Pittsburg, CA will soon have it’s own coffee house that cares with the opening of Steeltown Coffee & Tea. They will be serving fresh roasted Pacific Bay Coffee. Adrian is doing a great job keeping local coffee fans up to date about the progress of his cafe and you can sign up for his newsletter and check on his progress at:

http://www.steeltowncoffee.com/Steeltown_Coffee/info.html

Bean there, done that…Roasting done right

by Adrian Badger, Steeltown Coffee & Tea, Pittsburg, CA – May 23, 2009

Earlier this month I was extremely fortunate to spend an evening roasting coffee with John Laird, the local roastmaster who will be supplying Steeltown Coffee & Tea with his exquisitely roasted coffee beans to be used in our espresso and coffee drinks. John is a charming man with a sparkle in his eye who followed his dream several years ago and began roasting coffee for his own coffeehouse, Pacific Bay. Since opening, John has been dedicated to roasting his coffees in a way that brings out the very finest flavors and aroma of each carefully roasted batch of coffee beans.  

I already had a general understanding of the coffee roasting process when John offered to show me how he works, but after spending several hours perspiring in the heat of the roaster (which, incidentally, is a beautiful work of art itself) I have a new respect for both the green coffee bean, and the roasting process. John’s roasting machine has all the computerized bells and whistles on it but, for John, they are but a tool with which he masterfully sculpts every roast by hand. 

Over the course of the evening I was able to witness the skill of an artist combined with the precision of an engineer. During every minute of the

 roasting period John carefully and accurately adjusted the roaster’s temperature in order to achieve the perfect roast “profile” for the specific beans being roasted. The appropriate roasting time of any given batch of coffee beans varies depending on many factors including the species, the country of origin, the age, and the desired darkness of roast. With many years of experience behind him, John is able to coax the optimal flavor from the beans

 by tweaking time and temperature to reach his goal for that particular batch. While constantly monitoring these variables, John also periodically samples the “darkness” of the batch to ensure things progress as planned and that the aroma, for lack of a better word, “matures” as expected. 

After spending the evening with John I clearly see a parallel between the art of fine wine making and artisanal coffee roasting. A difference, however, is that while wine ages over time in cellars, coffee “ages” during the relatively brief roasting process. Wine makers have a lot more time and flexibility to determine when their product has reached its prime. Coffee roasters must make the same determination within minutes or seconds rather than weeks or months. 

Artisanal, small-batch roasters like John bring something unique to the specialty coffee industry that you can’t find in mass-produced coffee beans; a respect for the bean that translates into a miniature masterpiece in every cup. Steeltown Coffee & Tea is fortunate to be able to offer John’s works of art and I look forward to sharing the enjoyment of his meticulously roasted coffees with you.

From the March 2009 issue of Diablo Magazine:

Local Roast

The East Bay’s coffee cup overflows with home-grown roasters.

By Julie Miller Dowling

"HEY, YOU. Yeah, you. Drop that venti half-caf toffee-nut latte, and slowly back away from the counter.

It’s time to go local.

From all-over-the-East Bay roasters like Peet’s, to neighborhood favorites like Pacific Bay , to up-and-comers like Catahoula, Diabloland java proves that Seattle isn’t the only place that can roast up a good batch of beans.

All of these locally roasted coffees can be ordered and sent to your home."

….

"PACIFIC BAY
Where: Pacific Bay’s Walnut Creek café, Havana, and Blakes.
Top seller: Espresso Obsesso.
Taste: Rich, sweet, and smooth, with pronounced bittersweet chocolate.
Check this out: Pacific Bay roasts in its café, so customers can watch."

What a weekend! I truly hope that all who attended had a good time. We sure did.

Ben Perkins, our barista and first time competitor did a great job and came in at a very respectable 13th place out of 38. Well done Ben! We are proud. Check out photos of Ben here and the entire weekend (including our own Barista Stephanie fire dancing) here.

Some of the non-competition part highlights include:

• The Gaia Art Center was packed, we estimate over 1000 came during the weekend & Friday, March 28 was declared Specialty Coffee Day in Berkeley by Mayor Tom Bates.

• 38 competitors, 27 judges, 55 sponsors, and more than 100 volunteers made this event happen (it was completely sponsor and volunteer driven. Thank you to all those that helped make it all work!)

• Over 1000 cups of Clover brewed coffee (the company recently acquired by Starbucks) and many more espressos and cappuccinos were served free to attendees at the “4th Machine” (3 espresso machines are used in the competition, the 4th one is for the attendees to enjoy)

• $513 in tips from the 4th Machine was raised for Coffee Kids

• Baristas for Bikes/Bikes to Rwanda raised just under $3,187!

“The 2008 WRBC was a fantastic event not only for total funds raised for the organization but more importantly for building key relationships with cafes, roasters, and industry individuals that believe in our programs and want to help us to reach our goals.

