New year, new blend! Cup to Cup is using two of our African coffees to make this blend is bold and exciting, just like a new year should be! We’ll be serving it from now through the month of January, so get it while it’s available! Peace.
Merry Christmas!
From all of us (me) at Cup to Cup, We want to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Peace.
New Coffees!
We at Cup to Cup just got in a shipment of three coffees. a Brazil Natural Bourbon, a Sumatra Mandheling Triple Pick, and this years crop of our Guatemala San Pedro.
You already know about about our Guatemala, so let us tell you about our two new ones.
Brazil Natural Yellow Bourbon Fazenda Cachoeira
This is a naturally processed Yellow Bourbon varietal (as is pretty much all mentioned in the name of the coffee. But what does it mean? You can read from our earlier post about what you can find in the name of a coffee.
A Naturally processed coffee is dried as a whole fruit (as opposed to the skin and mucilage being washed off before drying). This can impart some fruity characteristics in the cup.
Yellow Bourbon Refers to the specific varietal of coffee. Most coffee cherries you see are red.
This one’s yellow. Tada.
This coffee is produced by the Carvalho Dias and Ottoni familes, who have repeatedly won the Cup of Excellence status in Brazil. For over 100 years and four generations these familes have treated the land, the people, and the bean right, and it certainly shows in the cup!
It’s got a bright clean taste with a full round body to it. We think it tastes like dewdrops and sunshine.
This is a truly fantastic coffee, and the pride and joy of our good friends and importers Cafe Imports. Click here to read a detailed description of this coffee and the farm where it comes from.
Tune in next time and we’ll fill you in on our Sumatra! Peace.
Cup to Cup Joins With Polk’s
We are proud to announce that Cup to Cup Coffee Roasters are partnering with Polk’s Fresh Market in downtown Savannah. We have given the fine folks at Polk’s their own label and provided them with a special half caf blend you can only find there.
So head on down to Polk’s and check it out! Peace.
Roasters Choice
Here at Cup to Cup, we realize that it’s hard to make decisions sometimes. So to ease your life and give you one less thing to worry about, we’re adding a “Roasters Choice” selection to our coffee offerings. What does this mean? It means that if you want some coffee, but don’t know which one to choose, we’ll choose for you! Give it a try today!
What Did I Just Order? Part 1
We’ve all either seen it or experienced it; you walk into a coffee shop, stand at the counter, and are utterly overwhelmed with the menu. The cashier impatiently answers your questions which range from, “what’s the difference between a cappuccino and a latte?” to, “Where are the frappuccinos?” What exactly does all that gibberish mean, and does it really matter? Never fear, we at Cup to Cup are going to hold your hand and walk you through a typical coffee shop menu. We’ll explain the composition of most drinks and give you other helpful tidbits of information. By the end of this you’ll be maneuvering around that colorful chalkboard in no time.
So let’s look at the drinks. I’ll start by saying that I’m giving you a general explanation of drinks and what they typically consist of. I should warn you that shops often take liberties with drink definitions which can sometimes be confusing, but most don’t deviate too far from their original meaning.
Espresso An espresso is a small, concentrated coffee beverage. One “shot” of espresso is usually somewhere between 1 and 1.5 ounces. It is ground very finely, compacted, and brewed quickly.
While a well pulled shot of espresso can be quite tasty, many people find it much to strong to be drunk by itself. To offset the punch you in the face strength of espresso, it is often diluted with another liquid. As a side note, remember it’s pronounced espresso. Notice there is no x, please keep it that way.
Americano An Americano is a shot (or shots depending on the size of the drink) of espresso diluted with hot water. While to some this may seem somewhat untantilizing to the taste buds, others find it quite delicious, comparing it to a good strong cup of regular coffee.
Cappuccino Oh cappuccino, you are so delicious! A cappuccino is traditionally a drink of thirds; One third espresso, one third steamed milk, one third foamed milk though that’s hardly considered a hard and fast rule anymore. Still, a good coffee shop will adhere to the idea that a cappuccino is still meant to showcase the flavor of espresso without diluting it too much and serve you a drink with those general proportions (usually a tad more milk and a tad less foam) in a cup usually no larger than 6oz.
Here’s where things can get confusing. I just gave you all this good information about what a cappuccino is made of, but most coffee shops will sell you a cappuccino in sizes of 12 oz, 16 oz, and 20 oz. Now, those of you who are math savvy have figured out that the smallest size there (12 oz) is twice as large as the max size I mentioned earlier (6 oz). Even if you put two full shots in that 12 oz. (most shops put one) you’re still way off proportion.
So if it isn’t a cappuccino, then what is it? Really, it’s a latte with extra foam. What’s a latte you ask? We’ll talk about that next time, along with other things like macchiato (another tricky one), breve, espresso con panna, and more!
