July 23, 2025 • 34 mins
We kick off season two with the exciting launch of the Pflugerville Firefighters Foundation, a nonprofit created to make our community safer, support firefighters during hardship, and fund scholarships for firefighters' children.
• Partnering with Kati Coffee, a specialty roaster owned by scientists David McConville and Miriam Diop who donate 14% of sales from our custom blend
• Surprise announcement of a $10,000 donation to kickstart the Foundation's mission
• Behind-the-scenes look at the coffee tasting where firefighters selected the "Pfirehouse Blend"
• Visit to Kati Coffee's roastery to learn about the science of coffee roasting and brewing techniques
• First public CPR class already conducted with 14 community members participating
• Season two preview featuring upcoming episodes about Pflugerville's heritage and community connections
Check out the Pflugerville Firefighter's Foundation at pffirefoundation.org and order the Firehouse Blend at katicoffee.com to support our mission.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello listeners, welcome back to Pflugerville on
Fire.
Well, did you miss us?
We certainly missed you, and Ipromise that we haven't been
idle since we last talked, butone of our goals at the end of
season one was to start anonprofit foundation that would
help us achieve our missions.
And why that's important isthat you know, so far,
everything that the firefightershave done have been funded by
(00:26):
firefighters, and when you starta nonprofit corporation, now we
have the ability to bring indonations from companies that
want to sponsor us andindividuals who want to donate.
And so now we've just expandedour ability to complete our
mission, which the PflugervilleFirefighter Foundation's mission
is pretty much threefold.
(00:46):
Number one we want to make ourcommunity a safer place, and
we're going to do that bypromoting public safety in the
Pflugerville community and tryto harden our community to make
ourselves as safe as possible.
The second thing that we'redoing is we want to be there for
the firefighters of thiscommunity, and so we have a fund
where, if a firefighterexperiences a catastrophic event
(01:08):
, the Firefighter Foundationwill be able to step in
immediately with funds that willsupport that firefighter.
And then, finally, we alwayswant to inspire the next
generation, and what we're doingis starting a scholarship for
college-bound children offirefighters who want to
continue their education, andall of this is possible in large
(01:29):
part and thanks to you, ourcommunity and our donors.
But it all begins with onelittle coffee roasting company,
kati coffee, who have made apartnership with us.
There's such a unique company.
We really had to dedicate awhole episode to explain what's
going on.
We interviewed David and Miriamat their roastery, cotty Coffee
(01:53):
, up in Georgetown, and then wealso took the interview to
Station 5 right here inPflugerville where we conducted
a taste test to choose a uniquename and blend for the
Pflugerville FirefightersFoundation.
And it's a pretty neat thing.
You definitely want to check outKati Coffee.
Hit them up atkatikateicoffeecom, check them
(02:17):
out, check out their website andthen, while you're at it, go
ahead and check out thePflugerville Firefighters
Foundation atpffirefoundationorg.
So it's a pretty neat story.
Miriam got inspired by theexperience of both her
grandfathers, who were veteransof World War II and had pretty
negative outcomes upon theirhomecoming, and David has always
(02:39):
wanted to make a difference.
He said at one point roasterssay, hey, we create community
and they want to take that onestep forward.
They wanted to create an impactin their community, and they're
doing exactly that.
In addition to helping us outat the Pflugerville Firefighter
Foundation, they have madespecial coffee blends and made
donations to Brookwood andGeorgetown, southwestern
(03:00):
University, georgetownFirefighter Association, round
Rock Canyon Lake and theGeorgetown Police Associations.
So stay tuned for a great,fun-filled episode, especially
if you like coffee.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Action.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wait, what Do you mind explaining the coffee
tasting process?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
to these guys.
Okay, okay, all right, at thispoint we're recording live from
station five.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's about?
At this point we're recordinglive from Station 5.
It's about 8, 8.15 in themorning and we've gotten
firefighters that are coming onshift.
We've got firefighters comingfrom different stations that are
off shift, and so we'veprobably got 20 or 30 people
(03:47):
jammed into the kitchen atStation 5, where we've got David
and Marion set up to do a veryscientific coffee tasting for us
ready, okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
So we've got three different uh blends and we'll
call them triangle, circle andsquare um.
The composition of the beansfor each blend is different, so
what we're going to do is haveyou try each uh coffee, feel
free to smell the coffee beansand see if it helps you decide
which one's a preferred coffee,and my encouragement is that you
(04:13):
use a different cup for eachone, so you don't mix and match
the flavors.
Taste it while it's hot, let itcool and then taste it then
again, because some of themtaste slightly different as the
the coffee cools down.
And once you're done, pick up amarble and cast your vote, and
the objective is to find the onethat most people like for your
(04:35):
blend what do you think?
I think I'm going circle okaywhy, what did you like about it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It wasn't very abrasive, it was a pretty smooth
blend.
In my head I was like, oh yeah,a little bit of milk.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I like the bitters.
I like that it's bitter.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I can't pick up on any other notes, but yeah, kind
of like drinking a porter yeahyeah, that's right on, actually
yeah well-rounded whereas theother two were kind of outlier,
especially this one it was likealmost citrusy, like kind of
outlier especially this one.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
What was it about this one?
It was like almost citrusy likekind of yeah.
Like, whereas that one was, itwas like really subtle, just
like basic, but this one kind ofhad everything going on with it
.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So that's why I liked that one.
We came time to where Daviddecided to get up and kind of
explain to the firefightersexactly what the mission of
Cotty Coffee was and how theywere going to support us.
And at this point we knew thatthey were going to donate a
percentage of the revenue theymade from our blend back to the
(05:56):
foundation.
But we had no idea whatsurprise David and Miriam had in
store for us.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Different backgrounds .
Miriam was born and raised inGhana, came over to the US when
she was 19,.
Had never been on an airplanebefore, left her country for the
very first time and somebodyhelped educate her.
It didn't cost her a penny.
When I was a kid I was onwelfare.
Without the community, whoknows where I would have ended
up Probably not in a good place,since I was pretty headstrong,
(06:25):
that's true.
But when we went down this pathI said we wanted to give back
to the community in a meaningfulway, so that it reflected
primarily the people that giveback, and you guys give back in
a big way to the community.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And this is our way of recognizing you.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So whichever one you purchase or end up choosing, all
the sales of that being whatyou guys buy and what your aunts
, uncles, neighbors, whoever 7%will go back into your
benevolent fund, and Miriam'salso chosen to match that 7%.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Wow, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Thank you, that's awesome and in addition, to get
your in order to get yourbenevolent fund kick-started,
we're going to make a donationof $10,000.
Wow.
We know you guys use that as away to help out your community
of folks when you hit somehardship times.
And again it's our way ofsaying thank you, Thank you very
much.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, that's very much.
