JAVA PURA News
The next time you order an après java at Indika, Pondicheri or Backstreet Cafe— the sort of smooth, rich coffee that inspires you to sit up and take notice — you might want to thank “Portland, Oregon–style” master roaster Ken Palmer, who was lured to local artisan coffee company Java Pura.
Photography by Jack Thompson
This innovative brand was established by owners Richard Colt and Fielding Cocke in 2007. Besides importing green beans and roasting them in small batches, they set out to do something almost unheard of four years ago: stamp each freshly roasted bag with a “roasted on” date, with the recommendation that no coffee be purchased more than 10 days after that date — a feat the big guys in the coffee industry couldn’t dream of doing. Combing the world’s finest coffee-growing regions, the Java Pura team works directly with farmers who nurture their beans from harvest to washing (how the bean is washed and dried contributes to the depth of its character) and aims never to over- or under-roast their green coffee beans. “Going dark,” Colt says, “disguises the nuances of the bean.” While most ordinary coffee roasters air-roast their beans, Java Pura — like many micro-roasters — prefers to drum-roast. This method enables a small-scale roaster to ramp up the temperature and create more variables of heat.
The shelf life for green, unroasted beans is one to two years; after that, Colt says, they start taking on the aroma of the burlap sack they’re packaged in. His company insists the shelf life of Java Pura roasted beans is two to three weeks, max. “The wonderful aroma you smell is actually the flavor disappearing from the beans,” he confides. At Central Market, the indie roaster’s largest retailer, none of Java Pura’s roasted beans stay on the shelf more than one week. Hence, the “roasted on” date. Taste the beans brewed day one to seven, and you’ll perceive the coffee’s bright acids; after a week, those acids come down, and you’ll enjoy a smoother brew and a picture of the coffee’s true flavor profile. “Ideally the peak day, in terms of prime taste, is five days after the coffee’s been roasted,” says Cocke. The Main Street Ministriesis the happy recipient of much of Java Pura’s “largesse” — beans roasted longer than two weeks ago, which are habitually removed from retail shelves.
Happening upon the right beans isn’t a guessing game. The coffee-picking season runs from December to March; farmers send samples when the buying season commences, and the Java Pura gang gets together to “cup” nearly 25 varieties a week to determine what they’ll buy. Cupping, a systematic way to evaluate a variety of beans, is the means to that end. Using a sample roaster, which can roast a small quantity of beans, they conduct two samplings of the same bean side by side. That way, if there’s a bad bean in the batch, it won’t ruin both samples.
First, they put the dry grounds to the smell test by taking several short, staccato-like sniffs, tapping the side of the cup to release the aroma. Next, the team judges the wet aroma by adding hot water (201°F to 204°F) and letting the grounds steep for four minutes. After a couple of minutes, a crust or cap forms on the top. With the back of a spoon, they break the cap and inhale deeply to catch that first aroma blast. Pulling off the cap, they slurp the brew noisily, attempting to vaporize about a teaspoon over their taste buds, washing it all around their mouths. Last, when the coffee is tepid, they taste it again, as this is when nuances are revealed that might not otherwise be detected.
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