Counter Culture Coffee Philadelphia

On January 20th, at approximately 2pm, Ultimo Coffee Bar in South Philly featured the first ever (that we know of) North American grown and processed coffee to be retailed in a coffee shop.  This mini micro lot from Finca Nueva Berlin, grown by producer Daryn Berlin, was raised with careful and meticulous cultivation techniques in his living room in Durham, N.C.  Trading this scant crop totaling 1oz of roasted beans for $1.50, Daryn Berlin and Aaron Ultimo also made the history books by engaging in the most direct of Direct Trade ever possible in the coffee industry.  The coffee was passed directly from grower/producer/roaster to buyer/retailer/barista in the very coffee shop in which it was to be consumed.  It was my distinct honor to buy that cup, which retailed for $3.25, which I then shared with the whole gang.

EDIT:  First from the Continental USA, Hawaii puts out lots of coffee.

This Direct Trade coffee began as a simple house plant some years ago.  Eventually adding more and more saplings, Daryn’s hot house plants came of seed bearing age.  Coffee shrubs only like to flower after the rainy season, which is something that had to be falsified for the home-grown crop with multiple daily mistings for a period of about two weeks.  After this, the jasmine scented blossoms appear.  I am told that the fertilization is something that must be done by hand, and i can only imagine that since all plants respond well to the sound of the human voice, a few encouraging words are used to hasten and insure the that the pollen takes hold.

A long and slow maturation follows, with 9 months gestation, till the fruit are ripe and red like a strawberry.  With indoor controlled climate, constant and well drained moisture, and the lack of direct sun, the cherries must ripen with similar characteristics to high altitude, shade grown, island coffee.  Once ready, the cherries were processed by a most unusual, though resourceful, method.  Cherries were pulped by mouth before spitting the sticky mucilage covered seeds into a bag.  Once pulped, the mouth-processed seeds underwent an 18 hour fermentation followed by a good hand washing.  Drying was accomplished in the style of the region, employing the “window sill” drying bed.

Daryn tells me that the roasting, done in San Fransiscan sample roaster, was a quick and short process.  The beans began to show the first sings of scorching while still a light milk chocolate brown, ending the roast at an extremely light level.

Aaron prepared the coffee in a single cup Chemex.  The initial aroma of the coffee, believed to be mostly Bourbon, was less then stellar.  There was a trace of something like wet wool, perhaps socks, and perhaps stale graham cracker.  The liquid gave hint to a bit of sugar browning, with the smell of cheap grocery store sugar cookies.  In flavor, there was a hint of this caramelized sweetness, but that was overtaken by the dominance of browned pop corn kernel.  The after taste gave one a sense of regret, lingering like some kind of paper product, (not caused by the filter after Aaron’s multiple flushes).  Was it worth the $3.25, you may wonder?  Scarcity drives up the value in this situation.  It was certainly worth it for me to have the privilege to drink the “most celebrated coffee produced entirely in the USA”.

Slurp, ahh, ohh, eww.

Title: Cupping at Lovers and Madmen
Location: 490th and Ludlow
Description: Public cupping of three coffees from Counter Culture
Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2009-10-09
End Time: 14:00

In keeping with the Counter Culture tradition of helping coffee shops put on awesome community building events, (mainly centered around food, beverages that are considered an acquired taste, and latte art), our good friends in the City of Brotherly Love (if I had a dollar for each time I’ve heard that since I moved up here) are putting on yet another East Coast installment of Thursday Night Throwdown.

Swing by on September 24th to Lovers and Madmen at 7pm.  We will be drinking different kinds of brew, and pitting our free pour skills in the now famous TNT format.

Philadelphia TNT resides here on the web.  Here is the flier:

If you are familiar with the reputation of Murky Coffee, then you will perhaps understand the anticipation felt by the specialty coffee community for the opening of another coffee shop form a former Murky Barista.  Aaron Ultimo moved up to Philadelphia around a year ago with the intention of opening a coffee shop in the city of his college years.  He has pulled a temporary stint at Spruce St. Espresso where he helped establish their reputation as purveyors of some of the most excellent coffee beverages in the city.  Purposefully choosing Philly for its position at the cusp of a great coffee gentrification, he is just about ready to open his doors to the public.  If you can make it into Philadelphia for a pilgrimage, or if you are fortunate enough to live in the neighborhood, come down to the corner of 15th and Miflin in South Philly.  Ultimo Coffee will feature hand crafted espresso drinks on a LaMarzocco GB-5 that came with drip tray LED light, Teflon steam wands, and Portoflons, all from the Slow Food Show in California from a few months back.  There will also be a wide variety of beer by the bottle (a rare treat in Philly and Pennsylvania in general).  Brewed coffee will also be hand crafted, but not the French Pressed variety.   Super delicious and crystal clear coffees will be hand dripped pour over.  Here is your sneak peak:

Aaron pulls experimental shots for landlord and Tap Room owner John Longacre

Luscious hardwoods finish off the beverage bar

Little LED lights for illuminating the work area

Come by in early May and you may very well find them open to the public.