Wisconsin Foodie

cc >> It's been the mainstay for cowboys and high Viennese culture alike. It's the kick start for millions of people's mornings, as well as a mid-afternoon flavor profiled respite. Coffee. Here in Wisconsin, across a decade or more, it's grown into it's own culture. This is the story of those people, and how it's come from a simple cup to something that's cultivated and cared for. >> This week on Wisconsin Foodie, we zigzag across the state and profile three very unique coffee roasting companies, for their take on Wisconsin coffee culture. We also travel to origin in Antigua, Guatemala, with Alterra Coffee, to see the farms and meet the farmers who grow the distinctive Hunapu coffee. Finally, we learn from Barista Scott Lucey what it takes to make the perfect espresso. Whether you take it mild or strong, single or doppio, it's coffee culture in Wisconsin on this week's Wisconsin Foodie. With an everyday cup of coffee, there's no way that anyone can appreciate all the decisions that the brewers and roasters put into that cup. This is a story of three of those distinctive brewers and roasters, and how they are crucial, fundamental to roasting, to brewing, to community, to fair trade in Wisconsin's coffee culture. >> Hi, My name is Steve Kessler. I'm the wholesale manager for Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company. Coffee has been something I've been into for over 15 years. It started off with just having a little cheesy espresso machine in my room at an age where you shouldn't really be into coffee. So it's my calling, if you will. >> My name is Caleb Nicholes. I am co-owner at Kickapoo Coffee. We're an artisan, small batch coffee roaster, located in Viroqua, Wisconsin. It's just a really, kind of thriving place for food culture and people are really interested in where their food comes from. >> My name is Mike Moon. We're at Just Coffee Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin. I'm a co-operator here and co-founder with my friends Matt Early and Ben Hung. We've been doing this for nine years. This is where we receive all of our coffee. We were founded by an organic farmer, a Latin American Studies major and an environmental engineer. We do only fair trade coffee. >> Hello, my name is Matt McClutchy. I'm the owner here at Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company. Well, it's all about the coffee. Coffee is front and center. It's all about the coffee. But the caf, definitely community. My wife and I and our family live just down the block. Everybody' welcome here. There's no attitude. I want to see all different types of people in here, because that reflects Bayview. And that's the Bayview neighborhood. There are people who have lived here all their lives. We have a lot of newcomers from different parts of town. I want the caf to reflect that. >> A couple years ago, we were honored to be the 2010 Roast Magazine roaster of the year. That really helped kind of launch us into a little bit more of a national market. Kickapoo Coffee is really grateful to be the stewards of a vintage German roaster from the 1930s. This particular roaster is a really unique era for roasters. We've really worked hard to develop a lot of science and applied science to our roasting process. That involves data logging every roast. >> We are pretty activist in our approach to fair trade. That's our first most loyal customer, is the people who are really excited about fair trade. From there, we go into coffee drinkers, people who are excited about fresh coffee, fresh roasted coffee, locally roasted coffee. You know, we kind of run from the grassroots activists folks, out to the people who are looking for great coffee experiences. >> When you're really drawn to coffee, which is such an amazing product, when you've got the bug, you've got the bug. It's just a phenomenal industry to be in. >> Coffee is such a complex product. Aromatically, it has I think over 800 aromatic compounds. Most of those compounds are really developed during the roasting process itself. So we really work hard as a company to understand it, develop it, and optimize it to get peak flavor in all of our coffee. >> When you're doing something that's small batch roasted, you're really able to lock in, I think, what's naturally in the coffee. For us, small batch just, it tastes better. You can manage it better. You know, it's just kind of our style. >> When we started this business, we had friends who operated a local bike shop called Revolution Cycles. So, we called this coffee, we called it Revolution Roast and used their logo. It's one of our most popular selling coffees. We make a point of being really transparent, as a part of practicing fair trade. So, we try to put as much information as possible onto the bag. There's an explanation of fair trade on the back. There's sort of a more graphic comparison of the way we do fair trade. And then up here, we have our mission statement. Just Coffee is a worker-owned coffee roaster dedicated to creating and expanding a model of trade based on transparency, equality, and human dignity. We strive to build long-term relationships with small scale coffee growers, to bring you a truly incredible cup of coffee. >> You know, I look at a pound of coffee as a finished product, but then I look at all the farms and all the coffee producing plants and trees that it took to get that pound of coffee. It just really opened my eyes and gave me a whole new healthy respect for the industry that I've really grown to love. So, Kickapoo Coffee is a coffee roaster, but we're also a coffee importer. We part of a buying collective of small to medium-sized roasters. We've pooled our buying power to develop our own cooperatively run importing business. We really work hard along every step of the way to ensure that we're getting the best product that we can. Caf culture here runs from the sort of gritty activist part, all the way up to really high end, the best coffee you'll find in the state kind of