S.A.C.R.E.D. is a Chicago-based nonprofit that uses traditional and artisanal agave spirits to improve quality of life in rural Mexico. You may remember them from past collaborations/coffee projects like this:
or agave distillations like this:
They use revenue generated from tastings and events to build libraries and greenhouses and to maintain water preservation systems in the same communities where agave spirits are fermented and distilled. In order to continue this growth and revitalization, they need your help. The best part? All you have to do is grab a drink and join a tasting! Here's the upcoming event schedule:
We took the team from Journeyman down to Oaxaca for a week of visiting maestros — taste what they came back with and enjoy dishes Chef Luke imagined on the trip!Email us to be alerted when tickets are available.
The Pumpkin Spice 5K Run/Walk takes place during the most beautiful time of year in Chicago and along its spectacular lakefront. Join us for a scenic, family-friendly 5K Run or Walk through the historic lakefront area of Chicago’s Jackson Park.
RACE BENEFICIARY
Whitney Young High School is Chicago’s first public magnet school bringing together students from across Chicago. Whitney Young provides an academically rigorous education, consistently ranked among the best public high schools in the state and the top 50 in the nation. It was recently named the most diverse school in the nation. Each year 2,200 students walk the halls, study in classrooms, labs and libraries, and participate in over 100 clubs, 52 athletic sports teams and fine and performing arts. For the 5th year in a row, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) names it “The School of Champions”. Help support the academic, athletic and artistic excellence and be a part of the Pumpkin Spice 5k.
Every Saturday morning, you can count on Shawnimals being at Star Lounge, hanging out and chatting it up with his fellow friends and neighbors. So we are stoked that a piece, or pieces, of Shawnimals will be around 7 days a week, as he is the featured guest artist for his favorite watering hole. His work is WELL KNOWN throughout the world through his Ninjatown video game, plush toys, and also as a featured artist in March 2016's Ninja Blend. Check out all of his rad things, read epic stories of good versus evil, and download his Ninjatown game at Ninjatown.com and Shawnimal
A universal notation that can be applied anywhere.
DMC are crazy beer geeks just like you. From our collaborations, to our packaging, etc, it's a fact that we love beer. Now we have taken things a step further and incorporated different fermentation using ingredients that make beer possible. These experimental processes are new to both the DMC inventory and the coffee community as a whole. Our goal is using a culinary approach to coffee, combined with knowledge, and fun, we learned from our many beer collaborations over the years. Now combining all that together, we are ready to introduce a new series of coffees that will satisfy even the biggest beer geek/coffee fanatic out there.
These releases will be a combination of single origin and blends, using hopped or yeast fermented coffee. (Just like the beer making process) The first two in the series, Citra hops and Saison yeast, were also released last year, with great success. This year's harvest is no different, yielding yet another round of delicious coffees.
Future releases will involve the following yeast or hops.
Crystal Hop Fermented Catuai
Beer Blend (Combining one yeast and one hop fermented coffee.)
Bohemian Weiss Yeast fermented Catuai
Hallertau Blanc Hop Fermented Catuai
Saison Fermented Catuai
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast primarily needed to produce beer, wine and bread. Because of the abilities of this microbe, Saccharomyces has become one of the most studied and cultivated organisms in the world.
Yeast, a type of fungi, is a single cell organism needed for coffee to be processed. To be clear, coffee fermentation doesn't need Saccharomyces, as there is a whole universe of other yeasts out there for fermentation. Fermentation tanks usually consist of a soup of microbes that also feed on coffee sugars and are almost always open air, and made of cement. Beer, wine and bread need the byproducts of yeast for them to be successful and gain complexity and flavor, while coffee does not. At the very least, coffee needs microbes to break down the sugary gelatinous layer of pectin surrounding a coffee bean to be dried properly. We've purposefully inoculated coffee fermentation tanks with Saccharomyces so we can layer the esters and acids it produces into the coffee.
When propagated, yeast will live the most amazingly simple life on the planet - it eats, it mates and sleeps in abundance, and if it's happy, that's all these critters will do their entire life. All yeast strains have slightly different preferences to be happy but overall they need:
-Sugar
-water with regulated temperature and pH
-oxygen
We've had great results from Saison yeast in the past. It's sturdy and not particularly fussy over its environment or *food*. Characteristics like this are ideal for us, due to the unruly and unpredictable nature of open-air fermentation tanks. Saison yeast produces esters and phenols that give saison beer their signature flavors - think bubblegum, banana or clove. As the coffee sits, it can absorb these flavors and take on a unique set of characteristics.
Once the saison yeast is active, we add it to the fermentation tank with freshly pulped coffee. This process fundamentally alters the ecosystem of the tank. The combined characteristics will stay present through the rest of processing, roasting and finally brewing.
Citra Hopped Catuai
We have played with hopping coffees using two processes. Currently, we send out iced coffee brewed with Citra hops, but this process is not related to this whole bean coffee.
In this process we added dry hops to freshly pulped coffee in a fermentation tank at the farm. Hops flowers have resin glands that produce bittering compounds that inhibit microbial production. The dissolved hops make a "marinade" for the coffee to ferment. Similarly to the saison yeast, the roasted coffee has a subtle layer of hop character, which should add juicy fruity qualities to the bean.
| ANTHRAX'S CHARLIE BENANTE JOINS FORCES WITH DARK MATTER COFFEE CO. TO ENHANCE AND RELAUNCH HIS "BENANTE'S BLEND" COFFEE LINE |
 LOS ANGELES, CA - (Wednesday, June 7, 2017) -- Anyone who knows Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante knows his deep and passionate love for the taste of coffee. So much so that two years ago, he launched his own line, "Benante's Blend." Today, having forged a collaboration with Chicago's Dark Matter Coffee Co., "Benante's Blend" has undergone enhancements that include higher quality choice of coffee beans, a change in the way the beans are roasted that give the coffee a larger and more flavorful taste, and other tweaks, Benante and Dark Matter are proud to announce the relaunch of "Benante's Blend."
The coffee will still be available in two varieties, the "Be All End All" blend which is a dark roast with a real kick, and the "Forever Metal" blend, a milder coffee. And, despite the upgrades, Benante is keeping the price the same.
"I'd been hearing about Dark Matter for awhile," said Benante. "They're based in Chicago where I live, so I tried some of their coffee and thought it was great. We hooked up, I went down to their headquarters and spent a day there just talking coffee, doing some tasting and I have to say, I felt like I was part of this coffee family. Everyone there really enjoys the art of coffee, as do I, so this was something I was really interested in being a part of. We worked together to come up with what I feel is a perfect cup of coffee, and I'm happy to say that my Benante's Blend is under the umbrella of the Dark Matter coffee family."
Benante spent a good deal of time over the last ten months in Dark Matter's "cupping lab," tasting a variety of coffees, different blends, flavors and roasts. This process allowed Charlie to peer behind the curtain, learning why the Central American coffees sourced by Dark Matter are among the best in the world. After numerous blind tastings, Charlie zeroed in on what would make his perfect cup of coffee.
"One of the most exciting things about working with Dark Matter," Benante added, "is that they're not just going to put out my two Benante's Blend coffee line; we're already talking about our next project, another coffee idea that will blow people away, and we're all really excited about that."
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