Demystify your morning brew: Counter Culture offers brewing basics classes

Counter Culture’s Asheville location looks like a coffee shop, but it’s not.

The brand maintains a storefront on Broadway, but the space usually holds just barista training classes and wholesale offices.

But now, the space is becoming more public. In addition to the Friday morning (10 a.m.) coffee cuppings that teach consumers the nuances of coffee, Counter Culture will host Brewing Basics classes.

“The class is really created to cater to the home brewer to help them have a greater understanding of how they effect their cup at home,” says Lindsay Lee, one of Counter Culture’s Asheville-based customer support representatives. “We’re basically talking about the main three variables in coffee brewing that affect how the coffee tastes.”

Those variables include grind size (fine versus coarse), dose (the ratio of coffee to water) and time.

After the class, which focuses on brewing coffee in a cone (the pour-over method), Lee says home coffee drinkers should be able to replicate the flavor they get at coffee shops. Plus, students have a chance to meet other coffee lovers. “A really nice side effect of this course is that consumers are sitting in a room of like-minded people, nerding out on coffee and talking about their process at home,” she says.

The course runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 20, and costs $75. Students take home a cone brewer, a pack of filters and a $15 voucher for Counter Culture’s website. To register for the class, visit http://avl.mx/v7 or send an email to lindsay.lee@counterculturecoffee.com.

Counter Culture is based out of Durham and offers single-origin coffees as well as blends. It operates eight other training facilities in metropolitan areas around the country. “Even though Counter Culture isn’t seen as a local business because it’s not based here, [we] do try to be a part of the community,” Lee says. “Coffee will never be local anyway because it isn’t grown here.”