bella coffee

One of the coffees that we have right now and really enjoy is the Finca Cerro Paldo from Costa Rica. This is a coffee that has a great body and traces of a brown sugary sweetness.

Now when you look at that webpage about this beautiful coffee, there may be a some information on there that seems rather irrelevant. Farm? Elevation? Varietal?

Allow us to explain:

Why do we care about the farm our coffee comes from? There used to be a thought in coffee that only different regions lended itself to different tastes in the coffee- but we’re way beyond that now. The Cerro Paldo farm is located within the Tarrazu region, but pick up a bag somewhere that just says “Costa Rica Tarrazu” and try it next to the Cerro Paldo and you’ll taste the difference. It’s the attention to detail on a farm that results in such satisfation from the cup. Your coffee farmer picks the cherries at just the peak of ripeness where it’s at it sweetness, and from that point on it’s all about retaining that sweetness. The farm will process the coffee by extracting the seed from the fruit, dry it and sort it to ensure that there are no defects in it. A great coffee has great producers.

Elevation? Yes, it does matter! At a higher altitude, the coffee bean will have a higher density. And the density of coffee has quite a bit to say about its quality.

Varietal? There is more than one species of coffee plant out there. Your two major types of coffee are arabica and robusta. At Bella, we use all arabica, with robusta being a low-elevation coffee used primarily in instant coffee. The varietals that we list are subspecies of the Arabica tree, which in the case of the Cerro Paldo is a mix of Caturra and Catuai. Individual coffee varietals have unique tastes- which we’re seeing more and more as coffee is being sorted on the farms by specie. To try a coffee that is comprised of only one varietal, check out our Finca Los Planes from El Salvador, which is 100% Pacamara.

Buying coffee from individual farms and knowing indivual varietals is great because that’s how you can highlight such big flavors in the coffee. We’re not talking about the richness you get from a dark roast or the strength that you get when brewing- we’re talking about the flavors of that tiny green coffee bean itself. These are flavors that are too good to roast too darkly, and too good not to try before you put that cream in. These are coffees that we are proud to bring to Florida. We always want to know more about our coffees, and taste coffees that broaden the scope of what you think coffee should taste like. Sometimes a unique tasting coffee can challenge you, but more often than not it will knock your flip-flops off.

I find it really fascinating the reaction that some people have to the word ‘espresso’. It’s a very strong negative reaction— and this is simply the result of a misunderstanding.

First off, there’s the notion that espresso is essentially liquified crack cocaine, and will inevitably turn you into a crazed over-caffeinated maniac. Really, the difference between a double shot of espresso and a small coffee is a wash. So if you’re turning down a single latte in favor of a small coffee, you’ve inadvertantly picked the more caffeinated beverage.

Secondly, there’s the thought that espresso is a naturally bad tasting beverage. Well, most of the espressos you get in a cafe/ restaurant/ gas station/ wherehaveyou are indeed bad. What amazes me in this information age is that 99% of the people making espressos out there have never researched how to do it correctly. The biggest difference between our espresso and all those bad ones is freshness— espresso needs to be fresh! After 2 weeks from being roasted, all those flavors are going to fade away. Your espresso doesn’t have to bitter— it can taste like anything from a dark chocolate bar to a jollyrancher candy. It can taste amazing.

Any coffee can be an espresso. Espresso is simply another method of making coffee- just like a home coffeemaker or a french press or a stove-top Moka pot. Each way has its differences, but espresso is the most unique because it really isolates the ‘essence’ of the coffee as they say. All the subtle flavors of the coffee are magnified and really shine through. And because coffee is a fruit, you can pull a sweetness out of an espresso that will make you wonder why we even have packets of sugar in the first place.

So don’t be afraid to order an espresso! Find out why every time you walk in you always see us behind the machine intently sipping out of a demitasse.

This last weekend David and I journeyed up to Atlanta for the World Barista Championships! We were rooting on barista Michael Phillips of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea as he took on 50 other competitors from all over the world. The United States has never won the WBC, and with an ever-growing movement towards specialty coffee here in the US, the anticipation has been building with every competition.

We drove up on Thursday and threw ourselves straight into a mess of baristas at Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge, where there was a latte art throwdown to kick off the competition. In what must be a record, 64 baristas threw down in a head-to-head competition of who can pour a better-looking six ounce cappuccino! Of course, I had to get in on this. It was nerve-racking, but in the first round I took down the barista trainer of the Swiss national team with a nicely infused tulip.

But, in the second round, I got a pretty rough draw in Sammy Piccolo— the Canadian national champ. “Don’t kick my ass,” he said to me— and then we poured. It was fierce, I’ll say, but, yeah, in the end he got the better of me. But barely! The judges remarked that if only my tulip hadn’t been slightly off-centered then I would have had him. I’m happy with it— and as for Sammy, he went on to become the #2 barista in the world.

At the end of it all, Gwilym Davies, the barista from the United Kingdom took the top honors of World Barista Champion. The United States placed third. It was an awesome experience and here at Bella we’re already gearing up to dip into competition next year.

- Jonathan