All About Food:

There’s a Starbucks on every other corner in America selling coffee drinks that bear a closer resemblance to soda fountain beverages than to a good cuppa Joe. But here in town at Laguna Coffee Company we have the real deal, where coffee beans are actually roasted on site and serving a great cup of coffee is the passion of owner Paul Ackley.

Paul and his wife, Cathy, are longtime residents of Laguna Beach, and he is also the owner of a successful medical-instruments company in Santa Ana. However, he has always been crazy about coffee, and it is always a pleasure to talk with someone about what they truly love. Not many people have the courage, energy or means to turn their passion into a business.

Paul warmly welcomed us into his shop, and with the enthusiasm of a young kid said, “Would you like to see me roast the beans?” He selected a small batch of green Brazilian Santos beans and proudly displayed his expertise in the complexities of his roasting machine, which holds the honored spot in the center of the café.

While the beans were roasting, he told us that he and his partners purchased Laguna Coffee two years ago from the previous owner, Sylvan Touati, who now works for him and who taught him the basics of the art of roasting coffee. Paul continues his coffee education by attending conferences and lectures and has studied with a PhD chemist.

We got just a taste of the intricacies and variables involved as we watched the roasting process. Blowers are adjusted to create the proper temperature, determined by the density of the bean, the moisture in the air, the altitude and other variables.

“Laguna is a good place for roasting coffee,” Ackley says, “because the climate is dry.” As the coffee roasts, cracking begins, releasing the sucrose and fructose in the bean, creating caramelization, which produces a sweet heady aroma. Beans cooled at this stage are called medium roast, his favorite.

A second cracking occurs as beans continue to roast making a darker, oilier coffee bean — dark roast. The cooling process is equally tricky. Beans must be agitated so that they cool evenly and quickly so that they don’t continue to cook, over-roast and burn.

“I oversee the entire coffee creation. I source the beans. I buy the beans. I roast the beans,” Ackley said. “I do it in small batches so that I can really watch the bean…no burnt or stale beans in my shop.”