Each cup of coffee offers something different.  Some coffees are bright, tangy brews, lightly roasted to enhance the buoyancy of the flavor.  Some are mellow, full of chocolate, tobacco, or butterscotch. These are not flavored coffees, but coffees full of flavor, perfectly roasted to bring out the distinctive characteristics of each bean.

A cup of truly fresh, single origin coffee does not have a consistent taste.  It might start out hot with elements of toffee and cardamom, cool down to hints of tangy apricot, and taste like chocolate when it’s cold.  Experiencing the progression of flavors in a single cup is part of the excitement of drinking Peregrine Coffee.

While our March/April 09 article on Philadelphia focused on its thriving beer and cocktail scene, the city is also gaining recognition for its coffee and tea culture. “Philly’s coffee scene really blossomed only a few years ago,” says Bill Walsh, author of the blog Purecoffee.com. “The first coffeehouses in the area that really did something noteworthy were actually outside of the Philadelphia city center: Chestnut Hill Coffee Company west of the city, and a Southern Jersey roaster and coffeehouse right over the bridge called Crescent Moon Coffee & Tea.” Chestnut Hill and Crescent Moon both opened in 2005, but since then, they’ve gotten more company as the city’s coffee culture has continued to grow. Meanwhile, a growing number of tea shops have exposed Philadelphians to the joys of oolong and Earl Grey. Whatever your preference, here are some places worth checking out for a cuppa:

Beauty Shop Café 2001 Fitzwater St.; 215-546-1002

This coffee shop, located in what used to be a hair salon, serves Chestnut Hill beans and, at less than two years old, has garnered an impressive amount of praise from locals.

Brew Ha Ha 212 S. 12th St.; 215-893-5680
Already well-loved in its home state of Delaware, this coffee chain recently made its first foray into Pennsylvania with this Philly outpost.

Chestnut Hill Coffee Company 8620 Germantown Ave.; 215-242-8600
Despite its off-the-beaten-path location, this is the place locals take out-of-town guests to impress them with Philly’s coffee savvy.

Crescent Moon Coffee & Tea 141 Bridgeton Pike, Mullica Hill, New Jersey; 856-223-1237
This South Jersey roastery prides itself on its relationships with coffee farmers.

House of Tea 720 S. 4th St., 215-923-8327
The walls of this narrow space are lined with cubbies filled with jars of tea, holding everything from Prince of Wales to aged pu-erh.

La Colombe Torrefaction 130 S. 19th St.; 215-563-0860
Some Philadelphians grumble that this roastery has rested too heavily on its laurels, but this local institution’s coffee still has plenty of fans and is served in some of the city’s finest restaurants.

One Shot Coffee 1040 N. 2nd St., Ste. 601; 215-627-1620.
For many Northern Liberties residents, One Shot is a home away from home, thanks to its cozy vibe, free lending library, surprisingly delicious bagel sandwiches and vegan doughnuts—and excellent coffee and espresso.

Peregrine Coffee 215-240-4474
While not a coffee shop, this well-respected roastery will custom-roast and blend its beans and deliver them to your door.

Premium Steap 111 S. 18th St., Rittenhouse Square; 215-568-2920
With more than 140 loose-leaf teas on offer, as well as a dozen chai drinks and a tea bar serving both hot and iced teas, Premium Steap is a city favorite.

The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop 713 N. 4th St.; 267-639-2442
This tiny and eclectic Northern Liberties tea room is often used as a holding pen for people waiting to have brunch at the delicious Honey’s next door. But it’s worth visiting as its own destination for the custom tea blends and kitschy atmosphere.

Ray’s Café & Teahouse 141 N. 9th St.; 215-922-5122
This Chinese restaurant serves a wide selection of teas and pastries—and, incongruously enough, probably has the biggest collection of vacuum coffee pots in the city.

Remedy Tea Bar 1628 Sansom St.; 215-557-6688
Sisters Kristen and Courtney Kammerer opened this hip tea spot in 2005. Along with regular hot and iced tea, the menu includes elaborate concoctions like the Cool Green, made with green tea, ice, skim milk and vanilla.

Spruce Street Espresso 1101 Spruce St.; 215-609-4469
Small and friendly, but deadly serious about its espresso, Spruce Street has been gaining fans for its expertly pulled espressos, made with Counter Culture beans.

T Bar 117 S. 12th St.; 215-625-3936
Owned by sisters, Susan Chu and Julia Rugg, this tea shop offers not only 70 kinds of tea—including bubble tea—but also tea-based beauty and health products.

The aroma from the cup is a mix of lemon and traditional coffee tones, with a sweet, funky-meaty-gauva tropical note.  What jumps to mind on first taste is honey-lemon tea, and that is the theme for this exceptional coffee.  The complex citrus blend of bright, fresh lemons and bitter Seville oranges are intertwined in a duet of floral chords and exotic, fragrant honey.  The citric acid bitterness carries through to the finish and surprisingly delivers a very deep smokiness, continuing with florals and fruit.  This acts much more like an assertive tea than a coffee and will reward one with a little sugar, but no milk.

This unique espresso blend combines top quality beans from the 2008 crop to create a balanced cocoa-musty-nuttiness with a distinct bittersweet-grilled pineapple tone. The fragrance is chocolaty and powerful. The clean, strong flavors linger on the palate and compliment milk-based drinks.

