We were delighted when our friend, Chelsea Kallman, a Nashville based writer/photographer for Barista Magazine recently visited and blogged about her experience. She hang out with us while we cupped three different coffees and discussed our foray into roasting. Here’s what she had to say…

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Every year for the past 27 years, coffee geeks and industry professionals have gotten together in some lucky city for what’s called “The Event”. It’s a magical place full of some of the best coffees in the world, the coolest new ways to make them and make them better, and the most talented, coffee obsessed people in the country.

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The CREMA \\ Beve Brew Methods classes are an ongoing series of classes designed to help you achieve great coffee at home. We’ll cut through the confusion and provide you with the tools and the know-how to replicate what we’re doing in the shop. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is! View class schedule and register now.

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Grapefruit. Lemon. Blueberries. Chocolate. Oak. Pepper. Smoke. Bright. Crisp. Muddy. Syrupy. These are just a few words that may come to mind when you take a sip of a cup of coffee from your local coffee shop. Hopefully you’ll understand a little more about that cup of coffee after you read this blog post!

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Have you ever noticed how much effort it takes for a skilled barista to produce your expertly crafted latte or espresso? Even your drip coffee requires careful laboring, albeit somewhat minimal. Well, it may be surprising to know that your brew requires much more labor and human effort before it even reaches the roaster, let alone the grinder or coffee brewer!

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We’ve been searching for a good burr grinder for quite a while. Finally we came across this grinder several months ago, but it was out of stock almost everywhere! It was well worth the wait, isn’t it so cute? The Hario Skerton hand grinder has ceramic conical burrs that can be adjusted according to the type of brew method you are using. 

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Spring is a great time for coffee! New shipments arrive monthly as each come in season. If you notice a little bit of change with your next espresso, or a brighter flavor from the Moka Harar, it’s because the crops are coming in season. If you’re in this week, ask us to take a whiff of the Lost Weekend (a blend of Harar and Sumatra), and note the bluberry-ish smell.

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Check out our growing collection of our latte art pictures!

Friday, May 15 is national bike to work day. Dust off those old pedals and head on into work the healthy way, hit up CREMA on the way for a free drip coffee.

Find more information such as routes and meet up points at www.WalkBikeNashville.org.

So recently a friend and fellow coffee nut, by the name of Heath Henley stopped in and brought me in some single origin espresso to try. By the way, you can find Heath gallivanting around the country going to coffee workshops, judging USBC competitions, or in El Salvador cupping coffees. Gah, I’m so jealous.  Heath, formally of Portland Brew started working for a company out of Tulsa called Topeca. Topeca is a single family owned farm in El Salvador that handles their coffee from seed to cup. This process is very similar to movements going on in the wine industry. Topeca specifically processes certain coffee varietals that are grown on the farm differently for contrasting flavor profiles. Thus, Topeca blends the differently processed coffees and varietals to come up with a specific espresso blend. Most espresso blends up until recently are made up of different coffees from different countries. This approach to espresso is highly favored for flavor balance, complexity, and mouthfeel. However, this year in the USBC more and more single origin espresso “blends” are showing up in competition. The quality of crops is getting only better and better for this sort of thing. This is coffee that represents quality from one farm, one country, and one family. It’s very sweet, low in acidity, and still very complex. It tastes best slightly overdosed (around 21-22 grams per two ounces of espresso) and extracted in about 27-30 seconds. Check out the video, you will notice less striping (due to one type of coffee and roast level) in the espresso, but a beautiful golden crema. Come in and give it a try. Also, check out Topeca’s feature in Imbibe magazine.

Who’s that musician tickling your ears in the video? That’s the amazing Raphael Saddiq.