thing. So, I know it as the place where interesting things happen. >> Caf culture has been here for, you know, ten or 15 years, but it's changing a little bit more. You'll see a little bit less interest, I would say, in flavored coffees, and more interest in boutique coffees that, you know, generally just have good flavor. >> We really feel there are so many dynamics in coffee, and there are so many different flavor profiles, and there's so much that you can experience, that it's nice when you can get somebody's undivided attention, and you can really let them experience coffee. If you can serve coffee with conviction, with passion, and without an attitude, I think it's a winning combo. I think for us, for the 12 years we've been a company, it's been what's helped us grow. >> That's what I like to see. I like to see the bar filled with a bunch of surly looking old guys, drinking coffee. Then I know it's a good day. >> To be standing among this many bags of coffee, to be holding a hand of green beans, at an address somewhere in the Midwest, somewhere in Wisconsin, is a completely novel thing, compared to a decade ago. Then we have little cafs that dotted the country, but the coffee there was a bit of an afterthought. Now, it's expanded its way to the American palate, and the coffee is now the forefront. I've come to one of those cafs to meet my friend George Bregar, a coffee guru, to find how that expansion happened. Hello, Mr. Bregar. >> Hi, Kyle. >> This is a little daunting. This is more coffee than I expected I'd see. >> Yeah, we're roasting a lot of coffee in here these days. We've got coffee here from all over the world, Latin America, East Africa, Indonesia. But it's really the process that leads up to this that's most exciting. Actually, we have a truck arriving today with some coffees that we've put a lot of effort into that we're real excited about. So, let's check that out. >> George, I don't know almost anything about the coffee business, but I'm guessing that's a truck full of brand new coffee. >> You're right, we're about to unload a truck full of green coffee today. >> We? >> No, not "we," but this is an exciting moment for us, because it represents the final stop of the journey of the coffee from the farm to our door. >> Oh, that's pretty cool. So, this coffee has come from all over the world, basically. >> Yeah, I mean on this truck, we have coffees from Sumatra, Colombia, Panama. But the coffee that we're really the most excited about right now is this coffee right here on the tail. It's coffee from Guatemala. It's from a group called Hunapu. >> I'm sorry? >> Hunapu, it's a group of coffee farmers in Guatemala outside of Antigua region that we've been working with for a few years. They produce really good coffee. >> There has got to be an amazing story from the inside of those bags to coming to your caf. >> There is. >> This is true mountain living. This is Wisconsin Foodie going to the top of a volcanic mountain in Antigua, Guatemala. Aside from flying, definitely the highest feet above sea level I've ever been. I stopped looking down about five minutes ago, and just forward. George has taken me to the side of this mountain, just a few miles away from one of the volcanoes, from which this coffee derives its name, Hunapu. Acre after acre of this coffee on this farm, is picked by hand as it is throughout all of Guatemala. It's been done that way since coffee was brought to Guatemala, and it's distinguished itself as one of the finest in the world. The coffee is called Hunapu, but that was, as I understand, an indigenous name. The people named it after the volcano? >> Yeah, the name Hunapu is indigenous, original from this part of Guatemala. That's why they called it Hunapu. It means mountain of flowers. The Hunapu coffee that we sell as Hunapu is coffee that comes from small producers. We work with around 100 producers, and this comes from approximately 30 producers. >> So this is like your umpteenth coffee trip like this. For me, it's still novel, but what excites you on this trip? >> Well, it's exciting to see all the ripe cherries on these trees. One of my favorite pastimes is walking around the farm and just, you know, snacking on the coffee cherries. >> Can you imagine there was a time when buyers didn't even know the faces of their farmers, much less almost where the coffee came from? They just mixed it, roasted it and boom, Maxwell House. >> Yeah, I mean, that time wasn't too long ago, really. But it's funny, because I can't really imagine that anymore. It's hard for me to buy coffee without being able to make that connection at all. This is a good spot. >> It's sublime. It's just sublime up here. >> It's nice to get out here and see the environment where the coffee comes from, to meet the producers, and to be able to focus on one farmer for longer periods of time. >> This brings you back to basics. >> It does. It's where it starts. >> So now that we've come down off of the mountain, and seen so much more of Guatemala, where are you taking me? >> Well, we're in front of Beneficio Bella Vista right now. This is where all the farmers from Hunapu deliver their ripe red cherries for processing. >> This is sort of the last step before it gets put in the bags and comes to the states. >> That's right. >> You know, quite a few steps actually happen at this place. Bella Vista is the type of mill where they do all the processing, all the way from the cherry to the finished sorted, exportable product. This is a one-stop shop for the farmers for Hunapu. The cherry goes into a machine that pulls off the skin and some of the fruit. The seed that becomes the roasted bean eventually will go into a tank, where airborne yeasts and other enzymes attack the pulp and break it down. When that's done, then the coffee is rinsed and all that slurry is washed away, and we've got dried what we call parchment coffee, or pergamena, that needs to be dried on the patio or in the drum dryer. >> It's a lot bigger than the patios I have at home.

