Yesterday Emma and I took a trip down to East Lyme, CT with Chef Jason Collin and General Manager Dan Meiser of Firebox Restaurant in Hartford. We are working with them on our last episode of the fall season, which will be called “From Farm to Table”, in which we trace the food that they serve in the restaurant from its source to the plate. They took us down to Ashlawn Farm, where their beef purveyor keeps his cattle, and also where they get their roasted coffees. Although our episode will focus on the locally sourced beef that they serve (we can’t give too much away right now!), we learned a lot about coffee yesterday, and experienced for ourselves the beauty of getting it locally roasted.
Chip and Carol are the owners of the farm and have a coffee roasting machine where they roast raw beans that they import from all over the world. Chip gave us a tour of their farm, and explained to us many things about coffee that we did not know before. For starters, when coffee is freshly roasted you get a stronger aroma and richer flavor in the end product. Coffee beans have a shelf life, and buying them locally allows you to have a fresher product. He told us that once ground, coffee should be drunk within 48 hours. Keeping it in the fridge helps a bit with the shelf life, but it is better to grind up the beans only when you are ready to drink it. He also explained that the darker the roast, the less caffeinated the coffee is, because the roasting process strips the caffeine away. I always had the impression that a darker roast meant a stronger coffee. At the farm they have a small coffee house that has a large following. Who can resist freshly roasted coffee that is served overlooking fields with horses and cows? We were happy to have the owners of Ashlawn and are excited to try our locally roasted coffee blends.