Latest / Coffee People Podcast / S5:E17 - Coffee Smarter: Coffee Bloom and SCA Water Standards

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S5:E17 - Coffee Smarter: Coffee Bloom and SCA Water Standards · Coffee People Podcast

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I'm Andrea. One of the hosts of the voice of
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San Diego podcast, Every week I get together with the other
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editors at voice and explain the news that matters in San Diego
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elections, politics law, enforcement, big investigations,
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and some fun stuff. The great palm tree debate,
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ranked Choice, voting bike lane Mania.
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It's great journalism and a lot of fun, every Friday, wherever
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you, listen to podcast again, that's voice of San Diego.
0:46
Hey, good morning everyone. Welcome to season 5 episode. 17
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of the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
0:52
I'm Ryan Walt and this is the show where I bring you the
0:55
stories of coffee professionals, entrepreneurship and coffee
0:58
education, a quick Logistics, note some technical
1:02
difficulties, delayed, the drop of the second.
1:04
Portion of my interview, with Nick Berardi, had Roaster at
1:07
most or coffee. Sorry, for anyone seeing my
1:10
posts about it and then not finding it.
1:12
It was live on time on roast westcoast.com, but apple, and
1:16
Spotify users, got it a little bit late.
1:18
If I goofed up your listening schedule, my bad, but hopefully
1:22
you're enjoying the Overflow of content.
1:24
You got over the last few days. Unfortunately, Nick did not win
1:28
the world Coffee Roasters championships, but he and most
1:31
pristine Berardi represented the US with style and grace, in
1:36
Milan, Italy. I am also traveling.
1:38
Although not quite as far as Italy, this recording is coming
1:41
to you from Madison Wisconsin, home of Great Coffee Roasters,
1:45
like just coffee cooperative and the critically acclaimed, JBC
1:49
Coffee Roasters. One of our industry Partners
1:52
coffee cycle, roasting pretty much exclusively, sold, JBC
1:55
coffee prior to beginning their own roasting program and I'll
1:59
definitely vouch for the quality of their coffee series simran.
2:02
Khalsa, the executive director of coffee is back today to help
2:06
us get coffee smarter and break down some science.
2:08
Us. I asked for what is happening.
2:10
During the bloom phase of the coffee pour over and about the
2:14
specialty coffee associations, standards for water, that's hard
2:18
to say water is the main ingredient in our coffee.
2:22
But for so many of us who buy fancy coffee beans and even
2:25
fancier coffee equipment, we forget to focus on the water
2:29
which is one of the reasons I want to talk about this with
2:32
Syria today. While you're listening, be sure
2:34
to follow at lofty, Coffee Co on Instagram to see photos of all
2:38
all of their cafes and go to lofty.
2:41
Coffee.com to see all of the roasted coffee that they have on
2:44
offer. There is a ton of it right now
2:46
and especially a lot of single Origins, you can find those
2:50
links in the show notes, or subscribe to this shows
2:52
newsletter on roast westcoast.com, which is also
2:57
where you can be sure to get this show when it drops first
3:00
every single week. Madison Wisconsin is my wife's
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Hometown and where I live during some of my formative years after
3:07
college. It is also where I used to make
3:09
espressos and lattes for Sunday brunch errs at an excellent
3:13
restaurant on the capitol Square called the old-fashioned on
3:16
behalf of myself and the other. Bartenders there in the
3:19
mid-2000s, I apologize to everyone.
3:23
And anyone who drank one of those espressos, I had no idea
3:27
what I was doing. However, if you followed it up
3:30
with a ginger-infused, Action feature in Korbel whiskey.
3:34
Let's call it even right now, I need to know he's, your coffee
3:39
cup full, I hope so, because you're going to need the extra
3:43
brain fuel. During this coffee smarter
3:45
episode featuring coffee expert series.
3:48
Someone calls a of lofty Coffee Company.
4:01
That sounds wonderful. Thank you.
4:05
I like to I like new things sound wonderful to you and I'm
4:08
glad that you're back here on the show.
4:10
The roast West Coast coffee podcast, which I'm obligated to
4:13
say 25 times in every episode. I promised you last time that we
4:17
talked that we would get a little coffee nerdy today.
4:19
So I'm going to ask you a more sciency question today.
4:24
What happens during the bloom during the Brewing process?
