Our Blog
- Robert and Rick
Robert's Blog - 3/10/10
3/10/20103:09:35 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
We're very excited to let everyone know that starting next Tuesday, March 16th, you will be able to order all of the new food items that I had previously communicated last month we would be rolling out.
You will also notice that our menu boards have changed in look and feel. The thought behind this was to highlight visually many of the items that we sell so that you could see what they look like before you order.
Listed below are the new menu items:
Quiches - Spinach and Quiche Lorraine
Soups - Broccoli Cheese w/ Fontina, Chili w/ Beans, Chicken Noodle & Minestrone
Pizza - Cheese, Pepperoni, Vegetarian, Meat Lover's & Supreme
Yogurt & Granola Parfait
Canadian Bacon, Egg & Cheese Breakfast sandwich (in addition to our current breakfast sandwiches)
Oatmeal w/ Granola and Brown Sugar
Child's Lunch - including PB&J sandwich, fresh sliced fruit, baby carrots, fig newtons, and apple juice (for kids or those on the run!!!)
We're also very excited to now be offering breakfast and lunch pairings, consisting of:
-Small Coffee & Breakfast Sandwich
-Small Latte & Pastry
-Any Small Beverage & Grilled Panini or Grab & Go Sandwich
We would love to hear from you how you like all of the new items. You can either email me (rgleason@austin.rr.com) or my partner Rick Timmins (rtimmins@yahoo.com).
Enjoy!!!
-Robert
Robert's Blog - 2/10/10
2/10/20108:44:19 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
We are excited to announce that we will be rolling out several new food offerings in the next few weeks. Additionally, we are overhauling our entire menu board system, featuring many pictures of the beverages and food we offer in our cafes.We will be adding two types of quiche, spinach and quiche lorraine, oatmeal with granola and brown sugar, yogurt with granola and a canadian bacon, egg & cheese sandwich to our breakfast menu.We will also be adding several soups and a child’s lunch to the lunch menu. The soups will be available either to be served in café or to-go in disposable containers.Lastly, we will be introducing pairings to offer more value to all of our guests, with two breakfast pairings and one lunch pairing. These pairings will give you up to $1.50 in savings off of the retail prices when you pair them together.While some items are being taken off of our current menu boards, such as kid’s beverages and the addition of soy milk, these items will still remain available for you to order.If you have any questions before, during or after this transition of our menu boards, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email at rgleason@austin.rr.com.Thanks,RobertRobert's Blog - 2/2/10 - Costa Rica January 2010
2/3/201010:41:54 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I traveled to Costa Rica in January to more fully understand the coffee growing and milling process. I was able to see the huge difference that a focus on quality has on coffee.My first stop was a large, traditional mill, one of the largest in Costa Rica. This mill processes hundreds of thousands of pounds of coffee each day. With that much coffee being processed, it’s difficult if not impossible to trace the coffee that this mill is processing and exporting back to the farm where it was grown, called “traceability.” The coffee beans that this mill processes through the wet and dry process are gathered at different receiving stations throughout the region, with each of the farmers getting paid at that point. This is the only option for many of the coffee farms in Costa Rica, as they don’t own or have access to micro-mills to process their coffee. As a result, their coffee, which may have some amazing characteristics, is combined with other farmer’s coffee beans, and as a result, the quality of the coffee in the cup could be damaged.I was also able to visit the Las Lajas farm in Alajuela. This farm and micro-mill is owned by the Chacon family (Oscar and Francisca). It was amazing to see the difference between this small mill and the large commercial mill. Since the Chacons own the ecological mill, they are able to control quality throughout every step until the coffee is given to the distributor for export. Also, the Las Lajas farm has many more manual processes, such as patio drying, raised screens for drying the coffee, and the ability (and desire) to use many different drying processes for their coffee. The farm is also certified organic, requiring much more work to maintain the quality of the farm. The larger, commercial mill employed approximately 60 people and processed approximately 200 times the coffee that Las Lajas does with only 12 people.Since the harvest season is from November to March, we were able to observe ripe coffee “cherries” and participate in picking some of the ripe beans. This was an amazing experience seeing how beautiful their farm (100% organic) is compared with some of the other farms in the area. Their farm has true shade-grown coffee, as opposed to other farms that only have a few shade trees to be able to make the claim of “shade-grown coffee.” It was amazing to me how difficult and pain-staking the picking of beans can be, with a basket wrapped around your waste for ten hours per day, six days per week for up to four months of the year. My pickings in about 45 minutes yielded just under $1.00 pay. I am told that the best pickers pick the equivalent pay of about $20 per day in Costa Rica.I would highly recommend a trip to a coffee growing region, or if anyone is traveling to a coffee growing region for pleasure, to make time to tour a farm and have the coffee growing and harvesting process explained to them.Below are several pictures from my trip. As you can see, there was a little time for fun on a zip-line through the Costa Rica rain forest canopy!Enjoy!!!
