Fresh Cup Magazine | July 2016 | Water Issue

OVERHAUL: PART THREE | Q FOR TEA | IMPORT CONCERNS | HUMBLE PIE | FOOD SECURITY | JEN APODACA

July 2016 » freshcup.com

WATER The main ingredient.

Page 40

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Paso Robles’s SPEARHEAD COFFEE Page 36

freshcup.com | November 2014

THE MAGAZINE FOR SPECIALTY COFFEE & TEA PROFESSIONALS SINCE 1992

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FEATURES

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine » Vol. 25 » No. 7

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38 DO YOU KNOW JEN APODACA? Royal Coffee.

BY CORY ELDRIDGE

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ALL ABOUT WATER, INTRO ON PG. 40 42

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CORRECT COFFEE, WRONG WATER

CHROMATIC COFFEE

WATER, (DIFFERENT) WATER EVERYWHERE

THE CHEMISTRY OF AQUEOUS IONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON COFFEE BREWING

A lesson in the power of water to change the flavor of coffee.

One machine, two water profiles.

BY ELLIE BRADLEY

BY PHIL ROBERTSON

BY MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH

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FILTRATION IN THE CAFÉ

A SCIENCE LESSON IN COFFEE

WATER AND COLD-BREW

The different water filtration options available.

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Creating consistency across regional water differences.

Water For Coffee book review.

Lots of room for experimentation and creativity.

BY ELLIE BRADLEY

BY ELLIE BRADLEY

BY ELLIE BRADLEY

45 ...... Water at Origin

47 ...... Beware the Hot Water Tap

47 ...... What is Scale?

60 ...... US Water Hardness Map

61 ...... Titration

61 ...... Filter for Warranties

July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

The mineral makeup of your water heavily influences flavor and extraction.

BY CHRISTOPHER HENDON

DEPARTMENTS

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SCAA-SCAE unification; Canadian tea; coffee varietal catalog

Trade Transformation and Coffee Importing

by Damon Piatek

THE FILTER

THE WHOLE BEAN

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BEHIND THE BAR Boxcar Social Toronto 24

CAFÉ OUTFITTER

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NINE BARS The Intoxicating Flavor of Humble Pie

by Nathanael May

Bars 34 26

IN HOUSE The Overhaul, Part 3

by Brian Helfrich

Food Security

by Cory Eldridge

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Education, Science, and Standards in Tea

by Ravi Kroesen

Spearhead Coffee Paso Robles

by Ellie Bradley

THE WHOLE LEAF

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ORIGIN

July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

CAFÉ CROSSROADS

12 FROM THE EDITOR

16 CONTRIBUTORS

Water School

62 COUNTER INTELLIGENCE People and products

66 ADVERTISER INDEX 64 CALENDAR Trade shows and events

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FROM THE EDITOR

Water School

CONNECT WITH US

Fresh Cup Magazine

@FreshCupMag

@FreshCupMag

ON THE COVER: The Science of COFFEE & WATER Our special issue on water, from origin to the café.

CORY ELDRIDGE, EDITOR cory@freshcup.com

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

Photo by Cory Eldridge

PHOTO A BOVE BY GEETANJA KH ANNA

BEFORE PUTTING TOGETHER THIS SPECIAL EDITION FOCUSING on water, I had known water was important to coffee. I knew it made up the vast majority of what’s in our cup, that it was 98 percent of a filter brew. I knew that water wasn’t simply H2O. I knew the café owner dedicated to good drinks and equipment maintenance would install a filter, maybe even a couple filters. I had a vague idea that attention to water and filtration yielded a better cup, but I didn’t understand water beyond a good-bad binary, and I couldn’t have said what made it one or the other.

What I didn’t know was that water isn’t a single thing, something that is merely good or bad. It’s a category made of different types and kinds of waters. Without knowing that, I didn’t really know water.

Within that category are waters that are great at extracting flavors, waters that block flavor (not strictly a bad thing), waters that clog machines with mineral deposits, and waters so free of minerals they do hardly anything at all. There are good and bad waters in the context of coffee, but there is no single water profile (the chemical composition of the water) that produces the best coffee. They just interact with coffee differently, and those differences matter to how you roast and brew.

In the opening story to the water section, Phil Robertson, co-owner of Phil & Sebastian in Calgary, tells how he took his lovely, sweet, bright coffee to another city and the brew tasted like ash. Same coffee, different water. His story about cracking this problem is vital to anyone roasting coffee for clients outside their water district or café owners buying from roasters who use a different water source. That includes a huge proportion of the industry.

You’ll also find Michael Butterworth’s advice to owners and managers of multiple cafés on how to keep your coffee quality consistent across multiple water sources. In what’s easily the most technical article we’ve published during my editorship, Chris Hendon explains the basics of water chemistry for coffee. If you didn’t excel in science classes, if you don’t know an anion from cation, screw up your courage and dive into this piece. It will fundamentally alter your understanding of water. It did mine. If you know that CaCO3 is calcium carbonate, then the article will be a perfect intro to Hendon and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood’s book, Water for Coffee.

When you finish reading this issue, you’ll think in a different way about the water coming out of your machines. I hope you’ll want to find out what it’s made of, what type of water it is. I hope you’ll want to experiment with making it not necessarily better but right for the coffee you serve to your customers.

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FRESH CUP MAGAZINE THE MAGAZINE FOR SPECIALTY COFFEE & TEA PROFESSIONALS SINCE 1992

-FRESH CUP FOUNDERWARD BARBEE 1938-2006

-ADVERTISINGAdvertising Sales JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com

-FRESH CUP PUBLISHINGPublisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com

Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com Marketing Coordinator ANNA SHELTON anna@freshcup.com

-EDITORIALEditor CORY ELDRIDGE cory@freshcup.com Associate Editor ELLIE BRADLEY ellie@freshcup.com

-CIRCULATIONCirculation Director ANNA SHELTON anna@freshcup.com

-ARTArt Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com

-ACCOUNTINGAccounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DAVID GRISWOLD Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

ANUPA MUELLER Eco-Prima

CHUCK JONES Jones Coffee Roasters

BRAD PRICE Monin Gourmet Flavorings

JULIA LEACH Toddy

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LARRY WINKLER Torani

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

CONTRIBUTORS MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH Quill’s Coffee has seen successful growth, expanding across county lines and into new water sources. With four cafés using three municipal water sources, they faced a major obstacle to achieve consistency. Michael Butterworth describes how they tackled their water problems in, “Water, (Different) Water Everywhere” on PAGE 48. Butterworth is a barista and trainer at Quills Coffee and a founding editor of The Coffee Compass.

BRIAN HELFRICH When you overhaul your business, you risk leaving your customers in the dust if you don’t pay attention. This month, Brian Helfrich presents the third and final installment of Summit Coffee’s transformation and shares what they learned about keeping customers on board (In House, PAGE 26). Helfrich is the coowner of Summit Coffee, located in Davidson, North Carolina.

NATHANAEL MAY “When I lack humility, I cease to learn.”

The more you grow in a career, the harder it can be to admit that you don’t know something. But moments of humility are often valuable opportunities for growth, as Nathanael May points out in this month’s Nine Bars (PAGE 32). Nathanael is director of coffee and green coffee buyer for Portland Roasting Coffee.

DAMON PIATEK Keeping up on the ins and outs of import regulations is a vitally important task for anyone bringing coffee into the US. Rules change, regulations shift, policies matter. Damon Piatek lays out the case for keeping a close eye on these changes (PAGE 30). Piatek is the CEO of Welke Customs Brokers, which serves importers at all ports-of-entry in North America.

CHRISTOPHER HENDON Calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, oh my!

There’s a lot happening below the surface of water, but what does it have to do with coffee?

On PAGE 52, Christopher Hendon takes us on a wild chemistry ride, providing a crash course in water science and its impact on brewing and extraction. Hendon is a post-doctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of Water for Coffee.

RAVI KROESEN Rigorous sets of standards govern the quality of coffee, but what about tea? In this month’s Whole Leaf, Ravi Kroesen writes about growing efforts from the tea community to fund research and develop objective guidelines for grading and assessment (PAGE 28). Kroesen began his career in 2000 and is now the director of tea operations for Royal Tea New York.

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

PHIL ROBERTSON When you run a successful roasting operation, nothing could be more disheartening than confidently cupping your coffee overseas, only to find that it falls flat—and ashy. But this was the case for Phil & Sebastian, who became better roasters from the experience, and learned the importance of knowing your water. Phil Robertson details their experience on PAGE 42. Robertson is the “Phil” half of Phil & Sebastian, roasters based in Calgary, Alberta.

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The FILTER A Fine Blend of News and Notes

he hills of Vancouver Island in British Columbia are lush and verdant, their greenery resembling the slopes of Darjeeling or Yunnan. The stands of pines are reminiscent of those in Japan’s hilly tea farms. Judged by only the abundance of chlorophyll, it seems that tea could find a home here.

And it has, thanks to Victor Vesely and Margit Nellemann, who Fresh Cup

commercial crop, a green tea they’re calling Tree Frog Green. It’s the first Canadian-grown tea on the market.

While the hillocks of Vancouver Island appear welcoming to tea, the island lies much, much farther north than even Japan’s northerly tea fields. Teafarm’s first year of cultivation was rough.

Writer Lu Ann Pannunzio described it in her story, “Tea of the Northern Isle”:

Nelleman and Vesely have made white, oolong, and black teas from their harvests, experimenting with processing in the farm’s barn. profiled in our May 2015 issue. They planted their first 200 Camellia sinensis plants in 2010 at their farm, called Teafarm, and experimented with harvests over the next six years. They then planted another 600 bushes. This month, they’re releasing their first

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

“A harsh first winter of lessons followed. The worst was a ten-day stretch when the temperature hit about negative fifteen degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit). They covered half of the plants for protection. Unfortunately, after the freeze a big snow-

storm ultimately caused more damage by crushing the covered plants.

‘The first winter was the first experiment to say we are not even going to cover the tea plants because we will end up losing them to breakage more than to the snow,’ says Vesely.

‘The snow ended up actually protecting the uncovered tea plants more because they were insulated.’ He and Nellemann knew they were on to something pretty positive when only one plant was lost through the rough season. ‘The farm wants to grow tea,’ says Vesely.”

Nelleman and Vesely have made white, oolong, and black teas from their harvests, experimenting with processing in the farm’s barn. Those trials were kept off their shelves as the pair found their processing footing and let their young plants get out of their toddler years.

The new tea went for sale at the beginning of this month, and is in very limited supply. If you’re lucky enough to get an order in, the tea will be housed in a ceramic box created by Nellemann.

—Cory Eldridge

P HOTO BY NIK WEST

Canada’s First Tea Crop

A Vote for Unification

P HOTO BY ROB BYE

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hroughout this month, SCAA members can vote on the proposed merger of the SCAA and SCAE into a single global specialty coffee association. What this unified organization will look like exactly is a post-vote project, but the SCAE’s members have already voted in favor of the union.

In many ways, this would finish the union between two strongly connected organizations. World Coffee Events, which runs all the global coffee championships and Re:Co, was started in 2010 and is jointly managed by SCAA and SCAE. Soon after WCE launched, the first steps began toward a formal union.

The two organizations aren’t clones of one another, so a merger isn’t as simple as combining membership databases and flipping a coin for executive positions. The SCAE is based in London, but thirty-three national chapters (which include South Korea and Singapore) are hugely important in the organization’s workings within individual countries. That chapter model will remain, but how it will work in the unified organization (will the US have one chapter, will there be fifty chapters?) is not laid out in the documents provided on the SCAA’s unification information website.

The boards and executives of the two organizations have been heavily in favor the of the merger, and no organized anti-merger campaign has appeared. In a series of webinars, SCAA

executive director Ric Rhinehart and board vice president Tracy Ging have argued that the combined organization would better serve its members by combing resources, unifying standards and education programs, and reducing costs for those who are members of both associations.

On May 23, the SCAE’s membership voted in favor of the merger.

In that vote, 51 percent of members voted and of them 86 percent voted for the merger.

Voting for the unification began June 27 and continues through July 27. You are qualified to vote if you are

The two organizations aren’t clones of one another, so a merger isn’t as simple as combining membership databases and flipping a coin for executive positions.

In one webinar, Rhinehart said they expect all staff of the two organizations to remain. How exactly that will work wasn’t laid out. There will be more positions to fill, though. The combined organization would create five “member value centers,” covering education, events, research, sustainability, and advocacy/leadership. No details for those were available on the unification website.

Among the biggest changes is who will get to influence the new organization. Barista Guild and Roasters Guild members, along with individual members of the SCAA, would become voting members. The guilds will also be included on the expanded board.

Currently, only company members get to vote.

a member in these categories: producers/exporters, importers/green brokers, roaster wholesalers, roaster retailers, retailers, and allied services.

If your membership is through the Roasters Guild or the Barista Guild, you don’t have a vote. On June 27, the SCAA sent a message to the primary contact listed in the membership database. If you haven’t seen that email, it’s worth checking if it was sent to an unattended address.