The farmers in Rwanda are looking to us to bring transportation resources that will improve their coffee and in the end help in economic development.

We look forward to furthering the connections we made and completing the circle from consumer to roaster to producing farmer.

Thanks to everyone who helped us achieve such a success.”

Clara Seasholtz, Executive Director, Bikes to Rwanda

The weekend got great press too! Click on the links to read, hear and see the coverage.

Berkeley’s Specialty Coffee Day Declaration

KCBS Newstalk 740AM Radio (About the Bay with Mike Sugarman featuring John Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee / Jer Swigart, Open Door / Kerry Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee / Chris Baca, Ritual Coffee / Brent Fortune, Crema Cafe + Bakery / Ellie Matuzak, Coffee Solutions / Sarah Allen, Barista Magazine)

NPR KQED / California Report Radio (with Lisa Morehouse featuring David Latourell, Clover / Lisa Suela / John Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee / Kyle Glanville, Intelligentsia / Chris Baca, Ritual Roasters

ABC Channel 7 News (with Lyanne Melendez featuring Giovanni Sacco, Coffee Creek / Ellie Matuzak, Coffee Solutions / Keith Gerhke, Flying Goat / Kerry Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee / John Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee / Noe Castro, Guatemala 2006 Barista Champ)

Oakland Tribune /San Jose Mercury Newspapers (featuring Jared Truby, Verve Coffee Roasters / Kerry & John Laird, Pacific Bay Coffee

We still have a few event t-shirts and other collectibles – look for them in our Walnut Creek cafe while supplies last!

Specialty Coffee Association of America’s
Sensory Skills Workshop Coming to Berkeley, CA

BERKELEY, Calif. U.S.A. (March 17, 2008) – Pacific Bay Coffee Co. & Micro-Roastery joins forces with Joseph Rivera, Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Director of Science & Technology and keeper of coffeechemistry.com by offering two Sensory Skills workshops, typically only available at the annual SCAA Conference, held this year in Minneapolis.  The workshop coincides with the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) Western Regional Baristas Competition (WRBC) held on March 28-30 at the Gaia Arts Center in Berkeley, Calif. 

“We’re offering the unique opportunity where attendees can find out if they are a “Low-Taster”, a “Medium-Taster” or a “Super-Taster by bringing Joseph Rivera, Director of Science and Technology at the Specialty Coffee Association of America to the event. There will two sessions on Saturday, March 29 where foodies who are interested in coffee, wine, chocolate or taste in general can learn more” states Kerry Laird, Founder at Pacific Bay Coffee Co. & Micro-Roastery, the event Host and Coordinator.

The objective is to measure the participant’s ability to “taste” and identify varying thresholds of different tastes. According to the SCAA, only 25% of those taking the test will pass and then fall in to the medium or super-taster categories. The information can apply to foodies of all ranges from chocolate to wine to beer and coffee aficionados.

The test consists of three parts. Small amounts of sugar, sour citric acid and salt are added to water. The first part is meant to familiarize participants with the differences between three levels of each sample. The objective is to order the samples by intensities within their same group (i.e., sweet intensity level one, sweet intensity level two, sweet intensity level three). The answers are self corrected so everyone gets the idea and 100%. 

The second part of the test is trickier because unlike the first time around the samples aren’t self corrected yet they must be put in to categories of sweet, sour and salt and then sorted by intensity. The minimum passing score for this part is 80% (falling in the medium taster category). Super-tasters score 100%.

The third part of the test is difficult, ever for super-tasters. From a group of eight cups, the samples must be identified by the number of tastes each has (i.e. sweet and sour or sweet, sour and bitter) and then the intensity level of each taste (low, medium, high). A passing score here is 70% for a medium taster and 80% for a super-taster. Joseph points out that that taste bud density is genetic and worrying about performance was pointless. Tasters have more taste buds than non-tasters, super-tasters have the most.

Seats are limited and registration forms can be found at the event website, www.wrbc2008.com.

The WRBC, which is hosted by Pacific Bay Coffee Co. & Micro-Roastery and sponsored by Monin Gourmet Syrups, Guittard Chocolate Co., Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and InterAmerican Coffee, will feature top baristas from California and Hawaii. Competitors prepare and serve four espresso, four cappuccino and four original signature drinks of their own creation all in 15 minutes, to 4 sensory judges, while being rated by 2 technical judges.  Scores are based on drink taste, presentation, technical skills and cleanliness. Last year’s event was won by current United States Barista Champion, Heather Perry of Klatch Roasting.

The mission of the SCAA’s 10 regional barista competitions, including the WRBC, is to encourage and recognize the professional achievement in the art and skill of espresso preparation and service. 

