New Products

Starting this week you should see some new products available online and on the shelves of some of our retailers. So what’s going on? We recognized that our customers don’t necessarily want the same coffee every day. Sometimes you want something bright, sometimes you want something with heavier body, something floral or something chocolatey. We are working to provide a variety of coffees with unique flavors from our farm. Based on some innovative work we have learned about on other farms, we expect to do some great things. However, the full spectrum of coffee flavors cannot be replicated on one farm. So, we are going to be providing other origins to provide the options our customers want.

It is going to be a two stage process. Right now, we are purchasing sustainable coffees from other origins from our importer who helps get the beans on our farm from Peru to Flint. In the long term we are working to develop long-term relationships with farmers from other locations. The process is going to be slow, we are a small business and don’t have unlimited travel or purchasing budgets, but little by little our goal is to slowly develop long-term relationships with individual farmers to bring you great coffee, and help them grow their family business.

Why buy coffee from single farmers instead a mix of beans from a region? In short: predictability, security, and continuous improvement. While our model of purchasing our own family’s coffee benefits the family in Peru in the ability to offer a higher price, one of the largest benefits is in the stability of a stable price from year to year, month to month. Having a predictable customer that pays decent prices helps the producer to plan investments, save for a rainy day, and create a pathway to growing their family business. It also acts as a sort of insurance. In 2015 the price of green coffee on the market decreased dramatically (north of 30% from where we marked it during contract setting). While the price we paid decreased a little (we need to remain competitive), it did not decrease nearly as much as it did for producers as a whole. This is a sort of insurance for producers. Lastly, by buying coffee every year from the same farm we can work with producers to improve the quality of the coffee being produced. Coffee farming and processing is very complicated, but long-term partnerships help everyone.

So take a look at our coffee selection available online. Right now we are roasting the family coffee from Amazonas Peru, a very sweet high-quality Sumatran from the Gayo Highlands, a washed Ethiopian Coffee from the Sidama region, our new, very well-balanced Happy Puppy Espresso Blend, and a Peruvian Water-Process Decaf that is farmed in the same region as our farm.

Enjoy and please drop a line if you have questions!