In 2008 I spent a year roasting coffee in sunny Brisbane with my good friends, Marty and Vonny Richards, at Blackstar Coffee Roasters.

Queensland (unlike Wellington) is hot most of the year.  So Vonny started experimenting with making a cold coffee in beer bottles with crown caps, and calling it ‘cold press coffee’.  It was a coffee epiphany for me.  Simply milk, coffee, and a touch of sweet; but a serious coffee beverage.

The punters at the West End markets and Blackstar’s Roastery lapped this new beverage up.  No other 0.04ml coffee essence milk drink, corn syruped and sugared to hell, could come close.

And now, four years later and sitting on the shoulders of the Blackstar giants, we are most happy to finally launch the Peoples Coffee ‘Cold Flat White’.

The reason it has taken us four years to have a crack ourselves, is out of respect.  Many folk (including their own coffee accounts!) started imitating Vonny’s heavenly elixir, but no one ever gave credit to her recipes (which she was all too forthcoming in sharing).

It is simply this: fresh ground coffee, steeped in cold water for 12 hours, painstakingly filtered through Chemex filters, and then mixed with organic full cream milk and a dash of real Canadian maple syrup.

Like all our coffees, the brew is from our small farmer-owned cooperatives, making this one awfully good way to support organic small scale coffee producers during a lukewarm Wellington summer.

Cold Flat Whites are available now at Peoples Coffee Constable St, and Brewtown, and coming soon to Vic Books and Lamason.
And look out for the new Cold Long Black, on its way!

It’s never easy coming home after the holidays, but if there’s one thing that made it easier this year, it was the coffee (or, more accurately, the lack of good coffee elsewhere).
Now, I don’t consider myself a coffee snob by any stretch of the imagination, but after three weeks out of Wellington, I was ready to pitch my tent in the middle of Peoples Coffee, curl up on a sack of coffee beans, and never leave again.

And to make my homecoming even sweeter, I found that the little elves at Peoples had been busy brewing up a few surprises over the holidays…starting with Brewtown!

Brewtown is a Peoples Coffee Pop-Up store, temporarily bringing fresh, single-origin filter coffee to the streets of Newtown.  If you haven’t yet jumped on the non-pressurised coffee bandwagon, now’s your chance, people!   You’ve already heard me raving about the purity and goodness of the mighty V60, and you can try one here, along with chemex and cold drip, at Wellington’s first brew bar to specialise exclusively in filter coffee.

Which might seem a little crazy, given that filter coffee hasn’t always had the best reputation in New Zealand.  If you’re anything like me, the words ‘filter coffee’ evoke images of American diners with checked tablecloths, ill-tempered waitresses, and the sort of lukewarm bitter coffee found lurking in office staffrooms of the nineties.

But trust me, one visit to Brewtown will change all that.  For a start, Danny the barista could not be further from a ill-tempered woman.  He’s nice, he wants to answer all your burning questions about non-pressurised coffee, and he’s got cold-drip coffee brewing in the front window that he’ll let you taste for free!  And once you’ve figured out your favourite, you can buy your own brewing tools and learn how to replicate it at home.

What’s more, the United Nations have named 2012 “Year of the Co-operative”, so Brewtown couldn’t be more timely.  All Peoples Coffee comes from small producers who are part of fair trade cooperatives.  While espresso coffee uses a blend of coffee beans, filter coffee showcases beans from a single origin, so you can taste the unique flavours of beans grown in different regions of the coffee world.
“Their coffee is a way of telling their story” says director Matt Lamason.  “Single origins are a way to promote our co-operatives, and connect consumers with our coffee farmers.”

Keep a lookout on the Peoples facebook page, because Rene (the Peoples Coffee roaster) will be doing weekly cuppings of different fair trade organic coffees, and you’re all invited.

“A Pop-Up store lets us trial something we wouldn’t normally do with a shop” says Matt.   “We want to see if Newtown is ready for filter coffee.”

So what do you say?  Are you ready to for it?  Get yourself down to Brewtown for a taste, and then tell me, tell me, tell me!  Leave us your feedback below.  I want to know how you rate filter coffee, and how you think it compares to espresso.  (But you’d better get your skates on, because pop-up stores tend to pop down again, when you least expect it…).

