S6:EP2
Guest: Jared Hales, Hacea Coffee Source
Role: Co-Founder & Green Coffee Buyer
From: Anaheim, CA
Instagram: @haceacoffeesource
Website: https://haceacoffee.com/
“Right now, I’m noticing Bolivian coffee, kind of emerging…on the other end of things, like, I’m working with someone from Uganda because I think there’s a lot of potential there.”
• Jared Hales
I'm just getting back into the swing of things, and there is so much to do and so many paths to take that I'm feeling a little scattered, even overwhelmed, and I've noticed that coming out in the interviews and coffee smarter chats that I've been recording.
I think that is good because it is the tangents where I stumble onto questions and answers I wasn't expecting. That's how we ended up talking about coffee origins on the horizon and my less than great summer experience making coffee with the Aeropress. Not that I'm blaming the Aeropress brewer!
Since I've been home, I've been brewing myself an Aeropress coffee on the days I don't find myself at a local coffee shop. The results have been significantly improved. Even when using the exact same coffee I brewed at camp.
It would have been easy to dismiss the brewer as one I didn't like, but instead, I decided to give it a puncher's chance by using it at home, where I could control more variables. What I suspect is that the hand grinder I was using this summer wasn't quite doing the job and leading me astray with inconsistent grind particles.
There is a life lesson in there somewhere.
FROM THE SHOW
Aeropress Prismo attachment Jared mentioned is from Fellow brand that serves two primary purposes. First, it creates a no-drip seal, which eliminates one of the few complaints you hear from Aeropress users. Especially those who use the press in the traditional fashion and not flipped upside down. Second, the coffee is forced through the seal in the center, creating more pressure and an espresso-like cup of coffee. Learn more and purchase from Fellow.
The attachment is the blue and yellow piece that replaces the original Aeropress filter. This photo is from: https://fellowproducts.com/products/prismo/ Did you know a traditional English silver utensil set might include 15 different types of spoon? I found more than sixty different types of spoons in all, and there are probably more. Bone marrow spoon, anyone? After going down a spoon rabbit hole—there are special spoons for mustard and cocaine, by the way—my biggest takeaway from Jared was that a coffee spoon has to have a deep enough bowl to get enough coffee into your mouth during a cupping so that you can spread the coffee across your taste buds.
I also learned that there are a lot of different components to a spoon, so I made this quick diagram. For the purposes of cupping/tasting coffee, you’ll want a spoon with a deep enough bowl.
NOT FROM THE SHOW
I stopped by the future home of Ignite Coffee Company this week to meet the founder, Tyler Whitehead, and see the progress on the space. It was a good reminder that opening a cafe—a temptation I regularly struggle with—isn’t easy.
The lease on the space was signed back in the spring, but Tyler only just recently got the city-approved permits to start his build-out. When they did, as is often the case, there was so much more work to be done than anticipated. Today, the space holds some oversized crates with his new San Franciscan roasting machine and a whole lot of dirt that came out of a trench dug for the plumbing where the future coffee bar is going to go.
If you’ve ever worked in a coffee shop or as a bartender, you’ve inevitably heard dozens, if not hundreds, of people tell you how they’ve always wanted to open their own place. If that person is you (and it has been me lately), think about the trench in the photo above and the months of rent that Ignite has been paying while waiting on the right papers to get signed. I know I will.
Tyler, we’re behind you 100%, and I can’t wait to stop by for a cup of 50/50 on drip sometime soon.
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MENU BOARD OF THE WEEK
I have an affinity for typography and text design. It isn’t something people often think about, but as coffee shop customers, we’re confronted with both every time we look at the menu board. I recently realized I have an inordinate number of photos of coffee shop menus. I’ll be posting them here.
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Coffee Smarter: Coffee Spoons and Tangents