Brew
A Perfect Cup at Home
This guide, created by Kopplin’s owner Andrew Kopplin, will help you master
the art of brewing the perfect cup. Read more
America's Coolest CoffeeHouses
Kopplin's rated one of America's Coolest Coffeehouses in Travel & Leisure for using local vendors and supporting local community. Read more
Symphony
in a Cup
Local high-end coffee brewers will make you rethink the contents of your mug. Read more
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Find out why coffee and espresso taste better drinking from a porcelain
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a difference and get info about Kopplin's specials. Read more
Once the coffee has made the journey to the consuming country (in our case the
United States), it needs to be roasted. Roasting is a both a simple and complex
process. In essence it’s just application of heat to the beans, however,
to roast and preserve the subtle and complex terroir characteristics is a life-long
journey of discovery and perfecting.
For too long people have thought of the processed green coffee bean as a hardy
commodity with a long shelf life, however, we are finding this could not be further
from the truth. In light of this, our method of shipping beans from producing
to consuming countries is in need of an upgrade.
Traditionally, green coffee has been stored in jute bags (around 150 pounds)
and shipped in large cargo containers very slowly. This is bad on many counts.
First, jute provides very little protection against environmental contamination
(to which coffee is incredibly sensitive). Also, although green coffee
certainly stays at peak longer than its roasted counterpart, it too has a shelf
life and is really at peak for no more than 4 months or so. Many times the shipping
of coffee is so slow and inefficient that the coffee doesn’t arrive at
the consuming country until after the peak flavor time.
Some smaller, high-end estates have attempted to get around the shipping problem
by pack in vacuum sealed mylar bags (which gives excellent protection from environmental
contamination) and even air-freighting to get the coffee to the consuming country
within peak time. While these processes have excellent results in the cup, there
are environment sustainability concerns using a non-reusable, non-recyclable
product like mylar and air-shipping small quantities which creates a fairly large
carbon foot print. Research continues to seek sustainable transportation methods
that preserve the coffee's terroir characteristics. a bitter flavor. Quality
coffee roasted lightly (but not too lightly) is sweet, acidic, and complex.
