Richard Bertagna
gets wired for a living. As the master roaster for Millstone
Coffee, the everyman's gourmet brand you can grab at Safeway,
he slurps java all day every day, hunting new elixirs to sate
an increasingly caffeine-addled nation. A courtly, Southern-accented
gentleman, his message
is this: Coffee is our friend.
Willamette Week: How many cups of coffee have
you had today?
Richard Bertagna: I've probably only had about half a pot
of coffee today.
Do you drink tea, anything like that?
I don't drink tea.
In the past 15 years, there have been some big changes
in the way people drink coffee. So what sort of things have
you seen happen?
The biggest thing is the electric coffee maker, which has
hurt instant coffees. It's so quick to make coffee now.
I know that when I was a kid, I was always told coffee
would stunt my growth. Is there any truth to that?
No. Coffee is our friend.
When did you develop your love affair with coffee?
I was in the Air Force and we were always on alert. It
was the Strategic Air Command. We were always drinking coffee
and watching soap operas.
What's the most exotic place you've been?
I'd have to say Costa Rica. It's also the most technical
of the coffee-growing areas. It's against the law down there
to grow robusta coffee. Robusta coffee is, of course, the
cheaper product. It's grown in Africa and Brazil, but in
Costa Rica it's against the law to grow it, which I always
thought was pretty cool.
What coffee myth would you like to debunk?
A lot of people will give their kids Coke, but they won't
give them coffee. Again, coffee is our friend.
Is there anything that Millstone does to address environmental
issues
and concerns about coffee workers in other countries?
We don't really have any control over that. But, judging
from the visits I've had to the farms we work with, that
is a concern of theirs. They're trying to come up with ways
to use less water, to be less polluting. Costa Rica is concerned
about its rivers just like everyone else. And they're also
concerned about maintaining their coffee product over time,
making it sustainable. I think they are trying to improve
the conditions for their workers.
Do you tend to get a good cup of coffee at your neighborhood
Starbucks, in your professional opinion?
It's getting better. There really is a technique to making
espresso, but there's also an art to it. If they don't tamp
it right, the crema's not really good. I think that people
can make as good if not better coffee at home.
When you buy whole bean coffee, what's the best way
to store it at home?
The best way to store it is in an air-proof, moisture-proof
container in the fridge. If you have to grind it at the
store, that's fine. Just keep it in a Tupperware type of
container and put it in your fridge. When you grind it,
use a burr grinder rather than a blade grinder, because
the blade grinder tends to heat up and leave you with different-sized
particles, which extract differently. If you have a blade
grinder, shake it and use short bursts. Burr grinders grind
coffee into more uniform particles.
Any tips for home brewing?
Use a gold filter. That's the best. If you use a paper
filter, use unbleached. The bleaching process can add some
off flavors. And then with your water, if it tastes good,
it's OK to use cold, clean water. If it's hard, use distilled
water. And then once you brew it, don't leave it on the
burner for more than 20 minutes.
And you shouldn't boil the water, right?
No. And never microwave it.
As the 21st century starts, what do you foresee for
the coffee market?
I think it's going to continue to spread probably to the
rest of the country as it has in New York or the West. Everybody
will be more aware of coffee. When you say, "Hey, I'm drinking
a Sumatra or a Zimbabwe," they're not going to say, "Ooh,
what's that?" They're going to know that Zimbabwe has a
nice, soft, airy flavor and that Sumatra has a full-bodied
syrupy flavor. I think it's going that way. Of course I'm
happy about that.
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Willamette Week | originally
published November 23,
1999
|
