Brew with Plunger or French Press

 Coffee character: A rich, medium bodied brew 

Good for: Its simplicity—it’s easy to use and can make up to six cups at a time, so it’s great for when you have people over 

Grind: Coarse 

Brew time: Let it steep for around 4 minutes

People across the country are digging into the back of their abandoned-gadget cupboards and dusting off their plungers. They’re back in vogue, only now we like to refer to them as French presses—it sounds more cosmopolitan, oui? 

Loved for its simple, and forgiving, nature, plunger coffee virtually makes itself. It’s a form of steeping, where water and coffee are in contact throughout brewing, which means all you need to do is bring the two ingredients together. Mix hot water with coffee grounds and leave the pot to sit while you think about whether it’s time to let go of the waffle-maker you also found in the cupboard. After 4 minutes, separate the rich brown brew from the grounds by pressing down the plunger (fitted with mesh). Voila! 

Depending on the size of your pot, you can make many cups at a time. Coupled with the fact that it’s low maintenance to make, it’s a good one to serve to a crowd. 119 The Hario coffee press has two thick glass walls for extra insulation and protection from heat. The removable, olivewood collar aids grip.

To use: 

- Pre-heat coffee press by rinsing it out with hot water. 

- Grind coffee—a coarse grind is best suited. Add around 10–12g (about 2 tablespoons) of coffee to every 100–120g (3.5–4 oz) of water. 

 - Pour 200°F (92°C) water over grounds, providing an even coverage. 

-  After 4 minutes, stir lightly. 

 - Gently plunge.

Brew Style - Ibrik

Coffee character: Rich, dark and intense, since this coffee isn’t filtered, its texture is a bit on the, well, muddy side 

Good for: Going back to the roots of coffee brewing Grind: Very fine and powder-like 

 Brew time: Can take around 10 minutes total

An ibrik (known in Turkey as a cezve) is an ornate little coffee pot with a long handle, the type that you might have been given by your sister that time she went to Istanbul. The coffee is boiled over a flame before being poured straight into a drinking cup. This isn’t exactly specialty coffee territory, but it makes a very distinctive brew with a history as old as coffee itself. And don’t think for a second that ibrik connoisseurs aren’t as serious as espresso or siphon coffee devotees: the World Cezve/Ibrik Championships are held annually in Europe and competition is fierce.

Traditionally, this coffee is drunk on special occasions unsweetened for sad times, such as funerals, and with sugar for happier occasions, such as weddings. It’s also common for brewers to add a pinch of cardamom for a spicy, woody aroma. For ibrik coffee, the beans need to be pulverized until they’re superfine and powdery. Most grinders aren’t capable of that, so get your coffee as fine as possible then grind it further with a mortar and pestle.

To use: 

Pour 90g (3 oz) of cold water into the ibrik. 

 Add 10g (about 2 tablespoons) of superfine coffee. 

 If you’re adding sugar or cardamom, do so now and stir (don’t fill the ibrik more than halfway). 

 Put the ibrik over medium heat. 

 When the coffee starts to boil, lower the heat and let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes. Once the coffee has settled, turn the heat back up and repeat the previous step twice more, turning the heat down as soon as the coffee boils. 

 On the third and final boil, take the ibrik off the heat. Slowly and gently pour the coffee into pre-warmed cups 

IF I’M A HOME ROASTER

 

ROASTING ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE. IT IS MUCH, MUCH EASIER. IN FACT, IT IS SO EASY THAT ANYONE CAN DO IT, EVEN AT HOME. WHILE HOME ROASTING IS VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT TRANSPIRES IN A COMMERCIAL ROASTERY, THERE ARE A FEW EXTRA TIDBITS THAT MAY BE HANDY TO KNOW IF YOU INTEND TO TAKE YOUR COFFEE HABIT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. BOTH INVOLVE THE TWO ESSENTIAL ITEMS YOU NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN: GREEN COFFEE AND A ROASTER.

Acquiring green coffee is pretty easy these days. If you were to walk into a roastery and ask them to sell you small amounts of green coffee, they most likely would do so. There are also a number of different online retailers that will sell you green coffee for home roasting. What really matters with green coffee is storage. While it can be a stable product, with the ability to last relatively unchanged for well over a year after harvesting, it must be stored properly. 

