A little about coffee...

Coffee Processing
Quality coffees are entirely hand-picked. The beans are on the tree as a fruit, called "cherries". Cherries ripen on the tree changing from a green to a bright red color. Because of different ripening rates of these cherries, trees may be visited 3 to 4 times a year. Once the ripe cherries are picked, the beans have to be separated from the cherries using the sun (natural or dry method) or water (wet method).

The wet method or processing, requiring fresh water to separate the bean from the fruit depends on availability of water to the region. In the wet method, the cherries are removed by machine and the inner layers of the pulp and parchment are loosened by soaking and then rinsed out. This method results in coffees with higher acidity and cleaner, more consistent tastes. Washed coffees include all major Latin American coffees.

The dry method involves letting the fruit dry 2-3 weeks in the sun, then hulling the dried husk. Flavor acidity is reduced and body increased. While not as consistent in its results, many of the world's greatest coffees are processed using the dry method, including Arabian Mocha and many Indonesian varieties.

Why Organic Coffee?
In this century, coffee, which is the world's second largest traded food commodity, has also been one of the most chemically treated food crops in the world. It is being sprayed, without regulation, with DDT, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides which have been determined to be hazards to good health and to the environment.

This affects not only the farmers who grow the coffee in the coffee producing areas of the world, but also their families, their land, their water, and the consumer. The pesticide residues enter the ground and are systemically transported into the beans which in turn become our beverage.

By contrast, organic agriculture focuses on building healthy soil through composting, inter-cropping, terracing, introduction of appropriate biological pest control, shade trees such as mangoes and banana, and a whole system of compatible, sustainable agriculture for the coffee trees.

Drinking organic coffee promotes the health of the environment, the health of the coffee grower, and the health of the coffee drinker. Certified organic coffee tastes as good or better than coffee grown with pesticides and is sold at comparable prices.

Flavor - Acidity - Body
Flavor is the most important term of all. It refers to the total impression or aroma, acidity and body. It can be used in a general sense, "this coffee is flavorful" or with certain attributes in mind, "this coffee has a flavor reminiscent of cocoa".

Acidity is another important term and is also the most easily misunderstood. It s the lively, palate-cleansing property characteristic of all high-grown coffees. Acidity, like sweetness, is tasted primarily at the tip to the tongue and may range from low (e.g. Sulawesi) to high (e.g. Kenya). One would call it the effervescence quality of the coffee. Acidity is not the same as bitter or sour and doesn't have to do with objective pH factors. All coffees are very low in that kind of acidity, between 5 and 6 on the pH scale, which is slightly more acidic than milk at 6, but much less acidity than beer, juices or soft drinks at 2.0-4.0.

Body is the physical impression of the weight of the brewed beverage in the mouth, and can range from light, to medium, to full. It varies between coffees; Sumatra "weighs" more than Costa Rican.

Making a Great Cup
Once you open a bag of coffee, it's best to store the beans in airtight containers. If that's not possible, press out all the air you can from the bag and fold down the top as many times as you can, then tape it. Another important factor is to keep coffee beans stored away from direct sunlight. The primary enemies of coffee freshness are air, light, heat, and moisture.

The Right Grind
One of the most important factors in making coffee is the grind. Grind plays a critical role in determining the flavor of your coffee. A fine grind is like sand; it packs together tightly and doesn't let water pass through very quickly.

Different brewing methods require different grinds. Too fine a grind allows the water to have too much contact with the surface of the beans. This is called over-extraction, and results in bitter coffee. Too coarse a grind allows the water to pass through the beans too quickly. This is called under-extraction, and produces a water brew.
Grind determines the length of time the coffee and the water stay together, or the brewing time. There is an optimal brewing time for every brewing method. Once "Your Blend", a combination of coffee blend and your flavor profile, is determined, the grind is fixed to meet your desired taste.

Water
Good coffee begins with good water. What does good water mean? This means you want to avoid:
- Water from a water softener
- City water that tastes like chlorine
- Well water that tastes like sulfur or iron
- Any water with a strong flavor of its own
Temperature of the water is also important. The best coffee is made with water that is just off a boil, 195-205ºF (92-96ºC). If the water is not hot enough, the coffee oils won't dissolve in the water. This means that you will not get the full flavor of the beans. On the other hand, if the water is too hot, you could wind up boiling the coffee, causing a bitter taste.

Proportion
As simple as it sounds the most important step in brewing good coffee is using the right proportion of coffee to water. For restaurant use we recommend 3.75 ounces of coffee for 64 ounces of water. For personal use we recommend 2 tablespoons for every 6 ounces of water.