Camano Island Coffee Roasters

     One of the projects I was working on to make my new place homey and personal required the use of a tape measure. So I went to the local hardware store to purchase one, but little did I know how big of a decision into which that would turn. Upon arriving at the store and locating the tape measures, I came across a plethora of options. All different lengths, then different styles, made from different materials, from different companies, and with prices all across the board. Who would have thought buying a tape measure could be made so difficult?! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I just need to measure a distance from Point A to Point B, does it take 18 different variations to accomplish that?? I literally stood there in the aisle for almost 20 minutes going over all the different types….of tape measures!! Looking back on it, I think it’s crazy it took me that long to decide, but I would like to recount my decisions for you here quickly, and see the the impact it has on your trip to the grocery store.

The Problem With Too Many Coffee Choices… continued »

Coffee storage is easy when you know exactly how to store it for optimal flavor. Unfortunately, many people live with the misconception that the best way to store coffee is in the refrigerator or freezer. While that is kind of true if you’re storing coffee for long periods of time (6 months or more), it’s not the best way to store coffee that is fresh and will be consumed within a couple months.

Coffee’s flavor is defeated by 3 things: Light, Oxygen, and Temperature

When coffee is roasted, it’s roasted with the knowledge that those beans will be ground, added to a coffee maker, and will have near-boiling water poured over them. That is the next – and last – time that your coffee should see a drastic temperature change if you want to enjoy the absolute optimal flavor possible. Constant exposure to light actually “fades” the beans and their flavor “fades” (for lack of a better word) with them too.

The Best Way to Store Coffee: The Coffee Drip continued »

When I started this company 12 years ago, I set out to provide the very best coffee available. To provide this, one of the places I looked was the Specialty Coffee Association of America(SCAA). The SCAA is a specialty coffee trade organization that assists in establishing standards and education relating to the very best coffee available.

I determined to only roast coffee that comes from the SCAA’s top tier of specialty grade coffee. From this standard I also committed to roasting only triple certified coffee beans: Certified Organic, Shade-Grown/Bird-Friendly and Fairly Traded Coffee. This means that every coffee you receive from Camano Island Coffee Roasters is environmentally responsible and good for your body. By refusing to roast conventionally grown specialty grade coffee and by adhering to the triple certified standard I am left with only the Top 1% of the world’s green coffee beans.

The benefit of roasting coffee from the Top 1% is providing the very best coffee money can buy – that tastes great. I encourage you if you haven’t tried our coffee — try it. And see why our coffee partners say it’s the best coffee they have ever tasted!

I’m asked all the time, “Does certified organic coffee really taste better?”.  My answer, “Of course it does. Have a cup and see for yourself.”

Now if taste was the only factor, I could end this blog post right now but there’s another important reason — your health.

Certified organic coffee matters and here is why. As one of the most absorbent crops on the planet, coffee derives its flavor directly from the soil. This is how an Ethiopian coffee tastes different from a coffee grown in Papua New Guinea. This is the real beauty of coffee — and its curse. Just as coffee develops a plethora of delicious flavors from each region, it also absorbs a multitude of dangerous chemicals from pesticides and herbicides. We know this is true due to studies done over 25 years ago that coffee absorbs pesticides.

Certified Organic Coffee – Why Does it Matter? continued »

Espresso is a touchy subject in the coffee industry. You can learn “the only correct way” from a ton of different sources and somehow, they always seem to differ. The honest answer is that there is no one way to make espresso that is universal and works for every espresso machine. Espresso machines are touchy and each one has a “best practices” list in order that you can make great espresso. “Make a Great Espresso at Home” – the second part of our “Coffee Brewing Guide” we’ll look at some of that important factors to help you make great espresso at home. In part 2, we’ll explore how you can extract perfect espresso shots at home.

Make Great Espresso At Home – Part 2 – Extract Perfect Espresso Shots

At the end of Part 2, we mentioned a company that our barista’s use to perfect their espresso techniques. NewBarista.com is actually very affordable at $10 a month for access to industry leading espresso training. You may want to check out the free trial and see if it works for you. Ultimately, whether you have a home espresso maker or a giant, 3-group, industrial machine… the basic principles of great espresso are the same.

The 5 most important factors to pulling perfect espresso shots are: Water Pressure, Extraction Time, Water Temperature, Grind Consistency, and Tamping. If any one of these are off, your shots will lose a lot of flavor and you won’t enjoy your end espresso drink. For perfect espresso shots, all of these need to be set exactly right. Some of these are out of your control, however. The goal is to strive for perfection in all of these things and get as close as you can – or, if you can justify it, find a new machine that will allow you to achieve that perfection.

