Barista de Casa

What is Kopi Luwak? Well I’ve been doing my own investigation after I saw a you tube video recently. I had heard the stories, but never thought that it was really true. Recently I asked the question to several renowned roasters on the blogs at Barista Exchange. To my surprise I didn’t get that many responses, but I did get some good follow up information.

So now that I’ve peaked your interest here’s the real scoop. Kopi Luwak means Civet coffee. In Indonesia there is an animal that loves coffee. It looks like a cross between a weasel, raccoon and a stray cat that shows up on our back deck. Anyway the civet cat will eat the ripe coffee cherries then the digestion process begins and typically everything is digested except for the seed, which is what’s left behind. It’s popular to then have the locals pick up the poo and sort through it by picking out the green coffee. It is then washed, whew I was glad to hear that, and then roasted to taste.

It’s hard to believe that someone would enjoy the taste. I mean surely it still has to be better than the red can. That’s truly one way to go green! What is also interesting is that you never really know what you’re going to get, as there could be several varieties of robust coffee included in any cup.

The coffee is not cheap, considering the special process involved, so I’m not sure that I’m ready to pay $65.00 for a lb. of Civet Coffee. If you are though, then I’ve got good news. I have a supplier and can ship it to you processed or unprocessed. Guess which one is cheaper?

Ok so my wonderful wife thought that it would be a great idea to have a latte from the Golden Arches. I was somewhat eager to try it since I had not yet gone down that path, but I was embarrassed to go through the drive through so I encouraged my wife to make the purchase inside. She made it back to the truck about 5 minutes later and handed me my cup. The anticipation was so hard to bear so I quickly took the first sip, and quickly realized that McCoffee tastes like dirt. I know there may be some fans reading this, but it was horrible! Luckily I got the drink with the whole milk. Lora selected the less fat version. She commented on how the employee said that their machines had been messed up, but they had recently been worked on. Lora tasted her coffee and realized that her drink was not too gourmet either. So my wonderful wife said “try mine and see if it tastes worse than yours.” So stupid me, I took a sip of her “latte”. As Charlie Brown would say “AUGH”; it was worse. It tasted like I was sipping aluminum foil, even though I have never eaten the silver stuff. So long story short, we did not take it back and get our reimbursement of $5.58. But hear me now, I will never drink McCoffee again, not even if I was on a stranded island and that was the last thing on earth to drink. Sorry Golden Arches, you are no Barista, and you need to keep your day job of fixing french fries and filled hamburgers.

It smells like coffee, it looks like coffee, it’s in a coffee mug therefore it must be good coffee. That was my assumption today when I had the most beautiful cup of coffee from a well known shop in Westport. The atmosphere was very eclectic and the customers were derived from a diverse group of the core population throughout Kansas City. Usually I’m a cream and sugar guy, but today I thought that I would give it the good ole cuppers try to abstain from the norm. My initial concern was “would I get heartburn from this brew?” Surely not I thought, and then I began the cupping process. Boy was I wrong about 30 minutes after the sipping the heartburn appeared. The real question is “why all the heartburn?” This scenario takes place in most of my visits to various shops in the area. The main difference is that it doesn’t happen when I fix coffee at home. Now I’m not just promoting my own brew, but I’m wondering why my coffee is different than others. Some articles say it’s the caffeine, but I would disagree. I think it’s simply a combination of over roasting, over sitting and over brewing. My coffee has plenty of caffeine, and I know that a moderate city roast and even a cinnamon roasts at home do not afford the same discomfort of the corner coffee shop. I don’t think that I’m the only one, as it seems that the modern day coffee shop thinks this is the norm, and thinks that this is the way of the future. My opinion is that the best coffee can be gulped instead of having to cautiously drink it like drinking a bottle of tobacco sauce from Southern Louisiana. (A special thanks to my high school friend who went out of his way to pay for my cup. This blog in no way discounts your graciousness.)

Actual picture of today's cup

Picture this, its 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night in mid November. You’re so excited that it’s hard to get to sleep. As you snuggle into your nice warm bed you reach over and set your alarm clock for 3:00 a.m. sharp. Just as you feel yourself drifting to sleep your quickly awakened by the “bonk . . . bonk . . . bonk “ of your recently set alarm clock. You slowly come to reality and realize that it’s time to wake up. You quickly dress in your warmest attire, then before heading out the door you flip the switch and drop the lid on the already prepared Bunn coffee maker. The steam arises and the aroma heightens you senses. Once the brew has dripped its last drop you carefully pour the fresh steaming brew into your thermos. You quickly realize that there will be extra coffee so you polish off a single cup with a piece of toast before heading out into the brisk fall air.

Hopefully this weekend this brief little dream above will be a reality. I remember the days when my own father took advantage of this same practice. After all it’s the same thermos that he used over 15 years ago. Interestingly enough as I was preparing ahead earlier in the week I took the thermos out just to clean it up a bit and realized that it still had coffee inside. I can’t even begin to think of the last time that we used that thermos. Luckily it still smelled like coffee and no green things were floating on the surface. I guess that’s a testament to an airtight thermos.

This year I will be able to follow this little tradition prior to braving the cold wind in Northern Missouri. The main difference is that this will be the first time that I take my own son out into that same environment. So no staying up late on this coming Friday night; we will be anticipating the same feeling that most children feel just before Santa comes down the chimney.

Beware, Bambi’s relatives!

Update: The coffee was great today, I brewed it at 3 a.m. and it was still warm at 7:30 p.m. How warm? Warm enough to still use non-dairy creamer. I'm impressed on the vintage thermos. Oh, no meat for the table though, but we all had a good time, and we have the thorn pricks and blisters to prove it. Considering that my son has been in the shower for 20 minutes now means I better go!

Have no fear; new coffee is here!

Today we have a fresh new bag of Colombian Supremo. This coffee is even better than before. I know that it's hard to believe that your pallet will be overwhelmed with this new brew. The good news is that the price hasn't changed, and we'll be offering special pricing for the holidays. Keep telling your friends and family, as business is increasing. Thanks again for your support. Who would have ever thought that over the past six months Barista de Casa is closing in on roasting nearly 200 lbs of coffee.