Chris and I got dressed up and hopped into the cruiser for an ol’ fashioned coffee crawl this past Saturday.  We each brought a camera along (digital for me,  film for Chris) and drank coffee and shot at the 5 places below.  Half of the pictures are mine, half from Chris, and you can view them individually in high res by clicking the image.

49th Parallel, Main & 12th

Matchstick, Fraser & Kingsway

Innocent, 1340 West 4th

Beaucoup, 2150 Fir St


Elysian, 5th & Burrard

From Across the Nation:

I visited Miami’s much acclaimed coffee bar and roastery, Panther, over Spring Break.  It’s located in the Art Distrct of Miami, name the Wynwood District, where almost every building side is graffiti clad with crazy mosaics and surreal drawings of animals turning into humans turning back into animals.  Or Lebron James with vampire teeth. Stuff like that.

Panther’s outside used to be a really cool mosaic as well, but I’m told due to vandalism and an unsuccessful attempt to fix it, they just reverted to a solid coffee brown exterior which, funny enough, makes them stand out in that it’s a rare solid block of colour in the area.

Both times that I went it was bustling inside, both at the till and to the side where the roaster was in full swing with an internal cupping going on as well.  The decor is relatively simple and sparse with lots of wood and heavy concrete, with all sorts of oranges, yellows and golds (hello Florida!) found throughout the many different fixtures.

Both the coffee and brew method offerings were quite extensive:  There were at least 5 different coffees to choose from, of which one could have made to order via French Press, V60, Chemex, Siphon, or Clever, and 2 different espresso options + a decaf, fed through Robur Es and a Strada.  They also had cold brew of course.

My favourite part was the huge patio that was made up of benches, small tables for two and a huge concrete slab of a center piece that turned in sporadic 90 degree angles.  It’s always comforting to have a hot cup of coffee with you to fight against the Vancouver cold but there was something extra special about drinking good coffee while basking in December warmth.

Panther is run by husband and wife Joel Pollock and Leticia Ramos Pollock (seen in the title picture with their daughter helping them hand sorting freshly roasted coffee) and it’s great to see it (from an outsider’s view at least) flourish.  Definitely check’em out if you’re in the area.

panthercoffee.com
@panthercoffee
2390 NW 2nd Ave.
Miami, Fl.

This isn’t uncommon. Grind changes are  something that can (and presumably should) happen multiple times a day, as there are many reasons:  Changing of coffees, older and new roast dates, burr heat, inconsistant doses (fooling people into thinking the grind was the problem) and so on.  What really becomes unsettling to me about changing the grind is not so much that I have to arbitrarily turn a dial left or right a few millimetres based on an educated guess, but rather that after any change I have to throw 2 – 3 shots worth of ground up espresso straight into the garbage, due to the seemingly unnecessarily large sized turning shoot in most grinders.*

Paying $10+ for a pound of espresso is not remotely uncommon from many of the reputable coffee roasters, and at that price when you do the arithmetic for an 18g dry espresso weight,** that equals about 40 cents per shot, which at 3 shots to clear the shoot/chamber equals a buck-twenty ($1.20).   If you just do 3 grind changes throughout the entire day – and in a busy cafe over the course of the standard 10-12 hours of being open I’d say that’s unrealistically low, at least if you have clear and strict parameters, then you’re looking at $3.60 a day.  Times that by the number of days you’re open (I used 350 days for the math, but you can simply insert your cafe’s respective opening days) and voila!  $1260 in grind change fees.

So how to deal with this?  Stop changing your grind!

Just kidding. That grind change cost could be cut by 2/3rds or virtually erased with a grinder that did a direct drop from the burrs to the dosing chamber/portafilter, like the EK-43 Grinder from Mahlkonig, for example.  This one change alone would save so much money and coffee.

So why isn’t anyone doing it?***

EDIT:  Since posting this I’ve been informed through twitter (and a comment below) that, in regards to the 3rd footnote – the Mythos Grinder has a “less than a half a gram to purge out before you get to your new grind setting.” by Danny.  For those who don’t know him, he distributes Nuovo Simonelli products in Vancouver.

Footnotes:

*We use Robur Grinders with Dosers attached. As far as I’m aware, most grinders have similar shoots, which hold about 2-3 shots worth of ground coffee.  That means when you grind a shot, technically you are using the shot you ground 3-4 shots ago.  So much for “fresh ground”.
**18g is what we aim for.  From my own conversations with other baristas and coffee shops, this seems to be on the lower side of weight used. The cost-per-shot would of course be higher or lower depending on your weight.
***Is there a grinder designed for espresso that I’m not aware of that has direct drop? I’ve seen/heard rumours that the Mythos might?

I don’t think the following applies to Green Buyers/Roasters looking for coffee from farms and importers, but rather from the perspective of a customer looking to buy from a roaster or specific shop.

