*Try out these methods with our Maui Mokka, El Salvador Finca Guachipilin, or Sumatra Volkopi Peaberry!*

Japanese Iced Coffee

This method works great with any pour-over type brewers. The result of immediately cooling over ice while brewing hot is a bright, flavorful cup without that cardboard flavor and bitterness. 

For these instructions I am using a 6-cup Chemex:

1. Divide the total amount of water you need in half. If you need 6 cups, measure out 3 cups of water (approximately 8 ounces in a cup) and 3 cups of ice. (1 ice cube is equal to approximately 1oz)

2. Measure out 2 tablespoons (11 grams) per 3/4 cup of water (6 ounces) with a medium grind.

3. Heat up cold, filtered water until just boiling and slowly pour over grounds. Stop when the ice is just about melted.

4. Pour into a glass with ice and enjoy!

Cold Press : French Press

Using a French Press, steep your coffee in the fridge overnight, (8-12 hours or more) and wake up to a refreshingly smooth cup in the morning. 

1. Measure approximately 1 cup of coarse coffee grounds for 6 cups of water. Experiment with these measurements depending on your preference. 

2. Pour in cold filtered water, stir, then store in fridge overnight. In the morning, press and enjoy in a glass with ice!

I’m a coffee purist.  Coffee is an amalgamation of so many wonderful flavors coming from the bean, the farming, the processing, the roasting and the brewing.  The different coffee growing regions of the world produce some very different flavors from their beans.  But I also like vanilla sometimes.

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Last week Paradise Roasters in full had the pleasure (and stress) of taking the Q-Grade Certification course at Cafe Imports. The class was led by Brewed Behavior’s Tracey Allen and attended by folks from all over the country, and one of our finest neighbor’s to the North. We are proud to announce that we all made it through the course alive. 5 days of classes weren’t too bad, but throwing 22 exams on top of that… Oh boy! We are still waiting on the final scores for all of the exams, but regardless, we learned a ton! We can’t wait to start implementing all of our new knowledge into our everyday lives at the roastery and sharing the benefits with all of you!

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as soon as we know our final statuses after the course.

Until next time!

Here’s an interesting article about a roaster in NY that is trying to “inject a bit more sex into the coffee scene.”

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121009/bedford-stuyvesant/kitten-coffee-bringing-sexy-back-brooklyns-cafe-scene

I want to know what our readers think about this movement, that being the sexification of coffee. Does coffee need more sex appeal and class, or do you prefer what they describe as the “tattoos and ratty t-shirt” style of many roasters? Does the idea of a bar-like atmosphere at a coffee shop intrigue you or do you prefer the quiet environment of a small cafe where you can type away with a latte at your side? 

I have my thoughts, but I want to hear yours first! I’ll take your comments into consideration for my next blog post and might even include a quote or two. 

So what do you think? Sexy Coffee: Yea or Nay?

-Natalie

Say what?? While the words above might seem like a Jr. Jumble puzzle, they really represent a superb coffee that we are just mere days away from obtaining. 

Finca El Injerto is a reputable coffee farm in the Huehuetenango region of Guatemala. The farm was awarded the 2012 Cup of Excellence for Guatemala and auctioned off their lots in June. Paradise participated in this auction and purchased a limited supply of their Pandora del Carmen Pacamara. This particular varietal produces a complex and well balanced cup with clean citrus flavors and a creamy mouthfeel. 

We will be offering this high-end specialty coffee in 10 oz. Grand Reserve bags. It’s an understatement to say we are excited for the arrival of our winnings. 

To learn more about the farm and the coffee, visit their website by clicking here. 

(Beautifully Ripe Cherries from the El Injerto Farm) 

We’ll start with the bad news…

I’ll break it to you swiftly. We are retiring Espresso de Tropico at the end of the month. Never fear though, we have plenty of delicious espresso choices to fill your fix and are making way for an organic espresso blend that’s just on the horizon. These next two weeks are your last chance to order Espresso de Tropico before we retire it to the Paradise Hall of Fame, so if it’s been a household favorite, stock up now!

On to happier things. Paradise has spent countless hours developing a brand new line of organic blends. Each blend is unique and offers a wide range in flavor profile. 

Our Whistling Loon light roast is a play on our famous Romance by Paradise blend. A classic mokka-java blend, only using 100% organic beans, this blend delivers the best of two origins in it’s tart raspberry yet smokey cedar flavor profile. 

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Everyone around here knows that I love a really bad pun.  That title is no exception.

No… we aren’t all getting botox injections.  We aren’t buying new wardrobes.  But we are very happy to announce that come Mid-October the staff of Paradise Roasters will be going to Cafe Imports to participate in their upcoming Q-Grader certification course.

What is a Q-Grader, you ask?

Becoming Q-Grade certified will not only improve our skills as coffee cuppers, but it will also allow us to work with coffee producers to improve their product by giving us the ability to offer professional feedback to them.  The Q Coffee System also strives to create a more common vocabulary which is to be used between coffee sellers and buyers.  It also helps to increase a producers access to the specialty coffee market.

On a smaller scale, becoming Q-Grade Certified will also further help us to source coffees that live up to our standards.

We are truly looking forward to this.

More information on the Q-Coffee System can be found on the Coffee Quality Institute website here

Natalie and I were recently given the chance to participate in the 2012 Roaster’s Guild Retreat in beautiful Stevenson, WA.  Aside from a weekend of drinking amazing coffee, taking in the amazing sights of the Colombia River Gorge, and eating some of the best food I’ve ever had, we learned quite a bit.

The weekend started off with being grouped into our teams for the weekend.  These were the people we were to take classes with, sit with at round table discussions, and compete with in the “So you think you can roast” competition.  The people on our teams came from all corners of the coffee industry, and all different levels of experience.  It was a pleasure to meet every single one of them, and hear their philosophies regarding coffee both as a drink and as an industry.

The first full day included round table discussions on the topics of sustainability, driving coffee further into the craft culture, as well as a discussion on cupping and what can be done to improve the way we relate our findings to the consumer.  Some very interesting and useful ideas were talked about.  The round table discussions were followed by a lecture and participation in cupping regarding the different staling rates of coffee packaged in different ways.

The final portion of the first day was roasting time with our teams.  The sponsors of the event had provided us with a lovely outdoor roasting area with over a dozen small roasters and a few sample roasters.  Aside from the delirium brought forth by the 100+ degree heat of that afternoon, I found this to be one of the most valuable experiences of the weekend.  Just having the opportunity to roast with other people, to hear their ideas and work as a team to come up with the best coffee possible using all of our talents was simply amazing.

Picture of a team working over one of the Probat sample roasters

The next day we were given the opportunity to further our education by taking part in the classes that were offered.  I chose to take courses in sample roasting and roast profiling.  Natalie took courses in coffee processing and cupping.  Theses classes offered deep insight into what we do, why we do it, and how we can improve our skills.

The festivities were unofficially closed with a bonfire that night.  It was a great opportunity to let loose and get to really know the people we had been working with that weekend.  We met a lot of great people from all over the country, and even a few that we had been doing business with prior to the retreat, whom we had only known by phone and email.

I’m sure that I can speak for both Natalie and myself by saying that we cannot wait to implement everything that we learned that weekend, and cannot wait until 2013 for the next retreat.

This roaster looks happy