laughs

>> The coffee gets dehulled and sorted, and all the defects get removed. Then, finally, it's just bagged up. So the kind of lot separation that happens here at Beneficio Bella Vista is really unique, because typically, when the coffees come in from the farmers and they process them, they just blend them all together. The kind of separation that they have here at this mill allows the coffee buyer, myself in this case, to become part of the process, and to really have a hand in the creation of the individual lot that we buy for Alterra. I just want to give you a little sneak peak at the coffee that's going to be destined for Alterra. The red bags are the ones that they use for 100% Bourbon coffee. So if you look over here, you can see quite a large stack of Hunapu, just sitting there, waiting for us. I think we should probably taste these coffees and decide which ones to buy. >> You lead the way. >> Okay, let's go. Here we are in Luis Pedro's cupping room. This is where we're going to do all the tasting of the small lots of Hunapu this week. We're going to make our final decisions on what to buy. >> George, walk me through what's on this table. >> There are a bunch of samples here from various lots at Hunapu. Each tray has one sample from one lot. The first thing we're going to do is smell the dry grounds. Then we'll pour water over them, wait four minutes, break through that crust that's on top, smell the aromatics that are coming off at that point. Let it cool down and then we'll start tasting. There's so much anticipation leading up to cupping all the lots for the year. It's so exciting to find great coffees. But the process of discovery is the most fun. Cupping four tables of ten coffees is like getting to open 40 little gifts. >> I'm ready to give it a shot. So when you're tasting Hunapu, what are the protocols that your instincts go to? >> A really deep, intense cherry, a defining cocoa note. Then in the acidity, you know, you're getting some more tropical, some more citrus, things like that. So we want a nice vibrant, bright acidity, but we want the coffee to be balanced and have enough body, and have some of that chocolaty cocoa nuts woven into the body. What we're trying to figure out today is which of these samples are we going to keep separate from the rest, and offer as a single farmer, single pick micro lot this year. So on this table, we have our favorites from a day of cupping. So far, we've cupped 36 coffees. We selected a few from each table that we liked the best. >> How many bags? >> You never realize all of the steps in the qualifying, and all of the designations that a single cup of coffee that you grab, you know, maybe quickly walking to your car, goes through just to deliver all those great flavor notes. You know, previously, I just sort of took for granted, like this is good coffee. >> I mean, I can think of probably five coffees on this table I think I'd like to bring home with me in my carry-on. >> That is an enormous endorsement from somebody like you, who's been tasting coffees for a decade. >> Right, I think we should go out. We have a lunch set up with some of the producers in town here. >> Right on, a true Guatemalan meal. >> Let's do it. >> Here, we're in --, in the agency where we receive coffee from the region. George, he comes from Alterra. These are some of the best coffee producers in Antigua that we know. It's pretty exciting, finally all getting together in one place, you know, the producer, the buyer, the miller, and the importer, everyone who's involved and has enjoyed their wonderful coffee. It's pretty exciting. It's going to be a good lunch. >> I can't wait to eat. >> I know. >> It's going to be so good. It smells great. Chefs from fancy restaurants all over the world, with the craze in Central American and Mexican cooking, try to replicate this, and they never quite get it right. Yet, here, with all this graciousness, it's perfect. It's a true honor to be breaking bread and sharing a meal with these gentlemen that grow this exceptional, exquisite Guatemalan coffee that travels through so many hands and so many steps, and across so much distance to my cup one morning. >> The Hunapu coffee has become one of the favorite coffees. One of the most gratifying parts of what we do is when customers come in and say, wow, you know, they really love the Hunapu. "It's amazing," "It tastes like this," "It tastes like that," and you know, they get very excited about how the coffee tastes. We really love hearing that, so I want to make sure I share that with everybody here today, because we all have a hand in the process. When those customers praise the coffee, only I get to hear it. It really is, these gentlemen deserve to hear that, as well. This is a fitting end to our journey. I mean, if I could take every coffee drinker to the origin of coffee, the place where it's grown and show them the whole process, that would be a dream come true, so I'm glad to have you. >> I'm glad that I ended up on that side of the scale, that I could come. >> Does this change the way you drink coffee from here on out? >> Profoundly. >> From the shadow of the Hunapu volcano in Antiqua, Guatemala, to one of our best baristas. It's Scott Lucey and the perfect espresso. >> Hi, there. My name's Scott Lucey. I've been a barista here in Milwaukee for about ten years now. Today, we're going to talk about brewing a great shot of espresso. First, let's talk about what espresso actually is. The definition focuses on the technical specifications, such as machine brewing water temperature, machine pump pressure, the coffee dose, which is how much coffee you're using, the extraction rate, and the extraction volume. What espresso isn't is a special bean. You can actually make espresso with any coffee you'd like. Today, I'm using a coffee that's near and dear to me. It's a single lot, single farm coffee from Colombia, grown, harvested and processed by Nelson Melo and his family. I've used this coffee in barista competitions before with great success. The grinder. The grinder is actually perhaps the most important piece of equipment. You want to be using a burr type grinder that allows you to make quick and precise grind adjustments. This grinder's adjustment mechanism is right here. When adjusting the grind, you're changing the particle size in coarseness to fineness. That largely impacts the extraction rate. If your extraction is too fast, your particle size is too coarse, so you adjust the grinder in the direction of fine to slow down that extraction. And on the opposite end, if your extraction is too slow, your particle size is too small, so you make an adjustment coarser, to speed up the extraction. A good extraction typically might be in the time range of 20-30 seconds. Let's talk about dose. This is the filter basket, which lives in the portafilter. The filter basket greatly determines how much coffee you're using. So with this coffee today, I like to use about 19 grams, and to fit comfortably, I use a double size basket. The coffee goes in the basket, which is in the portafilter. Before you brew your shot, you want to make sure that this basket is clean and dry. Clean is obvious. It tastes better than dirty. Dry, that's interesting, because if there's water droplets around the side of the basket, your brewing water will go down the side of the basket. You don't want that. You want the brewing water to go through the coffee. The next step is to dose the coffee in the basket. One key thing is evenness. It looks pretty good, but just to be sure, I'm going to move the coffee back and forth so that it's mostly even. Now I'm ready to tamp. In tamping the coffee, use a tamper to compress the coffee so that it resists the high pressure brewing environment of the espresso machine. When you're tamping, you want to make sure that you're tamping level and firm. Clean off any particles that are hanging out on the rim of the basket. I'm also going to flush a little bit of water from the screen, so that the screen is clean, and a little pre-heated. Now I'm ready to insert and brew immediately. In watching the shot brew, it's important that I see this rich brown color for the entire extraction. That's a full, good, quality extraction. If you see these rich brown colors fading to blonde really fast, that might mean there was a mishap in preparation, an incorrect grind setting, or your machine might not be hitting the right temperature. It's getting lighter in color. I'll stop just about there. I pulled one shot right into the cup, because that's how I'd serve it in the caf. The visual appearance, you see the top part of the shot is this thick, foamy, spotted, rusty crema. In drinking the shot, I like to spray it across my palate.

