Have you ever experienced a bitter or burnt cup of coffee? Bitter coffee comes from when one does not put enough coffee in the filter basket. As the hot water from the machine lands on top of the grounds, it will find a path of “least resistance.” This usually causes the water to pick up just the outer edges of the coffee grounds. Some coffees come with fillers other than coffee, that makes the coffee bitter, and some are robusta coffees or blends, which is always bitter. Burnt coffee is just that, burnt. It has been on the warmer for too long. Thirty minutes is the maximum lifespan of coffee on a warming plate.

Try some of our fresh roasted coffee, order from St. Ives Coffee Roasters.

There is a noticeable difference in the two coffees we have from Costa Rica. The La Lapa and the La Minita are from the same region, same growers, and the same plantation, yet there is something unique about both. The La Lapa (named for the region it is grown in) is a great coffee. A medium style coffee that is full of a “nutty” flavor. Perfect for all day drinkers who don’t need a lot of caffeine, or those folks that get the acid burn feeling of too much Joe. The La Minita is named after the Plantation itself. This coffee is basically the very best of the best from Costa Rica. Pickers pick the largest ripest of the beans and quality control ensures that their namesake bean will always be the best.

Do your own taste test? Order some St. Ives La Lapa and La Minita.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Coffee roasting is very much like an artist painting on canvas. Each bean, like each tube of paint has its own characteristic. Too thick, too thin, too dry, and even too old, paint like the coffee bean must be respected and used to its best potential. As an artist has a theme, or moment in time, to guide his painting, the coffee roaster too must roast a particular coffee for that “just right moment” when the coffee oils and darkness gives the bean its “personality.” Ed, our roaster, is like an artist. Each day as your internet orders come through the website, Ed takes a moment and visualizes how the beans will roast in a particular order. Coffees like La Lapa and Guatamalan are delicate and need to be gently brought to their best. Whereas, Vienna or French-Italian roasts are harsh brutes that can take all kinds of punishment before they are ready to come out of the roaster. The weather takes its toll as well. The artist is handicapped if it is raining outside and the humidity spoils the light as well as the canvas. Roasting your coffee in wet or humid weather is different than roasting during a pretty day. Humidity makes it harder to bring darker roasts to their prime without burning them. So, next time you enjoy your favorite cup from St. Ives Coffee Roasters, think of our artist, Ed as he tries to create the “masterpiece” of the brew.

Try St. Ives Masterpiece coffee - Special Blend

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Mexican Custepec is one of St. Ives’ mild coffees. Perfect for all day drinking and relaxing with friends. Grown at 5000 feet above sea level and near the border with Guatemala, the Mexican state of Chiapas produces a light bodied coffee. This is the Pinot Grigio of coffees. The high floral notes give the coffee a fresh superb taste.

Visit St. Ives Coffee Roasters and try this flavorful regional coffee.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

That it is perfectly okay to “slurp” your coffee? Maybe you are in a fine restaurant or perhaps in a coffee shop, it is proper to “slurp” your coffee. Coffee professionals slurp coffee samples during a procedure called cupping. Cupping is when “yours truly” and other roasters sample their coffees that they roasted or thinking about buying from a coffee broker for clarity, profile, and quality. The act is not really about drinking the coffee but sensing the characteristics. A fast and strong slurp to get coffee to the back palate of one’s mouth is the desired tactic. However, “cupping roasters” never swallow the coffee, for after 15 or so cups we would be so strung out on caffeine that we’ll never get to sleep. So next time when you are in a fine eating establishment and you hear someone slurping their coffee next to you, they are either a vulgarian or a coffee connoisseur.

“Slurp” some delicious St. Ives Coffee.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

We frequently get emails on what coffees are milder. Usually these requests are from folks who suffer acid reflux or heartburn. There are a few things one can do to still enjoy their coffee. First off, the way one is brewing and keeping their coffee. Too many of us are basically boiling away our coffees by just leaving them on the burner or hot plate. The water in the coffee evaporates, leaving behind that not so wonderful burned coffee taste. Adding extra cream and sugar to burnt coffee does not make it better! This also does not help a sore tummy. The lifespan of a freshly brewed pot of coffee is about 25-30 minutes! A way to solve this burnt coffee dilemma is to buy a coffee maker that has a stainless steel carafe that locks in the freshness. This portable device keeps the coffee fresh and hot for about two hours. Pricey but it will definitely pay for itself in reduced wasted coffee being poured down the drain.

