Central Washington Meetup

[radiant flame]

Creating this post to branch off from the Seattle Meetup in case there are fellow central Washingtonians interested in meeting up to enjoy some coffee. Anyone interested in getting together to share beans, swap gear, or just to hang out?

[dark fog]

Yes! I’m in Yakima,
I’ve got a few grinders, 2 Behmors, and would love to meet up!

[radiant flame]

I don't really have gear to feature at the moment - waiting for that Sculptor to come in . Down to share beans though. @dark fog are there any good roasters down your way? We have Mela Coffee Roasters up here in Wennatchee. They're ok - lightest they go is medium. I get other stuff through MistoBox subscription.

[dark fog]

@radiant flame
We have one roaster which is not bad, another just opened up roasting on an artisan air roaster.

3 specialty shops that are good.

And I have a ghost burr grinder that would be fun to compare to a Sculptor. which variety did you order?

[radiant flame]

Cool, that's nice to have cafe options. I ordered the 064s. Been using a cheap hand grinder and aeropress in the meantime. I'm in the market for a machine too. Really tempted to go Flair 58. I have time though - who knows when the Sculptors will be delivered.

[radiant flame]

@dark fog Do any of the roasters near you do tours/cupping?

[radiant flame]

@autumn rune are you central WA? I saw you reacted to the post.

Btw, now I have F58 on the way but it'll probably next year by the time my Sculptor arrives 😭

[autumn rune]

Nah. Beacon Hill

Rn here

[radiant flame]

Those scales don't look precise enough for coffee???

[autumn rune]

Yeah saw them toss fish!

[dark fog]

Ehhhh.
Nothing great over here
But I can roast some coffees to cup, brew, play around with

There’s a shop I do pop ups with that would be able to host us probably.

[radiant flame]

@dark fog both of those sound fun. Right now I guess it's just the two of us lol. Hard to believe there's not more coffee nerds in the area though. What equipment do you normally bring to pop ups?

[dark fog]

Spaziale Vivaldi, mazzer Major, DIY breakdown cart.

[radiant flame]

@dark fog nice! And what are you roasting with? What kinda stuff do you like to brew?

[dark fog]

Currently roasting on Behmor
I’m usually roasting African coffees.
Ultra light to sometimes medium

Mainly filter coffee. And some espresso stuff with my bambino with a dimmer
@radiant flame

[radiant flame]

@dark fog are you the owner of Catalyst?

[dark fog]

I’m not.
But I help with (my cart and equipment) Pop ups, and The owner is one of my best friends.

[radiant flame]

Right on. I’ve only been interested in specialty coffee for a couple years.

[radiant flame]

Been trying as many different beans as I can in the last year - mostly lighter single origin stuff

[dark fog]

Nice! mela is pretty good, more medium stuff.
Ladder in Spokane is great, good pricing too
Indaba out of Spokane is good, but their pricing is a bit high for me, too high for the value in cup (just my 2c)
Basalt coffee roasters is in Yakima, no storefront or anything like that. And their pricing is high for what they buy. I know both owners tho, good people.

[radiant flame]

@dark fog Thanks for the recommendations. I might need to get a big bag'o'beans to break in my new (used) Flair. Just have to figure out how to store them in my freezer...

[autumn rune]

Mmm if the beans are light—skip the freezer

[radiant flame]

Interesting. I'd not heard that before. Is there a time limit on that? I might get a 5lb bag.

[autumn rune]

Well for mood trap the timeline is over a yr

I also break into bags when ppl are like xyz might be peaking

[radiant flame]

Lol I might need to rescale my interpretation of roast degree. How do you store your bags?

[autumn rune]

In a cardboard box on the stairs lolll

[radiant flame]

Well I guess I've got nothing to worry about - except dogs and baby

[autumn rune]

Good thing your baby can’t climb yet???

