Blog
Announcing the Sunday Afternoon Music Series
Hi all. I am excited to announce that the Royal Bean will host a Sunday afternoon music series this winter. We have teamed up with several local musicians as well as 317 Main Street. This will be a great opportunity to get out and enjoy your favorite beverage and support the local music scene. Our first guest will be acoustic guitarist Gary Richardson on November 6. On November 13 Flight 317 will entertain us with some folk and bluegrass.
If you, or someone you know, would like to be considered for a slot to play, let me know (link to contact page). I only ask that it be family friendly and mostly acoustic.
I hope everyone can get down here and show there support. These are free shows, but of course your appreciation to the musicians is always appropriated.
Like Espresso and Gelato? This is for you.
By Kent Simmons
So just imagine . . . a cappucino cup, with a scoop of espresso chip gelato, then topped off with a double shot and served with a spoon. How fun is that? It actually has a name – the Affogato – and you can order yours today with the tasty Gelato Fiasco.
The Almighty Affogato... Get yours today!
Myths of Coffee
By Kent Simmons
In this post Kent Simmons from Freeport Coffee Roasting sets us straight on a lot of coffee misconceptions.
Coffee is “fresh” if it is in packaging:
False.Good quality packaging (we use a three layer bag) and nitrogen flushing will delay staling, but it doesn’t stop it. And older coffee in the best package will go stale very quickly once the bag is open. Try to purchase coffee that is within one month of roasting.
Dark roast has more caffeine:
Yes and no. Coffee swells a lot when it is roasted dark (that’s why the bags of dark are so big), so if you measure your coffee by volume (as most people would at home) and use the same amount as you would for a lighter roast, then your cup will have relatively less caffeine. If you measure by weight, you’ll likely have more.
Oily beans are better:
Almost always false. All coffee beans have oil in them and when your beans are shiny, it just means the oil has come to the surface. Oil emerges when coffee is roasted dark – and also as coffee ages. And, when the oil comes to the outside of the bean, it goes rancid faster (the smell you associate with stale coffee). Especially beware very oily beans sold in bulk in a store with low turnover.
Espresso is a type of bean:
False. Coffee comes from countries, not from “espresso.” When you buy a shot of espresso or a drink made with espresso, the coffee is usually a blend that has been developed to work well when prepared in an espresso machine.
Espresso is a roast level:
Again, false. There is out there in coffee land beans sold as “espresso roast,” and sadly this often means a very dark roast level. This is done in large part so that the coffee taste can be detected when it is drowned in large quantities of milk. (Our Giddy Goats is roasted medium, and you won’t see any oil on it unless it gets old.)
If it comes out of an espresso machine and it is brown, it is good espresso:
Don’t get me started on this one. Far and away the greatest misuse of coffee is the business that jams out its espresso in five second shots, adds a bunch of oversteamed milk and then charges the big bucks for a “cappuccino” or “latte.” I see this happen far too often on $10,000 espresso machines and I want to cry. A good shot of espresso takes 25-30 seconds.
Decaf has no caffeine:
False. By standard, decaf can have 3% caffeine. And in practice, it seems to sometimes have more than that.
It is too expensive to change the way I am doing things:
False. I can improve your coffee experience for far under $10 (write me back if you want specifics). If you spend too much time on CoffeeGeek and other websites (as I have), you can believe that you need the swanky gear to make good coffee. What you really need, more than anything else, is a desire to make good coffee.
Caffeine is bad for you:
I would never tell you this, but then I am not a doctor. Here’s some more information for you: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20187977/ns/today_health/
Habits
At some point, I talk with almost everyone I encounter about coffee – and the habits of coffee consumption repeat themselves with amazing regularity. I’d swear there was an addiction at play here!
Drinking the same coffee:
I hear this one expressed as “we always buy . . .”. I’d guess this has a lot to do with a confidence in a certain brand, origin or roast style – perhaps with some bad experiences that made someone regret experimentation. Here, I’d say if you feel the urge to tiptoe beyond your comfort zone, stay in reach of what you are used to; try a less dark roast, another coffee from the same part of the world or coffee from another origin that is roasted the same way as what you usually drink. I’ll be happy to offer some suggestions or send some samples with your next order if you’d like to give this a try.
Brewing the same way:
This is the most common habit of all, and the brewer of choice is usually an automatic drip coffee maker. If that coffee tastes great to you, then by no means change it. But, if you have a feeling something isn’t right, then try some experiments. Use more coffee. Use less coffee. Grind finer or more coarse. Take the coffee off the burner when the brewing is done and put it in a thermos or carafe. Taste the water you are using to brew – does it taste funny in the same way the coffee does? Change the water source or filter it. Change brewing methods.