Brewtown is open Tue – Sat, 9am – 5pm.  You’ll find it at 12 Constable St, Newtown (right next to the espresso store).

Christmas.  It’s a time of joy and peace and elbowing your way through crowds of frantic shoppers to the tune of Snoopy’s Christmas.  That much we know.  But have you ever stopped to consider the psychological underpinnings of this most wonderful time of the year?

I have.

You see, last Christmas, I awoke to a shocking sight that no child should ever have to experience…

…An empty stocking.

Shock.  Disappointment.  Confusion.

What could I have possibly done to warrant this bewildering lack of reward?
Ever since I could remember,  I had been taught by the authority figures in my life (my parents, the television, and Santa) that if I was good, I would be rewarded.  With stuff.  It was very simple.  Behaviour, reward.  Behaviour, reward.
I was Pavlov’s dog and when they started ringing those Christmas bells, I started looking around wildly for my slab of meat.

And the bells were still ringing (louder and longer every year), but the goods had stopped coming!  Where was my stuff?  Where was my stuff?
It seemed I had unwittingly crossed some invisible threshold and “Santa” (who had just earned himself a nice pair of inverted commas) had made an executive decision to cross me off his list.  It seemed I had “grown up”.

In light of this shocking discovery, there was only one thing I could do.  And that was to reward myself with the gift I always deserve.

Coffee.

And so this is my Christmas message to you, boys and girls.

When you can’t trust that your stocking will be full on Christmas morning, there is one thing you can always count on.

Coffee.
Santa may abandon you, but coffee will always deliver.
It is the stimulus and the reward.

So this year, I won’t be listening out for sleigh bells in the snow.

This year, I’m dreaming of a flat white Christmas  (ho ho ho).

Merry Christmas from everyone at Peoples Coffee!  We hope your holidays are safe and well-caffeinated.   See you back here in January!

When it comes to plunger coffee, everyone knows best.  If you’ve ever been dive-tackled as you go to plunge the coffee, or had a spoon wrestled from your grip mid-stir, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.  I’m a big fan of plunger coffee, but it has certainly tested more than a few relationships over the years.

Which is why I decide to spend an hour studying the secret art of plunger coffee with someone I’d never dare argue with – Peoples roaster and human encyclopedia of coffee, Rene.

He begins by introducing me to the holy trinity of plunger coffee: grind size, brew ratio and water temperature.  While every step of the process is important, varying these three factors will affect the taste of your coffee more than anything else.

So let’s start with grind size: Coffee should be ground much coarser for a plunger than for an espresso machine, to a gritty sand-like consistency.  And it goes without saying that you should grind your beans fresh each time.
“Coffee degrades when exposed to oxygen, so you should use it within about a minute of grinding.”

Water temperature is also key.  You shouldn’t use boiling water straight on ground coffee, as it produces bitter and sour flavours. To cool the water down, either let the kettle sit for three minutes after boiling, or pour it into another vessel before pouring it into your plunger.  (I know, waiting is not my strong point either.  But trust me, the coffee will thank you).
Once you’re ready to pour, half-fill the plunger and give it a good stir (but not for more than ten seconds, says Rene). “By stirring it you’re activating more infusion and encouraging that extraction of flavour.”
Let it sit for a moment, then pour the rest of your water in and leave it to brew for another three minutes before serving.

Now for the big one: brew ratio.
I’ve spent the last five years heaping coffee into a plunger like the world was about to end.  But this is one of those times where less is more.

To prove the point, Rene makes two plungers, one with 18g of coffee and one with 20g (to 300mL of water).  And although it’s only a matter of grams, the contrast between the two brews reaches up and slaps me in the face.  The 18g brew is much lighter and fruitier.  The 20g brew has a stronger coffee taste, and while delicious, it‘s definitely missing the more subtle flavours of the first cup.

“The golden rule is one part coffee to sixteen or seventeen parts water,” Rene tells me.  But how is the average person supposed to figure that out?  Simple.  You use scales and a calculator.
“It’s geeky, but if you want to have a perfect cup every day, you’ve got to use them,” says Rene.  “I’d like to arm all the people who are passionate about coffee with a set of scales.”
(You can pick up a set at the Constable St store).