Yeah, thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, that's very generous.
Thank you, why you heard itthere.
So Kati Coffee is donating 14%of the revenue they generate
from our blend, in addition togiving us a $10,000 donation to
get the foundation going.
(07:42):
So pressure's on at this pointwe got to pick a good one that
people are going to like.
Which one was your favorite one?
I got to go with circle.
Okay, circle won over for me.
Really, how come?
It was just like a rounded,very neutral, like general, I
felt like triangle was a littlein your face, square was like a
little on the other end.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, right there in the middle Circle was just right
Circle is where you want to be.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
It's the Goldilocks of coffee.
The Goldilocks of coffee.
Yeah, I love it, thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yes sir.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
What are we looking like?
Oh my.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I feel like people like more the robust taste
because they like their coffeeblack in the morning.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Ooh, I might be recorded, Just act natural.
But I feel like they voted well.
I think they voted right.
I was talking to y'all about it.
I think this dark rose, I'mguessing a dark rose- would be
the winner, just in the firedepartment.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
So that's my something.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
This is a dark rose, okay.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
But what would you drink from this?
You would drink this orwhatever.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, we had a whole conversation.
Okay, that was my choice aswell, and I thought Circle was
going to win out.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, at one point Ithought we were going to go
Circle, but I understand Square.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tell me, tell us about Square.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
So Square is my go-to for espresso recommendations,
the first espressorecommendation that we have.
It is a medium-dark roast andhas a lot of boldness to it, A
little bit of a dark chocolate,very little sweetness, if any at
all, and so it's generallywhere people start if they like
(09:24):
nice, bold, strong coffees.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Ooh, well, I think that describes the Pflugerville
firefighters very well Nice,bold and strong.
Oh, there you go.
All right, so for the name, wegot a firehouse blend.
Ooh, and some marbles ended upin there, the first in couple,
(09:49):
no, and the flash over.
All right, it's going to be arunoff between firehouse blend.
You count that one, I'll countthis one.
One, two, three, four, five,six, seven, eight, nine.
Oh, count this one.
Yeah, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
(10:12):
11.
13.
Wow, it is.
You didn't have to do atiebreaker, no pressure.
Oh, I could have created one.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
You two can vote too.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, you guys get to vote.
What do a tiebreaker?
No pressure, oh, I could havecreated one.
Yeah, you two can vote too.
Yeah, you guys get to vote.
What do you think this is good?
No, we should give you guys achance.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
No, no, no, no.
It defeats the purpose.
It matters to me that folkspick their own name, even if I
end up looking at it and going.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's straightforward.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, it's very it's very uh straightforward.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So that's it.
We've got the firehouse blend.
Of course we throw a P in frontof it.
Uh, so great name and fantastictasting coffee.
It still was very bold, but notthe most bitter of the ones.
It was the bold one which kindof had a nice smooth flavor at
the end of it.
(11:12):
So from here, lacey and I madethe trek up to Cotty Coffee
Roastery.
We started this interview atsix in the morning, so enjoy All
right.
Marion and David, welcome tothe show.
Thank you, thank you.
So we're sitting in yourbeautiful roastery up here in
Georgetown, texas.
It smells amazing.
It's six oh five in the morningand you guys are morning people
(11:35):
.
Tell us about Katty Coffee, andhow did you get into roasting
coffee?
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
How did we all end up sitting in this room?
Well, let's see where do weeven begin.
So I actually did not drinkcoffee till my late 20s.
And I started to drink coffeebecause I had migraines and it
did help ease the pain quite abit.
And then over the years thatgrew into interest in different
ways of brewing coffee, coffeefrom different regions, and
(12:13):
eventually I started dabbling inroasting my own coffee and got
into studying the science ofroasting.
So, looking at the heatexchange that was happening
(12:33):
during the roasting, thetemperature profile of the
roasting process, and,separately, I had also always
wanted to do something to have abusiness that was community,
integrated, um, so these weretwo, two completely separate
activities that were going on inmy head at the time.
(12:56):
um till dave shows up and uh andget, gets introduced to uh, to
coffee, coffee, and starts toask questions like well, why
can't you merge the two?
Why can't you marry the two?
Fast forward February last year, 2024, I decided you know what,
let's merge the two.
(13:17):
So Kati was built with that inmind, merging the love for
coffee and also having anorganization that was community
integrated and education focused, allowing us to give back.
So that's, that's essentiallyhow this that's amazing.
Why we're sitting here today.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
That's incredible.
I love you know that.
The idea is kind of like thebeans in this coffee Just a
bunch of different beans fromdifferent places come together
and made something amazing.
So I told Lacey when we weredriving over here this is like
get ready for this cup of coffeeyou're going to have.
I had no idea what we weregoing to be served, but I knew
(13:57):
it was going to be good.
So both you and David have ascience background.
Yes, tell us real quick aboutthat.
Where did all this science comefrom?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Well, we both have PhDs.
He's a chemist, I'm a chemicalengineer.
He's really a wannabe engineer,but it's okay, we'll accept him
on occasion.
But I think we both have a lovefor deep thinking and problem
solving and that's a lot of whatdrove us into those different
(14:32):
spaces, a lot of what drove usinto those different spaces and
a lot of what has actually madethis successful, because it's a.
It's a far jump from what weboth did in our careers and so
having that curiosity mindsetdefinitely has helped you know,
it's funny deep thinking andproblem solving.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It's good for roasting coffee, and it's also
good for solving problems in thecommunity, indeed.
And so you start.
All right, so tell us about the, about Kati Coffee.
We're sitting in a beautifulfacility so people can come here
and buy beans from you, allright.
And then I see a lot of bucketsof beans.
(15:13):
So walk us through.
How does this whole process godown?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Well, you came at a very critical time.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Oh really, Because we got one of our largest
shipments of coffee beans.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Look, there's a big pallet of beans.
It looks like I'm in an.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Indiana Jones movie.
There's burlap sacks of coffeebeans sitting around here.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That's 1,500 pounds of coffee that came in yesterday
.
Now, the good thing about thatis it means that we're actually
moving quite a bit of volume ofcoffee.
But usually that's howeverything comes in in the
burlap sacks.
They're lined to help keep themoisture and climate within the
bags themselves and then wetransfer the beans into the
(15:57):
white buckets, which for usallows us to manage getting
whatever volume of bean we needand still maintaining the
environment, still maintainingthe climate around the beans
effectively.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And it's a big bucket .
It seals, but out of it youguys can work.
A lot easier than trying to getthem out of a burlap sack.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Oh yes, yes, and I joke that Dave is employee
number one, but it's because Icannot lift a 150, 130, 150
pound bag.
Those are large sacks of coffeebeans.
That's what keeps Dave in suchgood shape.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes, yes, yes, so from the buckets then they go,
oh, they go through a qualitycontrol process.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yes, yes.
