Bravura Press creates tasty coffee

HURON — An American-based coffee company incorporated an Italian name to help brand a first-of-its-kind French press. Julie Spitzley, the co-founder and co-owner of Huron-headquartered Storm Mountain Coffee Roasters, recently unveiled her company's latest product: a Bravura Press. In Italian, the word "Bravura" translates to "excellence" when referring to the arts and engineering. The idea for finding a commercial French press, a term for a brewing device, began 15 years ago, when Spitzley and her husband, Shamus, searched the globe in hopes of finding a better way to brew coffee. Shamus is the other co-founder and co-owner. "Nothing existed that could suit commercial needs," Julie said. "So we decided to do it on our own." After filing the initial patent in 2008, and receiving it in 2014, the Spitzleys engaged with many manufacturers, designers and investors to create what ended up resulting in Bravura. "This commercial French press makes the coffee taste the way it's intended to," Julie said. She explained the difference between a Bravura Press and its predecessors. "When you get coffee from a drip machine that's in a lot of coffeehouses, much of the flavor gets lost through the filtering system," Julie said. More than 90% of the coffee flavor profiles are found in the natural oils of the coffee bean, Julie said. "And our French press system is a full-emersion brew system, and it's the only system out there that keeps all of the oils in place so that you get the most flavor," Julie said. "It retains all of the flavors and textures. You'll get that velvety feel from the coffee the same way that the roasters and plantation owners taste their coffee during quality testing." The Spitzleys now entered a marketing phase, selling Bravura to coffeehouses and other businesses serving brewed drinks — including coffees, teas, broths, herbs and spices, among other drinks — across North America. "And our machine is simple," Julie said. "The problem with traditional French presses is that they are messy and it takes time. And it's low volume, meaning you aren't getting a lot of cups over a certain amount of time. But ours is suited for a fast-paced cafe or restaurant, pouring more than 100 cups an hour without absolutely any downtime for our machine. It's self-cleaning and, on top of that, each brew is only about 6 minutes." People can visit bravurapress.com for more information. "It makes the best coffee that you can imagine," Julie said. "If someone wants it in their coffee shop, please talk to us." Bio blast: Storm Mountain Coffee Roasters Storm Mountain Coffee Roasters acts as a separate company managed by the same owners. It, too, is based in Huron. "You don't have to use our coffee to buy or use the Bravura," Julie said about her company. Founded in 2003 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Storm incorporates plantations using organic farming practices. Storm only works directly with independently run plantations across the world to supply its raw coffee beans. "Then we develop a specified recipe on our sample roaster revolving around time and temperature for each harvest from each plantation," Julie said. "We can roast about 1,000 pounds a day on our big machine." Storm is a wholesale coffee roaster, selling to commercial locations, such as those in the area. This would include grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, universities, offices and other businesses.