Basically, this means green coffee must be kept dry and at a cozy temperature. If the humidity is high, the coffee will absorb moisture. If it absorbs enough moisture, microorganisms may start chomping on it and growing, running the risk of ruining the coffee. Higher moisture contents may also facilitate natural degradation of the green bean, as will storing the coffee at temperatures that are too warm.

When green coffee doesn’t age well and it isn’t caused by mold, it develops a flavor known in the industry as “baggy”. It got this name because for most of recent coffee history, green coffee has been stored in jute bags and the baggy flavor tends to be woody/cardboard/grassy, not so unlike the way we imagine jute might taste. 

Fortunately, storing small amounts of green coffee properly in your home is simple. If the climate in your home is controlled throughout the year to make you comfortable (i.e., you use air conditioning and heating), then the coffee will likely stay fresh for many months, even for more than a year, assuming you don’t store it, say, next to the shower. If the conditions aren’t that controlled, then merely keeping the coffee in airtight containers (plastic, glass, or metal) will also do the trick. 

There’s also anecdotal evidence that storing coffee in the freezer is an excellent way of preserving it with no known side effects (while crystal formation doesn’t seem to be a problem, the same risks that apply to storing roasted coffee in the freezer would apply to green coffee, as well). 

Once you’ve got the green bean storage situation figured out, all you need is something with which to roast them! As a home roaster, you will be constrained by the tools available, thus, don’t expect to be manipulating the roast profile too much; home roasting machines aren’t as sophisticated as commercial machines. 

This isn’t to say you can’t create an excellent coffee at home, just that you may not get to explore the finer points of roasting too much. You can roast coffee with pretty much any tool you have that will transfer heat to the coffee. Most people start roasting coffee at home the way it is typically done in Ethiopia— on a skillet or other heated pan. 

This works, but roasting the beans evenly is very tricky, even with constant stirring. Other people start with hot air popcorn poppers. They hold only a small amount of coffee but hot air is a very efficient way of transferring heat to coffee. Commercial air roasters do exist, but they are much less popular than drum roasters, which are just large, metal cylinders that are heated externally and transfer the heat through the drum. If home roasting becomes a bigger part of your life, you can purchase an actual home roaster. 

There are several different types available, each with its own pros and cons. Both air and drum roasters are manufactured. Of course, if you like to work with your hands, you can always just build your own home roaster!

A DARKER ROASTED COFFEE? DO DARKER ROASTS HAVE LESS CAFFEINE?

 

The answer, unfortunately, is not clear. The available data are all over the place. Some research shows that the concentration of caffeine increases with darker roasts while other research shows that it decreases. Some research even shows no changes at all! What are we to make of all this—how can we see completely opposite patterns with something that seems so cut and dry? If we consider what we know about roasting and add to it some details of how caffeine behaves in the universe, we might be able to guess at the answers. 

As coffee is roasted longer and darker, it loses mass: gaseous molecules are created during roasting and they leave the bean. Longer roast times produce more gases, which mean lower weights. Some molecules in the beans, however, don’t change at all during roasting. Consequently, as roast levels darken, these static compounds increase in concentration. We can demonstrate this with an example using mythical compound q. Let’s say the concentration of q in the unroasted bean was 5 parts q to 100 parts bean. 

In a light roast, some of the bean vaporizes leaving only 85 parts bean but q stays the same. So, now the concentration is 5 q/85 bean. If the roast darkens a lot, the bean may only have 75 parts left, making q much more concentrated merely because it could tolerate the heat! This behavior would certainly help explain how the concentration of caffeine increases in darker roasts. Its actual content remains constant while lots of stuff around it is leaving. If this were always the case, then we’d always see an increase in caffeine concentration with darker roasts. But, that’s not what we find. Caffeine seems to be a fairly stable molecule in coffee. In other words, it doesn’t seem to combine or interact with other molecules, though there isn’t any research exploring whether this is true or not. 

