The Coffee Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 3 - About NEAT
4 - Vocabulary
6 - A Short History of Coee Cultivation
8 - Production and Processing
19 - Country Profiles
22 - Cupping
24 - Extraction
27 - Other Factors in Coee Preparation
30 - Brewing Methods
34 - Coee Recipes
42 - Milk, Milk Drink Recipes and Latte Art

ABOUT NEAT

NEAT Coee opened its first location on August 31st, 2009 in Darien,
CT. It was among the first specialty coees shops in Connecticut to oer
coee brewed by the cup and espresso prepared with careful measurement.
Moreover, there was always a strong concern with the provenance of each of
the menu oerings. For the first several years of operation NEAT only
purchased and served lightly-roasted coee from some of the worlds best
roasters whose focus was careful roasting of top-quality green coee.
In early 2012, though, it was decided that NEAT could better control
the quality of the final products by sourcing and roasting their own coee.
Shortly thereafter, they began taking steps in that direction by seeking
training and advice from Tim Wendelboe, a premier coee buyer and
roaster based in Oslo, Norway. Tim is widely-known for his ability to
source some of the worlds highest quality raw products as well as roast
them very lightly in order to highlight each coees inherent and unique
characteristics.
Finally, in December 2013, NEAT finally roasted its very first
production batches of espresso, a single bag of a washed Ethiopian coee, at
the Pulley Collective in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Pulley Collective is a
shared roasting facility out of which many of the tri-state areas best
roasters operate. After a slow start, NEAT finally managed to start roasting
all of their own coees in April 2014 with a large focus on seasonally fresh
coees roasted well enough to be considered world-class.
As the roasting business was finding its feet, it became clear that in
order to have the highest quality final products, it was necessary that direct
relationships with growers in origin countries be established. Honduras
and Colombia were very quickly targeted as the two countries in which
NEAT wanted to be working right o the bat. Marysabel Caballero and her
husband, Moises Herrera, in Marcala, Honduras were the first producers to
sell their coee directly to NEAT. Marysabel and Moises were quickly
followed by Jose Jadir Losada Vargas at Finca el Mirador in Suaza,
Colombia.
NEAT will always seek to be at the cutting edge of the specialty coee
industry by sourcing and roasting coee of the highest quality and, of
course, served with precisionand a smile.

VOCABULARY

In order to fully grasp the width and breadth of the concepts here
within this manual, it is first necessary to understand several terms with
regard to green coee, flavor profiles and the industry at large.

ACIDITY - as a flavor component it falls under the category of sourness,

one the five basic tastes. This is not to be confused with the
sourness that is discussed with reference to under-extraction
but rather it is the degree to which a beverage possesses
brightness as a result of the acids present (e.g. citric, malic,
tartaric, phosphoric, etc.). This is a highly desired trait in
specialty coee.

AFTERTASTE - the taste left in ones mouth after the beverage is either

swallowed or spit out. Both its intensity and longevity must be

considered (qualitative and quantitative).

BODY/MOUTHFEEL - the tactile sensations perceived on the tongue and

mouth. Commonly, the way in which one would judge the body
and mouthfeel is similar to the way in which one would judge
the textures of milks with diering fat contents. Skim milk is
rather watery and does not tend to stick to ones mouth whereas
whole milk is often very mouth-coating.

CLEANLINESS - the degree to which the beverage possesses transparency

or a lack of o flavors such as phenols, ferment or mold as a
result of processing errors at the coees origin.

FLAVOR - the combination of the sensorial characteristics of the taste

and aroma of the beverage.

FRAGRANCE/AROMA/NOSE - the smell of the ground coee prior to the

addition of water, the smell of the beverage after brewing is

complete, the vapors perceived through retronasal olfaction
after the beverage is swallowed or spit out.

SWEETNESS - the perception of sugars, primarily sucrose, in the final

beverage. It is both a quantitative and qualitative assessment.

TERROIR - the characteristic flavors that are imparted to a coee by its

environment (soil composition, topography, climate).

Finca el Mirador (Picuma, Suaza, Huila, Colombia)

A SHORT HISTORY OF COFFEE CULTIVATION

Coee originates from southwest Ethiopia. Among the most popular

stories of its discovery as a culinary product is the legend of Kaldis dancing
goats. It is said that around 800 A.D. an Ethiopian goat-herder, named
Kaldi, noticed that his goats did not come home to the stable one night. He
went out to search for them and discovered that they had started to eat the
red cherries of an unfamiliar plant with shiny leaves. The cherries caused
his goats to be quite energetic and they were said to be dancing. These
cherries, of course, were the fruit of the coee plant and the energizing
component of these cherries; caeine.
Regardless, of the mythology surrounding coee, certain things
remain historical fact. We know that by the 15th century coee cultivation
spread to Yemen via the port of Al Mokah. In large part, this is the origin of
the trade term Mocha, Moka, Mokka, etc. As coee consumption and
trade increased, it became clear that cultivation needed to follow suit.
Sometime around the year 1670, a man named Baba Budan, a Sufi
Muslim, famously risked his life and smuggled seven seeds from Yemen
into India. Thus, coee cultivation spread to the far east. A few years later,
the Dutch, who controlled much of what is now Indonesia, did the same.
However, the Dutch also made another seemingly small contribution to
coee cultivation which ultimately had enormous ramifications.
It is said that during the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the Dutch gifted a
single coee tree to the French, who subsequently planted the tree in the
garden of Versailles. This single plant came to be known as the Noble Tree.
Sometime in the 1720s the explorer, Gabriel de Clieu, brought
ospring of this plant to the island of Martinique in the Caribbean. de
Clieus accounts of the rough journey from France to the New World lead us
to believe that he shared his own water ration with the coee seedlings he
hoped to plant once he landed. Ultimately, since many of the seedlings
arrived safely to Martinique, they became the ancestors of most of the coee
grown in Latin America.
Some years later, from the same Noble Tree at Versailles, the French
brought other seedlings to the island of Reunion, then known as Bourbon
(now the name of an heirloom coee variety), about 100 miles east of the
coast of Madagascar.

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Interestingly enough, African countries were among the last to
cultivate coee as a commercial product despite having its origins in
Ethiopia. Though there is still coee that grows in the wild in Ethiopia,
much of the cultivated crops of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi as well as others,
are descendants of the Noble Tree as a result of the spread of cultivation
from the island of Bourbon.

PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

BOTANY

The genus Coea belongs to the Rubicae family. Because of this, coee
is actually in some ways related to many other plants including Cinchona, a
small evergreen tree native to the Andes mountains from which quinine (a
primary ingredient in tonic water) is derived. It is also related to
ornamental plants such as the common gardenia. Within the genus Coea
there are actually dozens of species of coee plant including C. Eugenioides
and C. Liberica. However, the only two species that are cultivated in a
meaningful commercial way are Canephora (or Robusta) which accounts
for 25-30% of the worlds production and Arabica which accounts for
70-75% of all the worlds coee. While C. Canephora is widely used for
instant (dehydrated) coee, C. Arabica is the only species that has thus far
been identified for delivering high cup quality as well as commercial
viability. Ongoing research may soon identify potential in other species but
for now, Arabica is king. Interestingly enough, it has been discovered that
the Arabica species is the descendant of both C. Canephora and C.
Eugenioides.
Within the species C. Arabica, there are literally thousands of named
(and un-named) varieties, much in the same way as there are dierent wine
grape varieties (Cabernet Franc, Riesling, Pinot Noir, etc) and apples
(Granny Smith, Macintosh, Golden Delicious, etc). Many coee varieties
are selections of spontaneous mutations isolated for positive attributes,
some are isolated with selective breeding and some are hybrids of one or
more varieties constructed in laboratories.
Below is a list of well-known or important varieties:

BOURBON - named after the island of Bourbon (now Runion), it is a

variety with direct lineage from the Noble Tree. A highly sought-after
variety because of impeccable cup quality though it is low-yielding and not
resistant to disease.