A link in the email will take you to the ballot. If the primary contact email is dead, wrong, or kicks back to the SCAA in any way, they’ll mail a paper ballot. If you opted out of SCAA emails, you’ll also get a ballot in the mail.

—Cory Eldridge

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WCR Debuts First Catalog of Central American Coffee Varieties

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WCR took on this project in the wake of the 2012 coffee leaf rust crisis, which affected nearly 600,000 acres of Central American coffee farmland. Nearly 300,000 farmers need to replant coffee because of it, but the farmers also need to make informed decisions about the plants they’ll use to rebuild their businesses. Trying to choose a plant without proper knowledge is extremely problematic, especially in light of challenges like the rust epidemic—farmers lack the tools to know whether a plant is resistant to rust, what its quality potential is, and if it’s adapted for their local altitude. Unlike other cash crops, this is a choice that can stick with farmers for decades.

Recognizing the lack of quality information avail-

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HT TPS:/ /VARIETIES.WOR LD CO FFEERESEAR CH. OR G/

ate last month, World Coffee Research released a new catalog of Central American coffee varieties at Re:co Dublin. The catalog, titled Coffee Varieties of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, seeks to connect coffee farmers with better information about what varieties are available to them, the differences between them, and how they perform across a range of metrics.

able to farmers in Central America, WCR began building a catalog of information to disseminate to farmers to help them choose.

The catalog includes thirty-four of the most common and most important varieties in the region. For each variety, information is included about the plant’s history, genetic description and parentage, yield potential, and susceptibility to disease. Details are included about the plant’s stature, bean size, leaf-tip color, nutritional requirements, growing density, and other characteristics. Icons and color scales simplify comparisons across varietals, making the catalog accessible and easy to use.

A print version of the catalog in Spanish will be distributed throughout Central American countries to técnicos, nursery managers, and others, with a total distribution of about 10,000. An electronic version, both in English and in Spanish, will be available as a PDF on the WCR website.

the same information presented in the catalog. Users can filter varieties by specific altitude, quality potential at high altitudes, stature, and susceptibility to leaf rust. (WCR recruited Oof design studio to make the catalog user-friendly.)

The PDF version of the catalog is available for free download through the WCR website. It has been released under a creative commons license to encourage widespread use and dissemination. Any importers, roasters, non-governmental organizations, or other groups working with farmers are encouraged to download and distribute the catalog.

—Ellie Bradley

An interactive website accompanies the catalog, allowing users to browse varieties, or set filters to quickly find a variety that matches their needs.

Coffee Varieties of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean brings urgently needed information to coffee farmers to help them decide which coffee is best for their situation. Making good planting decisions decreases risk of disease or pests, while improving the chances that the resulting cup will be the highest possible quality. The catalog equips farmers with information to best provide for future generations.

An interactive website accompanies the catalog, allowing users to browse varieties, or set filters to quickly find a variety that matches their needs. Each variety is presented on a clickable card that details

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Pour-over Meat Station: The pour-over station features coffee flights, an EK-43, Kalita Waves, and lots of care. After six, the station is turned into a charcuterie, cheese, and sandwich station.

One-button Americano: The Marco Über boiler is preset to dose water for americanos, a task the cashier completes by pushing a single button. Tea concentrates for iced teas are made here, too.

Two of Four Espressos: This grinder holds a fun, expressive espresso roast and a mellower, milk-friendly roast. Decaf is in a Mythos grinder on the back bench.

Spirit of the Café: In an era where bars are kept clear, the Kees van der Westen Spirit stands proud on the bar, clearly marking Boxcar Social as a serious coffee venture.

Milk Station: The milk station is removed in the evenings to make room for more bar patrons.

Pre-dosed Tea: Boxcar Social sells a fair amount of iced tea; they brew concentrates to-order from these pre-dosed sachets, then ice the drink.

Ms. Consistent: The Peak holds an all-around espresso because when the evening staff hasn’t made espresso in an hour, this grinder stays dialed in.

Super-sensitive Scale: This Ohaus is so responsive, Boxcar Social had to redirect the AC to keep its airflow from affecting portafilter readings.

Pastry Case: Just out of the frame, a pastry case is built into the bar, right under the POS system.

Custom Cubbies: A heap of to-go cups fits snugly under the counter.

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More Taps: Seven beer taps are on the liquor bar, with six more behind the espresso machine.

July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

Dosing: A phalanx of Scottie Callaghan dosing tools keeps espresso distribution tight.

BEHIND the BAR Boxcar Social Toronto

» by Cory Eldridge «

Coffee Taps: Water and nitro cold coffee (flashbrewed) take up two taps on the coffee bar.

P HOTO CO URTESY O F BOXCAR SO CIA L

Dishwasher(s): This is a bar, so lots of glassware needs to be cleaned quickly.

One dishwasher handles flatware, another glasses.

PH OTO CO URTESY O F BOXCA R SO C IAL

Plenty of Pitchers: A lineup of milk pitchers hide away under the counter, with a rinser built into the bar.

bit over a year ago, when the four partners who run Toronto’s Boxcar Social went looking for a venue to house their second coffee-wine-beerand-whiskey bar, they knew they needed more space for their varied offerings. Their first shop, a cozily small space that opened two and half years ago, had shown them that while booze and caffeine can share a roof, they need their own bars. “We definitely craved a space that was a lot more lofty and open,” says co-owner Alex Castellani.

“That space is hard to come by in Toronto.”

A big building with twenty-foot ceilings in the Riverside neighborhood gave them the space they needed— too much, actually, but they persuaded the landlord to let them build a wall in the 6,000-square-foot space, making it a manageable 1,500. A massive L-shaped bar allows their team to execute a robust coffee and alcohol service.

For coffee, Boxcar Social offers four espressos, Fetco batch brew, and a pour-over bar, all from a rotating cast of roasters, with three or four featured at a time. Flashbrewed, nitrogenated cold coffee will be on tap soon, where it will join thirteen kegged beers. The alcohol program features more than forty whiskies and an everevolving wine list. Pastries in the morning give way to cheese and charcuterie in the evenings.

Serving customers a to-go coffee on their way to work and a beer and shot on their way home requires long hours and multiple shifts, but Boxcar Social doesn’t have much distinction between bartenders and baristas. “We have to be super on top of educating the night staff on coffee and educating the day staff on the alcohol,” Castellani says.

Showing a space’s dual nature can lead to clunky design choices, and many coffee-and-liquor bars don’t broadcast their café identity well. When a coffee-seeking guest enters Boxcar Social, she’ll see a super clean display of wine and whisky, probably register the subtle beer taps, but then be shown a clear path to the pointof-service at the start of what is clearly a coffee bar.

While the grinders are recessed, the hoppers poke above the bar, and the Kees van der Westen Spirit foists itself on the counter, taking pride of place as the dominate feature of the bar, and maybe the café.

The customer will order, like at any café, walk to the other end of the espresso machine, like at any café, and pick up her drink—but unlike at other cafés, she’ll have probably picked out her after-work beer and sidecar.

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Café OUTFITTER: Raising the Bar When hungry customers are on the hunt for something quick and tasty, individually wrapped bars are an ideal solution for sensible snacking. Whether you have a full food menu or you’re working towards breaking out of the “coffee-only” category, these bars offer options to customers seeking a compact coffee complement or a healthy solution for late-day hunger.

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1) BOBO’S OAT BARS Vegan and GMO-free, Bobo’s Oat Bars are made with natural and organic ingredients to give you the taste of home no matter where you are. With six gluten-free flavors and bite-size options, these oat bars are designed for smart snacking and portable deliciousness. Bobo’s are availabe in sixteen flavors. bobosoatbars.com

3) SIMPLE SQUARES Savory-sweet and organic, Simple Squares are infused with honey and herbs and made with just five wholefood ingredients. Certified paleo, gluten-free, and nonGMO, these bars come in eight savory flavors to appeal to customers with a wide range of dietary needs. Bars come in packs of twelve. simplesquares.com

2) UGO BARS These all-natural, hand-crafted snack bars are made with the freshest ingredients and no preservatives. With a three-month shelf life, UGo Bars pair well with a cup of coffee or even a long run. Choose from four distinct flavors: the peanut-butter-sandwich-inspired Anutter, the chewy, coconut Cool Bar, the peanut and cacao Wanderlust, and the sweet and nutty Ultra. ugobars.com

4) EARNEST EATS Baked with almond butter and oats, Earnest Eats bars are a powerhouse of nutrition that stays soft and chewy on-the-go. Free of soy, dairy, and wheat, these vegan bars ship in twelve-count trays that are ready to display. Choose from five flavor options: Choco Peanut Butter, Almond Trail Mix, Cran Lemon Zest, Double Choco Espresso, and Apple Ginger. earnesteats.com

July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

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In HOUSE isten closely and respond thoughtfully. That’s an anchor principle of good hospitality, and when we decided to undertake a coffee transformation, as I detailed in the past two installments of this study, that truth became increasingly important. Not everyone loves change, but I do. Summit Coffee does. As a result, navigating that tension brings forefront the narrow difference between exciting and angering customers.

Trust is paramount in coffee shop culture. I, the coffee shop owner, trust that we sell a desirable product. I trust that we create a culture that makes you feel safe, makes you want to hang out, and then makes you want to hang out

Trust is powerful.

We’ve been open since 1998 because of earned trust. again. In turn, you, the customer, trust that you’re buying a well-made product. You trust that you are getting value for your money, that the experience you get once you walk in our doors is worth the time you’re giving it.

Trust is powerful. We’ve been open since 1998 because of earned trust.

Our new customers become returning customers, then help make new customers by sharing their experience. Paraphrasing restaurateur Danny Meyer’s idea, success requires near-perfect customer service (the exchange of goods) and hospitality (the environment in which those goods are exchanged), which lead to raves (shared positive experiences).

Yet while trust is one of the hardest things to earn, it’s one of the easiest to

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lose. In our thirty-month transformation, we’ve lost customers. And each one of them hurt. Beth, who wanted her milk steamed to 180 degrees, stopped coming after being a regular for sixteen years. Lisa, who liked her cappuccino made with three Equals, decided that not having six different sugar packet options was the last straw. In those relationships, and in a few others, we either failed to listen closely or respond thoughtfully.

People who don’t like change can get on board, I’ve discovered, if they understand the “why.” If you make alterations to drinks or to the menu that folks don’t understand, and you don’t do anything to help them get there, you’ve lost the trust. A regular customer of ours, Brad, loved bigger-than-big dark roasts that were pretty over-extracted. When we refined our brewing and roasted things a bit lighter, he felt lost looking at our offerings. So Evan, our roaster, and I brought him in for a cupping and spent ninety minutes walking him through the catalog. Now Brad almost always gets a single-origin coffee—sometimes a V60!—and understands our coffees so much better.

Still, for the 500-something customers who return to see us more than once a week (and, often, more than once a day), we kept the trust. We’re slowly coming out the other side of an “is this really a good idea” project to turn a good coffee shop into a great coffee business. Here’s how: Vision. Know what you’re doing.

Don’t change just for the sake of it.

We knew our coffee program had gotten stuck in neutral sometime between 2008 and 2011, and that we hadn’t realized it until 2014. And we knew that being good wasn’t enough for us. I want to be excited when a coffee professional comes in and orders a cortado, not terrified.

Conviction. Know why you’re doing something. If you make it a point to change, go all in and own that.

Customers want to trust that we know what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and, ultimately, why. Know who you are, and be proud of that. If the vision is right and business plan is sound, it will work. But the second you start doubting yourself, you’re showing you distrust your own ideas.

Patience. As I spelled out in Part II of this study, retraining a staff of thirty-six takes so much time. Convincing a slightly-behind-the-times town of 12,000 that change is not only necessary, but in fact good, takes so much effort. One step at a time, one barista at a time, one customer at a time. “What’s different with your coffee?” a loyal-tothe-core eighty-two-year-old customer asked me this week. “I always enjoyed it, but now it’s really good.” Four days later, I still grin about that brief exchange. How cool is that?

Awareness. No customer is more important than any other. I want that coffee professional to get an awesome cortado, for sure, and I want him to remark on that to other people that care about coffee. But, just as much, I want the twenty-ounce, extra-hot cappuccino customer to find a new drink and be excited about it. Listen carefully and respond thoughtfully. Sit down and share a coffee and conversation with those customers. The ones who want to ask questions or want to volunteer concerns are not, in fact, annoying.

They are the customers who care. Treat them as such.

Pride. Have ownership and confidence in all that you do. This business—be it a coffee shop, a coffee roaster, a clothing boutique, whatever—is running on my vision. If I can’t take pride in what it represents, in what it serves, in what it looks and feels like, how can I ask the same from my staff? Take a moment to be proud of what you’ve accomplished, in what you’ve built, and of the community that exists within all of that.

Now it’s time to get back to work.

PH OTO BY BRIAN HELFRICH

The Overhaul, Part 3: Bringing Our Customers on Board » By Brian Helfrich

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The WHOLE LEAF or many years in the tea industry, it’s been commonplace to hear myths stated as fact.