4:28
And for anyone listening my understanding of the bloom is if
4:34
I grew up fine, grind some coffee to do a pour-over, like
4:37
when the water, the hot water first, hits it, and it kind of
4:41
starts to bubble and it kind of crust over a little bit.
4:44
That's what I can, I think, is the bloom, but maybe correct me
4:47
if I'm wrong and and what is happening in that process.
4:52
Yeah, so to my understanding and how I would be, you know,
4:56
teaching or training, someone in a cafe setting, or in a podcast
4:59
setting about what, what blooming your coffee is.
5:03
So, what we can step back into the previous stage before coffee
5:07
is even variable, and that's being the roasting process.
5:10
So, as we're roasting the coffee, there's going as the
5:14
like material, the matter within the coffee starts to expand and
5:19
change in the Eat application, roasting process.
5:23
There is a buildup of CO2 in the coffee beans.
5:27
And from the moment, the coffee is roasted to, about some people
5:34
say, like, 10 to 14 days. Some may say even longer on like
5:38
lighter roast coffee is going to become more porous, and it will
5:43
actually start to D gas and release those that CO2 build-up.
5:48
And you, that's why some people say you know, let your coffee Or
5:52
D gas before you brew it. So that there is a let off of
5:56
the built up carbon dioxide and that's their, unlike some coffee
6:01
bags. There's like a little vent is
6:03
that is kind of the same thing. I always wondered this is that
6:07
because that gas is being released from those beans.
6:09
Is there sitting the bag is that's what the bag doesn't
6:11
explode. Yeah, so actually we that's
6:14
funny. You ask me his lofty.
6:16
There was a there was a period we had like some faulty bags and
6:20
that we would you know, Bag freshly roasted coffee and the
6:23
bags with balloon up because so, but they were faulty in the
6:28
sense that they had this one-way valve on it.
6:30
And so that valve that you see, it allows air and gas out, but
6:35
doesn't allow it in because we can talk about that too but
6:40
coffee being in contact with oxygen starts to oxidize and
6:46
also in ways candy-ass quicker. And with that it essentially
6:51
We'll lose some of its nuances more quickly, so it allows that
6:56
CO2 and guests to release, but it doesn't allow any are back
7:00
in, got it. So that, but that kind of brings
7:03
me what we're doing. So once we've have that roasted
7:06
coffee, maybe it's degassed a little bit, we're going to grind
7:09
that coffee, you know, to brew. So you mentioned and actually,
7:14
in the grinding process, we also have a lot of like off the gases
7:18
kind of releasing and oxidize it oxidization happening.
7:21
Happening and this can go you know we're creating more surface
7:25
area and more area for that oxygen to income in into contact
7:30
with. So we're also getting our coffee
7:33
2D. Gas a lot quicker at that stage.
7:36
And this is also why you always want to brew your coffee?
7:40
Pretty closely after you've ground it.
7:42
Once you've ground it, it's going to start interacting with
7:45
elements around it, which the longer you have ground coffee?
7:49
Just sitting there, the less new one.
7:51
It's the last Aroma it might have because we're letting those
7:55
gases off really quickly. So now getting to the bloom
7:58
aspect to my understanding Bloom is actually a particular way of
8:03
Brewing. You know you might let's say you
8:05
just pour water on top your coffee and you're done.
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There's going to be a degassing period in that but I wouldn't
8:12
call that the bloom and that the bloom is actually a particular
8:15
thing that you're going to do at the very beginning of your brew.
8:18
And what we're going to do is pour water.
8:21
Water. Just so your coffee grounds are
8:23
saturated but not that the water is like flowing through the
8:27
coffee grounds. So it's just enough to use in
8:31
most recipes. It's about twice as much water
8:34
to Coffee in the bloom. So if we do 20 grams of coffee,
8:38
you might do 40 grams of water. Once that hot water comes in
8:42
contact with that. Those grounds you're going to
8:44
start to it. What's it's very logical in the
8:47
sense. You see bubbles coming up from
8:50
your coffee bed. Is CO2 being released from the
8:54
coffee, that water speeds up that degassing process.
8:59
Sorry, I forgot to mention with the bloom usually, you'll pour
9:02
that water and maybe you'll wait for a period of time, maybe I'll
9:05
wait 30 to 45 seconds, to allow those gases to release.