Large commercial processing mill
Time for fun!!!
Dry/natural process (leaving cherry on)
Pulp Natural / "Honey coffee" process
Natural screen-drying with help of Oscarita
The day's harvest
Las Lajas Ecological Farm
Coffee fermenting (part of wet process)
De-pulping the cherries (part of wet process)
Hand-sorting out the "floaters"
Oscar Chacon explaining the family's 100% organic farm
Ripe cherries ready for picking
All the roots live on the surface in an organic farm
Green bean with mucilage (fruit) and skin
My pickings with the Chacon children
Real shade-grown farm versus pseudo shade-grown on other side of river
Rows and rows of coffee trees
The Chacon family
Arenal volcano – 1 of 10 most active in the worldRobert's Blog - 11/5/09
11/5/200910:04:17 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
We are getting very close to that time of year that I always look forward to, the Christmas season. I also look forward every year to two of my favorite drinks, the Gingerbread Latte and Peppermint Mocha. The homemade gingerbread star on top of the Gingerbread Latte is an added touch that makes this drink very special to me.
We’ve also added a new drink this year to our holiday mix, the Old Time Hot Chocolate. This drink is rich and creamy and will remind you of sipping hot chocolate by the fire. It also comes with mini marshmallows on top to create that distinctive finish.Again this year we will have two coffees featured, our Holiday Blend, available in whole bean, and our Festive Pecan, available in 12oz ground valve bags for purchase. The classic blend of southern pecans caramelized and toasted creates a memory of evenings around the campfire.We will also be featuring several confections with a gingerbread and peppermint theme to go along with our core holiday drinks.We will be rolling out our holiday drinks, merchandise, confections and coffee on November 23rd.Lastly, if you haven’t had a chance to taste our new Texenza NATURALS, they are truly amazing!!! All of them have between 300 and 350 calories and no saturated fat (except Orange Cream – 4g sat fat). They use 8oz of fresh fruit, a whole banana, and 6oz of juice.Until next time.RobertRobert's Blog - 10/21/09
10/21/200910:40:40 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
This week we've launched Texenza NATURALS in all of our cafes. They are amazing healthy & tasty fresh fruit smoothies. We have five flavors available - Strawberry Banana, Blueberry, Peach, Mango Pineapple, and Orange Cream. You have to try them. They really area amazing.
Each of the NATURALS is truly natural, using fresh fruit, bananas, and juice. My favorite so far is the strawberry banana.
Can you believe that it's already the end of October. Before you know it, Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be here. We're gearing up to launch our favorite holiday drinks in late November, Gingerbread Latte, Peppermint Mocha, and a new Old Time Hot Chocolate. I can't wait.
Stop by also to take advantage of our daily specials - Muffin Monday, Taco Tuesday, Free Flavor Friday. There's something for everyone.
Take care.
Robert
Robert's Weekly Blog - 10/5/09
10/5/200910:07:34 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I went to Coffee Fest (www.coffeefest.com) in Seattle last week. It's amazing all of the great products that were on display. There is even a twitter site to follow all of the products / vendors (www.twitter.com/coffeefestshow).
We're working to bring in several of the products that were on display at the show. We'll have more information in the next couple of weeks on these products.
The Latte Art from the Millrock Freepour competition was amazing. It's amazing what a barista can create in a cup!!!
