Muertos Coffee

I am running the Tough Mudder for the third time this year. One of the most important aspects of this now tradition is raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project. The first year we raised $160. Last year, I raised over $550. My team as a whole raised over $700.  Since the stakes were raised by enormous generosity last year, I will attempt to match those efforts.  I, with the help of my team, am going carry a cinder block the length of the course. I will carry my cinder block from home to work and (nearly) everywhere I go. Last year, Tough Mudder HQ donated an extra $100 if Mudders would carry a brick through the course. After carrying this block the length of the 10+ miles and grueling obstacles, I will drop this block in the pile to have additional money donated. I ask for you to show your generosity and honor those who have given so much. Please follow the link below to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project. https://www.eventbrite.com/donate/wolfpack-20...

I want to throw some Freud at you. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. We as humans have the Id, Ego and Super-ego. We should consider this when developing a business as well. Businesses are living breathing entities with a life of their own. We need to understand and utilize that to our benefits.

I started Muertos Coffee because it is very applicable to me here in Az. The art is edgy and building in popularity. It is rooted in tradition and religion, two very strong human binding agents. I wanted my customers to have a strong sense of community, even tradition, when they came into my shop. In a previous blog (Change in the Name?), my friend Ricardo stated that this doesn't work for a larger customer base. So what do we do? How do we go about starting something new?

At Coffee Con LA I met and spoke with the team at Perfect Coffee ( http://www.perfectcoffee.com/ ). They had samples of a lot of top roasters (Blue Bottle, Ruby, Four Barrel, etc). They were wonderful to talk to and very passionate about their product. They are a coffee subscription company that sends pre-ground coffee through the mail. We instantly called shenanigans on this. There is no way you can grind coffee and it still be fresh by the time it gets to the consumer. We pressed to try and get more information, but they wouldn’t spill the beans. The most they would give us is that it is a zero oxygen environment (???) All I can imagine is people in space suites and oxygen tanks grinding coffee and putting it in little bags. 

Standing in the hot sun sweating, waiting for the doors to open to Coffee Con, I thought about all the awesome coffee I would get to try. I was excited. I was becoming less excited by the minute though, as they opened the doors 20 minutes late. By then we were all so hot that everyone was just looking for ice coffee. I, having a baby in tow, took my time and started at the first table. It was a SteamPunk brewer managed by men in beards and leather aprons. I didn’t get to try the coffee because they were still dialing in the machine.

After my experience at Coffee Conn LA 2014 ( http://www.coffee-con.com/ ) my main thought is: I can do this! That may seem like a strange revelation, but I have nasty habit of elevating others onto unattainable pedestals. Why? I have no freaking idea, because it’s stupid. I was there tasting coffee, watching people brew, asking questions and picking brains. I even called shenanigans on a few people and watched their response. As I did all this, the thought that kept trickling up into my brain was, “I already know this.”

I must first apologize for not posting in quite some time. The birth of my baby girl took priority for a while. It also took my sleep and higher brain functions as well. I’m back and this blog is going to change slightly. So stay tuned. So, what got me back into the saddle? Coffee Con LA. I am super stoked for this. Yes, William Shatner yelling and chasing down Kahn excited.

    Ground Control ( http://www.yelp.com/biz/ground-control-goodyear ) is a shop I have known about for quite a while, but not for the reason you would expect on a coffee blog. I know of this place because a guy my wife carpooled with loves the beer they have. I have also heard they make amazing gelato. So, I thought it was strange that they won the coffee duel in Phoenix Magazine’s Best Of edition. SO…I stopped by and checked the place out.

The Press Pot, or French Press, is one of the simplest forms of brewing coffee, and continues to enjoy a huge following. The irony is that many press pot devotees produce cup after cup of poorly executed coffee for a number of reasons. With a little knowledge and technique, the results can be improved. Target Cup – The first point that needs to be understood is that the press pot is not the best brewing method for every roast and every coffee drinker. Press pots tend to excel with darker roasts that offer body and roast more than subtle coffee flavors. That does not mean that a delicate light to medium roasted coffee cannot be brewed well in a press pot, but darker roasts needs less finesse to achieve decent results.

I can’t deny the dragon I’ve been hunting all these years when I finally feel its breath. – Michael Johnson I have been thriving on the idea of our coffee cart for month now. It has been energizing me. Now that we have had to start putting our talk into action, I have found myself paralyzed. No fresh ideas, constant doubts, completely shooting myself in the foot. This became evident when we recently met with the roaster we wanted to partner with. I realized I was stuck in the negative lane of “what if’s.” The moment we decided we were going to approach this roaster for our concept I filled myself with worry and doubt. I began asking myself, “What if….”

