Coffee 101

BREWING 101 Coffee is composed of a world of chemical compounds. When you grind whole bean coffee and introduce water to those grounds, some of those compounds (specifically soluble flavor compounds) are imparted to the water. This process of imparting is called extraction and it’s how we get brewed coffee. The best brewed coffee has an even extraction, full of all of the great stuff and none of the not-so great stuff. A skilled brew is all about learning how to finesse the three three key variables that determine how many particles end up extracted: temperature, turbulence, and time. Let’s...

COFFEE IN AN INSTANT After months of research and trial runs, we are happy to share with you our collaboration with our friends at Swift Cup Coffee—CREMA Instant Coffee. This is not your grandma’s instant--the folks at Swift Cup use a well-refined process to freeze dry and preserve our fresh coffee, so all you have to do is add water and you’ve got a cup of delicious. This process is in line with our aim to honor the work of the farmers and producers that came before us and we are so excited to present you with a new way...

CRAFTING COFFEE BLENDS AT CREMA Let’s talk about blends.   At Crema, many of our coffees are single origin, meaning all of the beans in that bag of coffee came from one farm or small geographical area. But, some of our best-selling offerings are blends — a combination of single origin coffees — and we’d like to give them their time in the spotlight.   Blending coffees gives our head roaster, Winston, the chance to be creative with how different coffees can complement each other. We love that they give us a consistent and reliable profile that tastes great in...

A GUIDE ON HOW MUCH COFFEE TO BUY TO BREW AT HOME Figuring out how much coffee to buy at once so you can brew up the perfect amount doesn't have to be a guessing game or feel like math homework. (But, shout out to all the math teachers out there who we’re sure wouldn’t assign any more homework than what’s necessary. ) We crunched the numbers so you don't have to. We based these estimates assuming one 12-ounce cup of coffee per person per day using a 25 gram dose — what we recommend for most brewing methods. (Not...