident Roaster at the La Marzocco café in Seattle this December. During his nine years in the coffee industry, Ryan has held every job that touches the coffee from serving to sourcing. He is also the joint founder of Threadbare Coffee Company, a consulting business that helps people in all parts of the supply chain, from producers to baristas, tailor the timeless principles of business and coffee to their current context. Read his piece “The Power of Purpose” on p. 16.

Full-time freelance writer SUSAN JOHNSTON TAYLOR covers personal finance, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle topics for The Wall Street Journal, Daily Candy, Parade, Entrepreneur, Boston Globe, Fast Company, and The Atlantic. In this issue, Taylor spotlights a café in Austin, Texas, that celebrates the holiday season and brings the community together with an illuminating event (p. 22).

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FRESH CUP MAGAZINE FRESH CUP PUBLISHING Publisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com EDITORIAL Editor CAITLIN PETERKIN editor@freshcup.com Associate Editor JORDAN JOHNSON freshed@freshcup.com ART Art Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com ADVERTISING Sales Manager MICHAEL HARRIS michael@freshcup.com Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com ACCOUNTING Accounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com FRESH CUP FOUNDER WARD BARBEE 1938-2006 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DAVID GRISWOLD

ANUPA MUELLER

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Eco-Prima

CHUCK JONES

BRAD PRICE

Jones Coffee Roasters

Phillips Syrups & Sauces

JULIA LEACH

BRUCE RICHARDSON

Toddy

Elmwood Inn Fine Teas

PHILLIP DI BELLA

MANISH SHAH

Di Bella Group

Maya Tea Co.

BRUCE MILLETTO

LARRY WINKLER

Bellissimo Coffee Advisors

Torani

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COFFEE ALMANAC | 13

Trending

The Buzz Over CBD Brews Roasters are experiencing major successes with infused coffee. By Jodi Helmer

ndrew Aamot knew he was roasting great coffee. The problem: No one else did. The president and CEO of Sträva Craft Coffee struggled to stand out in a crowded market. “There was nothing unique about us,” he recalls. Instead of giving up, Aamot looked to other coffee roasters for inspiration and discovered that the best brands had powerful differentiators. Roasters that were aging coffee in bourbon barrels, selling coffee subscriptions, or turning beans into premium instant coffee were gaining the most traction in the market. Aamot believed the fervor over legalizing cannabis and the associated excitement over hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) could help Sträva Craft Coffee succeed. In 2016, the Denver, Colorado, roaster started experimenting with CBD coffee. Cannabidiol is a compound in cannabis plants. The hemp-derived compound contains no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis that causes a high, making it legal in all 50 states, including those where recreational and medical marijuana are prohibited. (Thanks to differences in THC levels, CBD oil derived from marijuana plants is not legal.) Hemp Business Journal predicts that the market for CBD will top $2.1 billion in 2020. Coffee joins a long list of CBDinfused edibles that includes cookies, gummies, and butter. Roasters like Flower Power Coffee Company, SteepFuze, and Vera Roasting Company have created

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STRÄVA CRAFT COFFEE was founded in 2015 by Andrew Aamot (left) and Kevin Crowley (right). Developed in 2016, the Peace & Wellness line (below) pairs specialty coffee with all the benefits of full-spectrum CBD.

CBD-infused coffee. Even Willie Nelson has jumped on the CBD coffee bandwagon: the iconic musician and cannabis activist launched Willie’s Remedy in September. The Tea Can Company and Buddha Teas also make tea infused with the hemp-derived oil. Roasters believe the products provide new opportunities for dominating an emerging market. For Sträva Craft Coffee, revenues from regular roasted beans were lackluster, but sales of CBD coffee increased tenfold in 2017 and are on track to increase another tenfold in 2018. A 12-ounce bag of coffee, which retails for $20 to $55 depending on the amount of CBD oil infused into the beans, provides much higher margins

than conventional coffee—but those higher margins would not be possible without significant investments in research and development.

INVESTING IN SUCCESS Devin Jamroz was roasting coffee in a rigged popcorn popper in the kitchen of his Boulder, Colorado, home when he decided to experiment with CBD-infused beans. He started spritzing the beans with cannabidiol but the process made the beans so sticky that the grinders broke; it took up to three hours to roast a half-pound of coffee in the DIY roaster, leading Jamroz, the founder of SteepFuze, to quip, “We did the math and, at that rate, coffee would have been $300 per pound.”

PHOTOS SOURCE: STR ÄVA CR AF T COFFEE

New York, roaster three months to fine-tune its process before introducing seven different blends of CBD-infused coffee containing 30 mg of CBD per six-ounce bag, in July 2017. STEEPFUZE introduced its first CBD coffee in 2016 and now offers three CBD coffee options.

Getting the infusion and timing right were just the beginning; perfecting the flavor was the other major challenge. Due to its strong earthy flavor, infusing CBD oil into beans has a negative impact on how coffee tastes. “People will tolerate really crappy coffee if it’ll get them high, but CBD coffee has no THC so it has to be as good or better than other coffee,” says Jamroz. It took almost a year of experimentation to perfect the process. Jamroz chose high altitude, shade-grown Arabica beans, which have a high fat content that binds with the CBD and figured out how to cure the beans to retain the therapeutic oils without impairing the flavor. SteepFuze introduced its first CBD coffee in 2016. The online retailer and wholesaler offers three different CBD coffees, including: single-origin coffee made from Ethiopian beans; a blend of beans from Brazil, Uganda, and Ethiopia; and decaffeinated coffee. Each 12-ounce bag of USDA organic coffee contains 360 mg of CBD. Leighton Knowles, president of Flower Power Coffee Company, believes that infusing oils into the beans—as opposed to adding CBD oil into brewed coffee—helps reduce the bitterness of the oil. It took the Ridgewood,

BUILDING BUZZ Although CBD has become more popular, Knowles admits that customer education remains an ongoing process. The biggest issues, he believes, are a lack of awareness of cannabidiol and the misunderstanding that CBD-infused coffee contains THC and drinking it will cause a high. “We try and educate at every step of the way,” he says.

states; inquiries have also come from countries ranging from other parts of the world eager to order CBD coffee, but Aamot declines to ship coffee outside the U.S., explaining, “If we ship outside the U.S., there’s a chance that Customs and Border Patrol will report it to the [Drug Enforcement Administration] and there will be problems; as a small business, we’re cautious not to take those kinds of risks.” In June, the DEA clarified its interpretation and enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, confirming that CBD can be imported/exported to/from the United States without restriction and lawfully purchased and sold. Flower Power Coffee Company is cautious, too. Knowles partnered with a U.K. distributor to ship CBD coffee across Europe. Dominating the international market is the end goal, according to Aamot. A decade from now, he hopes CBD coffee

FLOWER POWER COFFEE CO. offers 11 flavors including cold brew coffee, tea, and hot chocolate.

A growing number of coffee shops are serving CBD-infused brews and retail outlets ranging from vape shops, yoga studios, and salons to specialty grocers, restaurants, and bars. The direct-to-consumer market is also strong. Sträva Craft Coffee has shipped its CBD coffees to all 50

PHOTOS SOURCE: STEEPFUZE ( ABOVE, LEF T); FLOWER POWER COFFEE CO. (BOT TOM, RIGHT)

will be as common as pumpkin spice lattes and flat whites. “We’re in the early stages of adoption and consumers are just starting to embrace CBD coffee but it isn’t a gimmick or a fad,” he says. “This is a product that has real benefits and it’s a great cup of coffee.” FC

COFFEE ALMANAC | 15

InHouse

Power of Purpose The WHY behind a company’s existence. By Michael Ryan

friend once said to me, “If we don’t understand why something works, we won’t know how to fix it when it breaks.” At first it sounded pithy, but the more I thought about it the more it resonated with me. We take this for granted when it comes to mechanical systems like gasoline engines and the furnace that heats our home—but what about our workplace? Some workplaces we look forward to showing up at, while others we dread going to every day. Knowing the purpose, what author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek calls the WHY behind a company’s existence, can be a guiding light to getting things up and running and keeping everyone working on track. Understanding the overarching idea of the company you work for is essential. Without it, there is an inevitable uncertainty among staff members as to whether or not they are doing their jobs well. It becomes anybody’s guess

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what the end goal of the company is and, consequently, it becomes debatable as to whether or not your supervisor will praise you or scold you for the decisions you’re making each day. In my experience, people who enjoy working collaboratively as a part of a team thrive when they understand the company’s purpose.

RECOMMENDED READING Good to Great by Jim Collins Start with Why by Simon Sinek Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley Obliquity by John Kay

PURPOSE CREATES CLARITY Knowing something in our gut and being able to articulate it in our mind

are two different things. Scientifically, one resides in the limbic part of your brain and the other in the neocortex. When both parts of the brain are being triggered simultaneously, we have unshakeable confidence and clarity. This allows us to spend less time debating ideas because they more obviously line up (or don’t) with our purpose. Staff members also know how to prioritize their time when they know what the end game is. Managers know whom to hire and fire because they have a distinct identity centered around the company’s clearly articulated vision— they don’t have to guess if someone is a good fit or not. Employers can attract better staff when their end goal is more distinct. Knowing the WHY helps to eliminate guesswork, allowing us to make decisions day-to-day with confidence, spend our time and energy more wisely, and, ultimately, make progress towards our intended target more effectively.

PHOTO BY C YNTHIA MEADORS

COFFEE ALMANAC | 17

IN HOUSE

PURPOSE BUILDS TRUST If we all know WHY we’re here at work, we can count on coworkers to make decisions based on a similar metric and aim towards a common mission. When our actions at work are in line with the WHY, supervisors should be expected to back us up. We also understand that if anyone goes against the grain of purpose of the company, there will be consequences, and we can trust that decisions will be made a certain way. WHY? Because we understand what it takes to reach our objectives.

PURPOSE MOTIVATES Consider the following analogy: Two masons are building a stone wall. The first one complains, “The work is hard, the hours are long, the sun is hot, and I don’t even know what this wall is for.” The second stonemason says, “Sure, the work is hard, the hours are long, and the sun gets hot around here, but I’m working with astronomers, brilliant architects, and other craftspeople, and we’re building an observatory to gaze at the stars.” Knowing the purpose behind the day-to-day work provides a reason to do the work that is bigger than a paycheck—even bigger than the company. We are all working towards something specific and we’re going there together. When times get tough, as they always do, that vision keeps us going rather than complaining. WHY? Because we know what we’re striving for and it’s worth it.

HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE This is all well and good, you may say, but how do we define our purpose, our WHY? The answers to the following three questions will help guide you towards an answer:

What are you deeply passionate about?

There are an infinite number of ways to ask and answer this question: What gets you out of bed in the morning? What are your favorite components of your current role? What can you not stop doing? What comes so easily to you that, to others, it seems almost supernatural? All these questions are driving at the same point—WHY do you do what you do? It’s an ageold question, but one I strongly recommend every person wrestle with. It has far-reaching implications and, once answered, creates clarity in other arenas of your life. Pro tip: Aim for something specific enough to be helpful but broad enough that it doesn’t lock you

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into one singular task. For example, “I’m passionate about coffee” is too broad to guide you in any particular direction. On the other hand, “I’m passionate about being a barista” is so specific that you’re locked into one job. What will you do if, heaven forbid, you get tired of being a barista? You’ll have to go back to the drawing board.

What can you be the best at doing?

The companies that have the most distinct identities have pursued goals that they are passionate about and that they can be the best at. Think of some of your favorite companies. Are they passionate about how they do business? Are they considered the best at what they do? Side note: Being the best requires being unique, but even that’s not enough. Originality is helpful to be better, but it’s not greatness in and of itself. Always aim for being the best, not being original. If you achieve greatness, you’ll find originality will follow.

What can you make money doing?

This question, although important, is placed last intentionally. Money is to a business what blood is to our veins. It’s essential for staying alive, but it is not our reason for living. We are seeking the difference between being profitable and profit-driven. Profitability allows you to fulfill your goals long into the future, whereas drive solely for profit may actually send the company off track, if not out of business entirely. The pursuit of money itself is not compelling enough. If you don’t keep the right people around, doing the work that makes the company great, eventually they’ll leave and you’ll be left with only those for whom money is their WHY. Personally, I have found that to be a toxic workplace. Your answer to the question of purpose has to be simple enough to be communicated through the game of telephone that is the layers of a company. It needs to be repeatable so every person hears the same exact message. It must be clear, specific enough to be helpful, and compelling enough to set us apart from the rest. When those conditions are met, the kind of people you want to work with will start lining up at your door for jobs because they will know WHY you do what you do and they want to be a part of it. FC

COFFEE ALMANAC | 19

Cups of Good Cheer

FESTIVE FARE FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON

For many of us, this time of year means crisp weather, cozy fireplaces, family gatherings, and food and drink—lots and lots of food and drink.

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT LATTE by Steven Smith Teamakers

VEGAN MAPLE APPLE CINNAMON ROLLS by Heather Wambach, Manager of Savory Spice Shop in Portland, OR

Ingredients: 2 sachets peppermint tea 6 oz freshly boiled water 1 heaping tsp of dark chocolate sauce (i.e. Recchiuti chocolate sauce) 2 tsp sugar 4 oz milk

Ingredients: For the dough: 3 Tbsp vegan butter (i.e. Earth Balance) 1 packet of rapid rise yeast 1 c non-dairy milk of your choice 1 Tbsp organic cane sugar ¼ tsp salt 3 c all-purpose flour

1. Steep both sachets of peppermint tea for 5 minutes in freshly boiled water; cover to keep hot. 2. Remove sachets and add chocolate sauce to tea. 3. Add sugar and stir until chocolate and sugar are dissolved. 4. Steam or warm milk. 5. Top beverage with the steamed or warmed milk; garnish with candy cane and whipped cream if desired.

For the filling: 3–4 Tbsp vegan butter, melted ½ c maple sugar 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon 1 can (21 oz) of organic apple pie filling (or make your own) ½ c chopped walnuts 1. Grease an 8x8* square pan and set aside. 2. Heat butter and milk until lukewarm (110 degrees).

HOT SNOWMAN by Monin

3. Once milk/butter mixture is to temperature, place in a large bowl and sprinkle yeast on top—do not stir. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then add the tablespoon of cane sugar and salt.

Ingredients: 1 oz Monin Cookie Butter Syrup 1 oz Monin White Chocolate Sauce Steamed milk

4. Slowly add flour to liquid, ½ cup at a time. Continue to add flour just until the dough starts pulling from the edges of the bowl.

1. Combine ingredients, except milk, in serving cup. 2. Stir and set aside. 3. Steam milk in pitcher. 4. Pour steamed milk into serving cup, stirring gently. 5. Garnish with festive ingredients, like a marshmallow snowman or cinnamon sticks.

7. Turn dough out onto counter and, using a rolling pin, roll dough into a thin rectangle.

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5. Lightly flour a clean counter or large cutting board. Turn dough onto the flour and knead until dough forms a loose ball, careful not to over-knead dough. 6. Place dough ball into a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour (or double in size). 8. Brush melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and maple sugar. Spread apple pie filling evenly over dough and tightly roll up. 9. Cut roll in 2-inch sections and place into well-greased pan. 10. Sprinkle walnuts on top of rolls and let rise while the oven preheats to 350 degrees. 11. Bake for 45–50 minutes. * This recipe can easily be doubled to a 13x9 pan.

ILLUSTR ATION BY JORDAN JOHNSON, INSTAGR AM @DR AWNHUNGRY

From sinfully decadent concoctions to lighter takes on comforting classics, Fresh Cup has compiled some of the recipes we’re most looking forward to trying this season. So grab your favorite mug, make sure your spice cabinet is well-stocked, and get ready to serve some holiday cheer.

VEGAN PUMPKIN SOUP by Milkadamia Serves 6 Ingredients: 2 Tbsp vegan butter 2 Tbsp shallots, minced 1 clove garlic, minced ½ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp pepper ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp cayenne 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree 3 c Unsweetened Vanilla Milkadamia Milk ¼ c Unsweetened Vanilla Milkadamia Creamer 2 Tbsp maple syrup 1 Tbsp brown sugar

SALTED CARAMEL MOCHA LATTE by BirchTree Bread Company For a 12 oz latte: 1. Pull two shots espresso. 2. Mix with 1/2 scoop cocoa powder and 1 oz Monin caramel syrup to dissolve. 3. Top with steamed milk of choice. 4. Drizzle with house-made caramel and sea salt. For caramel: Ingredients: 2 c sugar 1½ c cream 2 Tbsp water 4 oz butter 1. Heat sugar and water until an amber color. 2. Take off heat and whisk in cream and butter.

1. Saute shallots and garlic in butter over medium heat. 2. Add pumpkin puree and stir. 3. Add in Milkadamia milk and cream and blend till smooth. 4. Add in spices, syrup, and brown sugar. While soup is simmering, make candied pecans (see below). 5. Pour soup into bowls and top with pecans. Candied pecans: 1 Tbsp vegan butter ¼ c brown sugar ½ c pecans ½ tsp salt pinch cayenne pepper pinch cinnamon Melt butter and then stir in sugar, pecans, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon until combined and pecans are coated. Let cool.

WINTER SPICE HOT TODDY by Portland Roasting Co. Ingredients: 7 oz Steven Smith Red Nectar Tea (or your favorite red rooibos tea) 2 oz Bulleit Rye* ¾ oz spiced honey syrup (such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and star anise) 1 dash Angostura Bitters Lemon wedge for garnish 1. Steep tea in mug. 2. Add whiskey, honey syrup, and bitters. 3. Stir gently to combine. 4. Garnish with lemon wedge. *Omit whiskey for a warming non-alcoholic version.

COFFEE ALMANAC | 21

Cafe Spotlight

Night Light, Night Bright How a Texas coffee roaster brewed a festive holiday tradition By Susan Johnston Taylor

rom late November to late December each year, Mozart’s Coffee Roasters in Austin, Texas, transforms its lakefront patio into a glowing wonderland with enough twinkling, carefully choreographed lights (over 1 million LEDs) to rival a Disney parade. An estimated hundreds of thousands of people—kids, parents, grandparents, college students, and even the occasional dog on a leash—flock to Mozart’s each year for its free holiday

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light show, a tradition started by coowner and partner Katrine Formby. Formby says she’s always loved Christmas lights and started doing lavish Christmas decorations at her home. “It became so over-the-top that we thought, why not do this at Mozart’s because then people can really enjoy it?” she says. A lavish light show may seem an unusual choice for a coffee shop and bakery, but Mozart’s has a history of blazing new trails. It first opened in a

former boat repair shop on Lake Austin in 1993, and, in the early nineties, became one of the first businesses to offer a bottomless cup of coffee, according to Jack Ranstrom, Mozart’s general manager and its original roaster. They were also among the first to offer free high-speed wireless internet, about a decade later, Ranstrom adds. (Mozart’s remains in its original location, but there is a remodel planned for 2019 to expand its interior footprint.)

PHOTOS BY WILL TAYLOR /MOZ ART ’S

Mozart’s Coffee Roasters | Austin, Texas

Preparation for a light show of this size takes up most of the year. Formby starts planning the next light show in January, and starts ordering specially made items in the spring.

Mozart’s hosted its first light show in 2010, and the event has grown each year, adding enhancements like music synced to the lights, gobos (stencils on lights), strobe lights, and soundtriggered lights. This year’s light show features a grand piano built out of Christmas lights with a waterproof electronic keyboard that patrons can play between light shows. The light shows used to start at the top of every hour, but they’ve tweaked the schedule to run shorter, mini

shows randomly throughout the night for better crowd control. “You don’t have to park and rush,” says Formby. “Whenever you come, you’ll see a show within ten minutes of arrival.” There are four rotations with different songs and light configurations each time. While the music changes year to year, the University of TexasAustin Longhorns’ fight song is a perennial favorite. Preparation for a light show of this size takes up most of the year. Formby

starts planning the next light show in January, and starts ordering specially made items in the spring. During the spring and summertime, she has a parttime person helping her test and replace lights. Then, for five weeks leading up to the light show, five full-time people set up the lights and one full-time person works to troubleshoot any issues between shows. Taking down the lights takes about half the time of set-up, and the equipment is stored at her and her husband’s ranch in the off-season.