Chinese tea has been made the same way for hundreds of years. Black tea has the most caffeine. White tea is the perfect choice for the caffeine sensitive. Virgins with golden scissors and monkeys make up half the labor force for tea in China.

Boiling water depletes its oxygen levels, making for a less flavorful cup. Organic tea equates to high quality.

These are just a sample of some of the misperceptions held by the tea industry over the last sixteen years that i’ve been in it. The amorphous nature

The information readily available to the coffee professional about their product dwarfs what’s out there for tea. We need to fix this.

of the tea industry has made it difficult to combat these myths. Without a strong foundation to work from and very little available information, it’s been left to individual companies and tea professionals to do the heavy lifting. Firsthand knowledge and science have been the most useful tools to dispel these and other falsehoods about tea.

In the last few years, a growing chorus of voices in the tea industry has taken this knowledge one step further by creating a rigorous structure that allows people to analyze all types of tea and quantify their quality as objectively as possible. When it comes to internationally recognized standards and certification, tea in the West has nothing on coffee. The information readily available to the coffee professional

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about their product dwarfs what’s out there for tea. We need to fix this.

Inspired by the SCAA and Coffee Quality Institute, and simply by the drive to better understand the teas they drink every day, some tea advocates have been putting these ideas into action. They range from passionate bloggers to online tea communities, from teashop owners to industry stalwarts.

Austin Hodge of Seven Cups is one such industry leader. I first met him in 2003 at the Take Me 2 Tea Expo (now World Tea Expo) in Las Vegas. At the time, much of the tea industry was firmly wrapped in exotic (Westerncreated) Asian myths, fed largely by folk tales and sales people who really didn’t know much about the teas they were selling. Austin, armed with firsthand knowledge from his travels in China, was ready to storm the gates.

Even then, he was passionately talking about the need for true transparency through sharing information about the farmer, which had long been a closely guarded secret, and by establishing industry standards.

In 2015, acting on these long held beliefs, Austin helped found the Specialty Tea Association.

Drawing inspiration from the SCAA, the SCAE, and the Chinese tea industry, where national standards for specific teas were established in the early 2000s, the Specialty Tea Association declared it their mission to “establish quality standards in tea making.” Several articles on their website emphasize that objectively defined characteristics make a quality tea, including leaf appearance, plucking standard, origin, cultivar, and processing. These characteristics, if met to the standard required, would in turn inform the qualities many in the West value most in tea: flavor, aroma, and brew color.

While much of what the STA proposes in establishing standards involves quantifiable physical characteristics, Canada’s famed tea company, Camellia

Sinensis, makes a case for science and testing to be part of that equation.

Camellia Sinensis is probably best known for having published the most comprehensive treatise in English to date on tea, Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties. Reading the book will provide an opportunity for any reader to develop a stronger foundation in their understanding of tea.

Speaking to Kevin Gascoyne, coowner of Camellia Sinensis, recently over the phone shed light on their philosophy as responsible tea merchants, partly by developing a stronger understanding of the tea they buy. Camellia Sinensis is dedicated to finding out all they can about what is in tea. Since 2008, they’ve spent over $200,000 on research, which has included testing for pesticides, heavy metals, polyphenols/antioxidants, caffeine, mineral and moisture content, radiation, micro-organisms, lipid reduction, and lipid reducing agents. “Although research is expensive,” Gascoyne says, “it is the best way to break down some of the many painful myths that are still circulating.” However, he also says that research rarely yields a new set of nice, clean rules to live by. Although science can be very beneficial, it often does little to solve the very complex and real issues currently faced by many tea growing regions.

Camellia Sinensis is hesitant to jump into the standards conversation, as they feel it’s not their place to define quality for others, but committing to the course of product testing raises the bar for expectations in the tea industry—the testing process creates a standard for others to meet.

Regardless of whether we’re working to educate, establish standards, or understand the science, the goal is the same: to take the false mystery out of tea, empower customers to make better decisions, and dispel harmful myths that continue to cling to this amazing beverage.

P HOTO BY NIC O LE O ’BANION

The Case for Education, Science, and Standards in Tea » By Ravi Kroesen

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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The WHOLE BEAN n 2013, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced a new initiative called “trade transformation.” For coffee importers into the US that follow the regulations, this was a significant and welcome change in philosophy, offering new advantages in international commerce and repairing significant barriers, such as border and port-of-entry delays and reduced possibility of container inspections, that had plagued importers in the years leading up to the announcement.

As a result of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, America’s relationship with the rest of the world changed. Almost immediately, and understandably, the focus for America’s international borders and ports-of-entry became national security. In November, 2002, US Customs, which had previously been a revenue-generating function of the Department of the Treasury, became US Customs and Border Protection, moving under the newly formed Department of Homeland Security.

The increased focus on security instantly impacted importing for the US—what became known as the “thickening” of the border. Almost overnight, wait times at land borders and ports-of-entry into the US increased dramatically, as scrutiny of both freight and individuals became more intense. International trade quickly became more complicated.

To the US business community, the repercussions of thickening the border caused a greater economic issue for the country, as deterrents to international trade (such as costly delays) directly impacted people’s appetite for private investment and job creation. “Trade transformation” was a welcome adjustment. The theory behind the policy change was that the most effective way to facilitate legitimate trade is to aggressively target bad actors.

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rules and regulations involved in importing, there is plenty of room for errors, including marking, proper documentation, or even simply clerical mistakes on bills of lading or invoices.

And the cost of errors can be steep— potentially resulting in increased inspections, or a full investigation from CBP into all of your transactions for the last five years, leading to fines. While coffee seems like a fairly simple product to import, as opposed to, say, machinery with multiple components, it’s not difficult to get into hot water with CBP as a result of carelessness, or assuming you have the right documentation.

Today, the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule (USHTS) is the organized listing of goods used as the basis for classifying imported products and identifying duty rates. Determining the correct classification can be complicated, depending on the nature of the product being imported, and companies are often stung for an incorrect classification, even though the one they used seemed perfectly logical. All goods are classified as closely as they can be to the most specific provision available in the USHTS. For example, coffee comes in many forms. For CBP, there are separate classifications for roasted coffee beans, non-roasted coffee beans, coffee husks and skins, coffee substitutes, decaffeinated coffee, instant coffee, coffee extracts, coffee preparations, and coffee drinks. There is a lot to know, and the importer holds the ultimate responsibility for providing the right information. Meaning, if anything’s wrong, CBP turns to the importer for answers and, possibly, penalties— not the various players in the supply chain, even if the “fault” was theirs. If CBP finds a problem, for example, an incorrect tariff classification on a shipment of coffee, as a matter of policy a statement is included advising the importer to review five years of previous entries and remit past duties resulting from the tariff change. This opens

a door for lots of potential problems for importers, as missing deadlines on payments can result in additional fines and potential sanctions.

In addition to CBP’s rules, other federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, may have additional requirements. CBP works very closely with other agencies relevant to the product being imported in order to facilitate imports, and it’s critical for coffee importers to understand the roles, regulations, and responsibilities of each department related to both security and trade. Imported items lacking proper country-of-origin marking must be exported, destroyed, or modified at the importer’s expense and under CBP’s supervision.

Importing companies are also subject to country-of-origin marking regulations. Every article of foreign origin entering the United States must be legibly marked with the English name of the country of origin, with only rare exceptions. Proper marking for coffee importers depends on the state of the coffee. Green coffee should be marked with the country of origin on the outer packaging. Roasted coffee will need additional FDA labeling requirements, such as nutritional information. All regulations are product specific.

With the current strength of the US dollar, coffee importing can be a smart and timely business decision. It’s not a process to go into lightly, though, as mistakes can be very costly—both in regards to delays that keep customers waiting or penalties that can be imposed by CBP. Customs compliance— working your compliance program directly into your logistics processes from the start—has quickly become a priority for US importers.

Rules for importing are consistently changing, and keeping up with the changes is a 365-day-a-year responsibility. CBP’s trade transformation puts the onus on the importer to do things properly, but is designed specifically to benefit those who do.

P HOTO BY DA N LEIF

Trade Transformation and Coffee Importing » By Damon Piatek

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NINE BARS am regularly incorrect, in ways that are as diverse as they are simple. Often, I’m incorrect about things that I’m supposed to have some level of expertise in, and I find out how wrong I am in very public ways on social media.

It’s humbling.

Very recently I was bemoaning the requisite waiting period between the time a roast ends and when I can drink it (usually twelve to twenty-four hours of “degassing”). A friend rightly pointed out that if I would simply grind the freshly roasted coffee and let it sit for a bit, the degassing would happen more quickly, allowing me to enjoy a brew much sooner.

Well yeah, I guess that’s right.

Shoot. Why didn’t I think of that?

preciate the work I’ve put into getting to where I am in the industry. Not only that, I hope people will come to me with questions, confident I’ll know the answer. I want to speak with an authority that I’ve earned. All of these desires are totally reasonable. Healthy ambition, we might call it.

However, when healthy ambition prevents me from acknowledging areas where I need to work harder or grow, then it ceases to be healthy. In that instance, my pride holds me back.

These are the moments when humility offers a better solution than a wrong or forced answer.

Humility is the key to growth in a lot of industries, but it seems especially important in the coffee industry, where we work with a product that

Humility is the voice in your head that encourages you to listen instead of talk, to test instead of assume, and to be open instead of closed.

In almost every endeavor there is a point where saying, “I don’t know,” feels wrong. Whether you’re experienced enough to think you ought to know everything, or you’ve achieved a level of success that makes not knowing seem inappropriate (Wait, she doesn’t know that?), “I don’t know” just isn’t a response you offer.

Is it fear that holds us back from admitting ignorance? Fear that we’ll be found out as the impostors we know ourselves to be? Or is it something else, like pride?

I absolutely want to be seen as an individual worthy of respect. I want people to think highly of me and ap-

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most people know so little about. A relatively tiny amount of coffee knowledge will impress your friends and family, and can lull you into a sense that you’ve arrived. You’ve done it!

You know a lot. People should listen to you.

In reality, you haven’t arrived, you haven’t done it, and even if you know a lot, there is so much more to know.

Humility is the voice in your head that encourages you to listen instead of talk, to test instead of assume, and to be open instead of closed. Humility allows you to receive correction without the fear that you’ll look like a fraud.

A humble student is a student who can learn, right? When we’re learning about how to extract espresso, or make a great pour-over, we’ll improve most when we accept that we don’t already know it all—in most circumstances, we don’t.

When I lack humility, I cease to learn, or at least I cease to learn as much. If I’m not open to the ideas and expertise of others, or if I’m unwilling to acknowledge that other people might know more than me, who will I ever take advice from?

How will I grow as a professional in this industry?

I’ll admit that remaining humble is a challenge. Growth in the coffee industry seems to be reserved for those who know the most or present their knowledge definitively. We win respect by planting our flag in the soil of our own idea, then defending it fervently. In our most prestigious competitions, we reward the boldest and most confident competitors, don’t we?

It may seem professionally counterproductive to meekly admit that we don’t know, that we’re not sure, or that we made a mistake. But I will say—at least in my own professional journey—the moments following my own admissions of inadequacy or ignorance have led to periods of incredible growth.

We work in what is generally a very warm, welcoming, and uplifting industry. While the loudest voices may seem to come from the most successful faces, there are lots of very successful people who are best described as humble. Those are the people I find myself admiring most, and the people I most seek to emulate.

When I consider those coffee professionals, I see that their humility has led them not to shame, but to respect.

So who am I to think that a humble attitude in this industry will serve me worse than it has served them?

P HOTO BY CO RY ELD RIDGE

The Intoxicating Flavor of Humble Pie » By Nathanael May

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ORIGIN lack of food security is one of the most pernicious problems facing farmers across coffee-growing countries.

At some point during the year, the families of coffee farmers won’t have enough food to meet their dietary needs. This isn’t a problem faced by a few families here and there. It’s a feature of coffee growing, something so common that in Central America it has the name los meses flacos.

That means the thin months.

Back in 2014, the SCAA’s sustainability council issued a whitepaper on food security. They included a summary of studies on the problem in Central America and the Dominican Republic. Throughout the study regions, more than 60 percent of households surveyed said they experienced food insecurity during the year. Of the six studies, four reported the rate as above 80 percent, including one survey of 256 families in northern Nicaragua in which eight in ten families went hungry.

(In the report, the SCAA takes pains to point out that Central America is probably not where food insecurity is harshest—coffee-growers in Africa and Asia likely have it worse— but that’s where the studies have been done.)

One person in the industry fighting this is Marcela Pino, the co-director of the coffee NGO Food 4 Farmers, a group whose sole mission is to work with coffee communities in Colombia and several Central American countries to develop long-term programs to limit food insecurity. She says that when a child is subjected to chronic seasonal hunger, he’ll suffer from stunted growth and learning difficulties that will follow him into adulthood. To compensate for a lack of healthy food, it’s common for families to rely on cheap, calorie-dense foods—basically, junk foods—that

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don’t provide rounded nutrition and lead to high rates of obesity, especially among children and women.

