The photo above is the holiday tree in the center square of my hometown. It has been a hard year, but rather than make me sad this photo from the local paper made me laugh. Of course the tree fell over. It’s 2020. That’s just what happens. Coffee has helped me survive almost every day of this year. The process of grinding coffee beans, heating the water, timing the brew, pouring into a mug and watching the steam while I let it cool a moment has given me needed time each morning to settle myself for the day ahead.
My brother might call it a form of meditation, but he is wiser than me. I just call it making coffee in the morning. Whatever it may be, it has been a daily ritual during which I am able to process all that happened in the days before. Those are the moments I take to appreciate the good things that have happened and the people that are part of my life. They are the moments when I can acknowledge the bad stuff going on and work through those emotions. They are the moments when my mug of coffee just keeps me company if I feel lonely, even if I’m not actually alone. That has been what coffee has meant to me in 2020.
The community of people who are impacted by coffee is incredibly large, incredibly diverse and sometimes disturbingly passionate. We have our favorite styles, favorite fancy drinks, grinds, roasters and the list goes on. What we have in common is still the core of the whole thing which is the coffee itself. I love coffee. You love coffee. We can drink a coffee together (albeit probably over Zoom for a bit longer), and everything else is just the details.
Thank you for going on this coffee journey with me on the Roast! West Coast podcast. I’ve been learning a lot about how to produce this show and newsletter, and there is going to be a lot more fun stuff coming in the year ahead. That tree in my hometown is back up. A little battered and bruised, but upright. The tree is standing tall, standing proud and ready to take on another day. After a cup of coffee this morning I will be too.
Happy Holidays. I hope you enjoy the newest episode of Coffee Smarter with Chris O’Brien of Coffee Cycle. Thanks for listening.
Best,
Ryan Woldt
Roast! West Coast • One Wild Life Co.
COFFEE GRIND SIZE, CONSISTENCY & PROCESS
This week I ask Chris O’Brien, founder of Coffee Cycle & my own personal coffee mentor to talk me through the impacts of grinding coffee and the choices we make when choose a grinder. We talk about different grinder types including burr versus blade (here is a good visual. Scroll down a bit.), and how functional a grinder’s settings might be. Then we dig into how the grind impacts your coffee.
We also talk about the Ice Cube Theory as it relates to ground coffee consistency. Ideally all of your coffee ground particles will be consistent in size so they release flavors during brewing at the same time. It helps to imagine ice cubes with all the different flavors of a drink in the middle. We want all the flavors to mix at the same time to make it taste right, but if the ice cubes are all different sizes the timing is always off just a little bit.
Same goes for different sized coffee grinds. If they are different sizes (poorly ground) the flavors they release will interact at different points of the brew time instead of simultaneously which will cause unappealing off-flavors in your cup of coffee.
COFFEE VOCABULARY:
Espresso: A way to prepare a one ounce shot of coffee created by pressurized extraction from finely ground coffee. Espresso coffee originated in Italy. There is no “x” in espresso (though I sometimes still say “expresso” out of habit).
Crema: The caramel colored, creamy layer on top of a shot espresso. The crema is the cap on the top of the espresso holding in the aroma and flavor.
CURRENT PROMOS for Roast! West Coast Listeners!
• NEW!!! • 15% off - MareaCoffee.com with promo code: ROAST
• 25% off hand-crafted jewelry from EmmieAndLil.com with promo code: Roast25
• 1st Bag of Coffee Free w/ Subscription at LibraCoffee.com w/ promo code: onewildlife
• Buy One, Get one for 25% off at www.leap.coffee on Tuesdays only w/ promo code: TUESDAY (Free Shipping on orders over $25)
COFFEE FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS
We teamed up with Coffee Cycle to buy some fancy coffee for local health care workers that are picking up coffees from the shop including Nurse Liz! In hopes of keeping that going I’m offering 30% off subscriptions to a full year of Roast! West Coast’s premium content plus a copy of my fiction novella “Eli & Jane.”
“Eli & Jane” features some pretty great coffee drinking scenes, and for every subscriber (like the awesome Anne!) I’ll buy more coffees for more healthcare workers through the end of the year. Thanks for your support of this show, your own local healthcare teams and coffee roasters.
CHECK OUT COFFEE CYCLE!
Coffee Cycle, is a fantastic coffee shop in Pacific Beach, San Diego, and Chris is one of the smarter coffee people I’ve ever had the chance to be around. He has graciously agreed to answer my questions about coffee (sometimes for the third or even fourth time) every week during Season 1 of Roast! West Coast. Check back for Coffee Smarter segments every Friday.
Thanks for reading, listening and sharing Roast! West Coast, and be sure to drink good coffee.
Listen to the show on these platforms!
APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • ANCHOR.FM • GOOGLE PODCASTS • AMAZON MUSIC • THE COAST NEWS
TUNEIN RADIO • I HEART RADIO • POCKETCASTS • BREAKER • RADIO PUBLIC • OVERCAST • YOUTUBE • STITCHER
I hope this e-mail finds you drinking good coffee. Follow @OneWildLife on Faceboook, Instagram and Twitter!