So in the back I have, I havewhat almost seems like a little
lab space, and this is where Itest the moisture density and
water activity of every beanthat comes in through through
through our doors here.
Usually I would do that for asample bean before I commit to
(17:03):
buying that so much of it and inthat space also, we have what
is a lab scale roaster.
Really, it's an electric roaster.
It's um, I'm able to to roast100 grams at a time.
The nice thing about that is Idon't waste too much beans to be
(17:24):
able to tell is this somethingI like?
Is it something I don't like?
How do I want to roast this?
Is this something that I feelwill lend itself closer to a
darker roast or a lighter roast?
So that for me is actually avery critical piece of equipment
in the corner.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So what happens when you're roasting coffee Like
you're taking a bean?
It's normal, it's got moisturein it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, so you're mostly .
There are a couple of thingsthat happen.
You're driving off the moisturethat's in the bean, um, and
then there are also otherreactions that are taking place.
You have what, uh, what areknown as, uh, maillard reactions
, um, which is actually not verydifferent from some of the
(18:07):
reactions you get when you'recooking.
You have caramelization thathappens, which is very similar
to what's happening when you'recooking meat, as an example.
Right, so you have all of thesereactions that end up
developing the flavors that weget in our coffee.
So, depending on whether youwant to highlight more sweetness
in your coffee or you want tohighlight more of that dark
(18:31):
chocolatey flavor that you getyou end up playing with the bean
quite a bit.
Do you roast it a lot, do youroast it a lot less Like?
Are you going to hightemperatures for longer, or
lower temperatures for shorterLike?
All of that comes to play.
And then the bean itself has abig part to play in all of this,
(18:51):
because some beans do wellroasted, medium, dark, and
others just taste awful if youpush them that far.
And the opposite is also truethat papua new guinea that dave
had you smell before.
If you roast it at light, itdoes not taste well at all.
(19:12):
It just it does not.
It's not, it's not round.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
You've got to roast it bold.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yes, you've got to push it a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Well, my favorite of all your blends is the Pafire
House blend.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, you're biased.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So something like that.
We have our own blend throughyou guys here at Kachi.
How does that one get roasted?
What kind of beans is it?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
So it is a blend of Papua New Guinea and Brazil.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yes, All right.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I like both.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Exactly.
I'm always curious when we havetaste testings and I hear what
people describe or what theylike, what they don't like, and
different groups gravitatetowards different types of
coffees, and it's veryinsightful actually to see what
different groups do.
But yeah, so that bean is ablend of a Papua New Guinea and
(20:08):
a Brazil, and the Brazil kind ofgenerally helps round it out a
little bit and makes it a littlebit more accessible to people
with different tastes andpreferences.
Because Dave and I, with thePapua New Guinea on its own, as
(20:29):
porrova, which is what we enjoyhaving more often than not we
end up feeling like it's alittle too bold, a little too
much in your face, and so thenblending it with Brazil for us
allows it to be a little bitmore rounded than not, but then
for someone who wants that boldcup of coffee also, well, having
(20:52):
the Papua New Guinea allows youto maintain that, and so it's
not as middle-of-the-road mediumroast to general right, yeah,
something to hold on to exactly
Speaker 4 (21:06):
yeah, chris, you probably remember during the
taste testing that we did withyour folks, if we had put just a
Papa New Guinea, it probablywouldn't have been very
appealing to.
There.
Would have been a few people inthat, right, but most people
probably would have said, ah,this is a little bit too much
for me, right?
But interestingly, when youblend it in, blend in some
(21:28):
Brazil and you round it out,like Marian said, it becomes a
lot more palatable to a greaternumber of people.
And that's really what blendsare designed to do.
And, frankly, on the flip side,also, mirian and I love coffee
from Ethiopia, but a lot ofpeople don't like it because
they find it too tea-like, toofloral, and they just say, well,
(21:50):
this just doesn't taste likecoffee to me because it's not
Starbucks, right?
And so the reason you putblends in place is to really try
to adapt it to more palates.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Now, david, I learned a lot about brewing coffee from
you that day that we did thetaste testing.
What are some?
If you don't mind for ouraudience, what are some common
missteps that people make whenthey are?
Let's say, we buy the firehouseblend, we've got these great
(22:23):
beans.
You know, what do you want towatch out for when you're
brewing this stuff?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, so, look, I didn't brew coffee, to be honest
with you, until I met Miriam.
She's sort of this expert who'stried just about everything.
I was a Starbucks guy.
I was the first one at thewindow at 4.55 am every morning,
getting my Pike's Place, whichI can't even put near me anymore
(22:48):
because I don't find it to bevery good coffee.
But really it comes down to whatis the brewing method that the
individual is going to use.
Are you a French press person?
A lot of people love Frenchpress and so a darker roast is
probably going to work better ina French press, because people
that go French press are lookingfor that, want that kind of.
(23:10):
You wouldn't put a Ethiopiangrind into a French press.
You'd probably come out saying,well, this is not all that
great, hey, just.
Or are you a drip coffee oryou're a pour over?
You know, I certainly, and it'sinteresting every time someone
comes here to purchase somebeans and Marion will engage in
a discussion with them about howdo they brew their coffee.
(23:30):
I'm hearing more and more,quite surprisingly, the number
of people that actually use pourover.
It's quite a few people Now.
Pour over takes a lot of time.
It's not like putting your cakeup in the machine and hitting
the button and you go, brushyour teeth and come back and
you're out the door.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
It's a bit of a process.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
It's a process.
You've got to find what is theperfect grind level for the bean
that you're actually doing thepour over with.
You could do a fine grind witha particular bean and do pour
over, and it will not be verysatisfying.
You can go to a more coarsegrind and all of a sudden it
comes alive, and so you actuallyhave to experiment with the
(24:11):
beans that you have adapted toyour method that you prefer, and
you actually have to do someexperiments and find out what is
the right level.
Now, right, that means you haveto have a pretty decent grinder
, right, one of those littlepulse grinders that we've
probably all seen.
Where, right, you end up withsome particles in there that are
quite coarse and some that aredust.
(24:32):
Right, that's probably notgoing to work.
If you want the consistency ofgrinds, you have to invest in a
decent grinder.
But if you're serious aboutyour coffee and you really like
quality coffee, it's worth theinvestment.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So if you're holding a bag of firehouse blend in your
hand.
First thing you got to know isyou need to grind that baby
right, all right.
Is you need to grind that babyRight, all right.
So you want to grind it like,right before you brew it?
Yes, okay, and then so anyrecommendations?
I guess it would depend on howthey decide to brew it, huh.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That's right.
It would depend on whetheryou're going with the pour over
a French press or an espressobased drink but there are a
couple of things, though, thatare general uh guide.
