Rising Star Coffee Workshop

Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to have a spot in a coffee workshop held at The Brew Mentor. I had long been awaiting this moment - for about 5 weeks to be exact. I had a countdown on my calendar and every night before I went to bed I would tell Mike how many days left until the day. Some people say "I love you", my night time ritual went more like this: "Ahhh 17 more days until our coffee workshop! I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" Poor Mike.

Our spoils from the day. 1/2 pound of each green coffee bean they had to offer!

So the day finally came and off we went to learn for the best, Rising Star of course! The owner, Kim Jenkins, was there to go over any and all things that related to getting to know coffee on a more intimate level. He described his trips to the coffee farms all over the world, where they sourced their coffee from, and the amount of care and specifics that go into choosing a coffee that fit their needs. No wonder the stuff is so damn good.

Here are all the different beans. Each on has a different size, shape, and smell - so much discovering to be done!

See! Look at the tiny Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans on the far left...and then check out the size of the Panamanian ones in the upper center. Whoa.

There was tons that I learned in the 2 hour session, but I put together the top 3 things that can change your home coffee experience. Now sit patiently while I tell you.

Darwin's ready! Gosh he's handsome.

1. Your grinder matters.
       A good grinder is key to a good cup of coffee. Your grinder gives your coffee grounds their unique particle size, and consistency is what you want. A mill grinder chops the beans with a spinning blade, and just can't produce the consistency needed for extraction (pour overs, drip coffee, etc). A burr grinder has two metal plates that grind the coffee, the blades can move closer or farther depending on the size of grind you want, and it excels at a uniform grind.

Here is a semi-exaggerated visual on the difference the two: A mill grinder = dropping a hershey's chocolate bar on the ground and looking at the pieces, a burr grinder = breaking the little individual squares of a hershey's chocolate bar and looking at the pieces. Which will be more consistent? Burr grinder for the win! 

As I was whispering to Mike that we needed to buy the burr grinder immediately, he whispered back "beat ya to it" and showed me the checkout screen at amazon. Love that man. He picked the one they were using, the Baratza Encore Burr Grinder.

What a beaut'. . You set the grind by turning the top so the plastic notch aligns with a tick mark (you can see ours is set to 20 if you look real close). The higher the number, the larger the grind.

The inside of the grinder - looks smashing! Hah, pun.

And here you can see how it works; the blades will spin and the beans fall in, and then they are crushed to the indicated size.

And you only have to worry about an on and off switch, couldn't get much easier!

2. Roasting at home can be as easy as turning on an air popcorn popper.
    Literally. That's it! The general criteria is you want a air popcorn popper that has air vents in the base. The vents will shoot hot air out and push the beans around. High heat and constant movement are how you get roasted coffee. The amount of heat your air popcorn popped puts out will matter, which Mike and I found out after a few failed attempts. The one I have here is not one I would recommend because we had multiple failed attempts. But we found a better one the other day that has worked - called the Nostalgia. We found it at a Big Lots for $20...not too shabby!

Here is the first air popcorn popper we tried, the Salton. I wouldn't recommend it, we haven't been able to get anything to roast in this one. We think it doesn't get hot enough, because we never can reach first crack in it.

What you want to look for are those little vents near the bottom. The vents push the hot air out and help the beans spin, which help them roast evenly. Each air popcorn popper will be different, so definitely open it up before you buy it!

3. You are the biggest variable in every cup of coffee.
    Yep, you read that right. How are you feeling? When did you brush your teeth? What toothpaste did you use? What did you do last night? And so on. All of these things will make your cup of coffee taste different, so cut yourself some slack when roasting. You can make it as simple or as scientifically focused as you want, but just keep in mind that there are endless variables that can be altered, and it's supposed to be fun! Find what taste you like best and stay true to that! It's not worth it if you don't enjoy it :).


Here's the grinder in action!

 

And the final result looks like this! Evenly ground coffee, at last!

Coffee in Mentor!

Something wonderful has happened, and yes, it involves coffee.

