Page 68 - Flathead Living Fall 2013

FOOD&DRINK PROFILE | BY ROBERT FORD
Handcrafting Coffee
Fieldheads Coffee Company, Creston
E very time I pull up to the Fieldheads Coffee Company roastery in Creston, I catch the
incredible aroma of coffee beans roast- ing. I grew up loving the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen every morning. But now, this seems different, somehow better, a fresher, more complex aroma.
The roastery is a bright, clean and busy place. The process of roasting, packaging and labeling seems non-stop. Still, Ben is always willing to talk about his craft as he keeps a keen eye on the drum roaster, making small but critical adjustments. This is handcrafted coffee.
Ben and Melissa Storest purchased the business from founder Peggy Sue Ennenga about two years ago. Started
in 1996 as a small Internet café, with a passion for great coffee, Fieldheads has grown into an acclaimed small batch coffee roastery. With Peggy’s guidance and tutelage, the Storests have carried on the tradition with the same passion. Their coffees have earned high ratings from Kenneth Davids Coffee Review.
It’s a small batch roastery, but that’s not to say it’s limited in the different coffees it offers. In fact, the array of single origin coffee, blends and espres- so is impressive. Fieldheads’ beans come from all over the world: Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Kenya, Papua and New Guinea, and Sumatra. Each bean has its own characteristics, and the roasting
brings out the nuances and layers of fla- vor that make coffee so enjoyable.
Fieldheads’ blends cover a wide spectrum. Its coffee catalogue features the full-bodied Breakfast Blend, the dark and smoky French Blend, the Painted Lady’s full-bodied complexi- ties, which are both sweet and buttery, (my favorite) Remember When, the dark roast Wild Horse (another of my favorites), and the Wild Mile with me- dium body and layers of flavor.
They call their coffees High Grown and High Roasted. According to Ben, “The best coffee is grown at higher ele- vations and there is a firm belief in the world of coffee that roasting at higher elevations, like ours at 3,000 feet, is
66 FLATHEAD LIVING | FALL 2013
PHOTOS BY JMK PHOTOGRAPHY