Coffee I Love
by Tamala Edwards
It is too shallow to say I love coffee. It's more fitting to say I adore it.
I'm the person who drives extra miles, walks out of my way, and irrationally favors certain
establishments all over a cup of coffee. Some of my favorite coffee memories: As a college
student, I traveled with friends for the first time to Italy. We were waiting at a train station in
Naples and walked up to the bar to have a cappuccino. The coffee was rich and creamy, the
foam a light meringue, and the barista drew a fan decoration in the foam. I was amazed that
such a drink was being made in a dusty train station, not a luxurious restaurant. This was
proof to me that our Italian friends really do know how to live better than the rest of us.
Then there was the cafe con leche made in a friend's cafe in Mexico City. All the workers were
indigenous people who laughed and seemed to pout their smiles into thick, sweet, hot brew. I
was amazed not to be pulled over in customs, the smell of Mexican coffee beans creating a
halo around my luggage. Then there was the Vietnamese coffee in Hanoi, the condensed
coffee mixing with the dense coffee to make a confectionary dessert brew.
Since I came to Philadelphia, I have found good coffee. We all know the delights of Colombe
D'Or. At a little shop, the Last Drop, favored by University of the Arts students, I discovered
Phoenix coffee, whose Belgian Chocolate I love.
But then I found Torreo. I have discovered the best coffee I have ever tasted. It is roasted
right here in Northeast Philadelphia and, except for web sales, you can only find it in stores
and cafes in the Delaware Valley.
The backstory: Eric Patrick started life working in a camera store. He and his friends loved
coffee, to the point he decided to trade in a life of point-and-shoots for a coffee bar on 17th
Street and Sansom. As much as he loved croissants and customers - indeed he met his
schoolteacher wife there - he continued to be fixated with coffee. He began to read and talk to
experts. A friend had a roaster and Patrick started renting time every month, trying his hand
at roasting until he got confident enough to go for it: In 1993 he sold the cafe and opened
Torreo.
He says his coffee stands out for a number of reasons: He's constantly getting in samples. But
rather than just buying award winners or taking the recommendations of coffee experts, he
"cups" every single sample to choose which beans to buy. To cup beans are put in a small
cup. Boiling water is poured over the beans. Five minutes later, a crust has formed over the
top. Patrick cracks the crust, taking in the aroma. Then he dips a spoon to the bottom of the
cup, mixing up the grinds and tastes. He swishes the coffee around his mouth and then spits it
out. Left on his palates are tastes he can describe as "wine", "chocolate", "apricot", "peach,"
etc. For my first tasting, the grinds just seemed intense and bitter, but Patrick swears that
over time your palate develops, allowing you to pick out the different notes.
Patrick also makes a point to buy from small farmers. He says these sort of purveyors can put
in more time and love to develop special beans, rather than the massive plantations. He says
this ability is another thing that makes a small roaster like himself standout: He can buy 20
bags of a bean. That's not going to work for a bigger company like Starbucks, which needs
thousands of bags or more. Patrick says he pays fair trade prices, which are higher than the
normal prices. But he says it takes these rates to allow these small producers to have
sustainable farms. To make them compete with the discounts and prices of the larger
plantations would mean the smaller guy would simply go out of business, taking his artesian,
memorable beans with him.
Finally, Patrick's coffee stands out in its roast. While many companies overroast - leading to
that bitter, acidic taste many of us rue - Torreo underroasts. Patrick says overroasting
makes all beans smell alike. The lighter roast lets a Columbia be immediately discernible from
a Kenya be viscerally different from a Guatemala. Along with samples, Patrick is constantly
cupping his own beans, making sure his roasts are consistent and delicious.
The result is coffee that knocks you out from the first sniff. I had my first cup in a Mt. Airy cafe.
I was stopped by the richness and flavor in the cup. This felt like a treat, a mini-vacation in a
cup, not a simple cup of coffee. The taste dances across the tongue - robust and rich, light in
some blends, more intense in others. There is known of the thin, bitter, citrus bite that's
caused me to feel like "A dollar wasted - again," too many times.
A few fun coffee facts: The name is thought to be traceable to Kaffa, Ethiopia, the place
coffee is thought to have originated. Its drinking can be traced back to the 9th century there
and in Egypt and Yemen. By the 15th century the brew was found in North Africa, Persia and
Turkey. For a while coffee was treated like a bad drug, its caffeine making people too hyper.
But public demand caused government bans to be overturned.
By 1700s, the Dutch were bringing coffee into Europe. Americans were at first cold to the
brew, finding it a poor substitute for booze and tea. But in the 1800s, Americans began to
catch on, leading us to our current craze for he chocolate colored drink.
If you're intrigued, click here for a list of some places where you can find Torreo coffeo. You
can also get in touch with them directly at Torreo.com.
You can also find the coffees I love at:
Fresh Grocer Supermarkets
McCaffrey Markets
Pennsylvania General Store, Reading Teriminal Market
South Square Market, 2221 South Street, Philadelphia
Weaver's Way Coop, 559 Carpenter Lane, Mt. Airy
Whole Foods Markets
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