COFFEE ALMANAC | 23

CAFÉ SPOTLIGHT: MOZART’S

“I love doing it because I get to be creative and it’s something that I’ve found pretty much everybody likes,” says Formby. “It’s a good family thing because children and grandparents and aunts and uncles and everybody can enjoy it together. The community has benefited from it. It’s sort of Mozart’s gift to the community.” Of course, Mozart’s also benefits from brisk business during the holiday season thanks to social media buzz and coverage in local media. The nightly event attracts so many extra people they take on 40 additional staff members and set up hot chocolate stations outdoors to handle overflow from inside the café, according to Ranstrom. “We go from a $10,000 average sales day to a $25,000 average sales day,” he says, “and the majority of product is hot chocolate.” In the past, they’ve sold 250 gallons of hot chocolate every night, but this year, they anticipate selling 300 gallons per night.

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PHOTOS BY WILL TAYLOR /MOZ ART ’S

As Austin grows into a tech hub and new, hip coffee shops continue sprouting around the city, Ranstrom says many people still like the friendly, familiar vibe at Mozart’s. “Everything is disjointed in Austin [as the city has grown] but Mozart’s is in the middle of everything and we have the space,” he says. “We’re one of the few places that can pull off an event like that.” In addition to Mozart’s large outdoor space, the mild winters in central Texas also makes the light show possible. Since kids look forward to seeing the lights, Formby says the show continues even if it rains. “We always run it unless there’s lightning,” she says. “I think the adults kind of understand that we have weather limitations in terms of how perfect it is. The kids don’t care [if it rains or a light or two doesn’t work].” As Ranstrom puts it, “there’s no better branding you can do for the community than a holiday light show. It really brings everyone together.” FC

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 25

Cafe Spotlight

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PHOTO BY ADRIAN GAUT

Felix Roasting Co. | New York City

Substance Matched by Style Felix Roasting Co. is equal parts coffee connoisseur, gourmand, opulent architect, and warm host. By Caitlin Peterkin

very coffee has a story. So goes the motto of Felix Roasting Co., a newly opened café in New York City’s Park Avenue South neighborhood. The story behind Felix itself was a long four years in the making. But with hotelier Matt Moinian’s passion, persistence, and knack for assembling the right team, what New Yorkers now have is an elevated, painstakingly curated coffee program. From its careful, seasonal sourcing of the world’s freshest coffee beans, to its explorative menu of innovative beverages and exquisite pastries, to its ornamental aesthetics featuring a bold palette of navy, teal, and shell pink, Felix Roasting Co. is quickly establishing itself as a tour de force on the New York coffee scene.

A NOVEL BEGINNING As anyone who has ever taken on a major, all-consuming endeavor knows, a feeling of “Okay, now what?” settles in once it’s completed. Moinian was no exception after he successfully finished building Hotel Hugo, a luxury boutique hotel in SoHo, in 2014. Not only was there this sense of “What’s next?” he says, but he also turned 30 that year, and began finding that his body wasn’t performing as well as in his twenties. “I started asking myself, ‘What am I going to do to wake up a little earlier to exercise and take care of myself?’” he says. As he gradually turned more and more to coffee, he sought out different cafés and coffee shops—but felt that something was always lacking. “I started feeling like I could do better,” he says. “But what did I know about coffee? At that point, not very much.” So he began studying the coffee industry and turning to colleagues

PHOTO BY C AITLIN PETERKIN

MATT MOINIAN (LEFT) AND REAGAN PETREHN

who were immersed in the field for guidance, and eventually his dream started to seem more attainable. As he became more excited for this pursuit, he realized he’d need to assemble the best team possible to make his vision come true. “I thought, if I’m going to enter this field, I’m going to do it with the best people, and we’re going to come out with something that really makes a difference,” he says. Enter Ken Fulk.

AN ELEVATED EXPERIENCE Moinian had seen Ken Fulk’s work in action during the 2017 New York Fashion Week, for which the renowned Bay Area designer was commissioned

to create the VIP lounges. Blown away by the opulent, splashy style, Moinian immediately knew this was the designer he wanted to work with for Felix. While the relationship took some time to develop, Fulk eventually signed on to not only design Felix, but to act as Creative Director—marking the first time he has ever been a partner of a venture. Working with Fulk, says Moinian, has been a very collaborative process. Envisioning a highly aesthetic, holistic, and immersive space for the café, Moinian has been more than happy with the results Fulk and his team delivered. “They really took the fantasy that was in my head and put it into their

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CAFÉ SPOTLIGHT: FELIX ROASTING CO.

language and created this unbelievable experience,” says Moinian. Stepping in from the bustle that is Park Avenue South, one is immediately greeted by a sense of elegance, style, and comfort. The first element that catches the eye may be the plush booths that run along the walls; or it could be the alternating teal-and-pinkpatterned terrazzo floor; or perhaps it’s the grand wood-paneled coffee bar, behind which the baristas are busy carefully crafting their beverages. Seemingly separate pieces of design, upon further examination one notices just how cohesively these striking elements work together to begin telling Felix’s story. Along with the hand-painted wallpaper featuring the bloom of an Arabica plant, the hand-leafed copper dome anchored in the middle of the bar, and other custom-designed pieces, the 1,719-square-foot interior of Felix is a completely seamless, indeed almost transportational experience.

A SHOWSTOPPING MENU The café’s combination of vibrant opulence balanced with a cozy comfort is only part of what has made residents of and visitors to the neighborhood

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relentlessly flock to Felix since opening its doors in late September. A quick scan through Instagram reflects just how popular this joint has become in such a short amount of time—large in part due to its impeccable aesthetics, but also because of its menu. Exclusive pastries from NYC favorite Supermoon Bakehouse are featured, traditional café fare includes lattes, flat whites, and mochas (that can be made with their house-made almond-cashewpepita milk on tap), and original, elaborate drinks including the Deconstructed Espresso Tonic, Late Summer Shrub, and Felix’s showstopper: the HickorySmoked S’mores Latte. Running at $13 a drink, and only available in store, the specialty latte begins with graham cracker-infused milk and espresso poured into a cocktail glass rimmed with dark chocolate and crumbled graham crackers. The drink then goes under a bell jar with a hose attached to a container of hickory chips, which are burned to pump smoke into the jar. As a final touch, the drink is garnished with a torched house-made salted caramel marshmallow on a stick. The Hickory-Smoked S’mores Latte, along with the other beverages, was

the brainchild of head barista Reagan Petrehn, who also serves as Head of Brand. With over seven years in the coffee industry, Petrehn, originally from Kansas City, Kansas, was suggested to Moinian through a colleague as he began the search for someone to help lead the curation of the menu. “Reagan was the first and only person that I met to fill that position,” says Moinian. “I met with Reagan, and after ten minutes, it was like, ‘end of story.’”

STAYING FRESH Drawing inspiration from fine dining, the dynamic neighborhood surroundings, and the bold design of Felix itself, Petrehn is dedicated to ensuring the vibrancy and freshness of the café’s beverage offerings, a mindset that is reflected in how they source their coffee. Felix sources beans from all over the world in small quantities, continuously rotating them out with what’s in season. As of their grand opening, that included beans from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Guatemala, but they’ll be looking at South and Central Americas in the coming months. “The idea is that we’re going to burn through it really fast so that we’re ready to purchase what’s in season,”

PHOTOS BY ADRIAN GAUT

says Petrehn. “That way it stays really vibrant, stays really fresh, and it challenges us as a company to continue to pursue the next best thing.” Crafting the drinks is a team of about 10 baristas, all carefully selected from a diverse applicant pool. Petrehn, acknowledging the industry-wide challenge of finding—and keeping—a strong staff, says that the company has created an environment conducive to training and retaining its baristas, including offering a sustainable lifestyle and living wage. “We put a lot of thought into who we hire,” he says, “and into how we bring them on board and the way we treat them in the company.” That practice translates into how the staff interacts with their customers, providing quality customer service that enhances each visit. “That’s what sets us apart,” says Petrehn. “You walk in and not only is the coffee gonna blow your mind, but you have all this other stuff—you have this beautiful space, and you have this incredible hospitality.”

SHOWCASING QUALITY Coming up in the Felix brand is The Cellar, a soon-to-open downstairs space

that will be tailored for hosting tastings, classes, and special events. Accessed in the back of the café, a terra cotta-walled staircase leads down to a custom mosaic-patterned landing. “This staircase moment is a real transformation from upstairs to downstairs,” says Moinian. “You’ll feel like you’re in a completely different place, which is one of our themes.” Inside the room, which Moinian describes as “a northern Italian wine cellar of a 19th-century Italian baron who was obsessed with coffee,” will be a long tasting table, antique mirrors, and an island bar, ideally situated for presentations and showcasing their coffee beans. Since The Cellar was not part of the original plan of Felix, the team was excited to have a space to take their brand further once the main design began taking shape. “We learned what Felix is like [upstairs], so we took those lessons and brought it down here,” says Moinian. “This is an even more thought-out space for us.” The Cellar is just the touch Felix needed to truly elevate its brand: showcasing the beans and their stories, illustrating

the passion, care, and knowledge of the coffee being served, and educating and engaging further with customers. “It’s equating Felix with the kind of quality coffee that we’re trying to express,” says Moinian.

WHAT’S NEXT? A palpable sense of pride comes over the entrepreneur as he reflects on Felix’s journey. “It’s been a four-year project for me in a space that I hardly knew anything about when I started,” he says. “My biggest contribution has been bringing the right people together that would never otherwise have worked together…and creating this beautiful thing that Felix is.” As he looks to the future, Moinian says they’re looking to expand Felix by distributing their beans into restaurants and supermarkets, as well as opening cafés in Los Angeles, Miami, London, and Tokyo. While those pieces are still at work, the Felix team optimistically asserts its solid arrival on the East Coast coffee scene. “This is the start of an institution in New York City,” says Petrehn. “We’re only going to go up from where we already are.” FC

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CAFÉ CRAWL

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

afés and coffee roasters are popping up nearly every month in Pittsburgh, a city built on steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropy during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Nearly 125 years later, that same entrepreneurism with a “giving back” spin continues. This includes the 2016 opening of Everyday Café, a churchrun coffee shop in a brand-new development tucked into a poverty-stricken neighborhood; profits funnel back into

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the community’s after school programming for kids. Commonplace Coffee owner TJ Fairchild wants to eventually provide housing for baristas above his Mexican War Streets café. And a buck from each bag of a certain coffee variety sold at de Fer Coffee & Tea goes back to Angels’ Place, a local organization helping teenage mothers. Pittsburgh’s charitable community spirit was further demonstrated in response to October’s Tree of Life synagogue shooting in the Squirrel Hill

neighborhood—an act labeled as a hate crime—as coffee roasters launched events to help raise money. One roaster in that neighborhood even closed its café that day as a sign of respect and to give locals a time to mourn. These cafés also turned to social media, particularly Instagram, to demonstrate support for survivors and the victims’ families, reinstating their vows to serve as a gathering place for the community—and to serve the community first by providing a safe space to gather.

