CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coral Bean Cafe prides itself in its scones, pancakes, waffles, and artisan drinks, but there’s something they pride themselves in even more - a secret ingredient.
That secret ingredient is flour - well not just flour but flour that has been milled. The owner of the cafe, Curt Flowers, said it’s a process that turns the wheat seed into a powder once it’s been put in a stone mill. He said it’s a way to get the flour to have more nutrients, nutrients that aren’t in the bigger company's brand-name flour.
“I want to give people the maximum experience with every item, so for us that extra work makes a big difference. It takes a lot more effort on our part but when you see the reaction of everybody, then you know it’s worth the effort,” Flowers said.
Apart from milling their flour, Coral Bean Cafe also sifts it, meaning they separate the bran from the flour, which makes it lighter.
“If I gave you $50 and you ask for change for $50 and I gave you back a 5, how would you feel? That is the difference between fresh milled flour and commercial flour,” Flowers said.
Coral Bean Cafe also mills their own spices and uses local ingredients from Texas farmers to make their teas and most drinks from scratch.
Brandon Jimenez, a barista and baker at the cafe, said that Coral Bean Cafe is more unique than others because it brings out the flavors in every dish.
“Here you can taste the little subtle ingredients that we put in there such as lemon say on our blueberry muffin,” Jimenez said.
Stephan Cote is one of the customers that goes to Coral Bean Cafe at least three times a week and said he goes to the Coral Bean Cafe as opposed to a big named cafe like Starbucks because the ingredients taste fresh.
“Everything is fresh. It’s not coming from a factory somewhere else. They get their own things here, they make it here. It’s really good,” Cote said.
The cafe does encourage their customers to give feedback in order to perfect their recipes and they also are planning on doing a Sunday brunch here in the coming weeks to expand their business.
“My goal is to make and improve the food quality overall in the Corpus area. So if other people copy me, that’d be great,” Flowers said.