[radiant flame]

Only as high as he can lift his knee when crawling. So...5 inches haha

[dark fog]

On the note of freezing… when they peak, is. Good time to freeze.
A few options (more but here’s 3) I mostly use option #3
Vac seal in larger amounts
vac seal single dose
Freeze in a good roaster bag with a zip seal. And the bag gets rolled up and the roll gets a hair tie around it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/voJADDHFH-I?feature=share

[radiant flame]

Decided to get some beans from Mela on a whim. They had a 2lb bag of their Emilia Espresso 4 weeks off roast for cheap. I froze most of it with the tape and rubber band method 👍

Maybe when I get better with the Flair I'll pick up something lighter from Ladder

[dark fog]

It works great (if the roaster bag is quality)

Ladder’s Herbies espresso is really good. It’s great for filter brews as well.
I like it as straight shots and in milk drinks. Really versatile and really tasty.
@radiant flame

[radiant flame]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this thread. I’ve started sharing brews and beans with another coffee enthusiast here in Wenatchee valley. If there’s anyone else out there that’s interested, you are welcome to join. We’ll probably be meeting once or twice a month.

[radiant flame]

Second meetup tomorrow morning if anyone is following

[fluid gull]

It's good to see others from central Washington on here. I'm in Tonasket (coffee desert). Occasionally get to Mela when we go to the big city. 😀

[dark fog]

I had to GPS where that was (still new to WA) but yeah that’s way out there.

I’m in Yakima, thinking of trying to put a yakima based event/meetup together possibly in the summertime. When I have more times

[radiant flame]

Hi @fluid gull. Did you just call Wenatchee the "big city"? 😂

I've been getting some people together recently every few weeks. I haven't done the best job of giving notice ahead of time but I'll try to do better in case any of you guys want to join.

We just brew a bunch of different stuff and trade beans. It's pretty fun.

[fluid gull]

Yes, if you've been to Okanogan county, you'll understand. 😀

[radiant flame]

Well if you're ever this way, definitely reach out. @dark fog is much more experienced in the coffee realm. It'd be fun to meet up with both of you.

[dark fog]

I went to Brewster for work one time when I first moved to WA. I thought I was nearing Canada.

[fluid gull]

For sure! I'm relatively new to coffee, been getting more into it the last year or so.
Is Mela the best option in Wenatchee?

[radiant flame]

Mela is ok. Argonaut in Leavenworth doesn’t roast their own but they carry and serve Olympia which is a little better. And this person just popped up which I have high hopes for but currently doing very small batches https://www.instagram.com/silverjaycoffee?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

@fluid gull 👆

But that’s just like my opinion man

[dark fog]

Yeah Mela is OK.

Yakima has:
Catalyst coffee, best multi roasttt in town
Indaba: out of Spokane or tricities, they have like 5 locations or something. Roast their own. Overpriced beans if you ask me.
North town: they serve stumptown and they are decent.
Naches has Cots peak, good food but they roast pretty boomer.

[radiant flame]

I still haven’t tried Catalyst. What do you recommend from there?

[dark fog]

They have a number of roasters in stock.
From a number of Portland roasters to Cat & Cloud, to Sey.
@radiant flame

The chai is fire.
Some of the syrups are made in house.
Batch is dialed

[radiant flame]

Oh cool!

[fluid gull]

I haven't been to Mela for a while, but "Ok" was my impression too.

Do you know what kind of roaster Silver Jay is using?

[radiant flame]

SR800 I think

[radiant flame]

They said 14 batches of 230g lol

In one morning

I’m really excited to try it. I wonder if they’re on discord 👀

[fluid gull]

It would be great to get a good roaster in the area. Locally we just have Blue Star

[radiant flame]

🤢

[dark fog]

I’ve been contemplating starting up a roasting biz again. I just started up in 2019 then covid kinda killed that, and my wife and I both got laid off then moved from central ca to Wa

[radiant flame]

@dark fog well now you have to!

[fluid gull]

Owner gave us a tour of the roasting facility and was super nice though.

[fluid gull]

Nothing to lose. Besides time and money.

[radiant flame]

Don’t forget reputation!

[dark fog]

Yeah. I have a lot of ideas. But I need to land on something and start making plans.

[radiant flame]

I'm going to Sandpoint this weekend. Definitely gonna hit up Evans Brothers every day

[radiant flame]

I’m thinking of getting some ppl together for coffee shenanigans next weekend in Wenatchee or Cashmere. Anyone interested?

[radiant flame]

We’ve finally got enough ppl to consistently get together. The meeting time is the first Saturday of each month at 9am. (Except August we might do +/- 1 week).

Location varies, but somewhere in Wenatchee valley for now.