By Kristine Hansen PEAR AND THE PICKLE pearandpickle.com 1800 Rialto Street 412-322-0333 Open Tuesday–Friday 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

hen Alexis Tragos and Bobby Stockard relocated from New York City—she’s originally from Western Pennyslvania, he’s from Michigan—they missed breakfast sandwiches from their former neighborhood’s bodega. That prompted the opening of their own café in 2016, relying upon Stockard’s experience at Superfine in Brooklyn. Stumptown Coffee supplies the beans in this former antiques store in Troy Hill. Because Tragos grew up in her grandfather’s general store, she yearned to replicate that old-time-y feel. Gold-leaf lettering on the café’s front window spins a tale about what’s inside, including a lending library, assorted organic groceries, subway tile wrapping around the open kitchen and, of course, breakfast sandwiches (some with vegan ingredients). What they’ve found since opening is that many locals stop here for coffee on their way to work, providing a steady stream of morning traffic. It’s also been a place for the couple to serve the community. After the Tree of Life shooting, the café’s Instagram page featured an image saying “Hate Has No Home Here,” accompanied by a caption urging people to vote in the upcoming midterm elections and that “we are a strong and resilient people, but this hate and divisive behavior must stop.”

PHOTO SOURCE: INSTAGR AM@PEAR ANDPICKLE

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CAFÉ CRAWL: PITTSBURGH

COMMONPLACE COFFEE commonplacecoffee.com Multiple locations 412-945-0653 Open Monday–Sunday, hours vary by location

J Fairchild’s goal is simple: let the quality of the coffee beans ground, brewed, and poured at the roaster’s five Pittsburgh cafés speak for themselves and not be masked by the roast (they roast light to medium). Coffee sourcing is very intentional and goes beyond fair trade. A local PNC Financial Services

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employee from Guatemala sells beans to Commonplace Coffee and also organizes trips back to the plantation. The roasting operation moved from Indiana, Penn., to Pittsburgh in 2012, with an eye on opening up some of the space to other roasters. Each café has its unique personality, including the row house-style structure in the Mexican War Streets neighborhood, with a park across the street where patrons can sit at café table sets and enjoy their coffee. Artists flock to this neighborhood, which is home to the Mattress Factory with its inventive art installations,

like Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrors. Similarly, Commonplace Coffee’s deliveries are done in a restored 1967 Ford Boyertown truck. The day of the shootings, Commonplace Coffee closed its Squirrel Hill café in response, proving that supporting a close-knit community—and staff who may have been affected—is more important than raking in business profits. Less than a week later, they welcomed therapy dogs, and offered free drip coffee and half-priced espresso drinks for customers to celebrate “the strength and community of our amazing neighborhood.”

PHOTO SOURCE: (INSET DRINKS) INSTAGR AM@COMMONPL ACECOFFEE

PHOTO SOURCE: KRISTINE HANS EN

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CAFÉ CRAWL: PITTSBURGH

ESPRESSO A MANO espressoamano.com 3623 Butler Street 412-918-1864 Open Monday–Friday 7 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

hen it opened in 2009, Espresso a Mano—in the city’s hip Lawrenceville neighborhood, with its exposed red-brick walls and delicious fruit-filled mele pastries made locally at Colangelo’s—was one of the first specialty-grade coffee shops in Pittsburgh. Now it’s one of many. “I think Instagram has a big role in that,” says owner Matt Gebis, referring to a café’s ability to quickly get the word out. Uber’s large presence in Pittsburgh—the ride-sharing company is currently test-driving self-driving vehicles here—has also led to the neighborhood’s growth, including warehouses behind the café. Counter Culture Coffee beans and those from three other roasters—only those selections with high scores and ratings—are crafted into lattes, cappuccinos, and more. On November 1, less than a week after the Tree of Life shooting, Espresso a Mano announced on Instagram it would donate all cappuccino sales to a GoFundMe page for Tree of Life’s victims.

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PHOTO SOURCE: KRISTINE HANSEN; INSTAGR AM@ESPRESSOAMANO (BOT TOM THREE)

DE FER COFFEE & TEA defer.coffee 2002 Smallman Street 412-945-7169 Open Monday 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday–Thursday 7:30 a.m. – 8 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

ucked into the Strip District, the city’s Italian-immigrant neighborhood, de Fer Coffee & Tea (de fer is French for “foundry” or “forge”) is a hopping place. Young moms gather for their kids’ play dates while young professionals tap away on their laptops. Yearning to spend more time with his two young daughters, Matt Marietti opened the roaster-café in 2017 with his wife, Vanessa, and other business partners. An advertising career working on Kraft Heinz accounts taught him about branding: the bags have a wild and vivid, almost jungle-like wrap-around print of coffee plants. He intentionally bought a small San Franciscan roaster so he can roast more often (for ultimate freshness); the roaster is on full view to customers from its upstairs perch. A buck from each bag of a certain type of coffee sold goes to Angels’ Place, a local organization providing care for teenage mothers. Their kids helped create the bag’s illustration. Marietti credits Pittsburgh’s non-competitive coffee community for his success. “Without Commonplace Coffee, I don’t think we could say we would be doing this,” he says. At night, the café serves wine and beer. Kombucha is on tap all day long and house-ground spices go into the chai tea, not a mix. On the Tuesday after the Tree of Hill shooting, de Fer’s Instagram page posted a heartfelt message with this reminder of its mission to provide a safe space: “It’s become our lot in life to run this tiny coffee company and provide this space where people can connect, relax and feel happy.” And on November 9, they hosted a fundraising event with local band Eddan Sparks Trio, who

PHOTO SOURCE: INSTAGR AM@DEFERCOFFEEANDTEA

donated their wage, along with the café’s tips and a portion of the night’s proceeds, to the synagogue.

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CAFÉ CRAWL: PITTSBURGH

STEEL VALLEY ROASTERS steelvalleyroasters.com 207 E 8th Avenue, Homestead 412-532-8484 Open Monday–Friday 6 a.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

he once-gritty Homestead neighborhood just outside of Pittsburgh is inching towards glam, Steel Valley Roasters—with its exposed-brick walls, leather sofas, splashy modern art on the walls, and Edison bulbs hanging from the high ceilings—included. In a corner of the 2,000-square-foot space, which opened within the last year, is a retired Homestead fire truck dating back to 1880. Voodoo Brewery down the street is also riding the revitalization wave, having opened two years earlier. Co-owner Dan Kelly says he’s counting on the third-wave movement to keep the coffee shop buzzing, but he’s also added a yoga and spin studio called Local Motion in the back to help increase traffic flow. The roaster also hosted two “donation yoga” classes at the studio, the class fees of which were donated to the Tree of Life. At the barista counter, lavender is an inspiring add-on to any drink, and locally famous Leona’s ice cream sandwiches are sold here, too. Kelly is also, along with his business partner, active with Steel Valley Avenues, a neighborhood advocacy group intent on continuing to revitalize Homestead. FC

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PHOTO SOURCE: KRISTINE HANSEN; STEELVALLE YROA STERS .COM (BOT TOM LEF T)

CAFÉ CRAWL

WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

ention Worcester to anyone outside of Massachusetts and the typical response is: “Where?” Once the pulsing industrial heart of the state, Worcester experienced a long period of decline until it was unofficially declared a “dead city.” Today, Worcester is becoming a destination for food, drink, and new business. The theme permeating throughout the city is: repurpose/reuse. These four cafés exist within the city’s former industrial institutions, repurposing them with a new and vibrant culture in this often-overlooked town, proving that Worcester is on its way to a renaissance.

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By Ryan Cashman

ACOUSTIC JAVA acousticjava.com 932 A Main Street 508-756-9446 Open Monday-Friday 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

ROASTERY & TASTING ROOM 6 Brussels Street 774-420-2476 Open Monday-Friday 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

he Acoustic Java motto: “As music tames the savage beast, coffee civilizes men unkind.” Opening a bag of fresh Rwandan light roast immediately fills the air with an intense, earthy scent, calming the nerves and bringing a sense of civility to the atmosphere. “Civilization continues to strive,” says owner and head roaster, David Fullerton. “Coffee helps with the striving.” Since 2007, the mission of Acoustic Java has been to provide “enlightenment in every cup.” With its new, fully operating micro-roastery and tasting room in the historic Whittall Mills complex, the original café near Clark University keeping busy, and thriving wholesale, Acoustic proves its mission successful. Originally a home roaster, Fullerton seized an opportunity in the Worcester market for an independent coffee company. Acoustic’s coffee and full line of loose leaf teas are sold online and at both storefronts. All beans at Acoustic are ethically sourced from countries like Sumatra, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Guatemala, and roasted in small batches to ensure the highest quality. Coffee cupping and tea tastings of new roasts and blends are offered. Acoustic follows the SCA Golden Cup Ratio for all espressobased drinks. Fullerton likes to think of his new space as his “theatre roastery.” A large, proscenium-like arch looms over the performance space: the roasting room, visible to the café through an enormous pane of glass. “Coffee is the performance,” says Fullerton. “When people drink coffee, it inspires them. Great coffee is a work of art.”

