PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 83 the profile of the coffee beans inside. It adjusts the grind size, water temperature and other factors accordingly. “All the techniques we teach by hand, this can do automatically,” marvels Matt. I feel no temptation to put French vanilla creamer into the xBloom-made cup Vance pours for me. It’s delicious. We consult a rainbow-shaded flavor wheel in order to describe its smooth, fruity taste. After scanning the vocabulary—which ranges from “cocoa” and “cardboard” to “butyric acid” and “basmati rice”—we finally settle on “red raspberry” and “bubblegum” with help from the pod’s tasting notes. Vance places a few drops from the xBloom cup on the total dissolved solids meter, and reads out a perfect score of 1.36. But again, no need for fanciness. “I can’t stress this enough,” says Matt: “People will get a better cup of coffee just using a simple $15 Mr. Coffee, but with an excellent grind, and freshly ground coffee.” Buying a bag in the grocery store? Look for a “roasted by” date. Coffee won’t spoil, but if it has sat on a shelf for too much time, it will be damaged by oxidation. Matt and Vance speak from experience. As co-founders of SiliconValley. coffee, they also own a roastery in San Carlos, and won’t ship anything that’s more than a week old. “I equate it to a fresh chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven versus Chips Ahoy,” says Matt. So, freshness is essential. But that leads to plenty of other coffee questions. How hot should the water be? Does it need to be filtered? Does flow rate make a difference? Should you store ground beans in the freezer? You’ll have to come to the Coffee Lab to find out. The lab currently offers Saturday sessions that anyone can sign up for, though their focus is on weekday team-building classes for corporate groups. Companies can bring in their own catering, and make use of the space’s movable desks and multiple screens for a day of collaborative work before or after a coffee class. They’ve held classes for tech companies, startups and VCs. Matt notes that the Atherton Police Department even signed up for a session (chuckling, he says he might have to provide doughnuts for that one).
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