Personally, I wish I could say that the first factor in deciding which coffee I am going to drink is where it came from – that is, based on it’s origin.  If the roaster isn’t to my liking however, it inevitably won’t matter much what I’m drinking; I probably won’t like it.  If, on the other hand, you take a lower quality coffee (or one that is less preferable to another) but have a good roaster, I’ll generally like it, or at least have a higher chance of doing so.  Therefore I will generally choose the roaster first and the origin second (if there are options.)  This might seem like an obvious and rather simple conclusion, but let’s dig a little deeper.

Now I know it doesn’t work quite as simple as this, but to give an example of what I’m talking about with specific examples, let’s say you have a theoretical palate that regards all taste and smell as equal.  (In other words, it rates chocolate equal to caramel and berries equal to lemons etc. etc.)  Now, take a 90+ point “Cup of Excellence” coffee from Guatemala and pit it against a coffee that scores in the low 80s also from Guatemala.  Now have it roasted by the same roaster.  Now have them both brewed properly.

In my mind, the “Cup of Excellence” coffee should be a better cup. By that I mean it should be the preferred of the two, if cost and all other factors that might per sway you one way or another are equal.

Now let’s take that same 90+ cup of excellence coffee from Roaster “A”, but have it roasted by a roaster whom I do not like.  This may be because they roast too dark/too light/under develop/over develop/you-name-it, and then the low 80 point coffee from Roaster “B”, a roaster who I do like – and guess which coffee I’m going to choose?  The coffee from roaster “B”.  Again, I know this is a theoretical example but it’s necessary to get the point across.

Basically what this means to me is that as someone who is ordering a coffee to drink and enjoy, I don’t care as much about which coffee I’m drinking if it’s not roasted to my liking.  What good is the world’s greatest coffee if it isn’t roasted in a way to showcase it so?

And that leaves the roaster as the single most important factor in determining if I am going to enjoy the coffee, does it not?

If the roaster is the brand, and the coffee is the product, then what happens in this case is that the brand becomes more important than the product.  And that seems wrong to me, and IS wrong in other areas of my life (clothes, cars, etc).

Perhaps, though, there is a 3rd possibility:  In coffee, perhaps in actuality the “brand” (the roaster) and the “product” (the coffee) are one and the same?  Especially as roasters continue to offer direct support to farmers and specific lots of farms I’m sure  the two will become much more interdependent then they are at the moment, but are we at that point yet?

A final observation:

Whether they know it or not,  I would argue that customers by default are forced to choose a brand or roaster just in the act of going to a particular coffee shop.  For example if you decide to go to Stumptown, then your first decision is to drink Stumptown Coffee, and then a particular origin.  The same goes for choosing any particular shop over another:  Intelligentsia, Coava, Grumpys, Squaremile, insert-coffee-shop-slash-roaster-here.  (You could say you choose a particular cafe because of atmosphere/service but then you aren’t even part of this discussion).

A small exception to this rule would be a cafe that of course supplies multiple roasters.  Having worked in several of these shops though, it’s almost guaranteed that a customer gets excited over a roaster as oppose to a particular coffee.  A prime example of this was shown a couple of months ago when 1 of our guys was in London and brought back enough Square Mile to put on the menu for a week:  The coffee was the Colombia Narino Bella Vista.  But they were not excited for the Narino Bella Vista from Colombia; they were excited for Square Mile.  (As were we, I might add – it was rather nice.)

And so I ask again:

Do you buy based on what’s on the outside of the bag, or what’s in it?

We’re back in YVR after an amazing week with the Coffee Common Crew at TED 2012. Thank you to all of the Coffee Common organizers for allowing Chris and I to be a part of this beautiful event, and to all the great baristas, it was a privilege to work along-side you guys this week. For best results, view this in HD on vimeo.

Back to our roots.

This December we celebrated our 5th year in business and we felt it the right time to give Crema the new hair cut it was begging for. We are really happy with the results so far and I wanted to share a few of the highlights to perhaps entice you to make the journey over the bridge.

These tops and our 9 foot communal table are made entirely of salvaged material from the Opsal steel building and the Pantages theatre in Vancouver built in 1900.

The globes are handmade fixtures and handblown glass shades from Portland, Oregon’s Schoolhouse Electric. If you’re in Portland you’re definitely going to want to pay them a visit, they’ve just relocated into a new share space with Ristretto Roasters and some other boutique businesses.

This old barn wood, from 1840 originates from a building just outside of Lancaster, Ontario right on the Quebec Border. It gets its unique silver like colour as a result of being exposed to the sun year after year.

This is a 1920’s Authentic Wedding Cake Style Chandelier from Chicago. You’ve got to see it in person to see the way the steel in the fixture has beautifully aged.