We do cuppings, filter/spro, swap beans, other fun experiments, etc. let me know if you or someone you know wants to join. Not everyone is on discord so I might start a group chat.

[proven drum]

Hey! Not in central Washington, but I'm in western Washington and I'm planning on being in the wenatchee area a couple of times this year. I'd love to stop by for one of your meetups! Always have lots of fun coffee I can swap 🙂

[radiant flame]

Hi Jacob! We'd love to have you. Right now it's only 5-10 ppl but I'm hoping we keep growing. Do you haven an idea of when you'll be in town?

[proven drum]

Sweet! I think I'll be out there the 2nd weekend in August. But it's not set in stone yet

[radiant flame]

So that Saturday would be the 10th right? I think that would work

[proven drum]

Yep, that would be the 10th. Would be great if it aligned with a meet up!

[radiant flame]

Yeah we were gonna push the next one a week because someone is out of town. So that lines up perfectly

[proven drum]

Awesome! Do you know where and what time yet? No worries if you don't 🙂

[radiant flame]

Probs 9am at my house or another person's. Might have to start considering reserving a space somewhere...running out of counter space in my kitchen lol

[proven drum]

Haha sounds good! I'll hit you up when it's closer to then to confirm it with you 🙂

[radiant flame]

I’ll tell everyone we have a coffee celebrity visiting

[proven drum]

Haha thanks for feeding my ego. Excited to meet you all! 🙂

[radiant flame]

@proven drum , I'm meeting with someone from Mela next week, but they might be able to host us at their roastery when you visit

[proven drum]

Cool, sounds fun! How's their coffee btw? Wanted to try them out last time I was out there, but I didn't make it over there in time

[radiant flame]

their lightest roasts are more on the medium side. I like their emelia espresso blend. lots of chocolate cherry/strawberry vibes

more traditional

but the person I'm talking to sounds psyched on a local coffee club

[proven drum]

Honestly sounds about right for most WA roasters unfortunately. But that espresso blend sounds nice

And that's great that they're interested in a local coffee club! I live in Tacoma at the moment and am working with a local cafe to set up a coffee club here too for people that don't want to drive to Seattle.

[dark fog]

It’s PNWCOAL

[proven drum]

Haha yeah, we need some light roast coffee roasters up here!

[radiant flame]

For real

[dark fog]

I dream of setting up a co roasting space here in the valley.
With a bell weather or two so that normies can roast too.

[radiant flame]

That would be amazing!

[dark fog]

It would be a BIG crazy jump into business that I’ve never done before.
But I can’t get it out of my head.

[radiant flame]

have you gauged interest from ppl in yak? I get the feeling where I am that there's a lot of people who drink pretty decent coffee but it's still too sparsely populated to really justify the need from a business perspective because of how saturated the area is with shitty coffee places lol

[dark fog]

Not as much as I would need to.
If I decide to push forward together next step I’ll set up some meetings to gauge interest.

If their cost came in within range as their paying for wholesale beans, but to say that they roasted it in Yakima. I would like to think that that would be a motivating factor.
But that’s me thinking about the idea, not actually talking with B owners

[radiant flame]

makes sense. I volunteer to be a guinea pig for anyone roasting coffee nearby

[radiant flame]

Met with Seth from Mela today. He said he’s supportive of anything to get people excited about coffee in the valley. And he’s gonna host us at the roastery for our next meetup. Which again, is Saturday August 10th at 9am. @proven drum @dark fog you guys and anyone you know are welcome to join us!

[dark fog]

That’s dope!
Glad to hear it’s going well up there!

[radiant flame]

Hey fam. Reminder about the coffee meetup on Saturday at 9am. We're meeting at the Mela Roastery on Orondo Ave (not the cafe).

https://maps.app.goo.gl/6aLtZa5rUdDdwbY2A

[radiant flame]

@proven drum

[radiant flame]

@bronze snow I’ve been posting updates on the meetup here

[bronze snow]

Fantastic! Thanks for the heads up

[radiant flame]

Next meetup is this Saturday at 9am at my place. Message me for the address.

[radiant flame]

Reminder about tomorrow's meetup. Got some great covfefe to share!

