This is Where 22 Million Pounds of Coffee is Roasted a Year
For the past 5 years the Farmer Bros Coffee Headquarters in Torrance, CA has roasted an average of 22 million pounds of coffee per year. Although this may sound like an enormous amount of coffee to roast, it is actually down from 51 million pounds per year at Farmer Bros’ height. I was fortunate enough to be given a tour of the entire Farmer Bros’ Campus this past Thursday, where I was able to experience their entire roasting facility and the brand new state of the art coffee lab. The coffee lab is the most sophisticated in the United States and was recently featured in a cover story of Specialty Coffee Retailer Magazine, which you can read here. In this post I want to share a bit of what I learned on the tour as well as some cool pictures of the roasting facility, which would fascinate any coffee lover.
Roaster & Packaging Line in the Coffee Lab
I first met with Cindi on Thursday morning and headed straight for the coffee lab. According to Specialty Coffee Retailer the Farmer Bros’ coffee lab is a 6,500 sq ft brand new facility worth $1 million dollars. There are a few other coffee labs like this in the world but nothing like it in the United States. What makes it unique, however, is its mission of pure research to expand the knowledge of coffee. Where other coffee labs are to solve problems for o†ne coffee company, the Farmer Bros’ coffee lab is to solve problems that affect the entire coffee community.
After visiting the coffee lab, the tour headed straight into the meat of the operations. I walked into a hanger sized building, where I donned a hairnet and was greeted by nine packaging machines running nonstop (First Picture). Passed the packing line were silos, where roasted coffee is stored. From what I remember, though I’m not sure, I believe each silo could hold up to 9 tons of roasted coffee.
The rest of the warehouse that wasn’t processing green coffee was dedicated to storage. They have about 6 months worth of green coffee inventory stored in sacks piled to the ceiling.
Green Coffee Storage
A business unit of Farmer Bros called Spice Products Company also runs out of an adjacent building on site. A strong, almost nose burning scent comes from this part of the campus. You could tell from the smell that on this day they were processing cumin and chili. In fact, if you have use Tapatio hot sauce, the chili Tapatio uses is processed here.
Tapatio Chili Being Grinded
After everything was said and done my feet and back were a bit tired from touring the facility, and it was an awesome experience to witness such a mammoth sized operation in process.
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The San Fransisco Fancy Food Show Part II
Barista Set Up in Front of Doors
Day 3: Peering through the Sight Glass
Normally, before I travel or indulge in an event I outline and define:
- My purpose (If there’s no purpose, I probably shouldn’t be going)
- Distinct objectives (what I would like to accomplish)
- Areas of interest that I would like to visit
- Independent Coffee Shops and Roasters
Of course, I have to have a great cup (at least one) of coffee to start my day, and the Starbucks offered in our hotel wasn’t going to do it for me. I heard of a start up retail roaster called Sight Glass and had to check these guys out. On the 3rd morning in San Fransisco the team and I walked to Sight Glass from our hotel and were pleasantly surprised. They have a shop however still under construction, so they posted up a temporary portable shop right in front of the door. Again, there was an incredible amount of people in line for pour over coffee and lattes. Anyways, this specialty roaster was started by two bothers, Jerad and Justin, who formally worked at a few other specialty coffee roasters in the area before venturing off and creating their own product. After our first cup of coffee, we decided to look through the glass for a while admiring their soon-to-be coffee shop.
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The San Francisco Fancy Food Show
Taken from the terrace outside Yerba Buena Gardens Samovar Location
Day 1: The Arrival
The Posh Portage team spent this past weekend at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. This event is made up of exactly what you would expect: food, drink, more food, and anything that has to do with food. We arrived in San Francisco in the early morning on Saturday, January 15, one day before the event began. We used the day on Saturday to scope out some specialty coffee roasters in the area (which I will address in my next post) and to get acquainted with our surroundings in the city. After 11.5 miles of walking we had accomplished our mission: we stopped by two specialty retail coffee roasters, ate at a sandwhich shop with a line around the block, walked through 5 sections of the city, and had an incredible desert. Since we were staying at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square, we thought that would be a good place to start. We headed toward the direction of the convention center (where the Fancy Food Show event was being held) passing through SoMa (South of Mission), Mission district, Castro, and headed back to our hotel. We ended our day in the Castro area after we figured we wouldn’t make it walking to Golden Gate park to see the Bison before sun down. We walked back toward Market, caught a taxi, headed to our hotel to rest our feet a little, and ended the night with a walk through Chinatown. (more…)
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Simple Syrup made with Raw Sugar
We first used our simple syrup when we made this Shaken Iced Latte.
