From our friends @Cigar Dojo!

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We'd like to share thoughts on coffee with you. We see the stuff you post

with your smokes and…well… it doesn’t add up. You are connoisseurs of the

highest order when it comes to the leaf, and we believe you might appreciate a little

more enjoyment from your bean. We'd like to begin by drawing a parallel between cigars and coffee, and how both have

changed in recent years. In the cigar world over the last twenty or so years we have

seen a “bah-zillion” boutique brands pop up. How can these brands compete with

the big/corporate brands? There are many factors at play, but largely this comes

down to the two biggies: quality and scale. These smaller brands can do things on a

smaller scale that the big boys cannot. The little guys can make use of

interesting/rare quality tobaccos that the big guys cannot or will not embrace, and

for good reason. Your average big cigar corporation makes millions and millions of

cigars a year for their mass-market cigars. What they need is consistency, so that

every cigar in each brand/vitola tastes the same. Consistency is the name of the

game. Buying/cultivating massive amounts of the same tobacco year in and year

out is what makes sense in that scenario. So, the smaller yield, more limited

tobaccos can be bought and put to use by the small boutique blenders. It simply

isn’t feasible for the larger brands to buy up small batches of a leaf to blend and

market a cigar of which they can only produce 50,000.

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With boutique cigar brands carving out a niche in the market—not unlike what was

seen with craft beer a decade or two earlier—tobacco farmers find that it is

economically possible to cultivate these harder to grow, lower-yielding, higher

quality tobaccos. Thus, more quality, diversity, and creativity has been on display in

today’s premium cigar market. Growing, curing, aging, and blending have all

advanced, both contributing to and benefitting from the boutique cigar boom.

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Now, let’s look at coffee. For years, coffee in America was made in the home (or at

the diner) in the traditional coffeepot or, generations prior, the percolator. The

coffee was bought pre-ground and most likely preserved in a can (Folgers, Hills

Bros., etc.). That was coffee in America for years, until the “second wave” arrived,

which was the dedicated coffee shop. People started going out for coffee and some

coffee shops specialized in roasting their own coffee. This was still the “dark” ages, though, in the sense that the style of the time was dark-roasted coffee. The darker

and the more oilly, the better—and for good reason. Coffees were still being grown

with very limited varietals and very low quality. The lower quality the bean, the

more it could benefit from a dark roast. Allow me to use another example: beer.

Low quality beer tastes better if it’s ice cold, right? Ice cold Bud Light ring any bells.

Similarly, low-grade coffee tastes better dark-roasted. In this manner, big coffee

giants began acquiring cheap coffee crop, enabling a consistent flavor profile based

on a roast style.

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Like tobacco, craft farms operate on different values and can grow exceptional

coffee in smaller lots. This, no doubt, results in the higher costs of labor-intensive

growing and processing—practices that simply wouldn’t mesh with the big chains

and their means of burning flavors away into the obscurity of a dark-roasted blend.

Enter the micro-roaster, or specialty coffee, or the “third wave.”

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Coffee, if you didn’t know, is a fruit. The “beans” are akin to the pit of a cherry. In fact, the fruit

itself is called a coffee cherry. At some point, growers began growing “fruit,” rather than

“beans.” With more care in the growing and processing of the coffee fruit, growers found that

they were left with coffee beans that showcased more flavors from the fruit. These coffees

offered brighter, sweeter, fruitier flavors. Processing, too, began to see improvements. How and

when the fruit is removed from the bean makes a big difference in flavor. Washed coffees, where

the fruit is removed right after harvest with the use of water, lends very bright, clean flavors to

the beans. On the other hand, natural-processed coffee allows the bean to slightly ferment in the

fruit before it is removed. These coffees, when properly done, can be extremely juicy and

delicious and very fruit-forward. There are multiple other methods and combinations of coffee

processing, but these are basically the two extreme ends of the spectrum (think natural vs maduro

leaf shade, as comparison).

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The Goal is to find a roaster with the skill to bring out the best potential of the coffee.

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Enter the light roast. Not unlike comparing the golden hue of an Illusione Epernay to the jet-

black cover of Altadis USA’s Onyx Reserve, you’ll find layers of intricate and nuanced

complexities, vs the single-noted result of fermentation beyond recognition. A knowledgeable

roaster will bring out the very best flavors of the actual coffee itself—a fruit product. Simply put,

coffee doesn’t have to taste like dirt and char… and don’t get me started on flavored coffees.

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Now that your appetite has been sufficiently whetted for the palate-rewarding sensations of third-

wave coffee, you may be asking yourself, “How does one start down that slippery slope?”

Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a skilled local micro-roaster. Have no fear! Many of

the best roasters will ship coffee or, better yet, offer coffee subscriptions with ever-changing

selections of coffees delivered once or twice a month. This is a great way to experience a wide

variety of coffee regions, processing methods, and bean varietals. There are so many options

available for coffee subscriptions, with every roaster having their own style and preference for

roast, varietal, processing method, and origin. Many offer selections of blended or single-origin

coffees. I’ll just mention a few that I really love. With a rapidly growing movement of craft/local roasters, premium coffee is now more akin to

the craft beer and cigar movements. In the realm of craft/boutique cigars, it may be uncommon

for the enthusiast to readily purchase the same brand, let alone an individual cigar blend… My

advice? Try stuff! Lots of stuff! Latin American honey process… Ethiopian natural process…

Yes, these may seem expensive considering you can buy a $5 pound of the old-fashioned dark

roasted coffee at the grocery store or what have you, but if you’re not buying $1 cigars you

already understand that the good stuff costs more. And that’s my whole point here—if you’re a

connoisseur of fine cigars, you may be ready to delve into the world of craft coffee.

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As for brewing, we'll keep it simple and cheap (for now…). Buy a burr grinder. There are very

reliable options in the under-$100 range. Of course, just like the S.T. Dupont lighter, you can

indulge in luxury grinders, too. Now that you’ve got your beans

and you’ve ground them, it’s time to brew them. Here’s the good news: you can make

spectacular coffee easily and inexpensively. Buy an AeroPress, generally priced at a very reasonable $25 – $30.

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