Rene is an exceptional sort of coffee geek, so if you’re not quite there yet, then he recommends you at least weigh it once to see what it looks like in a measuring spoon.  Then measure the water into the plunger and see where the level rises to.  From then on, you should stick to those measures like your life depends on it.
“It’s important to do the same thing every time, unless you’re experimenting.  If you’re not aware of what you’re changing, you’ll never be able to replicate a good cup.”

So there you have it.  Plunger coffee 101.  Any arguments, see Rene.

(Or you could leave him a comment, below)

Have you noticed that fair trade is popping up just about everywhere these days?  Coffee, bananas,  chocolate, sugar; we’re positively spoiled for choice!  Even the big gun multinationals are touting pretty ethical labels!
Does this mean our years of prodding everyone we know with fairly traded sticks has paid off?  Have multinationals finally traded profit for justice? Has big business finally found its conscience?

…can pigs fly?

This week I joined the Peoples crew to meet a man who’s been a pioneer in fair trade for over 35 years: Trade Aid NZ’s general manager, Geoff White.
He didn’t mince his words.
“Fair trade has been taken over by the certifiers.  As the big players have come in, we’ve let them take over and determine what it is.”

So while consumers should be applauded for increasingly opting for products with traceable and ethical supply chains, it has paradoxically created a valuable market that big business want their slice of.   And the enormous clout of multinational supermarkets and food corporations means that fair trade has seen a departure from value-led business, to ‘business as usual’.

Which explains why so many greenwashed companies have flooded the marketplace, and why every second product claims to be ‘certified this’ and ‘accredited that’.  It’s little wonder that customers no longer know what to believe, or who to trust.

This storm has been brewing in the fair trade world for some time.  In October this year, TransFair (the governing body for all fair trade certification in the USA) announced a unilateral split from the leading fair trade certifier FLO, stating its intention to extend fair trade to include plantations and factories (typically owned by wealthy land owners, and even multinational food corporations).  And fair trade cooperatives, which consist of small scale farmers with a moderate supply capacity, just can’t compete with these big-gun producers.
So what happens?   The small farmers lose out in a market that was designed and built specifically for their own empowerment, that’s what.

But don’t throw in the towel just yet!  While this may all seem quite dire, Geoff reminds us that “it’s crisis that breeds change.”   He believes that consumers are smart, and in tough economic times like these, are asking more questions about the values companies claim to uphold.
“There are challenging times ahead, but that’s where the relationship [with producers] becomes so important,” says Geoff.  “Fair trade is a trust-based system, based on relationships with people.  That’s what we’ve got to maintain.”

And Peoples can testify to the importance of these direct relationships.  Since their outset, they’ve travelled to more than eleven coffee lands with Trade Aid to meet the farmers themselves, and have seen firsthand the hope and change that their coffee trade is party to.

So what is the future of fair trade?  Well, Geoff is uncertain.  But one thing’s for sure:
“Producers need to determine where fair trade goes, because it’s for their benefit.”

Sounds fair to me.

So we’re curious, how do you decide what goes in your shopping basket?
Do you look out for the Fairtrade label, or choose a product because you trust the company?  How much do the values of a business affect your shopping choices?

Tell us what you think!  Leave a comment below.

This blog was a collaboration between Matt Lamason and Anna Costley.

I love a good flat white.  And I love that I don’t have to question my love for it.  I can walk into a cafe, order the same thing every time, and know I’ll be completely satisfied, every time.

But these days there are a few different coffees competing for my affections: siphon coffee, chemex, the V60…they’re all different forms of non-pressurised filter coffee that are making their mark on the Wellington coffee scene.
So perhaps it’s time to branch out from my flat white?  Play the coffee field, so to speak?

I decide to devote an afternoon to doing just that.