SCAA’s regional events culminate with the 2008 United States Barista Championship on May 2-5 in Minneapolis, Minn.  The event coincides with the SCAA’s 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition.      

Just a few thoughts regarding our current listing of coffees: first, if you haven’t tried our new Rwanda “Musasa” (Fair Trade) you must! The reason for this special bean is in honor of this month’s Western Regional Barista Competition which presents us with the opportunity to support our friends in Rwanda with better transportation: new bikes!

Anyhow, Bikes for Rwanda and Baristas for Bikes are working together to help raise support for this worthy cause. In fact, a 25 cents from pound  sold of our Rwanda coffee sold goes directly to making this possibility a reality. If you have more questions about how you can help, ask a barista or take a look at the display near the espresso bar.

 Now, about the coffee itself … It is a light/medium roast, clean with pleasant acidity, hints of apricot and pineapple, milk chocolate undertones, soupy and rich. This coffee definitely stands out as unique and we will only be offering it through the end of this month… So give it a try!

Now, on the note of passing on good energy … Be kind and rewind. And remember to eat your veggies.
Happy Day,

Your Vegan Roaster,

 Sarah

This Sunday, 3/16/08, there will be a Bicycle Coffee Crawl in the cit-tay.  Super chill, we’ll be riding around to small independent coffeehouses with maybe a sweet bike shop or two in-between, raising awareness of the Baristas for Bikes cause and inviting the smaller guys to check out the larger specialty coffee community at the Western Regional Barista Competiton.  Anyone with a bike can come along (feel free to invite friends and interested customers) – just be prepared to bike the streets of San Francisco under the influence of massive amounts of espresso.  The crawl will leave PacBay at 1:00 sharp (as soon as I hop off bar) – we’ll bike to WC BART and head out to the city together. Can’t make it at that time?  Call me up to meet at BART or mid-route (exact route TBA).  We’ll bike a couple of hours and try to make it back to the BART before dark.  Don’t forget your helmet and train/coffee money ($8.50 round trip)!

And lastly – if you feel the call to help out on your own, there are resources for you.  Just see me or go to here to get your copy of a donation form and some more information.  You can start collecting any time, the two things to remember are checks should be made out to Bikes to Rwanda (NOT to us), and all donations should be collected before 3/30/08, when you can turn them in at the competition for your own sweet T-shirt!

-Aaron

I recently acquired a West Bend Poppery II from Ebay in order to finally begin roasting coffee out of my house. The great thing about home roasting is that not only are you able to have hands-on involvement with every step of preparing your coffee, but you also have a huge smorgasbord of exotic green bean offerings to choose from. Lately I’ve been interested in some of the more exotic flavor coffee profiles, such as a musty Monsoon Malabar from India, Aged Sumatra, and of course, Cup of Excellence.

The West Bend Poppery II is definitely set up for lighter roast profiles because I can’t get the temperature past 425 degrees, and most often pull out my roasts at around that temp, before second crack. Stopping the roast before second crack is allowing my beans to really stand naked and exposed for what they truly are. Light roasting some sample beans from Anacafe, from Antigua, Guatemala, produced a wonderfully juicy, soupy cup. On the other hand, the inability to roast out some of the funk or develop much body in my Aged Sumatra left it tasting kind of flat and sweaty. The Sumatra can handle a much darker roast, but even when I left it in for an eternity (16 mins, when others are pulled out at 6-8) I still could get it hot enough to push it through second crack. A Costa Rica Horqueta Top 50, which is features coffee cherries from picked from only the top 50 meters where coffee is the mos.

This weekend our roaster, Sarah, and I are going to work on modifying the machine a bit more and hopefully I’ll be able to tap into her knowledge in order to produce better roasts. This whole experience really drives home the level of expertise it takes to consistently roast great coffee like we have in the shop.

Roasting Day — Today I was delightfully surprised by two things: First, a shared cup of my friend Sam’s first batch of home-roasted Costa Rican (“Horqueta”) via Poppery II. Although light in body, I found it pleasantly soupy/juicy, clean, with a hint of lemon that danced on my tongue. I’m really amazed at the results of the West Bend Popcorn Popper… Fully modified, this home-roaster does a better than average job. Nice work Samuel!

And secondly, on a completely different topic, I was also encouraged this morning by one of our customer’s recent addition to my “must read” book list: Plainsong by Kent Haruf and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. The weather has been perfect (rainy) for getting lost in a good book as well as roasting coffee… Two of my favorite ways to spend the day.

More from your vegan coffee roaster later…

One of the main questions customers ask me in the shop is:

How come my coffee doesn’t taste as good as it does in the store?  Home brewing success is simple when a few fundamental guidelines are met.  

