A little coffee history

The History of Coffee

Coffee has been through a lot to get where it is today. In order to really appreciate coffee, we have to go back to its roots….Literally. Coffee is indigenous to only one country-Ethiopia, which is located on the African continent. In fact, if you travel to Ethiopia today, you will still find coffee plants growing in the wild. Every coffee plant in the world that grows today is a descendent of these original Ethiopian plants. So how did coffee become so popular around the world?

It all began with Kaldi and his goats

Legend has it that one day many centuries ago, a young Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi found his goats bounding about the hillsides in a joyous frenzy. They were having a ball! Even the old and tired goats were prancing around and acting young again. Kaldi was confused. Tired and worn out himself, he watched the goats carefully to find their secrete. He found the answer when he saw the goats eating cherries from a nearby tree. After trying a few cherries himself, he felt suddenly rejuvenated.

That’s when the monks got involved

A monk from a nearby monastery came upon Kaldi one day, determined to find out how he and the goats got all their energy. The monk ate from the plant and he, too, was revitalized. He brought some cherries back to the monastery to help the monks stay awake during the long religious services. Soon all the monasteries used the coffee cherries as a part of their services. The monks believed the plants were magical and were linked to the religious.
During the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the Ethiopians invaded Arabia (now called Yemen) and brought some of their magical seeds. The Arabs did not drink alcohol, so they were enraptured by the fruit that has some of the same invigorating and stimulating properties. The Arabs became the first people to actually cultivate coffee plants. In fact, the first recorded word for coffee is in Arabic. It is qahwah (KAH wah), meaning “Arab’s wine.”

Stay tuned for more..

Chris

Fall Favorites Return

Now that there is a chill in the air and the leaves have turned, the time has come to make some of our favorite fall classics. Such as the Pumpkin Mousseline tart.. Only available for a limited time!

Brewing Coffee - Part 1

One of the most common questions I hear is "How much coffee should I use?"

Simple Answer:
2 level tablespoons per cup

Complex answer:
This depends on many factors..
How fresh is your coffee?
How fine is your grind?
What method are you using to brew?
How hard/soft is your water?
Not to mention the type of coffee, total amount of coffee you are making, the water temperature, how much, if any, of the water are you bypassing, and the total brew time.
And most importantly, how do you like your coffee?

We will delve deeper into these issues in the future. But for now, I'll cover the basics.
When you are brewing coffee, you are dealing with the extraction of the flavors locked in the coffee bean. Finding the perfect balance of the factors mentioned above will help to unlock the potential of your coffee.

We'll assume that you are using fresh coffee.. please not from a can!! If not- Please stop in to see me and we will get you set up with the good stuff! Basically, fresh coffee has not lost its flavor yet; stale (ground, older that a month) coffee will start to have the flavor deteriorate.

Starting with a fresh, basic, non-flavored coffee - say, Peaberry Blend - you will want to have it ground according to the method of brewing you are going to be using. Generally, cone filters use a finer grind, percolators use a coarser grind. This may require that you use slightly more or less coffee to achieve the perfect cup.

Different brewers may cause slight changes in the amount of coffee you will need, consult you manual and if is says anything other than 2 tablespoons per cup, take note.

The water is also vitally important to a good cup. Filtered water is what I recommend, not distilled. I have a lot to say about water.. no, really.. I do. I'll rant about that later, for now, just know that water that is too soft will not extract the flavors very well, and water that is too hard will ruin you machine. The water in this area needs help.. Since you probably don't have a massive sub micron filtration system like we do at the store, at least run your tap through a filter to remove some of the particles.

Taking note of all that we've covered above, here is the most important part: Your tastes. To make the coffee stronger, simply add more ground coffee to the filter and brew until the taste you enjoy is achieved. If you enjoy a weaker brew add hot water to the coffee after brewing. Increasing the water to coffee ration simply makes the coffee thin and over-extracts the grounds in the filter, causing an undesirable cup.

I hope that this helps.. check back for more in-depth posts on different aspects of brewing.

See you soon

Chris

Pear Pecan Tarts

I may have mentioned this before.. but one of my favorite things about running a bakery/cafe is that I get to try all the new creations that our bakers come up with. Just as I was walking in this morning and started brewing the first Peaberry Blend, I wondered what they might have in store for me today. Then I heard heavenly voices singing, and a beam of light shone on one perfect pastry. A great balance of flavors- ripe Pears, chopped Pecans and a touch of Cinnamon with our rich pastry cream atop a homemade tart shell. Wow! Just what I needed.

We will be making our Pear Pecan Tarts for a limited time. I hope you get to try one before they are gone! (They go great with a lighter coffee & our house blend as well!)

See you soon!

Chris

YSU Loves thier coffee!

Welcome Back YSU Students!

I've been spending a lot of my time at our YSU Location in Kilcawley Center.. Serving up Lattes, Mochas, and quite a few Frozen Hot Chocolates to everyone from tenured professors to incoming freshmen. They need their coffee too! Looking forward to being able to see everyone again in Canfield, other than when I stop in afternoons & weekends. I know Quinn & crew have been taking good care of you.

Drop me a line (chris@peaberryscafe.com) if you have any coffee related questions, or just to let me know what's going on. See you soon!

Chris

Rick Blair Videos

Here are a couple videos of Rick's Performances here so far.. His next is Saturday, August 16th.
Katelyn Jancay performs Friday the 15th

http://youtube.com/watch?v=smTIh-9bE9g
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8rT0S5K85rU

Chris

Jason Mowry - Acoustic Guitar

Jason is starting to play..