[bronze snow]

It truly was some great covfefe

[radiant flame]

Next meetup on Saturday, October 5th, at 9am. Meeting at Anjou Bakery https://maps.app.goo.gl/LPaeBZgyVFa5bnbc8

[radiant flame]

Reminder about Saturday's meetup. I'm bringing a couple Bean Coffee Lab coffees. The bakery is also really good.

For pastries, not coffee lol

[radiant flame]

local coffee "company" sekawan just told me that they'll be there. I'm sure she'll bring some interesting indonesian coffees

[radiant flame]

I need to confess something…
…I just had a pretty enjoyable medium roast drip coffee from a new cafe in Cashmere. I think it’s a blend but it was just a well done comfort roast that was sweet with great body and, well, I liked it.

https://www.instagram.com/gauchocoffeeco/

[radiant flame]

Next meetup will be at Gaucho Coffee Co. on Saturday, November 2nd at 9am. We have the back room reserved 👍

[radiant flame]

Fun meetup at Gaucho. We did a cupping to compare the same coffee using different waters including: distilled, tap, filtered tap, lotus, tww, and 60/40 (using epsom salt and baking soda). My main takeaways were:

1. There is a difference in taste that even the more novice participants could detect. The distilled, tap, and filtered tap brews were ok, but compared to the others they didn't have the same vibrancy or had an unpleasant characteristic in comparison. Some differences were subtle - you might not notice them without doing a side-by-side comparison - but it's worth being able to rule out water as a cause of off flavors.

2. Brew water can be as complicated or as easy as you want to make it. What solution is "worth it" is up to each person. Personally, I'm willing to spend a few minutes Sunday night to mix a week's worth of brew water with homemade concentrates, but I realize that not everyone wants to do that. Filtering tap water with a Brita filter might be a noticeable improvement if you have hard tap water, which varies significantly depending on where you live. Premixed of-the-shelf solutions might seem expensive on the surface, but they really only add a cost of about 25 cents per brew (including the cost of distilled water, someone check my napkin math).

3. Lotus, TWW, and my 60/40 mix were pretty similar. I think the TWW was a little high in mineral content for my taste. The Lotus (I don't know exactly what the mix was) was the sweetest but lost some brightness compared to the 60/40, which was pretty well-rounded.

[fluid gull]

Is Catalyst still the best place in Yakima?

[dark fog]

Yes. Apart of Single hill brewing now.
Great beans/ retail as well,

[fluid gull]

Great, thanks! I'm going to check it out tomorrow.

[random mural]

Just moved to Leavenworth and I am out of beans from my previous roaster. Any recommendations for this area?

[radiant flame]

Argonaut has beans from Olympia which are ok. sekewan just opened in East Wenatchee if you like fruity funky stuff. They also do a bunch of community coffee events

[random mural]

I do like funky fruity stuff, when I am in the area I will try to remember them

Have you tried Mela roasting?

[radiant flame]

Yeah. They’re not my favorite. Ok espresso blends for traditional stuff

[random mural]

The Sekewan company looks promising. They have high reviews, surprised to see that Indonesia beans are fruity though lol. Only ones I have had from there have been robusto beans and they were insanely good for a darker roast

[radiant flame]

Yeah let me know if you try them! I moved like a year ago so I haven’t been. But I still keep in touch with coffee ppl there

[random mural]

I went earlier today actually. Great recommendation

[radiant flame]

Good to hear!

[fluid gull]

I'm going to be in Wenatchee tomorrow and Tuesday, going to try to get to Sekawan.

[radiant flame]

Let us know what you think!

[fluid gull]

Went to Sekawan Coffee this morning, interesting location/area, it felt out of the way.
I hope they have busy times, it was pretty slow at 8am this morning.
Shot of espresso was ok, not great.
They had a washed Typica for pour over, along with a couple other more processed options.
I played safe and got the washed, and it was really good. I don't have any experience with Indonesian coffee, so it's hard to compare, but it wasn't full and earthy like I associate with the region.
Lighter roast than Mela for sure.

Service was great, would go again.

[bronze snow]

Can confirm Sekawan slaps. They try to do a coffee tasting/takeover once a month, highly recommend coming by one of those. Always some fun roasters on deck

[radiant flame]

Is this your unbiased personal opinion?

[bronze snow]

Ha ha… yeah

Definitely..

👀