specialty coffee
Cream: it is said of something that is good, which is the most, fine cinnamon. Cream . The latest opening added to the powerful portfolio of specialty coffee shops that is being managed Madrid this last year has this adjective as a name. Specifically under the name of East Crema Coffee, a play on words in which " this is cream " References to East Asia (Tokyo, in particular) and a logo in which a coffee bean is the protagonist are added.
"When I first went to Japan and I learned everything that specialty coffee means and its differences with the coffee we are used to, there was no turning back", he tells us Alberto Velarde, founder of East Crema Coffee , a place with coffee "to go" in the Admiral street, 10.
"In addition, many of them are explicitly designed for take away, like us. Little ones and with a coffee from a excellent quality ", continues he. "I decided that I had to open my own coffee shop because it is difficult for me to drink one that is not tasty. In the end, there comes a time when you miss a good coffee and I wanted to open a place where you could enjoy it."
Cafe interior.
just one 1% of the population drinks coffee specialty in Spain, so it becomes a market that still has a long way to go.
"All good restaurants have spectacular quality in terms of product, preparation... but not in coffee," Velarde tells us. "Since we were little accustomed to drinking roasted coffee (mixture) – roasted with sugar to maintain its aroma and freshness for longer; and with a bitter finish – and when someone discovers specialty coffee, the difference is noticeable. You do not feel heavy, it is digested better, the bitterness disappears and then you find notes like chocolate or nuts , you are discovering other qualities and qualities", he explains to us, illustrating his perception of the current coffee landscape of our country.
In Spain we are accustomed to robusta coffee , some coffee beans whose collection is cheaper and, unlike the rest of Europe (with the exception of Portugal), we continue to consume and demand it, our palate being its most faithful friend. Although, little by little, this situation is changing.
"Us we work with the arabica variety , which is the higher quality of the two. With origins such as Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and always specialties. This means that they are scored with 80 points up for the SCA , which is the one that manages and develops all the regulations so that specialty coffee is considered as such", they explain to us. The difference from a normal coffee? "Well, these grains they have height and the higher they are, the more expensive it will be to collect them but they will taste better".
Displacement, collection, traceability, cleaning, roasting, fair wages for farmers and handling by a trained barista is everything that contributes to specialty coffee having so much value , something that, after all, translates into flavor . That is why there is no need to add sugar to specialty coffee, it does not need it, in addition to has less caffeine . "Robusta coffee beans have a 2.5, while specialty coffee beans only have 1.4," they explain.
"The caffeine it is developed by the plant itself insect defense like rust. The higher the altitude, the fewer insects. Above, the grains are calm, enjoying themselves and do not need to produce as much caffeine to defend themselves. Meanwhile, the beans that are down (between 600 and 800 meters) have a lot of insects around them, so they need more caffeine to avoid being attacked," reveals Marta, a barista at East Crema Coffee.
Coffee is what stands out in this place, but always well accompanied by artisan pastries (Mision Cafe is your supplier), such as cinnamon rolls, matcha ebisu with white chocolate, vegan or chocolate cookies. They also make a hole for chocolate bars, such as organic Svenska Kakaobolaget (Tanzania, 74%); the valencian Utopick , with milk and gin & tonic flavor; and those of other coffee professionals such as the people of Valladolid Coffee pot , which are marked with some interesting tablets with origins from Ecuador or the Dominican Republic.
There is also space for handicrafts and they have some beautiful ceramic mugs elaborated by Laura Valiente as part of her crockery. After all, his motto is from the earth to our hands.
"All the walls of our premises are made with ground coffee, the stone of the counter is from a Galician quarry and is polished above and below, but the rest is as it came from it. The shelves are made of pine wood... we seek that, just like you drink a coffee that comes from the earth, everything follows that sustainability philosophy ", says Velarde as we say goodbye with coffee in hand and the feeling that never before has a coffee bean given so much meaning to our way of seeing life.
Address: Calle Almirante 10, Madrid See map
Telephone: 914 44 53 06
Schedule: Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Saturdays from 9.00 to 19.00; Sundays, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.