23rd 2011
Colleen’s Trip Report – Costa Rica & Panama
The harvest is only in the very beginning stages in some regions in Costa Rica and has yet to start in others, but it was still a very informative and exciting trip. I visited producer’s mills in Tarrazu, Costa Rica then flew to Panama to visit Volcan and Boquete. The next week, I headed back to Costa Rica to visit the Central and West Valleys.
Since this was my first visit to Costa Rica, it was great chance to spend time visiting mills and speaking with producers to learn more about how the coffee industry in Costa Rica works. They are moving away from having centralized processing mills where producers would simply deliver their coffee cherry to a mill to now processing their own cherry and working directly with an exporter. This is especially exciting for us as coffee roasters because it means the conversation between us and the producer has fewer intermediaries.
During this trip, I also had the opportunity to meet a producer we have been working with for the last couple of years – Richardo Calderon. His coffee has always been an exceptional arrival. In fact, it is the one I wait all year to receive and then feel sad when we roast through it all! Richardo and his sons have a few farms and a very thoughtful perception on producing coffee as well as pride in their mill. It’s very promising to see an entire family dedicated to such high quality production and it looks to be that the next generation of Calderons will be great farmers, just like the current generation.
The second half of the week in Panama was just as interesting as our time in Costa Rica. Over the last two years, both lots of coffee we have featured from Panama were bought through the International Best of Panama Competition. The selections entered into these competitions have always been impressive and I took this visit as a chance to discover what factors in to producing such great coffees.
There is, in Boquete, maybe even more pride and friendly competition between producers then I have ever before seen. Boquete is a pretty remarkable place for growing coffee due to its many micro-climates. All of the basic rules of quality are strictly adhered to so it is almost like crossing off any external variables and tasting truly how the available nutrients, moisture, and maturation of each micro-climate effects cup quality.
I returned from this trip very excited and hopeful for the coming year in coffees.
-Colleen
View more photos from this trip here.
13th 2011
Holiday Gift Ideas (Part One) – Colombian Coffee Sampler
It is that time again! Over the next two weeks, we’ll be posting some holiday gift ideas for your coffee-loving friends.
We are proud to present these three unique coffee selections from Colombia. We have been working with the El Meridiano Co-op, Desarrollo Co-op & Jose Ider Zapata for a couple of years now. We feel that these selections showcase the hard work and dedication of these producers with their distinct and complex profiles.
-El Meridiano, Produced by El Meridiano Co-op, Herrera, Tolima
Mellow sweetness with notes of honey and red apple. Tangerine brightness. Waffle cone in the finish.
-Desarrollo, Produced by Desarrollo Co-op, Gigante, Huila
Red grapefruit, candied apricot, peaches & cream, brown sugar, tangerine.
-La Coqueta, Produced by Jose Ider Zapata, Herrera, Tolima
Delicate herbal rose aroma, maple sweetness, citrus zest.
The Colombian Coffee Sampler Set ($40) contains three ½ lb bags of coffee beans (sealed in bags with one-way degassing valves). The set comes in a kraft gift box with our logo stamped on it. For our out of town friends, you can order the sets online here.
5th 2011
Action Against Hunger’s 2011 Online Auction
We are happy to support Action Against Hunger’s online charity auction with this fun coffee experience: Indulge your coffee habit for 6 months with our VIP card. We’ll buy you coffee every day for six months as well as sign you up for three of our coffee education classes. This would also make a great gift for your coffee-enthusiast friend. Start bidding now!
Check out all of the other unique experiences and auction lots here.
“Recognized as a leader in the fight against malnutrition, Action Against Hunger | ACF International saves the lives of malnourished children while providing communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. With 30 years of expertise in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity, ACF runs life-saving programs in some 40 countries benefiting five million people each year.” Learn more about Action Against Hunger here.
29th 2011
Buy a Bag of Beans & Support Grounds for Health
From November 1st through November 30th, we will be donating $1 to Grounds for Health for every bag of Aragón, Guatemala beans we sell.
Please help us support this worthwhile cause. You can find bags of fresh-roasted beans at all of our locations or you can order through our online store.
About the coffee:
This selection comes from Alejandro Zelaya Andrade’s farm Aragon located in Antigua, Guatemala. Cultivating both Bourbon and Caturra varietals, Alejandro Zelaya Andrade brings the ripe coffee cherries to his cousin Louis Pedro Zelaya’s Beneficio – Bella Vista, where the coffee is pulped and fermented employing the washed process. Careful attention is paid to cleanliness, separation of lots and drying times on the patio. After resting in parchment for three to four weeks, the coffee is then milled and carefully packaged in grainpro liners ready for it’s voyage to our roastery. The Zelaya’s teamwork helps insure that the quality of this beautiful coffee is maintained during its processing and journey.
Tasting notes: Candied apple, plum, caramel, tangerine.
About Grounds for Health:
• Grounds for Health is a non-profit organization that focuses on women’s health issues in coffee-growing communities.
• Specifically: Grounds for Health works with communities to establish sustainable cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment programs.
• Cervical cancer is the #1 cause of cancer death among women in developing countries, even though it is preventable with early detection.
• Grounds for Health currently has programs in Latin America (Mexico and Nicaragua) and Tanzania.
13th 2011
Take a Book / Leave a Book
The book exchange back in 2008
The book exchange in 2010
Today’s piece in The New York Times, “A Shelf-Obsessed Writer” by Jami Attenberg gave us a whole new perspective on this special bookshelf. We love the accompanying illustration by James Gulliver Hancock as well.
Here are some excerpts:
“The cafe in question, Café Grumpy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is home to a youthful, charmingly messy clientele who, laptops in tow, come to work there more often than to socialize. The bookcase is located to the right of the bathroom in the rear of the cafe, near a large machine that roasts the coffee beans. All day long the roaster hums, and it smells fantastic.”
“I asked her if she ever read any of the books, and she told me she did. She had moved to Brooklyn from another state, and had left all of her books behind. So everything she read came from the shelves in the cafe. She would take the books home, read them, and then bring them back with her when she was done.”
Read the full article here.
29th 2011
On the Menu: Best of Panama Lot #6 – Don Julian
Best of Panama Lot #6 Don Julian (Gonzalo Rojas, Producer)
Horqueta, Boquete, Panama
Pacamara varietal. Grown at 1650 masl. Washed. Vacuum-sealed at origin.
This is the second year in a row that we have had the opportunity to win a lot from the Best of Panama Auction and we are really excited to share this exclusive coffee with you.
The Best of Panama Auction is held by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama – a non-profit organization created to promote Panama’s special coffee production in the world while being committed to “quality and uniqueness paired with social and environmental responsibility.”
After being judged by a jury of international coffee professionals, the highest scoring lots are entered into an auction. The online bidding is open to roasters of all sizes from around the world. After roasting and cupping samples of all of the lots offered, we selected Don Julian as our favorite, so that is the one we bid on. This particular lot is only 550 lbs of green coffee (for those of you who don’t know…coffee loses weight when it is roasted). We were lucky to win the entire lot after some tough bidding!
Some of us taste notes of hibiscus, toffee and blood orange in the cup…try this special coffee and let us know what you taste!