We sourced many of the items (chandelier, table tops, barn wood) through Scott Landon Antiques on South Granville. If you’ve never been to his store before definitely go check it out when you’re in the area, it’s full of beautiful things with great stories.

There is more to see, but I’ll leave that for when you visit. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Crema, it’s where it all began for us 5 years ago. We do coffee (Phil & Sebastian and jjBean at the moment), fresh baking & pastries on site and we’re located right next to the water. For best results, pick a sunny day and visit us by bike.

Crema (@cremawestvan)
1495 Bellevue Avenue
West Vancouver, BC
V7T 1C3  |  Map

I’d love to start this post off in some clever way, leaving all of you thinking, that Chris is a clever bastard – but instead I’m just going to cut to the chase.

Serve your drinks with pride

Too many times I’ve walked into a cafe, ordered an espresso, and had the barista behind the bar completely re-calibrate.  I don’t want to watch you waste shot after shot and stress out let alone wait five to ten minutes for my espresso.  Then after all is said and done the espresso is served with one of the following disclaimers:

“It’s pulling a little tight.”

“It’s a little over extracted.”

“The weather is messing with my machine”

“Might be a little under, let me know I’ll remake it..”

“The espresso sucks today.”

“I can’t find my lucky unicorn tamper”

When you say things like that,  this is what goes through my head: “Why are you serving something you KNOW isn’t good!?”

I don’t care.  I’m sorry,  but I don’t.  I just want you to make my coffee with no disclaimers that way I have a fair chance of enjoying it.  Sure, we’ll chew the fat for a bit, but don’t tell me that the espresso you gave me is not as good as it could be.

Before we go on, let me be the first to admit I have done this myself.  Chances are you have too.   Now let’s all take a moment of silence to acknowledge our shame, and bid it good riddance.

Disclaimers are bad.

They tell the person receiving your beverage that something is wrong with it before they get it.  Even if there isn’t, they will perceive it as wrong because you planted that in there head.  You are the barista.  Take ownership and don’t blame it on something else.

Why so much hostility?

This is a bigger issue than appears to be.  It stems from lack of proper training, misunderstanding of extraction, and lack of confidence – more importantly though, it’s disrespectful to your customers; What you’re implying is that all day before I walked in and ordered an espresso, it wasn’t good enough. If it was, you’d have served it to me without fuss.

Let me paint this out for you.

Say your experience starts at 10/10.

You walk in the door, say hello, and order your coffee. Still 10.  You then see the barista start re dialling in the espresso. 9/10.  You then watch as he throws out shot after shot in an effort to redial the espresso (which should have been done in the morning). 8/10.  You wait. And wait. And wait for your espresso (which is meant to be fast, hence the name). 7/10.  Finally, he/she hands it to you, but that’s not it.  As you grab it, the barista adds a disclaimer, taking the onus off of them.. 6/10.  Sorry, but in the words of Murky, “that’s really, really, not okay.”

I don’t order a steak at a restaurant and have the chef come out and say, “Sorry, we over cooked that steak.. Let us know if you don’t like it and we’ll make it again.”

In an effort to make it perfect you’ve compromised the entire operation, making me awkward, wishing I’d just got drip.

My whole experience before I even tasted my shot is at best a 6/10.  Not only did I wait longer than was necessary, you also told me it might not be good.

Come on.

I would have been happier had you just pulled a shot and served it to me with a smile.  I’d say thanks. You’d be happy. I’d be happy.  We’d all win.

Maybe I’m making too big a deal of this, but it doesn’t just happen every once in awhile – it happens all the time.  And it frustrates the hell out of me.

Why do we do this?

Because espresso is seldom treated as what it is – another brew method.

There are variables that need to be (and can be) controlled, just as you would with any method.

Here are 4:

1. Dry dose weight - Amount of coffee in the portafilter. Without the proper tools, this will vary slightly every shot – it varies drastically barista to barista.

2. End weight of beverage – Unless you’re weighing every shot this is very difficult to eyeball and will be inconsistant shot to shot.

3. Time during extraction – How many seconds.  Just, use a timer.

4. Grind.

When you make a french press, you weigh the coffee.  You weigh the water.  You time it.  It’s the same, every time.  If you dialed it in properly – it should taste good, every time.

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

Here are 3 things that will help control those variables and give you more consistant results – resulting in more confidence behind the bar.

1. Volumetric: It’s consistent (and that’s what this is about). This allows you to program the amount of water you want to go through every shot, every time.

2. Dosing tools: Also consistent. (that’s what this is about, remember?).  More importantly, it provides consistency between barista to barista. I use Scotty Callaghans tools, they are expensive but they get the job done.

3. Brew Ratios: It makes no difference to me what ratio you use. Just make sure that whatever it is, you can replicate it.

Should you need some guidance, this is where I start.