slurps espresso

Slurping allows me to spray the espresso over my palate, which allows me to taste as much as I possibly can. In tasting espresso, I'd say one of the most pleasurable things is balance. The coffee, the flavors shouldn't be too aggressive. They should be distinct. You should be able to ponder what you're tasting. This coffee, I love so much because it has a very unique white wine, grapefruit effervescence with a sweet fig, cola body. Most other espresso blends I've tasted commonly taste similar to chocolate or caramel. I hope I've been able to help demystify some of the things that might make espresso confusing. If you're in a caf, now you can understand a few more of the things you might see a barista do. If you're at home, maybe you can analyze your set up and figure out just how you can brew a better cup. Thanks for tuning in. Have a nice coffee time. >> Major underwriting and support for Wisconsin Foodie is provided by the Dairy Farm Families of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. For more information or recipes,

visit

eatwisconsincheese.com So our esteemed guide Ricky tells us that this is a true Guatemalan experience, Pollo Compero. We've been flying since the middle of the night. We're an hour outside of Antiqua. We're famished. So what are we doing? We're standing at a strip mall eating chicken in the parking lot. Sometimes a foodie's just gotta eat. Look at this awesome Mini. That is so great. When I start making Bourdain's money, I'm buying one of those. Only in black. So this is the heart of darkness. This is the heart of the market. >> Where you'll find... >> More unique things? >> Compact disks.