We went to Oakland for a field trip on Friday. What was supposed to be a visit to learn more about the science of coffee turned into a day-long food adventure. This is Part One of a Three Part adventure: Coffee, Sake, and Pickles. Who would've thunked it? Don't you just love field trips that fall onto your lap? :)
"OPEN" - Just in time for a quick pick-me-up cup from Peerless (which means "has no match", "incomparable", and in business for 84 years)! As we got closer to the door we could smell the coffee.... Mmmmm. Starting off in the retail store front, we see a lot of coffee making paraphernalia (some of which we couldn't quite figure out) and the sound of the roasters and grinders tumbling the sacred beans about. Sonja, who is one of the co-owners, came out and ushered us to the conference room to kick-off a private tour
We learned that 50 countries grow coffee which explains some of the reasons why roasting and blends require the skills of a master roaster. Picking (only the red-ripe 'cherries'), drying, and removing the outer dried fruit by hand or machine yields the seed (or two beans). This is further dried before bagging in 132-lb burlap sacks like they have been using for the last who-knows-how-many-years. Sonya has actually spent time in South America picking coffee beans and learning what it is really like.
One tree produces approximately 1 pound per season which is hand-picked, of course. At 132 pounds per bag, this is noticeably a labor intensive livelihood. The actual grower receives a tiny amount per pound as compared to what a Starbucks sells a cup of coffee.
Peerless imports from 40 countries, as not all countries produce what Peerless is interested in. Some areas only produce
Robusta coffee which is NOT good for REAL coffee, but just fine for Folgers and other bulk modern coffee producers. This also explains some of the reasons why Folgers hasn't won any taste tests but Peerless has
The original desk
where the business began. Not knowing anything about coffee, one son (out of 14) decided to make a living in Oakland after working in mining in Nevada, roasting coffee in the morning and delivering it in the afternoon to friends in the restaurant business.
The museum had a countless array of coffee grinders - some to sit on to provide leverage while grinding; others mount on the wall. Or, the combo, that you can sit on for leverage while grinding and then, since the seat is decorative, you can hang it on the wall.
During WWII metal was rationed, along with most other goods, and not available for industrial use, so glass jars were used to sell coffee. The museum contained quite a few examples of glass coffee jars from this time period with the original labels still intact.
The original storefront in Oakland. Not only did they sell coffee and tea, but there is also a BIG bag of peanuts for roasting. The sign seen here, and the case, along with as much memorabilia as possible, were saved when they moved out of this space.
Before its arrival at the museum, this grinder was being used as an end table. Maybe, instead of sitting a naughty kid in a corner, put him to work as well...
The grind you make goes neatly into the attached jar so you can see how much your making and put a lid on the jar to save for tomorrow.
Posing during our whirlwind tour of the museum was somewhat in the dark, as you can tell. The windows were boarded up a few days before in preparation for the threat of riots (which luckily did not reach Peerless' neighborhood)
An easy to transport brick of tea from the far east. Simply break off a piece and brew your tea. Sonja wasn't sure how old this was, however it certainly looks like an antique (bit of dust in your tea never hurt anyone. The brick did not have any smell to it, however).
A more recent example of pressed tea for transport. This one, maybe 5 or 10 years old had no noticeable smell either.
Warmer for freshly roasted peanuts, coals in the bottom keep the nuts toasty warm throughout the day.
A South American coffee grinder - the old fashioned way.
The roasting and processing production floor equipment is color coded for easy identification. Here, the yellow pipes are bringing in fresh filtered air for cooling the roasted beans.
The green structures in the background deliver the green beans to the roasters (upper right corner). Check out this
Green Coffee Classification System. Peerless uses two 400 lb roasters, an upgrade from the previous property where they only had a single 100 lb roaster. Hmmm, sort of like hot dog packaging and buns where the quantities don't match, bags of beans are 132 lbs and the old roaster handles only 100 lbs.... oh, those clever sales people. The foreground tray has paddles to aerate and cool the roasted beans.
This is a small set of roasters for sampling and blending purposes.
These hoppers feed the bagging line with ground coffee.
The bagging line.
In the back are mixers for adding flavors to the beans. A simple process, natural ingredients are tumbled with the roasted beans in what is akin to a cement mixer. While the entire building smelled great, this area smelled the GREATEST!
Labeling and boxing for local Safeway distribution.
In the cupping room, new coffee roasts are ready for tasting (which we unfortunately didn't get to do, but maybe we'll have to schedule a "tasting tour". Read about the
principles of cupping - it's quite an art.
This is a little difficult to see clearly, but it is a
siphon coffee maker. More about siphon coffee makers
here
Kenya AA and Sumatra Mandheling
Peerless also sells tea and peanuts (although we didn't see any peanuts today).
K came home with Ethiopian Moka after sampling a few blends and roasts. I think it'll be delicious with condensed milk...
As we were getting ready to leave, Sonja came rushing out to show us this framed letter from her son, George. He had written it after his class field trip to Peerless Coffee Company. George is now the President of Peerless Coffee & Tea!
Peerless is a must-visit for coffee lovers :)
Good Eats episodes
True Brew (Season 2)
True Brew
True Brew II (Season 4)
Espress Yourself (Season 10)