What is in a name? The question above was raised so famously in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. In that prose, the conclusion was that the name did not matter. For a coffee brand, on the other hand, the name can make a big difference. We started exploring this business idea with the name “Muertas Coffee”, which links to the Mexican culture that seeps through the South West. “Dia de los Muertos” is a very important cultural element of traditional Mexican culture, and has very well developed imagery and feel. That imagery can be earthy and rich, which reflects some of coffee’s qualities. The brand name also has to have an image which can evolve over the years and is easily recognizable from afar. When you think of the strongest brands, Golden Arches, Nike Swooshes, and even a green circle with a siren come to mind.

When we first began considering a coffee cart we were going to do it for community garage sales, farmer’s markets, and other random gatherings of people. I wasn’t ever planning to serve very many cups of coffee. Therefore, I did not need much of a cart. My original plan was for a mobile kitchen island. They are right around $120 at Big Lots. Table top would be 18inx24in. Just enough room to brew pour overs one cup at a time. I was going to carry along propane burners to boil water (Hazard? I don’t think giant open flames in a dry desert landscape would be dangerous). The cart would be doable. It would be a lot of little pieces, but I could do it. The main benefit to this set up is that I could cover the cost out of pocket.

I am a big fan of Todd Carmichael’s work at La Colombe Coffee Roasters. Recently, my loving wife bought me “Todd’s Faves: World Tour”, which is three cardboard tubes with two ounces of coffee each: Mexico – El Mirador, Ethiopia – Werka Bauka, and Brazil – Moreninha Formosa ( http://shop.lacolombe.com/products/todds-faves-world-tour ).

I stumbled across Village Coffee as I randomly Googled coffee roasters in the Phoenix area ( http://www.villagecoffee.com/ ). This has been a jewel of a coffee shop. I stop and get coffee every time I am anywhere near the area. Being my favorite shop in town has its perks, but that also means I sit there and analyze it more than any other shop.

Sam’s   Club has recently begun selling “FIREHOUSE COFFEE ROASTERS” whole bean coffees in their clubs here in the Phoenix Valley ( http://www.firehouseroastery.com/ ). FIREHOUSE claims to be exclusively a Specialty Coffee roaster, so I had to try a bag. After sniffing each type through the vent while physically abusing the poor bag, I decided to try the “Island Blend”, which is described as “South Pacific coffees with sweet & complex notes. Wonderful aromatics”. That is about as specific as my horoscope today – You will be presented with great opportunities if you know where to look – but it did smell good.

Now that we are ready start brewing coffee for people, I am finding it very difficult to get over the first hump. Challenge 1: Fear and doubt leading to paralyzing over-analysis We worked on our business plan to the point of realizing we don’t have enough data to put together a sound business plan. Decision made: do a test. We have a good plan for our test, but it keeps getting stalled because we are unsure about what we are doing. How many options do we offer? Where do we go? How do we manage grinder noise? And a thousand other questions.

We have been talking about specialty coffee the whole time here, with good reason since we want to brew specialty coffee. This Chick-Fil-A coffee has got me thinking though: Does specialty coffee go with everything?

http://coffeewithastory.chick-fil-a.com/?utm_content=MainCTA&utm_source=email&utm_medium=promo&utm_campaign=081114_CoffeeLaunch_Active Can specialty grade coffee be produced at a mass level? Chick-fil-a has put an effort the tell people that their coffee is direct trade and specialty grade. Though I don’t buy that their direct trade actually helps the communities as much as they claim, I do like that they are working to cut out the middle man. That’s just good business sense. I don’t think we need to always make good business decisions pretty with pious make up. Now the real issue is the coffee. Is it as good as “specialty grade” makes me think it will be? I am going to say the answer is both yes and no.

As I have said in previous posts, I’m cheap. Let’s just call it what it is. I like to get good stuff for as little money as possible, often times sacrificing some quality for price. Sound pretty typical of American buying practices? Darn toot’n. So why do I find myself constantly frustrated with the coffee I drink? Easy answer: I’m drinking crappy coffee.

Proper pour over technique is a matter of great debate and a fair amount of science. In fact, there should be a college course on pour over brewing technique! There would certainly be enough material to justify a full semester, and entire generations could be saved from wasted years of drinking terrible coffee. Obviously, one blog post is not enough space to nail the mysteries of the universe, much less to fully discuss proper pour over technique. To be honest, I have not reached 100% pour over technique mastery, even though I can consistently produce a wonderful cup of coffee awesomeness. We can, however, get the basics down well enough to make great coffee and troubleshoot most problems. This post applies to pour over equipment such as the Hario V60, a Melitta, or the Able Kone.