So um a french press.
(25:25):
Uh, pour over more.
On the coarser side of thegrind, um a a drip.
Well, that's again medium tocoarse, depending on someone's
flavor preference, and thenespresso based drinks, you have
finer grind.
(25:46):
But the other thing that's acommon theme across all of this
is the temperature of the water,and so keeping the temperature
just around 200 Fahrenheit keepsyou from over-extracting the
beans and ending up with adeeper, almost feeling like a
charred taste in my opinion, ifit's too hot, it tastes charred.
(26:09):
If it's too hot it over-extractsand for me that over-extract
flavor is is along those chadlines.
But each individual I mean.
So it's.
It's interesting.
There was a gentleman whostopped by yesterday to talk
about a uh, a brewing class hetook and he said he really liked
the over extracted coffee.
And I go well, that's a veryinteresting way of putting it,
(26:33):
but that's what I mean by.
Each individual has uniquepreferences, but it's really the
grind.
You can't go too fine whenyou're doing a pour-over or a
French press, the temperaturebeyond 200 Fahrenheit, or when
it's boiling, you're more likelyto over-extract.
Now, if you like over-extractedcoffees, you're more likely to
(26:54):
over extract.
Now, if you like over extractedcoffees you can steep them
longer.
There's another way to get there, as opposed to using
temperatures to draw it out.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Interesting, so buying the bag.
That's just half the battle.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So Miriam and David have done their job, giving you
this amazing bean.
Now it's up to you To figureout how to grind it, yes.
How to brew it yes, that's kindof fun, it is.
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And it's a different way of putting it.
It's possible to have a subparcoffee experience if you don't,
if you're not attentive to yourbrewing process.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yes, all right.
So this for me, this isn'tsomething I'm going to be able
to do like on a typical Mondaymorning, so let's say that it's
weekend.
I want to do this.
How long will my bag of beanslast if I keep it folded up, or
is that something that we needto be concerned about?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
So if you have a bag of beans that you keep in an
airtight container away fromdirect sun airtight container
away from direct sun, you shouldbe able to still have fresh
coffee beans for about threemonths is what I would keep.
I would keep keep it for beyondthat they're gonna start to
taste some staleness in thebeans and so that's that's not
(28:09):
ideal.
But the other thing also iswhen you grind the beans before
you use it.
Ideally, grind the beans justbefore you use it, but I know
not everyone is up at three andor has the time to do so, with
all of the things that we haveto balance.
(28:30):
all of the things that we haveto balance, um.
So I know, I know, I knowpeople who would do the, the
grinding the week, the weekendleading up to to do that little.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Sunday.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And then, yeah, um, and have it, uh, have it, have
it through through the week andyou'll.
You'll realize it that as hegoes okay, so Monday tastes good
.
Tuesday, it tastes good.
Wednesday, it starts to taste alittle bit flatter.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Maybe you just grind again on Thursday, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, but if you're going to do that as well, keep
it in an airtight container sothat it doesn't oxidize.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
All right.
Well, let me ask you aphilosophical question, of
course.
All right question.
If you could sum up yourphilosophy on coffee roasting in
one sentence, what would thatsentence be?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Pay homage to the bean.
That's what it will be, becausethe bean, each individual bean,
has a character.
You can't force beans to dothings they don't want to do,
kind of like firefighters.
(29:43):
So you have to pay homage to thebean, and I'm seeing that right
now I have a Peruvian bean thatisn't roasting the way I had
intended for it, and so I haveto step back, quite literally,
go back to my little corner andtake all of those tests again
and ask myself why is this notgoing in that direction?
(30:05):
And I think last week I toldDave oh, I figured it out the
water activity is very high andso well higher than typical, and
so I have to roast itdifferently.
I have to hit it with a lotmore heat, and the bean that we
got was was much tastier thanwhat we had before.
But that's, that's what itwould be.
(30:26):
It's pay homage to the greenthat's awesome yeah all right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
So then I'll post my next question at David do you
remember the best cup of coffeeyou've ever drank In?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
fact I do, and Miriam and I were traveling in New
Orleans and we stopped at this.
Well, everywhere we go, we lookfor coffee, typically sort of
more specialty coffee shops, andthis place was maybe a quarter
(30:59):
mile from where we were staying,and so we walked over there and
I was in absolute amazement.
I knew this was going to be afantastic cup of coffee, because
the lady that was actuallymaking the pour over had the
vessel, was sitting on on aweigh scale, and so she was
actually weighing out the exactamount of coffee and putting
(31:22):
through that coffee the preciseratio of water.
She was then weighing it ontothis and I was sitting there
watching.
I said, oh boy, this is goingto be good.
And the and the attention todetail that she was taking told
me this is going to be good.
And the attention to detail thatshe was taking, told me this
was going to be fabulous, and sothe two pour-over cups then
(31:42):
came to the side.
She gave them to us.
We sat down.
I took one sip and I said, myLord, this is good, this is
really really good.
But I could immediately tell,with the amount of time she was
taking, she also knew that thiswas really good coffee that
needed to be treated in such away.
(32:02):
It wasn't inexpensive, but itreally was quite good.
That's amazing, and I'llremember that cup of coffee for
years.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You guys have been so instrumental on getting this
foundation up off the ground,have been so instrumental on
getting this foundation up offthe ground and moving forward
with the website and everythingelse, and all of that really is
going to be funded by you guys.
So thank you so much.
It's amazing I was tellingLacey last night too, like if I
hadn't had that meeting withDavid months ago, I don't know
(32:33):
where we'd be right now in thatprocess.
But you guys really were acatalyst for like hey, they're
waiting on us.
We got to get this off theground, so it's good.
And then we hosted our CPRclass on Saturday.
We had 14 people come in.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
And this is for open to the public, open to the
public, free Nice, ta, you know,and this is for open to the
public, open to the public, freeNice Taught by firefighters.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, that's right.
And then so we're looking to.
We need to order supplies.
We're going to do a stop thebleed class as well.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
He's had people from the class perform CPR.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, oh, wow, it's working.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, it's working.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Creating community safety.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
So yeah, but, anyway, just thank you all so much.
This is great.
This is really really amazing.
Well, that's it.
A lot of firsts and beginningsin that episode.
It was the first episode ofseason two and marked the
beginning of the PflugervilleFirefighter Foundation, as well
as being the beginning of abeautiful partnership with Kati
(33:35):
Coffee.
So I hope this episode inspiredyou to number one, order a bag
of a Firehouse Blend.
Check out katicoffeecom.
Kati with a K.
And, more importantly though, Ihope that it inspired you to
make an impact in your community.
So we're going to be out andabout in Pflugerville for season
two and, after all the supportand love that we received from
(33:58):
our community, we aim to giveback.
So follow us along for seasontwo.