CATUAI - a hybrid of Mundo Novo (Typica and Bourbon) and Caturra

(dwarf Bourbon) bred in Brazil the the 1940s.

CASTILLO - a hybrid of Caturra and Timor Hybrid (Robusta and Arabica

inputs) that was released in 2005 by the Federacin Nacional de Cafeteros

in Colombia in response to the leaf rust epidemic. Though it was originally
condemned for relatively low quality, new trials are demonstrating that cup
quality is likely on par with Caturra. Because of this potential as well as its
potential for disease resistance, it is becoming an increasingly important
variety in Colombia.

CATURRA - a higher yielding dwarf selection of Bourbon, identified in

Brazil in the 1930s. Because of its smaller size and generally high cup
quality, it is a very popular variety in Colombia.

GESHA/GEISHA - originally from the village of the same name in Ethiopia,

this variety was gifted to a Costa Rican research center in the 1950s as part
of a search for disease resistant and high-yielding varieties. As the Gesha
variety possesses neither of these qualities, it was discarded. It resurfaced
in 2004 at the Best of Panama competition. The Peterson family of
Hacienda la Esmeralda in Boquete won the competition that year and the
variety continues to demand staggeringly high prices.

MOCHA - a descendant of Bourbon.

In Yemen, it became the first variety

to be widely cultivated.

SL-28 - a selection made by Scotts Laboratories in the 1930s with

Bourbon and Mocha heritage. It is low-yielding but well-known for

extraordinary quality and drought resistance. SL types account for 90% of
the coee grown in Kenya.

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SL-34 - a selection made by Scotts Laboratories in the 1930s with

French Mission Bourbon heritage. It has higher yields than SL-28 and it
commonly grown at slightly lower altitudes.

TYPICA - an heirloom variety of Yemeni stock. It is low-yielding and

non-resistant but cup quality is generally excellent. It is now a parent to

many new varieties.

Mature Catuai trees at Finca JR

(Chinacla, La Paz, Marcala, Honduras)

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AGRICULTURE
Coee trees are self-pollinating and perennial. Trees are primarily
cultivated in the tropics between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn (232614.1 N and 232614.1 S, respectively). Coee trees
cannot survive frost and thus have not been widely cultivated either north
or south of these lines of latitude.
The elevation at which trees are planted plays a big role in the final
cup quality. Most specialty coee is being grown between 900 and 2,200
meters above sea level (masl). The reason high elevation is important is
because the cooler temperatures force the plants to struggle for survival as
their roots must dig deeper for nutrients. Conversely, at lower altitudes,
nutrients are more readily available and root systems are smaller as they
do not have to work as hard. This eects cup quality because as the plants
struggle they push nutrients to the fruit (or ospring, if you will) as a selfprotective measure. Often shade trees are planted in the midst of a coee
farm because the shade that the trees provide replicate the eects of higher
elevation by further cooling down the plant. Shade trees also serve as a
windbreak and thus, keep trees from being damaged.

QUICK FACTS

Coee plants take 3-4 years to mature. It will not typically bear any
fruit until year 3.
Coee plants will continue to produce fruit for many years, however, a
trees yield decreases over time and in most cases is not commercially
viable after 20 years.
If unpruned, a tree can grow up to 12 meters high. This is not typical as
hand-picking would become impossible. Most trees are pruned to stay at
about 2 meters high.
Harvesting by hand is absolutely necessary in order to maintain quality.
In reality, harvesting by machine is only possible in Brazil where a lot of
coee grows on a plateau. That said, quality is often quite low.
Farmers face many challenges with regard to diseases and pests. Among
the most common are leaf rust (or Roya, a fungus), Coee Borer Beetle
(or Broca, pest), Antestia (potato defect, pest), Ojo de Gallo (fungus)

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BEAN ANATOMY
1. Center cut
2. Bean
3. Silver skin
4. Parchment
5. Mucilage
6. Pulp
7. Outer skin

A NOTE ON ORGANIC COFFEE

In the best case scenario, producing organic coee (free from the use
inorganic fertilizers) presents many challenges. For most small producers,
purchasing the certification as well as the increased cost of production
makes the conversion to organic nearly impossible. However, for those that
do get certified, the presence of an organic label does not necessarily equate
to high-quality. In addition to the expenses incurred for general organic
production, it is even more expensive to harvest, sort and dry the coee well.
For many producers, this is just not possible. As it stands, the market price
for coee is quite volatile and often dips below the cost of production. If a
buyer purchases organic coee under a Fair Trade contract, the selling coop will receive a premium of $0.15/lb (often no direct or traceable impact on
the grower). If the coee is purchased outside of a Fair Trade contract, the
grower may only use an organic certification as leverage in negotiations,
which often times still fails to yield meaningful revenue.
Furthermore, the health benefits of drinking organic coee (one of the
primary reasons people buy it in the first place) seem to be rather
undocumented. What information is available seems to make exaggerated
generalizations about how coee producers use tons of pesticides and
soak coee in chemicals. In general, it seems that producers of top quality
coee use as little chemicals as they can because, on principal alone, it
would seem that pesticides and other chemicals could interfere with flavor

13
profiles. At the same time, producers need to make a living wage and
usually cannot aord to produce coee without using any pesticides.
NEAT, on the other hand, has decided to pay massive premiums for
coee purchased directly from partner growers regardless of certifications.
It would be ideal to partner with a grower who wanted to convert to organic
production but it is a big ask of any grower and NEAT is just not in the
position to make big requests like that of a grower in an already precarious
financial situation.

A flowering Mocha tree; Finca Matilde

(Chinacla, La Paz, Marcala, Honduras)

8 month old Java (Tupica-type) cultivar

(unnamed farm in Marcala, Honduras)

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HARVESTING AND PROCESSING

PICKING
The yearly cycle of a coee tree begins with the flowering. Following
every harvest regardless of location, there is often a period of rain.
Following this rainy season, trees produce beautiful and fragrant white
flowers. If all of a farmers trees flower at the same time, it is a good
indication that the harvest will be just as even. After the tree drops its
flowers, cherries begin to form. It takes about nine months for a cherry to
fully mature. In most cases a bud turns into a small, hard, green cherry. As
it matures it turns red. During the harvest, it is of the utmost importance to
pick only ripe cherries as picking green, immature fruit will result in a poor
final cup. In order to execute this properly, pickers must be incentivized
with high wages as they are paid by the number of kilograms they deliver,
regardless of quality.

