Food Finds - Food Find: Counter Culture Coffee

‘Relentlessly in pursuit of coffee perfection’

What does your coffee mean to you? Is it merely a vehicle for much-needed morning caffeine, or do you treat your first cup with the same reverence as a gourmet meal?

Regardless of which category you fall into, you should get acquainted with Counter Culture Coffee (atlanta.counterculturecoffee.com). The small company has steadily made a name for itself by becoming the preferred roaster for many retailers - namely some of Atlanta’s best coffee shops and restaurants such as Octane Coffee and Empire State South. Although all of Counter Culture’s roasting happens in Durham, N.C., the company has regional training centers (including one here in Atlanta) as opposed to coffee shops.

David LaMont, a spokesperson for Counter Culture, says the company chose this model so that it could provide more tailored services, coffee programs, products and support. “If the espresso machine goes down at a restaurant, I’ll be there with my tools,” LaMont says. “If they want to create a coffee program to highlight different coffees or create an espresso, we can help.”

LaMont says Counter Culture is “relentlessly in pursuit of coffee perfection.” The company develops relationships with all of its growers, who put more care into each batch of beans than more commercial operations. But Counter Culture doesn’t stop there. It wants to help make the coffee taste even better than it does when it leaves the farms all over the world, the ones whose owners LaMont knows by name.

The training centers serve as an environment where Counter Culture’s partners learn how to get the most out of each bean and elevate the coffee. “The barista is the finisher,” LaMont declares.

The training centers don’t exist solely for Counter Culture’s partners. If you’d like to learn more about the nuances of coffee, you can attend a complimentary cupping (a coffee tasting where you evaluate different blends side by side) every Friday at 10 a.m. at Counter Culture’s Atlanta Regional Training Center at King Plow Arts Center (887 W. Marietta St., Suite m210). They also hold paid “labs” where you can learn how to make a perfect cup of espresso.

You can buy Counter Culture’s coffees at many local retailers including Fresh Market (www.freshmarket.com) and at coffee shops including Octane (www.octanecoffee.com). The bags range in price from $12-$17 per pound depending on the batch or how exclusive the bean is. LaMont’s current favorite: The Koke, an “intensely floral coffee that offers sweet, fragrant notes of tangerine, lemon blossom, jasmine, and honeysuckle” from a little village in southern Ethiopia called Yirgacheffe.






Restaurants
International
Food Events