Local Flavors: Coffee-tasting event is brewing with possibilities

Local coffee supplier and six cafes team up for free java sampling

By Katy Budge

PHOTO BY KATY BUDGE

Tom Richardson of Central Coast Refreshments.

Ground coffee makes a fine a flavor rub for meats

Tom Richardson noted that this recipe can be used for a variety of beef cuts, such as rib-eye, New York, filet mignon, top sirloin, or tri-tip, and with other meats like pork chops or skinless chicken breasts.

You may also add small amounts of other ingredients to the rub mixture: chile powder, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, or dry mustard.

In addition, Richardson explained that “a few ounces of espresso or strong black coffee added to hearty stews or braised meats adds depth and flavor without being recognizable as coffee. Add the coffee with other liquids—after the browning of the meat and/or vegetables—at the beginning of the long, slow braise period.”

COFFEE-ENCRUSTED GRILLED BEEF

• 2 tablespoons coffee beans

• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• Olive oil

• Steaks for grilling (see above)

Coarsely grind coffee beans and peppercorns in a coffee grinder, or with a mortar and pestle, or similar method. Combine ground mixture with salt.

Rub steaks or roast with olive oil and press coffee mixture onto both sides of meats. Ideally, let the flavors infuse the meat for one hour, or up to 24 hours.

Grill steaks over high heat to desired doneness; for tri-tip sear both and finish using indirect heat. Be careful to avoid flare-ups, and don’t be alarmed by the steaks’ black exterior — it will no doubt be the result of the coffee rather than a burned exterior.

Remove steaks from grill and let rest five minutes before serving (rest tri-tip 10 minutes).

—Katy Budge

TO LEARN MORE ...

The multicafe event will be held from 9 a. m. to noon on Saturday at these six locations: Higher Groundz in Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo, Blue Bean in Morro Bay, Cambria Coffee Roasting Co. in Cambria, ABC Cafe at the Atascadero Bible Church in Atascadero, and Java Moto in Santa Maria. For more information, contact Tom Richardson at tom@centralcoastrefreshments.com , or 489-2422.

Gone are the days when the only choices to be made about coffee were “black or with cream” and “regular or decaf.” Now, the java faithful have a myriad of decisions, even about where their beans have been.

Much like wine grapes, coffee beans will present various flavors depending on where they are grown.

On Saturday morning, coffee aficionados can find out what some of those differences are thanks to a free event brewed up by Tom Richardson, owner of Central Coast Refreshments, a company offering a full line of cafe-related products and equipment to clients in San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties.

Six Central Coast cafes

Scheduled for six coffeehouses from Santa Maria to Atascadero to Cambria, the multicafe event “will be in the vein of wine tasting,” said Richardson.

Each coffeehouse will offer a “tasting of four single-country coffees from different parts of the world with distinctly different flavor profiles,” he said.

Though the specific beans for the event have yet to be determined, there will be representative tastes from such major growing regions as Africa, Central American, South America and the South Pacific.

“All the coffeehouses will offer the same four coffees, which will highlight the real differences in each growing region,” explained Richardson.

For example, an Ethiopian coffee can offer blueberry notes, a Peruvian brew is usually very smooth, while an earthy Sumatran is one that people seem to either love or hate.

Special coffees

Richardson added that the coffees chosen for the event will be special selections, “not things that are served every day in the coffeehouses, because we’re all trying to raise the local level of coffee quality and standards.”

Consumers may pay a little more for good, fresh beans, he acknowledged, “but a cup of drip coffee is really a bargain, it’s really an affordable luxury.”

Katy Budge is a freelance writer from Atascadero. If you have a favorite “Local Flavor” you’d like to see featured, e-mail your suggestions to ktbudge@sbcglobal.net .