There’s a host of economic and political reasons why food security is so hard to come by (poverty in impoverished countries is always multifaceted and deep-rooted), but smallholder farmers who raise a single crop, which is common among coffee growers, have one drastic, exacerbating factor: they get paid once a year. A farmer works her fields at varying intensities throughout the year, but it’s only on the few, clumped-together days when she delivers the crop that she gets paid.

That money must last until her next delivery, a year later. Imagine the budgeting challenge of this. One lump of cash, no refills, to cover a year of life and its uncertainties. You know that, at best, things will be tight.

Over that period, she must buy fertilizers, replace equipment, hire laborers, and spend cash on anything else the farm needs so she can grow and deliver the next crop. When these costs outstrip the budget, they often take precedence because without them next year’s crop might fail and a couple days (or weeks, or months) with too little to eat seems like a small problem by comparison.

Pino says stretching the budget is getting harder and harder because year after year the costs of food, agricultural supplies, and labor have increased, but coffee prices haven’t.

Compared to other cash crops, Pino says, “They know that coffee can make great money, so they keep it.” (I put the emphasis on can. The contrary is that commodity prices can freefall right as they bring their crop to market, but that is true of other commodity crops.)

When asked what solutions there are to end food insecurity at origin, Pino points to national and global economic and political obstacles.

(The SCAA’s whitepaper reminds us

the problem isn’t a lack of food—the world grows more than enough food to provide a solid diet for everyone— it’s a problem of the mechanisms and incentives to get food where it’s needed.) “It’s just a symptom of a systemic problem,” Pino says.

Mitigation, then, is Food 4 Farmers’ goal. How they help a community depends on what the community wants.

Most often, coffee communities want to grow more crops either to sell or eat. Diversification offers economic protection when one crop has a bad price, and it improves farm and environmental health. Food 4 Farmers has had success with this model, with farmers growing crops like bananas and avocados to sell and fresh and drystorage crops to eat.

There are limits, though. To be profitable, many cash crops require farms much bigger than smallholders own (that’s what makes coffee so attractive). Growing garden vegetables is the solution non-farmers typically offer, but Pino points out one downside of garden vegetables: “If they don’t grow a cash crop, how do they pay for their kid’s school uniform?”

I’d make an even harsher point: subsistence farmers are among the poorest and least food secure. If a drought or storm wipes out your crop, you starve. Growing your own food can only be a stopgap.

Another source of income Food 4 Farmers has developed with its partner communities is honey. The symbiosis of pollinators and farmers is powerful, and the product of the bees’ hard work is both highly nutritious for the farm family and as a cash source.

Pino says that most communities know what they can do to alleviate their food security problems, but lack either the knowhow or the money to undertake these projects. That’s where we on the other side of the supply can help by supporting the groups fighting for food security at origin.

PH OTO BY LUK AS BUDIM AIER

Farmers without Enough to Eat » By Cory Eldridge

The SCAA’s whitepaper points to Food 4 Farmers, Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, Heifer International, Mercy Corps, CII-ASDENIC, the Community Agroecology Network, Pueblo a Pueblo, and the Coffee Trust as just some of the organizations taking on food security at origin.

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Café CROSSROADS

Spearhead Coffee » Paso Robles, California

By Ellie Bradley » Photos by Heidi Toevs

IN THE CAFÉ: Jeremy Sizemore (on left) and Matt Klomp

We’re obsessive compulsive about sourcing the best coffee, roasting it the best possible way, and serving it the best possible way.

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t took Spearhead Coffee nine months to build out their café in Paso Robles, California. It’s an artsy town well-versed in craft, so each design detail was thoughtfully planned. Industrial light fixtures and intricate paneling made of reclaimed redwood give it a local grounding, and a stainless steel bar that sits lower to the ground is wheelchair accessible while eliminating any boundaries between guests and barista.

The space opened in late 2014 and quickly became popular in the community filled with artists, winemakers, musicians, brewers, and chefs. “We want people to feel welcome, want them to have the most amazing cup of coffee they’ve ever had, and be truly inspired by the decor and by the vibe of the café,” says Jeremy Sizemore, one of Spearhead’s co-owners. He emphasizes that it’s also about encouraging people to investigate what the café is all about—to not only be inspired by what they’re doing, but the why behind each decision.

Old-growth redwood (saved from a landfill) dominates the space. Lattices of two-byfours support streams of hanging bulbs over the espresso and pour-over bars, and more paneling fills out the bar’s front, with shelving nooks built in for lush plants and branded

mugs. Windows line the shop’s front walls.

Inside, a two-kilo Ambex is easily visible behind more glass, allowing customers a direct view to the normally behind-the-scenes operations. A two-group, La Marzocco Linea handles the espresso demands, and a Fetco batch brewer serves up the daily drip selection.

The café and roastery features coffees from Thailand, Haiti, and El Salvador—a callback to the globetrotting days of co-owners Sizemore, Matt Klomp, and Joseph Gerardis.

Each has devoted time to coffee and humanitarian work in other countries, a passion that puts a unique spin on every aspect of the shop, making it a place for community, education, growth, and, perhaps most importantly, the development of art.

Sizemore spent his early coffee days importing, then managing a second-wave shop in San Luis Obispo. He soon started roasting for Gerardis at Joebella, a roastery in neighboring Atascadero, where the focus was organic specialty coffee from around the world. Not long after Sizemore stepped into the head roaster position for Joebella, talk of opening a specialty shop in Paso Robles began, and Klomp was recruited to leave his coffee work in Kona, Hawaii, to help launch the new operation. Talk turned into concrete plans, Klomp and his wife had moved to the

Central Coast, and Spearhead started roasting after-hours at Joebella while construction began on the new café and roastery.

Sizemore says that coffee has changed a lot in Paso Robles since their arrival. He credits this smooth transition to the welcoming arms of the community, including the many brewmasters, chefs, and winemakers from the region who were eager to learn about a craft that heavily overlapped with their own.

“There’s a lot of crossover between wine and coffee,” Sizemore says. “You can talk soil and elevation, tasting notes, acidity, sugars.”

Their commitment to making an impact globally and in the local community is readily apparent. Rows of benches in a side hallway are reserved as “laptop central,” while a cluster of high tables without electrical access are reserved for those coming to have conversation. A large community table sits at the heart of the space, where local community groups and nonprofits frequently gather.

“Our café is a hub for both businesses, but also nonprofits and a lot of community efforts,” Sizemore says. He describes the community table as a place where locals gather to hash out ideas to help the local and global communities.

Sizemore teaches guitar and band at the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation, and Spearhead has hired both staff and students from the foundation to work in the café. The café sources compostable cups from Reduce.

Reuse. Grow., a program in Central California that grows a native plant for every cup used.

But a passion for positive change in the world doesn’t come at the expense of good coffee. Sizemore and his partners are just as tenacious about their pursuit of quality cof-

fee—if not more. “We’re obsessive compulsive about sourcing the best coffee, roasting it the best possible way, and serving it the best possible way.”

Part of serving coffee in the best possible way means offering the same tools to their customers as they use on their slow bar. Retail shelves (made of old-growth redwood, of course) hold Hario V60s, timers, and scales, the same ones used for pour-overs at Spearhead. Customers can also pick up kettles, hand grinders, coffee, filters, and branded mugs.

Serving coffee in the best possible way also means being borderline obnoxious when it comes to sourcing. Sizemore describes his sourcing process as a near-endless series of questions seeking to ensure that a green coffee is not only good, but doing good things for the farmer and the surrounding community.

“I want to know, is it helping the environment, too? Is it sustainable? We just agonize about those kinds of things,” he says. Spearhead works both with farmers directly and with brokers, using their network of global connections to verify the sources of their coffee when they can’t visit a farm directly.

As Spearhead builds a stronger foundation, Sizemore, Gerardis, and Klomp plan to visit each farm they source from to build direct-trade relationships. They’ve already connected their community to coffee farmers through a partnership with the local Rotary Club to support farmers in El Salvador. In the meantime, the community table at Spearhead will continue to host forward thinkers as they sip expertly roasted and brewed coffee, making plans to improve the community around them.

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DO YOU KNOW Jen Apodaca?

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BY CORY ELDRIDGE

hen Jen Apodaca first tried to find a way into roasting, she found nothing but obstacles.

This was back in 2004, and the desire to enter the trade had grabbed her only recently, squirming into her mind while she helped a Zapatista community in Chiapas, Mexico, build a radio station. (I know, it’s like every third roaster gets started in indigenous, left-wing, agrarian movements.) In Portland, she faced the reality of the capital costs of buying a roaster, but even more importantly the resistance of roasters at that time to help a newcomer.

“The idea that someone could steal your recipe and then run with it and steal all your business is comical now, but then people were really fearful of something like that happening,” she says. “There’s a lot more roasting jobs available now. There weren’t places where you could share roasters.

There are so many more publications about roasting, where people even talk about it, where you can experiment and develop your own profile or develop your own style. That just didn’t exist before.”

She took a restaurant job with McMenamins, a restaurant chain with an in-house roasting program, and began learning about coffee by being a café customer. Soon, an apprentice roaster position opened and Apodaca landed it. A little over a year later, she was running the operation, learning not just how to roast but how to order coffee, manage inventory, and teach café managers how to clean their machines.

That experience, which lasted five years, didn’t allow her to roast hyper-crazy coffees, but it gave her a skill set that allowed her to climb the new rungs appearing in the specialty coffee roasting career ladder. Now she’s at Royal Coffee, the in-house roaster for an importer, a job rare and new.

Where she spent five years roasting the same coffees over and over, she now sees twenty new coffees in a day.

“The only sad thing is I see it so briefly I don’t get to form a relationship with a coffee,” she says. “When you work for a production company, you get a coffee for a month or more. Here, I get like one day. That’s it. I get a couple roasts of this coffee and then it’s on to the next coffee. It’s like speed dating.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and space.

AFTER YOUR APPRENTICESHIP-TURNED-ROASTERY-MANAGER POSITION, WHAT WAS NEXT?

I really wanted to learn more. The menu was just four consistent coffees that taste great in an Irish coffee. I wanted to know about all these special places and different origins and different characters you could find. So I was looking to learn more at a company that focused just on coffee. That’s when I saw the job at Intelligentsia/Ecco Caffe. I got to work on a

different machine, a Diedrich, which was cool. I had to completely rethink how to roast coffee. It was like being handed a new puzzle. That’s where I learned more about roasting and coffee on a higher level. The fact that I was able to reach out to an entire team of roasters. Any time you roasted something and you ran into an obstacle, you could ask someone if they had a different idea or a different approach. Sometimes you’re successful, and you can share your success with them.

WHAT DID THAT DO TO YOUR ROASTING ABILITY?

It taught me there is more than one way to get the job done. It made me unafraid to try something new. It was very educational and really humbling. I really like working on teams, and any time someone is successful I count it as the entire team’s success.

THEN YOU HOPPED OVER TO BLUE BOTTLE TO BE THEIR WEST COAST PRODUCTION MANAGER. THAT’S A VERY DIFFERENT JOB FROM ROASTING, AND A TYPE OF JOB FAIRLY UNUSUAL IN SPECIALTY COFFEE. WHAT MADE YOU A FIT FOR IT?

At McMenamins, it may have been a smaller operation, but I ran that entire department. It was a lot of responsibilities. A lot of times people don’t get those opportunities.

They get to see a coffee, they get to learn how to roast it, but they don’t get to learn how to run a production facility.

They don’t learn how to write a budget or a proposal. They miss out on that experience. Even just hiring, knowing how to hire, having the experience of hiring the wrong people. I had more chances to work out my kinks and make mistakes.

YOU’RE IN A JOB NOW, AS THE DIRECTOR OF ROASTING FOR AN IMPORTER, THAT IS PRETTY RARE. ROYAL HAS THIS NEW SPACE THEY’RE ABOUT TO OPEN, CALLED THE CROWN, THAT’S GOING TO HAVE A PUBLIC FACE, BE A LEARNING SPACE, AND PLENTY OF OTHER COOL THINGS, SO WHAT ROLE WILL YOU HAVE THERE?

I’m going to be teaching all of the classes that have to do with roasting, whether they are SCAA-accredited courses or original coursework that we design here. We’re also trying to create and publish our own materials. I wrote a short article about past-crop coffees and how to roast them. We all have to deal with it, and it’s a bad word, so let’s just talk about it. It went from a point where I didn’t know anything and I was so hungry for knowledge and there was nothing out there, where now my job has turned into publishing ideas and conversations about what roasters might be asking. What I hope is it adds another voice on their team.

Hopefully making roasting a little less lonely.

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Forget about your grinders, never mind your espresso machine, zero-out your scale, ignore the provenance of your beans—if you don’t know your water then you can’t get the most out of all the amazing gadgetry and roasts in your café. Water doesn’t just make coffee, it defines coffee. Two waters will make one coffee taste two ways. If you own a café, you need to know how your water works with a roaster’s coffee. If you’re a roaster, you need to know how your coffee will work at different cafés.

