Once you go black

As we start (or continue) this paleo diet challenge, we look out for labels such as: Free range, grass fed beef, local and organic. We want to put the highest quality products in our system, with the least amount of additives and unpronounceable ingredients. Are our drinks not as important as our food? I’m seeing folks downing Maxwell house and diet coke as their morning caffeine fix, yet in my mind, this is counterproductive to the paleo lifestyle.

People tell me all the time that they can’t drink coffee without loading it up with milk or sugar, to mask the bitter taste. Their cups are filled with this beige sugar water which may as well be melted ice cream with a slight essence of coffee. When prepared properly, coffee will have a robust, full, naturally sweet flavor when left alone. The sweetness isn’t comparable to the whipped cream and syrups added at Starbucks of course, but rather a subtle, gentle, more grown-up sweetness. This is due to the caramelizing of the sucrose, very early on in the roasting process, causing the naturally green bean to brown at around 170-200⁰C.

Here’s a few easy steps you can take to make the experience more pleasurable:

1. Always start with fresh roasted beans, this is a no brainer. “But Dole, where am I going to get freshly roasted beans ?” Asado Coffee, 1432. W. Irving Park is .5 miles east of the box. Safari Cup, 3404 N. Southport is 1.5 miles from the box, Star Lounge Coffee bar, 2521 W. Chicago Ave in UK Village. All these stores roast in house, the smell is amazing, the taste is outstanding. The beans need about a day to sit after roasting to mature. If you visit one of these stores to pick up beans, try a hand dripped cup*, it will change your opinion on the spot.

2. Grind specifically for the cup you’re about to drink, as close to brew time as possible. I can’t afford one of those fancy old-timey Italian grinders, but an electric will have you set in about 30 seconds. And the size of the grind does indeed change the flavor of the coffee. If it’s too fine, you run the risk of a bitter cup. If it’s too large, you’re going to have a bland cup.

3. Use COLD water with the brewing process. If you’re using an auto drip, this speaks for itself. If you’re hand dripping the cup (you’ve got some time on your hands), bring to a boil, let sit for a minute, then pour. If you’re using a French press (larger grind for this), you don’t quite want it boiling.

4. Drink the coffee as soon as possible after brewing. As it sits, its going to start oxidizing, and after 20 minutes it’s going to taste like a big mug of awful.

When you prepare a high quality cup with the care, drink it slowly, tasting it- not chugging it, and letting the flavors meld together, you'll start to notice the subtle undertones of sweetness and nuttiness.

Emphasis is on the beans, if you start with the best product, you’re going to end with the best product. Behind small micro-roasters, you’re step down would be Intelligentsia or Metropolis, followed by your Starbucks, and so on, with the price going down each step. The problem with these mass-produced coffee shops is the age of the bean post-roasting, where it’s going to lose flavor, even if it is vacuum sealed (Beans tend to go bland within 2 weeks of roasting).

If you have the problem with office coffee, like I do, you can always bring in a french press and make it at your desk. Sure, you may look a bit pretentious but 1. You don’t have to keep getting up for another cup, 2. You have a better quality product, and 3. You can avoid the kitchen, where in my office at least, people tend to leave stacks of cookies and cakes.

*Hand dripping is a process wherein the person brewing slowly pours in the hot water while stirring the ground, slowly releasing more oils from the beans, and is done on a cup-by-cup basis. It’s increasing in popularity, with Starbucks even considering it within the next few months.