Coffee flavoring syrups come in several varieties and here is one you can make yourself, in five minutes at a minimal cost. If you love espresso and you enjoy experimenting with new ideas and recipes you will certainly enjoy this natural flavoring syrup. It is made with one part raw sugar and one part water. Simply add equal parts of raw sugar and water to a sauce pan and heat until a gentle boil. Once the mixture has reached boiling it is completely dissolved. Let it cool then funnel it into a serving bottle that you can cover tightly and refrigerate. Raw sugar simple syrup should be made in small batches and should be kept refrigerated since there are no added preservatives.
Add one ounce of Raw Sugar Simple Syrup to your espresso and espresso milk beverages for a special 100% naturally sweet treat. My favorite recipe for this Raw Sugar Simple Syrup is the Shaken Iced Latte.
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How to Make a Latte with Saeco Vienna Plus Super Automatic Espresso Machine
One of my favorite espresso drinks to begin the day is a hot latte. To accompany the video, here are the steps on how to use the Vienna Plus for this specific drink:
Instructions:
1. Turn the machine on with the power button. Power button is furthest left button on machine.
2. Steam and froth milk using wand. After machine has warmed up and is ready for use, press the right button on machine to activate the steam wand. When steam is warm and ready to use (green light will stop blinking and become solid) place steaming wand in cup with milk and begin to steam. (To begin steaming: twist knob on side of machine toward you.)
3. Press the steam button so that coffee and steam operational lights are both blinking. While the two lights blink, purge water from the steam wand (using the knob on the right hand side of the machine). After sufficient water has been purged, machine is ready to brew; both green lights will have stopped blinking and there will be a solid green light near coffee (middle) button.
Note: machine will not brew after steaming until water has been purged from steam wand.
4. Adjust the dial for espresso.
5. Press coffee (middle) button to begin brewing espresso.
Note: press coffee button two times in a row for a double shot of espresso, three for a triple, etc. if a stronger latte drink is desired.
6. Add steamed milk to espresso and enjoy your latte!
You can use the dial located on the front of the machine to adjust the strength and volume to meet your specific taste.
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The Allston v. Cambridge Coffee Experience
The Allston v. Cambridge Coffee Experience
I spent this past weekend in Boston, Massachusetts. I thought I would check out the coffee culture and ventured out to a few independent coffee shops in Allston and in Cambridge. I found the indie shops, especially in Allston, attract a hipster crowd. There are few (but major) differences between the two sections of town and their indie coffee shops, however, the consistencies are unique to the area.
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Shaken Iced Latte Coffee Recipe
We love this recipe because it’s super simple and brings a great specialty coffee drink into your home. A standout for this recipe is that it uses simple syrup, which is just an equal parts raw sugar and water mixture. It adds that slight sweetness without taking away from the coffee and is an all natural ingredient. We will post another video to show how we make our simple syrup.
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How To Brew Coffee Using A French Press
I recently just made my first YouTube video demonstrating my morning coffee ritual. The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is make coffee with my french press. I’ll list the tools I use to make my coffee as well as the instructions I use for my specific technique.
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China’s Emerging Coffee Culture
A Bit of History
I spent this past summer in Shanghai, China building networks, learning about the culture, and interacting with the people. Traditionally, China is a tea-drinking nation and has been for thousands of years. China, popularly known for operating as a communist government, has spent the past three decades opening its borders and introducing its citizens to the western world. Western economies continued to evolve and expand business to foreign countries which enabled China to see the benefits of having an open trade economic system. Westerners took advantage of great opportunity abroad and China wanted a piece of what the rest of the world had to offer.
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Coffee Fest Seattle Part 2
1st place cup from the latte art contest
Day two of Coffee Fest Seattle 2010 was a repeat of day one pretty much. We went to conferences from 8am to noon, had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory across the street from the convention center, and then we headed to the show floor. I attended a workshop called Real Numbers and a workshop for coffee roasters about purchasing and installing a roaster. Real numbers is where I met Wes Herman, who cut costs and increased revenue by offering full health benefits to baristas his coffee shop.
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