This is the blend that started it all. When we first tried to roast our own beans, we were looking to fuel our need for the perfect espresso. One that tasted great, either straight, in a cappuccino, or strong enough in a latte. It is dark roasted and makes great crema.

We use a base Brazilian coffee, with a couple from Central America. There is a tiny hint of some East African coffee in there, that gives it the right finishing note. I never enjoyed straight espresso until we perfected this recipe.

Although this is the blend we personally use for espresso drinks, It can also be used for brewed coffee. Dark, bold, yet smooth and sweet.

A smooth, earthy bodied and lightly roasted bean from Indonesia blended with a snappy Central American bean. Serve with Breakfast, or anytime. It sure is an eye opener.

I never planned to create a breakfast blend. After all, everyone else has one. Then I entertained the thought that people might like something familiar. We used some Indonesian coffee mixed with some central American for that familiar taste. Later I found this was the same combo used by one of my favorite coffees. It is also one of our best sellers.

100% Organic and Fairly traded

For details on the beans, and the farms they are from, read the details from our Costa Rican and Sumatran coffees.

Our history lesson in a cup.
Somehow, the ancient legends of coffees struck a cord when I was learning about coffee blending. Sometime after the legend of Kaldi, coffee cultivation started around the Red Sea. The Yeman port of Mocha became the fist major hub of coffee trading.

The Dutch started plantations on the island of Java, and brought their different flavor back to Mocha. Then these widely different coffees beans were mixed and a great cup of coffee was born.

100% Organic and Fairly traded

The Spelling? It depends on which time-period and which language your map is in. Moka, Mouka, Mocha, Mocca all refers to the same place. Many Americans now associate mocha with chocolate. The closest spelling true to Arabic is Mokha

Sumatran coffee has a rich, syrupy body with complex tones. It’s an easy to drink coffee for any time of the day.

Other flavor notes include:
Strawberry, sour cherry, clean fruits, bright, punchy acidity.

This coffee is grown by small-scale coffee farmers in the Gayo Highlands in the Aceh province of Sumatra. These farmers belong to the Gayo Organic Coffee Farmers Association. The co-op produces high quality coffee, but also trains all farmers in Organic techniques, and has it's own coffee tree nurseries. They also provide other crops such as vanilla, potatoes and banana to help balance the farmers incomes. The co-op itself has made improvements to local roads, water supplies, mosques, and schools. The organic farms they support act as a buffer to the watershed and several sanctuaries for the Sumatran tiger.

Since being FTO certified in 2000, this co-op has also built several mills, provided tsunami relief, distributes milk for babies, give medical training, and also gives micro-loans to it's members to fund their ventures.

Certified Organic

Our hand-selected beans are gently decaffeinated using mountain water processing. So full of flavor and aroma, this coffee erases the line between regular and decaf. This Sumatran shows the traditional earthiness, along with sweetness and fruit. You are not giving up taste, when you leave out the caffeine.

I have compared the normal and decaf Sumatran side by side. There is little difference, and I might take up drinking coffee at night due to the quality.

Ah, the images of Juan Valdez leading his donkey down from the mountains.

This Colombian Supremo coffee is produced by 97 small coffee growers who comprise the Asociacion Los Naranjos San Agustin. The individual farms are an average of 1.5 hectares in the Huila region.

The coffee beans are washed and fully patio sun-dried then hand sorted to ensure the highest quality beans.

Cupping Notes:
Bright, fruity, and complex with a soft and sweet body.
My Comments
After creating a medium roast, my first sip of brewed coffee left me thinking "normal". Colombian is the flavor of any commercial coffee. But this one was surly clean tasting and not bitter. I've now had several pots of this coffee now, and while it does not blow me away in unique tastes, it sure is respectable. This is what coffee tastes like.
However, I did notice a great benefit by accident. I turned off the coffee maker with a little left in the carafe. By mid-afternoon, I was needing a jolt of caffeine. Yes, I drank it cold, and it was amazing.
Coffees usually becomes....gross when cold. This one was perfect. Growing up on the East Coast, I know that Iced Coffee exists. Besides being a traditional cup of morning coffee, I found another use for it in my kitchen.

By a special request, I tracked down our first coffee from Panama. As this was from a valley away from Costa Rica, I didn't expect much difference. Boy, was I wrong. The extra bright crispness of the Costa Rica was replaced with a huge earthy body. Amazing. The coffees from the Boquete region of Panama are subtly bright, well balanced, with fruit, and dark cocoa tones

# Name: SHB EP Baru Indian High
# Origin: Panama
# Region: Boquete
# Farm: Baru Indian High
# Varietal: SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) Arabica
# Processing Method: Washed EP (European Prep)