Next, knowing about the coffee wouldn’t hurt either. Coffee from Colombia and Kenya are rich with an acid inside the bean that is a natural by-product from the soil. It is what gives those coffees that extra bite of taste. While coffees from Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Jamaica are lighter in coffee acid and therefore cause less irritation. My advice is enjoy your coffee but be sure to enjoy it perhaps with some food or even add a bit of cream to soften the taste. Please feel free to email us with any questions or comments you might have on this or any subject.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Did you know that coffee was first called “George” before it was called “Joe”? During World War 1, US soldiers in Europe were being issued “instant coffee” from a company called “G Washington.” The “G” of course was for “George.” The coffee was quick and easy to make in the trenches. After the war, the soldiers coming home asked for “a cup of George.”

So where did the phrase “cup of Joe” came from? A popular answer is that it was named for Josephus “Joe” Daniels, appointed Secretary of the Navy who abolished alcohol in the officer’s mess. This mainly left the sailors with just coffee to drink, which became sarcastically Joe, referring to “that” Joe Daniels.

Another version has “Joe” coming from the slang, the common man. Since the common man drank coffee, Joe and coffee became synonymous. No one really knows.

Here’s to the common man, enjoy a “cup of St.Ives Joe!“

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Coffee beans are the seeds of a berry called a “cherry” for the shape and for the deep crimson color of a fully ripe fruit. The best flavor comes from deep vermilion cherries verging on a mahogany color – the color of dead-ripe Bing cherries.

Once hand picked the cherries travel by truckloads to nearby mills where they undergo a “wet” processing. The fruit is siphoned into a depulper for a skinning stage which is actually a misleading term. The pulp stays; the skin goes. The slimy skinned beans come to rest in a trough, a big stone open-topped fermenting tank. Timing is of the essence as the cherries begin to ferment quickly – a process that is meant only to loosen the pulp of the fruit from the seeds it holds and not to add any flavor. If this fermentation penetrates the beans they will have the taste of rotten fruit or a “sweaty onion” flavor. In the troughs overhead pipes dump the wet beans into separate tubs by size. The water drains out the bottom and the seeds sit for anywhere from 8 to 48 hours or longer while the sugary mucilage begins to ferment and decompose. The removal of the fermented mucilage takes place in a long, elevated channel. In the washing channel the beans are further separated by size. The washed and sorted beans flow into stone draining pools where they remain until they lose their excess water.

At St. Ives we only choose the best arabica coffee beans. Try some and you’ll be sure to enjoy some of the best coffee you’ve ever brewed.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Did you know that the popular phrase “What’s Up?” came from the coffee industry and the sea?

“What’s Up?” was a popular greeting among seafaring people for centuries. Sailing cargo ships laden with coffee and other freight traveled great distances to and fro. When a helmsman (the guy who steers the ship) was relieved for the night, the relieving helmsman would ask which way the wind was coming from. Sailors used the word “up” as the direction. So the next time someone asks you “What’s up?” give a thought about your St. Ives Coffee and may you always be “up wind!”

See what’s up and brewing at St. Ives Coffee Roasters! Our arabica coffee beans are roasted to perfection providing you with the rich full-bodied flavors. Taste the difference, order St. Ives Coffee today.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster

Coffee drinkers should give thanks to a “Little Farmer” that works very hard in making some of the world’s best coffees. The Apis Mellifera or Apis Cerana also known as the Honey Bee, just like you see in the movies and on TV, is a diligent worker. To help explain how this wonderful creature helps the coffee industry, we will compare three different coffees from Africa. We will compare Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (pronounced Yer-Ga-Chef), Ethiopian Harrar, and African Kenya Kirinyaga. The Yirgacheffe has a citrus and walnut taste to it. Whereas the Harrar is just a pure citrus taste. On contrast, the Kenyan coffee has a black walnut taste. Why are these African coffees different? If one will remember from our earlier stories, the citrus taste comes from pollen collected by bees and other insects which cross-pollinate with the flowers on the coffee tree. The fruity tasting pollen comes from the orange, lemon, or other flowering fruit trees nearby. Planting fruit trees is a favored practice among coffee growers who rely on the little honey bee to make their fabulous coffees stand out from rival coffee growers “next door.” Same soil, same sun, same water, but it is the pollen that “carries the day” for these competing coffee growers. So, when you see a honey bee flying around, be sure to thank him “or her” for the hard work that they do.

Ed Thilenius
Roastmaster