yesterday at my son’s soccer practice i was talking to one of the other mom’s. after a few minutes, my husband put on his cycling jersey, because it was brass monkey cold. the mom asked me if he was part of some sort of race team. the cycling jersey is last year’s model of the cycling team that ANR is sponsoring, so i had to explain to her that yes, he cycles, but no he’s not “officially” part of the team. our business is just sponsoring them, so we have a lot of cycling paraphenelia with them on on it. she then starts asking me questions about our coffee business.
now, i understand that coffee isn’t something that a lot of people know about. it’s kind of taken for granted that those little sandy grains of black gold will be there on the supermarket shelf every week for your buying pleasure. but seriously… when i said “we own a coffee roasting business that is sponsoring that cycling team. we’re growing, slowly but surely”. (or something similar) she says “oh, so do you grow it in a green house?” i actually had to stop for a minute and process what she just asked me. coffee? in a green house? in Missouri? seriously? seriously?
i don’t know everything about coffee. in fact, i let my husband take care of most of the business matters. i just send coffee out to my friends and family, and take care of a couple loyal customers that my husband doesn’t like to mess with. (such as my son’s old preschool teacher…i like going there to chat, but J is too busy to remember to check in with her) mostly, i print labels before he makes his weekly deliveries and drink the coffee every morning. i don’t have an amazingly discriminating palate, and often can’t tell the difference between properly roasted origins. i can’t drink espresso straight up, and too much caffeine makes me sick. but i LOVE my coffee. i know more than your average person, less than a coffee snob, and i’m okay with that. but sometimes, i get asked some really stupid questions, and it’s hard for me to explain things when i’m not putting them in writing. i’m terrible at talking. so i’m going to put the basics down for you, so that you too can know more than your average person and less than a coffee snob.
first off…cherries grow on coffee trees. the cherries are harvested, and the pits extracted. the pits are processed in a number of ways that are eventually bagged up in big burlap sacks as green coffee beans. (they are pretty small…about the size of a pea, in the smallest varieties) coffee trees grow in mountainous regions only, under just the right temperatures. in fact, the ONLY place in the entire United States that grows coffee is Kona, Hawaii. the rest is grown in mostly third world countries close to the equator.
when you buy coffee, you can get it in two basic types- origins and blends.
an origin refers to the country, and possibly the region of that country or plantation that the beans come from. Colombia coffee was grown in, yes, Colombia. the only kind of Colombia we sell is called Colombia Excelsio Huila. we have a coffee called Nicaragua Java Type. it’s a favorite of our customers… the name refers to the plantation. it’s actually coffee grown from plants that came from Java, that have been transplanted to a plantation in Nicaragua. our Kenya AA lot 1423 refers to coffee that was grown in Kenya, the AA is a bean size- the largest, and the “lot 1423″ is the actual auction number of that particular harvest of beans.
we buy our coffee from a warehouse in the city…they buy directly from the plantations themselves, and sell it to us by the bag. the bags weight about 200 lbs, depending on where they came from. if you want a genuine burlap sack from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, or any one of the places we get coffee from- just let me know. we go through a gagillion, and are running out of places to put them, since i don’t have the heart to just throw them away. i actually use two of them as a curtain under my espresso bar in my kitchen. it hides the dogfood and my husband’s collection of protein drinks. 
now, blends. blends are just what they sound like…combinations of different origins. each country brings their own unique taste to the table, and are blended to bring out according to purpose. the more mild flavors, like Brazil and Colombia are often blended together to make a traditional House blend. Brazil is also often used as a base for espresso. while an espresso blend is usually designed to taste best in the concentrated espresso form, it can also be used as a regular drip. in fact, our own espresso blend Espresso Giovanna is often used as a house drip in some of the coffee shops we sell to.
as for the roasting process itself…..basically, we roast it in a big drum. it’s got a burner on the bottom, and it rotates so that all the beans get an equal distribution of heat. the beans start out very dense and green…the longer they are roasted the bigger and darker they get. everyonce in a while we have a defective bean that pops just like popcorn. it’s cool.
here’s a common misconception clarified for you. most people think that a french roast, or a really dark, bold coffee has a lot of caffeine. not so. the darker the roast, the less caffeine it has. by the time the beans have been roasted to a very dark level, not only are they much lighter in weight, but a lot of the caffeine has been roasted out as well. so if you want more caffeine in your cup of coffee…go for a lighter roast.
also, flavored coffees. i used to like flavored coffee, until i figured out how they are made. i don’t remember the name of the chemical, but it some seriously noxious stuff. basically, a couple drops of a flavoring oil and this chemical are put into a big bucket of roasted beans. (usually a low quality, since they’re going to be flavored anyways) then, it’s mixed until the noxious chemical evaporates and all that is left is the flavoring. it tastes good, and smells fabulous, but i won’t drink it unless forced. i’d rather flavor my coffee with syrups.
decaf coffee. decaf coffee CAN be good. it just depends on the roaster, and the process in which it was decaffeinated. i prefer Swiss Water Process…i don’t know the specifics, but i know they don’t use chemicals, and that works for me.
also, someone asked me once why we don’t sell Jamaica Blue Mountain. well, not only is that stuff hellaciously expensive, but it costs an arm and a leg to be certified to sell it. yes, you have to be specially certified to sell it, and that’s why you don’t see it very often. same with Organic Coffee. you can sell organic coffee without the certification, you just can’t advertise yourself as an organic coffee seller if you sell over a certain amount. wierd, eh? but it costs a couple grand a year to be certified organic, so no…we aren’t certified, but we do sell organic coffee, just not a lot. anyways, it’s complicated, and i don’t understand the specifics…my husband could tell you all about it, but i don’t retain stuff like he does.
oh…and one last point before i end this incredibly long and boring blog.
grind level. if you go to a coffee shop, buy beans, and ask them to grind your coffee, they’ll probably ask you how you want it ground. a LOT of people have no clue what that means. a turkish grind is extremely fine, almost powder. coffee ground in a Turkish style is usually made by putting a couple spoonfuls of coffee directly into the cup. like hot chocolate mix, only more toxic. ;P it also goes great in brownie, cake, and chocolate cookie batter. an espresso grind is the next step up. it’s ground fine so that you can tamp the grinds down and pull a decent shot. drip grind is next in line. it’s more coarse so the water can filter down through the grinds with ease. percolator is next. i’ve never used a percolator before, so i can’t give you any specifics…the most coarse grind is for a french press. basically, in a french press the coffee is brewed just like tea in hot water, then a mesh screen is pressed down so the grinds are at the bottom and coffee on the top.
um…oh, and another misconception cleared up. 1 shot of espresso = 1 cup of coffee. your morning small latte doesn’t have any more caffeine than a small cup of black coffee, it just tastes better.
and that’s really all i can think about right now. i hope you learned something, and this blog was worth the time it took to type it. i also hope i got it all right…because like i said, i don’t really have much to do with the business anymore other than sending the coffee out. 
now if you’ll excuse me, my daughter is crawling (actually, it’s more like controlled rolling and scooting) off her blanket, and trying to eat the carpet. great.