E X TERIOR PHOTO: RYAN C A SHMAN; OTHER PHOTOS SOURCE: INSTAGR AM/@ACOUSTIC JAVA

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CAFÉ CRAWL: WORCESTER

BIRCHTREE BREAD COMPANY birchtreebreadcompany.com 138 Green Street, Suite 5 774-243-6944 Open Tuesday - Friday 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

erched on the corner of the traffic anomaly that is Kelley Square in the Canal District is BirchTree Bread Company, an innovative Worcester landmark serving fresh bread and great coffee. Originally a stand at farmers markets statewide, owners Avra Hoffman and Robert Fecteau expanded their passion into 5,800-square feet in the old Crompton Place Mill. The menu is bread-centric, focusing on toasts, sandwiches, pizzas, and bread puddings. Fresh loaves emerge from the oven daily at 7 a.m. A wholesale customer of Acoustic Java, coffee at BirchTree follows the more traditional European standards fostered by David Fullerton. “We aim for beautifully textured milk and perfectly extracted espresso,” says Hoffman. “As you drink a latte you taste the rich espresso pull through the lightly textured milk—it’s great! We do have some specialty lattes that I added in as folks in the states do like sweetness with their caffeine.” Since its opening in 2014, BirchTree has become a much-loved meeting place. “I think of it as a place where folks come to meet friends, bring their children, do work, and at the same time give back to the community,” says Hoffman. Read the full profile on BirchTree Bread Company right over there–>

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PHOTO SOURCE: RYAN C A SHMAN; INSTAGR AM@BIRCHTREEBREADCOMPANY (BOT TOM RIGHT)

n a sun-drenched Saturday morning in the Canal District of Worcester, Massachusetts, a city of multicolored tents has popped up outside an historic-looking building. Home to artisans and growers, the Canal District Farmers Market blossoms out of the cobblestone courtyard of Crompton Place, a formerly grand textile mill circa 1860, which once supplied the city’s main artery: the (now paved over) Blackstone Canal. While taking in the greens and purples of fresh produce, a familiar smell wafts through the nostrils. It’s a comforting smell, one easily imagined emanating through the glittering streets of Paris instead of the harsh, industrial grit of Worcester. Looking up from the courtyard, along the old mill wall, sits a Juliet balcony flanked by dusty windows. Behind the balcony grate, white French doors open into a dark, buzzing interior. Inside is BirchTree Bread Company, the café and bakery that is helping to change the face of a once forgotten city. Taking in the 5,800-square-foot space lends itself to being simultaneously overwhelming and familiar. Whitewashed brick walls, filled by the canvases of local artists, and old wood floors invite intimacy, despite the vast openness punctuated by the row of enormous windows looking out along Green Street. The air is filled with steady streams of conversation and children’s laughter, over which melodies straight from the guitar strings of local musicians sing across the unmistakably warm scent of fresh bread and brewing coffee. The idea of a proper space first formed in co-owners Avra Hoffman’s and Robert Fecteau’s minds as they were selling their fresh-baked bread

under the shade of their own tent at the very same farmers market they now preside above. Hoffman, a former English teacher, and Fecteau, a chef with over a decade of professional experience, were looking to create a better schedule for themselves, and, with the encouragement of positive feedback on their breads from patrons across the state, BirchTree Bread Company opened its door in 2014. “We originally envisioned a small, quaint café,” says Hoffman. Despite the large space in which they found themselves, the husband-wife duo strove to maintain a vibe of intimacy. “We have lots of regulars who we all know by name, we know how they take their coffee, we know what they like and that alone shows both growth and a sense of intimacy,” says Hoffman. “If we didn’t grow, we wouldn’t be able to continue to flourish the new sense of café culture in Worcester.” Like the eponymous tree, the couple grew their business naturally. The roots were set in the city through the connection with the farmers market, but it was word of mouth and a fervent buzz on social media that began to see the halls packed with people. Offerings started with a menu of toasts, like the Olive & Herb bread topped with whipped feta, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh herbs, and have since expanded to gourmet sandwiches, savory/sweet bread puddings, pizza nights, and beer dinners, where each course is paired with a beer from a sponsoring regional brewery. The sense of intimacy fostered at BirchTree extends beyond its walls and into the fields of New England. “We source most of our food locally by working with local farms,” says Fecteau.

PHOTO SOURCE: INSTAGR AM@BIRCHTREEBREADCOMPANY

The grains for bread come from Massachusetts and Maine. Dairy and vegetables from Central Mass farmers, many of whom can be found just downstairs on busy Saturday mornings. “When you start with good ingredients you’ve a much better chance of nailing the final product,” explains Fecteau. “We love it ourselves. We want that high quality.” Yet, perhaps the most local aspect of BirchTree Bread Company is its coffee, roasted just a few streets away at Acoustic Java. “It was always Acoustic,” says Fecteau when discussing their initial search for coffee. “I tasted coffee with Dave [Fullerton, owner of Acoustic Java] and I thought: this is the best coffee I’ve ever had.” “Since we’re using his beans, we follow his measurements for weight, time, and temperature for drip coffee, espresso, and loose leaf tea,” says Hoffman. “The finished product is pretty perfect.” BirchTree offers a full menu of caffeinated drinks, ranging from traditional house drips, cappuccinos, espressos, and teas, to more complex concoctions like Lavender London Fog. With four years of growth under their belts, Hoffman and Fecteau are looking forward to the future of their café and the city itself. “Worcester has everything it needs to be a great city,” says Fecteau. “People are starting to appreciate what’s in front of them,” adds Hoffman. “Worcester has so many cool people.” Hoffman said that the birch tree symbolizes rebirth; they stand out within the forest, but somehow manage to fit right in. And for the café? Hoffman smiles: “The meaning continues to evolve.”

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CAFÉ CRAWL: WORCESTER

BREW ON THE GRID 56 Franklin Street 774-420-7096 Open Daily 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.

“I

’ve always had an eye on Worcester,” says Frank Peace, CEO of New England Craft Restaurant Concepts, a restaurant group inspired by craft food and brews. Seeing a unique opportunity to pull Worcester’s renovated downtown, the Grid District, together with a series of linking eateries, Peace opened Brew on the Grid in 2016. The goal was to brew differently than similar entrepreneurial brands with high-quality, fresh ingredients. “I wanted it to have a craft/scratch element,” says Peace. Pour-over is a major investment. Brew is the first café in the state to operate a Seraphim machine, which skates water evenly over a fresh grind to bring out the flavor notes in every cup. Brew is also first to offer cold brew and nitro on tap. For non-coffee drinkers, a menu of teas and freshpressed juices is available. Peace has high hopes for his operation, with locations in Marlborough, Lynn, and Salem set to open in the coming months. But Peace will maintain a soft spot for the original. “I’m amazed with the investment in the community,” he says.

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PHOTO SOURCE: RYAN C A SHMAN (TOP PHOTO); INSTAGR AM@BREWONTHEGRIND

DEADHORSE HILL deadhorsehill.com 281 Main Street 774-420-7107 Open Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.

he Bay State House Hotel, once the meeting place of the Worcester Automobile Club, who hosted the Dead Horse Hill Climb Race from 1905–1911, is now home to a restaurant named after the infamous Worcester hill. Deadhorse hill clings to its history and serendipity of its host, preserving the original brick walls and stamped tin ceiling. A full-service restaurant and café, it was vitally important, as a company of avid coffee drinkers, to offer quality coffee to customers, says Julia Auger, director of wine and service. Brooklyn’s Parlor Coffee is the house coffee. Colombian single-origin beans are used in the house drip, espresso, and cold brew, while the darker, toffee flavors of beans from Kenya and Ethiopia are used for pour-overs. deadhorse also hosts a guest roasters series, highlighting great coffee companies throughout the region. Alongside its menu of traditional fare, deadhorse hill offers an original concoction: the schlatte, a double shot of espresso, simple syrup, and half-andhalf shaken over ice and poured from high to create a frothy, creamy mixture of refreshment. All the milk at deadhorse is sourced from the Jersey cows at Cooper’s Hilltop Farm in Rochdale, Massachusetts. That same dedication to local sourcing can be found in all of the restaurant’s ingredients. “It’s about believing in Worcester,” says Auger. “It’s a special community supporting the local food scene. It’s an excellent environment for small business.” FC

PHOTO SOURCE: RYAN C A SHMAN (TOP PHOTO); INSTAGR AM@DEADHORSEHILL

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PHOTO BY EDOUARD GRILLOT

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SPECIALTY COFFEE IN PARIS & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = &

here is perhaps nothing more French than sitting on a terrace of a bistro, sipping a small but potent cup of coffee, and watching the afternoon pass by. Coffee has colored the French lifestyle since the invention of the espresso machine in the 1800s, and café culture has characterized Paris for centuries longer. Coffee consumption is symbolic of the French attitude toward embracing pleasure. Yet when we stop to smell the stereotypical French coffee, what we find is bittersweet: burnt espresso, masked by sugar and cigarettes.

CAFÉ LOMI

KB CAFÉSHOP

a French native and the founder of KB Caféshop. Piègay was one of the several newcomers to the scene who used to fix his coffee cravings at La Caféotheque, but he argues that the café’s singleorigin approach to coffee was not necessarily “specialty.” “They were trying to do something different, but does it make them special?” he says. “They were different. Probably as soon as you don’t want to do the old-time burning the coffees… I guess as long as you make a stance to say ‘I want to do better,’ you can call it special.”

A STANCE TO DO BETTER

INSPIRATION FROM DOWN UNDER

In a country defined by café culture, it is unsurprising that there has been resistance to change in coffee drinking ways. Even in Paris, a cosmopolitan capital that is a world leader in highquality cuisine, the specialty coffee scene was late to the game. Paul Arnephy, an Australian roaster at Café Lomi, describes his first impression of the scene, stating, “When I moved here, I sort of got scared with what I saw. Because the coffee was kind of— ‘disgusting’s’ relative. If people like it, then I’m happy with that. But from what I was seeing, there wasn’t much caretaking in the preparation, and the coffee was being made with poor-quality ingredients.” It wasn’t until 2005 that La Caféotheque began to offer “something different,” according to Nicolas Piègay,

For four years, La Caféotheque was the sole space in Paris that brought a sense of innovation to its coffee approach. Meanwhile, many of today’s leaders were either in Australia or fantasizing about how they could relive their Australian coffee experience in Paris. Gaël Soucasse, a French native and co-founder of Matamata, says the lessons learned in coffee in Australia were profound enough to reshape his career path. “[My business partner and I] discovered the coffee in Australia,” he says, “and I realized that it was a lifechanging experience to drink such a beautiful coffee compared to what we drink in France.” Nico Alary, another French native who co-founded Holybelly, a restaurant that serves specialty coffee alongside

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LA CAFÉOTHEQUE

PHOTO SOURCE (FROM TOP): INSTAGR AM@C AFÉLOMI, L ACE Y GIBSON; INSTAGR AM@L AC AFÉOTHEQUE

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an Australian-style brunch, echoes Soucasse’s admiration. “The coffee game in Melbourne—that was six years ago, was already insane,” he states. “There were so many roasteries, coffee shops, and cafés doing beautiful food. So the idea of opening a place and getting involved clicked when [my co-founder and I] moved to Melbourne.” The idea for establishing an Australian-influenced coffee shop was shared simultaneously by several of the early founders. Suddenly, in 2009, the momentum of their business plans began to be set in motion, leading to a Paris coffee revolution of sorts, with the establishment of one, then two, then 50 or so specialty coffee shops. The exponential growth trajectory continued to the point at which today, in 2018, the competition is fierce. Ruben Grande, a roaster at La Caféotheque, explains that local coffee leaders have mapped out 120 coffee-selling establishments in Paris that would qualify as “specialty.”

