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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We are pleased to announce our partnership with Beve, an innovative Nashville based coffee catering, education and training company. The goal of this partnership is to advance coffee knowledge, the coffee experience to culinary art and enhance access to exceptional coffee and brewing. Click “Read” below to view the press release to learn more.

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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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You missed a great Brewing Techniques class March 13! No worries there’s more classes on the way. In the meantime check out our brewing guide on the Learn tab. Stay tuned, in May we will be tasting coffees from around the world, focusing on the three main coffee regions, Africa, Indonesia and Latin America.

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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.

The 2007 World Barista Champion, James Hoffmann, posted a very interesting video and details of a unique technique for creating a cleaner tasting and less “sludegy” tasting french press. Below is the video…

Thought you’d enjoy it too! You can read his original blog post here.

We now move to the question you’ve been pondering since childhood, the age old question “What is crema?” Sleep well for we have your answer…

What is Crema? Did we mispell cream? No, it is a real word. Crema is the thick, golden-brown foam that develops in the filter and encrusts the top of an espresso serving. Crema gives espresso its complexity, depth of flavor and texture. Crema is the single most important indicator of espresso quality.

Proper emulsification of water and oil is what produces proper Crema. Dr. Joseph Josuma, a leading espresso expert states, “Crema markedly alters an espresso in terms of its mouth feel, density, viscosity, wetting power, and foam-forming ability, making it the single most important indicator of espresso quality. If there is no crema, it means the oils have not been emulsified, and hence it is not an espresso.”

We chose CREMA as our name because it represents our primary goal, excellence in quality. Our passion for the best quality in coffee, espresso and service is proudly rooted in our Italian heritage. So is our love for pizza we suspect.

We believe that smaller, traditional European sized beverages highlight the taste of espresso. Few Americans have tasted genuine Italian-style espresso, even though specialty coffee purveyors bode high quality, many Baristas are ill trained to craft a truly Italian experience. We want to change that.

At CREMA, we guarantee that every espresso has been properly extracted. Our Baristas have gone through intensive training and continue to grow in their skills. At CREMA we are always looking for ways to perfect our coffee and espresso. We hope you enjoy sharing in this experience, your satisfaction is our delight.