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Frank Martino is the founder and master roaster of Capito Coffee in Peabody. (Spenser Hasak) Purchase this photo

Peabody coffee roaster brews cuploads of goodness

Amanda Lurey

by

PEABODY — Tucked inside the brick Mills 58 building on Pulaski Street is a company that helps the community stay awake, alert, and ready to start their day. Peabody’s sole coffee roaster, Capito Coffee, has been making its impact one cup at a time.

Capito Coffee was founded by Frank Martino, owner and master roaster, who owns the Topsfield banquet hall The Commons 1854. He’s worked with caterers since he was young and studied at Southern New Hampshire University in the culinary program.

Martino said his passion for coffee sparked organically in 2000, when they started doing an espresso catering booth at The Commons 1854, but Martino wasn’t happy with what they were producing at the bar at his venue.

From there, Martino purchased the necessary equipment and advanced his coffee palette and expertise by traveling to Italy in 2008 to learn how to roast properly and later to California’s Klatch Coffee, which has won many awards for coffee roasting and hosts a school, where Martino learned many invaluable techniques.

In 2014, Capito Coffee was born. Since then, it has turned into a full-service coffee company, with a cafe, online sales, and, of course, in-house roasting.

Martino described the roasting process.

First, they will receive a sample batch from a broker and test how much moisture is in the bean. Where it lands on that moisture meter dictates the settings Martino will need to use in his roasting machine.

“If it has a lot of moisture… I have to adjust on my roaster how much air flow is going in that. Also, mentally, that’s how much money is lost when you’re steamed out (because) we’re buying in weight,” Martino said. “On the other end, if there’s not enough moisture in that bean, I have to adjust here, too, because that thing will be dry and won’t have that flavor.”

After roasting the beans, Martino lets them rest for a day or so before packaging them.

Capito Coffee even roasts for 100 other coffee shops, like Red’s Coffee in Salem and Brew North Cafe in Lynn, and supplies them with equipment, training, and support. Capito Coffee also helps its coffee shop customers with machine repairs. It distributes coffee products to those shops weekly to ensure freshness, something Martino is especially passionate about.

“I would say the number one message that we like to get across is: Freshness in the coffee world is like the key to everything,” Martino said. “Freshness meaning, beans are roasted; they give it a good four- or five-day degassing period, and then we want to give it to you.”

He explained that the degassing period is necessary because the coffee beans are still breaking down carbon dioxide after being roasted. Martino said that Capito Coffee’s bags are ventilated to help the beans continue to degas while sitting on the shelf. He added that, if the bags weren’t ventilated, they would inflate due to the carbon dioxide.

When it comes to freshness, Martino also advised that coffee customers leave the beans in the original packaging in a cupboard. He said the beans will absorb other flavors in fridges and freezers, which is not ideal.

Martino said the flavor goes from “zero to 100” and “you simply enjoy it more” when the coffee is as fresh as Capito’s.

The company connects with growers far and wide to obtain the highest quality of coffee beans. Martino has fostered relationships that allow his company to stock products from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nicaragua, Peru, and Tanzania.

“We cycle out what’s good just like wine,” Martino said. “If things are having a great year, we’ll buy that.”

Similar to the process of tasting wine, coffee is tasted with cuppings, small portions to gauge the flavor profiles.

“You don’t realize the little nuances in coffee by themselves until you try them next to each other,” Martino said. “It’s like a wine sipping. Then you pick up, oh, this has berries in it. This has a toasted marshmallow vibe. We’ve got a lot of cinnamon in this one. This one’s super earthy. You really start to pick those up.”

In addition to the bags of roasted coffee that are available based on the beans’ country of origin, Capito Coffee also has five blends: House Blend, Espresso Blend, Cold Brew Blend, Decaf Blend, and Superhero Blend.

Martino was excited to share that his Superhero Blend — which is made up of Colombian, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian beans — is the only trademarked superhero on coffee.

“That’s like our dark roast, kind of a superhero, gets you going for the day,” he said.

Capito Coffee is located at 58 Pulaski St. and can be found inside Building B. For more information, visit capitocoffee.com.

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