However, it does have a quirky trait whereby it tends to not obey the typical transition steps between phase changes. So, instead of changing from a solid to a liquid to a gas, it often skips the liquid phase and turns directly into a gas, a process called sublimation. Sublimation for caffeine can begin at 178°C (352°F). While it is very difficult to measure the actual internal bean temperature during roasting, it is simple to measure the temperature of the mass of beans, which is probably near the temperature inside a bean. 

As most roasts easily exceed bean mass temperatures of 215°C (419°F) and can go as high as 235°C (455°F), it is perfectly reasonable to suspect that some caffeine in the bean sublimates and drifts away from the bean. If this happens, then it explains the caffeine decrease as roasts become darker. In fact, some research does indeed show that total caffeine content decreases with darker roasts. 

What about the data that demonstrated no change in caffeine concentration in either direction? Well, it is possible that both of those phenomena occurred simultaneously at just the right levels as to maintain a constant caffeine concentration. I don’t think it is that straightforward, though. 

There are several reports where beans were processed differently or were of different quality grades and their caffeine contents were different. This suggests that some kind of interaction between caffeine and biological and/or chemical processes exists. The effect of this interaction may be the unpredictability of how caffeine behaves during the roasting process. At the end of the day, all this discussion of how the caffeine concentration is changing is probably moot. In all cases, the changes in concentration are pretty small, amounting to 0.1 percent or less of a difference from the lightest to the darkest roast.

 Thus, in a practical, real-world sense, on a per-cup basis, the amount of caffeine in a cup produced from a very light roast compared to that of a cup produced from a very dark roast is pretty small. It is so small, in fact, that a person who drinks a cup of coffee a day would probably experience no physiological difference between the two cups based upon their caffeine content! 

HOW IS COFFEE DECAFFEINATED?

MORE THAN A FEW PEOPLE OUT THERE CAN’T FUNCTION WITHOUT A CUP OF COFFEE A DAY, IF NOT TWO OR THREE CUPS. MOST COFFEE DRINKERS NOT ONLY RELY ON THE CAFFEINE IN COFFEE BUT THEY RELISH THE ENERGY AND AWARENESS IT BRINGS. HOWEVER, THERE’S A DEDICATED GROUP OF DRINKERS WHO EITHER DON’T WANT THE CAFFEINE OR PHYSICALLY CAN’T TOLERATE IT. SO, THEY DRINK COFFEE FROM WHICH THE CAFFEINE HAS BEEN REMOVED.

As of now, there are no arabica varieties in cultivation with caffeine content that 68 meets international standards for what constitutes decaffeinated coffee. Thus, all decaf coffee comes from manually removing it from ordinary coffee. There are four commonly used solvents for doing this: methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, carbon dioxide, and water. No matter which solvent is used, the beginning of the process is the same. Green coffee beans are steamed or soaked in water to make the caffeine more available to the solvents and to make it easier for the solvents to penetrate the beans. From here, two main pathways exist: direct solvent extraction or indirect extraction. 

In direct extraction, where methylene chloride and ethyl acetate are used, the wet green beans are treated directly with the solvent for some eight to twelve hours. Then, the solvent is removed and the beans are steamed (to help drive off any remaining solvent) and dried before roasting. Unfortunately, these solvents don’t extract just caffeine. Thus, other compounds, which may be related to quality, may also be extracted. This is one reason why decaf has a historically bad reputation for quality (the other reason is that low quality coffees were often used: junk in, junk out). 

Carbon dioxide is a terrible solvent for caffeine under normal conditions as the solubility of caffeine in it is low. This is not surprising, as carbon dioxide is a gas at room temperature! However, if carbon dioxide is taken to its supercritical state— where it has liquid and gaslike properties simultaneously—it improves, and if a bit of water is added, it becomes much better. To take carbon dioxide to its supercritical point requires special equipment to significantly increase temperature and pressure. The great benefit is that supercritical carbon dioxide seems to selectively extract caffeine and not much else. 

The indirect method allows for water to be the only solvent in direct contact with the beans. Water can be used to extract the caffeine and other compounds and then the water solution is treated with a solvent or passed through a filter to remove the caffeine, pulling it away from the beans. The other compounds can then be returned to the coffee beans before drying them down. When water is the only solvent used, a clever trick is employed to prevent compounds other than caffeine from being removed. 