TRADITION VS. INNOVATION Despite the rapid growth of the specialty scene, several coffee aficionados are hesitant to say that the scene is as impressive as the statistics state. According to Channa Galhenage, the U.K.born founder of Café Loustic, “Some people say there are 140 [specialty coffee

PHOTO SOURCE: SALOME WATEL (TOP), INSTAGR AM@HOLYBELLY

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SPECIALTY COFFEE IN PARIS & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = & = &

Champion Barista of France, agrees that the traditional social ambiance of French café culture should be preserved, but that Paris can do more to be innovative behind the bar. “We need to be curious,” she says. “I think it’s one of the most important things we need to be for coffee in France because we feel that we don’t have the resources to do it so we’re always a little bit shy to experiment… In coffee no one has the truth so everyone needs to make their own truth.”

CAFÉ LOUSTIC

FROM MEDIOCRE TO MELBOURNE

BELLEVILLE BRÛLERIE

shops in Paris], and I think that’s ridiculous because maybe there are 140 odd places with the beans and the material, but my definition of a specialty coffee place is a place with trained baristas. But what I’m seeing is baristas without experience… so the coffee’s not that great…. I’d say there’s 40-odd places with people who have baristas with experience and some sort of expertise.” Regardless of the true number of shops who deserve a specialty designation, several coffee leaders state that overall quality has been impeded by the fact that specialty coffee is still seen as

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exotic, a fringe movement, or a trend. Thomas Lehoux, the French founder of Belleville Brûlerie and La Fontaine de Belleville, says that the numerous anglophone-inspired coffee shops that have been popping up are missing an important principle element: a defined sense of French-ness. He argues that for specialty coffee to be sustainable, coffee shops owners should integrate their business into society rather than go against the grain. “I’m not sure if English coffee shops are not the ultimate way of selling coffee in France,” he says. “They need to change their way of only doing, ‘Oh, it’s cool in Copenhagen, let’s do the same here!’…. [Customers in Paris] don’t drink the same way. Yeah, we have tourists, but tourists don’t make what is true to coffee here.” What is true to coffee in Paris? For Lehoux, it’s the social aspect of the stand-up bar and his neighborhood customers who visit his French bistro-style café for their daily caffeine fix with as much religious regularity as they would their local boulangerie. Caroline Noirbusson, French native head barista at Coutume Café and

To advance the specialty coffee scene from mediocre to “Melbourne,” there is a consensus that education is key. Behind the bar, elevating baristas’ profession to the level of sommeliers can incentivize further practical and theoretical knowledge. Yet perhaps more importantly, education on the side of the customers can be improved to allow the movement to grow to mainstream. Nonetheless, Anselme Blayney, the U.K.-born owner of Ten Belles, cautions that customer education needs to be delivered sans snobbery. “Before waxing lyrical about this amazing producer in Bolivia,” he says, “it’s more about, ‘Why don’t you try and have a macchiato today? And we’ve steamed the milk properly so the natural sugars are going to come out, and you don’t need to use sugar.’ And eventually graduating them to a slow pour or an espresso without any sugar. But I don’t think it’s going to be that productive to talk about the social or environmental impact of coffee—which are huge! I think there’s a time and a place for that, but you don’t want to be greeted by a moral lecture when you’re just wanting coffee.” Already, Noirbusson says that the education she provides in her interaction with customers has made an impact on their receptivity to the trade. “I remember once we had this coffee from Congo,” she says. “[My boss] started working with ladies who were refugees from the war, and they were

PHOTO SOURCE (FROM TOP): INSTAGR AM@C AFÉLOUSTIC , INSTAGR AM@BELLE VILLEBRÛLERIE

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making a women’s community to sustain themselves because all the husbands were dead or had left, so we bought a lot from them. But the lots got old super quickly because I think they had some issues drying it, and this lady was like, ‘I didn’t really enjoy it this time.’ And I was like, ‘I understand, but just think of it like an experiment. We are engaged with these women, we really want to help them, and it will be better next year. We know that this coffee isn’t the best coffee we’ve ever had, but it’s a really good project, and we really want them to be better.’ And then she bought another packet.”

A BRIGHT FUTURE If education is done effectively and unpretentiously, the future for coffee in Paris is bright. “I think that France can be the number one country for specialty coffee in the world quite simply because we come from a strong [café] culture,” says Galhenage. “I hope it becomes appreciated by the wider public because what’s missing is just the education and the information.” Yet for most leaders in the coffee scene, their goal for Paris is not to be the next Melbourne or another popular world power, but rather to enjoy the simple pleasures of Paris with a cup of specialty coffee in hand. As Arnephy says, “If you can go to a nice brasserie and bistro and have a good coffee after dinner, for me, that’s the dream…” Noirbusson echoes his yearning, stating, “[The roaster at Coutume Café and I] were just walking in the streets, and we were seeing all those brasseries that are so typical in Paris. We were like, ‘Look at all those cafés where we could put specialty coffee!’ Sitting down on the terrace and just drinking a coffee, that is really the goal that I’d like to reach one day.” While Parisian tastes in coffee may be shifting toward specialty, tradition continues to reign true in enjoying the uniquely pleasurable ambiance of café culture that truly makes Paris special. FC

PHOTO SOURCE: INSTAGR AM@COUTUMEC AFÉ

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PHOTO COURTESY OF AGNIESZK A ROJEWSK A

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ESPRESSO AND EXTRACTION

his article could be exhaustively technical. Extraction is an aspect of coffee that involves hydrogen and oxygen atoms, water and coffee ratios, grind particle size, hot and cold variables, and much more. You are taking water, the universal solvent, combining it with the ground, roasted seeds of a cherry that grows only in a small percentage of climates on Earth, and anticipating that the resulting total dissolved solids produce a great-tasting beverage. It is a finely nuanced aspect of brewing that is also the most important to understand, as well as adapt to your own café, brewing situation, and preferred coffees. And this is one reason why the Specialty Coffee Association developed the Golden Cup Standard: “Coffee shall exhibit a brew strength, measured in Total Dissolved Solids, of 11.5 to 13.5 grams per liter, corresponding to 1.15 to 1.35 ‘percent’ on the SCA Brewing Control Chart, resulting from a solubles extraction yield of 18 to 22 percent.” Like I said, this article could be tediously scientific. But, instead, I decided to hear what some baristas had to say on the subject, so I chatted with Agnieszka Rojewska, 2018 World Barista Champion, Cole McBride, 2018 U.S. Barista Champion, and Andrea Allen, 2018 U.S. Barista Championship Finalist. Here’s what they had to share. Tell me about your very first experiences with making espresso, what you learned and what you will never do again.

AGNIESZKA: At the beginning it was very important to follow some recipe. Coffee is not like math, but being consistent with simple variables like time, amount of coffee in and out helped me understand extraction better. COLE: What was really important in the company I worked for when I first got into coffee back in 2002 were things like “Don’t spell espresso with an ‘x’!” For the first almost year of making cof-

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fee, I didn’t have a lot of understanding of extraction because there wasn’t a lot of dedication to extraction. The first time I think I really understood extraction was two years later working under David Schomer at Espresso Vivace. It was there that I began to realize that there were things happening in the basket that could lead to really special flavors and mouthfeel. ANDREA: The first café I worked at in 2003 didn’t have formal espresso training. We had a Mazzer doser grinder, and I was told to pull the handle to dose twice, tamp, knock it on the side, tamp it again, and then pull the shot. That was the education I was given. I knew I was supposed to be putting out a certain kind of product, but I didn’t know what that product should look like or how to get there. What are some important things a barista should have in place before dialing in and pulling a shot, to assure consistent extraction?

AGNIESZKA: A well-prepared espresso machine, clean and warmed up. An adjusted grinder. A scale. And the tools that work for them, like a tamper. COLE: Clean tools first. David Schomer always taught that keeping your machine clean will lead to cleaner espresso. I believe that through and through. Also, truly, truly keeping the basket dry, verifying the coffee seals to the basket, and making sure your dose sits low enough and high enough for the water to flow effectively through the puck. ANDREA: There are a bunch of different variables, so when I’m dialing in, I make it so that I’m only dealing with one or two variables at a time. I aim first for consistency, so I pretty much only play with grind size to start with. Then, I taste every shot that comes out, regardless of how good or bad it is. I use that to inform what I want to do with those variables.

Are origin, roast profile, and/or age of the coffee important considerations when dialing in?

AGNIESZKA: These might be helpful points to know. The moment you pull a shot and taste it, you know if this is expected or not from the origin and roaster’s profile. For example, if you have a medium-roasted African coffee, you don’t expect high body and a lot of bitterness. So, after tasting the shot, you will more or less know if you’re going in the right or wrong direction. But always follow the taste—if the coffee is balanced in flavor, mouthfeel, and acidity, you are more or less where you want to be. COLE: Roast is going to play a bigger role than the variety or origin, because despite whatever the origin might be, if your coffee is roasted further or lighter, there’re going to be some pretty big things you will need to do to get it to taste good. As a general rule, the lighter you roast your coffee, you’re probably going to be shooting for a longer yield and a longer extraction time. If you’re using coffee roasted darker, you’re generally going to be using less dry coffee in your basket and probably going to have a shorter brewing cycle. ANDREA: You can use origin as a jumping-off point for coffee, but the end result of the most favorable tasting shot could be completely different from another coffee that you’re familiar with that seems to have all of the same things. There are so many elements that go into why a coffee behaves the way it does that it’s hard to quantify all those things. SCA has published standards as tools for the coffee industry and “trusted reference instruments established by knowledgeable subject-matter experts.” Are these a jumping-off point, coffee gospel, or a place to begin in developing your own standards?

