No Pressure Coffee
Daily Herald of Sint Maarten features a new article that explores the supermarket Market Garden in Simpson Bay. The store management has created a whole range of healthy ready to eat products around the Double Dutch Café where Christian Peper from No Pressure Coffee is Head Barista.
The cafe provides a low threshold factor to enter the store for a cup of excellent coffee and then tries to entice you to try and buy something from a whole range of food and drinks.
The story continues…
After choosing two US coffee roasters from the short list of four for Double Dutch Café, we have entered the next stage.
We’re ordering samples from all suppliers, determine how the ordering process works and how we must handle the logistics of getting the fresh roasted beans from a warehouse in Miami to Sint Maarten.
I trust they will deliver them appropriately to Miami but the warehouse must store them in a temperature controlled environment and ship them in the same way.
It will be learning experience for everyone on our side, because coffee is usually not treated with this much care.
As for Carib Bean Coffee in Antigua, they roast locally and import beans to their island, as far as I know.
Update: the Hurricane Brew (medium/dark roast) is a mix of 5 different Arabica beans and came out splendidly on our espresso machine! It came via airmail, which is expensive, but _fast_!
The weekender section of today’s Daily Herald has a great article about head barista Christian Peper (from No Pressure Coffee) and Third Wave Coffee as well as the direction and intention of the coffee served daily in the Double Dutch Café inside the Market Garden supermarket in Simpson Bay.
It’s all about making the best coffee on St Maarten!
Proud to announce a cooperation between No Pressure Coffee and the new food corner inside the Market Garden supermarket: Double Dutch.
The Double Dutch Café, also known as the Market (Garden) Café, serves breakfast and lunch with a variety of ready-to-eat products ranging from fresh fruit and vegetable juices or smoothies, to espresso, Cappuccino and Cortado, iced coffees, to sandwiches, overnight oats, fruit salads, rotisserie chicken, sushi homemade soups and Johnny Cakes baked fresh all day long.
No Pressure Coffee provided consulting on the coffee corner in the cafe. Where to place.the espresso machine, which grinders would work for the expected volume, which beans to use, calibration of the machinery and the coffee recipes. 4 local employees where chosen to get elementary training to make the top 3 key popular coffee drinks: espresso, cappuccino and latte. Work book with guides and rules were established fitting for a coffee shop that aims for establishing specialty coffee on the island of St Maarten.
The cafe is competitively priced and features an outside seating area. The new food corner complements the already well-known breakfast and lunch buffets of the supermarket. The Double Dutch food corner also serves the hotel guests who are staying in the Commodore Suites, so there is a steady flow of people and products.
The final layout of the food area inside the supermarket is not yet established so expect to see some changes throughout the year until we settle in what works the best.
Expect more choices among the favorite dishes from around the world in a mix of international foods and snacks.
I was surprised with a package from the Netherlands that someone forwarded for me. It contained the hand grinder I had ordered a while ago but was delivered after friends had already flown back to Sint Maarten.
Now I can take my Hario V60 or Aeropress anywhere and also grind whole beans on demand. This comes in handy because I’m always scouting for a cool great new pound of coffee beans and the lack of a portable grinder limited what I could source.
Im really happy with this product of a Kickstarter campaign. It’s solid, accurate, easy to use and clean and for a good price.
For the Market Cafe in Simpson Bay I’m still looking for an espresso bean to use and this way I can try a few samples without taking apart my commercial grinders for it!
I’m proud to announce that I’ve closed a cooperation with Market Garden supermarket in Simpson Bay. I am providing consulting services to them on their new coffee shop inside the supermarket, the Market Café. Calibration of the espresso machine, which grinders, grinder settings, milk, coffee recipes and some training of the other baristas.
Soft opening is currently underway with full opening scheduled for end of next week. Official opening to be announced in April 2018.
I’m still waiting on another grinder so I have two, one for black coffees and one for milk drinks. But I’ve been busy trying out different recipes for Cappuccino, Latte, Flat White and the iced versions. Lack of proper coffee equipment is one of the greatest challenges on this island. Local suppliers have nothing so everything has been ordered from USA.
Here are some photos of the drinks I made.
Everything is focused on drinks to-go and we use certified biodegradable paper cups for everything. So sadly, you can’t see the coffee and milk layering. Maybe in the future…
So happy to finally have received my Baratza coffee grinder and Bonavita water kettle!
With the grinder, I can finally start grinding my own beans for brewing with my Aeropress or Hario V60. I’ve had these beans for months already so I’m glad I can use them at last. Most fresh roasted beans are beyond their peak after 3 months, so sadly they won’t be as good as they could have been.
I’m starting with Ethiopian beans from Nordkappcoffee.com in Utrecht, my friend Jasper also supplies coffee to the Koffieschool where I got my training and Jasper is a King in roasting. Ethiopian coffee is fresh with citric notes and green flavors, so that is something completely different from the dark roasted Ethiopian coffee I get from the local supermarket!
Next in line is the beans from Man met bril in Rotterdam! Can’t wait!
I’m so excited to say that I’ve found a partner to work with in Simpson Bay, who’s opening a coffee corner soon and I’ve been hired to consult for them on the set-up of the coffee corner. After the set-up, I’ll be the Head Barista in a team of 3 baristas and work 4 days a week in their shop.
The shop’s in Simpson Bay on Welfare Road, but I’m not going to announce exactly where until the shop will actually open… But if all goes well and as planned, that will be very soon!
I decided to become an official SCA member so that I can showcase my expertise and work towards earning the “Coffee Skills Diploma” with all the courses and training that I’ve been doing.
In addition, it gets me market research reports, a sticker and access to some of the industry’s leading conferences. Most beneficial is, however, the discount you get on additional training!
I’m about ready to try out different recipes for making filter coffee and sampling various coffees. But I could use your help with this! I simply can’t drink all the coffee myself.
On Friday 24th, Sunday 26th and Monday 27th of November from 10 AM – 1 PM, I will host small coffee tastings at my home. Only 4 seats are available each day, so make sure you sign up if you’re interested!
You will taste coffee made by a coffee maker (OXO on), the espresso-style Aeropress and the ultimate filter brewing method Hario V60.
Go to the No Pressure Coffee Facebook page, like it (if you haven’t already) and sign up for one of the sessions using the Events section.
There is no cost for this. I will supply the coffee, tea, water and juice that day and will also bake one or two cakes so you can keep your blood sugar levels at a reasonable level.
I have WiFi at home, so you can work from my home instead of yours that day and enjoy the company of other coffee lovers, good conversations on coffee making and what goes into a great cup of coffee! You’ll learn something about coffee, I’m sure of that.
Hope to see you!
No Pressure Coffee 