Libra Coffee

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In the last two shows of the season we meet with local roasters who have gone another direction and only offer subscription-based services. Libra Coffee is based out of Oceanside, California. Founder and head roaster Eric Medina joined me to talk about his journey from offering a coffee sampler subscription service to going to Italy to get his Masters Degree in Coffee from Trieste University to purchasing his own roaster and opening Libra Coffee.

Subscription services have become all the rage in the past year as roasters search for new revenue streams during the pandemic. Basically, you sign up up once and then on a regular schedule freshly, roasted coffee shows up at your home without you having to do anything. Every subscription service is a little different in what it offers. Eric has been developing his service for years, and unlike other subscription based services where you can choose one roast style Eric’s service is for the more adventurous coffee drinker seeking variety in their coffee experience.

A fundamental ingredient in your morning coffee is water. The same coffee beans will taste differently depending on the source of the water, how that water is filtered and processed processed. Heat the water for your French press in the same pot you made spaghetti if you really want a visceral experience of how water can collect flavors. Eric made water a key component to the mission statement underpinning his company.

According to the World Health Organization 1 in 10 people worldwide don’t have access to clean water near their homes which is wild to think about. That is a lot of people. Clean water coming out of the tap is something that is easy to take for granted. Libra Coffee has partnered with Lifestraw to provide water filters to the communities they source their coffee beans from. For each bag of coffee purchased, $1 goes toward an extra-strength water filter, and each filter has the power to provide clean drinking water to 100 people for up to 5 years (per LibraCoffee.com).

Go to Libracoffee.com to learn more about their water efforts, and if you decide to sign up for a subscription while you’re there use the promo code: onewildlife, all one word spelled out in lower case letters to get your first bag of coffee free. Subscriptions can be canceled at anytime. I did this recently. It goes through as a charge to set up the subscription, but then Eric hits some magic buttons on the other end to reverse it.

Don’t forget to listen! Stream here or click the link to your favorite podcast platform below.

COFFEE VOCABULARY

Carbonic Maceration: A type of coffee bean processing where beans are kept at a lower temperature in a sealed tank for up to three days. The restriction of oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide slows down the process of sugar breakdown allowing for a longer fermentation period that creates a unique flavor profile. Also used in wine making. Libra just released a highly rated Columbian coffee that used this process which you can read about here.
For a full, scientific breakdown of the process check out this essay on CoffeeExtraction.com.

Red Eye: A shot of espresso in coffee cup topped with drip coffee.

Pourtables:  Single cup brews of premium coffee for those on-the-go. Gaining in popularity with hikers, campers and outdoor coffee drinkers.

COFFEE FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS. WORDS FOR YOU.

We teamed up with Coffee Cycle to buy some fancy coffee for local health care workers that are picking up coffees from the shop including Nurse Liz! In hopes of keeping that going I’m offering 30% off subscriptions to a full year of Roast! West Coast’s premium content plus a copy of my fiction novella “Eli & Jane” which features some pretty great coffee drinking scenes, and for every subscriber I’ll buy more coffees for more healthcare workers through the end of the year. Thanks for your support of this show, your own local healthcare teams and coffee roasters.

Thanks for reading, listening and sharing Roast! West Coast, and be sure to drink good coffee!

Listen to the show on these platforms!

APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • ANCHOR.FM • GOOGLE PODCASTS • AMAZON MUSIC • THE COAST NEWS

TUNEIN RADIO • I HEART RADIO • POCKETCASTS • BREAKER • RADIO PUBLIC • OVERCAST • YOUTUBE • STITCHER

If you’re thinking of giving coffee as a gift for the holidays, and you should because it is the best gift. Check out these discounts for online purchases to these great indie retailers.

CURRENT PROMOS for Roast! West Coast Listeners!

NEW!!! • 10% off - MostraCoffee.com with promo code: ROASTPODCAST10
• 15% off - MareaCoffee.com with promo code: ROAST
• 25% off hand-crafted jewelry from EmmieAndLil.com with promo code: Roast25
• 1st Bag of Coffee Free w/ Subscription at LibraCoffee.com w/ promo code: onewildlife
• Buy One, Get one for 25% off at www.leap.coffee on Tuesdays only w/ promo code: TUESDAY (Free Shipping on orders over $25)

I hope this e-mail finds you drinking good coffee. Follow @OneWildLife on Faceboook, Instagram and Twitter!