PROCESSING
There is quite a large spectrum of ways to process coee. Here is a
breakdown of the three most common ways of processing cherries and
parchment (the thick hard layer surrounding the green bean):
Dry or Natural Processing is the oldest way of processing coee cherries.
It often involves very little water. Cherries are simply left out on a patio
or raised screen bed to dry with the beans still inside the fruit. Once the
cherries are dry, the skin and remaining fruit can be removed by
machine. Commonly, cup quality is low because drying is often uneven.
Even in the best case, the wet mucilage imparts a homogenous flavor to
the beans; a thick sweetness that clouds the cleanliness of the final cup.
This method still has popularity in Brazil and Ethiopia and to a lesser
degree in Nicaragua and Ecuador.
Washed Processing is the most common way of processing coee. In
general, cherries are pulped (skin and fruit removed) as soon as they are

15
delivered to the wet mill (or factory). The parchment is then submerged
in water for a period of time in order to loosen the sticky mucilage that
remains on the surface. This is referred to as fermentation. Once the
mucilage has been loosed the parchment is ready to be dried. This can be
done on a cement patio, raised screen bed or in a machine. Commonly,
washing coees produces the highest quality. Most of the worlds Arabica
is processed this way and there are infinite variations on this process (e.g.
anaerobic fermentation, dry fermentation, varying fermentation times,
etc.)
Pulped Natural Processing seeks to address some of the quality issues
that are apparent in Natural Processing. Instead of drying parchment
inside the cherry, cherries are pulped and then the beans are allowed to
dry in the mucilage. The potential is still there for quality to be low but,
generally speaking, this can also produce slightly higher clarity. There
are also an infinite number of variations on this method. Costa Rica is
famous for making honey processing popular. Honey Processing refers
to a wide spectrum of processes wherein varying amounts of mucilage are
left on the parchment to dry. Everyone has dierent definitions but
generally speaking white honeys have 100% of the mucilage removed
without washing, black honeys have 0% of the mucilage removed with
Golden (75%), Yellow (50%) and Red (25%) in between. All yield dierent
cup characteristics.

Traditional depulper and fermentation tank

(Finca el Mirador, Picuma, Suaza, Huila, Colombia)

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DRYING
Regardless of the many ways there are to dry parchment coee, one
thing remains common, most countries require that all coee be dried to
about 10-13% moisture content before export. Outlined below are the three
most common ways of drying parchment:
Concrete patios are far and away the most common way to dry coee.
Throughout a given day the concrete is heated by the sun, the heat coming
o of the concrete dries the parchment very quickly. In dry conditions
with lots of sun, parchment can dry in 7-10 days. Throughout the day
workers must turn the parchment so it dries evenly. Despite the fact that
this is a moderately inexpensive way of drying coee, it is the worst for
quality. Parchment needs to dry slowly in order to maintain the
structural integrity of the parchment. If it dries too quickly it can crack,
leaving the bean inside open to infection and defect.
There are several types of machines that dry parchment coee. Despite
the up-front cost of purchasing one of these machines, they are relatively
inexpensive to operate and are thus, more economical than any other way
of drying. Most machines can be considered a pre-roaster of sorts.
Usually the parchment coee is loaded into a rotating drum with hot air
being directed at the bean mass. Drying can be complete in as little as
three days (72 hours of continuous drying). Quality can be high as long
as consistent, low temperatures are maintained.
Raised beds (or African beds) were made popular in places like Kenya and
Ethiopia. Parchment is loaded onto raised wooden or metal-framed
structures wherein screen or netting of some sort has been installed to
hold the beans. This allows for increased circulation and slow, even
drying especially when shade netting has been installed to shield the
beans from the heat of the sun. Drying times are often close to 20 days.
This is a very expensive way of drying coee but the quality is typically
second to none.

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DRY MILL AND EXPORT

Once the coee is dried to the proper moisture content, it must go
through a period of rest; no more than a few weeks are necessary. After this
period of rest, the coee will be transported to a dry mill. It is here that the
parchment surrounding the green bean is finally removed. Following the
removal of the parchment, the green coee goes through a series of sorting
procedures to maximize cup quality. The coee must go through a density
sorter to remove rocks, sticks and other debris and also to remove broken,
chipped and defective beans. It will also go through color sorting to further
remove less-than-perfect beans. Finally, beans will be separated and
organized according to size. There is no direct correlation between bean size
and cup quality although there are benefits to having uniformly sized beans
when roasting.
More often than not, coee is exported via ocean liner in a standard
40-foot shipping container, capable of holding ~37,500 lbs of coee (or ~250
bags). Air shipments are uncommon due to the cost but it is without doubt
the fastest way to ship and receive coee. Some importers will utilize planes
for very small, very special lots that they would like to receive quickly.

ROASTING
Despite the enormous amount of work that has thus far gone into
producing the coee, it is still not yet ready for consumption. The roasting
process just as detailed of a process as
everything else leading up to it.
Coee roasting machines come
in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The
roaster in which NEAT roasts most of
its coee has a capacity of 35
kilograms or 77 pounds. Coee is
loaded into a rotating drum through
which hot air is forced in order to turn
the green beans brown. Pictured to the
right is the roasting machine that
NEAT uses.

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Very simply, roasting coee is a lot like baking. It is necessary to pay
close attention to both time and temperature. Roast times can vary greatly
depending on the coee being roasted. Generally speaking, roast times are
between 7 and 10 minutes. During that time, the temperature of the bean
mass can change by as much as 275 degrees Fahrenheit to a final
temperature of above 400 degrees.
All roast profiles (the curve of the line of the data set with
Temperature as the x axis and Time as the y axis) are recorded with
software connected directly to the roaster. Below is a screenshot of exactly
what a roastmaster is looking at when roasting:

As one can see, when the room-temperature beans are loaded into the
hot roaster, the reading on the temperature probe drops from around 375
degrees to around 150 degrees. At around the 45 second mark the readout of
the temperature probe begins to rise (this is called the turning point). It
should continue to rise (and never drop) throughout the entirety of the
roast.
This screenshot is from a roast of a moderately-highly grown Central
American coee. For higher grown coees from dierent origins, it is likely
that a faster roast would be used because of the beans higher density. This is
simply done by turning up the gas pressure earlier on in the roasting
process.

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COUNTRY PROFILES

Below is a list a countries from which NEAT commonly sources coee.

This list is subject to change as both NEAT and the world of specialty coee
grows.

COLOMBIA

Colombia is the second largest producer of Arabica coee in the world,

producing around 10,000,000 bags yearly. Prime growing areas stretch
from 1200 MASL to well over 2000 meters. The regions that are most well
known for high quality are Cauca, Valle de Cauca, Tolima, Huila and
Nario. The most common varieties grown are Caturra, Variedad
Colombia and Castillo with some old-stock Bourbon and Typica mixed in.
Harvest times are in October/November/December (for most, la cosecha
principal) and June/July (fly crop or mitaca). NEAT has been working on
the ground in Huila since the autumn of 2014.

