Breve is a term heard often around coffee shops these days.  But what is breve?

Breve is an Italian word derived from the Latin brevis, meaning brief or short.  In coffee shops it implies the use of cream or half & half instead of regular milk.  You can order a breve latte, breve cappuccino, or even a breve espresso.  Breve drinks are among the richest and creamiest treats you can find in a coffee shop.  Have you spoiled yourself lately?

All right, you made your coffee, finished drinking it, cleaned up after.  But what do you do with the used coffee grounds?

Coffee grounds can make an excellent aid to all the gardeners out there.  It’s an all-natural booster for just about any plants and flowers.  This has a lot to do with the fact that earthworms love coffee.  You can see the best results if you have a worm bin to put the coffee in, if not, then a compost pile will work just fine.  I have even had a few customers at the coffee shop tell me that they let the used coffee grounds dry up, and then put them into a broadcast spreader and just spray the coffee grounds out over the lawn.  One person even claimed that it helped keep the neighbor’s dog off of their lawn.  Don’t expect any miracles but you may be pleased with the results.

What’s in a roast?  A whole lot actually.  Roasting is a crucial step in the long journey that takes a humble bean from a tree to your cup.  How coffee is roasted plays a major role in aroma, flavor, and body.

First let’s dispel a couple of common misconceptions.

Dark roasted coffee does not have more caffeine than light roast.  It’s actually the other way around. The reason that dark roasted coffee has less caffeine is that it loses caffeine through steam and smoke in the roasting process.  The longer the coffee roasts the more of that caffeine evaporates.

Light roasted does not mean light in flavor, some light roasts have such a powerful brightness that they seem to almost attacks your taste buds.  Every coffee bean contains a certain amount of acids and sugars.  The amount that they start with depends on how it was grown.  Rainfall, soil content, shade or full sun grown, the list goes on.  But the amount of sugars and acids that end up in your coffee pot is dependent on the roasting process.  It is a delicate balance of power that the roastmaster tries to control.  The lighter roasts tend to have that balance shifted in favor of acidity, which we call brightness in the trade.  Darker roasts allow more sugars to cook and end up having a sweeter taste.

Go out and try a few for yourself.  Just remember, freshness matters.  If the coffee is any more than a couple of weeks old, you won’t be able to pick up on any of those nuances we just talked about.

Ever tried using a cold brewing method for you coffee?  There are a couple of good cold brewers available on the market.  But before you go out and buy a cold brewer, you may want to make sure you like cold brewed coffee first.  While store bought cold brewers make the job of cold brewing a little easier and less messy, they are not truly necessary.  You can replicate the process at home with items you already have in your kitchen.  Then if you find that you like cold brewed coffee, you can go out and get a cold brewing system.

You can also use something as simple as a pitcher and a fine mesh kitchen strainer.  If you do not have a fine mesh strainer you can line whatever strainer you have with some cheesecloth.  Use a 4 to 1 ratio of water to coffee, for example if you use 4 cups of water use 1 cup of coarse ground coffee.  Put your coarse ground coffee in a large pitcher.  Pour room temperature water straight over the grounds.  Stir the water and coffee up to make sure all the grounds are fully saturated.   Allow the coffee to soak in the water for at least 4 hours, but anywhere up to 12 hours is just fine.  The longer it soaks, the stronger your coffee will be.  Strain the coffee slowly into a jar or small pitcher that you can keep in the fridge.

A French Press can make a good cold brewing device since it already has the filter built in.  Just pour in cold water instead of hot and let it sit for 4 or more hours before pushing the plunger down.

The benefits of cold brewed coffee are many.  It’s convenient, concentrated, and low in acid content.  The acids naturally contained in coffee need to be cooked at high temperatures to be released.  Since this method uses room temperature water, that acid content stays in the grounds and out of your cup.  Since the final product is concentrated, you can pour it over ice or into your blender without watering anything down.  You can also add a little cold brewed coffee to a cup of hot water for a hot cup of coffee.  You can even add it to already brewed hot coffee for and extra kick.

Just a reminder from your Coffee House Inspirations Barista.  The best way to make sure you’re drinking fresh coffee is:  buy less coffee, but buy it more often.  I know those gigantic cans are convenient, but once you open them, that freshness leaves fast.  It’s also good to know when it was roasted.  Even the best nitrogen-flushed, one-way valve bags can only keep coffee fresh for about a month.  Once you get your coffee home store it in an airtight container in a dark place.  If you do buy coffee in bulk try putting a small amount of coffee in a separate canister.  Then you can put the bulk container away so it doesn’t get opened up every day. 

TIP:  The enemies of freshness are light, heat, air and moisture