New Year, New Coffees

It's been a little while since my last blog post, so I decided to go ahead & write one to give y'all the latest information. To begin, I want to says thanks for a great 2013. I attended my first SCAA event last year in Boston and returned with a bucket of ideas. We also got some great press locally and nationally including achieving #2 on Coffee Reviews Top 30 Coffees of 2013. I was totally humbled to be on a list that included roasters from across the country two of which were the previous year's Roaster of Year award recipients. We've got a long way to go before even being considered for Roaster of the Year. However, it reminds me of the story of when a farmer decided to enter his donkey into the Kentucky Derby. Someone asked the farmer "why did you enter your donkey into the Kentucky Derby, you know he's not going to win?" The farmer smiled and replied "well I figured the company would be good for him."

To my awesome customers, I want to say a huge thank you for your support. We really can't do what we do without you & I am very grateful for your continued support. For 2014 our plan is to continue offering high quality coffees while pushing the envelope a little further this year. I'm currently not at a place to disclose, but this year is going to be fun. However, I can disclose the info about our latest offerings:

Sumatra BIES UTAMA Cooperative: This is our first offering from Sumatra. I'm not generally a huge fan of Indonesian offerings. Indos typically can have too much of a wild, harsh earthy taste that's usually unsettling with my palate. However, Sumatra is working to improve their reputation and this coffee is a great example of that improvement. I cupped this coffee a couple months ago and really liked it. In mean time and few other East Asians from Sulawesi & Papua New Guinea came in that I liked, but I kept coming back to this lot. It's a really nice coffee too. It has a tad bit of earth on the nose, but man-o-man it is rich with a lingering sweetness that does not fade quickly at all. That's what I fell in love with & the reason I decided to offer it. A Fair Trade certified lot, it's a perfect coffee for the winter months & for your French Press.

One Man Band Single Origin Espresso: After months of delay, OMB is finally here. I kept trying to figure out the right time to release to this coffee, but just couldn't nail down a good date. The holiday rush hit and I decided to just hold off until now. Unlike our Confection Espresso which is meant to an everyday espresso offering, OMB is an experimental approach to espresso. Occasionally, I'll cup coffees for drip brewing that don't make the final list but for fun ill pull a few shots to see how they taste. After pulling a couple shots and then couple dozen more shots (no sleep til Brooklyn those days my friend), I couldn't part with this coffee. Our current One Man Band is Mexico Nueva Linda. It is so sweet, with tons of fruit exploding on your palate. I really enjoyed it and I think y'all will too. It's beautiful as espresso, but it's also a really good drip coffee too. Check it out!

Rwanda COOPAC Cooperative: fresh crop Rwandans are still landing on our shores and man am I glad this one rolled across my cupping table. Another Fair Trade Certified lot, this coffee is beautiful. I'm not sure if y'all remember, but we actually offered a peaberry lot from COOPAC about 2 years ago. COOPAC reminds me of the Peru CENFROCAFE cooperative, in the sense that they consistently offer great lots of coffee year after year. This year's current lot did not disappoint. Super sweet, with lots of floral and honey-like tones throughout the cup, finishing with a long-lasting citrus finish. Rwanda is one of my favorite coffee producing countries in Africa and I'm glad I get an opportunity to share this amazing coffee with y'all.

Thank y'all so much again for a great 2013. I look forward to serving y'all again this year. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter if you haven't already to get the latest and greatest updates. Be blessed.