Fri Dec 26, 2008
Another Freebie
Yay! more free stuff.
Ordering now will also get you a free copy of Imbibe Magazine in your box until supplies run out.
When you subscribe to Imbibe, use this link for up to 46% off the regular subscription price.
Imbibe Magazine, 46% off via The Coffee Project
Imbibe Magazine is indispensable for broadening your knowledge of our liquid culture. Great for the mixologist, home brewers, wine fanatics, tea lovers, and anyone who loves the exotic. Learn how to work with absynthe, make your own maraschino cherries from scratch, and more.
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Sat Dec 20, 2008
It's (almost) never too late for a gift certificate.
Running late? Not sure what to get?
Order a gift certificate by December 24th and take 10% off the order. Save some time, save some money. Just get the order in for the gift certificate before the deadline and get that last minute present under the virtual tree!
Use the coupon code "Snow" for 10% off your Gift certificates before December 24th.
(Yup, shipping will show up on the cert due to how the shopping cart is set up, but we'll remove that by hand if the gifte certificate is the only item you're ordering.)
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Fri Dec 19, 2008
Another great value...
Take a look at the "Make Mine Monthly" option that we have on a number of our beans choices.
When you choose the drop down menu option to "Make Mine Monthly" then you've locked in that price (even a sale price!) on an unbroken flow of recurring beans orders.
So for instance, this weekend just prior to Christmas and Hanukkah has most of our beans on sale. If you choose the "Make Mine Monthly" option then you'll get that same pricing month after month after month until you tell us to stop shipping that exact order out.
For another description of this idea see our FAQ page. But that's a basic idea, a GREAT value to take advantage of.
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Thu Dec 11, 2008
What's a good value right now?
The Fresh Roast coffee roaster is a GREAT value.
Why?
Because while stove top roasting is absolutely FREE, your time is worth something too. For less than a hundred bucks you've got one of the most highly controllable machines, plus the beans you need to get roasting right out of the box. The only other machine with as great a degree of control is the Gene Cafe. Also a great value, but a different kind of value.
Get the Fresh Roast coffee roaster for yourself, or a friend, its the easiest entry into the highest control, high satisfaction coffee roasting. They're inexpensive, they have a super track record, and they're easy to use. In about two tries you're an expert. Fast, economical, and easy- for the best, freshest coffee possible. That's value.
And here's a great habit to get into on a daily basis; while brewing a batch of morning coffee- roast a batch too. The time frame is just about the same, eight minutes plus or minus. So no extra time in your day is used up while you're in the kitchen anyway. What's easier than that?
And as you know, the BEST COFFEE ON THE PLANET is really not expensive. Most of the greatest raw coffees are anywhere from 4- 6 dollars a pound, even less when you buy a bunch at once. And, green coffee doesn't go stale. THAT'S a great value.
The Gene Cafe is a different kind of value. Its a roaster that you'll use about once or twice a week. It roasts a lot of coffee at once, 11 ounces at a time. When you need high control, high quality, and a higher volume of roasted beans, the Gene Cafe is the way to go. Indeed its about 4 time the price of a Fresh Roast coffee roaster but its also roasting about 4 times as much, so the value is just as strong depending on your needs.
So for the best value, the highest degree of control, and the greatest simplicity- look to the Fresh Roast coffee roaster, or the Gene Cafe.
[0] comments (21 views) |
Tue Nov 04, 2008
But is home coffee roasting difficult?
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"I found your website about roasting coffee at home and how easy it is. I also found others that say it can be really difficult. I would like to try roasting at home to see what kind of results I get. Do you still offer a sample that I can try?"
Thanks for writing! ...Yeah, it really is pretty easy.
Like a lot of things that require some familiarity, if you ask a rocket scientist for a description of how to fry an egg for instance, they may give you way more info than you need, they'll want to tell you everything they know, and make it sound like... well, rocket science.
It's not rocket science.
Home coffee roasting is as difficult or easy as you want to make it for yourself. If you can measure- exactly the same way you measure oatmeal or flour, and you can turn a dial- exactly as you turn the timer on a stove, then you can easily roast coffee too.
There are a lot of professional bakers out there, or professional chefs, and there is some arcane knowledge in most arts and crafts. But there are also a lot of everybody else who also bake or make PB&Js or cookies every day. Home coffee roasting is the very same skill set as making a batch of cookies or frying an egg. Pretty doable.
Yes, we still do the sample beans. The sample beans will be a good introduction for you. They'll certainly take the mystery out of it. AND you'll wind up with some coffee to drink. The sample isn't huge but you'll get the idea.
Home coffee roasting is easy, cheap, fun, good for the world; there's really no downside and no barrier to giving it a try. You'll probably want to eventually have a real home coffee roaster with a plug, but you can do it on a stovetop for free to get the concept. Its easy.