The Northwest Regional barista competition was also incredible. These baristas take their job seriously!!!
We're getting very close to rolling out our Healthy, Fresh Fruit Smoothies. We're excited to share them with you. I know that you'll love all of them.
Lastly, if you haven't had one yet, you've got to try one of our Fall promotional drinks. The Campfire Mocha is delicious, hot, iced or blended, and the Caramel Apple Cider is great on a cool morning day (although we haven't had many of those yet!!!).
Until next time.
Robert
Robert's Weekly Blog - 9/16/09
9/16/20094:15:25 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Fall is almost upon us (at least says the calendar). We just started our Fall promotion today, and the Campfire Mocha is AMAZING!!! How can you beat the taste of a S’more in a cup??? It’s worth trying just to have the whipped cream, graham crackers and marshmallows on top.
Also, the One Harvest Tanzania Kanyovu coffee is out of this world. If you like Tanzanaian peaberry coffee, you will love this coffee. The coffee is a medium-dark roast and is a rich, full-bodied coffee with bright citrus highlights and a smooth, earthy finish.There are also so many other reasons to buy the coffee to support the Kanyovu Cooperative in Kigoma, Tanzania. I would like to share some of the background behind this phenomenal coffee.Kigoma, Tanzania Coffee Quality Improvement ProjectSustainable Harvest Coffee Importers builds transparent supply chains for small-holder coffee farmers in Africa and Latin America. By helping farmers improve their coffee quality and access the specialty coffee market, Sustainable Harvest assists farmers in achieving environmental and economic sustainability.In 2007, Sustainable Harvest began a partnership with the 4,000 coffee farmers of the Kanyovu Cooperative in Kigoma, Tanzania. With funding from the Lemelson Foundation, we embarked on a major initiative in the Kigoma region. We pledged to support the cooperative in improving the quality of its coffee production so it could directly export its coffee, earn a fair price, and lessen its environmental impact. In the two years since, the Kanyovu Cooperative has transformed itself into a new type of farmer organization.Today Kanyovu exports its own coffee without relying on the government or middlemen. The cooperative leaders have relationships with their buyers and understand that their specialty-quality beans merit a price triple what they received when they sold their coffee through traditional channels. The co-op members have also begun to understand the imperative to take charge of protecting the region’s fresh water and reforesting its bare slopes. All these changes, as well as improvements to the infrastructure available to coffee growers, are adding up to greater sustainability for the coffee farmers’ livelihood.For the men and women of Kigoma, the quality of their coffee is in the details—the minutiae of how they pick their coffee cherries or the amount of time the beans ferment. Yet, the future viability of their coffee production often lies in the far more human details, such as the trust between a farmer and his cooperative or the hope a couple nurtures for their children’s future. Thanks to the success of Sustainable Harvest's partnership with Kanyovu, the stories of farmers like Mary Kituranya (photo at right) recount recent positive developments in the region. As coffee is the main source of income in the villages of Kigoma, the impacts have also been felt by more than just farmers—there are primary school students, single mothers working in the coffee mill, and young professionals in export and quality assessment whose lives are also touched by the collaboration between Kanyovu and Sustainable Harvest. The sum of these individuals’ stories is a broader narrative about how Sustainable Harvest is making coffee the currency of hope for small-scale farmers.Gombe Tree Planting ProjectSustainable Harvest planted 60,000 trees in the coffee growing communities of Kigoma District, Tanzania, directly outside of the Gombe National Park. As coffee is one of few cash crops that can grow under a shaded canopy, this project contributes to the biodiversity of the region while improving coffee quality and conserving soils.Reducing Water Use in Coffee ProcessingOne of the goals of Sustainable Harvest's coffee quality improvement project with the Kanyovu Cooperative in Tanzania is to help the farmers reduce their impact on the natural environment. In communities where water is fast becoming a scarce resource, reducing the amount of water farmers need to process their coffee cherries was a top priority. Sustainable Harvest introduced the farmers to new Penagos technology to process their coffee and reduce water use dramatically!Kigoma StoriesA critical piece of Sustainable Harvest's efforts in Kigoma, Tanzania is expanding farmers' knowledge of coffee quality in all areas of production and processing. Training young people from the communities is a key part of this, as they will ensure the future of their cooperative's long-term relationships with specialty coffee buyers. In this installment of our series about the Gombe Coffee Promotion Project, Sara Morrocchi describes Sustainable Harvest's efforts to develop the cupping and quality evaluation skills of Kanyovu's next generation of coffee farmers.