We've got a lot more in store.
No matter what you think aboutthe city of Pflugerville, you
cannot deny that our present isvery closely connected to our
recent past, that our present isvery closely connected to our
recent past, and, with that inmind, we take episode two of
(34:19):
season two over to the HeritageHouse, where we connect with a
little bit of old Pflugervilleand hopefully give you a better
idea of what life was like inthe city years ago.
Stay tuned.
Hello listeners, welcome back to Pflugerville on
Fire.
Well, did you miss us?
We certainly missed you, and Ipromise that we haven't been
idle since we last talked, butone of our goals at the end of
season one was to start anonprofit foundation that would
help us achieve our missions.
And why that's important isthat you know, so far,
everything that the firefightershave done have been funded by
(00:26):
firefighters, and when you starta nonprofit corporation, now we
have the ability to bring indonations from companies that
want to sponsor us andindividuals who want to donate.
And so now we've just expandedour ability to complete our
mission, which the PflugervilleFirefighter Foundation's mission
is pretty much threefold.
(00:46):
Number one we want to make ourcommunity a safer place, and
we're going to do that bypromoting public safety in the
Pflugerville community and tryto harden our community to make
ourselves as safe as possible.
The second thing that we'redoing is we want to be there for
the firefighters of thiscommunity, and so we have a fund
where, if a firefighterexperiences a catastrophic event
(01:08):
, the Firefighter Foundationwill be able to step in
immediately with funds that willsupport that firefighter.
And then, finally, we alwayswant to inspire the next
generation, and what we're doingis starting a scholarship for
college-bound children offirefighters who want to
continue their education, andall of this is possible in large
(01:29):
part and thanks to you, ourcommunity and our donors.
But it all begins with onelittle coffee roasting company,
kati coffee, who have made apartnership with us.
There's such a unique company.
We really had to dedicate awhole episode to explain what's
going on.
We interviewed David and Miriamat their roastery, cotty Coffee
(01:53):
, up in Georgetown, and then wealso took the interview to
Station 5 right here inPflugerville where we conducted
a taste test to choose a uniquename and blend for the
Pflugerville FirefightersFoundation.
And it's a pretty neat thing.
You definitely want to check outKati Coffee.
Hit them up atkatikateicoffeecom, check them
(02:17):
out, check out their website andthen, while you're at it, go
ahead and check out thePflugerville Firefighters
Foundation atpffirefoundationorg.
So it's a pretty neat story.
Miriam got inspired by theexperience of both her
grandfathers, who were veteransof World War II and had pretty
negative outcomes upon theirhomecoming, and David has always
(02:39):
wanted to make a difference.
He said at one point roasterssay, hey, we create community
and they want to take that onestep forward.
They wanted to create an impactin their community, and they're
doing exactly that.
In addition to helping us outat the Pflugerville Firefighter
Foundation, they have madespecial coffee blends and made
donations to Brookwood andGeorgetown, southwestern
(03:00):
University, georgetownFirefighter Association, round
Rock Canyon Lake and theGeorgetown Police Associations.
So stay tuned for a great,fun-filled episode, especially
if you like coffee.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Action.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Wait, what Do you mind explaining the coffee
tasting process?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
to these guys.
Okay, okay, all right, at thispoint we're recording live from
station five.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's about?
At this point we're recordinglive from Station 5.
It's about 8, 8.15 in themorning and we've gotten
firefighters that are coming onshift.
We've got firefighters comingfrom different stations that are
off shift, and so we'veprobably got 20 or 30 people
(03:47):
jammed into the kitchen atStation 5, where we've got David
and Marion set up to do a veryscientific coffee tasting for us
ready, okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
So we've got three different uh blends and we'll
call them triangle, circle andsquare um.
The composition of the beansfor each blend is different, so
what we're going to do is haveyou try each uh coffee, feel
free to smell the coffee beansand see if it helps you decide
which one's a preferred coffee,and my encouragement is that you
(04:13):
use a different cup for eachone, so you don't mix and match
the flavors.
Taste it while it's hot, let itcool and then taste it then
again, because some of themtaste slightly different as the
the coffee cools down.
And once you're done, pick up amarble and cast your vote, and
the objective is to find the onethat most people like for your
(04:35):
blend what do you think?
I think I'm going circle okaywhy, what did you like about it?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
It wasn't very abrasive, it was a pretty smooth
blend.
In my head I was like, oh yeah,a little bit of milk.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I like the bitters.
I like that it's bitter.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I can't pick up on any other notes, but yeah, kind
of like drinking a porter yeahyeah, that's right on, actually
yeah well-rounded whereas theother two were kind of outlier,
especially this one it was likealmost citrusy, like kind of
outlier especially this one.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
What was it about this one?
It was like almost citrusy likekind of yeah.
Like, whereas that one was, itwas like really subtle, just
like basic, but this one kind ofhad everything going on with it
.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So that's why I liked that one.
We came time to where Daviddecided to get up and kind of
explain to the firefightersexactly what the mission of
Cotty Coffee was and how theywere going to support us.
And at this point we knew thatthey were going to donate a
percentage of the revenue theymade from our blend back to the
(05:56):
foundation.
But we had no idea whatsurprise David and Miriam had in
store for us.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Different backgrounds .
Miriam was born and raised inGhana, came over to the US when
she was 19,.
Had never been on an airplanebefore, left her country for the
very first time and somebodyhelped educate her.
It didn't cost her a penny.
When I was a kid I was onwelfare.
Without the community, whoknows where I would have ended
up Probably not in a good place,since I was pretty headstrong,
(06:25):
that's true.
But when we went down this pathI said we wanted to give back
to the community in a meaningfulway, so that it reflected
primarily the people that giveback, and you guys give back in
a big way to the community.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And this is our way of recognizing you.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So whichever one you purchase or end up choosing, all
the sales of that being whatyou guys buy and what your aunts
, uncles, neighbors, whoever 7%will go back into your
benevolent fund, and Miriam'salso chosen to match that 7%.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Wow, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Thank you, that's awesome and in addition, to get
your in order to get yourbenevolent fund kick-started,
we're going to make a donationof $10,000.
Wow.
We know you guys use that as away to help out your community
of folks when you hit somehardship times.
And again it's our way ofsaying thank you, Thank you very
much.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, that's very much.
Yeah, thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, that's very generous.
Thank you, why you heard itthere.
So Kati Coffee is donating 14%of the revenue they generate
from our blend, in addition togiving us a $10,000 donation to
get the foundation going.
(07:42):
So pressure's on at this pointwe got to pick a good one that
people are going to like.
Which one was your favorite one?
I got to go with circle.
Okay, circle won over for me.
Really, how come?
