By james art 5 am The alarm goes off. Jump up. If it doesn’t get up in the first 30 seconds, it’s over. Positive thoughts. Someone else may be doing this, but this is for you. I have to do this today.
5:15 a.m. Open the smelly wet cat food. Feed the cats.
5:23 a.m. Check emails. Send invoices. Get dressed. Collect my things.
5:30 a.m. Go to the cafeteria.
5:40am Arrive at House Brew. Fill water tanks, place the coffee cart, clean the dishes.
6am Open the doors. Enjoy black coffee. Here is the first customer. Social hour has begun.
6:30 a.m. Three-shot Curtis is here. I will make it regular.
Manning Bergeron pours frothed milk to create a latte at House Brew on Oct. 24.
While most people are still sleeping, Manning Bergeron starts the day at 5 a.m. to open his House Brew Cafe.
Located inside Pelican to Mars at 2678 Government St., Baton Rouge.
The operation began in May after the 23-year-old made a name for himself by bringing his portable espresso machine to various pop-up events around the city. He partnered with Mid City bar owner Lance Paddock to host events at Pelican to Mars before moving into the 600-square-foot space for a longer run.
“The pop-up table became a rolling cart, and then the rolling cart got a sink. Then I got a rinse jug and then we got a $3,000 machine,” Bergeron said. “Everything just kept spiraling — in a great way.”
Manning Bergeron pours frothed milk to create a latte at House Brew, located inside Pelican to Mars.
While the Pelican to Mars Bar is open afternoons and evenings, House Brew serves customers from 6am to 2pm Monday to Saturday and 7am to 2pm on Sundays. Along with its coffee and tea options, House Brew offers pastries from Mid City Bakery and hosts weekend pop-ups for artists, vintage shops and more.
Although the space is small, Bergeron uses it effectively — not to mention the Pelican to Mars outdoor area that provides additional seating. Inside, the cafe has cozy seating, a TV and a rolling cart with all the gadgets and devices for making quality coffee.
What makes House Brew coffee different, Bergeron says, is the focus on scale and proportion. The ideal coffee to water ratio for brewing is one part coffee to 16 parts water. For espresso, one part coffee to two parts water. At House Brew, they use scales to get accurate measurements, which takes extra time and energy.
“A lot of people don’t do it because it takes time, and that quality is really hard to guarantee every time,” Bergeron said. “But we have a really small volume and a lot of knowledge when it comes to coffee.”
Manning Bergeron, left, and Joe Foster pick up their first order of coffee beans from InterAmerican, a company that supplies coffee beans to roasters in the United States.
On average, House Brew goes through 20 pounds of coffee a week, which Bergeron gets from his business partner Joe Foster, 29, owner of Smoky Bean Coffee Roasters, a small-batch specialty coffee roaster in Baton Rouge.
Specialty beans for local roasting
Foster orders coffee beans through InterAmerican Coffee, a company that supplies coffee beans to bakeries in the United States. The business prides itself on building a sustainable, ethical future for coffee by providing information about the origin of its beans.
Their offerings come from more than 24 countries, but Foster and Bergeron chose Colombia Excelso EP for House Brew’s signature cup, a medium-bodied Colombian coffee from the northern region that has citrus and chocolate notes on the palate with rich acidity and a sweet aftertaste. Coffee is grown at about 1,500 meters above sea level.
Joe Foster, owner of Smoky Bean Coffee Roasters, receives 154-pound canvas bags of raw green coffee beans from InterAmerican.
“We had to go through at least 20 different coffees to figure out what we were going to use as the base coffee,” Bergeron said. “We tried products from all over the world.”
The pair chose the Colombia Excelso EP blend for its balanced and strong flavor that can work for a variety of drinks, including espresso, regular pour-over and pour-over coffee.
After Foster receives the 154-pound canvas bags of raw green coffee beans from InterAmerican, he roasts the beans as needed, depending on how many orders he receives.
The process of roasting coffee beans can take anywhere from four to eight hours, as Joe Foster roasts one kilogram, about two pounds, of coffee at a time.
The roasting process can take anywhere from four to eight hours, as Foster roasts one kilogram of coffee at a time, which is about two pounds. Each individual batch takes about 15 minutes to finish roasting and there are three phases to roasting the coffee:
1. The drying phase: When the beans are placed in the oven, they immediately enter the drying phase. Heat is applied to the beans and the water content is evaporated from the raw coffee beans.
2. The browning phase: After most of the water has evaporated, the raw green coffee beans begin to change to a traditional, dark caramel color. This is when most of the flavor develops and the smoke that is produced in roasting is released. Vents are included to filter the smoke, as the beans can taste bitter if there is too much.
3. The development phase: This is when the baker really calls to see what kind of coffee roast he wants. The roasters carefully observe the beans and check for color, temperature and smell. Once the desired roast is achieved, the beans are cooled and prepared for packaging.
Bags of Smoky Bean Coffee Roasters sit on the counter at House Brew located at Pelican to Mars in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“Coffee is not really something we think about that much. The food we eat is different. We don’t have to get our steaks from Colombia. You can get your meat from a farm in Louisiana. But coffee is so unique because it can only be grown in a very specific climate,” Foster said. “It’s a whole process. It’s a lot of work, but I really enjoy it. If I didn’t like coffee, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
History of coffee
Many customers may notice that House Brew’s menu is in Italian, with offerings such as macchiato, dopio, cortado and cappuccino. Bergeron says this is intentional as he wants to follow Italian coffee history and traditions.
Around 1901, the industrial revolution in Europe led to the first espresso, as the drink was originally created to minimize coffee break time for factory workers. In those years, the style of making coffee was very time consuming. When Luigi Bezzera created the first espresso machine in 1901, coffee could be made in a minute or less. As a result, coffee breaks were shortened to a few minutes or the time it takes to smoke a cigarette and enjoy a cup of espresso.
Manning Bergeron places a ready-made latte on the counter at House Brew.
“Everything was concentrated to where they could have a 15-minute break,” Bergeron said, “and that’s where the espresso formed.”
For the House Brew Cappuccino, Bergeron follows Italian protocol by including two shots of espresso.
In the future, Bergeron hopes to attend more private and community events, such as White Light Night in Mid City. For now, he’s focused on perfecting his fall flavors, such as hazelnut, pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, and coconut.
“It’s been a great ride so far. It kept moving into the next steps,” he said. “I don’t know what the next step is now, but I’m here for it.”