COSTA RICA

Producing just shy of 1.5 million bags per year, Costa Rica is the third
largest producer of coee in Central America behind Guatemala and
Honduras. The most well known growing areas are Tarrazu along with the
Central and West Valleys. Altitudes range from as low as 700 MASL to
1,900 MASL. Among the most commonly grown varieties are Catuai,
Caturra and the indigenous Villa Sarchi (a selection of dwarf Bourbon,
similar to Caturra) and Villalobos (a dwarf selection of Typica). Harvest
time begins late in the fourth quarter and ends in February/March. Costa
Rican producers are credited with bringing the micro mill into vogue. Prior
to this trend, most coees, as they are in most parts of the world, were
blended at a regional facility and sold with little traceability. Because of
this shift, more and more, end consumers can know the names of the farms
from where their coee comes.

ECUADOR

Ecuador may not have a sterling reputation for high quality and may
only produce just over 600,000 bags annually but there is massive potential

20
in higher altitude growing regions to produce exceptional quality. The
growing areas with the most potential are Loja and Zamora Chinchipe that
have elevations reaching as high as 2100 MASL. Harvest seasons range
from June to September making them available in the states come winter
time. The primary varieties grown are Typica, Bourbon and Caturra.

ETHIOPIA

As the birthplace of coee, Ethiopia still remains one of the most

interesting coee growing countries. First o, there is still a lot of coee
growing in the wild. There is incredible biodiversity in Ethiopia and while
the trend is changing, many of the varieties grown there are either unnamed
or undiscovered as distinct varieties. Harvest times span the winter
months here in North America which means by late spring/early summer,
NEAT customers can enjoy fresh crop Ethiopians. In recent years the
Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) has worked to create an ecient
trading system that helped both buyers and sellers. Coees are delivered,
given a numerical denomination of general region, graded and then sold at
auction. While farmers are able to see money sooner, this system of trading
has obscured coees and made them relatively untraceable to their sources.
It is almost unheard of to by coee from a single Ethiopian farmer or estate.
Yearly production hovers around 6.5 million bags. Sidamo and Yirgachee
rain supreme as some of the most well known coee growing regions in the
world. Other major players within Ethiopia are Limu, Guji and Jimma.
Depending on the region, altitudes can often reach well over 2000 MASL.

GUATEMALA

At over 3 million bags, Guatemala outpaces the rest of Central

America in terms of yearly output except for Honduras. Because of
generally high altitudes (1300-2000 MASL), Guatemala has potential to
produce amazingly clean and sweet coees. The most well known growing
regions are Huehuetenango, Antigua and Atitlan followed by Acatenango
and Coban.
Bourbon, Caturra and Catuai are the most widely grown cultivars and
harvest times are from December to March.

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HONDURAS

Honduras is the largest producer of coee in all of Central America;

4.2 million bags yearly. Though Honduras has had a reputation for poor
quality, in recent years many growers have set their sights on the specialty
market. NEAT has been working with one of the most reputed family of
growers in Honduras and maybe the world since 2014. Moises Herrera and
his wife, Marysabel Caballero have been an example to growers the world
over as to just how long-term, direct trade relationships can make all the
dierence. Santa Barbara in the northern part of the country is home to
some of the best coees in the country. After that, Comayagua, Marcala, el
Paraiso, and Copan are also known. It is hard to find growing areas above
1600 MASL. Similar to a lot of regions in Central America, Catuai is king
with some heirloom varieties, Pacas and Caturra mixed in. Harvest times
are between December and April.

KENYA

They say that while Ethiopia is the queen, Kenya is the king. Kenyan
coee is defined by its unique acidity and overwhelming sweetness and
clarity. Bordered by other coee growing countries of Uganda, Ethiopia and
Tanzania, Kenya has an extraordinarily streamlined trading system
wherein growers, on average, are paid very well and traceability is fair. Like
Ethiopia, much of the countries 850,000 bags are sold at auction, though it
is possible to negotiate pricing and quality directly with cooperatives,
factories and washing stations. Similar to Ethiopia, it is most common to
buy lots that are blends of several farmers contributions. However, single
estates are slightly more prominent in Kenya than they are in Ethiopia.
Nyeri, Muranga and Kirinyaga are the most well known growing regions
with elevations as high as 2300 MASL. Without doubt, SL-28 and SL-34
are the most prominent cultivars grown though its possible to find some
Ruiru, Batian and K7 as well. Similar to other places like Colombia, parts
of Kenya have two harvest with the main crop stretching from October to
December and the fly crop from June - August.

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TRADE TERMS

Many coees (green as well as roasted) are often marked with certain
trade terms that, for the novice, require some explanation.
The terms Supremo, Excelso, AA, AB, PB all refer to the
general size of the bean. Before beans are exported from their country of
origin that are sorted by screen size and often times separated. These
terms have no bearing whatsoever on quality.
The terms SHG, HG, SHB, HB, refer to the elevation at which
those particular lots were grown. Additionally, these terms have no bearing
on quality.
In many cases, these trade terms are a bit dated and are not often used
on roasted coees served by NEAT.

CUPPING

Once coee is roasted the beans must rest. Freshly roasted coee
tends to have quite a bit of Carbon Dioxide pent up inside each bean as a
result of the roasting process. When a cup is made from coee that has not
been allowed to rest, the ground coee will appear to bubble up or bloom
when hot water is poured over top. If not properly managed the turbulence
caused by the bloom will interfere with the extraction process and could lead
to poor cup quality.
That said, once coee has been allowed to properly rest it is ready to
taste! The traditional way of evaluating coee is through a process called
cupping. Cupping is the process by which green coee buyers, roasters and
baristas evaluate green coee quality and roast quality.
In general, there are three types of cuppings. The first is referred to as
single blind cupping wherein the cuppers know, generally speaking, what
is on the table but do not know specifically which is which. For example,
they may know that the coees on the table are all Colombian but dont know
the farms from which they come or what order they are in on the table....or,
they know that there are two Ethiopians, a Kenyan, and a Rwandan but
dont know the roaster or, again, what order they are in.

23
The second type of cupping is called double blind. In a double blind
cupping the tasters know nothing about the coees they are tasting. They do
not know the origin, the roaster or any other details about the coee. This
allows the cuppers to come into the cupping with no preconceived notions
about what they are going to be tasting. The power of suggestion is almost
unavoidable! The last type of cupping is one in which there is total
transparency. All the coees are labeled such
that there are no secrets about what each
person is tasting. This is valuable especially
for beginning cuppers so that they can know
what they are tasting up front and be able to
recall that taste memory when they cup coees
blindly at a later time.

HOW TO CUP

Choose 4-6 coees (12 grams each)

Grind on a medium setting
Line up the coees on a table (ideally slightly
A cupping table in Marcala,
lower than chest high)
Honduras.
Smell each of the coees and make note of
anything that stands out
Pour hot water (~175 grams or 6 fl. oz.) over the coee grounds and let it
steep for 4 minutes
A crust of grounds will form at the top and at the 4 minute mark break the
crust with a cupping spoon (or large soup spoon).
As the crust is broken make note of the aroma that is released.
Fully submerge the grounds.
Clear the surface of the coee of any loose grounds.
Let the coee cool and taste at the 12 minute mark, 15 minute mark and 18
minute mark. Coee tends to exhibit more nuance as it cools (~130-140
degrees).
Make notes on the body, acidity, flavor and aftertaste of each coee.

