Since Dan Scheibe started roasting coffee in Leucadia several years ago, my taste in coffee and knowledge of the process has grown to the point where I can pretend to know what I’m talking about on the subject in coffee snob circles.
OK, maybe a bit more than pretend, as Dan has educated me and in the process I am slightly addicted to my morning routine of grinding and brewing his Holy Goat bag of beans.
When Dan told me he had opened a Revolution Roasters coffee bar in Oceanside with his wife Miriah I had to check it out.
Congratulations on the new Revolution Roasters coffee bar in Oceanside! What were some of the deciding factors in selecting Oceanside?
We chose Oceanside because we found ourselves going there for leisure and we realized there were few options for high-end coffee there. We had been observing the opening of various restaurants, breweries, and bars and noticed all kinds of other interesting things going on. We thought this is fertile ground for planting our roots. We wanted to contribute to that energy and help give people another great reason to check out this great coastal town.
Are you offering your custom roasts in whole bean or ground for sale the new location?
Our Roasting operations are still happening at our original location inside Coffee Coffee at 970 N. Coast Hwy 101, in Leucadia. So all the custom roasting happens there. But at the new location, we do a lot of coffee tasting and experimentation. It’s like our playground, a place where we can endlessly play with our coffee, always trying to tease out the best flavor in every bean. Our roasting philosophy evolves depending on what we are tasting from our drinks. We craft non-alcoholic craft coffee concoctions and we do public cuppings on Sunday mornings, letting anyone who is interested participate. We offer everything you would expect from a craft coffee bar and then some more. We retail a wide range of coffee beans ranging from light to dark roasted at both locations. We can custom grind your coffee on the spot.
Describe some of those varieties.Â
We typically have 10 to 12 varieties of beans on hand at any time. We roast them all separately and offer them as blends or as single origins. Our offerings range from our sweet syrupy and chocolaty espresso blend Smooth Operator to light roasted African coffees which offer fruity aromas and highly complex flavors in the cup, to robust, low acid dark roasted coffees from Indonesia and surrounding areas. We also offer limited release coffees, which are purchased at a higher price because they exhibit outstanding qualities, like our Ethiopia Gedeb natural coffee that has a palate bursting with blueberries!
During the taping of the LTP radio show, you described some specialty coffee concoctions that sounded amazing, please share with Coast News readers what goes into those.Â
There is a lot that goes into making coffee concoctions. Principally, we have very high end brewing equipment in the hands of passionate baristas, who are fanatics about good coffee. Then we source the best organic milk from Clover Farms, freshest local ingredients to be use to make our house made syrups, to using the best filtered water to brew our beverages and make our ice. We then go a step further and give our baristas creative freedom to experiment with coffee. The result is a taste buds kryptonite; you won’t be able to resist the draw. Once we settle on a few good recipes, we release the best concoctions to be served to our customers.
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You also have some food offerings, what are you pairing with your amazing coffee at the new location?
We offer a mix of delicious breads, scones, and cookies made daily by the great people at Foodie Folk and delicious croissants made by Isabel Brien’s French Pastry to complement your coffee drinks.
For folks who do buy your whole beans, what is your favorite way to grind and brew them for optimal enjoyment?
Optimal enjoyment is in the mind of the drinker. I’d say there is no method of brewing or grind level that is necessarily better than another. The key is to mate the right kinds of coffee to the right kinds of brewing methods. Personally, I love drinking espresso using Smooth Operator or a single origin on my home espresso and grinder (a significant investment if you want to really do it right), but I also do a lot of French pressing, using my light to medium roasted coffees and a coarse grind. If you normally do drip coffee, I recommend starting with our Giant’s Head blend of a citrus Mexican and a dark velvety Papua New Guinea ground to a medium level. I also make sure to use the best filtered water I can get and I pay attention to brew timing.
What else can folks expect at Revolution Roasters?
Folks can expect to receive superior service from our friendly staff. We love coffee and love sharing our passion with you. Our goal is to take the intimidation factor out of coffee and to openly share our knowledge with our customers, while always taking to heart that everyone’s coffee experience is different and deeply personal. You can expect to hang out in a clean and welcoming environment, with good lighting and music, as well as plenty of wall sockets and Wi-Fi.
Revolution Roasters is at 1836 South Coast Hwy 101 in Oceanside and at their roasting facility at 970 North Coast Hwy 101 in Leucadia. Visit revoroasters.com for more information.
David Boylan is the founder of Artichoke Creative an Encinitas based integrated marketing firm. He also hosts Lick the Plate Radio that airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. on FM94/9, Easy 98.1, and KSON. Reach him at [email protected] or (858) 395-6905.