9:09
And some of the reasons we do this is that CO2 let off is
9:13
going to actually push the water away from the coffee grounds,
9:17
which is going to not. It's going to not extract the
9:21
coffee. Be in that moment.
9:22
So by by letting those gases kind of come out when we go to
9:28
finally start our poor over or a brew, we've let a lot of those
9:33
gases out. So now the water is going to be
9:35
able to interact with the coffee a bit more which is going to
9:38
allow us to you know extract all those great flavors and Aromas
9:42
and tastes from the coffee. That's so interesting because I
9:46
just assumed that it was looking to be a science thing.
9:49
I wouldn't understand where the water hits the grinds and this
9:53
chemicals released to create a flavor but it's actually because
9:56
by releasing the when you release that gas if you just
9:59
keep pouring the water into it, the gas is actually pushing the
10:02
water away physically. Yeah.
10:04
Yeah. From the grind itself where the
10:06
flavor is trying to get, you know, is that we want to get
10:09
out? Exactly.
10:11
I feel like I had an aha moment right now.
10:15
That's very cool. Yeah, I agree.
10:17
It's all. It's all there.
10:19
It's all very simple and sometimes you just need those
10:22
like that simple explanation. It's not too complicated.
10:25
One more thing to mention, and I would, for those of you Brewing
10:29
at home, I think it's always great to experiment because I
10:32
dunno like some YouTubers and other people who are like, you
10:35
know what, I actually like my coffee better without bloom, or
10:38
they find a particular Brew method is nicer without the
10:41
bloom. And so, you know, maybe if
10:43
you're a go to Pour over V60 method.
10:46
Try try one Brew with a bloom and one Brew without a bloom and
10:50
see what differences you see there for us that lofty.
10:54
We've we did a quite a bit of experimentation with with this
10:57
in particular and we always found that we got a bit more
11:01
nuanced and a bit more sweetness and a bit more body from the
11:05
ones that we did a bloom with. So, in our recipes, in our
11:09
cafes, we use a bloom. But one more thing to mention is
11:12
that typically CO2 may have like a bit of a sour flavor to it so
11:21
you can perhaps get more, sweetness and less of like that
11:24
kind of sour taste from it. I don't know if any of you have
11:28
ever or Ryan if you've ever made a pour-over with coffee, like
11:34
it's like 24 hours after the roast or less than like 12
11:37
hours. Like sometimes in the roasting
11:39
setting, we're like we gotta taste this coffee.
11:40
Like we need to taste it and see how it is.
11:43
And so maybe Only been 10 or 12 hours and we'll make a
11:47
pour-over. And even though you do a bloom,
11:49
you can still you have that like little like gassy flavor to it
11:54
and I would probably attribute that to the CO2 in the coffee.
11:58
Very much, a fresh roasted coffee flavor.
12:01
Yeah. And that kind of leads into the
12:02
idea that there's kind of a window of time where a coffee
12:05
will be best represent the best representation of itself.
12:09
You know, it's just not the first day after roast.
12:11
It's a couple of days you know for a period of About a Week.
12:14
And then you're slowly starting to fade away from that.
12:17
But also important, I think to remind people that just because
12:19
a coffee isn't in its peak window.
12:21
Doesn't mean it's not good coffee or it's you shouldn't
12:24
drink it. It just means it may not be the
12:27
very most perfect best representation of itself.
12:29
And that's okay. Yeah, yeah.
12:30
And it kind of goes into the other topics we've talked in
12:33
other episodes, you know about different.
12:37
Instant coffee methods. Like if you have I mean mind you
12:40
I have a bag of coffee. Probably about four months old
12:45
at this point that's, you know, definitely not what it was when
12:48
I first got it. But if I need a cup of coffee in
12:51
the morning and I still can, I can still Pruitt and have a half
12:55
a cup. That's enjoyable, well, that is,
12:58
I think like anyone, when I really first got into craft
13:01
coffee, I was very obnoxious about it.
13:03
I was like, oh well, this isn't in the window.
13:04
I'm not drinking this anymore, you know?
13:06
And I would give it to the neighbors or something.
13:08
Yeah, or make cold. Brew is what I do.
13:12
A lot of times I like All the little bits and ends of coffee
13:15
bags or people copy, people get output into one thing and I'll
13:18
make cold brew of out of it and like know what this works.
