Whidbey Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2014 Fall/Winter 2014 | Page 4

BET WEEN THE BEANS: The Art & Craft of Making Coffee BY SUSAN WENZEL Beth and Gary Smith, owners of Mukilteo Coffee The best part of waking up on Whidbey Island has to be local coffee in your cup. Whidbey, a fifty-mile long slip of land situated in the middle of Puget Sound, offers countless places to grab a hand-crafted, caffeinated jolt of joe. Whether one sups a latte at one of the many Whidbey Coffee locations in Oak Harbor, savors an Americano made by the two-time mussel chowder titleholders at Coupeville Coffee & Bistro Photo by David Welton in Coupeville, sips a drip while taking in the local color at the South Whidbey Commons in Langley or slams an espresso before hopping a ferry to the “mainland” at Island Commuter Coffee Co. in Clinton—rest assured that all will be tasty…because a few of our forefathers laid the groundwork for consistently fine grind. Humans have been brewing coffee since the 15th Experience extensive walking trails organic farming shops and galleries birding/wetlands beautiful gardens greenbankfarm.org 360.678.7700 [email protected] 4 ISSUE 2 - FALL 2014/WINTER 2015 WHIDBEY LIFE MAGAZINE century, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the “Godfather” of good coffee, Alfred Peet (yes, that Peet), gave Americans an option beyond mass-produced five-pound cans of Folgers and Maxwell House. Peet’s protégés—Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl, co-founders of Starbucks, along with Jim Stewart of Seattle’s Best—are further credited with making Washington the undisputed coffee capital of the United States. Indeed, the word “coffee” often evokes images of the misty Pacific Northwest: steaming mugs of the finest brews supped in warmly lit cafés by dot-com startup hopefuls clicking away at keyboards while being sustained by the life-giving caffeine and (of course) free WiFi. But what is it that makes coffee a treat instead of the indigestion-inducing, bitter cup o’ tar of days gone by? It’s time to spill the beans, because the secret is…well…in the beans. Scrupulously selected, carefully roasted, freshly ground beans.