The process begins with soaking the wet green beans with water and then removing the caffeine from the solution, as in the indirect method. Then, the beans are discarded! The solution, sans caffeine but with the other stuff, is then the solvent used to extract the caffeine from the next batch of coffee. Doing it this way means very little noncaffeine material is extracted by the solvent. Now, nothing has to be returned to the coffee and it is believed that the end result tastes better. 

There will always be a place for decaf coffee, as there will always be someone who loves the taste of the coffee at all hours of the day but doesn’t want to deal with the physiological effects of the caffeine. Modern decaffeinated coffees can have excellent quality. Like all technology, the methods for removing caffeine are continuously improving. Thus, expect the quality to improve even more. “I was taken by the power that savoring a simple cup of cof ee can have to connect people and create community.”

Raspberry Coffee Recipe

Take a well-deserved break day or night and spoil yourself with a raspberry infused coffee. 

Makes: 6 

Preparation Time: 5mins 

Total Prep Time: 5mins

Instructions: 

1. Put the ground coffee along with the brown sugar in the brew basket filter of your coffee making machine. 

2. Add the raspberry extract to the empty coffee making machine. 

3. Pour in the necessary amount of water and brew according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

4. When brewed, pour the coffee into your favorite mug, sweeten with sugar to taste and garnish with whipped cream.

New Orleans Café Noir Coffee Recipe

 New Orleans black coffee, otherwise known as Café Noir, is a dark and thick brew. Its secret ingredient, chicory is made out of the dried, roasted roots of a bitter herb. Locals won’t drink anything else

Makes: 4 

Preparation Time: 5mins

 Total Prep Time: 8mins 

Ingredient List:

- 4 tablespoons drip ground coffee 

- 2 tablespoons chicory 

- ¼ teaspoons salt 

- 4 cups water (filtered) 

- Sugar (optional)

Instructions: 

1. Spoon the coffee, followed by the chicory, and finally the salt into the filter of a dry style coffee maker's drip basket. 

2. Bring the water to come to a boil. 

3. Add sufficient water to lightly moisten the ground coffee and chicory. Next, pour approximately ½ a cup of water into the coffee filter. 

4. Wait patiently for the water to drip through, and add another ½ cup of water. Repeat the process until all 4 cups are brewed. 

5. Serve at once 

6. Add sugar to sweeten if necessary.

Swiss Mocha Coffee Recipe

Makes: 6 

Preparation Time: 5mins 

Total Prep Time: 5mins 

Whip up a batch of Swiss mocha mix for your co-workers

Mocha mix: * 

- 1 cup instant coffee 

- 1 cup granulated sugar

 - 2 cups powdered milk 

- 4 teaspoons cocoa

Coffee: 

- 6-12 tablespoons mocha mix 

- 6-10 cups boiling water 

Instructions: 

1. First, prepare the mocha mix. 

2. Add the coffee, sugar, powdered milk, and cocoa to a food blender or processor and process to a powder. Store in an airtight re-sealable container and take to work the following day. 

3. When it’s time for a coffee break, add 1-2 tablespoons of the mix along with 1 cup of boiling water to a mug and stir to combine. 

4. Repeat the process depending on how many cups you intend to make. 

*Store for up to 6 weeks in an airtight, re-sealable container at room temperature.

Ibrik Coffee

Coffee character: Rich, dark and intense, since this coffee isn’t filtered, its texture is a bit on the, well, muddy side 

 Good for: Going back to the roots of coffee brewing 

Grind: Very fine and powder-like 

Brew time: Can take around 10 minutes total

An ibrik (known in Turkey as a cezve) is an ornate little coffee pot with a long handle, the type that you might have been given by your sister that time she went to Istanbul. The coffee is boiled over a flame before being poured straight into a drinking cup. This isn’t exactly specialty coffee territory, but it makes a very distinctive brew with a history as old as coffee itself. And don’t think for a second that ibrik connoisseurs aren’t as serious as espresso or siphon coffee devotees: the World Cezve/Ibrik Championships are held annually in Europe and competition is fierce.