13:23
That's part of that. I'm always amazed.
13:26
I always think it's funny that people who work in coffee or
13:28
generally less peculiar particular about the coffee that
13:33
they're drinking necessarily because they also can
13:35
extrapolate. Like, I think that's part of it.
13:38
Like, I have more of a Ian Nelson you.
13:43
This term recently on the show called pallid vocabulary where,
13:48
if I drink a coffee, that's four months old and or four weeks old
13:53
and it isn't, you know, perfect or isn't great.
13:56
I can extrapolate a little bit more what it probably was like.
13:59
And I'm not going to just dismiss that coffee forever
14:01
because I had it out of its perfect window or whatever I
14:05
can, I can appreciate it and understand based on the timeline
14:10
that I, the little bit of time line that I understand, you
14:13
know, where Where that coffee might have come from and enjoy
14:16
it for what it is today. Yeah.
14:19
As we're talking about the balloon and we're talking about
14:22
kind of this saturation of water.
14:23
I wanted to ask you today about the water itself.
14:27
I've done shows all about water but I kind of specifically
14:30
wanted to learn more about what the specialty coffee
14:33
Association. The sca says about water, I
14:37
tried to look at the you know they have a PDF about water
14:40
stuff online and it was too complicated for me.
14:43
I Is over real fast, and was really bored.
14:46
So I'm hoping that you can like, explain a little bit better for
14:49
me, what they're thinking about coffee, about the water that's
14:52
going into our coffee and and why it matters.
14:55
I mean, I think I'm gonna ramble on for just a second, but I
14:59
think, you know, we all realize that different places in the
15:02
world have different tasting water where, you know, a city.
15:06
Might have a different water source where your water is
15:09
coming from. Is it being processed?
15:11
How it's being processed? I don't know.
15:13
About you. But when I was a kid, our
15:15
elementary school went to like a water processing.
15:17
Train, Blake plant to like see that.
15:20
And the, you know, it was mostly most kids, kind of remember the
15:24
part where they see like sewage, which is kind of gross.
15:26
But also like, those are in the same place like we are
15:29
processing water. Generally, the same place.
15:31
So what is the sca saying about the water?
15:34
Going to our coffee and doesn't matter for somebody, just at
15:38
home. Yeah, so I love this question
15:42
and actually. So I I do some like, educational
15:46
virtual classes and this is a lot of times, those folks, they
15:52
don't know anything about Brewing, you know, they're
15:54
either used to instant coffee or just like, the auto Brewers or
15:58
whatnot. And so, I definitely, this is
16:01
something I try to bring a lot of attention to because,
16:05
especially in specialty coffee, we bring so much.
16:08
We do so much for that. Perfect.
16:10
Delicious cup of coffee and in the sense of quality coffee
16:14
beans, you know, you go to a lot of Specialties shops, you know,
16:18
are selling a twenty five to thirty dollar bag of coffee.
16:23
There is so much being done for that.
16:25
One bag of coffee that if we're not, considering the one other
16:32
ingredient that's going into Brewing.
16:35
We're kind of like not doing that coffee Justice, right?
16:39
Because When we're brewing and actually at the end of the day,
16:42
after you brood, your espresso, your pour over, you know, only
16:46
about 22 percent. To 3 percent of that cup of
16:51
coffee is actually coffee at some point.
16:54
The majority of it is actually water.
16:56
So if you're thinking about also in a culinary sense like you
17:01
have all these delicious local organic ingredients and then you
17:06
just use the like Factory Arm chicken after only, you know,
17:12
like that's like just not put you're putting a lot of emphasis
17:16
on all these other ingredients and then kind of forgetting
17:19
about a very important ingredient.
17:20
And so it's important that when we Brew, we Brew with clean
17:26
filtered water, that's typically where if I'm teaching, people
17:30
brand-new, don't know anything. Just use clean filtered water
17:34
and you'll get a decent result, but we could get further into
17:39
it. It and I'd say, from my
17:42
understanding, I see a has done a lot of research into knowing
17:48
the exact mineral content and compounds, within water to have
17:55
the optimal extraction and flavor of coffee.
