But first, coffee...

Coffee makes the world go 'round. Not only do many of us enjoy (or perhaps depend on...) a good brew to get our day going, but it's also the second most traded commodity in the world, over a $20 billion industry. However, the coffee industry is often as fraught as it is lucrative.

In many places, coffee production contributes to deforestation, soil erosion, poor water quality, and lowered biodiversity. This doesn't even scrape the surface of its social impacts- low farmer prices and even lower worker wages, unethical working and living conditions, and political implications, just to name a few.

So. How do you get an ethical cup of coffee? Taylor Hayle at Night Kitchen Coffee favors direct buying over Fair Trade or Certified Organic labeled products. He moved in this direction because "None of the other labels were indicators of the quality of coffee. [They're] attributions designed to enhance the profitability of somebody else along the line." Fair Trade prices are behind the times (Taylor cites that they haven't been updated since 2011) and can in fact be restrictive on how much the farmer is able to be paid for their product. Instead, Taylor buys directly from the farmer, primarily utilizing small farms (10 hectares or smaller) who find Organic certification, and most of the agri-chemicals certification would regulate, cost prohibitive.

Taylor began roasting coffee about 10 years ago after working in Boulder next to a small craft roaster and being tantalized by its delicious smell. In our phone conversation, he tells me he's "always been fascinated with food and drink and all the obscure portions of how you make stuff." His first batch of coffee was fantastic. His next? Terrible. After that he was hooked- he had to learn what made it work.

About five years ago he was roasting 120 pounds of coffee a year, 6 ounces at a time, in his home kitchen at night after he got home from his full time job at NASA as a systems engineer. His wife Leslie encouraged him to start a business to sell the coffee he and his friends had been enjoying for years, Taylor thinks it was probably the smell that prompted this helpful suggestion... He began working with a commercial kitchen in Denton, and Night Kitchen Coffee was born!

There are about 5000 flavor profiles in coffees. Taylor describes roasting as "a real goldilocks sort of situation. We're roasting until we think its just right." He takes care to let the coffee speak for itself, following each flavor until it's balanced and well developed. Even his decaf coffee is made using Swiss Water Processing, which uses water, rather than harsh chemicals to reduce caffeine content, allowing the coffee to retain far more of its flavor and texture. And yes, Taylor does drink his coffee black.

Along the way, Kim (yes, our Kim!) approached Taylor about creating a signature spice blend for her sausage. He then designed what became the trademark of one of Black Bottom's most popular sausages- the Azteca, using coffee and some of his favorite spices. Afterward, people started requesting more. In typical Taylor fashion he thought, "Sure, how hard can that be?" and jumped in to the spice blending business.

Night Kitchen now carries about a dozen spice blends, all carefully hand crafted by Taylor, sourced from high quality importers and made with no salt, sugar, MSG, or de-clumping agents. They are all "culiary mashups," as Taylor calls them, or are based on specific ethnic flavor profiles- honoring their history and very aware of the cultural and social histories of the ingredients that make up each one. Each blend tells a story through their connected cultural and historical threads. His favorite right now is the Jerk Seasoning, especially with grilled porkchops!

By the way, his website is full of wonderful recipes, all of which do a fantastic job of letting the spices shine. His favorites are the 5 Spice Almost Confit Chicken and the Vindaloo Chicken. You can find Night Kitchen Coffee, Cascara Fruit Tea, and spice blends in the Black Bottom store. Let us know what you make with both!