We are recieving rave reviews on our…

new arival from Brazil produced by Poco Fundo Coop.

Burke Museum, Coffee: The World in Your Cup

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Burke Museum this past Sunday for the “World in Your Cup” exhibit and for a taste of our newly arrived varietals. We enjoyed talking to everyone and we hope you enjoyed the samples. Have a fantastic journey to the Burkes from MI and safe travels to all!

A Unique Business Meeting

Emily & Rob from Foodzie were in Seattle for a conference, and we got together for a sail on a windy, overcast Seattle day. We narrowly missed a squall that passed through just as we got off the water and reached the boathouse.

Emily & Rob — it was great fun to meet you.
Cheers,
Rick

Liquid Love

A photo of our coffee in Little Laura Whitehead’s cup in Devonshire.

Laura, you’re cute and I’m smitten.

— Rick

Working Hands

Working Hands

A friend stopped by the roastery and snapped this photo last week.  He was on his way out of town by rail to start a new chapter in New York.

Farewell Jared, foodie and friend.  Your bamboo and coffee plants have been with us for nearly a week and, wonder of wonders, they are still alive.  Seattle, New York, I admire your adventure.

— Rick

Pangaea Organica and The Stranger

The fourth-course dessert—a chunk of honey-hibiscus-macadamia-nut fudge, served just a touch colder than everything else—brought things back to the success of the first course, thanks primarily to accompanying coffee, a rich, strong roast from Pangaea Organica that gave the sweetness of the dessert some real dimension (and that was the first thing since the quiche to dwell in the same flavor-realm as the wine). As we finished our meals, I overheard the chef discussing this coffee with a diner, praising its “cleanness” and lack of impact on his gastrointestinal system.

We received this mention by an editor at The Stranger in a review of one of the best restaurants in the city.  Sutra serves local, organic, vegetarian food.  We are honored that they serve our coffees.

Fair Trade – The Movie

Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions

The New York Times summarizes a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest the goal of which was to sort out the contradictory conclusions of health studies involving caffeine.

Profile of a Startup

Beautiful Norwegian traveling partners and irreverent Buddhist monks.  Connections to people and place.  Burnout.  Long distance travel by motorcycle through Southeast Asia.  Awareness of the present moment.  Vibrant, exotic cultures.  Luck.  Deliberate intent.  Christine and I were talking about these and the other factors that go into starting a business.

Christine Haskell, founder of Social Ventures Labs, consults with businesses that consider their community contribution as part of their product or service.  She profiles mission-driven companies bringing into focus the practices and players in the social venture space that make money by doing the right thing.  Here is her profile of Pangaea.

Conversation is a skill, and Christine has it.  She asks intelligent, focused questions and knows how to follow up.  It’s not often when you get to see yourself and your work through someone else’s eyes.  It was wonderful to step back with her, range across experiences be they from within a cubicle or from beyond an epiphany, and recount and reconnect with Pangaea’s raisons d’être.

Christine isn’t a fan of cooperatives.  This isn’t to say that she’s against them; rather, my sense is that she sees them as encumbered by needless procedural overhead.  Thanks to her I have a series of essays working their way through the electrons in my brain toward the electrons in this blog.  I’ll convert her before long.  Stay tuned.

– Rick

Tell Us a Story

Interesting piece about Tom’s Shoes.  You can read it for yourself, but in a nutshell, inspired during a trip, a guy starts a shoe company with the idea that he’ll give away a pair to a shoeless child for each pair that he sells.  How cool is that?  Moreover, the shoes are inexpensive, yet apparently Carrie Bradshaw might wear them.

Let’s jump to this bit….

Tom’s Shoes has buzz for a variety of reasons, which include:

1. An uncommon product amidst of sea of commonality.
2. A simple, yet inspiring story that’s easy to tell and therefore spread.
3. An accessible and well-spoken leader who’ll tell the story to anyone who’ll listen.
4. A strong culture of participation among employees and customers that’s ingrained into the DNA of the company.

Why might this be of interest to us as an Organic, Fair Trade, Cooperative coffee company?

Our story isn’t as easy to tell perhaps.  Organic, Fair Trade, Cooperative.  That’s our DNA, but is it readily accessible?  Does it tell a clear, concise story?  Certainly not one as clear as Tom’s.  Indeed it’s not a story, it’s more of a list.  Like bullet points on a Powerpoint slide.  Ugh.  Let’s take a look, nonetheless….

1. Organic.  Coffee is international and criteria for organic certification differs from region to region.  This isn’t much of a hurdle, however, because most people understand the intent behind organics.
2. Fair Trade.  Thanks to “direct trade” and co-opted phrases like “fairly traded” there is a lot of confusion around Fair Trade as a business practice.  Those of us in the Fair Trade movement have some work to do here.
3. Cooperative.  Cooperatives are elaborate business constructs which, despite having been around for a couple of hundred years, often mean different things to different people.  We’ve got some work to do here too.

What do you think?  Those of you who know us in particular, do you know our story?  Would you say that we have one?

Lots to think about.