-- David Griswold
As the director of Sustainable Harvest's coffee project Kigoma, Tanzania, I distinctly remember the first time I cupped coffee with the Kanyovu coffee cooperative leadership. A chairman of each village-level committee went from one white porcelain cup to the next, dipping their spoons into the steaming coffee and gingerly slurping the coffee as they had seen me do.
At first, the only noise was the clinking of spoons and intense sips, but when I started to explain the flavors of honey and figs and the juicy aroma in Swahili, I watched their faces change in recognition and excitement. The chairmen began to discuss the different coffees with their own descriptions. Some flavors I knew in my native Italian but not in Swahili, while other words were familiar to us all. This first cupping session was an exercise for all of us in learning a common vocabulary of taste.
Since that time, our Tanzania office has continued hosting cupping sessions for cooperative members. Last summer, the Kanyovu leadership decided to sponsor an internship for one young cooperative member to learn how to cup coffees for the cooperative. Twenty-four-year-old Benedicto Joseph from the village of Mubanga was selected to spend a several months training with Sustainable Harvest in how to evaluate and care for coffee quality. In addition, Benedicto was trained as an export manager, and received computing and English language training while at our office.
Benedicto grew up on a farm of 200 coffee trees in Mubanga, a small, close-knit community of the Kanyovu co-op. Benedicto was one of the lucky few children who was able to continue his education beyond the Mubanga Primary School (the building that catches rain on its roof for the Sustainable Harvest-installed rain harvesting system for the community coffee washing station).After graduating from primary school, Benedicto attended a high school twelve miles away. That might seem like a close distance, but there is no public transport besides "bike-buses," which Benedicto explained with a smile, is when you pay someone to carry you on the back of their bicycle. Without a way to easily travel back and forth, Benedicto had to live at the school when classes were in session. He persevered, specializing in physics, math, and chemistry.
With this special interest in chemistry and familiarity with coffee production from his family's farm, Benedicto was keenly interested in learning coffee cupping and other aspects of the industry. During his time in the Sustainable Harvest office, he saw how much room there is for professional growth, and improved his cupping skills tremendously. By learning how to assess quality for Kanyovu's coffee, Benedicto is able to stay close to his roots, help his community prosper with higher quality coffee, and also build his professional skills.
I believe investing in the education and training of young men and women like Benedicto will provide the farmers of Kigoma and the Kanyovu cooperative with a strong new generation of leadership. Someday it will be these young people who become the Chairmen of their villages, and they will bring with them the experience and understanding of specialty coffee quality needed to continue their cooperative's success.Best,
Sara Morrocchi
Sustainable HarvestRecord Prices Paid to Kigoma FarmersReport by Sara Morrocchi, Director of the Kigoma Coffee Quality Improvement ProjectIn the 2008 harvest season, Sustainable Harvest imported 5 containers of specialty coffee from the Kanyovu cooperative. The average price paid for this coffee was $1.96 per pound--an incredible price not only for Kanyovu, but for the entire coffee industry in Tanzania! Overall, these have been the highest prices paid to farmers in the history of Kigoma coffee.IMPACT OF HIGHER PRICESThese prices will quickly bring positive economic impacts to the Kigoma region. Farmers will have enough money to provide for their households, invest in their farms and purchase luxury items, such as bicycles, motorbikes, and solar panels. With an increased specialty coffee output in the future and strong market linkages, the economic impacts of coffee production will bring signi?cant changes to the socio-economic patterns of the Kigoma region. This is a historic moment for farmers in Kigoma, and Kanyovu is acquiring more and more credibility as one of the best coffee producing cooperatives in Tanzania.