So ready your titration kits, lock in your carbon filters, charge up your RO systems.

We’re diving in.

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P HOTO C O URT ESY O F PHIL & SEBASTIAN C O FFEE ROASTERS

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n early 2009, two years after we opened our first café, we were about to launch our roasting business. We’d heard rumors of the remarkable coffees of Scandinavia and decided that in the interest of sculpting our own roasting style, a research trip to experience them firsthand was the only responsible course of action. It would also be a tasty one.

In Norway, we paid a visit to the illustrious Tim Wendelboe’s café. The coffees we tried were the lightest roasts we had ever tasted, but somehow still fully developed and completely delicious. We admired his ability to achieve full flavor without introducing any carbon or ash notes, and committed to doing the same. As chance would have it, we shared the same roasting machine (a Probat UG15) and we were confident that, in time, we would be able to roast in this style.

We returned to Calgary eager to knock some light-roasts out of the park.

We failed. Then we failed some more. Finally, after the better part of a year, we finally had our roasting in a decent place, and we arranged with Tim to do a coffee swap. It’s definitely worth mentioning that at the time (according to our tastes), we were far and away the lightest roasters in Canada and the better part of the US as well. Stylistically, we mandated that all of our coffees would be light-roasted to highlight the natural sweetness, acidity, and the unique flavors of each coffee, while containing no flavor of carbon or ash whatsoever. We cupped and brewed rigorously, and believed we were achieving our roasting goals.

Then came the feedback from Tim. He was thoughtful and thorough with his review of our coffees, but ultimately indicated that, for him, they were dominant in carbon and ash flavors. While disappointed, I chalked this up to his superior taste buds and forged ahead to develop mine further.

In 2011, Sebastian and I visited Oslo for the second time. This time, we brought coffee with us, and we arranged in advance to meet and cup with Tim at his café and roastery. It would be redemption. I put enormous rigor into the roasts. I selected our best green, and I spent months building profiles. On the day of the final roasts, every second of data in my profiles tracked exactly (using custom roast-logging software I had written), and I cupped them numerous times. The coffees were awesome! I even packed them in a second five-pound coffee bag, without a valve, to protect the coffee from the low pressure of the plane cabin. I was ready.

When we arrived at Tim’s place, I gave him the coffees and he prepared a blind cupping with three of our coffees and eight others unknown to us. Sebastian and I cupped through the table of coffees, and I noticed some extremely ash-heavy coffees, so ashy that all origin was masked; I also noticed some “quite” ashy coffees, with limited origin character; then I noted some delicious, sweet, nuanced, and balanced coffees. I knew our coffees well, but I couldn’t identify them, and I was filled with dread.

We revealed the coffees, and to my slight relief, the very ashy coffees didn’t belong to us, but to my dismay, our coffees were the moderately ashy ones with very minimal origin. The most vibrant and balanced coffees were Tim’s.

I was embarrassed and discouraged. I didn’t sleep well that night. My thoughts raced with plausible explanations. Did travel, despite my precautions, still damage the coffee? Was it related to relative humidity or altitude in some inexplicable way? I knew a reasonable amount about water at the time. I had studied some basic water chemistry, used titration tests, and even worked with a local laboratory to test and tune our water. Nevertheless, at the time, I didn’t even consider water as a reasonable cause for the discrepancy between the bright, vibrant, origin-trumpeting coffees I tasted

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CUPPING: Phil Robertson (left) and Sebastian Sztabzyb.

After some number crunching, I noticed that our calcium and magnesium amounts were comparable but that Oslo’s bicarbonate content was over twice as high. Bicarbonate buffers our perception of acids in coffee.

All of the nice, bright, fruity acids we carefully elicited from our coffees were blocked by a wall of bicarbonate. (Chris Hendon goes into more detail about this in his article on page fifty-two.) After a bit more math, some baking soda, and a colorimeter to test carbonate hardness, I had manufactured some Oslo-like water in our Calgary cupping lab. I proceeded to taste our coffees with this concoction, and low and behold, they tasted ashy and flat. I’d never been happier tasting bad coffee.

The next logical step was to tune the roast profiles for our top coffees to this new water. I worked through many profiles over the next few weeks, and slowly but surely, I managed to get the coffees to perform with my Oslo water.

The time came to send in the samples. I waited impatiently for the results of the sample cupping. On July 15, I got the news. We made it!

One of our coffees had performed very well, and we were selected as a silver sponsor for the event. I was elated, and relieved that my nemesis—Oslo’s bicarbonate-packed water—had been thwarted.

On that day, I understood a fundamental of coffee roasting: all roasters roast to their own water, whether they realize it or not. The outcome of this experiment opened a chasm of new challenges. Should we attempt to custom-roast our coffee to our wholesale customers’ water? Or should we be promoting water standardization? Is that even feasible on an international scale?

And what would that standard be?

I have more questions than answers presently, but the numerous unknowns in the still-adolescent industry of specialty coffee is what keeps me hooked.

P HOTO C OURTESY OF PH IL & SEBASTIAN C O FFEE ROA STERS

in Calgary and the dull, roasty, generic coffees on the table in Oslo.

Fast-forward to 2014. We were honored to receive an invitation from Tim to submit samples for a blind cupping that he would use to select sponsors for the MAD Symposium.

This event was a big deal. The MAD Symposium was founded by the legendary chef René Redzepi of Noma, considered at the time to be the best restaurant in the world.

In the back of my mind—check that—at the front of my mind, I thought, “What’s the point? Our coffees are going to taste like ash-bombs there.” However, I simply can’t pass up a good challenge, so Sebastian and I agreed to send samples.

Based on how ashy our coffees had tasted in Oslo, I knew we would have to roast the coffee lighter than our normal roast level. But I still wasn’t sure how I could establish a benchmark to ensure the coffee was properly developed and didn’t just taste grainy and generic, as under-roasted coffee does. It was like trying to navigate the ocean without a map or compass.

Just prior to roasting and sending the samples for MAD, Sebastian and I headed to Rimini, Italy, for the 2014 World Barista Championship.

One of the Phil & Sebastian baristas was representing Canada there, and we tagged along as coaches. It was in Rimini that I met Maxwell ColonnaDashwood. We clicked immediately.

It turns out that he has a passion for water and a knowledge that well surpassed mine. After I returned home, my interest in water for coffee was rekindled, and I resumed my research.

It was then that I started to formulate a theory. What if the key difference between how our coffees tasted in Calgary versus Oslo was simply because of the two waters?

I knew that Oslo had naturally soft water, but I didn’t know the specific composition, so I inquired with Tim. He gave me a little to go on, and I scrounged the rest of the detail from the Municipality of Oslo website.

WAT ER AT ORIGIN COFFEE WASTEWATER We don’t like to think of coffee as an industrial agriculture process that affects the environment, but it is. One of coffee’s greatest environmental impacts is through the milling process. To get the fruit off the bean, most coffee is processed using lots and lots of water. Cherries are sorted, pulped, rinsed of their fruit, and fermented in water, all steps that infuse the water with a lot of organic matter. According to a report in the SCAA’s Chronicle, it can take from thirty-five to sixty liters of water to process a pound of coffee.

That water, all too often, is then sent into streams and rivers untreated. The organic matter, like sugars and pectin, is broken down by bacteria in the water, a process that uses up the water’s oxygen. The lack of oxygen chokes aquatic life, killing entire ecosystems. At its worst, the wastewater can emit large amounts of methane, a natural gas that contributes to global warming. The water then becomes fetid and undrinkable without major treatments, something many communities in coffee countries can’t afford.

The Netherlands-based certification agency UTZ has been a leader in addressing this problem. Through a program started in Central America in 2010, farmers have filtered the water to trap much of the organic matter in tanks, sending cleaner water downstream (even with best practices a lot of organic matter enters the watershed). Methane production then occurs in the closed tanks instead of open streams and rivers. The methane is harvested for cooking fuel, replacing firewood. The project has been expanded to African and Asian coffee-producing countries to help rectify this major source of pollution produced by coffee. Check it out at utz.org.

P HOTO BY CH RIS RYAN

A DIFFERENT COFFEE FILTER While we think of coffee countries as rich in water, many coffee regions suffer dry seasons that leave farmers and their families reliant on restricted, often unhealthy water sources.

Shoe company Tom’s famously made safe water part of its coffee program’s one-for-one plan. A new coffee subscription service, Libra Coffee, will provide high-strength filters to families in the communities where Libra owner Eric Medina sources coffees. The filters, Medina says, can provide 100 people safe water for five years.

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Chromatic Coffee sits along the southern border of Santa Clara at the junction of two major roadways—and major water sources. Chromatic Coffee lies in a region of Santa Clara County that receives a blend of well water and water from the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Numbers for total dissolved solids (TDS) typically hover around 420 ppm, with readings reaching as high as 480 ppm. Water that “full” of

WATER IN: Without any treatment, water coming from the tap at Chromatic Coffee is about 420 ppm total dissolved solids. Chromatic cares most about calcium and magnesium, which latch onto flavorful compounds in coffee and pull them into the water during brewing. Average concentrations* of calcium are 18 ppm and 10 ppm for magnesium.

GROUPHEAD #1: This grouphead gets water that’s 35 ppm TDS and has a calcium (Ca2+) to magnesium (Mg 2+) ratio of 1:2.

ROAST PROFILE #1: Chromatic uses their specially branded Radio roast for the low TDS water (a rotating, single-origin Ethiopian).

Lighter roast coffees have less water-soluble content than darker roasts, says van Geenhoven. The faster, more aggressive roast style is intentionally paired with the 35 ppm TDS water; fewer dissolved solids means more room to bring in water soluble compounds from the coffee, highlighting the fruity and enzymatic notes of this roast. Chromatic also uses this full-bodied espresso for their flat white. Use this roast with the other grouphead? The higher TDS water results in an extraction that’s flat, undeveloped, and has the “cereal” taste of a bad light roast.

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dissolved salts and metals presents a range of challenges for roasting and brewing. But the staff at Chromatic has embraced their local tap and turned water treatment into an opportunity to showcase their coffee knowledge by pairing different water and roast profiles. To get the scoop, I chatted with Chromatic CEO James Warren, VP and head roaster Hiver van Geenhoven, and retail director Otessa Crandell.

FILTRATION: How do you get from 420 ppm to the water profiles you actually want? Filtration.

Several stages of it. Chromatic first uses a sediment filter and several carbon filters. Then the pre-treated water goes through a reverse osmosis process, removing all dissolved minerals from the water and resulting in distilled water.

From here, water goes through another carbon filter, then on to a series of valves that reintroduce the desired concentrations of calcium and magnesium.

GROUPHEAD #2: This grouphead gets water that’s 150 ppm TDS and has a calcium (Ca2+) to magnesium (Mg2+) ratio of 1:2. This is also the water used throughout the rest of the café for batch brewing, americanos, pour-overs, etc.

ROAST PROFILE #2: While a lighter roast pairs well with low TDS water, a slightly darker roast is best suited for a “fuller” water. Gamut is Chromatic’s flagship espresso roast and is dialed in for 150 ppm water. With more developed sugars, the higher TDS water facilitates a slower extraction, yielding a balanced cup without the bitter components that would extract if you put the same roast on the other grouphead. Chromatic pairs this roast with cappuccinos and lattes. Gamut is a blend of Central American, South American, and African coffees.

*Concentrations approximated from City of Santa Clara 2016 Annual Consumer Confidence Report.

BEWARE THE HOT WAT ER TAP While an espresso machine is made to pump, pressurize, and pour water to make drinks, there’s one water source on the machine that you should never, ever use for drink preparation: the hot-water tap. The small nozzle among the group heads and steam wands is a great tool to rinse pitchers, spoons, and demi-cups. The water from the hot-water tap is not fit for quality drinks.

The nozzle uses water from the main boiler of the machine.

This is not where the groupheads get their water; they have their own, specialized boilers. The main boiler’s job is to produce steam to heat the grouphead boilers and power the steam wands. The water in the tank, while perfectly clean and healthy, cycles through the boiler very slowly and is re-boiled over and over under intense pressure.

Chemistry and thermodynamics are doing a number on the water in the boiler. When water is boiled over and over again, some compounds you need for extraction make their way out of solution, building up on the boiler walls, changing the mineral content of the remaining water. You don’t directly control the temperature and pressure of the main boiler, or what’s happening to the water inside. Whatever qualities the water had when it entered the machine, the water that comes out of the hot-water tap could be something else entirely.

It’s an unknown, and you don’t want to make an americano or brew a tea with an unknown. Invest in a hot-water tower.

Your drinks and your customers will thank you.

SCA LE P HOTO BY C O RY ELDR ID GE

WHAT IS SCALE?

Scale is the nasty, pale mineral buildup in your espresso machines, batch brewers, and kettles. It’s hard, but chips off in flakes. While harmless and tasteless to your customers, it’s pretty gross and, worse, it can destroy your equipment.