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Sun Aug 10, 2008
Pampojila, Guatemala. Memory lane.
This is a first hand recollection from our friend David Borton about his travels in Guatemala, and his experiences in the region of Pampojila...
Memories Hidden in a Cup of Coffee
Pampojila, Guatemala. Memory lane. Seeing that coffee for sale took my mind rocketing back to Guatemala, Summer 1988. Pampojila, rural western Guatemala, where many of the indigenous Mayan were among the 120,000 that had been murdered by its own army. Civil war. Nothing civil about this unending 30 year war that took its own innocent people as the first casualty.
As we descended into Guatemala City, my mind raced with anxiety...
More...
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Thu Jul 03, 2008
Is there a problem with brewing coffee just after after roasting?
Is there a problem with using coffee just after it cools after roasting... or should we wait some time between roast and grind and brew?
Thats a good question- slightly different than asking if its better to wait. Waiting, letting the coffee "rest" or "degas" does help in creating better flavor. "Problem" is a definite negative.
Its counter intuitive to the idea of fresh coffee, but letting the beans sit for anywhere from a day to even 3-4 days will make a big difference as to when the coffee is at its peak aroma, flavor, taste. Some espresso blends really hit their stride at a week after roasting. It all depends on your personal taste but time is definitely part of the recipe.
As an experiment try brewing three cups at 2 days and 4 days and one immediately after roasting. Just roast them on different days and try brewing all three at the same time to taste the difference.
What you'll see on the just-out-of the-roaster one when brewing is an effect called "bloom" that's the coffee puffing up due to the co2 escaping. There will be less or none on the other two.
And thats the answer to your original question, if there's a problem with brewing straight from the roaster, its because of bloom. When the hot water hits the yet-to-degas coffee all that gas tries to escape and causes the bloom. The escaping gas prevents the water from really well saturating the grinds before dripping on through. As the water is trying to get in to saturate the grounds the gas is pushing back out just as hard. So while it looks wet, its not as wet as it could be and the water isn't leaching out the good stuff as effectively. ...While it can be argued that once ground, the coffee should be as degassed as its ever going to be. In practice it doesn't seem to be true.
Once you're past the coffee degassing, which takes about a day, then its just a matter of where you think the coffee is hitting the mark before grinding it up. You've probably already noticed that a few days after you've roasted you get that experience of "Wow, THAT'S a good cup of coffee! " All you have to do is start taking notice of that experience for each kind of coffee you roast, how you roasted it, and plan ahead for it
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Coffee can be maddening, especially in a home roaster. There's a lot of generalities, rules of thumb, but very few recipes set in stone to master it. If you generally do the same things the same way each time however and only change one factor (as if thats possible) you'll eventually begin doing it by second nature.
...Kind of like cooking a fried egg. You just know how to do it and you don't need charts and graphs and a slide rule to determine the proper BTU's of energy or the coefficient of friction in teflon.
Just do it. Break some eggs, roast some coffee. Its easy.
[0] comments (240 views) |
Thu Jun 12, 2008
Do you ship to UK?
Yes can ship to UK. The Coffee Project can ship to anywhere deliveries are made, except for coffee growing regions.
The most economical way to ship coffee would be by USPS Flat Rate box. They come in different sizes. The two smaller options will hold up to ten pounds or up to about fourteen pounds for $39, A larger one will hold up to 20 pounds for $50. But I wouldn't recommend filling them to capacity.
There's also a flat rate envelope that will hold about 2 pounds of bean for $12.
When we ship orders outside the US our responsibility ends once the boxes are on the way. If they are lost, stolen, held up, damaged, etc there's no way for us to fix the problem from here. Any import fees, taxes etc are the receiver's responsibility. We will send a confirmation of having shipped the box(es) but once they leave here we have little control over what happens next.
Other services like DHL have much better tracking, but are very expensive.
Travel time is typically estimated up to reaching your local hub, not necessarily to your door. Holiday ordering will probably take longer than normal on both ends.
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Mon Apr 07, 2008
Specials and Coupon codes
Don't forget to occasionally really read our splash page for changes in specials and coupon codes.
For instance we're moving along some of the Cocoa nibs that sold brilliantly over the holidays, but now its time to move 'em along. Right now they're free with any order. Can't beat that.
If you ever want to be on our email list that announces new beans, news, and yes, Sales on items; just write to us and ask to be on the list. Easy.
[0] comments (333 views) |
Wed Jan 23, 2008
Why send a mailer out after a deadline has passed?
Thanks to the many, many, many, many, many of you that pointed out that the recent emailer went out a week after the deadline of the promo mentioned.
Here's what happened. Those were supposed to go out a couple weeks ago but the computer that sends them stalled. When it started up again last night, out went the emails. So, just a simple glitch in the system.
I have turned the code back on for a little while. So dive in, use the coupon code mentioned.
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