24
Below is a portion of the SCAA cupping form. This is the worldwide
standard for evaluating and scoring coees. Specialty coees usually have a
cumulative score above 85. Coees that score above 90 are considered
exceptional.

EXTRACTION

There are a number of dierent variables that need to be considered

when brewing that dictate the quality of the extraction. Extraction is the
act of pouring water over dry grounds thereby dissolving a portion of the
grounds which end up in the final liquor.
Coee is about 32% soluble in water which means that there is
potential for 32% of the dry mass of coee to be extracted by the brew water.
However, it is not preferable to extract that much nor is it good to extract too
little. Coee tastes best between an 18 and 23% extraction. In this range,
the final beverage possesses the greatest balance.
When the extraction percentage deviates outside of the 18-23%
window it is referred to as either Over Extraction or Under Extraction.
Over extraction occurs when the extraction percentage goes above 23%.
Extreme bitterness is commonly associated with over extraction. On the
other hand, under extraction occurs when the extraction percentage is
below 18%. Sourness is typical of this error in preparation.
There are five major factors that the barista must have under his or
her control in that dictate the final extraction percentage.

25
1. The ratio of the amount of coee to the amount of water (strength)
2. Grind size (the size of the coee particles)
3. Water Temperature
4. Contact time (the amount of time the water and coee are in contact with
one another)
5. Agitation
Before tackling each of these factors and trying to understand how
they aect the extraction percentage, it must be understood that no one
factor has the final say. No matter what, all of these factors operate together
and cannot be isolated.

MAJOR FACTORS IN THE EXTRACTION PROCESS

1) Ratio of Coee to Water

The ideal ratio is said to be 60 grams of coee to 1 liter of water. We

use almost this same ratio at NEAT for all of our hot coee brewing
methods. Typically, the higher the ratio of coee to water, the stronger your
coee will be. However, there are common misconceptions regarding
strength. Just because a coee is stronger does not make it better. In fact, if
I were to use, for example, 26 grams of coee per 12 ounces of water as
opposed to 21 grams, my coee could be stronger however, under-extracted
and likely, quite sour. Very technically speaking, the strength of a coee
refers specifically to the percentage of Total Dissolved Solids in the final cup.
The TDS is the percentage of the total finished beverage that is anything
other than water; the percentage of the final brew that is the dissolved coee
material. Typically, a filtered coee is around 1.15-1.35% TDS. This means
that the beverage is slightly less than 99% water and just over 1% dissolved
coee material. A beverage with a TDS above 1.4% would be considered very
strong, and to a degree, it is based on preference but once the TDS
approaches 2% it is generally considered undesirable.
To understand how the ration of coee to water eects extraction
percentage one must think of water like a sponge. As the water dissolves the
solid coee, it soaks it up. If the ratio of coee to water is too high, it just
means that water has not soaked up all that it can because it has become

26
super-saturated. Water can, also, however, not be saturated enough with
coee. This happens when the ratio is too low (e.g. 15g/12oz H20) and it is
at this point that we call it over-extracted. It is over-extracted because once
an extraction percentage of 18-23% is attained, the water still has the
capacity to take more away from the coee. At this stage, the extraction
percentage will rise over 23%.
2) Grind Size
Grind size is important because of the amount of surface area that is
exposed to the brew-water. Coarser grind settings (e.g. french press, Toddy
or Filtron) allow for less overall surface area of the bean to be exposed to the
brew water, therefore limiting the rate of the solubility of the particles. If
the grind setting is finer (e.g. espresso) the surface area is augmented thus
increasing the rate of solubility.
The other factors must obviously be considered but, in general, a coee
that is ground too fine, for a given brew method and set of parameters, will
be over-extracted while a coee that is ground too coarse will be underextracted.
Theoretically, if it were possible to have identically sized particles, it
might be possible to extract well above 23% and still possess clarity and
sweetness with no bitterness. While attempts have been made at
manufacturing grinders that have a more even grind profile, no one
machine is perfect and therefore baristas will always have to deal with a
somewhat uneven spread of particle sizes.
3) Water Temperature
As the temperature of water increases so does its potential as a
solvent. Cooler water will lower the rate of extraction while water at or near
the boiling point will increase the rate of extraction.
The ideal temperature range is between 195 and 205f. However,
there are exceptions to this rule such as cold-brewed coee, in which the
decreased temperature of the brew-water is compensated for by an extended
steep time and coarse grind size.

27

4) Contact Time
Contact time is an extremely important factor in extraction. Rather
intuitively, the longer time the brew water is in contact with the coee
grounds, the greater the percentage of extraction. Conversely, the shorter
the amount of time, the less the percentage of extraction.
The desired contact time is all dependent on the method of extraction.
With espresso, it is a very small amount of time and therefore, we must
change other factors (e.g. very fine grind) to avoid under-extraction. When
you cold-brew coee overnight (12-14 hrs.), you must compensate with a
much coarser grind.
5) Agitation
In some single cup brewing methods the barista has the ability to
agitate the grounds. This, done properly, can help increase the rate of
extraction. Often times this is done by simply stirring the bed of coee with
a spoon or spatula.
Though it is not possible to stir the bed of coee as it is being prepared
in an espresso machine, for all intents and purposes the pressure required to
make espresso (~130.5 psi) behaves similarly to agitation.

OTHER FACTORS IN COFFEE PREPARATION

1) Filtration Media

The method used to separate the brewed coee from the spent grounds
is hugely important, not so much in terms of the extraction percentage but
rather the mouthfeel and body of the final beverage. Here are the three most
popular methods:
a) Paper - Paper filters do a great job of filtering a good amount
of the insoluble material and the fats and oils. They often produce the most
clean and articulate cups. Cleanup is also very easy because the filters are
disposable.

28
b) Cloth - Cloth filters allow a bit more of the insoluble material
to pass through the filter thus creating a heavier perceived body and thicker
mouthfeel. Cleanup is quite labor intensive as the cloth filters are reusable.
It is necessary that they are stored in a refrigerator and kept from drying
out as they will impart o flavors.
c) Metal - Metal filters are the most permeable of these three
types of filters and allow the most insoluble material to pass through the
filter. This can lead to a heavier perceived mouthfeel but can also wind up
lacking cleanliness. Metal filters rarely need to be replaced and cleanup is
often quite easy.
2) Pressure
The use of pressure in coee preparation is not all that common
except in a few methods such as Aeropresses and espresso machines. It is
dicult to tell exactly how pressure has an eect on the extraction
percentage. There seems to be no way, at the moment, to have a controlled
experiment wherein two coees are prepared in the same brewing device
with the only dierence being the use of pressure in one and not in the other.
3) Bloom
The bloom is the period of time wherein the dose of dry coee is prewet with water that is twice the weight of the dose of coee. This is most
important in each bean of a freshly roasted batch of coee there is lots of
pent up Carbon Dioxide. The CO2 needs to be released in order to get a
proper extraction. The bloom allows for the coee to de-gas a bit before the
extraction begins. The bloom becomes less crucial as the coee ages as it has
had time to burn o.
4) Water Quality
As water makes up over 98% of a filtered coee and over 90% of an
espresso, it is no wonder that poor water quality quickly leads to poor coee
quality. It is important to note that water with a TDS above 300 ppm will

