Tips on how to make good coffee and run a successful coffee shop

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), May 29, 2004 by Kara Kridler

We have a lot of customers who bring in their own cups, he said. It is usually the regulars.

Decaf versus caffeine

The Baltimore Coffee and Tea Co. sells about 150 varieties of flavored coffees, Constantine said. I would say flavored coffee accounts for about 60 percent of what we sell.

For Sproge, hazelnut-flavored coffee is the only flavor he sells. I'm not a proponent of flavored coffee. But, we offer it because people do like it, so who am I to say.

Mayorga, on the other hand, does not sell any flavored coffee.

The flavor, an oil made by flavor and fragrance manufacturers, is added after the beans are roasted, Sproge said.

Starbucks flavors its coffees with syrups, said Alan Hilowitz, a spokesman for Starbucks. We prefer to brew the coffee and then add the flavor.

Next comes the crucial decision of decaf or regular.

There are three methods of decaffeination, Constantine said. Methylene chloride is probably the most common way used to make decaf coffee. It is a chemical, used as a solvent, to extract the caffeine from the beans.

Methylene chloride is considered GRAS - Generally Regarded As Safe - by the Food and Drug Administration, he said.

We differ with that. We don't use and never have used it, Constantine said. No one can guarantee me that it will not be harmful.

With this method, a slight taste is taken out of the coffee, Sproge added. This is done before the beans are roasted.

Using carbon dioxide to decaffeinate is a second method, but one which is not commonly used, Constantine said. There is only one company in the world that holds the patent to this so, it is very hard to get.

With this process, the caffeine is extracted and the coffee tastes almost the same as caffeinated coffee.

The third method, which Constantine uses, is the Swiss Water method. This process, developed in Switzerland and Canada, exposes the coffee to filtered water, which bleaches out the caffeine.

It is 100 percent natural and kosher approved, he said.

Typically, as a rule of thumb for the consumer, if the coffee does not say naturally decaffeinated, then it has probably been decaffeinated by the methylene chloride, Constantine said.

Repeat business

Consistency is the most important thing, said Michael Ditter, who owns Java Joes on Baltimore Street. Coffee and specialty drinks are very subjective. Your customers want to know the coffee will taste the same every time they come into your shop.

The bottom line is consistency and quality, Mayorga said. The competition is so stiff right now, so you really have to know the product.

Since there seems to be a coffee establishment on every corner, you have to be good to have customers return to your coffee shop, he said.

I'm telling you, you will not stay around if you don't know the product, he said. People need to give the product the time to actually learn it before selling coffee.

Mayorga added: To sell coffee well, you need to know coffee well and that's what keeps the customer coming back.