It was just like a rounded,very neutral, like general, I
felt like triangle was a littlein your face, square was like a
little on the other end.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, right there in the middle Circle was just right
Circle is where you want to be.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
It's the Goldilocks of coffee.
The Goldilocks of coffee.
Yeah, I love it, thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yes sir.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
What are we looking like?
Oh my.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I feel like people like more the robust taste
because they like their coffeeblack in the morning.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Ooh, I might be recorded, Just act natural.
But I feel like they voted well.
I think they voted right.
I was talking to y'all about it.
I think this dark rose, I'mguessing a dark rose- would be
the winner, just in the firedepartment.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
So that's my something.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
This is a dark rose, okay.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
But what would you drink from this?
You would drink this orwhatever.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Okay, we had a whole conversation.
Okay, that was my choice aswell, and I thought Circle was
going to win out.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, at one point Ithought we were going to go
Circle, but I understand Square.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Tell me, tell us about Square.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
So Square is my go-to for espresso recommendations,
the first espressorecommendation that we have.
It is a medium-dark roast andhas a lot of boldness to it, A
little bit of a dark chocolate,very little sweetness, if any at
all, and so it's generallywhere people start if they like
(09:24):
nice, bold, strong coffees.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Ooh, well, I think that describes the Pflugerville
firefighters very well Nice,bold and strong.
Oh, there you go.
All right, so for the name, wegot a firehouse blend.
Ooh, and some marbles ended upin there, the first in couple,
(09:49):
no, and the flash over.
All right, it's going to be arunoff between firehouse blend.
You count that one, I'll countthis one.
One, two, three, four, five,six, seven, eight, nine.
Oh, count this one.
Yeah, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
(10:12):
11.
13.
Wow, it is.
You didn't have to do atiebreaker, no pressure.
Oh, I could have created one.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
You two can vote too.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, you guys get to vote.
What do a tiebreaker?
No pressure, oh, I could havecreated one.
Yeah, you two can vote too.
Yeah, you guys get to vote.
What do you think this is good?
No, we should give you guys achance.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
No, no, no, no.
It defeats the purpose.
It matters to me that folkspick their own name, even if I
end up looking at it and going.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's straightforward.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, it's very it's very uh straightforward.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So that's it.
We've got the firehouse blend.
Of course we throw a P in frontof it.
Uh, so great name and fantastictasting coffee.
It still was very bold, but notthe most bitter of the ones.
It was the bold one which kindof had a nice smooth flavor at
the end of it.
(11:12):
So from here, lacey and I madethe trek up to Cotty Coffee
Roastery.
We started this interview atsix in the morning, so enjoy All
right.
Marion and David, welcome tothe show.
Thank you, thank you.
So we're sitting in yourbeautiful roastery up here in
Georgetown, texas.
It smells amazing.
It's six oh five in the morningand you guys are morning people
(11:35):
.
Tell us about Katty Coffee, andhow did you get into roasting
coffee?
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
How did we all end up sitting in this room?
Well, let's see where do weeven begin.
So I actually did not drinkcoffee till my late 20s.
And I started to drink coffeebecause I had migraines and it
did help ease the pain quite abit.
And then over the years thatgrew into interest in different
ways of brewing coffee, coffeefrom different regions, and
(12:13):
eventually I started dabbling inroasting my own coffee and got
into studying the science ofroasting.
So, looking at the heatexchange that was happening
(12:33):
during the roasting, thetemperature profile of the
roasting process, and,separately, I had also always
wanted to do something to have abusiness that was community,
integrated, um, so these weretwo, two completely separate
activities that were going on inmy head at the time.
(12:56):
um till dave shows up and uh andget, gets introduced to uh, to
coffee, coffee, and starts toask questions like well, why
can't you merge the two?
Why can't you marry the two?
Fast forward February last year, 2024, I decided you know what,
let's merge the two.
(13:17):
So Kati was built with that inmind, merging the love for
coffee and also having anorganization that was community
integrated and education focused, allowing us to give back.
So that's, that's essentiallyhow this that's amazing.
Why we're sitting here today.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
That's incredible.
I love you know that.
The idea is kind of like thebeans in this coffee Just a
bunch of different beans fromdifferent places come together
and made something amazing.
So I told Lacey when we weredriving over here this is like
get ready for this cup of coffeeyou're going to have.
I had no idea what we weregoing to be served, but I knew
(13:57):
it was going to be good.
So both you and David have ascience background.
Yes, tell us real quick aboutthat.
Where did all this science comefrom?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Well, we both have PhDs.
He's a chemist, I'm a chemicalengineer.
He's really a wannabe engineer,but it's okay, we'll accept him
on occasion.
But I think we both have a lovefor deep thinking and problem
solving and that's a lot of whatdrove us into those different
(14:32):
spaces, a lot of what drove usinto those different spaces and
a lot of what has actually madethis successful, because it's a.
It's a far jump from what weboth did in our careers and so
having that curiosity mindsetdefinitely has helped you know,
it's funny deep thinking andproblem solving.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It's good for roasting coffee, and it's also
good for solving problems in thecommunity, indeed.
And so you start.
All right, so tell us about the, about Kati Coffee.
We're sitting in a beautifulfacility so people can come here
and buy beans from you, allright.
And then I see a lot of bucketsof beans.
(15:13):
So walk us through.
How does this whole process godown?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Well, you came at a very critical time.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Oh really, Because we got one of our largest
shipments of coffee beans.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Look, there's a big pallet of beans.
It looks like I'm in an.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Indiana Jones movie.
There's burlap sacks of coffeebeans sitting around here.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That's 1,500 pounds of coffee that came in yesterday
.
Now, the good thing about thatis it means that we're actually
moving quite a bit of volume ofcoffee.
But usually that's howeverything comes in in the
burlap sacks.
They're lined to help keep themoisture and climate within the
bags themselves and then wetransfer the beans into the
(15:57):
white buckets, which for usallows us to manage getting
whatever volume of bean we needand still maintaining the
environment, still maintainingthe climate around the beans
effectively.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And it's a big bucket .
It seals, but out of it youguys can work.
A lot easier than trying to getthem out of a burlap sack.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Oh yes, yes, and I joke that Dave is employee
number one, but it's because Icannot lift a 150, 130, 150
pound bag.
Those are large sacks of coffeebeans.
That's what keeps Dave in suchgood shape.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes, yes, yes, so from the buckets then they go,
oh, they go through a qualitycontrol process.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yes, yes.
So in the back I have, I havewhat almost seems like a little
lab space, and this is where Itest the moisture density and
water activity of every beanthat comes in through through
through our doors here.
Usually I would do that for asample bean before I commit to
(17:03):
buying that so much of it and inthat space also, we have what
is a lab scale roaster.
Really, it's an electric roaster.
It's um, I'm able to to roast100 grams at a time.
The nice thing about that is Idon't waste too much beans to be
(17:24):
able to tell is this somethingI like?