17:59
I would, I want to interrupt in just say that that that Concept
18:02
in and of itself is one that I don't think people are always
18:06
thinking about and I don't think about when I pour a glass of
18:09
water. I don't think this is actually
18:11
filled with a whole bunch of stuff.
18:12
I go its water and it's it's clear.
18:15
So there's nothing else in it but that's just not true.
18:18
Yeah, exactly. And you made a great point or
18:22
like it depending where you are in the world.
18:24
You're going to have different contents or different amounts of
18:28
debt. Contents, within that water.
18:31
And so some of the, some of the few things were looking for
18:35
according to, you know, SCA standards as first, of course, a
18:40
cup water that is odor free. So that's a, that's an easy one,
18:44
right? We can smell the water.
18:45
We know there's no its owner free, maybe it's clean or fresh
18:49
smelling. Second is like looking at the
18:53
water, right? Like, can we see that?
18:54
It is clear and there's no off colors in that water.
18:58
Now, and then. I like, in a cafe setting.
19:04
We don't pay attention to this too much, but if we're talking
19:06
about like, SCA standards, they recommend a 7 pH pH of seven of
19:12
your water. And then there's things like
19:15
alkalinity and sodium and calcium and chlorine that are
19:19
are a lot of times in perhaps tap water and I see a has very
19:25
specific standards to how much of each of that is like, I have
19:30
I have this written down here for It's just so I get it right.
19:34
But there are saying, you know, total chlorine is going to be 0
19:37
and then an alkyl in the alkalinity being about 40 mg and
19:43
again, that pH being seven and sodium being about 10 mg 2 L
19:48
we're talking. So that's going to be ideal
19:51
water. One way in a cafe set in.
19:54
We kind of maintain that is we use very high-end water filters.
19:59
And again speaking to Loft, The standard we are calibrating and
20:05
testing that filter on a weekly basis and we're keeping the
20:11
water we measure it through parts per million.
20:13
And what that does is it measures the the parts per
20:16
million within the solids within the water.
20:19
And we're aiming for 120 to 130 in our calibration.
20:25
So we're testing that just using a simple water TDS PPM meter.
20:32
Reading that and then adjusting estimated.
20:35
But you know something I'm going to backtrack a little bit
20:38
because yes we want really good water to extract but what
20:42
happens to the coffee when it isn't in this range?
20:45
And I think that's something valid to address and that being
20:50
if we have very hard water. So water that has a lot of
20:54
mineral content. Maybe it's a little cloudy
20:56
looking or perhaps it's tap water from San Diego.
21:00
I can speak to our top loaders, not Not it's a bit harder on the
21:04
harder end. When we go to brew coffee with
21:08
that, you can a lot of times, especially if that water has
21:11
like already. Like, perhaps, not the cleanest
21:13
flavor. When we can think of how that
21:16
would result in the cup of coffee is that it might not have
21:19
a very clean quality to it. That maybe the flavors are a
21:23
little bit muddled, and I've even found that perhaps with
21:28
really hard water, you're actually going to under extract
21:31
your coffee because there's already So many solids within
21:33
the water that one that water starts to try to extract solids
21:37
from the coffee. You know there, I almost think
21:39
of it as like they're not being enough room in the water to hold
21:41
all the solids because it's already taken up by all these
21:44
minerals. And so you could have a muddled
21:48
kind of under extracted or like lacking Clarity or like Nuance
21:53
flavors in a in a cup of coffee, that's brewed with harder water.
21:57
And on the other hand, if we're using water, that's very Like
22:02
soft. They call a soft water like if
22:04
you brewed coffee with just distilled water.
22:08
You know I find that you're going to have a lot more like
22:10
sharper flavors and same thing the way I think about it is just
22:15
like if there's only so much water and there's so much room
22:17
in the water, they're like there could be kind of moreover
22:20
extracted flavors using a very soft coffee or soft water as
22:24
well. In my experience, I've found
22:27
sometimes you get a little bit of like a metallic flavor from
22:30
very soft water. So those Things.
22:32
Like if you're finding these kind of qualities in your Brew
22:36
perhaps out to your water quality but then going back to
22:40
that like ideal water. There's also some really cool
22:45
products out on the market. Again if you're wanting to have
22:49
perfect Brewing water Ryan, have you ever heard of third wave
22:54
Third Way of water. I have not they're not the only
22:58
ones out there, but there definitely are very popular.