Traditionally, this coffee is drunk on special occasions—unsweetened for sad times, such as funerals, and with sugar for happier occasions, such as weddings. It’s also common for brewers to add a pinch of cardamom for a spicy, woody aroma. For ibrik coffee, the beans need to be pulverized until they’re superfine and powdery. Most grinders aren’t capable of that, so get your coffee as fine as possible then grind it further with a mortar and pestle

To use: 

 - Pour 90g (3 oz) of cold water into the ibrik. 

- Add 10g (about 2 tablespoons) of superfine coffee. 

- If you’re adding sugar or cardamom, do so now and stir (don’t fill the ibrik more than halfway). 

- Put the ibrik over medium heat. 

- When the coffee starts to boil, lower the heat and let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes. 

- Once the coffee has settled, turn the heat back up and repeat the previous step twice more, turning the heat down as soon as the coffee boils. 

- On the third and final boil, take the ibrik off the heat. 

- Slowly and gently pour the coffee into pre-warmed cups. 

Arabic, Turkish, Cypriot, Greek: for the uninitiated these styles of ibrik coffee may seem exactly the same, but keep that opinion to yourself. Follow the cues your hosts give you, and no matter what you do, never ever call a Greek’s brew “Turkish coffee.”

Strategies for Buying

 

Before contacting sellers, potential buyers should prepare a document that outlines for themselves their desired sales price, terms, and conditions. 

You also will need to consider the shop’s investment yield, taxes, and the effect the business will have on your personal life. Basically, buyers should be looking for establishments that will meet their numbers and ones that they are going to be happy working at 12 to 14 hours a day. 

Buyers should prioritize their objectives and consider the trade-offs that must be made to attain them. Buyers generally want to accomplish the flowing objectives:

• • Best possible sales price. Serious buyers and sellers compromise on the sales price, terms, and conditions in order to reach a mutually satisfying end. Buyers are usually willing to trade price for terms and conditions. Most buyers will draw the line at a sales price that exceeds the shop’s replacement cost. 
• • Reasonable down payment. Most serious buyers are willing to maintain a 1:1 debt-to-equity ratio. Many buyers want to lower their down payments to reduce risk, and unfortunately, find themselves with businesses that cannot support their debt load. 
• • Reasonable initial investment. Serious buyers are willing to match dollars of debt equally with dollars of personal equity. Buyers do want most of their equity to go towards the down payment. 
• • Maximum future profits. Buyers are buying a shop’s current financial performance but always are looking for the highest potential revenuegenerating business. 
• • Reduced possibility of failure. Only one out of five established businesses that are purchased go under. That is much better than the four-out-of-five failure rate of new businesses. 
• • Enhancement of borrowing power. Most lenders prefer financing an existing, profitable operation to a new venture. 
• • Minimizing tax liabilities. Buyers need to be aware of the tax consequences of the shop they are buying. Both buyer and seller should work at minimizing taxes. The only way to ensure that this happens is for both parties to hire accountants.

Buyers, too, should develop a purchase plan that lists potential sellers, analyzes their motivations for selling, analyzes the businesses, and develops planned responses to counteroffers. Research into a seller’s motivation is crucial here and can serve the buyer in a number of ways. The following is a list of major seller motivations:

• • Owners who want to retire 
• • Disillusioned owners who do not know how to remedy their problems 
• • Owners with tax problems 
• • Owners with other investment opportunities 
• • Owners with di stressed properties and insufficient cash flow to fund remodeling 
• • Distressed owners with profitable operations, but troubled personal relationships

Once a buyer has responded to a sales solicitation, he or she will receive enough information to determine if the shop meets or exceeds investment requirements. The buyer should do more preliminary work to find out further specifics about whether a shop is a good business opportunity. One of the best indications is the shop’s real property lease payment. If it is less than or equal to 6 percent of the shop’s total sales volume, it is probably worth further investigation. 

When a buyer decides to pursue more research, he or she should tour the facility, learn the lease highlights and other purchase options, and evaluate the neighborhood, competition, customer viewpoint, history of ownership, and the owner’s reason for selling. After doing a deeper analysis of the shop, the buyer must once again determine if it meets his or her investment requirements. If so, an earnest money deposit and offer should be delivered to the seller in return for detailed information on the shop.

