Cafe Grumpy » cafe grumpy

“Lines & Limbs” Exhibition by Evan McGraw

cafegrumpy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:26:10 +0000

“Lines & Limbs” is on display through August in the Chelsea store.

Come and take a close look at the intricate and incredible ballpoint pen drawings by artist Evan McGraw. We are continuously impressed by the talent and creativity of our customers!

Finca Monte Canet (Espresso), Don Mayo Estate Microlot

cafegrumpy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:21:27 +0000

Juicy flavors like honey, cantaloupe, and red grape.

Our two new Costa Rican offerings come from two farms (Finca el Llano and Monte Canet) that are part of the lager Don Mayo Beneficio. High grown at 1650 – 1950 meters above sea level, these coffees truly express the terrior of the area. The Caturra, Typica and Bourbon varietals grown on the farms are part a movement happening through the combined efforts of the Don Mayo Estate.

Through research of varietals and studying the land, this estate has been able to dramatically improve their coffee. Further improving the cup quality they have also made huge improvements to their milling and drying process (their mill incorporates environmental practices including reusing processing water and treating chaff for use as an organic fertilizer). They are the current Cup of Excellence champion in Costa Rica.

Coffee you can cuddle!

cafegrumpy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:58:45 +0000

The Cafe Grumpy logo has finally come to life in these hand-made plush beans in “roasted” or rare “green”. With cute (but still grumpy) expressions, they will let you cuddle with coffee any time of day or night!

They are available for purchase in our cafes as well as online. Each 7″ bean comes in its own hand-sewn and screened jute bag.

Thanks to the designer/my brother Andrew and the creator Lana “Plushinator” Crooks for such a great project.

Coffee Cupping (Chelsea)

cafegrumpy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:18:27 +0000

July 17, 2010
2:30 pm	to	3:30 pm
2:30 pm	to	3:30 pm

Everyone welcome.

Finca El Llano, Don Mayo Estate Microlot

cafegrumpy — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:56:24 +0000

Flavors of red raspberry, lime, toffee and caramel.

Our two new Costa Rican offerings come from two farms (Finca el Llano and Monte Canet) that are part of the lager Don Mayo Beneficio. High grown at 1650 – 1950 meters above sea level, these coffees truly express the terrior of the area. The Caturra, Typica and Bourbon varietals grown on the farms are part a movement happening through the combined efforts of the Don Mayo Estate.

Through research of varietals and studying the land, this estate has been able to dramatically improve their coffee. Further improving the cup quality they have also made huge improvements to their milling and drying process (their mill incorporates environmental practices including reusing processing water and treating chaff for use as an organic fertilizer). They are the current Cup of Excellence champion in Costa Rica.

Cupping coffee in Colombia

cafegrumpy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:06:09 +0000

Colleen just returned from a trip to Colombia where she had the opportunity to visit and cup coffees in the beautiful community of Monserrate located in the Cordillera Central mountain range in Southwestern Huila. Here is her trip report:

Last Wednesday I flew down to Bogotá to judge a small competition put on by some of our favorite people at Atlas Coffee Importers. This entailed waking up at 4am to catch a flight to Neiva, a two hour drive to La Plata, another two hour drive to Monserrate, and a horseback ride into town.

The town of Monserrate consists of one long paved road with coffee farms on both side, and a beautiful brick church overlooking it all. We were treated like guests of honor with a huge traditional Huila lunch prepared for our visit. We walked around the town meeting people and then toured a farm. All of the plants were very new growth, and a couple of older trees had some mold damage, but in all it was a beautiful lay-out. One of the things I love about the coffee process in Colombia is that each farmer has his or her own de-pulping and fermentation set-up; this provides more control over the processing and the timing. Additionally, the set-up at Monserrate includes raised drying beds with coverings designed to still allow airflow through the coffee.

The next day, after a rough night of sleep due to revelers from the Festival de San Pedro, we got into the cupping lab where we spent most of the following days. We cupped 52 coffees over the next two days, all grown within the town of Monserrate. The profiles of the coffees were pretty similar – all showed the great quality and care they were given during growing and processing. The coolest part of the cuppings for me was really getting to know these coffees and getting to taste the very high quality cup produced in such a small town by really caring farmers. The variations shown by the coffees were amazing. I’ve never taken part in a cupping with coffees produced so closely together, and it really opened my mind to the importance of processing and elevation and their effects on the cup.

Sunday, our last day in Hulia, we re-cupped the top ten coffees and presented the farmers with the results and some cool prizes including cash! We also played the annual soccer game against the toughest 12 year olds you’ve ever met. These kids were not messing around, they were running faster and harder then I could handle. I was fully intimidated, even though they kind of only came up to my mid-thigh. It was a fun game and it felt awesome to be reminded of just how bad at sports I’ve gotten.

After landing back in the states and getting a drink with a friend I started to gain perspective on my trip. Without the hard work of these farmers and everyone along the chain, I would not be able to do my job and I would never get to taste such amazing coffees. The farmers of the Monserrate co-op work so hard to bring us these amazing coffees and I feel fully honored to be able to have taken part in such a rad experience.

-Colleen