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Houston’s

Magic Beans

by John Nechman

Photos by Chuck Cook PhotographyIllustrations by Caroline Clutterbuck

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As a child in pre-Starbucks days, I would watch, repulsed, as my parents would reheat and drink cups of rancid black goo that had been sitting in a clunky pot in the kitchen since morning. One day, I inexplicably decided to sample what was in the cup and, recoiling at what tasted like the liquid equivalent of dirty socks, dumped it onto my lap, causing searing scald marks. I swore I’d never try coffee again.

As a teenager in the early 1980s, I spent a year in coffee-blessed Costa Rica, where babies suckle bottles of milk infused with coffee. The daily smell of fresh roasted beans was intoxicating.

The family with whom I lived picked them up regularly and ground them at the house, then placed the grounds into a simple device called a chorreador, which looked like a sock dangling from a wooden stand over a cup. They would then fill the “sock” with hot water, which would seep through the grounds and drip entrancingly into the cup be-low. It was the original pour-over.

Neither milk nor sugar could improve

this coffee nirvana, and like most Ticos (Costa Ricans), I loved my brew black. When I returned to the U.S., I couldn’t drink what passed for coffee. But I had brought a trusty chorreador with me and used it throughout college, finding places that sold fresh roasted beans. Friends thought I was insane (until they tried my coffee), but sometime in the mid-1990s, Starbucks opened its first Houston branch, and coffee here would never be the same.

Though not a cafe-obsessed city like Seattle or New Orleans, Houston is actually the nation’s coffee capital. Headquartered here is the largest integrated coffee plant in the world (Atlantic Coffee Solutions) and one of the principal broker-importers (InterAmerican Coffee). Measured by total tonnage, Houston is America’s top coffee port. We have a bevy of world-class roasters, many of whom have been plying their trade for decades, and more and more Houstonians are joining the quest to find the perfect cup of joe.

THE NEW MAD SCIENCE OF COFFEE

Coffee shops can be daunting places, full of what appear to be chemistry experiments and lingo better suited for wine snobs. How does one decide whether to use a French press (for richer, grittier coffee), an AeroPress (rich flavor with lower acidity and less bitterness), a Chemex (if only for its sexy design) or a siphon (less body, clearer flavors)? Many local cafes serve coffee prepared in most or all of these styles – and you should try them all to determine the “one.” But whichever one you choose, remember ...

It’s all about the beans.

Coffee beans, which are soft and green in their natural state, are usually either arabica or robusta. Roasters may create a blend of beans, and these are often composed primarily of cheaper robusta and lower-quality arabica. For the most intense, complex flavors, avoid

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cheap blends and go with 100 percent Arabica single-origin (where the coffee is from) beans or high-quality Arabica blends.

The type of roast depends on the bean. Don’t assume that dark means better flavor. The original delicate flavors of beans can burn away in dark roasts. Medium roasts have a more balanced flavor of acidity and bitterness; lighter roasts allow delicate flavors to shine, particularly in single-origin coffees. And though grocers and Starbucks sell whole roasted beans, find a reliable roaster/dis-tributor (see list below) to help choose the best flavor profile for you and assure maximum freshness. Every day that passes after roasting results in a decrease in flavor. PREPARING THE PERFECT CUP AT HOME

There’s no one perfect way to make coffee – it comes down to personal pref-erences. My perfect cup involves high quality 100 percent arabica single-origin beans, roasted within the past few days. I carefully weigh 25 grams of coffee for every 350 grams of water (always bottled), heated to just short of boiling. I grind the beans in a burr grinder and keep any unused beans in an airtight container away from sunlight – never

refrigerated or frozen. I like pour-overs; Chemex makes a great one. I insert a filter and pour in some boiled water for saturation, using a slow pouring kettle. I then discard the water, add the grounds and slowly pour water in a circular motion, 50 grams at a time. I repeat this over and over and let the water steep for about two minutes.

Total time for achieving coffee nirvana? A reasonable three and a half minutes. You may have to play around with directions and instruments to best suit your taste, but once you find your match, you’ll never return to Mr. Coffee.

WHERE TO FIND THE MAGIC BEANS

AMAYA ROASTING CO.www.amayaroasting.comWhen Max Gonzalez opened Catalina Coffee in the Sixth Ward in 2007, the local cafe experience was focused not on quality of the coffee but more on where people could meet socially or scour the internet while downing calorie-bursting triple venti caramel dolce soy macchiatos and the like. Gonzalez decided to reverse those focuses and founded Amaya. Expect incredible nuance and balance from the beans, which are among the finest

and freshest in town.BEST BEANS Konga (Ethiopia) and Hacienda Sonora (Costa Rica), $15 to $16 for 12 oz. Order at cafe or online (orders shipped within 24 hours of roasting).FLAGSHIP CAFE Catalina Coffee,2201 WashingtonPURVEYORS All Hugo Ortega restau-rants, Siphon, Common Bond BOOMTOWN COFFEEwww.boomtowncoffee.comMatthew Toomey founded Boomtown in 2011 as a coffee roaster-retailer and cafe. He later brought fresh-roasted beans to Downtown Houston at The Honeymoon. They offer some of the best Ethiopian varietals in town.BEST BEANS Amaro Gayo (Ethiopia) and Teklu Dembel (Ethiopia), $9 to $10 for 8 oz. Purchase at cafes.FLAGSHIP CAFES Boomtown Coffee, 242 W. 19th, and The Honeymoon, 300 Main

CAFE COPANwww.shopcopan.comMichael Dunaway and his family own a coffee plantation in Honduras that ships beans directly to its factory in Tomball. Stay with the reasonably priced non-dark roasts.BEST BEANS San Marcos Supremo (Honduras), $6.50 for 12 oz. Order

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