29
begin to impart o flavors into the brewed coee. It is also important that
water not be too acidic or too alkaline; a pH as close to 7.0 as possible is best.
5) Rinse Filters
Whether its paper, cloth or metal, all filters should be rinsed prior to
usage; the latter two in order to ensure cleanliness and the former, to rinse it
free of any loose paper fibers. This is all done to prevent any o flavors.
6) Preheat Brewing Devices
As was previously discussed, water temperature is vitally important
to the extraction of coee. When using hot water in any given brewing
device, it is important to heat the device prior to usage with a bit of hot
water. This is done to prevent the temperature of the brew water from
dropping and thus leading to under-extraction.
7) Clean Brewing Devices
Unclean brewing devices will often lead to o flavors being imparted
into the brewed coee. There are a variety of very eective cleaners on the
market.
8) Grind Immediately Before Brewing
This is perhaps one of the most important things to remember when
preparing coee. Coee is made up of around 1,000 volatile aromatic
compounds. After roasted coee is ground, 45% of those compounds
dissipate within the first five minutes. To put it simply, the resulting
beverage will be about 45% less complex and interesting. Grinding should
be the very last step prior to adding water.
9) Roast Date
The best roasters that are sourcing and roasting the highest quality
coees are sure to mark each bag that is distributed to retailers with the

30
date on which the coee was roasted. Coees are that more than two or three
weeks old are quite likely to be stale and lack the sparkle they once had three
or four days o the roast.
There is a good chance that coees with a Fresh Until... date are not
fresh at all by the time they are purchased. These coees are by no means
dangerous to consume but probably not all that tasty.
10) Roast Color
The degree to which coee is roasted has a dramatic eect on its flavor.
The same coee roasted two dierent ways can taste completely dierent.
Generally speaking, coees roasted by NEAT are roasted very lightly. The
darker that coees are roasted the more homogenous they become because,
essentially, the beans are turning into charcoal. In roasting lightly, the
inherent flavor of each coee is allowed to shine. There is less interference
with each coees terroir.

BREWING METHODS

At this time there are so many dierent brewing devices available to

the consumer, so many that it can be overwhelming and confusing for
someone not in the know. To understand all these dierent devices it would
be beneficial to first break them up into larger categories which we will refer
to as the dierent methods.
The Specialty Coee Association of America says that there are six
dierent methods for preparing coee.1
1) Steeping
Also referred to as full-immersion brewing and is perhaps the most
traditional method of coee preparation wherein coee is placed in a
container of hot water for a predetermined length of time based on the
balance of all the factors in determining extraction percentages.
Lingle, Ted R. "Chapter 1 Essentials of Good Brewing." The Coee Brewing Handbook: A Systematic Guide to
Coee Preparation. Long Beach, CA: Specialty Coee Association of America, 1996. N. pag. Print.
1

31

2) Decoction
This is similar to steeping however in this case coee is placed in
boiling water for an arbitrary amount of time. Extraction percentages are
often dicult to predict because the boiling water creates an awful lot of
agitation. Over-extraction usually occurs very quickly.
3) Percolation
Brewing devices that employ percolation allow hot water to pass
through a pump to the coee grounds. Once the extract has passed through
the grounds it returns to the chamber from which the hot water came and
pushed back through the pump and, again, through the spent grounds.
Percolation is not a recommended technique as over-extraction is almost
unavoidable.
4) Drip Filtration
Also referred to as pour-over brewing. This category is quite large
because under its umbrella come a plethora of manual devices used in the
specialty coee industry as well as the typical electric coee pot used in
most homes.
Drip filtration uses only gravity to allow the water to pass through the
coee grounds only once and then rest in a separate chamber. The length of
time the water is allowed to sit in contact with the ground coee is
determined only by the size of the coee particles and the type of filtration.
5) Vacuum Filtration
Vacuum filtration requires two separate chambers, one on top of the
other. Steam pressure pushes water from the lower to the upper chamber.
In the upper chamber is where the water comes in contact with the ground
coee. The water sits with the coee for a predetermined length of time. At

32
the conclusion of that period of time the heat source is removed and the brew
water allowed to cool. As it cools, it flows back down into the lower chamber.
However, a metal or cloth filter does not allow the spent grounds to pass.
In order to make extractions replicable, the heat applied to the water needs
to be quantifiably repeatable. Butane burners are often used but the flames
intensity is often dicult to repeat. Halogen bulbs are significantly more
consistent but also much more expensive.
6) Pressurized Infusion
Water is forced through the bed of coee with the use of pressure. The
most common device that employs pressure is an espresso machine. In the
preparation of espresso, water is pushed through the coee at about 130.5
pounds per square inch or 9 bars of pressure. With the use of pressure
(espresso or otherwise), rapid extraction times and very fine grind settings
are necessary.

BREWING DEVICES
STEEPING

DECOCTION

PERCOLATION

DRIP
FILTRATION

VACCUUM
FILTRATION

PRESSURIZED
INFUSION

Clever
Coffee
Dripper

Ibrik (Turkish
Coffee)

A large number
of machines
referred to as
Percolators

Electric Pot

Siphon Pots

Espresso
Machines

French
Press

Coffee boiled in
a pot or pan

Hario v60

Eva Solo

Fetco Batch
Brewers

Aerobie
Aeropress*

Chemex

Aerobie
Aeropress*

*Aerobie Aeropresses employ both a steep time and a minimal amount of pressure which is why they can fall under
either category

33

A QUICK NOTE ON GRINDERS

A good grinder may be the single most important piece of equipment

to make good coee. There many dierent types of grinders; blade grinders,
burr grinders, horizontal positioning with diagonal burr sets, vertical
positioning with flat burr sets, etc.
The single most important thing about a grinder is uniformity in
particle size, not necessarily the size itself. While no grinder is perfect, burr
grinders are the standard for baseline quality. Simple blade grinders (or
nut choppers , as they have been referred to as) have no way controlling
particle size let alone uniformity from particle to particle. Research tells us
that flat burrs have the greatest capability to produce a relatively small
spread of particle sizes.

DIALING IN ON A BREW RECIPE

Here are some guidelines on how to dial in on a brew recipe regardless

of the device being used.
1) Decide on the amount of coee and water
A good place to start is 60 grams of coee for every liter of water or
about 16 grams of water for every gram of coee. Choosing the overall
weights of both the coee and water should be dependent on the brewing
device being used. For example, an 8-cup Chemex Coee Maker will take
around 40 grams of coee and over 600 grams of water but the same
amounts would not fit into an Aeropress or other, smaller device.
2) Choosing a Grind Setting
Choosing a grind setting is largely based on taste. Shorter extraction
times usually require finer grinds and longer extraction times usually
require coarser grinds. Sometimes it may be necessary to make a couple
dierent brews in order to find the correct grind setting. Generally
speaking, if a coee tastes bitter then a coarser grind may be necessary and
if it tastes sour then the grind may need to be finer.

34

3) Steep Time (as needed)

In the case of a full immersion brewer, it is necessary to determine a
steep time in advance. Once again, it may take a few attempts to get it right.
If the cup is bitter, it is likely that a shorter steep time needs to be used. If
the cup is sour, it is likely that a longer steep time is necessary.

