Coffee is grown primarily in four regions of the world, all between the tropics. We explore each region on a bean to bean basis. Much like people, each coffee is unique and offers varied flavors.
Some times a specific coffee will be sweet and full bodied, while the same species grown on the other side of the mountain is bright and more complex. By exploring each region, and roasting each bean to its own profile, we are able to showcase its uniqueness and celebrate it’s personality.
The Fair Trade price has enabled Persatuan Petani Kopi Gayo Organik to establish various social and productive programs.
Productive Investment.
Community nurseries provide improved and grafted coffee and shade tree seedlings. Farmers receive training in growing additional crops such as vanilla, potatoes, and bananas for the market. The co-op has made improvements to the water supply, local roads, mosques, and schools. PPKGO has constructed two cupping labs and 16 satellite wet mills in producing communities. PPKGO offers its members training in coffee cupping and organic certification requirements.
Environment.
PPKGO mobilized relief efforts to assist people affected by the earthquake-tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in December 2004.
Credit Program.
Co-op members now use a credit union that extends small loans to members and their families, alleviating dependence on outside financing.
Health.
PPKGO provides medical training to village nurses and distributes milk for babies.
Chiapas was hit harder than most any other region when coffee hit the 100 year low in 2001. The majority of the Chiapanecos were struggling to feed their families, and an estimated 500 coffee producing families a week migraded north from their parcels to seek work in the sweat-shop driven urban areas. At the same time, multinational corporations were continuing to reap all-time profits as a result of the low coffee prices…. for example, Starbucks was celebrating a 41% increase in profits and admittedly only participated in the Fair-Trade program for about 1% of their coffee purchases that same year.
By purchasing Fair-Trade and Organic coffees from the Chiapas Region, we are guaranteed a fair price paid to the grower, a child-labor free product and only Sustainable Methods used for growth and preperation.
Fair Trade and Organic
Mexico FTO Chiapas
Price: $12.50 lb
Brazil Moreninha Formosa:
Name: Moreninha Formosa
Origin: Brazil
Region: Serro do Salitre
Farm: Fazenda Aurea
Varietal: Mundo Novo
Altitude: 1200 meters
Processing Method: Natural Dry
Drying Method: Sun dried on African Style Raised Beds
Preparation: Hand Prep
Cupping Notes: Very Sweet, Full Body, Thick Mouthfeel, Chocolate Cherry
Most people who are concerned with coffee transparency (such as I), find that it is difficult to trace exactly which farm a coffee comes from. It is increasingly difficult to do when dealing with small lots of specialty beans. Because some producers cultivate only a small amount of coffee per year, those beans can easily become a part of a larger co-ops inventory of a dozen or more producers, thus loosing their farm-specific traceability.
However, the Fazenda Aurea Farm, located in the Minas Gerais state, is one of the higher quality farms of Brazil, and more specifically, Moreninha Formosa is one of the choicest plots of the 31 collective plots that make up the farm.
The owners of the mill have a reputation for advancing a majority of the price of the coffee to the farmers to deliver ripe cherries to the milling station. This encourages higher quality production and, at the end, a higher quality cup.
This coffee is a full natural! Hand picked, sorted and dried in the tried and true Raised Bed style of African Naturals. The coffee cherry is set out flat on raised screen beds. The hot, dry Brazil air is permitted to flow under and around the coffee, allowing for a more even drying, which will in turn promise a more even roast and flavor of the final product… not to mention the absence of little rocks and pebbles picked up on the clay patio dried coffees I find every-so-often in the mix.
Brazil Formosa
Price: $12.00 lb
Sumatra Mandheling Old School:
Name: Mandheling OLD SCHOOL
Origin: Sumatra
Region: Mandheling
Farm: Various
Varietal: Sumatra (spontaneous mutant of variety typica)
Altitude: 800-1500m (2625-4925ft) above sea level
Processing Method: Dry
Drying Method: Sun dried on clay patios
Preparation: Grade 1
Cupping Notes: Fragrant, sweet, earthy, Traditional Sumatra.
“Old School” Mandheling. The term “Old School” refers to the fact that this coffee is harvested off of only old-growth (some well over 200 years old!) coffee trees.. “Triple Picked” means the coffee beans have gone through hand-culling of defective beans three times. Standard Mandheling typically goes through one such sorting.
Small landowners, whose tiny plots are scattered over high terraced plateaus of clay, produce most of the coffee in Sumatra. These area farmers are responsible for the initial stages of the coffee bean processing. The farmers remove the skin of the coffee cherries with hand-operated backyard milling machines and ferment the pulp covered beans overnight. The beans are then hand washed in the morning and allowed to dry on clay or canvas in the farmers’ yards. Parchment removal and a second drying are done at a middleman’s warehouse.
A third drying and sorting is done at the port of Medan before shipping. The combination of soil, climate, and traditional processing are responsible for, and contribute to, Sumatran coffees being named one of the truly unique coffees in the world.
We like to roast this one darker than any other bean we’ve got… well into second crack. Sumatran Coffees distinctive flavors really blossom into the darker roasts, however, this particular bean does well with the lighter (just before second crack) roasts as well.
Sumatra Mandheling Old School
Price: SOLD OUT
Blended Coffees
Grateful Roast spends a lot of time crafting its coffees and artfully blending our signature roasts to their peak of flavor. By the time we release a new coffee to our customers, it has undergone extensive experimentation with roast profiles until we finally lock on the desired essence of the coffee.
Espresso shouldn’t be an “average hat” ingredient for Specialty Drinks.
It is this roasters opinion that a shot of espresso should contain the pure essence of a coffee. One should be able to order a demitasse of espresso and thoroughly enjoy it.
What we’ve found is, most espresso blends are designed to be used in flavored drinks, like Caramel Lattes and the sort, where the flavor of the coffee is secondary to the sweetness of the syrup. This, in turn, distorts the essence of the drink, and one orders a Latte for the syrup, not the coffee.
Our espresso is fine how it is, and we’d like to keep it that way. Sweet, bold, smooth and strong. Our Signature Espresso is blended to be great by itself AND great in a Mocha.
Most people who are concerned with coffee transparency (such as I), find that it is difficult to trace exactly which farm a coffee comes from. It is increasingly difficult to do when dealing with small lots of specialty beans. Because some producers cultivate only a small amount of coffee per year, those beans can easily become a part of a larger co-ops inventory of a dozen or more producers, thus loosing their farm-specific traceability.
“Old School” Mandheling. The term “Old School” refers to the fact that this coffee is harvested off of only old-growth (some well over 200 years old!) coffee trees.. “Triple Picked” means the coffee beans have gone through hand-culling of defective beans three times. Standard Mandheling typically goes through one such sorting.