1/1.75 coffee to water

18g dry

31g end weight

24-28 seconds

I know it’s been said many times before: Get your coffee the way you want it to taste.  Log those parameters.  Dial it in. Repeat.  I know most cafes don’t have a volumetric machine, but you can use time as your handle.  Time every shot. It’s so much better than not using anything.

If you apply these 3 things, your espresso will be consistent.  Any one  on shift will be able to walk on and pull a shot of the same quality.

Dialling in without Volumetric.

Set your dose weight with a dosing tool.  If you don’t have one, use something like a butter knife or the top of your grinder cap, etc. Just keep trying items till you get the weight you want.

Place scale on drip tray, start the shot (and timer) and stop it at desired weight.

You now know what time to stop it at.  Of course in a busy cafe, you can’t weigh every shot – but every once in awhile weigh it to see where you are at.

Over all, this will boost your confidence behind the bar, knowing that everything is controlled as much as it can be.  It will in turn let you be more confident serving a great espresso to everyone who walks in the door – without a disclaimer

Authors Note:  I do not mean to sound aggressive.  Take it with a grain of salt if you will.  We are all on the same mission of serving great coffee and espresso to every customer that walks through our doors.  Thank you for reading, I look forward to your comments.

- Chris.

It’s a way of life.

Annie, Spencer, and Aaron have opened up their darling cafe – and soon to be roaster – Matchstick Coffee.  It hasn’t even been a week since the paper was ripped off the windows and the doors opened, and their shop has already solidified itself in Vancouver’s coffee scene.  At the moment they are offering coffee from Calgary’s Phil & Sebastian, but as you can guess from the name and the pictures, the plan is to roast their coffee in house, something only done in a handful of shops ’round these parts.  The cafe defines the word “spacious” and has plenty of natural light, places to sit, vinyl to listen to, and a communal table you won’t forget.  Coffee is brewed to order via the Kone/Chemex duo, and espresso runs through a forest green Linea before it gets in your cup.  Latte art is included free with every milk drink.

As friends and teachers and former co-employees, I wish these 3 much success and a huge congratulations.

Where: 639 East 15th Avenue (Basically Fraser and Kingsway)
When: 8am-4pm every day.  (If you’re reading this a few weeks after publication – I’d check their website to see if they’ve shortened or extended hours)
Who:  @matchstickyvr
Why:  matchstickcoffee.com

I have found a simple, subtle move that results in a safer flip, and also a more consistent and full extraction for your aeropress.

This developed due to the frustration I was having when I would flip the aeropress, and while plunging down would sometimes notice that in the air pocket some of the wet grounds of the coffee had stuck to the rubber part of the plunger.  When this happened that meant the coffee was OUT of the water, and therefore no longer extracting with the rest of the coffee during the plunge down.  Sometimes there would be none, but other times it would be up to a few grams worth.  This would result in a weaker cup than you had intended as the coffee stuck to the top would only be partially extracted.

So, without further ado, here’s what you do.

After you have prepared your aeropress and gotten to the point where you have screwed the cap on, stop.  Don’t flip it just yet.  While it is still in the upright position, literally pull the top chamber of the aeropress down, as if you are going to push coffee through it upwards.  Don’t stop until there is resistance.  This will feel awkward at first (and look awkward forever) and you will probably feel like you might push too hard and have coffee come through, but you won’t.  You’d have to be pushing down extremely hard and be very absent minded for that to happen, and it will be obvious when to stop.  The goal of this move is to get rid of that half inch or so air pocket that occurs at variant levels depending on how high you connected the bottom plunger to the top chamber at the start.

Now when you do the flip it will be extremely tight and secure, and almost impossible for the plunger to fall off (goodbye burns!).  And most importantly of all, it will ensure that all the coffee is in the water (steeping) the entire time during the plunge down, and not stuck to the rubber.

One effect it will have on your brew method is it will be harder (and therefore take longer) to plunge down without any air between the plunger and the coffee, so you may have to adjust your brew times accordingly.  Or experiment with leaving the smallest gap possible while pushing down.  You’ll figure it out.

It’s a small detail but then so is everything in coffee.

This is what we’ve been up to.

Yes:
mirage triplette
3 grinders. 1 for decaf, 2 for rotating espresso menu
made to order coffee via the Kone.
various alternate brew methods
espresso to go
cream&sugar
vinyl
multi-roaster system that we curate
alley-side service
nuts and candy
baking
loose leaf tea (that we actually drink)
standing bar
Craig Stanghetta
15,000+ nails
hand signals
brothers

No:
soups or sandwiches
ceramic
pretension
Sundays
guns

Crema finally has a little brother.
We can’t wait to open.  Expect us to do so extremely soon.

325 Cambie St.
Vancouver, Canada

For updates follow @revolver_coffee or visit revolvercoffee.ca