This is a wonderful example of a balanced, elegant cup of coffee.  The smells are familiar: coffee, flower-perfumy, citrus, with a touch of caramelized brown sugar.  The initial tastes are bright and crisp, like the first apples of Fall.  The dry mouthfeel doesn’t come across as acidic, but more high and bright, and it finishes slightly metallic. There are hints of dry nuttiness –a blend of almonds and cocoa powder with a slight malty-coffee-caramel thread. A new range of flavors emerges once it cools: complex layers of unusual fruit and spices.

The Santa Lucia Estate in Costa Rica took 16th place in the 2008 Cup of Excellence judging.  Farmers Ricardo Perez Barrantes and Rodriguez Villalobos have more than 30 years of coffee farming experience.

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer
Northeast Times

A busted coffeemaker probably never had ignited so much productivity as it did for Kevin Lawrence some five years ago. Yet, a setback that might have stopped most working folks in their tracks actually got the longtime financial services representative’s creative juices flowing.

Faced with the prospect of missing his beloved caffeine fix, Lawrence did not run out and buy the first new machine he could find on the shelves at his local Target. Rather, much like he does for clients at American Express’ Center City office, Lawrence took a thinking man’s approach.

He scoured consumer reviews and Internet reports describing a gamut of available commercial coffeemakers. In the process, he learned that the way to make truly spectacular coffee has surprisingly little to do with the brewing, yet everything to do with the bean.

From there, it was only a matter of time until he found a place to open his own gourmet coffee roasting company. Three months ago, he realized that ambition when his Peregrine Coffee business began production inside a modest commercial warehouse in Tacony.

The place is not to be confused with the local Dunkin’ Donuts or even a Starbucks. Firstly, there is no seating area and are no over-the-counter sales. It’s purely an Internet-based mail-order business in which Lawrence acts as consultant, sales representative and craftsman. His wife Luise Moskowitz handles publicity.

“With my business model, the difference is the custom component,” Lawrence said.

Using his own keen sense for coffees borne from his years as an infatuated consumer, Lawrence interviews new clients, develops a profile of their tastes and scours the market for raw or “green” beans to suit those client preferences. Coffee beans come from tropical regions around the globe, including South America, Africa, Asia and the Far East.

Lawrence will then complete each order by hand-roasting the beans in his custom-built commercial roaster, seal them in air-tight packaging and ship them immediately via U.S. Mail. Customers in Philadelphia will usually get their beans within a day, ready for grinding and brewing. “The basic concept of hot water and freshly ground beans is key,” Lawrence explained.

Even non-drinkers of coffee couldn’t help but taste and smell the difference between Lawrence’s products and what supermarkets and most coffee shops have to offer. Commercial coffees are generally processed as much with longevity in mind as flavor. It all starts on the farms or plantations where the beans grow as seeds inside cherry-like fruit on shrubs and small trees. Some farms are expansive and highly  commercialized, while others are small family operations. Variables from farm to farm and region to region affect the flavors in the bean. Major factors include soil composition, climate and altitude. Mass-produced coffees commonly found on grocery store shelves and in the pots at convenience stores and doughnut shops are usually blends. That is, they are made from a combination of beans from different farms or regions.

Many popular varieties like hazelnut and vanilla often are made from coffees treated with artificial flavoring in the form of sprays and syrups. By contrast, Peregrine coffees are not blended. Each selection is produced from the beans of a single farm, thereby preserving the unique and potent natural flavors present in the bean. “I’ll do an Ethiopian coffee that tastes like blueberries and peaches and people ask, ‘Is that flavoring?’” Lawrence said. “And I say, ‘No, it tastes that way out of the ground.’”

Not exactly.

Drawing the natural flavor out of coffee beans is a relatively short, but exacting process during which a slight variance in temperature or duration can completely spoil the outcome.

A coffee roaster is essentially a rotating barrel over a heat source. The roasting temperature is key, as are the level of heat used to achieve that temperature and the time it takes to do so. The operator must listen for the beans to pop or crack, then calculate carefully how long to continue the process to meet the expectations of the client. “That’s totally the art of it,” Lawrence said. Other variables include ambient temperature and humidity, the amount of beans in the roaster, the size of the beans and their moisture content.

“I love that it’s all the senses,” Lawrence said. “You’re smelling, you’re looking, you’re tasting, you’re feeling. It’s insane.”

Another unique element to the business, he explained, is hunting for the best beans. Traveling from continent to continent is not in his budget, so he relies largely on professional scouts or hunters who go from region to region and farm to farm identifying marketable beans and buying them up for redistribution in the United States.

Lawrence used their spirit, in fact, as an inspiration of sorts for the name of his company. The word peregrine is from Latin and means wanderer or traveler. “It was one of those names that when we sat down and came by it, we said, ‘Oh, that works.’ It means traveler and we’re letting coffee be the guide,” Lawrence said.

Internet orders aren’t the only way that the entrepreneur will be bringing his product to market. Though he never envisions his roasts available on store shelves — specifically because stores can’t ensure freshness — Lawrence hopes to reach the public through special tasting events at area cafés.

One such activity is scheduled for this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. at Walnut Bridge Coffee House, 24th and Walnut streets.

Peregrine is also available for special events, such as weddings and private parties.

All requests are being handled through the Web site www.peregrinecoffee.com. ••

Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com

Kevin J. Lawrence
Owner/Roaster, Peregrine Coffee
kevin@peregrinecoffee.com
http://www.peregrinecoffee.com

Northeast Times Article