Coffee in Kelowna - Medium roast

So when talking about medium roast coffee here in Kelowna, this can scare some people. What I don't mean is that they are afraid to talk about it. What I mean is, 'hey try this……' - response 'no, I only like dark roast!

Over the years I have been in coffee from many many cafe experiences, I believe the fear of medium roast coffee's is due to a few factors. Sure, at the end of the day, coffee is subjective. It truly is. People like what they like, but if they have ever had the experience of being introduced into the medium roast world, heck - even light roast, it's usually because of a few things.

1) it's done 'cold turkey'. - Kelowna perspective

usually a barista or roaster gets super excited about this one and just say's 'hey try this, it tastes like blueberries!'. This is done without cream or sugar and given to the customer and is just a shock to the ol tastebuds. When someone who is use to darker roasts and has sugar and cream in it ( their coffee is an off white ). This approach rarely ever is successful. If you want to 'convert' someone into the medium/light roast world, this needs to be done in a tasting in my honest opinion. Slow and steady with this one. And if at the end of it, they still dont like it, get them that cup of darker roast they have been craving each day!

2) it's too inconsistent - Kelowna perspective

Now this side of things gets tricky cause depending on how the coffee is brewed, and by whom, and if they have had a good day or not, water pressure etc, this could also make or break someone getting into the space of enjoying a medium roast or not.

• Water pressure and water quality is a huge component to any coffee. If you have equipment that's just not consistent enough or that the water line coming into the equipment is not getting enough pressure into it, you'll have so much inconsistency that if not paid attention to, you could turn a lot of people off from it. And yeah - sometimes it's out of the baristas control ( or even the owner for that matter ), but if the goal is to bring people to the medium side of the force, this will be a challenge for sure. Kelowna water is also super hard water. So much calcium build up breaks down equipment and the taste quality can be noticed each season. In comparison, Vancouver water is so much sweeter from the tap and a lot easier on the equipment. It also helps the coffee taste better, and any filtration and after that is just a bonus. Kelowna water for coffee is just a whole other topic.

• Brew methods are huge when it comes to this. Some cafe's and roasters choose the approach of serving brewed coffee via JUST pour over. This has a whole bunch of avenues to it. There is a romance to pour overs. Feels Bougie and fancy. Like someone should be wearing a tuxedo when doing it. The ritual of it is romantic no doubt, but to try and be romantic X 100 pour overs in a day….you WILL and I repeat WILL get inconsistencies! Success just cant be accomplished at volume with pour overs. I dont think it was ever meant to be done at scale. With this method and its higher chance of inconsistentcy, you could turn someone off from a medium or a light roast in a huge way.

Origin/process - Kelowna perspective

• This side is just as important as water quality and needs to be considered when trying to open some eyes up on medium and or light roasts here in the Okanagan. Getting someone to dive into a medium natural process from Kenya is a huge deep dive into specialty coffee and can really open some eyes and tastebuds up. Having a coffee come out as a strawberry cream pie or blueberry muffin can be super attractive to some. And this is just for coffee that has no syrups or additives to it folks. It is coffee straight up! But if this is done again in a cold turkey fashion or is made inconsistent, this is a huge reason for folks to never touch this stuff again. Kelowna is definitely a fickle bunch and will go to places whenever they want for coffee, but if you have the pleasure of having anyone in your space, and you want to get them to dive deeper with ya, break this to them gently. How we go about the medium roast here at the local chemist.
• Our medium roast and our dark roast are actually quite similar. Our Bars profile is roasted on our 100% electric and zero emissions coffee roaster from Bellwether and because it is a controlled electric drum system, it allows us to get a good handle on things in the whole roasting process. When roasting, we make sure that we aren't roasting and sourcing coffee for the way we want it or the way we like it, we do consider the demographics here in the Kelowna and what could be appealing to those that surround us. We want to build long relationships here and grow a customer base not only just get's coffee from us, but our friends as well. We have a few here in the city and we are glad to venture into this coffee game together. This profile is one that we are proud of and can also be used on espresso, brew, filter, pour over, french press etc.

Any questions about this one, give us a holler!