Pacific Bay Coffee Co.

Local Walnut Creek artist Ruth Kolman Brophy is exhibiting her colorful acrylic on canvas monotype abstracts through out the month of August – come check it out!

“I am a native of Austria and lived there until my early twenties. After high school I attended the College of Art and Design of the City of Linz, after which I studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene for a year. I enrolled in summer school at the Chicago Art Institute. I married and moved to Minneapolis. I attended classes at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design while raising four children.I maintained my own studio and participated in the local art scene. I received awards and
commissions. I leased a press for monotypes and participated in Open Studio and Art Walk events.California and the West Coast beckoned, however, and I moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2004.”

Ruth Kolman Brophy

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.      

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.

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! 

Shortly after we opened in February 2004, we started hearing many stories about where our customers are taking their fresh roasted Pacific Bay Coffee Co. beans so they can enjoy a good cup when they travel.

So we started a photo album on where the beans have been traveled to- Europe? Camping? Australia? The Beach? Disneyland?…wherever…heck, your backyard is nice! The photo shown is in Honduras.

If you send a digital file we’ll post it on our Flickr account or you can post it in the Flick Pacific Bay Coffee Group album. Photos can also be sent to info@pacificbaycoffee.com. Be sure to include yourself in the photo along with some of the scenery and the bag of Pacific Bay Coffee Co. beans or you in some Pacific Bay gear.

You can brew great coffee at home by following a couple of basic rules. First start with fresh good tasting water. Grind fresh-roasted coffee just before brewing for best flavor and aromatics. Use the correct grind for your brewer. If you notice bitterness, the grind may be too fine. Use the proper amount of coffee. About 2 tablespoons for each 6 ounces of water will produce a well balanced cup Most home coffee brewers have a cup indicator that measures 4 ounces on some and 6 ounces on others. Measure your brewer to know how much water it uses per batch. To get the most out of your coffee, start with these basics and adjust to your taste.

Published in the Contra Costa Times, November 9, 2006

You can brew great coffee at home by following a couple of basic rules. First start with fresh good tasting water. Grind fresh-roasted coffee just before brewing for best flavor and aromatics. Use the correct grind for your brewer. If you notice bitterness, the grind may be too fine. Use the proper amount of coffee. About 2 tablespoons for each 6 ounces of water will produce a well balanced cup Most home coffee brewers have a cup indicator that measures 4 ounces on some and 6 ounces on others. Measure your brewer to know how much water it uses per batch. To get the most out of your coffee, start with these basics and adjust to your taste.

Published in the Contra Costa Times, November 9, 2006

Many people want to know the best way to store roasted coffee. Ideally, coffee should be stored in an airtight container such as a crockery or dark glass jar. Keep it in a cool dark place. Buy enough fresh roasted coffee to last about a week. If you won’t have access to fresh coffee and want to preserve the some for an extended period of time, there is an answer. Freezing works only on fresh roasted coffee to extend the initial freshness. Once you remove it from the freezer, keep it out and treat it as though it were fresh. Returning it will freeze condensation on to the beans, which will ruin the flavor and aromatic compounds.

Published in the Contra Costa Times, October 26, 2005

When grinding coffee before brewing, it is important to match the correct grind coarseness to your brewing method. Faster brewing methods such as espresso require a find grind, while slower brewing methods such as French Press require a coarser grind. Too fine a grind and the brew becomes bitter and over extracted.

Published in the Contra Costa Times, March 30, 2005