HOW DO I KEEP MY COFFEE FRESH?

 

YOU JUST PURCHASED A BAG OF COFFEE AND YOU NOTICE THAT JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOVE THE MIDWAY POINT OF THE BAG THERE IS A SMALL HOLE! IF YOU SQUEEZE THE BAG, YOU HEAR GAS ESCAPE THROUGH THE HOLE AND, HOPEFULLY, YOU SMELL SOMETHING WONDERFUL. 

WHY ON EARTH IS THERE A BELLY BUTTON ON THE BAG? YOU ALREADY KNOW THE SIMPLE ANSWER: TO LET OUT AIR. OF COURSE, IT IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT. THAT HOLE IS PART OF A BIGGER DISCUSSION OF COFFEE FRESHNESS AND HOW BEST TO STORE ROASTED COFFEE TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS.

Presumably, since we know the major factors that cause coffee to stale— gas evolution, high temperatures, oxidation, and humidity—we ought to able to control them to extend the shelf life of the coffee. By teasing some of the data available in the myriad of research on the topic, we can make some general statements that will help. However, without direct research to support our hypotheses, and the ones of the coffee industry at large, some of our conclusions will have to be educated guesses.

Let’s address each staling factor individually, starting with gas evolution. Since smaller coffee pieces allow the release of more gas, keeping the coffee as intact as possible will help. Thus, grinding coffee ahead of time is a poor practice. Rather, grinding should occur just prior to brewing. The other potential way to slow down gas evolution (and all chemical reactions) is to decrease the storage temperature; cooler temperatures slow down chemical reactions and chemical mobility. Thus, storing coffee in the refrigerator or freezer will accomplish this. Unfortunately, I can’t find any sensory data that explores specific taste changes when stored at cooler temperatures. 

Coffee geeks abhor the idea, but, at best, they have some personal, anecdotal evidence to support it. Freezing coffee could run the risk of creating crystals that could shatter cells, much like grinding. Freezing could also lead to freezer burn, which probably isn’t a flavor anyone wants to introduce to a coffee. Arguably, the biggest reason not to store coffee in the freezer is the risk of condensation forming on the beans as the beans come out of the freezer. This water may then lead to a deterioration of the quality by hastening the natural staling of coffee when the coffee is out of the freezer or by allowing ice crystals to form on the coffee if it is returned to the freezer. Refrigeration doesn’t run the risk of crystal formation, but the condensation is still an issue. 

Ultimately, individual drinkers will have to decide this on their own, at least until some new research surfaces. Preventing or minimizing oxidation reactions is as simple as keeping oxygen away from the roasted coffee beans. Of course, with the atmospheric concentration of oxygen at about 21 percent, that isn’t so easy. Simply putting just-roasted coffee in an oxygen-impermeable container and sealing it doesn’t solve the problem since the air trapped in the container is full of oxygen. Besides, even if coffee were sealed up in a container, the container would likely explode as a result of the pressure build-up from all the volatile compounds being released! So, either the air has to be completely sucked out of the container before it is sealed or all the air must be replaced with a gas that is completely inert, like nitrogen.

I have no knowledge that any company packages just-roasted coffee and then evacuates the air before sealing it, though it seems like a worthwhile strategy. Many larger roasters do flush bags with nitrogen before sealing them. Some research supports this as an effective means of extending the acceptability of the coffee farther from the roast date than by using normal air. Lastly, controlling the amount of water coffee is exposed to is fairly simple. If the coffee is packed in an oxygen-impermeable container, then the container is also likely to be water impermeable. After the container in opened, keeping the coffee in an air-tight container that is waterproof should help minimize exposure to any humidity in the air, although, if the air was full of moisture when the coffee was sealed or closed in a container, then the container won’t offer any protection.