Cole

2018

AGNIESZKA: You definitely have to start somewhere, but you also have to be open-minded. THOSE STANDARDS are NOT THE ONE AND ONLY TRUTH! COLE: When it comes to espresso, there’s no true gospel. It’s just this really beautiful mysterious romantic way to brew coffee that we haven’t completely figured out yet. And I don’t know if we ever will. If you are going to make your own starting point and not use SCA standards, that’s okay, but make sure you have an objectively good starting point that works with your coffees, your baskets, your espresso machine, your water, and your grinders, because if you change any one of those things, it could, in theory, upset the whole system of where you’re starting. ANDREA: I am of that old thought that you have to know the rules before you can break them, but I have long since veered away from seeing that definition as the gospel. It doesn’t take

PHOTO COURTESY OF COLE MCBRIDE

into account that many machines now have different kinds of temperature settings, pressure profile settings. Using a single recipe or definition as gospel can be limiting when you’re dealing with a range of different coffees and also different equipment. What specific things do you look for when preparing your puck and pulling your shot when dialing in and creating a great-tasting espresso cup?

AGNIESZKA: A clean station and tools—the inside of the portafilters, the grinder hopper and burrs, the shower screen on the machine. Then, if the water is boiling when I flush a grouphead, and if the pressure and temp are stable. When the shot is extracting, I look to see if the crema covers the shot and how the stream is flowing out of the spout. I am looking for quality and consistency of grinder and espresso machine, as well as the consistency of the barista, my own habits.

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COLE: Baristas should be more gentle when putting in the portafilter, especially since too much aggression can break your seals and affect your consistency. I also look for consistency in how long you leave the portafilters outside the grouphead between shots, and the number of times they settle the loaded portafilter before they brew. I don’t necessarily think that there is a specific amount of time that is right, but I’m more in the camp of as long as it’s consistent, you’re going to be good there. ANDREA: Distribution and tamping— to get an evenly extracted shot, those things have to be totally on point. I also like to watch the drop time from the espresso. You can have a shot that pulls the same output at the same time as another shot, but tastes a lot different based on how much time the water has spent in the grounds themselves before it starts coming out. Then, when you’re first learning to prepare espresso, there’s a lot of nuance and small detail that goes

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2018

into creating your routine of preparing a portafilter to be inserted into a machine. For new baristas, consistency in their physical preparations of the espresso shot before they start pulling it. Once you get the experience, that stuff becomes more muscle memory. What is your go-to recipe when dialing in a coffee?

AGNIESZKA: My starting recipe is 20 grams of coffee in the basket, 40 grams out in the cup, at around 25 to 27 seconds. COLE: For a modern style of roasting, my starting point for espresso is going to be somewhere around 22 grams of coffee in the basket and somewhere around 42 to 44 grams out. Right at or just under a one-to-two ratio. Then I adjust from there. That same exact dose for a milk drink would be closer to 32 to 36 grams out, because an espresso, it’s a done beverage. But if you’re add-

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ing milk to it, you’re creating a new one. I like to not add the last bit of time with the espresso, so that the sweetness comes from the milk. ANDREA: I always use 20.3 or .4 grams in to accommodate for potential grind retention in the grinder or potential error on my part with getting the coffee into the portafilter. Then, I usually measure volume and pull one ounce out on each side. I don’t have a time parameter that I’m shooting for, except over 20 and under 30 seconds. Whatever the time is at that recipe. I taste it and go from there. Do you use any espresso gadgets?

AGNIESZKA: As far as gadgets go, you should use anything that make your moves more consistent. COLE: The only tool that I use to prepare my pucks is my Pullman titanium BigStep. In the long run, other tools

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slow me down. I believe they have a place, but it all depends on if they fit into your program. ANDREA: We have a pretty highvolume café with a bunch of employees. So, for me, it is more consistent for our baristas to use distributors. Even though a distributor doesn’t fix all things and using a distributor doesn’t equal great coffee, I think it can help us avoid inconsistencies that can happen when trying to put out a high volume of espresso shots. However, I think distributors can also be deceiving in making you think your bed is perfect and ready to go, and in reality it might not be. It really depends on the application. Is this whole extraction thing serious business? Is it having fun while crafting a good cup of coffee? Is it both, more?

AGNIESZKA: It can be both. Remember that your customer drinks coffee

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA ALLEN

because he/she likes it—and they come back for the same quality and flavor. Find that good spot and don’t experiment too much. COLE: I think it’s both. There’s nothing easy about making really delicious espresso. Making it consistently is even more difficult. There is a degree of having fun with coffee, and you can definitely learn from that. But to be able to pull shots that are consistently going to make your mouth water and taste the most complex flavors, it’s going to take a lot of skill and dedication and focus and commitment. You have to take it pretty seriously and pay attention to your technique day in and day out, really look to be better each and every day. ANDREA: I would say extraction is extremely important. Serving a really high-quality beverage is a really important part of good customer service. I think you can be really specific and really detailoriented, and honestly be snobby about your coffee, but then also provide great service by being friendly to customers and preparing great drinks. I like to tell my staff that the customer’s only job is to come in, order a coffee, and enjoy it. Any final thoughts?

COLE: I would say that there isn’t any one way that espresso should taste. Oftentimes, people expect me to tell them what great espresso is. It can be so many different things. If you believe something is delicious, it probably is. Don’t rely on other people’s palates as much as your own. You’re probably a better taster than you think you are. ANDREA: I suggest keeping notes. Coffees change over time. You could even say they’re degassing every minute. I’ll start tasting a coffee at two to three days off roast and try to taste it every day for as long as I have it. I’ll keep a running list of flavor notes and recipe and variables, and that way, I can, over time, understand how the coffee is changing and what date I think it tastes best at.

s you discover what ratios, grind consistency, and tools work for you and your circumstances, remember that we still have so much to discover when it comes to this thing called coffee, and even espresso in particular. As Cole puts it, “Espresso is just this really beautiful mysterious romantic way to brew coffee that we haven’t completely figured out yet. And I don’t know if we ever will.” FC

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oney paid for green coffee primarily acquires a product,

but the same money can also double as an investment in environmentally and economically stable, selfsustaining, and independently competitive production communities. Supply chain partnerships then yield longer-term returns for buyers in the form of reliable supply of desired qualities and for suppliers in the form of reliable purchases at desired prices.

WET MILL at Abakundakawa Cooperative in Rwanda.

PHOTO BY CL AY ENOS FOR SUSTAINABLE HARVEST

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he downstream side of the coffee supply chain has a long history of investing in the well-being of people and land upstream at coffee origins. This has taken the form of non-profits, projects, and charitable initiatives designed to compensate for the gap between the market price of coffee and the real costs of production and living in farming regions.

SOLAR DRYER at Rutas del Inca Cooperative in Peru.

IMPORTER INVESTMENTS IN HEALTHY SUPPLY CHAINS Jorge Cuevas, chief coffee officer with Portland, Oregon, green coffee importer Sustainable Harvest, has seen the evolution of investments at origin, starting with the now largely archaic parallel project model. Investment at origin used to look like “building a school or community center,” he says. “But it is not the role of the coffee industry to supplant local government. Yes, the center gets built, but that model doesn’t have sustaining power.” Over the years, Cuevas has observed that these efforts, and their predecessors of wholly subsidized third-party organizations investing in origin projects, lose impact over time and are not replicable throughout the supply chain. “Companies source from 25 places but were not building 25 schools, that was the other flaw,” he says. “Now, consumers are more interested in the transparency and visibility of a healthy supply chain.” A healthy supply chain is one where the money paid for green coffee more than covers the costs of production, allowing production communities to make their own discretionary investments in personal and shared resources like housing, health, infrastructure, and education. “The simple act of buying coffee at a fair price is the most impactful,” says Cuevas of Sustainable Harvest’s current mode of origin investment. “The first way required a big outside foundation. The second required coffee companies to supply extra funding. This third way we are working now requires defin-

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ing a fair price, which is determined by openly discussing costs of production—costs that are acknowledged, met, and paid a surplus.” Sometimes, there is pushback that this sort of embedded investment increases the cost of goods for roasters sourcing green coffee. Cuevas refutes these fears: “It is going to cost what it costs. It’s not about cost; it’s about value, and values. It is in everyone’s best interest to know who their sources are.” The last thing a consumer-facing roasted coffee brand wants to field is

the embarrassment of being exposed as sourcing from suppliers who support child labor or slave-like worker conditions, as happened after the release of a report by Danish investigative journalists at Danwatch in 2015. Transparency— and the appropriate compensation associated with it—is an investment in each company’s brand integrity.

ROASTER INVESTMENTS IN COMMUNITY STABILITY Phoenix Coffee Company sources for its five cafés in Cleveland, Ohio. Each

PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSTAINABLE HARVEST

PRODECOOP COOPERATIVE, NICARAGUA: Learning about coffee drying (above), and sorting green coffee (below) at Sustainable Harvest Most Valuable Producer training event.

dollar Phoenix spends on green coffee doubles as investments in community stability. Co-director Christopher Feran sees investments in long-term relationships as crucial to business integrity. “It is problematic when roasters demand higher and higher quality but abandon producers if they miss one year,” he says. “Prioritizing cup quality above all else opens up the industry to unintended consequences,” such as resources wasted on the endless search for the perfect cup, which is as expensive for producers as it is for roasters.

PHOTOS BY BRYAN CLIF TON

Feran calls the constant hunt for exceptional inventory “a high-stakes game of chasing the dollar and chasing trends.” Instead, Phoenix sees the value—both monetary and ethical—in investing in building stable, self-sustaining communities, in Cleveland as much as at origin. “Just like we pay above-market wages and offer benefits like paid time off and healthcare subsidies for employees who work as few as 28 hours per week, recognizing the value and contribution of long-time staff on our customer inter-

actions and in order to ensure that we have continuity of staff and staff truly committed to what we do, we approach our work with coffee producers the same way,” explains Feran. “We understand producers’ costs of production and pay above that—every year. Whatever price we pay is agreed upon mutually.” Phoenix sources green coffee with the intention of returning to source from the same farm for many years. They solidify this investment by splitting the cost of agronomists with producers to indicate a shared investment

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COFFEE SOURCING AS INVESTMENT

PHOENIX COFFEE: Christopher Feran (left) at Finca Betanía in Palestina, Colombia, with Linaro Ospina Rodriguez (left, on right) and smelling an experimental fermentation he helped design and process (right).

PHOENIX COFFEE: Cerro Pecul from Finca Esperanza in Guatemala (left), teaching sorting and picking protocols (center), and cupping experiments (right).

in future harvests. By making multiyear commitments, Phoenix helps offset some of the risk coffee growers inherently bear as producers of a raw agricultural product. “Too often we [as an industry] do not acknowledge the role risk plays in the value chain,” says Feran. “Roasters bear very little risk—producers, exporters, and importers bear the brunt of it. And producers, because they are not as diversified with different products or suppliers the way importers and exporters are, and since they are probably not hedging with currency or futures, end up bearing most of the risk.”

