Web Log News

Oct. 04, 2020

How to Make Your Own Cold Brew Coffee by Clear Lake Coffee Roasters- October 4, 2020

The proliferation of pricey canned and bottled cold brew products and a couple years of trend pieces about the rise of cold brew coffee might lead you to believe there’s something magical about making this beverage. But brewing your own cold brew couldn’t be easier.

Cold brew coffee is simply ground coffee + water (not hot) + time. No need to pay upwards of $3 for a branded can made with mediocre beans when you can make it much better in your own kitchen.

There are some good products that make brewing and filtering a cinch, but almost any vessel will work in a pinch. Cold brew is very forgiving as long as you’re patient and make a strong enough concentrate.

Sep. 30, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - El Salvador and the Grain of Gold - September 30, 2020

Coffee was first introduced to El Salvador from the Caribbean as a garden crop in the mid-18th century. Compared to indigo, it’s a challenging crop and commercial production was not established until the 1850’s. Coffee was first exported—695 bags—in 1856 and the government began to encourage coffee farming. Exponential growth coincided with the development of synthetic indigo near the end of the century (world-wide plant-based production of indigo was 19,000 tons in 1897 but only 1,000 tons in 1914 … in case you were wondering). Between 1880 and 1914 the value of coffee exports in El Salvador increased over 1,000 percent as large landholders moved into coffee.

Sep. 29, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - Laos, The Kingdom of a Million Elephants - September, 29, 2020

Laos became a French colony around the same time Europe was carving up Africa. As important as coffee was in French colonies around the world, they missed out on Europe’s late 19^th century “scramble for Africa” in that they came away with most of northwest Africa, but none of the East African regions that would, over the course of the next century, become synonymous with coffee. Instead, if not exactly in lieu of, they scrambled through what remained “unconquered” in Mainland Southeast Asia and, unintentionally it must be assumed, acquired some of the finest coffee growing land in that region, or in the world if pure tonnage is any indication.

Sep. 28, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - Costa Rica Once Grew Chile’s Best Coffee - September 28, 2020

For us, looking backward, it’s hard to imagine the circumstances. Why didn’t Costa Rica just export coffee directly to Europe? Well, as in most business, it was a matter of who you know. Costa Rican coffee producers didn’t know anyone with a ship that sailed to Europe. It’s almost that simple. In the parlance of our times, Costa Ricans may not have been the best “networkers” back in the day. When Mexico declared independence from Spain after 10 years of war in 1821, the rest of Central America piped up and said “yeah, us as well then.” Costa Rica was taken a little bit by surprise. It wasn’t that Costa Ricans didn’t care about independence; they cared about it so much that they had essentially been operating as an independent country already. This independence was reflected in an ongoing reluctance if not outright unwillingness to join attempts at forming a larger Central American state, like the post-independence “Federal Republic of Central America,” which Costa Rica didn’t quit so much as it just stopped showing up for meetings and then changed its phone number.

Sep. 27, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - Planters and Priests – Early Years of Coffee in Kenya - September 27, 2020

“In 50 years not more than 3,000 people have been baptized in Kikuyu. Though adjoining the Kikuyu reserve, its influence was nil. Among a people whose daily cry is for more land, the biggest hindrance to the spread of the Gospel was that we were coffee-growers.” -Father Peadar Kelly, writing about St. Austin’s mission church in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1953.

Sep. 26, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - Fresh Coffee, A Historical Survey - September 26, 2020

Perhaps the most ubiquitous descriptor of quality used on the specialty side of the industry is “fresh roasted coffee.” We can be forgiven for thinking we invented the stuff. For decades the coffee industry moved so far away from selling anything that could by any stretch of even the most fertile imagination be considered “fresh roasted,” that when the emergent specialty coffee industry started offering (reintroducing) freshly roasted coffee to consumers, it seemed like a revelation. It sure tasted like a revelation. Freshly roasted, freshly ground, and freshly brewed, that was our triumvirate calling card. Properly roasted, properly ground, and properly brewed would come later in many cases.

Sep. 25, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - 100 Years of Iced Coffee - September 25, 2020

It’s hard to say how long iced coffee has been consumed, probably ever since you could find coffee and ice in the same place at the same time, but iced coffee started showing up in cookbooks and menu suggestions in the early 20^th century and collectively the coffee industry in the US appears to have caught on to the fact that iced coffee could be an answer to the summer doldrums not long after the industry started to organize itself.

Sep. 24, 2020

Clear Lake Coffee Roasters Presents: Explorer Series, History Edition - Coffee Production in Nicaragua - September 24, 2020

In addition to the seemingly ever-present political tensions, somewhat acute in recent years, Nicaragua’s specialty producers have faced coffee plant diseases and, of course, low prices. Political instability and leaf-rust are difficult to face at any time, but when international prices for coffee are extremely low, continuing is a hard sell.