Up until this past weekend, it has been very hard to find good coffee within 20 miles of where I live. When I say good coffee, I don't include Starbucks. Yes I still have to tolerate Starbucks when there are absolutely no other options and my caffeine headache is kicking in, but I still have criteria that must be met. 

Number one, I will only get the blonde roast. This is mainly because I drink my coffee black and can't stand the burnt taste of any other blend that they offer. That being said, don't get your hopes up about the flavors this blend offers. If you have ever had a good pour over, it will be about 1/10 the flavor. But I will take that over burnt and undrinkable any day. 

Number two, my blonde roast must be brewed in the Clover. The Clover is a machine that combines a vacuum pot and a french press. Basically, it offers a set temperature for the water, a better chance of consistency when the barista stirs the beans, and overall a better extraction of flavor. 

My favorite, as you know by now, is Rising Star Coffee. Other great options that I have tried (but not since I fell in love with Rising Star) are Troubadour Coffee and Erie Island Coffee. All local to Cleveland, but again, the main problem with these are that they are all located about at least 40 miles from me. Until now.

Mike and I have been going to The Brew Mentor together for some time. He buys things to brew beers while I walk around looking lost and smelling the hops and exclaiming over the deliciousness. Recently I got to talking with one of the guys that works there and that's when I found out he was interested in coffee.

Immediately I knew we were going to be best friends and I would most likely be working there within 5 years, so I started talking to him about my favorite coffee in Cleveland - Rising Star Coffee. I told him about how helpful the owner, Kim Jenkins, was when I was first learning my pour over technique. He wrote it down and I was off on my merry way.

A few weeks ago we went back in and what do you know, Rising Star Coffee was coming to the Brew Mentor!! Best. Day. Ever. Not saying that I did that, but I may or may not have done that. You're welcome people of the Eastside :).

On that note, I have to introduce you to the new members of my family. I recently bought the book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, and I couldn't be happier. It's a great read and it's full of details surrounding every part of a cup of coffee - whether it be how the farmers treat their beans to how to execute the perfect pour over, french press, or espresso.



And it has plenty of pictures! As my 27 year old brother always says, "it's not worth reading if it's not full of pictures". They are good ones too. The kind that make you want to get up and take some of your own, or sigh loudly and wish you could pull a Mary Poppins and jump right in. I think that would be my second super power if I could have two. Number one is definitely the ability to morph into any animal. I could breathe underwater as a dolphin, run super fast like a cheetah, AND fly like and eagle. Why choose one when you can have it all? I know, best idea ever.

Anyways, if you are looking to seriously buff up your knowledge levels on coffee, I definitely recommend this book. Plus it has a bunch of fancy recipes at the end, all that either include coffee or would taste good with coffee (although what doesn't?)

Macaroons! The man who wrote this book has a wife that is the head pastry chef of his coffee shop. What a dreamy pair. I'm not sure if Mike and I's potential titles will be as whimsical...I would be the coffee shop owner and the resident baker, and Mike would be the head computer engineer? It will have to do.

And THIS is another new member of my family, my American Weigh Scale. It goes to a tenth of a gram, and up to 2000 grams - perfect for my pour overs...and my baking addiction.

Oh, and those are the coffees I got from The Brew Mentor. They had 4 roasts available, so I tried 2 new ones that I hadn't before. Panama and Nicaragua, delicious and yet still not beating my normal favorite - Eithiopian Yirgacheffe.

The scale makes my pour over SO much easier. Instead of having to weigh out each thing separately like I used to with my old non-digital scale, now I can simply tare it. Kinda like in chemistry lab when I was in college - you place something on the scale, pour something in to get the correct weight, and then press the tare button and it goes to 0. It's the little things :).

Need some really great cold brew? Head to Rising Star. They had this 32 fl oz glass bottle available for $25. And if you bring the bottle back to get refilled, it will be only $20 for the cold brew. I couldn't pass up a deal on cold brew :).

That's all for now! Happy brewing :).