COFFEE RECIPES

Listed below are the recipes and guidelines for just about any and all
basic coee drinks that are made at NEAT. Many recipes are listed in terms
of weight, not volume. Measuring by weight for small er drinks is crucial as
it is more accurate. This manual will cover:
1) Hario v60
2) Fetco batch brewer
3) Espresso
4) Featured Espresso
5) Cold brew (Toddy)
6) Cold brew (Filtron)
7) Iced Coee and Not-So-NEAT
8) Bkon Craft Brewer
All of these recipes are subject to change.

HARIO v60

1) Dose 21 grams of coee

2) Grind on medium-fine setting (specific settings are determined by
each individual coee and grinder being used)
3) Pre-wet paper filter in the v60 with hot water

35
4) Start timer and pour 87 grams of water over top the coee, taking
care to soak all grounds
5) Stir the bed of coee with a spoon
6) At 0:45, moving in a circular motion and starting at the center,
pour another 88 grams of water (175 grams total)
7) At 1:30, with the same motion, pour another 175 grams (350 grams
total). Pouring slowly enough so as to finish at 2:00.
8) Depending on the coee, at 2:30 - 3:00, gently pick up the v60 and
give it a tap on the pitcher or the cup in which it is draining
9) Coee should finish draining somewhere between 3:15 and 4:30

FETCO BATCH BREWER

1) Batch brewers at NEAT are programmed for 4 and 8 cup batches as

well as 10 cup to-go boxes
2) For each of those batches, here are the respective doses of coee:
94 grams, 188 grams and 225 grams
3) Grind on medium setting (specific settings are determined by each
individual coee and grinder being used)
4) Pre-wet paper filter in the metal brew basket with hot water
5) Make sure to push the start button that is properly programmed for
the amount of coee being used
6) Batch is finished when the start button stops blinking. Coee
cannot be taken from urn until the batch is finished.
7) Brewed coee must not be held longer than 60 minutes.

36
8) A new batch must be started 10 minutes prior to the expiration of
the previous batch so as no customer has to wait for coee

ESPRESSO

1) Here within are the instructions for dialing in espresso

2) Espresso requires constant tweaking as minor changes in both
ambient temperature and humidity as well as the temperature of
the equipment being used translate to changes in how the coee
behaves both in the grinder as well as the espresso machine
3) Remove the portafilter handle from the espresso machine and wipe
clean. Make sure it is dry as the oil from the coee and will be
repelled by any residual water thus making it more dicult to pull a
good shot.
4) Weigh the portafilter handle and tare out the scale
5) Push the button on the grinder and allow the dose of coee to fall
into the portafilter basket. As it falls, be sure to move the basket
around allowing the coee to hit the lowest point in the bed. This
will make distribution easier.
6) Place the portafilter handle back on the scale, making sure to place
it in the exact same position as before. The scales are extremely
sensitive so it is necessary to change as little as possible in order to
avoid any possible disparity in measurements. NEAT uses a fixed
18 gram dose with a lenience of .2 grams above or below.
7) If the dose is good, move to Step 8. If the dose is low, add a little bit
of coee. If the dose is high, carefully remove a few grounds.
8) There are two primary ways of distributing the coee.

37
a) North, South, East, West: NSEW involves holding your
pointer finger perpendicular to the handle of the portafilter
and moving across the bed of coee away from your body and
then back towards your body (North and South). Second,
moving left to right and vice versa (East and West).
Distribute the coee evenly throughout the portafilter. This
allows for easier tamping and, ultimately, results in a better,
more evenly extracted shot of espresso.
b) Stockfleths Move: Stockfleths Move involves distributing the
coee into an even bed in one, smooth motion. A right-handed
person will hold the portafilter in their left hand while forming
a hook with their right index finger with the other three
fingers following suit. Bring the portafilter close to your chest
with your right hooked hand cupping the undistributed bed
of coee and your elbows out. Move the portafilter away from
your chest while slightly rotating the portafilter counterclockwise and your right hand clockwise. All the while, drag
your right index over the bed of coee creating an even surface
on which to tamp.
9) Place the tamper in the portafilter and press down. Only about 30
lbs. of pressure is necessary for a proper tamp. More important
than the amount of pressure, though, is making sure the tamp is
even. A crooked tamp will allow water to pool in one part of the
portafilter basket thus creating an uneven extraction.
10) Clear the portafilter of any loose grounds.
11) Place a cup on a small scale, tare out the scale.
12) Purge the group head for two seconds and place the portafilter in
the group head and start the shot. Take care to place the cup and
scale underneatht the portafilter as quickly as possible.
13) Pull the shot into the cup as it sits on the scale. When the weight
gets close to your ideal weight (35-40g), stop the extraction. Note:

38
There is a lag time between when the beverage reaches the ideal
weight and when the scale finally reads that weight so it is suggested
to stop the extraction when the scale is still reading a few grams shy
of the ideal weight.
14) If the shot was extracted in a reasonable time, it is then necessary
to taste. If the shot is tastes good, then no adjustments are
necessary. If the shot was extracted either too quickly (<30 secs) or
not quickly enough (>40 secs) then it is advisable to NOT taste the
shot as it is likely (although not definite) that adjustments will need
to be made. Tasting lots of espresso tends to cause palate fatigue in a
very short amount of time. These procedures are designed to taste
as little as possible in order to save your palate but still quickly and
eciently dial in.
15) If the shot does not taste good make adjustments given what you
already know about the factors involved in extraction, e.g. if the shot
tastes bitter you might consider making the grind coarser.

FEATURED ESPRESSO
1) Here within are the instructions for preparing an espresso with a
Mahlkonig EK43 grinder.
2) Dose out 21 grams of the desired coee.
3) Grind on a very fine setting (1.5-2).
4) Carefully place the grounds in a clean and dry portafilter taking
care not spill any of the coee.
5) Distribute grounds evenly.
6) Tamp with 30 lbs of pressure with the key dierence of using a
nutating style of tamping.

39
7) Clear portafilter of loose grounds.
8) Place an adequate cup on a scale and tare.
9) Purge grouphead for 2 seconds.
10) Pull the shot into the cup as it sits on the scale. When the weight
gets close to your ideal weight (60g), stop the extraction.
Note: There is a lag time between when the beverage reaches the
ideal weight and when the scale finally reads that weight so it is
suggested to stop the extraction when the scale is still reading 5-6
grams shy of the ideal weight. Shots will fall very quickly (~14-17
secs). Take care to pay adequate attention throughout the entirety
of the shot.

COLD BREW (TODDY)

1) NEAT uses cold-brewed coee for our iced coee, Not-So- NEAT
and draft coee beverages.
2) Toddy systems are designed to make small amounts of cold brew.
NEAT usually utilizes them specifically for decaf cold-brew.
3) Place the rubber stopper in the bottom of the Toddy taking care that
the larger side is facing downwards. Place the felt pad on the bottom
of the inside of the Toddy, over top of the rubber stopper.
4) Fill with two cups of room temperature filtered water.
5) Place 8 ounces of coarsely ground coee over top the water.
6) Fill with five more cups of room temperature filtered water.
7) Place another eight ounces of coarsely ground coee over top the
water and other coee.
8) Fill with a final two cups of water.

