Jefferson on making great coffee

Jefferson is one of the most recognizable faces here at coffee labs. He has been working here for about nine years, and has gone from knowing absolutely nothing about coffee to knowing more than you probably thought there was to know about it. Mike and Alicia, the owners were very hesitant to hire him because of his lack of experience, but over the years he has become an asset to the company. He has become head barista as many of you might already know, but he is also in charge of training and working with our wholesale partners to brew their coffee the way we do. The way we do things can be summed up in one word, quality. Here is some of the advice he gives the clients when he first visits them, which you might also find useful.

            One of the biggest issues he finds when he goes out to a new client is that they will often be using pre ground beans. The problem with using pre ground coffee is coffee goes stale just like anything else. Whole beans have a shelf life of about ten days to two weeks, but grounds can start to go stale in as little as 6 hours. Both wholesale clients and regular customers notice a significant difference in their coffee after making this change.

It’s summer time and drinking hot coffee on the go can seem like a terrible idea in the heat. A great solution is iced coffee. So how does one make iced coffee? Just pour hot brewed coffee that has cooled down over ice, right? Not if you want it to taste good, no. Cooling hot coffee results in a bitter, sometimes unpleasant product. One of the best ways to make iced coffee is to cold brew the way we do in the shop. To do this, you need a cold brew pot. Some of the best brands are Filtron and Hario, Making cold brew is just as easy as making regular coffee; only it takes a little longer. Coarsely grind some of your favorite coffee from your local roaster and pour cold water over the grounds. The ratio of grounds to coffee will vary depending on the equipment you are using. Let the mixture sit for at least 12 hours, and you’ll be left with a lovely concentrated iced coffee. Dilute the concentrate with water approximately 1:2, depending on your preference, and you’re all set to go.  No more hot coffee or bitter iced coffee for your daily fix when it’s 100 degrees outside.

In his time at Coffee Labs Jefferson has seen lots of shops take a complete 180-degree turn once they started brewing their coffee our way. Shops understand how important it is to care for the product they are selling, and what a difference quality and attention to detail can make. His goal is to help bring great coffee to America, have it be appreciated the way it is in other countries and help people understand what coffee means to people around the world, from farmer to roaster to roaster to barista and barista the final consumer. He looks forward to many more great years in the coffee industry trying to make those goals a reality.