My first stop is Peoples Coffee Garrett St, home to the beloved V60.  I settle in as Kirk pours water in slow concentric circles into the drip filter, from what looks suspiciously like a genie bottle (with equally magical results).  It seems to me that with pour-over coffee, the process is half the fun (the other half is the drinking.  Mmm…).  It’s a method that brings out the subtleties of each bean, and is definitely one to savour slowly.

Which is exactly what they’re doing up at my next stop, Vic Books; another hive of V60 excellence.
“Nobody who orders the V60 gets it to go,” Kieran tells me.  “It’s definitely something to sit down and drink.”
So is this style of coffee just for the connoisseurs of the coffee world?
“Not at all,” says Kieran.  “It’s great for people who want to learn more about coffee, not the ‘already-know-it-all’s.”

Deliciously caffeinated by this time, I head back down the hill to my final stop: Lamason Brew Bar.  On top of espresso, the good folk at Lamason crank out around 200 siphon coffees a week.  There’s nothing new about this style of coffee; siphons have been around since the 1830s, and Japan drinks more non-pressurised coffee than espresso.  But Lamason is New Zealand’s first siphon brew bar, and Wellingtonians are definitely taking advantage of a different way to enjoy coffee.

Dave Lamason prepares a row of siphons for a table of first-time siphon drinkers.
“As it starts to cool down more of the profile will come out,” he tells them.  “When you get to your second cup it will be even smoother and softer.”

Halfway through my third cup, I can certainly vouch for that fact.  The clean, fruity qualities of the V60 and siphon coffee mean that I just can’t get enough of it.  It’s a completely different coffee experience.

Which is good news for a coffee lover, but also presents a challenge.
It means that from now on, I’ll actually have to think before I order, and let’s face it, thinking before coffee has never been my strong point…

Go try some non-pressurised goodness yourself!  And tell us what you thought, here:

If there’s one thing in life that I  just cannot live without, it’s coffee.

And if there are two, they are coffee and writing.

I love coffee.  And I love writing.  And I love them best of all in combination.

So when Matt Lamason asked me if I wanted to write regular blogs for Peoples Coffee, I was so excited I temporarily lost all movement in my limbs and vocal cords.

Did I want to hang out at the Peoples Roastery, drinking coffee, talking coffee, and writing about coffee?  He may as well have asked if I would like a golden ticket to the chocolate factory, or if I thought world peace was a good idea.  The answer was a resounding YES (once I got my voice back).

There is only one problem.

My love of coffee may extend to a daily proclamation of why coffee is the holy grail of all beverages; the oasis in my work-day desert; the pot of black gold at the end of my rainbow.

But my love of coffee does not extend to an intricate knowledge of coffee.  I am not one of those people who can take one sip and tell you what side of the hill the beans were planted on, or how many milliseconds they spent in the roaster.  I have a lot of respect for those people, but alas, I am not one of them.

So how could I possibly write a blog about coffee?

The answer is…we’ll see.  This will be my own little adventure into the world of coffee, and I’ll be taking you along for the ride.  I’m going to find out about all things coffee and fair trade.  I’m going to introduce you to the people at Peoples, and what they’re doing, and why, and who with.  I’m going to keep you up to date with the all the breaking news on the coffee scene.  I’m going make sure you have the best coffee anecdotes to drop into conversations at parties.  You’re going to win friends and influence people!  It’s going to be amazing!

And if I’m getting carried away (I do that) and don’t make good on all of my promises, at least I’ll give you plenty of reasons to keep doing what we all love best: drinking damn good coffee.

What do YOU want to read about?  Is there a coffee myth you would like me to debunk?  I am at your service… just leave me a comment below!

A topic I’ve spent much time discussing with people over the years is roasted bean maturation, or ‘aging’, as there seems to be confusion or misinformation around in New Zealand cafes. I’m writing specifically about our primary Espresso Blend, but much of this applies to coffee used in espresso in general.

In the last ten years or so there’s been a widespread shift in cafes towards using very fresh coffee. The alternative is coffee that’s been roasted overseas, often in Italy, is freeze-dried or vacuum-packed, and is probably months old by the time it’s used in a cafe here. It comes in both whole bean and ground forms, the latter being the worst-case scenario for coffee-drinkers. An espresso disaster of sorts.