40
9) Let it stand for five minutes and then break the top crust as you
would with a spoon during a cupping.
10) Label the batch with coee type and date.
11) Drain into plastic container 12-14 hours after the extraction
began.

COLD BREW (FILTRON)

1) Filtron systems are designed to make large amounts of cold-brewed
coee.
2) Start by making sure bottom valve is closed.
3) Place felt pad at the bottom of the system.
4) Place either a paper filter (5lbs of coee or less) or a cloth bag filter
(>5lbs of coee) over top the felt pad.
5) Place coarsely ground coee in the bottom of the correct filter.
6) Place plastic grounds guard over top the coee but inside the filter.
7) Apply the lid, albeit upside down.
8) Pour in the correct amount of water. 3 gallons of water for every 5
lbs of coee or 6 gallons for 10 lbs or .6 gallons for every pound of
coee.
9) Label the batch with coee type and date.
10) Drain into plastic container 12-14 hours after the extraction
began.

41

ICED COFFEE AND NOT-SO-NEAT

1) Iced Coee (IC) and Not-So-NEAT (NSN) are simply drinks to
prepare and are generally made with the same ratios. Both drinks
are made with our seasonally-fresh cold-brewed concentrate. For IC, add
water. For NSN, add milk (whole, 1% or almond).
2) To make a standard IC or NSN measure out 4oz of concentrate.
3) Add 8oz of either water (for IC) or customers choice of milk (for
NSN).
4) Add ice.
5) To make larger batches of either IC or NSN, the ratio is simply 1:2,
concentrate:water/milk.

BKON CRAFT BREWER

1) The Bkon Craft Brewer is a uniquely designed single cup coee and
tea brewer. The Bkon uses vacuum technology to gain greater
access to the interior of the coee bean particles in order to have a
complete extraction in a very short period of time. With the Bkon,
we have acute control over water temperature, steep time, vacuum
pressure and time as well as purge pressure.
2) For coee, we use a standard 25 gram dose.
3) Recipes for each coee and tea are pre-programmed.

42

MILK AND MILK DRINK RECIPES

Being a barista is more than just about being able to pull a great shot
of espresso. Steaming and texturing milk in such a way to make drinks both
tasty and attractive is almost just as crucial.
To put it as simply as possible, milk is made up of a variety of fats,
sugars and proteins (13%) suspended in water (87%). These
components give the milk the capability to be converted into microfoam.
Microfoam is the tight layer of very tiny bubbles that end up on the surface
of espresso-based drinks. Microfoam is necessary for making latte art but
more importantly the steaming and incorporation of air give the milk a
perceived, natural sweetness. The taste of the milk always comes first;
however, if steamed properly, topping a drink o with a nice heart will not
be dicult after a bit of practice.

NEAT DRINK RECIPES

It does not take long to realize that drinks dier from company to
company. People are trained in a variety of traditions and therefore what
one company calls a latte may be completely dierent than their
competitor. Here at NEAT we have very rigid specifications for our drinks.
All our drinks are free-poured (or without the aid of a spoon). They are
listed from largest to smallest:

LATTE (12oz) Steamed to 140-150F (slightly hotter if made to go)

Only a very thin skin of microfoam on top

CAPPUCCINO (6oz) Steamed to 120-130F (slightly hotter if made to go)

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Very thick top layer of microfoam, enough such that when
pushed aside with a spoon, liquid is not visible underneath.

FLAT WHITE (6oz) Steamed to 120-130F (slightly hotter if made to go)

Only a very thin skin of microfoam on top

GIBRALTAR (4oz) Steamed to 120-130F

Very thin skin of microfoam, especially silky

MACCHIATO (2oz) Steamed to 120-130F

Should only have a thin skin of microfoam but due to its small
size, the skin proportionately larger

OTHER DRINKS

- Mocha, Vanilla latte, Hot Cocoa, House Chai, Steamers, etc.

- We oer other espresso-based drinks such as a Mocha and a
Vanilla latte. These are most like a latte (see description
above) with the addition of syrups
added to the espresso prying to pouring the milk.
Hot Cocoa, House Chais, Steamers, etc. are not espresso-based
but are still the responsibility of the barista as they still
involve the steaming of milk (or other liquids). These are most
often oered in two sizes (6 or 12oz). These are steamed to the
same temperature as a latte with the exception of kids drinks
(6oz) which are steamed to the temperature of cappuccinos.

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LATTE ART

Latte art is one of the most immediately recognizable trademarks of

excellence in the barista trade. While it catches the eye, it is often mistaken
for being indicative of the overall quality of the drink. It is a vitally
important aspect of the drink, but it is still only the cherry on top.
That said, if the barista is steaming milk properly, it should not be too
dicult (after some practice) to perform all sorts of latte art. The three
most important things to be conscious of when pouring latte art are how
fast one is pouring the milk, how close the pitcher is to the cup and where, in
the cup, the milk is being poured.

THE HEART:

1) Start by holding the cup in your left hand, tipped at a 45 angle.

The steaming pitcher must be in your right hand and both arms
must be bent out in front of the body such that where the hands meet
forms a 90 angle. The wall of the steaming pitcher should be
parallel to the rim of the cup and about 2 above it.
2) Start pouring in the very center of where the espresso pools (where
the bottom and the wall of the cup meet). This is the deepest point
and pouring in this exact spot is necessary for maintaining the
surface tension of the crema.
3) Pour slowly as a fast pour is harder to control and will likely break
the surface tension of the crema. This is detrimental to the drink
because if the surface tension breaks then the espresso will be
washed out. The drink will lack a nice visual contrast between the
espresso and milk.
4) As the cup fills up, youll need to return the cup to an upright
position so that the bottom is parallel to the ground. In concert with
this motion, you will need to tip the steaming pitching so that it

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remains parallel with the rim of the cup. This will speed up the rate
of your pour and will release some of the microfoam.
5) A white spot of microfoam will form in the center. When the milk is
about from the top, move the pitcher another 1-2 away from the
cup. This will make the stream of milk coming from the pitcher
much thinner. At the same time, move the pitcher perpendicularly
across the face of the cup, allowing the thin stream of milk to cut
the white spot of microfoam. The stream of milk will fold the closest
edge of the milk into the spot and stretch the far edge into a point,
making it look like a heart!

THE TULIP:

1) See steps 1-4 from The Heart

2) A small white spot of microfoam will form in the center. When the
milk is about from the top, stop pouring and move the pitcher
back about and start pouring again. A second spot will form and
when the milk is about from the top, pull the pitcher up and cut
both spots with the thin stream of milk.

THE ROSETTA

1) See steps 1-4 from The Heart

2) As a small white spot of microfoam forms in the center, you will
need to start slowly moving the pitcher from side to side. This will
allow the textured milk to be released from the pitcher in a zig zag
pattern. As you move the pitcher side to side, be sure to have the
pitcher moving backwards at the same time.
3) When the milk is about from the top, move the pitcher another
1-2 away from the cup. At the same time, move the pitcher
perpendicularly across the face of the cup, allowing the thin stream
of milk to cut the zig zag pattern.