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EXPORTER INVESTMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION In Zipacón, Cundinamarca, Colombia, coffee growers, processors, and exporters La Palma y El Tucan seek to further offset disproportionate risk borne by producers through its Neighbors & Crops program, which invests directly in smallholders’ sustainable land management. “The Neighbors & Crops program fulfills the idea of sourcing as simultaneous investment, particularly an investment in financial and environmental sustainability on Colombia’s smallholder farms,” says Sebastian Villamizar, client relationship manager for

La Palma y El Tucan. “Our investments in local coffee production are both monetary and non-monetary. Monetary benefits include paying the highest local price for coffee cherries plus three premiums for quality, longevity, and organic production.” The organic compost La Palma produces and distributes to Neighbors & Crops members straddles the cash and in-kind benefit line. Non-monetary investments take the form of labor and education; La Palma brings harvesters directly to the farms to pick the cherries. “Producers are 60 years old on average,” says Villamizar. “Buying their

PHOTOS BY: SALOMÉ PUENTES (TOP T WO), CHRISTOPHER FER AN (BOT TOM THREE)

LA PALMA Y EL TUCAN: Providing all kinds of investments to the coffee community including labor and education through its Neighbors & Crops program in Colombia.

coffee in cherries is a time-management savings. The 100 families, with an average of 1.5 hectares each, can focus on overall land management.” La Palma provides producers access to agronomists to promote the logical but under-utilized philosophy that less is more in coffee farming; lower volumes but of higher qualities means higher prices for the whole harvest, and land that is more resilient, requiring fewer expensive fertilizer inputs. “It’s an added value chain program,” says Villamizar. “At the wet mill, we take on the experimentation and innovation to develop improved products, which allows us to better pay everyone involved

PHOTOS SOURCE: L A PAL MA Y EL TUC AN

in the full chain. All the risk falls on the wet mill, not on the producer.”

SOURCING AS INVESTMENT Phoenix’s Feran describes sustainability as “not pouring energy into a void,” and this is also a good way to consider green coffee sourcing as an investment. Money spent procuring green coffee yields a pound or a cup of coffee that is sold once, but the money spent at origin compensating for any margin above costs of production does much more. “‘Just buy our coffee,’ that is what producers ask,” says Cuevas at Sustainable Harvest. “We were one of the first companies in Southern Tolima, Colom-

bia, where there was active warfare until two years ago. In a post-conflict zone the instinct is to wonder, ‘What can I do?’ But nobody asks for handouts. The energy is right there in coffee communities; it just has to be unlocked.” When producers and suppliers are compensated at rates that allow them to stay relevant and active in the marketplace, production communities make independent investments in infrastructure and local startups. This autonomy is indicative of a supply chain where all parties are in positions to advocate for themselves, making green coffee sourcing a far more equitable negotiation than it has ever been. FC

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Trade Show & Events Calendar DECEMBER

MARCH 2019

DECEMBER 1–2 COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL VALLEY FORGE Valley Forge, Pennsylvania coffeeandteafestival.com

MARCH 3–5 COFFEE FEST New York City, New York coffeefest.com

DECEMBER 5–7 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL Dubai, UAE coffeeteafest.com

MARCH 7–9 NCA ANNUAL CONVENTION Atlanta, Georgia ncausa.org

JANUARY 2019 JANUARY 17–19 CAFE MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia cafe-malaysia.com

FEBRUARY 2019 FEBRUARY 7–9 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO Melbourne, Australia internationalcoffeeexpo.com.au

FEBRUARY 13–15 AFRICAN FINE COFFEE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION Kigali, Rwanda afca.coffee/conference

MARCH 2019 MARCH 1–3 AMSTERDAM COFFEE FESTIVAL Amsterdam, Netherlands amsterdamcoffeefestival.com

MARCH 3–5 INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANT & FOODSERVICE SHOW New York City, New York internationalrestaurantny.com

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MARCH 13–15 COFFEE & TEA RUSSIAN EXPO Moscow, Russia coffeetearusexpo.ru/en

MARCH 16–17 SOUTHWEST COFFEE & CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL Albuquerque, New Mexico chocolateandcoffeefest.com

MARCH 21–23 CAFE ASIA & ICT INDUSTRY EXPO Marina Bay, Singapore cafeasia.com.sg

MARCH 28–31 LONDON COFFEE FESTIVAL London, United Kingdom londoncoffeefestival.com

MARCH 30–31 COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE EXPO San Juan, Puerto Rico coffeeandchocolateexpo.com

APRIL 2019 APRIL 10–11 RE:CO SYMPOSIUM Boston, Massachusetts recosymposium.org

APRIL 2019 APRIL 11–14 SPECIALTY COFFEE EXPO Boston, Massachusetts coffeeexpo.org

APRIL 11–14 COFFEE EXPO SEOUL Seoul, South Korea coffeeexposeoul.com

APRIL 14–15 NORTHWEST FOOD SHOW Portland, Oregon nwfoodshow.com

MAY 2019 MAY 9–13 CHINA XIAMEN INTERNATIONAL TEA FAIR Xiamen, China teafair.com.cn/en

MAY 18–21 NATIONAL RESTAURANT SHOW Chicago, Illinois show.restaurant.org

MAY 31–JUNE 2 COFFEE FEST Indianapolis, Indiana coffeefest.com

JUNE 2019 JUNE 6–8 WORLD OF COFFEE Berlin, Germany worldofcoffee.org

COFFEE ALMANAC | 63

Advertiser Index ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

1883 Maison Routin

800.467.7142

1883.com

1st-Line Equipment

732.298.6268

1st-line.com

Abbotsford Road Coffee Specialists

646.983.0448

abbotsfordroad.com

Barista Pro Shop

866.776.5288

baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh

Bistro Collection

855.5BISTRO (524.7876)

bistrogourmetbakery.com

Brewista

888.538.8683

mybrewista.com

Caffe D’arte

800.999.5334

caffedarte.com

The Chai Co.

888.922.2424

chaico.com

Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters

916.451.5181

chocolatefishcoffee.com

Coffee Fest

425.295.3300

coffeefest.com

Custom Cup Sleeves

888-672-4096

customcupsleeves.com

Ditting

810.367.7125

ditting.com

Divinitea

518.347.0689

divinitea.com

Dominion Tea

540.999./TEAS (8327)

wholesale.dominiontea.com

Estas Manos Coffee Roasters

estasmanoscoffee.com

Fresh Cup Magazine

503.236.2587

freshcup.com

Ghirardelli Chocolate

800.877.9338

ghirardelli.com/professional

Gosh That’s Good! Brand

888.848.GOSH (4674)

goshthatsgood.com

Grandstand Glassware + Apparel

800.767.8951

egrandstand.com/coffee

Java Jacket

800.208.4128

javajacket.com

La Semeuse

941.830.8818

cafelasemeuse.com

Malabar Gold Espresso

650.366.5453

malabargoldespresso.com

Maya Tea Co.

877.629.2832

mayachai.com

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

855.FLAVOR1 (352.8671)

monin.com

Mr. Espresso

510.287.5200

mrespresso.com

Pacific Foods

503.692.9666

pacificfoods.com/foodservice

Phillips Syrups & Sauces

800.350.8443

phillipssyrup.com

Sattwa Chai

952.476.0117

sattwachai.com

SelbySoft

800.454.4434

selbysoft.com

SerendipiTea

888.TEA.LIFE (832.5433)

serendipitea.com

StixToGo

800.666.6655

royalpaper.com

Tipu’s

888.506.2424

tipuschai.com

Toddy

970.493.0788

toddycafe.com/wholesale

Zojirushi America

800.264.6270

zojirushi.com

64 | DECEMBER 2018 » freshcup.com

Go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers to view the Advertiser Index and the websites listed below.

PAGE

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3 13 2

The Last Plastic Straw

One Step in a Holistic Approach to Sustainability

cross the country, cafés are finding that switching from plastic to sustainable straws offers both a simple and customer-approved means of advancing their overall efforts toward greater sustainability. In La Crosse, Wisconsin, Global Grounds Coffee has been offering stainless steel straws both for purchase and for in-store “borrowing” since its opening in December 2016. The response has been entirely positive. “I would ask customers early on, ‘Are you comfortable drinking out of this stainless steel straw?’ And the response was always a very enthusiastic, ‘Heck, yeah,’” says owner Catherine Tyink, who notes that her café has a younger demographic, drawing largely from the nearby University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus. “About 27 percent of our customers bring their own cup and straw each time they come in,” says Tyink. “We offer a 66 | DECEMBER 2018 » freshcup.com

generous 25-cent discount every time they do that, and it really seems to help.” To encourage even more reuse and less to-go waste, Tyink is preparing to launch a new “Carry Your Cup” campaign complete with round stickers featuring the mantra. She hopes folks will stick them on their travel mugs and cups as a way of spreading the message around campus about the importance of reuse. In addition to the stickers, Tyink’s upcoming campaign will offer clients the choice of either five free coffees or $2 off any single coffee drink when they purchase a reusable cup. “It’s up to a $10 value, so we’re really selling the cups at cost,” she says. “But we see it as value-added, because we’re not throwing all those [disposable] cups away.” Offering reusable straws and cups, rather than disposables, is just one small step in Global Grounds’ overall sustainability efforts, which include offering

By Robin Roenker vegan food options, up-cycling furniture from resell shops, using only green cleaners and low-energy lighting, contracting with local artisans to craft reusable cup sleeves, and, as Tyink puts it, composting and “aggressively recycling.” The café was the first in La Crosse to be certified by Travel Green Wisconsin, a program sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism to recognize businesses that are committed to ecofriendly practices. While the sustainable straw component may be just one small piece of the café’s overall green initiative, it’s a small step that adds up, day in and day out, in terms of reducing waste. “It’s staggering to think about the number of straws and cups that are thrown away nationwide on a daily basis,” says Tyink. “We just want to do our part to encourage customers to—as they say—‘Drink local and think global.’” FC

PHOTO COURTESY OF GLOBAL GROUNDS

Fresh Cup Magazine | December 2018

Articles inside

Holistic Approach to Sustainability