• 1st and foremost:  use freshly roasted coffee.  There is a common misconception, however, that the very freshest roast produces the best cup of coffee.  The first few days after roasting, the coffee is still releasing natural gases, and will often result in an overly acidic cup, without all the complex flavor sensations.  I always recommend that people wait at least 24-48 hours after the roast date for optimum performance from their freshly roasted coffee.  The 3-7 day period is when coffee is at its prime.  At Pacific Bay we roast coffee twice a week, so you shouldn’t need to buy more than what you need for a week’s worth of coffee consumption.  Treat coffee as you would fresh bread and you will see much better results from your home brew.  
•  2^nd on the list: A high-quality burr grinder.  Next to freshly roasted coffee, your grinder is far and away the most important factor in raising your home brew quality mediocre to mind-blowing.  Some people grind in the store, which is OK, except coffee oxidizes within seconds of exposure to air, and some of your coffee’s flavor nuances are lost to staleness even by the time you get it home.  If coffee must be pre-ground, store it in an air-tight container at room temperature.  Don’t store it is the refrigerator or freezer.   The cheap 3^rd cousin to a burr grinder is a blade grinder, but I don’t recommend these either.  The problem with blade grinders is that they chop up the beans into irregularly sized pieces resulting in irregular extraction.  A burr grinder will allow you to calibrate your grind specifically to your brewing method and can be adjusted to fix any discrepancies (example: press pots brewed at 4 mins coming out too weak, adjust the grind one notch finer). Virtuouso and Kitchen Aid both make very high quality economic burr grinders.  Both can be calibrated for espresso (fine) to French press (course) and everywhere in between. Check out www.coffeegeek.com for in depth reviews on grinders.   
• In 3^rd place: The correct ratio of coffee. 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 6oz of water is a good standard. People often ask me: is this or that coffee strong?  Strength of coffee in terms of caffeine is related to the ratio of water to coffee, not the individual coffee itself.  Note: French roasts, or very dark roasted coffees actually have less caffeine than lighter roasts.  Of course I know that when customers refer to strength, they are often referring to flavor, which I will touch on in a later installment.  Weak tasting coffee more often comes from the ratio of coffee to water than the coffee itself.   
• 4th: Ditch your automatic coffee maker.  Automatics often shoot water directly on top of the coffee grounds, over extracting one section of the coffee (usually the middle) without extracting enough of the rest.  The result: a bitter brew, and your freshly roasted beans are suddenly wasted on a “fancy” brewer.  The irony here is that automatics cost far more than a basic pour-over Melita or Bodum French Press.  Both are easy to use, cost under $20, and make far superior coffee to any automatic for the simple reason that they uniformly brew all of the coffee grounds and allow you to stir the “slurry” (wet grounds) when needed. 
• 5^th: Water temperature and freshness.  You should always use cold, filtered or bottled water when brewing coffee.  At the store, we have separate filtration systems for our coffee brewers.  If you are using water straight off the tap, the hard minerals in your water could be the source of your home brewing woes (coffee is 98% water).  In regards to temperature, water used for coffee brewing should be just below boiling.  That means that if you can still see bubbles on the water, it is too hot.  However if the water isn’t hot enough, it won’t properly brew coffee.  The perfect temperature is approximately (195-200°F), or right when the bubbles subside from boiling water.  Boil your filtered water, count to ten, and pour it over your freshly ground coffee.   
• 6^th: Re-heating coffee: Re-applying heat to coffee creates bitterness and hot plates burn coffee.  If you want to save your coffee for later, store it in a carafe.  No microwaves! 

I grew up in Phoenix were there weren’t so much seasons as “hot” and “not quite so hot” times of year.  So it’s been fun to watch leaves change colors and fall off, and to actually make use of the seat warmers in my car (favorite feature!).  I do appreciate our mild winters, but I like that it gets a little cold here- it makes all of the winter things that existed in AZ actually make sense.  Hot cocoa, hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, and scarfs are just confusing when  you’re wearing shorts.  At the cafe, we’ve got winter in full swing.  
The halls are decked, there are gift baskets to be had, and of course, there are our seasonal drink specials.  It’s nice that it’s cold enough out that a Peppermint Mocha (with a nice swirl of whipcream!) seems like a lovely treat, and eggnog lattes are here!  We also have continued our October and November specials, so you can get a Gingerbread White Mocha or a Pumpkin Spice Latte too!

Also, we’ve got some great gifts in the store for whatever holiday you celebrate.  My personal favorite (and what will be distributed to most on my list) is freshly roasted coffee!  If you’re shipping it, we can heat seal it to keep it the very freshest as it travels.  If you’re shopping for non-coffee lovers, we have a great selection of teas in fancy tins, and our Garland Spice tea just tastes like Christmas.  We also have sparkley bobbles from World of Good- it’s all fair trade, so you can get a great gift and feel good about it too!

Stop by and enjoy winter with us!