Scale is formed in a boiler by an interaction of calcium and bicarbonate, compounds found in water. When the two combine, they create calcium carbonate, better known as limescale. Limescale can coat the inside of equipment that’s exposed to heat and water. At low concentrations of bicarbonate or calcium, in water we call soft, scale forms very slowly, but at higher concentrations, in hard water, the formation of scale is rapid.

Without proper filtration or maintenance, the stuff will clog water lines and destroy valves, and will compromise pressure and temperature gauges.

The rub is, as Chris Hendon points out in his article, we need calcium, bicarbonate, and heat to brew a good cup of coffee, so scale is often inevitable. So buy yourself some descaler and make sure you have regular technician visits scheduled.

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P HOTO BY KA RL FRED RIC K SON

“T

his can’t be my coffee,” I thought, as heart palpitations began to arrhythmically set in. In a few short hours I was due to take the stage in the first round of the United States Barista Championship and I was mortified. In a competition built around accurately describing a coffee’s flavor, my espresso was nothing like my carefully rehearsed tasting notes. The red cherry acidity was muted and in the finish I tasted a never-before-encountered flavor in our typically light-roasted espresso: ash. I began changing parameters. I tried every barista trick in the book.

Whether it was a faster, shorter, slower, or longer shot, I couldn’t recreate the flavor profile I had fallen in love with in our lab.

In the midst of all of my preparation I had failed to account for one variable: water. World Coffee Events’s mandated USBC water recipe of 150 ppm TDS (parts per million of total dissolved solids) was over twice the hardness of our lab’s reverse osmosis settings. The different chemical makeup of the water was affecting both the extraction and perception of flavor.

As Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood and Christopher Hendon explain in their seminal book Water for Coffee, minerals like calcium and magnesium bind with soluble coffee particles during brewing, aiding in extraction.

Bicarbonate, on the other hand, acts as a buffer, neutralizing the acids.

Thus the roast that tasted bright and fruity with our softer reverse osmosis water tasted dull and flat with high mineral water at the USBC. The recipe that produced optimal extraction at home yielded a product that was undesirable when brewed with water that included a much higher content of dissolved minerals.

In other words, I discovered firsthand what Colonna-Dashwood would later tell me in an interview.

“The problem is that coffee is roasted to water,” says Colonna-Dashwood.

“For example, in a soft-water area,

a coffee will be tweaked during the roasting process to create the most positive results. If you were to then take this coffee and brew it with water in the ideal water range, it may well produce a worse result.” Incidentally, my friend and fellow competitor Cole McBride had recreated WCE’s water recipe during training for USBC. He came in second that year.

Whether you’re a wholesale coffee roaster or a chain of cafés, water presents one of the greatest challenges to brewing your coffee consistently across multiple locations. Unfortunately, even though water makes up more than 98 percent of filter coffee, few coffee companies take water seriously. Those that do probably learned about water the hard way.

hardness was off the charts,” says Luke Daugherty, Quill’s director of operations. “We got in touch with Optipure, which started the process of learning about water—what certain types of filtration will do and won’t do. We learned we weren’t going to get the results we needed with a carbon filter.”

The only viable option to handle Indianapolis’s staggering 350 ppm TDS water is reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis filtration uses pressure and a semi-permeable membrane to separate any soluble compounds from the water (reversing the osmosis process). Pure H20, however, isn’t ideal for brewing coffee, so the system reintroduces some mineral content to the water, either with mineral

Whether you’re a wholesale coffee roaster or a chain of cafés, water presents one of the greatest challenges to brewing your coffee consistently across multiple locations.

As a cautionary tale, take Quills Coffee, where I work.

We knew Indianapolis’s water was hard, but we didn’t realize how hard.

We were about to open our fourth café and our first outside of the Louisville-area. Already, the logistics of running a multi-city company were proving to be more challenging than anticipated. Between coordinating the build-out, hiring baristas, and training, there was a lot on our plate, and water didn’t seem like a priority. Like most coffee shops, we took water for granted. We knew it should be filtered, but that was the extent of it.

“We had installed a carbon filter and we noticed certain readings weren’t being affected and the

cartridges or by mixing in tap water with a bypass. Because Quills’s four cafés have three different municipal water sources, we opted to put a remineralization system in each café.

“We should be getting very close to the same water with the same system in all of our cafés,” says Daugherty. “If we’re getting different results, it’s not because of the water.”

So we installed four reverse osmosis systems and brewed delicious coffee happily ever after, until four months later when the Indianapolis café’s reverse osmosis system clogged, taking our brand new La Marzocco Linea down with it. In Indianapolis, with its rock-hard water, one is wise to change filters more often than recommended by the manufacturer.

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Not to mention, keep spare parts to everything on hand.

We learned that lesson the hard way, but it’s one we won’t soon forget.

We now spend an entire training module talking about water as part of our six-month barista training program. Drawing from books like the aforementioned Water for Coffee and Water Quality, which is in the SCAA handbook series, we take a look at the chemistry behind coffee extraction and how water affects it.

Then we taste it.

I have the barista brew three pourovers: one with distilled water, one with reverse osmosis–filtered water, and one with New Albany, Indiana,

You probably have some sort of water filtration in your café, but you’ve never used a water test kit or contacted your local municipality for more detailed information about the chemical makeup of your water supply. If you

If you want to have delicious coffee, you need to give water the same attention as your roast profile and your brewing parameters. tap water. We then taste all three coffees blind and rank them according to quality. Without fail, every barista has ranked them in the same order.

The coffee with reverse osmosis water is sweet, dynamic, and complex—the obvious best. The coffee brewed with distilled water has a nice acidity, but lacks sweetness. It’s under-extracted, but nice enough to take second. The obvious loser is the coffee brewed with Southern Indiana tap water. It’s dull and flat with a bitter aftertaste, like some sad pot of diner coffee that’s been left on the burner all morning. The high levels of bicarbonate obliterate any tasty flavor. More than one barista has promised to start using better water to brew coffee at home after this experiment.

Although I don’t know your particular situation, I’m going to play the odds and hazard a guess: you’re not taking water quality seriously enough.

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have, good job! You’re doing better than most. If you haven’t, it’s time to get some titration test strips and start doing your homework.

Unfortunately, most cafés are busy obsessing over the latest piece of equipment rather than focusing on something that will actually make their coffee taste better. If you want to have delicious coffee, you need to give water the same attention as your roast profile and your brewing parameters.

And once you do the former, don’t be surprised if it changes the latter.

If you’re a coffee roaster, the water you cup your coffee with is affecting the way you roast. This is, of course, unavoidable, but important to understand. Being aware of the chemical composition of your water will give you greater insight as to why you roast coffee the way you do. It also will help elucidate why wholesale accounts and prospective clients like

or dislike one of your coffees. If you haven’t before, experiment cupping the same coffee with different waters.

You can use distilled water and a mineral kit like the ones made by Global Customized Water to recreate SCAA-recommended water parameters. Compare your roastery water with SCAA standard water and the tap water many of your customers are likely using to brew at home. The difference may shock you.

Wholesale coffee roasters also have a unique responsibility to educate their clients about the importance of water quality. Many smaller cafés may not be able to afford state-ofthe-art filtration, but they should at least be informed about the potential risks of not having proper water filtration. In addition to changing extraction and flavor perception, overly hard water has the further potential of damaging equipment.

Espresso machines in particular have a plethora of small valves that are easily clogged by mineral deposits.

Cafés that buy coffee from wholesalers face their own set of challenges.

The brewing parameters and tasting notes you get from your roaster may or may not work with your local water supply. Open a dialogue with your roaster about the water they use in their roastery to do quality control.

If possible, try to recreate their water recipe. If you buy coffee from multiple roasters, you should recognize those companies are likely roasting with different waters in mind. It might require some creative manipulation of brewing parameters to get the most out of each coffee while using the same water to brew them.

Not that long ago, we would judge a quality-focused café by their latte art or manual brew bar. I propose we should be looking under the counter (or in the case of a RO system, in whatever room is large enough to hold the fifty-gallon reservoir). The truly specialty coffee companies of the future will be the ones taking water seriously.

O

wing to the diversity of varieties, flavor, and craftsmanship associated with coffee, the brewed beverage is often discussed in a similar manner to wine or beer. However, coffee has a complication—coffee requires water to be added at the point of consumption. Of course, the brew method and barista’s consistency also impact the final product, but a more pertinent issue lies forcefully active at a molecular level: dissolved minerals and their role in coffee extraction and flavor management.

Water is the common name for the three-atom molecule H2O, one of the smallest chemicals, which boils at approximately 100 °C at 1 bar of pressure. H2O is polar, meaning that within a single molecule there are regions of positive (H) and negative (O) charge. As a result, H2O molecules interact strongly with their neighbors, forming nano-networks through alignment of positive and negative regions (shown in blue in Figure 1).

A collection of H2O molecules exists as a liquid between 0–100 °C at 1 bar, what we commonly refer to as “water.”

Owing to H2O’s size and polarity, the bulk liquid is an efficient solvent, meaning it’s capable of dissolving

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other substances. The solvation mechanism depends on the polarity of the intruding material. Permanently polar molecules (like calcium, sodium, chloride, bicarbonate) and those that are transiently polar (like ethanol, glucose) interact with H2O in a similar fashion to the H2O-H2O self-interaction: they’re stabilized through the alignment of positive and negative regions (depicted in red in Figure 1). Compounds that are only weakly polar (like caffeine, n-butanal) or entirely non-polar (octane, CO2, toluene) are solvated through an encapsulation mechanism (these interactions are depicted in green).

The solvation mechanism for any particular chemical lies on the spectrum between direct interaction and encapsulation. In general, all molecules invoke some form of ordering of water around them as they’re dissolved, and ordering costs energy.

Molecules that require more ordering are typically less soluble in water, as water favors interactions that require the least amount of energy. For example, CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) is poorly soluble in water because it takes much more energy to order water around Ca2+ and CO32- than for the compound to remain in its solid state.

It is certain that your local water contains more than pure H2O. The dissolved species, commonly referred to as minerals, are a variety of naturally occurring positively and negatively charged materials (cations and anions, respectively), and occasionally some organic molecules. While the organic compounds (those that are rich in carbon) are problematic as they can impart an undesirable smell and taste, they’re easily removed with carbon filtration. Charged minerals, however, are not.

Due to the laws of physics that govern the universe (in particular the one that states that mass cannot be created or destroyed), the net charge of the solution must be zero. For every positive charge, there must be a negative counterpart. Because of the absolute requirement for a balance of charge, an understanding of how positively and negatively charged ions influence interactions between molecules helps show how variance in water composition affects extraction behavior.

All cations and anions are relevant in the discussion of water chemistry and extraction, but several compounds heavily influence the final product in your cup. Two are magnesium and calcium, both positively

H

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carbonic acid no reaction with bicarbonate

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no reaction with bicarbonate H O O FIGURE ONE: Water (H O) forms charge-aligned nano-networks, depicted H

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through blue dotted lines. Other molecules can interact with these charged regionsbenzaldehyde of water. The calcium ion (Ca2+) is positively charged, and therefore O H O O H O O H (cherry, the bitter almond)charged O to align towards it. Similarly, chloride mandates negatively H H H H (Cl-) attracts the positively charged regions of water (H), and there is a H direct interaction between water and the species dissolved in it. Some molecules do not feature significantly polarized regions, like ethanol and n-butanal. In the case of ethanol, some nanonetworks may be formed (shown in red), while other encapsulating water networks form around the less-polar regions. Oil separates from water because the water network is 2+ stronger than the encapsulation network. Dissolved Ca (shown in yellow), binds to exposed molecules in coffee, binding temporarily to them and then extracting them into the water. In this case, the acidic and sour-tasting benzoic acid is extracted with the assistance of Ca2+. Once in the water, benzoic acid interacts with basic solvated compounds like bicarbonate in a conventional acid-base reaction to form benzoate (a basic and bitter compound) and carbonic acid. Other molecules, like the structurally similar benzaldehyde are extracted in a similar manner, but are no affected by dissolved bases.

O

H

charged species. These molecules use their regions of positive charge to pull flavor into coffee during the brewing process by attracting areas of negative charge on organic compounds like citric acid, for example. Another is bicarbonate, a negatively charged species that heavily influences the chemical makeup of your coffee. Bicarbonate acts chemically by neutralizing acids in coffee as it’s brewed. Bicarbonate also plays an important role because of its buffering ability; in addition to donating protons, bicarbonate can also accept protons to control pH levels. Each of these ions is discussed in further detail later.

We know that dissolved cations interact with water’s regions of negative charge (Figure 1 shows calcium, Ca2+, installing local order by attracting the negatively charged regions of H2O). Solvated metals, like calcium, interact with other organic molecules through the same mechanism as their interactions with water: the cations bind to atoms with negative charge.

Many organic molecules are decorated with these chemical regions of negative charge. In other words, dissolved metals will stick to organic molecules that are commonly found in coffee, thus pulling them into the water. Dissolution of polar compounds is aided by increased metal content, increasing interactions that pull the compounds into water during the brewing process.