This shift towards freshly-roasted coffee has happened in combination with a shift towards locally-roasted coffee. It’s now the norm for a cafe serving high-quality espresso to have beans provided by a roastery in the same city, or quickly couriered from another. Which is great, both for flavour and food-locality.

A probable downside to this zealous fresh-mindedness is beans being used before they’ve matured; that is they are being used on or close to the roast day. This leads to espresso-based drinks tasting less balanced than they should.

Coffee beans go through dramatic chemical change in the roaster. New chemicals are created during the roast’s development, others break down. Much (around nine atmospheres of pressure) carbon dioxide and others gasses start to be released, and this continues after the beans are ejected from the belly of the mechanical beast. This is one of the reasons very fresh espresso has massive levels of crema – the grinds are still giving out a lot of gas.

More importantly than its very bubbly and ‘weak’ crema structure (which makes drink preparation harder to manage for the coffee-maker), super-fresh espresso tastes different. For our primary blend, Don Wilfredo, common descriptors tossed around include “grassy”, “tangy”, “unbalanced”, and “being smacked in the face with a lemon”. I find these are perceivable through the strong taste of espresso when you’re looking for them.

These less-than-ideal flavours are highlighted by our expectation of rich, smooth chocolate and malt flavours from a Don’ extraction. The chemicals responsible for flavour within the beans haven’t ‘settled down’ enough after roasting. In some ways this is similar to why a curry can taste a bit average straight after cooking, but much better the next day.

Just after roasting many of our favourite flavours have not fully developed, though towards five days they become prominent. In normal conditions where the beans are stored in a paper bag, out of sunlight and heat, it’s around this mark where we get our best espresso. This ideal zone lasts until around twelve days after roasting, under these conditions. Four to ten days after roasting is the Safe Zone, and the window of use we recommend to everyone making espresso with the Don’.

Keeping an eye on flavour and extraction performance is a must. Too fresh and the coffee tastes non-ideal; too old and it will lose its zing, tasting much earthier. Extractions from too-old beans will run very dark and thin, and have very low levels of crema – a good visual indication of what’s going on chemically in the beans.

Once in a while a few of us from the roastery get out on the street together for a cafe tour. We visit various establishments to have a mix of drinks and see how different cafes operate; who’s pumping and why. It’s always a bit of fun despite the sore guts after too many coffees – yes we have a limit too!

The interesting part is learning what makes different cafes successful, and seeing what works in different streets and areas around Wellington. Is it their service? Their coffee? Fit out? Location? We then discuss this between the group and see if we agree.

The tough part is to satisfy the industry expert as well as the regulars (though we are both pretty fussy!) Some things work at the street level, but there are special things we like to see happening: clean machine and coffee prep area, trained staff who are personable and friendly with each other and their customers, the making of exquisite beverages, fitouts which follow a theme throughout the whole cafe and appeal to the customer base, and a coffee supplier brand which adds value to the cafe brand – the list goes on…..

I would be interested to hear from anyone who cares to share what they look for and why they go back to their favorite cafes. Best rosetta? great design and brand? Hot counter staff (dare I say it)? A barista that remembers your name and drink; or is it just that it’s round the corner?!

Earlier this year Tadesse Meskela head of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-op Union in Ethiopia made a trip to New Zealand. Whilst here he visited Peoples Coffee and had an informal talk and question and answers session with staff and friends.

Tadesse is living proof that fair trade can be highly successful. He has managed to turn the lives of many thousands of Ethiopian coffee farmers and their families around. From poverty to a very respectable living.

“Tadesse’s responsibility cannot be under estimated. He represents 101 Co-operatives and the livelihoods of over 74,000 coffee farmers, which including their families is over half a million people. His relentless determination and drive to help them comes from his upbringing.

In 1999, the Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Co-operative Union was established and since then, the Union has facilitated the building of four new schools, seventeen additional classrooms, four health centres, two clean water supply stations, and $2 million have been returned back to the farmers in the form of dividends.” blackgoldmovie.com

Rene our master roaster got to catch up with him briefly before his talk to discuss some of the things that make Oromia such an inspirational story.

Read some more info on Tadesse and the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union here.