Raising coffee intelligensia at Steady Hand Pour House

Intelligentsia is a word of Latin origin that came into our vocabulary after Russians used the term in the late 1800s to describe a particular kind of publicly active intellectual. It's a very fitting name for the coffee roaster located on Chicago's North Side that recently brought their Primary Green Buyer, Geoff Watts for an educational talk at Steady Hand Pour House in Emory Village.

Steady Hand owners, Dale B. Donchey, Jordan Chambers, and James H. Pair hosted the event for their customers and other Intelligentsia Coffee sellers in their continued to effort to raise the sophistication level of coffee lovers in Atlanta. The three owners are dedicated to their craft, serving only the highest quality beans, and training their Baristas to perfectly express that quality when they prepare each cup of coffee or espresso drink.

Intelligentsia has won "Best Of" superlatives all over the country from L.A. to New York. If you attended the event you understand why. The Southeast Regional Sales Rep., Chris Clements set the stage by inviting guests to taste the incredible new espresso, Sugar Glider, offered only by Intelligentsia. And even when the multi-media presentation failed in the beginning, Geoff Watts was able to engage the audience extemporaneously with his vast knowledge of the entire coffee process.

Watts' personal coffee journey began as a Barista almost 16 years ago. When he became a green buyer for Intelligentsia, he traveled almost 280 days out of the year to work with their coffee farmers. He was quick to say in his discussion that once the bean is roasted, no one can make it better than it is. In fact, he said, "You can only ruin it."

That's a tragedy for something that takes years to produce. It takes almost four years from seed to first production. That's why coffee roasters like Intelligentsia are so committed to working closely with the farmers monitoring the entire growing, roasting, and shipping processes.

Unfortunately, there are many points along the production chain where the coffee can decline in caliber. As Watts said, "The quality clock starts ticking the minute the cherry has been picked off the tree." Timing is everything. Picking that perfect ripe cherry versus a slightly green one, or an over ripe purple one takes a dedicated worker with the incentive to pick based on quality not the quantity for which most pickers are paid for.

Most of the mass produced coffee is consumed months and months after production. Since much of the mass produced coffee is still shipped in jute bags that don't protect the coffee, the longer it sits on the shelf the more oxidation take place, and even three weeks after shipment much of the complexity is lost.

Coffee growers are faced with a choice to either mass produce using lots of fertilizer, hybrid seeds bred to tolerate hot sun, and inevitably some sort of pesticide --Or choose smaller biodiverse shaded lots of quality coffee. For a poor farmer with kids that's a tough decision to make.

Companies like Intelligentsia help give the growers the incentives they need, and also share best practices, so they can grow the kind of coffee that rivals wine in taste complexity. Watts explained that coffee has over 800 compounds affecting flavor versus only 200 compounds affecting wine. This makes for a taste sensation that is second to none. When that flavor is sealed in a specialty bag before shipment you are more assured that quality won't be lost en route.

From 6 PM to after 10 PM, Watts held us in awe. When the media presentation was fixed by the unassuming, patron hero, Kevin Sullivan, visuals added color and texture to our developing sense of what coffee should be.

Education is the key to pretty much everything. The more we learn what "great" can be, the more we can strive for it. The specialty coffee industry really began in the late 90s. It's not that old. There is still a lot to learn and refine, on the grower's side, as well as the consumer's.

For the consumer it begins when we meet our first Barista: like Dale, Jordan, or James at Steady Hand Pour House. They tell us about the coffee in a way we've never heard before. Using what Geoff Watts called, the organoleptics of a coffee, which is the flavor profile discerned by using a person's sense organs. For example Intelligentsia's Single Origin Finca Santa Teresa, El Machete, Panama is described as "Botanical and tea-like with a range of florid complexity. It's Melon, kiwi and tarragon combine with a gin and tonic." You can't help but be intrigued. So, you agree to taste the individual chemex'd or syphoned cup, and you are changed forever.

That might sound dramatic, but it's true. Your senses get stimulated in a new way with over 800 compounds affecting what you're tasting. It's like when you were a kid learning to read and those letters everywhere began to come together and make sense. Remember how the world just opened up for you? A simple, specialty coffee enriches your senses much the same way. It expands your idea of the possibilities in taste. That alone makes it worth a few extra dollars. So don't miss the opportunity, go to Steady Hand Pour House located at Emory Village, 1593 North Decatur Rd., Suite B, Atlanta, GA 30307. They are open Mon-Fri 6 am - 6 pm and Sat-Sun 8 am - 9 pm.