One last note on cappuccinos. Despite what has been advertised, the drink you get out of the machine at the gas station is NOT a cappuccino. It never will be. When you go to a coffee house and order a cappuccino, it will not taste like what you get out of the machine at the gas station. It never should. That is all. Peace.
Ice Coffee
Yes, it is definitely ice coffee weather. Since I know there are those of you out there who just cannot go without your daily coffee intake, ice coffee is a wonderful thing to enjoy during these hot summer months. How do I make it, you ask? Let me tell you.
While the general consensus seems to be that when you make ice coffee you just make a pot coffee, put it in the fridge, and when it’s cold add ice and there you go. Without going into the technical mumbo jumbo of why that’s not the best way to do it, I’ll just put it this way: that’s not the best way to do it.
What is the best way to do it, you ask? I have no idea. I havent’ tried every possible way to make ice coffee. But I can tell you the way that I like to make it. Brew your coffee directly onto ice.
That’s right, straight on there. Let me follow that with these notes:
1. You will need to make your coffee a little stronger. How much stronger, you ask? Well that depends on how strong you like it. When I make ice coffee, I brew three cups of water over about two cups of ice and use a little over two ounces of ground coffee. But I measure my coffee by weight. Maybe you use scoops. Try an extra scoop, or half scoop or quarter scoop (depending on the size of the scoop). Play around with it.
2. If your coffee maker uses a glass carafe, you may want to use some other container to brew into. A lot of cold followed by a lot of hot in a glass pot isn’t always the best combination.
If you have a sweet tooth (as I’m sure many of you do) you can try one of these:
This is my friend Annie enjoying a delicious bag (yes bag) of ice coffee in Vietnam. Now in Vietnam (as well as Cambodia and Thailand) you get your ice coffee in a neat little to-go bag. They also add a nice big spoonful of sweetened condensed milk on the ice before the coffee goes on. Try it at home, it’s a tasty summer treat! Peace.
Mocha Java
So we’re starting to venture outside single origins here at Cup to Cup and are delving into the world of blends. Of course, we already have a tasty espresso blend, but we wanted to look at blends for drip coffee.
My first foray into the blending world has been a Mocha Java blend. Oddly enough, it has neither Mocha nor Java coffee in it . . .
Now technically, a Mocha java blend is made two coffees.
The first is from Yemen. The word “Mocha” comes from the name of the port Al-Makha where most Yemen’s were shipped.
The second is from Java, which is an island in Indonesia.
Now, we don’t have a Mocha or a Java coffee at Cup to Cup, so how can we say we are working on a Mocha Java blend?
While the term Mocha Java at one time specifically meant a blend of Mocha and Java it has grown and transformed into somewhat of a broader definition. Many roasters use substitutes that create the same basic effect of a Mocha Java Blend (the fruity spicy notes of the Yemen complementing the deep, rich notes of the Java). Yemen’s are most often replaced by Ethiopian coffees, usually a Harrar, and Java’s are substituted by Sumatra coffees. Though to be fair, up until the early 1900’s “Java” included several Indonesian islands including Sumatra.
So our attempts involve our Ethiopian Sidamo (I know, not a Harrar) and our Sumatra Mandheling. Since our Ethiopian is a Sidamo and not a Harrar, I think it gives the blend a little more fruitiness than the original blend intended to have. I think.
The first time I tried this blend I had it with a delicious omelet made by my neighbors at Southern Comfort Catering. Now I don’t know why, but the blend in combination with the omelet was AMAZING. I couldn’t believe the party that was going on in my mouth. It was rich and sweet and nutty and goooood! I tried it later minus the omelet (which had been devoured earlier in the day) and it still tasted good, but it was different without the omelet.
SO, having made our first foray into the blending world with a somewhat skeewanky version of a Mocha Java, the conclusion is this: If you’re an omelet person, this coffee is the one for you. If not, well, it’s good, but it didn’t really blow me away. We’ll keep working on blends and update you as things progress. Peace.
Order Online (and other news)!
Check it out, now you can order our coffee directly from our website and have it shipped to your door!
Also stay tuned to this blog for an upcoming post on blends.
We’ve also got some more exciting news on the way . . . but not yet . . . oh the suspense . . .
And Then There Was Blog
Welcome to the inaugural blog of Cup to Cup Coffee Roasters! My name is James Spano, owner of Cup to Cup Coffee Roasters. The purpose of this blog is to share what I can with you about Cup to Cup and coffee in general. I’ll be posting news and events about our shop, as well as discuss various issues and ideas and whatnots about the world of coffee. I hope you enjoy. Peace.
