Snowboarder Ralph Backstrom percolates new passion.
Professional snowboarder Ralph Backstrom has lived by author Malcolm Gladwell’s rule that if you practice one skill for 10,000 hours, you will have a good chance at becoming an expert at it.
When it came to snowboarding on Crystal Mountain while growing up near Seattle, Wash., this concept proved true for Backstrom. Little did Backstrom know, he would later apply the same rule to starting a hip coffee shop in Truckee, after moving to Lake Tahoe to explore new heights.
World Tour Champion
The youngest child of three siblings, Backstrom skied Crystal Mountain on the weekends in the winters while his parents worked ski patrol. He started out ski racing like his brother and sister, but later he turned his focus to snowboarding at age 11.
With upwards of 10,000 hours of vigilant time on the slopes, Backstrom became the 2013 Freeride World Tour champion and is a two-time winner of the Xtreme Verbier competition.
After graduating from Western Washington University in 2005, Backstrom moved to Lake Tahoe to immerse himself in snowboarding at Squaw Valley; ultimately, he turned his attention to his new passion for learning small-batch coffee roasting and brewing techniques and preparing tasty treats to complement his morning coffee.
A Special Gift
For Christmas in 2009, Backstrom’s brother, Arne, a professional freeskier, gave him a manual Aeropress coffee roaster and a pound of green Colombian coffee.
“Everything I have done related to coffee roasting and preparation has been self-taught,” Backstrom says. “I watched videos, read books, and roasted a lot.”
After years of testing the roast level of his beans, the coarseness of the grind, different water temperatures for brewing, and the contact time of the coffee and water, and then logging his results, Backstrom carefully honed a high-quality, craft roasting and brewing technique. He formed a partnership with his friend, professional ski racer Travis Ganong, to open Pacific Crest Coffee Co. in Truckee.
Since June 2018, patrons of the coffee shop on the northwest side of I-80 in Truckee have been enjoying its authentic brews, including the coffee-forward sherpa, otherwise known as “bulletproof” coffee — coffee brewed with Petaluma Creamery Spring Hill Jersey grass-fed butter and MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil with a shot of espresso — and homemade spicy chai coffee.
“In general, anything worth doing is worth doing with all of your effort,” Backstrom says. “Strive to be the best and strive to always improve at whatever you’re doing. That’s been my motto throughout everything I do.”
Coffee + Food Pairing
There is no doubt that Backstrom loves to make and drink coffee. But what does he prepare to eat with it?
“My life is moving so fast now that I am a ‘grab and go’ kind of guy,” he says. “Breakfast is my thing, obviously because it goes well with coffee. My goal is a healthy, delicious breakfast that is easy to take on the road without a massive amount of time spent while getting my coffee made, too.”
Backstrom says that the cooking and eating habits he formed while snowboarding were mostly based on a high amount of protein and low amount of carbohydrates.
“Now, I generally try to eat or drink the things that I really enjoy, and if they’re problematic in any way, I try to moderate my intake a bit,” he says.
Backstrom’s favorite? A French toast sandwich recipe to pair with his morning coffee.
“It’s a high-protein, filling meal that’s easy to eat on the go,” he says.
Kymberly Drake is a Reno-based freelance writer with endless curiosity about food and drink and the sources that help bring it to our tables.
French Toast Sandwich
(courtesy of Ralph Backstrom, owner, Pacific Crest Coffee Co. in Truckee. Serves 1)
2 eggs
¼ cup water
2 slices bread
1 slice cheese (Gruyère or Cheddar recommended)
1 to 2 thin slices Black Forest ham
2 tablespoons butter or oil of your choice
Break eggs into a rectangular casserole dish and whisk with a fork. Submerge both slices of bread in the egg and turn to coat both sides.
(“This is a good time to fall back to coffee brewing for a few minutes, if that’s part of your program,” Backstrom says.)
Heat oil or butter in a cast-iron skillet, then place both bread slices in pan. Cook on one side for 4 to 5 minutes, until lightly browned, then flip over. Place the Black Forest ham, warmed in a pan if possible, and your choice of sliced cheese on one slice of bread. Then top with other bread slice (cooked side down) on top of the cheese and ham. Cover, then cook for a few minutes. Flip and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