23:01
There were the Not that I ever saw, but they're essentially
23:04
just like these little packets of minerals that are made to
23:08
have just the right amount kind of, according to that sta
23:11
standard. And you, according to whichever
23:14
size packet, you have. You get a certain amount of
23:16
distilled water. You just add the that mineral to
23:20
the distilled water, and that will be an ideal quote-unquote,
23:24
the perfect water to brew specialty coffee.
23:28
What it's reminding me of is and I know I do this all the time
23:31
everyone. I am sorry, but I refer to the
23:34
Beer industry because it's just something I knew for so long.
23:37
But especially larger breweries think you're Budweiser's or your
23:41
Miller Lites or Miller's cores. A lot of times they'll bring
23:46
water in and then essentially run it through a process where
23:50
they remove all of those minerals out and then they add
23:54
them back in kind of like, what you're saying with this Third
23:57
Way. They can take in local water and
24:00
they essentially run it through a process, remove everything and
24:03
then add the minerals back in that they want.
24:06
And that's part of the reason they're able to keep their beer
24:08
consistent, even though it's being produced all over the
24:11
country in different places because their base their
24:15
Foundation ingredient of water, is the same no matter what.
24:19
And that's kind of what that reminded me of was just this
24:22
idea that the kind of strip away all of those local flares.
24:27
And Start with something that they've created, which kind of
24:30
makes me wonder if there's actually a an appeal for some
24:35
coffee people to get coffee and certain regions, because of the
24:40
local, you know, flavor because they, it is unique.
24:43
I do notice sometimes like, if I buy a bag of your say, Morning
24:46
Glory coffee, and I have it at your shop.
24:49
I might love it there and then make it at home, be like, I
24:52
should just go to the show because it's not as good when I
24:54
make it myself, and there's a million variables of that could
24:57
be, but it could. Be that maybe my water isn't
24:59
filtered that day or whatever. But is there, is there any
25:03
benefit to say? No?
25:05
Like I'm going to use the local water and this particular coffee
25:09
is better because I'm doing that.
25:10
Or is that just me being romantic about it?
25:13
That's it. That's an interesting question.
25:15
I think that goes into like I definitely, I'll admit I don't
25:21
know the answer to that, but it's like, it's a great prompt
25:24
for like an experiment, like for an experiment where I'm
25:27
wondering, like, perhaps, maybe on the roast level, depending on
25:32
how light or how dark it is, maybe like a certain I'm almost
25:37
thinking like maybe a dark roast would maybe do better with like,
25:43
like a little bit of a harder water or like, you know, I think
25:46
maybe the roast has Something to do with it but I'm not sure.
25:50
I don't know. Well, that's that's what I'm
25:53
going to be marinating. I think.
25:54
Yeah, I don't know that there is a right answer to it.
25:57
I mean, it's, but I'm thinking just about like parts of the
26:00
world that may be gravitated towards coffee faster.
26:04
Maybe it was because it their water quality, maybe a taste of
26:07
better when they brewed it and seems like there could be could
26:11
be a correlation, and it could just be me imagining things
26:15
before I let you go today. Because I know we're on a bit.
26:18
Of a tighter timeline. The normal.
26:19
I wanted to ask you about lofty, we're we're in fully into summer
26:25
or June Gloom as it's known here.
26:30
What, what's kind of new for you guys?
26:32
What what's, what have you been building up to what's in line
26:35
for lofty? Anything new and exciting people
26:37
should know about. Yeah, there's a, there's quite a
26:40
lot. Actually, we have The most epic
26:45
single origin lineup of coffee right now that I'm initially
26:50
when we launched it, I was a little nervous because it was
26:53
the most awesome like most single origin options we've ever
26:57
had. Usually we keep it to like three
27:00
to four options and right now we have I'm going to have to
27:04
remember exactly. Then we have seven single origin
27:10
options which it's the most we've ever had.
27:14
And again I was a little nervous initially like you know, how is
27:17
our customer base, going to respond to so many options and
27:21
it has been going really well. And I was wondering, you know,
27:24
seeing you know, with more options are we going to start to
27:27
like sell less coffee in the sense like move through our
27:31
coffee more slowly and I will say, I don't, I don't think
27:34
that's been the case. And it's it's been interesting
27:37
to see. See how having those options for
27:40
a wider set of tastes has done us an amazing.
