Thanks to a little coffee shop in my neighborhood in college, I came to not only love coffee, but deepen my palatte for the subtleties of a perfectly roasted cup. When you're someone like me who is part of a growing population of coffee snobs in North America, you often confront the need to navigate your way to good coffee. This navigation is made more difficult when the non-snobbery of coffee is what defines most of brewed coffee sold. ![[Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 1.43.32 PM.png|350]] *One of countless examples of a five star review reflecting the customer feelings of the cafe, not the quality of the coffee they serve Finding a good cup isn't a matter of sorting by star rating in Yelp or following meaningless words like "gourmet" or "premium." These words have no legal meaning and can be slapped on literally any coffee product. To find the true artisans of coffee making, it takes detective work. I've done my best to outline my process below. ## Kitchen Café or Coffee Café? The number one issue I run into with highly-rated coffee shops is the "kitchen or coffee" problem. Put simply, what the general public uses as criteria to rate a venue is probably not what I use. Likely, this rating is based on how pleasant the customer had in their experience based on a broad range of criteria of which coffee quality may play little to no role. Before I walk in, I want to know if they are a food business that also serves coffee ("with coffee") or a coffee business that also serves food ("with food"). Both are called cafés but they provide very different quality coffee. This isn't exactly a lithmus test, and the lines can be fuzzy here. I'm mainly looking for, not the existence of food on the menu but how much of the operations of the staff and *focus* of the shop's marketing is based on food versus coffee. ![[Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 1.44.55 PM.png|350]] ![[Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 2.07.42 PM.png]] "With coffees" look like delis and will serve poor quality coffee, often brewed in advance and stored in large servers. Look for lots of refrigeration, large menus, and coffee production equipment either hard to find or carelessly given to you to pour out. ![[348s.jpg]] Grinding and brewing high quality coffee throughout the day, customer-to-customer takes focus and effort. When that bandwidth is consumed by an active lunch kitchen, the venue is incentivized to take as many shortcuts to keeping coffee ready as possible. This is usually done by brewing a large batch of coffee at the beginning of the day, maybe again later in the day as well, and letting it sit in a big server. "With foods" if they serve any food, will be minimal. Their operations are focused on the craft and quality of world class coffee. ![[Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 1.47.57 PM.png]] ![[Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 2.02.34 PM.png]] *As you'll soon learn, there are immediate indicators already in these photos that these are potentially good coffee shops. Notice beans are on display for customers to inspect, grinders are placed in order to be an active part of the operations rather than served from a pre-filled thermos, food preparation exists, but doesn't look very fussy.* ## Storage of Coffee ![[627C4DFE-FF0D-40E3-9497-0AD194C8041D.jpeg]] *A Walnut Creek coffee shop proudly showing off their roasted beans exposed to sunlight.* ![[3D6B2758-EA8B-4FB3-928C-735F37F188E8.jpeg]] ![[48B70918-1E93-4E57-925E-3C8F925D59A3.jpeg]] *A coffee shop in Cupertino, California displaying coffee in opaque containers which are more manageably sized for refilling the grinder hoppers.* The best way to store coffee beans is in an airtight container to minimize their exposure to oxygen. It should be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Beans should not be ground until ready to be used. Freshly roasted coffee beans are at their peak flavor for about two weeks after roasting, so if it appears a coffee shop has stockpiled on roasted beans, this can also be a red flag. Now let's actually look at the beans. Pick up a bag and let's see what the venue can tell us about them. Here are some problem areas I often run into: - I can't believe I have to say this but the bags of beans should say what the beans are. "Morning Glory Blend" tells me nothing about the coffee other than that it's a blend of something. - At the very least I should be able to know the country or countries of origin, how it is roasted (light, dark, etc), and very importantly: *when*. Coffee that has been roasted more than three weeks ago really shouldn't be on the shelf for the same reason your grocery store shouldn't have expired milk for sale. There is some debate on exactly how long this period be with estimates typically ranging from 2-4 weeks but my personal preference is about three. - A great coffee shop will also to note the bean varietal, process, and extra points for the roaster's advice on how to brew specifically that bag that you are holding. This would typically be a water to bean ratio. ![[A1826B54-72A8-4BF0-8CBE-78E02C4B6565_1_105_c.jpeg|350]] ![[IMG_1964.jpg|350]] *This package shows the region where the coffee was grown (Western Province, Rwanda), the process (Washed), varietal (Red Bourbon), roast date (Feb 15 2023), and tasting notes (Morello cherry, cocoa, nutmeg).* - Pour over process. - A good coffee shop with pour overs will use gooseneck kettles, and likely a Hario v60 or Chemex, but definitely a scale to measure by weight rather than volume or just eyeing it until the cup is filled. - The process also matters. To get a pour over right, the baristas should be trained not to pour all the water into the ground beans like a human-powered version of a Mr. Coffee. Pour overs require a blooming step, followed by controlled, timed, and weighted pours. - Green flags - They sell home brewing approved coffee making products. When I see products from Mario cello and arrow press as just a few examples, there's a good chance they are going to serve coffee well. - ![[Pasted image 20230317114649.jpg]] - They don't serve too much food and the food they do serve is simple and requires little preparation. He just tells me they are putting more focus into the craft of coffee, making per cup rather than patching all that work at the start of the business day and serving it out of some big thermos. - Anyone there can tell me about the coffees in detail, including even just approximately when they were roasted. - Red flags - Lots of roasted coffee on display, way more than the shop would consume in a few days or a week. This is often in display in transparent containers, which expose the beans to the light and accelerate their loss of volatile flavors. - Grey flags - "Premium" or "Gourmet" have no legal or social meaning. Anyone can use these words to describe their coffee, and they often do. - Organic. While organic coffee may be someone you prefer, it honestly has no bearing on taste. - Tricks - When searching for coffee in a new area, search "roaster" or "roasting" instead of "coffee." This isn't guaranteed to filter correctly but you're more likely to find more coffee-focused venues at the very least.