How long will it take my items to ship to me?
We do our best to roast and ship our coffee within 2-3 days. Shipping times vary between 3-7 days, depending on your location. So, from the time your order is placed to the time it arrives at your door should be between 5-10 days.
Why do we roast to medium dark?
We Roast our coffee to a medium dark profile so our coffee does not have the sour flavors of higher acidity light roasts, while it is not so dark that it develops smokey, bitter flavors. However, what is “just right” will be different for everyone. Upon request we may be able to do custom roasts to a lighter or darker profile, just send us an email!
What makes your coffee different than others?
We roast in small- “Roast to Order” batches ensuring your coffee is as fresh as possible. We use a Fluid Bed Roaster which gives our beans a different flavor than what is associated with the more common drum roasters. Fluid bed roasters heat the beans by charging hot air into the bottom of a funnel shaped roast chamber, thus heating the beans by convection. More common drum roasters use conduction to heat the beans, which can lead to burned spots on the outside of the beans as they are in contact with the heated drum surfaces. Fluid bed roasters also help prevent smokey flavors, as they have a continuous high volume of air being pushed through the beans.
Why should I grind my own beans?
Grinding your coffee just before brewing leads to the best quality cup hands down. Once coffee is roasted, it begins releasing carbon dioxide in a process know as “Degassing” This is the reason coffee bags have one way valves on them, to prevent the bags from swelling up. Whole bean coffee will retain most of its peak flavor for about 2 weeks, gradually loosing flavor out to about one month. Past one month, stale flavors will begin to develop. When coffee is ground, the surface area is greatly increased, significantly reducing the amount of time that it is fresh.
What kind of grinder do we recommend?
We recommend a true burr grinder. A good burr grinder will start at the $100 to $150 range, while great ones (especially good espresso grinders) can run well above that range. I personally recommend the Baratza Encore (about $140) We have a similar Baratza grinder for our personal use and we have put well over a hundred pounds of coffee through it and have had zero problems. Blade grinders do not produce even grind size, which leads to under/over extraction- diminishing the flavor of coffee. There are also “hybrid blade grinders” which still grind with a blade, but have a set up that looks like burrs to help keep the grind size uniform. I have seen some of these marketed as burr grinders, but they are not… $50 grinders marketed as burr grinders are likely this set up.
What is extraction?
Extraction is the process of hot water flowing through the grounds. This determines the flavor of your cup while brewed. There are 3 factors in this: grind size, water to coffee exposure time, and water temperature. Coffee that is over extracted will have bitter flavors, while under extracted coffee will have sour notes. Assuming you are using quality coffee at your desired roast level, if your coffee is sour, to fix this start by grinding your coffee slightly finer. If you are using a pour over method, ensure your water temperature is about 207 degrees F, or try pouring slower. If your coffee is bitter, grind your coffee slightly more course, of if you are using a pour over method you can also pour your water quicker to reduce brew time.
Weighing coffee vs. using a volumetric method
As coffee is roasted, the beans swell. This means that light roast coffee will take up less room for the same amount of coffee as opposed to a dark roast. Weighing coffee helps keep your brews uniform when you switch roast profiles.
Does light roast or dark roast have more caffeine?
Caffeine does not “cook out” as coffee is roasted. Therefore, as coffee swells the longer it is roasted its caffeine content remains the same. Meaning, if you measure coffee using volume, one scoop of lighter roast coffee will have more caffeine than one scoop of dark roast, but if you measure your coffee using weight, light roast coffee and dark roast coffee will have the same caffeine content.
What are Arabica Beans?
Arabica and Robusta are the two main coffee species. Arabica has a better flavor profile and is most common. Typically, Robusta is a cheaper coffee used in instant coffee, however higher quality Robusta is available and is sometimes used in Espresso. Robusta has double the caffeine content of Arabica. We do try to keep some Robusta in stock for some of our high caffeine options, sometimes the extra kick is nice. There are also some less common species such as Liberica and Stenophylla. Under each species are several to hundreds of varieties, not all Arabica is created equal. The region the beans are grown, elevation, and milling process all have a great impact on flavor.
What are Single Origins/ Blends?
Single Origin Coffee is Coffee that is from a specific growing region, typically one specific farm. For example, our Costa Rica La Minita comes from the La Minitia farm only. We do not blend in other coffees with it. Blends may contain two or more regions of coffee that compliment each other. Most blends will not state which origins are in it, so you can’t compare one roasters’ blend to another unlike single origin.
What is RFA, FTO, SHB….
Rainforest Alliance- Certifies the coffee was grown in a manner that is sustainably sourced from an environmental standpoint
Fair Trade- Certifies the Growers, Millers, etc. are paid fairly. Hawaii is just about the only coffee that is not grown in a third world country, and fair payment is important for the growers.
Organic- … we all know what organic is, however, I would advise caution in getting caught up with organic. The costs for farms to get certified are very steep for the farmers and there are yearly costs for them as well.
FTO- Fair Trade Organic (see above)
SHB/SHG- Strictly Hard Bean/ Strictly High Grown- Coffee that is grown at higher elevation, starting at 1200 to 1500 Meters depending on the growing region. Typically considered higher quality, as they grow more slowly.