Is it something I don't like?
How do I want to roast this?
Is this something that I feelwill lend itself closer to a
darker roast or a lighter roast?
So that for me is actually avery critical piece of equipment
in the corner.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So what happens when you're roasting coffee Like
you're taking a bean?
It's normal, it's got moisturein it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, so you're mostly .
There are a couple of thingsthat happen.
You're driving off the moisturethat's in the bean, um, and
then there are also otherreactions that are taking place.
You have what, uh, what areknown as, uh, maillard reactions
, um, which is actually not verydifferent from some of the
(18:07):
reactions you get when you'recooking.
You have caramelization thathappens, which is very similar
to what's happening when you'recooking meat, as an example.
Right, so you have all of thesereactions that end up
developing the flavors that weget in our coffee.
So, depending on whether youwant to highlight more sweetness
in your coffee or you want tohighlight more of that dark
(18:31):
chocolatey flavor that you getyou end up playing with the bean
quite a bit.
Do you roast it a lot, do youroast it a lot less Like?
Are you going to hightemperatures for longer, or
lower temperatures for shorterLike?
All of that comes to play.
And then the bean itself has abig part to play in all of this,
(18:51):
because some beans do wellroasted, medium, dark, and
others just taste awful if youpush them that far.
And the opposite is also truethat papua new guinea that dave
had you smell before.
If you roast it at light, itdoes not taste well at all.
(19:12):
It just it does not.
It's not, it's not round.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
You've got to roast it bold.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yes, you've got to push it a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Well, my favorite of all your blends is the Pafire
House blend.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, you're biased.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
So something like that.
We have our own blend throughyou guys here at Kachi.
How does that one get roasted?
What kind of beans is it?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
So it is a blend of Papua New Guinea and Brazil.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yes, All right.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I like both.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Exactly.
I'm always curious when we havetaste testings and I hear what
people describe or what theylike, what they don't like, and
different groups gravitatetowards different types of
coffees, and it's veryinsightful actually to see what
different groups do.
But yeah, so that bean is ablend of a Papua New Guinea and
(20:08):
a Brazil, and the Brazil kind ofgenerally helps round it out a
little bit and makes it a littlebit more accessible to people
with different tastes andpreferences.
Because Dave and I, with thePapua New Guinea on its own, as
(20:29):
porrova, which is what we enjoyhaving more often than not we
end up feeling like it's alittle too bold, a little too
much in your face, and so thenblending it with Brazil for us
allows it to be a little bitmore rounded than not, but then
for someone who wants that boldcup of coffee also, well, having
(20:52):
the Papua New Guinea allows youto maintain that, and so it's
not as middle-of-the-road mediumroast to general right, yeah,
something to hold on to exactly
Speaker 4 (21:06):
yeah, chris, you probably remember during the
taste testing that we did withyour folks, if we had put just a
Papa New Guinea, it probablywouldn't have been very
appealing to.
There.
Would have been a few people inthat, right, but most people
probably would have said, ah,this is a little bit too much
for me, right?
But interestingly, when youblend it in, blend in some
(21:28):
Brazil and you round it out,like Marian said, it becomes a
lot more palatable to a greaternumber of people.
And that's really what blendsare designed to do.
And, frankly, on the flip side,also, mirian and I love coffee
from Ethiopia, but a lot ofpeople don't like it because
they find it too tea-like, toofloral, and they just say, well,
(21:50):
this just doesn't taste likecoffee to me because it's not
Starbucks, right?
And so the reason you putblends in place is to really try
to adapt it to more palates.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Now, david, I learned a lot about brewing coffee from
you that day that we did thetaste testing.
What are some?
If you don't mind for ouraudience, what are some common
missteps that people make whenthey are?
Let's say, we buy the firehouseblend, we've got these great
(22:23):
beans.
You know, what do you want towatch out for when you're
brewing this stuff?
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Yeah, so, look, I didn't brew coffee, to be honest
with you, until I met Miriam.
She's sort of this expert who'stried just about everything.
I was a Starbucks guy.
I was the first one at thewindow at 4.55 am every morning,
getting my Pike's Place, whichI can't even put near me anymore
(22:48):
because I don't find it to bevery good coffee.
But really it comes down to whatis the brewing method that the
individual is going to use.
Are you a French press person?
A lot of people love Frenchpress and so a darker roast is
probably going to work better ina French press, because people
that go French press are lookingfor that, want that kind of.
(23:10):
You wouldn't put a Ethiopiangrind into a French press.
You'd probably come out saying,well, this is not all that
great, hey, just.
Or are you a drip coffee oryou're a pour over?
You know, I certainly, and it'sinteresting every time someone
comes here to purchase somebeans and Marion will engage in
a discussion with them about howdo they brew their coffee.
(23:30):
I'm hearing more and more,quite surprisingly, the number
of people that actually use pourover.
It's quite a few people Now.
Pour over takes a lot of time.
It's not like putting your cakeup in the machine and hitting
the button and you go, brushyour teeth and come back and
you're out the door.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
It's a bit of a process.
Speaker 4 (23:49):
It's a process.
You've got to find what is theperfect grind level for the bean
that you're actually doing thepour over with.
You could do a fine grind witha particular bean and do pour
over, and it will not be verysatisfying.
You can go to a more coarsegrind and all of a sudden it
comes alive, and so you actuallyhave to experiment with the
(24:11):
beans that you have adapted toyour method that you prefer, and
you actually have to do someexperiments and find out what is
the right level.
Now, right, that means you haveto have a pretty decent grinder
, right, one of those littlepulse grinders that we've
probably all seen.
Where, right, you end up withsome particles in there that are
quite coarse and some that aredust.
(24:32):
Right, that's probably notgoing to work.
If you want the consistency ofgrinds, you have to invest in a
decent grinder.
But if you're serious aboutyour coffee and you really like
quality coffee, it's worth theinvestment.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So if you're holding a bag of firehouse blend in your
hand.
First thing you got to know isyou need to grind that baby
right, all right.
Is you need to grind that babyRight, all right.
So you want to grind it like,right before you brew it?
Yes, okay, and then so anyrecommendations?
I guess it would depend on howthey decide to brew it, huh.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
That's right.
It would depend on whetheryou're going with the pour over
a French press or an espressobased drink but there are a
couple of things, though, thatare general uh guide.
So um a french press.
(25:25):
Uh, pour over more.
On the coarser side of thegrind, um a a drip.
Well, that's again medium tocoarse, depending on someone's
flavor preference, and thenespresso based drinks, you have
finer grind.
(25:46):
But the other thing that's acommon theme across all of this
is the temperature of the water,and so keeping the temperature
just around 200 Fahrenheit keepsyou from over-extracting the
beans and ending up with adeeper, almost feeling like a
charred taste in my opinion, ifit's too hot, it tastes charred.