But for every positive charge that facilitates extraction by grabbing onto oxygen- and nitrogen-rich compounds in coffee and pulling them into the water, there is a negative charge that can act on solvated acids. In water, the most active acid-buffering anion is bicarbonate. In coffee, most of the acidic molecules interact strongly with bicarbonate, effectively negating their acidic character. This comes as a mixed blessing as certain acids have undesirable flavor (quinic acid is one) while others are pleasant and desirable (our friend citric acid).

The ideal water should facilitate an extraction of organic molecules with

cations, but mediate the intense acidity and unpleasant flavors through chemical reaction with bicarbonate.

It is immensely challenging to design water with high levels of flavorextraction ability (cations), without the inclusion of detrimental anions to either flavor or machine. There is a fine balance and the window for success is narrow. Here, we will explore the physical challenges associated with obtaining designer water.

THE CHEMISTRY OF SOLVATED IONS

Singly-charged cations: Sodium (Na+) and Potassium (K+) All metal ions can be considered as a point of positive charge in threedimensional space. The magnitude and density of this charge is determined by parentage of the metal.

Sodium and potassium ions carry a single positive charge that is relatively diffuse (they have low density). Water itself is highly polar, so naturally the metal ion and the OH2 will orient towards each other. However, given

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the charge density of the metal and the high dipole of water, the strongest cation-anion interaction is achieved with water itself. In other words, there are very few other compounds with partially negative charge (like water) that will stick more strongly to Na+ and K+ than water itself. Hence, these cations serve little purpose in aiding extraction of coffee-contained molecules because they bind to water so efficiently.

But sodium and potassium ions should still be considered as indicators of chemistry far more sinister.

Given that charge neutrality is required by physics, the presence of these positive charges mandates the presence of counter-charges (anions such as bicarbonate and chloride).

Therefore, water rich in sodium (more than 50 ppm) is usually an indicator that either your coffee will taste bad (due to associated bicarbonate stifling the perceived acidity in the cup) or the machine is in danger of corrosion (due to solvated chloride).

Doubly-charged cations: Magnesium (Mg2+) and Calcium (Ca2+) Earth’s crust contains a variety of calcium and magnesium salts, which frequently come in contact with and dissolve in water. Mg2+ and Ca2+ have a tendency to stick to regions of negative charge, but unlike Na+ and K+, the doubly charged cations bind to both water and to other organic molecules. This is due to both their increased charge density and their increased size, which mandates an increase in ordered water to solvate the ion itself. This interaction can act in favor of extraction by pulling flavor from ground coffee (citric acid extracts rapidly in metal-rich water), but calcium can also be detrimental if you want to hide less flavorsome but highly polarized molecules (like ethyl acetate) that may be present in the roasted coffee. However, Ca2+ can also be problematic when in high concentrations as it forms an insoluble salt with carbonate, lim-

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

escale. This can impair or even ruin a machine. Mg2+ is generally safe to consume, with no discernible negative impact on flavor, and no risks for machine health, because magnesium carbonate, MgCO3, is not readily formed in appreciable quantities.

Singly-charged anions: Fluoride (F-) and Chloride (Cl-) Fluoride is the smallest anionic water-soluble species and is infrequently found in levels greater than approximately 1.5 mg/L (1.5 ppm).

At levels found commonly in water (ca. 1 mg/L), fluoride contributes positively to health, and has no adverse impact on coffee brewing.

Chloride (Cl-) is slightly larger than fluoride yet carries the same negative charge. Chloride is by far the most commonly solvated anion, and should not be confused with chlorine (Cl2), which is used to mediate bacterial growth in fresh water. Chloride is a valuable counter-ion as it balances the charge of the liquid with no adverse health or flavor effects.

However, chloride can cause catastrophic damage to equipment made of stainless steel, through the catalytic oxidation of Fe to Fe2+, causing pitting corrosion. This occurs to some extent in all concentrations of chloride.

Bicarbonate (HCO3-) Water and atmospheric carbon dioxide react to form low concentrations of carbonic acid through the reaction: CO2 + H2O—>H2CO3. Carbonic acid then further reacts with water to form bicarbonate and hydronium (as the water becomes progressively more acidic), through the reaction: H2CO3 + H2O—>H3O+ + HCO3-. Bicarbonate can then react with both donors and acceptors of H+ (meaning acids and bases) to counter dramatic swings in pH. In the context of coffee, bicarbonate may act to mask excessively unpleasant acids through buffering their H+ into the bicarbonate cycle, but even subtle concentration differences in HCO3- can result in massive effects

on the perception of acidity in brewed coffee. As noted earlier, bicarbonate also forms an insoluble salt with calcium at high temperatures known as limescale. The more acidic molecules present in the water, the more bicarbonate is required to neutralize them.

Perceived acidity is increased with diminishing HCO3- concentrations.

THE PARADOX

In coffee extraction and flavor management, the goal is to obtain a balanced cup that features no offensively acidic characteristics, but also no flat and chalky notes. Thus, we are in pursuit of water which has relatively high dissolved cation concentrations, and low bicarbonate and chloride concentrations such that we can extract what we want from the coffee, and buffer away the negative acidity associated with common acids found in coffee. And do this without destroying the machine.

The issue is, however, that we cannot do better than physics allows.

It is impossible to achieve water with high Ca2+/Mg2+ concentrations and low HCO3- and Cl- concentrations without the inclusion of other anions to charge balance. For every positive charge there is an associated negative charge somewhere in solution. (The sharp eye may have noted that, indeed, Figure 1 defies the laws of physics: the solution has a net positive charge!)

There is a constant battle between machine corrosion (by the inclusion of Cl-) and perceived acidity (through the presence of HCO3-), and other common anions (including the strongly basic –OH, the poo-inducing SO42- and other negatively charged species). Short of formulating your own water, or filtering in a creative manner, modulating water chemistry remains a challenge. Identifying the makeup of your incoming water and selecting the correct filtration unit are paramount in enabling you and your café the best chance of making a consistently good espresso shot.

BY ELLIE BRADLEY KNOW YOUR WATER The most important step in designing a filtration solution is determining what’s in your water. Once you know what you’re dealing with—in terms of general hardness and carbonate hardness— you can devise a plan to alter the content of your water. A titration kit from a reputable aquatic supply store can tell you the general hardness and carbonate hardness of your incoming water. If you want to get more specific, the Red Sea’s Reef Foundation Pro Test Kit can give you levels of calcium, magnesium, and carbonate hardness. For regions with hard water, the challenge is to reduce bicarbonate while still retaining desirable metals. In soft water regions, often a carbon block and sediment filter will suffice.

SEDIMENT FILTRATION ($) Sediment filtration is used in places where water contains metal oxides that are insoluble in water—such as silicates and aluminates. These insoluble metal oxides are essentially tiny pebbles that need to be removed from water to prevent equipment damage. In locations with high sediment content, filters get used and abused quickly, so they are typically larger in size to promote a longer shelf life.

The larger filter size also provides a greater surface area to accommodate a high flow rate.

Bottom line: a low-expense filter to remove dirt.

CARBON FILTRATION ($) Carbon filters remove organic molecules, chlorine, and other weakly soluble species from water. These filters capitalize on thermodynamics to pull organic molecules out of water: it takes less energy for organic compounds to stick to the solid carbon than to remain in the water. Carbon filtration is essential in most locations because even a low level of organic molecules in water can significantly affect flavor and smell. Some carbon filters have an added ion exchange mechanism, so be sure to read specs carefully before buying.

Bottom line: a low-expense filter for removing organic molecules that can affect flavor and smell.

ION EXCHANGE COLUMNS ($$) Ion exchange columns alter the mineral content of water by passing water through a resin-coated column.

For example, a column coated with sodium salt might interact with water heavy in calcium, trading two sodium (Na+) molecules for one calcium (Ca2+) molecule; the resulting water is high in sodium but lower in calcium, reducing the chance of scale formation.

This exchange principle applies to both positively and negatively charged ions. Sophisticated filters can lower bicarbonate concentration by exchanging protons into water, reacting with bicarbonate to yield H20 and C02 (a gas). These sophisticated filters are favorable for coffee flavor, as a degree of bicarbonate is needed to buffer pH and to neutralize acidic flavors that aren’t desirable. Companies have also manufactured magnesium-calcium exchangers, which leaves the general hardness of water the same, but reduces the risk of scale because of the reduced presence of calcium.

Bottom line: exchange columns can more specifically target minerals and almost always include some H+ in the resin column, working to buffer pH and indirectly targeting bicarbonate concentration. These are good solutions for transforming hard water into desirable coffee water.

REVERSE OSMOSIS ($$$$) Reverse osmosis systems use a high-pressure membrane to filter out all dissolved components of water. If the system works perfectly, the resulting water is completely deionized.

Deionized water isn’t ideal for coffee because it lacks the metals necessary to pull out flavorful compounds, has no buffering ability, and is potentially harmful for equipment (heating this water can result in pH swings that make water corrosive). Unfiltered water is generally mixed in with the deionized water to achieve a level of bicarbonate that’s favorable for the machine and café environment; bicarbonate is targeted over calcium or another mineral because of its buffering abilities—it can mitigate acidity while still pulling in flavor compounds. An ideal bicarbonate concentration is 30 ppm. RO systems use a lot of water in the deionization process, so this filtration option comes with high equipment, space, and energy costs.

Bottom line: RO systems are useful for achieving soft water and addressing serious water issues that pose problems for equipment health, such as high chloride content.

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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T

he West Coast boasts an impressive collection of renowned roasters and cafés, and tourists, especially coffee pros, delight in the opportunity to take coffee home. But what if they live somewhere like Texas, where water has a much higher dissolved mineral content than it does along the Pacific? Barista skills aside, it’s exceedingly difficult to replicate the quality and flavor profile of coffee brewed in a Portland café without insight into the mineral makeup of your local water. But why?

After a read through the book Water for Coffee, you’ll be able to answer that question. For science nerds, education advocates, and coffee lovers in pursuit of perfect extraction, Water for Coffee elucidates water’s crucial role in brewing and extraction.

Authored by Maxwell ColonnaDashwood and Christopher Hendon, Water for Coffee combines the expert knowledge of a seasoned, competitive barista and an MIT post-doctoral

chemist. Whether your background is founded more strongly in coffee or in chemistry, the collective voice of Colonna-Dashwood and Hendon presents practical education for scientists and coffee enthusiasts alike.

Pointing out challenges of current industry conventions (such as the heavy reliance on IC-TDS meters, which quantify dissolved mineral concentration without insight to mineral identity), Hendon and ColonnaDashwood offer guidance to overcome debilitating water issues faced in roasting, café settings, and at home.

By exploring scientific principles governing chemical interactions in the context of coffee, Water for Coffee fosters a deep appreciation for water’s comprehensive influence on each drop of extraction.

Understanding your water isn’t as simple as getting a TDS reading and filtering out sediment; the particular makeup of those dissolved solids heavily influences the interaction

of coffee and water. Beginning with short courses in chemistry and physics, Colonna-Dashwood and Hendon provide foundational knowledge of water’s properties and the behavior of dissolved minerals. The science lessons are supplemented with practical applications in the café: methods for measuring dissolved mineral concentrations, filtration options for manipulating water makeup, specifications for brewing, and case studies from the industry.

Working through the book’s highly technical pages, I found myself grateful (finally) for the hours spent studying physics and chemistry in my college days: this book is certainly not for the faint of scientific heart. But for those who want to delve into coffee’s technical side, each chapter of Water for Coffee holds rewarding nuggets of knowledge and encouraging commentary for those seeking a better product.

Water for Coffee is available through waterforcoffeebook.com.

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

P HOTO BY CO RY ELD RIDGE

C

old brewing is an extraction method with one arm tied behind its back. Without the high temperatures used to make hot-brewed coffee, cold brewing lacks an essential catalyst that drives extraction in traditional brewing methods. While flavor compounds can still be pulled from coffee with cold—or warm—water, cold brewing requires a much longer exposure time to achieve similar levels of extraction.

“Water has a critical role in enjoying that great cup of coffee,” says Maya Zuniga, science wiz and director of product innovation for S&D Coffee and Tea. “It’s one big chemistry reaction.” Zuniga says that water is just as critical in defining your final cup quality as the actual coffee being used—a sentiment echoed by members throughout the specialty coffee industry.

Hot-brewed coffee benefits from established specifications for water, roasting, brewing, cupping, and green coffee. But in the absence of heat, industry specifications no longer apply. When it comes to coldbrew, there’s no consensus on best practices for brewing, or even specified quality standards. “Cold-brew is still somewhat in its infancy,” Zuniga says. “Everything from defining it to seeing where the points of consistency are—the best practices haven’t yet been developed.”

For the time being, cold brewers are left to their own devices when it comes to figuring out what works for their region and product. Take, for instance, cupping. The SCAA specifies that coffee be cupped at a temperature of 200 degrees (plus or minus 2 degrees), brewed for eight to twelve minutes, eight to twentyfour hours after the coffee is roasted.

