Be the bean

Four simple steps toward quality coffee consumption

When it comes to coffee, most of us think in terms of utility—it’s cheap, easy to make, good with pancakes and a delivery system for caffeine. That’s awfully hard to beat, but a new generation of coffee shop owners is taking things to the next level. Although you might consider your 13-syllable Starbucks order the peak of coffee complexity, that nonfat, three-pump, double-whip pumpkin frappe latte is amateur stuff. Whether you’re looking to delve deeper into the ever-deepening world of craft coffee or you just want to impress (or annoy) people the next time you’re out to brunch, here’s what you need to know.

1 // The roast with the most 

For most people, the only difference from one coffee to the next is the color of the tin can it comes in. But dozens of variables—from origin to processing method to roasting—influence the taste and aroma of your morning brew.

“Coffee reacts to its surroundings the same way that wine does,” said James Morgan, barista at Double Shot Coffee Company, 1730 S. Boston Ave. “Every growing region—Africa, South America, Central America—has different soil, different sunlight, different weather, and the flavor of the coffee can be totally different even between farms in the same region.”

Some roasters prefer to explore the nuanced flavors of single-origin coffees. Others—like Tulsa’s Topeca Coffee Roasters, 115 W. 5th Street—blend beans from different regions to create depth and complexity, as in their Breakfast Blend or BIGFOOT coffee blend, crafted for Joebot’s Coffee Bar, 119 S. Detroit Ave.

2 // Keep it fresh

I vacillate constantly between obsessing over things and not giving a shit, which could explain why I have a fresh bag of coffee beans perched regally on my kitchen counter and a crumpled bag of store-brand ground coffee jammed between bags of fresh berries and year-old leftovers in my freezer. That bag of neglected grounds will do in a pinch, but, like the frostbitten leftovers, they leave me with the distinct feeling I could do better.

“The best thing people could do is to stop buying bags of pre-ground coffee that have been sitting on the grocery store shelves for months,” says James Markiewicz, bar manager at Foolish Things, 1001 S. Main Street. “Even if you brew it in the same [automatic drip brewer], you’re going to notice the difference when you use fresh beans.”

“We recommend using the coffee within seven to 10 days of roasting; after that it starts to taste noticeably stale,” Morgan said. “We want our customers to get to experience coffee like we do, so we roast on Mondays and offer $2 off bags of beans on Tuesdays.”

The key to keeping your beans fresh, according to the National Coffee Association, is to store them away from air, moisture, heat and light. So—you know—not on the kitchen windowsill.

3 // Ditch the drip

From simple pour-overs and French presses to chemistry lab-worthy manual drippers, vacuum brewers and $300 automatic outfits, there are dozens of possible machines between you and a cup of Joe. 

For those unwilling to drop a lot of cash, Morgan and Markiewicz both recommend a pour-over device—so named because you brew coffee by slowly pouring hot water over the grounds—like the Hario V60.

“There are so many variables that influence how your coffee tastes: the amount of coffee you use, the temperature of the water, how much water you actually use and how long the water sits in the grounds,” Markiewicz said. “A manual method like this gives you more control so you can get a consistent outcome.”

4 // Cold as ice

In the cool, dark mornings of the late fall or early winter, few things start the day better than a hot cup of coffee. But for now, when the mercury sometimes still hovers in the mid 90s, it can be hard to imagine sucking down anything warmer than room temperature. Sure, you could just throw a few espresso shots over ice, but serious coffee lovers know that when it comes to iced coffee, cold brew is king.

Cold brewing is a time-intensive process in which grounds are soaked at room temperature for roughly 24 hours. The resulting concentrate, diluted and poured over ice, is smooth and fruity tasting, without any of the bitterness of hot-brewed coffee. For an even more interesting cold-brew experience, check out the oak-aged variety at Foolish Things.

“The way coffee is evolving is taking a lot of cues from the wine and spirit industries,” Foolish Things owner Justin Carpenter said. “So we take our cold brew concentrate and finish it with oak, like wine or whisky. The result is a really interesting cup of coffee.”

Ready to take your coffee snobbery to the next level? Check out these resources for more knowledge than your overly-caffeinated little brain can handle:

Roast Magazine

Fresh Cup Magazine

Sprudge.com—Coffee news and culture from around the Web

Jimseven.com—World champion barista James Hoffmann’s coffee blog