Storing the same way:
Try to get a sense of what stale coffee smells like, and then pay some attention to how you store your coffee – including what you use to store it, how tightly you seal the bag or vessel, whether it is kept at room temperature and if you are storing it around other foods with strong smells. There’s an article in the preparation section of our site with some more suggestions.
Grinding the same way:
Yes, the grinder police are back – but just for a moment. Make sure you match your grind size to the brewing method you are using. Use a coarser grind when the coffee will be in contact with water for a long time (as with a French press) and a finer grind when the contact is shorter (as in espresso).
Accepting office coffee:
Coffee fuels the productivity of the modern worker. Feed the worker bad coffee, get bad work. Good coffee equals good work. If your workplace still has one of those dreaded machines where someone makes coffee first thing in the morning and others reluctantly drink the increasingly concentrated dregs throughout the day, fight back! Start an office coffee club. Make your own. Go out on strike unless they buy you all a Keurig. Come to the Royal Bean before and during work.
Obsessing over coffee quality while traveling:
I had a conversation with some people about this one yesterday, and I realized that I had only snapped out of this habit less than a year ago. Here, you end up in a hotel somewhere and the only available coffee is awful. You then get up earlier than you should and drive or walk endlessly looking for a great cafe that isn’t there, then settle for Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts or something worse. I did this for so long, and some of the successful adventures were awesome. But too many were not. My solution was to get a funky little camping grinder and tea infuser and make my own. But don’t give up on the searching; doing some research in advance of your trip can help you know whether the killer cafe pulling SO shots of DP Ethiopian Ademe Bedane on a vintage manual piston La Marzocco is there to be found.
The Extraordinary Service of Chris’ Coffee
By Kent Simmons
A few years ago, I had the extreme good fortune to stumble on a used La Spaziale espresso machine at a very good price, and so I bought this for our home. This is an Italian-made, dual boiler (meaning the coffee and steam water heat independently) machine that is suitable for use in a small commercial operation, and making my daily shots on this every day has been a joy and a privilege.
Until a month ago.
The problem began when the ground fault circuit the machine was plugged into began tripping whenever I turned it on. Like any stupid, willful male, I then used a cheater (which bypasses the ground) to make the machine work. This fix worked just fine until one day I touched a metal surface on the machine while it was on. The resulting ZAP! was painful, and even more painful was the second zap I experienced when I touched it again to make sure.
I was out of tricks at this point, so I called the service department at Chris’ Coffee in Albany, New York. For a machine like this (think complicated and Italian made), local service isn’t an option, and Chris and his team have always had a great reputation for their knowledge, service and parts inventory, so they were my first choice.
In a twenty-minute call, their technician helped me isolate the problem to the heating element in the steam boiler, and they sent me a replacement part. A photo of the old boiler element is shown at left, and if ever a part needed replacement, this was it. Look closely, and you’ll see that the tubing is split throughout its length, exposing the electrical element underneath.
To fast forward a bit here, that part came, I installed it, and then I ran into a succession of problems getting the machine back together and working. These adventures culminated the other day in the snapping off of a very small threaded fitting on a valve, leaving me with a vexing problem that I lacked the tools or knowhow to resolve. The machine is now on its way to Chris’ Coffee for repair of that problem and a general overhaul that will hopefully keep me problem-free for years to come.
My experience with Chris’ over the last two weeks has caused me to reflect on the rarity of great customer service in our world today – and what being good at this will do for Chris’ business, and being bad at it will do for others.
In the last three weeks, I have called the service department there ten times, as they graciously walked me through repairs to my machine. Every person I spoke with was polite, gracious and patient, and clearly the most important thing to each of them in those moments was helping me through my problem. Secondary in those calls was their other work, making commission, their text messages or their personal problems. I, their customer, came first.
In the course of these calls, they sold me three small parts. Not a lot of profit. But they reinforced their steadfast reputation as the provider of the best service in this industry. As a customer, I left these calls absolutely devoted to them, and I will never take my business anywhere else. When someone wants a recommendation as to where to buy an espresso machine or a grinder, that’s where I send them. And when I talk in casual conversation about great customer service, they are one of the two companies (along with Apple Computer), I will use as an example.
So for the owner, Chris Nachtrieb, fostering this commitment to service has the effect of selling more products and services to me (into perpetuity), and enlisting me as an ambassador to promote his business to others. And judging by the literally hundreds of posts in the online coffee forums that sing his praises, this commitment has been longstanding and consistent.