(26:09):
If it's too hot it over-extractsand for me that over-extract
flavor is is along those chadlines.
But each individual I mean.
So it's.
It's interesting.
There was a gentleman whostopped by yesterday to talk
about a uh, a brewing class hetook and he said he really liked
the over extracted coffee.
And I go well, that's a veryinteresting way of putting it,
(26:33):
but that's what I mean by.
Each individual has uniquepreferences, but it's really the
grind.
You can't go too fine whenyou're doing a pour-over or a
French press, the temperaturebeyond 200 Fahrenheit, or when
it's boiling, you're more likelyto over-extract.
Now, if you like over-extractedcoffees, you're more likely to
(26:54):
over extract.
Now, if you like over extractedcoffees you can steep them
longer.
There's another way to get there, as opposed to using
temperatures to draw it out.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Interesting, so buying the bag.
That's just half the battle.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
So Miriam and David have done their job, giving you
this amazing bean.
Now it's up to you To figureout how to grind it, yes.
How to brew it yes, that's kindof fun, it is.
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And it's a different way of putting it.
It's possible to have a subparcoffee experience if you don't,
if you're not attentive to yourbrewing process.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yes, all right.
So this for me, this isn'tsomething I'm going to be able
to do like on a typical Mondaymorning, so let's say that it's
weekend.
I want to do this.
How long will my bag of beanslast if I keep it folded up, or
is that something that we needto be concerned about?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
So if you have a bag of beans that you keep in an
airtight container away fromdirect sun airtight container
away from direct sun, you shouldbe able to still have fresh
coffee beans for about threemonths is what I would keep.
I would keep keep it for beyondthat they're gonna start to
taste some staleness in thebeans and so that's that's not
(28:09):
ideal.
But the other thing also iswhen you grind the beans before
you use it.
Ideally, grind the beans justbefore you use it, but I know
not everyone is up at three andor has the time to do so, with
all of the things that we haveto balance.
(28:30):
all of the things that we haveto balance, um.
So I know, I know, I knowpeople who would do the, the
grinding the week, the weekendleading up to to do that little.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Sunday.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And then, yeah, um, and have it, uh, have it, have
it through through the week andyou'll.
You'll realize it that as hegoes okay, so Monday tastes good
.
Tuesday, it tastes good.
Wednesday, it starts to taste alittle bit flatter.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Maybe you just grind again on Thursday, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, but if you're going to do that as well, keep
it in an airtight container sothat it doesn't oxidize.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
All right.
Well, let me ask you aphilosophical question, of
course.
All right question.
If you could sum up yourphilosophy on coffee roasting in
one sentence, what would thatsentence be?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Pay homage to the bean.
That's what it will be, becausethe bean, each individual bean,
has a character.
You can't force beans to dothings they don't want to do,
kind of like firefighters.
(29:43):
So you have to pay homage to thebean, and I'm seeing that right
now I have a Peruvian bean thatisn't roasting the way I had
intended for it, and so I haveto step back, quite literally,
go back to my little corner andtake all of those tests again
and ask myself why is this notgoing in that direction?
(30:05):
And I think last week I toldDave oh, I figured it out the
water activity is very high andso well higher than typical, and
so I have to roast itdifferently.
I have to hit it with a lotmore heat, and the bean that we
got was was much tastier thanwhat we had before.
But that's, that's what itwould be.
(30:26):
It's pay homage to the greenthat's awesome yeah all right.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
So then I'll post my next question at David do you
remember the best cup of coffeeyou've ever drank In?
Speaker 4 (30:38):
fact I do, and Miriam and I were traveling in New
Orleans and we stopped at this.
Well, everywhere we go, we lookfor coffee, typically sort of
more specialty coffee shops, andthis place was maybe a quarter
(30:59):
mile from where we were staying,and so we walked over there and
I was in absolute amazement.
I knew this was going to be afantastic cup of coffee, because
the lady that was actuallymaking the pour over had the
vessel, was sitting on on aweigh scale, and so she was
actually weighing out the exactamount of coffee and putting
(31:22):
through that coffee the preciseratio of water.
She was then weighing it ontothis and I was sitting there
watching.
I said, oh boy, this is goingto be good.
And the and the attention todetail that she was taking told
me this is going to be good.
And the attention to detail thatshe was taking, told me this
was going to be fabulous, and sothe two pour-over cups then
(31:42):
came to the side.
She gave them to us.
We sat down.
I took one sip and I said, myLord, this is good, this is
really really good.
But I could immediately tell,with the amount of time she was
taking, she also knew that thiswas really good coffee that
needed to be treated in such away.
(32:02):
It wasn't inexpensive, but itreally was quite good.
That's amazing, and I'llremember that cup of coffee for
years.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You guys have been so instrumental on getting this
foundation up off the ground,have been so instrumental on
getting this foundation up offthe ground and moving forward
with the website and everythingelse, and all of that really is
going to be funded by you guys.
So thank you so much.
It's amazing I was tellingLacey last night too, like if I
hadn't had that meeting withDavid months ago, I don't know
(32:33):
where we'd be right now in thatprocess.
But you guys really were acatalyst for like hey, they're
waiting on us.
We got to get this off theground, so it's good.
And then we hosted our CPRclass on Saturday.
We had 14 people come in.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
And this is for open to the public, open to the
public, free Nice, ta, you know,and this is for open to the
public, open to the public, freeNice Taught by firefighters.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, that's right.
And then so we're looking to.
We need to order supplies.
We're going to do a stop thebleed class as well.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
He's had people from the class perform CPR.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, oh, wow, it's working.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, it's working.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Creating community safety.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
So yeah, but, anyway, just thank you all so much.
This is great.
This is really really amazing.
Well, that's it.
A lot of firsts and beginningsin that episode.
It was the first episode ofseason two and marked the
beginning of the PflugervilleFirefighter Foundation, as well
as being the beginning of abeautiful partnership with Kati
(33:35):
Coffee.
So I hope this episode inspiredyou to number one, order a bag
of a Firehouse Blend.
Check out katicoffeecom.
Kati with a K.
And, more importantly though, Ihope that it inspired you to
make an impact in your community.
So we're going to be out andabout in Pflugerville for season
two and, after all the supportand love that we received from
(33:58):
our community, we aim to giveback.
So follow us along for seasontwo.
We've got a lot more in store.
No matter what you think aboutthe city of Pflugerville, you
cannot deny that our present isvery closely connected to our
recent past, that our present isvery closely connected to our
recent past, and, with that inmind, we take episode two of
(34:19):
season two over to the HeritageHouse, where we connect with a
little bit of old Pflugervilleand hopefully give you a better
idea of what life was like inthe city years ago.
Stay tuned.
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