Perfect Espresso Shots – Make Great Espresso At Home [Coffee Brewing Guide] – Part2 continued »

Espresso is a touchy subject in the coffee industry. You can learn “the only correct way” from a ton of different sources and somehow, they always seem to differ. The honest answer is that there is no one way to make espresso that is universal and works for every espresso machine. Espresso machines are touchy and each one has a “best practices” list in order that you can make great espresso. “Make a Great Espresso at Home” – the second part of our “Coffee Brewing Guide” we’ll look at some of that important factors to help you make great espresso at home.

Make Great Espresso At Home – Part 1 – Foundations

First off, if you have an espresso machine, you’re one of three kinds of people:

1. 1.) a coffee connoisseur that wants the ability to enjoy espresso made from the beans of their choice at home, on demand
2. 2.) a person that enjoys tinkering with gadgets and loves coffee and figured that this was the way to go
3. 3.) someone that didn’t realize the first two kinds of people are the prime candidates for an espresso machine and purchased theirs for money savings or was given the one they have.

Make Great Espresso At Home [Coffee Brewing Guide] – Part1 continued »

Getting the best coffee grind from your grinder is easy when you know how to do it.  Here is a really fast breakdown of how to get the best coffee grind for your coffee maker.

Burr Grinder (recommended) - A burr ginder (or even better, conical burr grinder) provides the best, most consistant grind for your beans.  This will lead to a consistently better cup than standard blade grinders will provide.

1. #1 (finest) – Turkish
2. #2 – Fine Espresso
3. #3 – Standard Espresso
4. #4 – Cone Filter Drip
5. #5 (middle grind) – Universal Drip
6. #6 – Flat/Basket Filter Drip
7. #7 – Percolator
8. #8 – Stovetop Percolator
9. #9 (coarsest) – French Press

1. 20 seconds (finest) – Turkish
2. 16 seconds – Fine Espresso
3. 14 seconds – Standard Espresso
4. 12 seconds – Cone Filter Drip
5. 11 seconds (middle grind) – Universal Drip
6. 10 seconds – Flat/Basket Filter Drip
7. 9 seconds – Percolator
8. 8 seconds – Stovetop Percolator
9. 6 seconds (coarsest) – French Press

Questions or Comments?  Need a good grinder recommendation?  Please post below!

One of the questions we are asked most often at Camano Island Coffee Roasters is: “How do I brew your coffee in my coffee maker?”. This series is designed to assist you in brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home.  When you know the optimal way of how to brew coffee at home and couple that with the top 1% of the world’s coffee, you’ll have a coffee experience akin to no other!

How to Brew Coffee in a Drip Maker

For many, brewing drip coffee at home is the only way to enjoy their morning beverage.  A drip coffee maker offers many conveniences such as ease of use, ease of cleaning, automated brewing, and a holding container for the coffee when it’s finished brewing.  There are many ways to brew your coffee and a lot of them can negatively affect the flavor of the coffee itself.  Our goal is to help you know exactly how to brew your bean.

How to Brew Coffee in a Drip Maker [Coffee Brewing Guide] continued »

The 4 Best Gifts This Holiday Season (and why they matter)

With each Holiday season that approaches, I find it increasingly hard to figure out that perfect gift for the people that mean the most in my life (my wife, my mother, my family…). Professionally, there are many I do business with and I want these people to know how much I appreciate them too. So, this year, I built a list of the things that matter most to me when giving a gift to my loved ones. I thought you might be able to use this list for your gift-giving too.

1. Give Something That’s Good for Them

When someone gives me a gift of scrumptious junk food, my reaction is almost polarizing. On one hand, that chocolate, peppermint bark tastes amazing and I thoroughly enjoy it (typically eating it all on the same day I receive it). On the other hand, I know that with each bite of that sugary delight, I’m putting something in my body that may not be healthy to consume. When I give a gift, I want to make sure that it is both delicious and perfectly healthy for the person that will receive it.

The 4 Best Gifts This Holiday Season (and why they matter) continued »

As the Holidays are upon us and whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or any of the other holidays – many of you are probably scrambling to find that perfect gift for your loved one.  You want that gift to say, “I’m thinking about you and I want to give you something that shows that thoughtfulness!”

Here’s why a gift of the Top 1% of the world’s coffee is not only thoughtful, but one of the best possible holiday coffee gifts to give during the holiday season…

Thoughtful, Easy Holiday Coffee Gifts continued »