27:44
It's been amazing. And it's also fun in the cafe
27:47
setting because there's just so many options.
27:48
So you can have a different coffee all the time.
27:50
You know, I can run us through. We have two coffees from
27:53
Ethiopia and I love doing like one washed and one natural
27:57
because it's a great way of being like, hey, these are two
28:00
coffees from the same or similar regions but they're just
28:03
processed differently. So you can kind of do like a
28:06
little tasty. The friend if you wanted and
28:09
kind of see how the processing method affects the flavor, then
28:13
we have one of the coffee's I'm the most excited about is a
28:16
coffee from Papua New Guinea, which I find that coffee origin
28:21
to be fascinating. And this coffee is so
28:25
delightful. It tastes like grilled pineapple
28:27
and brown sugar. It's just delicious.
28:31
Then we have a coffee from longtime Partners there.
28:36
The Chacon there. Khan family from Costa Rica from
28:39
a farm called Las lajas, and we have a natural process, coffee
28:43
from them. And then we have a delightful,
28:49
approachable washed Peruvian coffee.
28:54
We have a wash Guatemalan from the Prentiss family.
29:01
I was telling you about the Farms, called Finca de dios and
29:06
what else? I think well what it's wise.
29:11
Yeah this is why we need to have a like coffee passport or like
29:15
an untapped, but for coffee where all of these are collated
29:20
somewhere. Quite is not the right word but
29:21
they're all collected and we can go and start checking them off
29:26
and like yeah I don't use yeah I don't use untapped which is like
29:31
a beer rating app to track what you do because I find that I get
29:35
competitive and I just To try more things instead of actually,
29:39
like really it's more about quantity than quality for me,
29:42
that's just me, no nothing against the app, but I feel like
29:44
with coffee, it would be, that would be a great way to start
29:48
learning Origins and also start learning like what it is that
29:53
I'm finding a peeling like do, I notice that I start rating this
29:58
origin, like, you know, Ethiopia coffees this way more
30:01
consistently versus this way, which is hard to track.
30:05
You know, if you're just when you buy a bag of coffee, Drink a
30:07
bag a week, or you go to a couple.
30:09
Yeah, shops. Yeah, definitely takes a lot of
30:12
notation. Yes, I have so many notepads
30:17
now. Siri, thank you so much for
30:21
coming back and talking coffee with us.
30:23
I am always so grateful for your time and just your knowledge and
30:27
and and thank you. That's all.
30:29
Thank you. Thank you.
30:30
I like I said, it's always a delightful way to spend my
30:34
weekend chatting with you about the thing that I Love and
30:38
totally nerding out and coming. You know, you always have
30:43
amazing questions that I feel like I've I don't always ask
30:46
myself and so I always find our conversations to be very
30:50
thought-provoking and keep me on my toes which I'm is is
30:55
important for me in where I'm at in my journey through coffee.
30:59
So thank you so much. Well I'm glad I could I could be
31:04
in service. You're welcome.
31:14
Okay, to recap, the bloom is a step in making a coffee, pour
31:19
over in which you wet the grinds and let them steep for a bit
31:23
while the CO2 that is built up in the coffee.
31:25
Beans breaks down, you can actually see the process
31:29
happening in the form of bubbles, which push up to the
31:32
surface and I assume is where the term Bloom came from.
31:36
It really was a cool. A moment to realize that some
31:39
piece of coffee science that I was intimidated by was simple to
31:43
explain the reason to include the bloom step instead of just
31:47
pouring the right quantity of water over the correct amount of
31:50
grinds is that. So while the CO2 is bubbling up,
31:54
it isn't pushing that water away from the particles of coffee.
31:58
And preventing a consistent, and thorough extraction.
32:01
Pretty cool. CO2 starts naturally releasing
32:05
from roasted coffee as it ages. That is why coffee bags.
32:08
Often have one way vents on them allowing air and gas out so that
32:12
they don't build up inside the bag.
32:14
Oxidization, and degassing also occurs during the grinding
32:18
process. Each step in making a cup of
32:20
coffee is filled with tangible science and as a non science in
32:24
person, I can still appreciate the physical nature of the
32:28
process. CO2 actually has a seller flavor
32:31
associated with it, so if you're making pour overs without the
32:35
bloom step and something tastes off, that might be it though.