So, what’s the story with the bag and its belly button? The bags that have them are made out of oxygen-impermeable materials. Generally, they prevent many gases from passing through. Thus, as mentioned before, if freshly roasted coffee is sealed in a bag, it is liable to explode. The belly button, more formally known as a one-way valve, is a crafty device that allows gas to exit the bag but prevents any gas from entering. It is a release valve; the carbon dioxide and other volatile compounds can escape but oxygen cannot enter. The one-way valve is a fantastic tool but it has its limitations. 

For one thing, unless the air trapped in the bag while sealing it is replaced with something inert, preventing oxygen from entering is irrelevant; the bag is already full of it (though the valve still prevents the bag from exploding). Secondly, once the bag is opened by the consumer, any internal protection is lost and the consumer must repackage the coffee as best as possible. Ultimately, we aren’t able to prevent the staling process from occurring. At best, it can be delayed. However, if coffee is drunk within a few weeks of roasting, the need to delay staling is most likely unnecessary. After all, the freshly roasted coffee will still be pretty fresh!

Determining Price from a Buyer’s Perspective

Potential buyers must do a thorough financial analysis of the shop. They should study its current profitability carefully and use this information to determine its potential capacity for generating revenue. There is a very close relationship between a shop’s current profitability and its likely sales price. Understandably, sellers are not particularly eager to divulge their financial records to buyers. 

However, if a seller is forthcoming with this information, it can signal to the buyer that he or she has nothing to hide. It is a good idea for the buyer to hire an accountant to assist in this financial analysis. This will help determine whether the deal meets the buyer’s investment requirements. Buyers also should consider hiring other specialists to work with contracts, unemployment compensation, insurance, and banking. Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) throughout the country offer free consulting services to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. 

The buyers also should complete at least a rough market and competition survey before performing a financial evaluation. This will ensure the buyer’s familiarity with the shop’s location and will help when estimating future revenues and expenses. If the buyer is unfamiliar with the area, an independent consulting service can be hired to provide a useful survey. A seller expects a written offer with price, terms, conditions, and an earnest money deposit before allowing a potential buyer to review confidential financial information. It must be agreed that the buyer can withdraw if he or she is unhappy with the financial records. This is because the earnest deposit is at risk unless the right to retract the offer is in place. When reviewing the seller’s financial records, the buyer should expect that an independent CPA has never audited them. 

Auditing is a costly process, and most small coffee and tea shops do  not do it unless they absolutely have to. A lucky buyer is one who is given audited financial statements. Buyers need to reconstruct historical financial statements to show what they could have been, had the buyer been operating the business. This is usually done from only the previous year’s statement. Patience is important here; this is a time-consuming process. If errors are made, the estimate of the business’ sales price may be inaccurate. Sellers will tend to overestimate customer counts and check averages and underestimate utilities and other expenses. The inexperienced buyer should be wary when evaluating these numbers and may want to hire professional counsel. 

Also, it is important to be aware that sellers usually will include only the financial details they initially want to reveal. Buyers should evaluate this information carefully, with special attention to the apparent net cash flow, before spending a lot of time and money on detailed analysis. During this analysis, it is important to note that the typical beverage outlet purchase will not appear to generate enough money to provide sufficient cash flow, give the buyer an appropriate salary and ensure a return on the initial investment. Do not be put off too quickly, however. Solid analysis often reveals that a change in ownership can enhance an operation’s profitability considerably. This analysis should examine all relevant tax filings to determine the most likely annual sales volume that the shop will generate. 

The profit figures included in these filings will be used to determine an accurate sales price. Personnel records are crucial in determining if there have been any Department of Labor judgments against the current owner, or if there are any pending judgments that could impede the transfer of ownership. It is a good idea to meet with a Department of Labor representative to find out if the shop is currently under investigation. Cost of equipment, beverages, food, and miscellaneous supplies are a specialty beverage business’s biggest expenses. 

The potential buyer should take a random sample of cancelled invoices and check their consistency with the cost of goods sold and direct operating supplies expenses listed on the current income statement. Cancelled invoices are a good test of the current owner’s purchasing skills. Potential buyers also should analyze balance sheets and income statements carefully. Balance sheets can reveal the anxiety level of a seller. As a buyer, it is important that you keep in mind that you are basing your price on current income, but purchasing the operation’s future revenue-making ability; this is one of the most critical tasks the buyer will perform.