Let’s look at the flipside.
About three months ago, a friend of mine walked into a local bike shop to buy a small part. He knew the owner of the shop and the employee working behind the counter. When the part, which cost less than $10 was rung up on the register, my friend wondered why the price was so high, and why he hadn’t received his typical discount as a member of a local cycling club. The response was that this shop didn’t offer that discount anymore and that the price stuck. This was delivered with a dismissive attitude that said that this single customer wasn’t important and that helping to support the community by offering a very small discount to members of a non-profit trail advocacy organization wasn’t something they wanted to do anymore.
Since my friend’s experience, I’ve heard this incident mentioned by at least ten people, and its been discussed in conversations with large groups, so I know many more have heard the story. The reputation of this shop has plummeted, both in terms of individual customer service, and as a member of our community. They have lost sales and they have lost customers, and instead of having people go through the community raving about them (as I do Chris’ Coffee), the same people scorn them.
I don’t think it;s worth it. If we treat our customers with grace and respect, they’ll come back and they will spread the word. And if we don’t they won’t, and their business will go somewhere else.
Something to think about.
What is My Favorite Coffee? I’ll Tell Ya
People often ask me what my personal favorite coffee is. Wow! That’s a seriously loaded question! I usually bow out with a simple answer like, “I like all coffee as long as it fresh”. But, since I have the opportunity to expand on this, I’ll give a more detailed explanation of what coffee means to me and why I find it so incredibly fascinating.
First of all, to me, coffee is not “just coffee”. Coffee is a complex beverage deserving of the same culinary recognition we give wine. There are incredible variations in coffee. Different regions around the globe grow distinctly different coffee. Within each growing region comes a different set of growing conditions that give a coffee a particular flavor. To further complicate things, there are different processing methods , which impact the taste of the coffee.
Then there are factors that affect the coffee that are beyond the farmer’s control. Changing weather patterns, flood, droughts, disease and pests are all things the farmer has to contend with. The coffee that we fall in love with today may not be available tomorrow. Or, if it is available, it might be strikingly different because of one or more of the afore-mentioned factors. Therefore, it is impossible for me to find one particular coffee that I like and stick with it. Like the fine wine enthusiast, I have to judge the coffee based on taste and not a preconceived notion of what that coffee should taste like.
I can say I like dry processed Brazils for their snappy crispness and fruity undertones. But what good does that do if, due to a changing weather pattern, they were not able to dry process coffee in Brazil? I also like a nice dry processed Ethiopia Sidamo for its distinctive berry notes. But, I have also had some excellent wet processed Ethiopia Harrars, so it is more than just the Ethiopian origin I love.
Therefore, I judge each coffee based on its own merits.
So, one can ask, “How do I know what to buy when I go to the store?” Again, this is a seriously loaded question.
Most of what you find in a grocery store are blends created by combining of two or more coffees. We can compare these to what we call “single origin” coffees. Like it sounds, these are coffees that come from a specific origin (farm or cooperative) within a particular country.
Why do we see so many blends out there? There are basically two approaches to blends. First we can blend one or more coffees together to achieve an overall balance of flavor we are trying to achieve. Or, we can blend one nice coffee with a filler coffee to be able to offer a less expensive result (you will see this often with Kona and Jamaica Blue Mountain blends). This is often done for marketing reasons where the name rather than the coffee is what has value to the seller. Coffee from this motivation for blending is not something I am interested in tasting. I am always disappointed with these coffees. It seems this method of blending is done for a marketing ploy and not for taste quality. However, when blending is done for taste quality, then a blend can be really special. A good espresso is always a blend as are French Roasts. We took some of our favorite coffees and brought them together in a blend we call “Road Trip!“ Unfortunately, most grocery store blends are not about the taste but rather the economics.
I recommend experimenting with different coffees to find one you like. Be flexible and understand that all coffee is not created equal. Try to find a small regional roaster who can not only provide you with superior products but also guide you towards the types of coffees that suit your palate. Find a good café that can offer advice and guide you on your quest and stay away from the grocery store!
What is my favorite coffee of all time? A wet processed Panama called La Esmeralda. How good was it? So good that I’ll spend a long, wonderful, time sampling coffees to find a better one.
Thanks to all those who have come to the Royal Bean and sampled our coffee. We are fortunate to have great coffee from Freeport Coffee Roasting. (And, yes they roasted that wonderful Panama). You can by their coffee from their website, Bow Street Market or from us at the Royal Bean. I can guarantee you it will always be fresh and roasted with love and pride.