These guidelines are hardly applicable to cold-brew: the temperature is far too high, the brew time far too short, and many cold-brew recipes call for twenty-four-hour steeping times, making it nearly impossible to meet the suggested roasting window.

There’s so much room for experimentation and creativity in the way you use your water.

Erin Williamson, owner of Pier Coffee, takes an optimistic view of cold-brew’s infancy. “There’s so much room for experimentation and creativity in the way you use your water.” Pier Coffee shares a space with a brewery in Seattle, and Williamson sees the challenge of manipulating water for optimal beer brewing much the same as cold-brew. “I tend more towards the beer side and use the water coming in and then adjust.”

She adds that using water similar to the local source gives her cold-brew a local connection.

Williamson finds that a water with higher general hardness yields a more desirable extraction for a cold-brew process. Without the assistance of high temperatures, “there’s so much work the water actually has to do,” she says. With higher mineral content, more metal ions are present to pull flavor into the coffee as it brews.

She points to the success of cold-brew in Texas, where the incoming water is naturally high in dissolved minerals.

There’s still no rule that says water for cold-brew must be hard, but knowing the source and makeup of your water matters just as much in cold brewing as in hot. Water sources change by season in some regions,

posing additional challenges for roasters and cold brewers. Williamson checks in with local water officials to find out when regional water sources will shift in order to adjust her preparation methods accordingly.

Zuniga advises that cold brewers pay close attention to the cleanliness of their water, as well as its mineral makeup. While hot brewing temperatures typically are high enough to kill off anything that could harm coffee from a food safety standpoint, coldbrew is more vulnerable to bacterial growth. Zuniga says there are many ways to achieve clean water, whether you start with bottled water, distilled water, use filtration systems, or boil water before brewing. (Keep in mind that some of these methods alter the mineral content of water, posing implications on extraction.)

Though the parameters governing cold brewing differ from those of coffee prepared at hot temperatures, the role of water in extraction is still paramount. Like Zuniga, Williamson advocates that water be viewed with equal importance to green coffee. “In coffee we pay so much attention to sourcing coffee—we should pay equal attention to sourcing water, in terms of taste and sustainability.”

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This map provides a general indication of the softness or hardness of regional water supply, based on calcium carbonate levels. To fully understand the makeup of your water requires further analysis of dissolved metal and salt concentrations, particularly in the context of coffee brewing and extraction. (Ion concentrations to look at include those of magnesium, calcium, bicarbonate, chloride, sodium, and potassium).

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TIT RATION Titration is one of the most accessible methods for café owners and roasters to determine the metal and salt concentrations in their water. While there’s the option to send samples off to a local lab or university (if you have access to those resources), titration kits are readily available through aquatic supply stores.

Titration uses dyes to indicate a chemical reaction or a change in the pH of water. Through a simple color change, titration can give you a pretty good idea of how much calcium, magnesium, or bicarbonate you have in your water, though each one requires a separate test. Quantifying how much of a mineral is in your water takes a quick calculation based on how much dye you had to add to make a color change. (The process is simple, but it can get complicated, so we’ll spare you the details.)

The Red Sea’s Reef Foundation Pro Test Kit is a good place to start for titration kits—you can measure calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity (carbonate hardness) separately. Be sure to read kit labels carefully—many combine the calcium and magnesium reading to give general hardness (GH). If you’re feeling shaky in your titrating skills, check out YouTube for some great tutorials.

PH OTO BY HO RIA VARLAN

FILT ER FOR WARRANTIES If the chance to brew great coffee consistently hasn’t persuaded you to invest in a filtration system, this might: if you don’t use a water filter and softener, your espresso machine is likely out of warranty. This is universally true among the espresso machine companies, and except for those using a few soft water sources, it’s true for all cafés.

This isn’t fine-print stuff. The espresso machine manufacturers want you to know.

At the end of their manual’s long admonishment to use water filters, Slayer closes with this unequivocal line: “Damage to or failure of your machine due to inadequately treated water is not covered under warranty.”

La Marzocco’s installation manual says: “Water quality must be within the range of parameters specified in the chapter on installation, otherwise warranty is voided.”

At the bottom of their webpage laying out water specs, Nuova Simonelli takes a more positive tone, but the all caps make it clear they’re serious: BY MAINTAINING THE WATER AT THE REQUIRED LEVELS YOUR WARRANTY WILL REMAIN VALID AND ALL COVERED REPAIRS WILL BE FIXED WITHOUT HESITATION. The map on the opposite page provides a general idea of how hard your water might be and how important filtration will be to your machine’s health, and its warranty. Local water sources vary, so get your water tested. It could save you money.

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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Counter INTELLIGENCE OAKLAND’S OAK FIRE Most of us have had wood-fired pizza. But wood-fired coffee? Oakland-based Mr. Espresso roasts its coffee using oak wood—and they’ve done that since 1978. The wood slows down the roasting process, generating a gentle heat that arrests the drying phase of the roast and extends the length of the roast time overall. Mr. Espresso offers single-origin, espresso, and fair trade/organic roasts. mrespresso.com

SIMPLI THE BEST

62

COCOA CO-OPERATIVE

If you enjoy french press cof-

Zuma 100 percent organic hot

fee, but hate the hassle of

chocolate comes direct from the

cleaning, you’re not alone. In-

Naranjillo co-operative in Tingo

ventor and self-realized cof-

Maria, Peru. Organic and fair

fee connoisseur Jenni Morse

trade, the cocoa beans skip the

developed simpli press to maintain the rich flavor of

traditional “Dutch” process that removes acidity. In-

press pot brewing without the messy clean up. The

stead, Zuma chocolate retains distinctive warm, red-

patent-pending container boasts an easy-to-clean

dish tones and a complex, malty, and refined taste.

functionality that removes pesky sediments that

Mix the raw cocoa and sugar to taste, giving custom-

tend to cling to french press brewers as a result of

ers a hot chocolate that’s just right for their craving.

grainy grinds. simplipresscoffee.com

beyondthebean.com

COLD AND NAKED

COFFEE WITH LINO AND GINO Earlier this year, Naked

Brew and enjoy coffee

released five new veggie-

in

forward,

notNeutral

ware

cold-pressed

from the comfort of

juices on the West Coast.

your own home with

Now, each flavor—Bright

the Lino + Gino Pour-Over Brewing Kit. Hand-blown

Greens, Hearty Greens, Bold Beet, Lively Carrot, and

from dishwasher-safe, laboratory grade, lightweight

Cool Pineapple—can be purchased around the coun-

glass, the dripper is heat and scratch resistant. The

try. Naked is committed to giving consumers easy

angle of the interior cone and size of the three holes

access to the highest-quality produce; they believe

at the bottom are engineered to ensure an even ex-

there’s no excuse not to get goodness inside their

traction for a pure and flavorful brewed coffee, while

consumers’ bodies. nakedjuice.com

the double-wall keeps in the heat. notNeutral.com

July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

» People & Products «

SCALING BACK EXPENSES Wouldn’t it be nice if you had more to rely on than a “guess and check” method when it came to changing your water filters? Thanks to 3M, now you do. Their Scale Guard Blend Series helps ensure a seamless operation of expensive filtration equipment by intelligently calculating water filter usage. This series also makes it easy to manage and maintain multiple machines through a unique monitoring app. 3M.com

WRITTEN IN STONE

BUBBLES FOR SUMMER

Promote your brand story

Last month, Bhakti Chai

with hand-pressed cus-

launched their new line

tom designs in stoneware.

of sparkling teas. A bub-

Sunset

Stoneware

bly and refreshing blend

helps coffee houses pro-

Hill

of carbonated tea, restor-

mote their brand and share their story with thirty-

ative organic juices, and Bhakti’s signature, fresh-

three contemporary coffee mugs ranging from eight

pressed ginger, these teas are the perfect arrival for

to sixteen ounces. Sunset Hill mugs are indepen-

summer time. The sparkling teas are all low calorie,

dently tested to meet FDA and California Proposition

gluten-free, and vegan; choose from four delicious

65 compliancy standards, along with being micro-

flavors: Lemon Ginger Black, Mango Lime Matcha,

wave and dishwasher safe. shstoneware.com

Tart Cherry Rooibos, and Mint Maté. bhaktichai.com

ALL ABOUT CALLEABOUT

THOUGHTFULLY CREATED

Callebaut launched a new

Some of life’s most meaning-

line of chocolate ingredi-

ful moments occur alongside

ents for beverage and spe-

a drink, so why have drink-

cialty dessert professionals.

ware that doesn’t inspire, con-

The Callebaut Barista Collection includes a variety

nect, and empower people? The Created Co. teamed

of pure chocolate mixes and toppings that enhance

up with Texas’s Palace Coffee for a special release of

the taste, texture, and visual appeal in finished bev-

their newest wide-brimmed mug. The classy, matte

erage, specialty dessert, and baking applications.

finish looks great on display, while the wider mouth

The collection includes Callebaut Ground Chocolate,

makes for easy holding and sipping. Dream up your

Mini Chocolate Crispearls, ChocRocks, and Mini

own mug with the Created Co. or choose from one of

ChocRocks. callebaut.com

many inspired designs. thecreated.co

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

63

Trade Show & Events CALENDAR AUGUST

AUGUST 13 LONE STAR ICED TEA FESTIVAL Dallas, Texas icedteafest.net

AUGUST 18–21 ROASTERS GUILD RETREAT Delavan, Wisconsin roastersguild.org

AUGUST 28–30 WESTERN FOODSERVICE & HOSPITALITY EXPO Los Angeles westernfoodexpo.com

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 7–9 COTECA HAMBURG Hamburg, Germany coteca-hamburg.com/en

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July 2016 » Fresh Cup Magazine

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 10–11 COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE EXPO San Juan, Puerto Rico coffeeandchocolateexpo.com

SEPTEMBER 14–17 GOLDEN BEAN NORTH AMERICA Portland goldenbeannorthamerica.com

SEPTEMBER 16–18 NEW YORK COFFEE FESTIVAL New York City newyorkcoffeefestival.com

SEPTEMBER 20–22 FALL FOR TEA/ NORTH AMERICAN TEA CONFERENCE Ontario, Canada tea.ca

SEPTEMBER 25–26 CANADIAN COFFEE AND TEA SHOW Vancouver coffeeteashow.ca

» 2016 Coffee & Tea Trade Shows, Classes & Competitions «

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

SEPTEMBER 27–29 FLORIDA RESTAURANT AND LODGING SHOW Orlando flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com

OCTOBER 13–16 LET’S TALK COFFEE Puerto Vallarta, Mexico letstalkcoffee.org

SEPTEMBER 30–OCTOBER 2 COFFEE FEST ANAHEIM Anaheim coffeefest.com

OCTOBER 17–20 MOSCOW COFFEE & TEA EXPO Moscow expocoffeetea.ru/en

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

65

ADVERTISER Index Go to freshcup.com/resources and click on “Fresh Cup Advertisers” to view the Advertiser Index and the Websites listed below.

66

ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

AIYA America

310.212.1395

aiya-america.com

25

Barista Pro Shop

866.PRO.LATTE (776.5288)

baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh

45

Bunn

800.637.8606

bunn.com/refresh

5

Cappuccine

800.511.3127

cappuccine.net

7

Caravan Coffee

503.538.7365

caravancoffee.com

43

Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters

916.451.5181

chocolatefishcoffee.com

20

Coffee Fest

800.232.0083

coffeefest.com

Coffee Holding Co.

800.458.2233

coffeeholding.com

2

Coffee Kids

info@coffeekids.org

coffeekids.org

47

COTECA Hamburg

coteca-hamburg.com

65

Custom Cup Sleeves

888-672-4096

customcupsleeves.com

61

DaVinci Gourmet

800.640.6779

davincigourmet.com

4

Ditting

810.367.7125

ditting.com

11

Fresh Cup Magazine

503.236.2587

freshcup.com

Ghirardelli Chocolate

800.877.9338

ghirardelli.com/professional

68

Golden Bean

310.266.2827

goldenbeannorthamerica.com

61

Gosh That’s Good! Brand

888.848.GOSH (4674)

goshthatsgood.com

9

Holy Kakow

503.484.8316

holykakow.com

17

Java Jacket

800.208.4128

javajacket.com

17

Josuma Coffee Company

650.366.5453

josuma.com

21

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

855.FLAVOR1 (352.8671)

monin.com

3

Sea Island Coffee

44.207.735.4473

seaislandcoffee.com

45

SelbySoft

800.454.4434

selbysoft.com

13

Let’s Talk Coffee/Sustainable Harvest

503.235.1119

letstalkcoffee.org

13

TEA House Times , The

973.551.9161

theteahousetimes.com

61

Toddy

970.493.0788

toddycafe.com/schooling

47

Torani

800.775.1925

torani.com/foodservice

15

Vessel Drinkware

855.883.7735

vesseldrinkware.com

20

Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo

203.242.8124

westernfoodexpo.com

14

Your Brand Café

866.566.0390

yourbrandcafe.com

11

Zojirushi America

800.264.6270

zojirushi.com

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