32:39
Siri did caution that the bloom isn't a requirement rather a
32:43
preference that might enhance your coffee.
32:45
Drinking experience as mentioned, at the top coffee has
32:49
two ingredients, coffee and water.
32:51
The water accounts for a majority of that recipes.
32:54
So maybe we should pay a little more attention to it.
32:58
The first, and an See, step towards better coffee is to use
33:01
filtered water. The specialty, coffee
33:03
Association or SCA, considers a bunch of water variables,
33:08
including odor. Look particulate levels and pH
33:10
they get really intense about it.
33:12
Because water is filled with minerals and chemicals like
33:15
chlorine and sodium. And those levels change
33:19
depending where you are in the world at lofty coffee Siri and
33:23
her team. Use high-end filters that they
33:25
calibrate and test every week. I can't say that I'm doing that
33:29
at home. Which may be one reason, why the
33:31
coffee I get at their Cafe. Doesn't taste exactly like the
33:35
same one. I brew at home, when water is
33:37
too hard or too soft. It can muddle up the flavor of
33:40
your coffee. Some companies like, Third Way
33:43
of water have come up with workarounds, where they use
33:46
distilled water, and then add the perfect mixture of minerals
33:49
and chemicals. Back in all the water stuff,
33:53
sounds kind of overwhelming, but it is.
33:55
Okay, to take things one step at a time.
33:58
If at all, I'll probably stop at filtering, my water at home for
34:01
now, and I bet that it's still going to be a damn fine cup of
34:05
coffee every morning. Thanks to Siri for coming back
34:08
this week. This is the last coffee smarter
34:12
episode of the Season. We're closing Season 5 out with
34:15
three more interviews, including Lily, quiroz AKA Lil coffee
34:20
geek. A coffee consultant.
34:22
Jen byard, the founder and owner of the communal coffee Empire.
34:25
In San Diego County, and Matteo Nunez, the founder and head
34:29
roast. Starts and process coffee in
34:31
Orange, California, Syria will be back in season six, along
34:36
with our other. Great coffee smarter, experts,
34:38
Chris O'Brien of coffee cycle, roasting Jared, Hales of Isaiah
34:41
coffee. And joining us will be Alden
34:43
history of Cafe, La tarde, Crossings Coffee Roasting
34:46
Company. You'll find links to lofty,
34:48
coffee.com and the other websites and companies mentioned
34:51
on this show on roast westcoast.com and in this
34:55
podcasts notes. And as I mentioned at the top,
34:58
be sure to follow at Lofty Coffee.
35:00
Co on Instagram. I want to thank my roast
35:02
industry Partners. I've really been enjoying
35:05
sharing their coffee and whiskey across the country.
35:07
As we travel. Shout out to zoom bar, coffee,
35:09
and tea, actually a double Shadow to zoom barks.
35:12
I forgot to include them in the list in the last episode.
35:15
Most your coffee company, steady-state coffee, roasting
35:18
Camp Coffee Company, ignite Coffee Company, Ascend Roasters
35:22
Coffee cycle, roasting first light whiskey, Maria coffee,
35:26
Cape Horn, coffee, importers and Cafe litter.
35:30
And zoom bar coffee and tea, one more time for the rest of the
35:33
day. I'm headed out to the lake for a
35:34
coffee in the kayak. But I promise I'll only be
35:37
thinking of you out there and all the exciting stuff I get to
35:40
share on the next episode. This episode of The Rose to West
35:44
Coast coffee. Podcast is was has been written
35:47
produced and recorded by me Ryan Walt.
35:50
I hope that this show is found you happy healthy and with that
35:53
least enough sanity to make it through the day.
35:56
For those of you headed out for a great cup of coffee this week,
35:59
please, Always tip your Baristas and be sure to drink a coffee.
36:36
Hey there everyone, thank you for listening to roast West
36:39
Coast. I obviously want you to
36:41
subscribe to this show and you can do so for free at roast
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Who is chosen that option? You're a huge reason.
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This show is going into a sixth season, but there are bigger
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there have been big things. So, if you do decide to sign up
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Or you can do so yourself by going to abortion funds,
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you that may prevent someone seeking abortion services or
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other women's reproductive. Active Health Services, my wife
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donate to at abortion, funds dot-org helped, solve that
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