LA DOLCE VITA

If you’d like to check out the flic I put together “3 days on a coffee farm”, it’s here.

Yeah, it’s been a while since I posted anything. I guess it gets a little discouraging when you feel like you’re talking to yourself. A lot has happened in the last few months. The biggest thing is pulling the plug on the mobile cafe at the train station. I’ve never worked so hard in my life for 30 bucks. I’d get up at 4:00 am and stay at the station until 9:00 am to sell maybe 15 cups of coffee. Out of about 180 cars, I’d say 65% of them showed up with their DD or Starbucks cups. I had some customers who I do have to thank for being there each morning. I felt really bad ditching them.
I did however learn it’s all about volume. If I was getting 20% of 200 people, then what I needed was 600+ . The Greenbush train has yet to catch on and who knows maybe in a year I’ll be back there. In the mean time I’m working on using the mobile cafe to promote local events.

On a more upbeat note I just returned from Costa Rica where I stayed at Hacienda La Minita in the Tarrazu region. It made me appreciate the La Minita brand coffee even more. The tedious effort that goes into producing that coffee is amazing. You hear and read about things in this business, but it really starts to make sense when you go to origin and see it first hand.
I was there with a couple of guys from Portland Roasting Company Keith and Heath (no kidding) and Dave Rier from Hammer and Thomas in Seattle. We ate like kings, and drank like fools at night playing a game called Sopas(?)
You get 6 heavy coins and receive points as you try and toss them into a metal frogs mouth. There is a whole tequila drinking equation to the game that really f#*!s you up. Thanks to Drew Zent for being such a great host. Keep an eye out for the movie I’m editing from the trip. Hopefully, it will show up on the website very soon. Later.

Just got this email. It’s the first time Redeye Roasters coffee has made it above the tree line.

Greetings from Colorado,

I was recently inroduced to a bag of your coffee by my brother, Chris
Ritter. He sent me a bag of the Yemen Mokha Sana’ani… this stuff is
amazing.

I am an avid camper/outdoor enthusiast and on my last three trips have
taken your coffee with me. There is nothing better on a Rocky
Mountain morning!

Here’s a picture of me on the side of Mt. Evans, just west of the
Denver area… KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC WORK!

Best,
Joe Ritter

So I agreed to be a vendor at Hingham’s Derby Academy Fall Fair event last Saturday. A couple of days before, I roasted coffee, portioned it into little bags, bagged whole beans to sell, cleaned the espresso machine, bought supplies, recruited 3 “rock star” people to help, loaded the truck with all the stuff, arrived there at 7:30 am, stayed until 4:00 pm and came home with 88 bucks in my pocket. I’m a much better coffee roaster than I am a business man, but one thing came through loud and clear that afternoon…”this was not good”.

But wait… given some time to reflect over a glass of Pyrat Reserve Rum. (which I bought with the 88 bucks) I’ve declared “this wasn’t such a bad thing”. Heck, this is a business and rarely do things run as smoothly as you want them to. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad”. “Brush yourself off and get back on the horse”.

Here’s a list I’ve compiled that puts my public notions and cynicisms to a grinding hault.

1. Lets face it, my barista experience is limited. I haven’t spent much time behind an espresso machine pulling shots and making multiple cuppuccino’s for 2% froth craving customers. I was really cranking those things out today. Every shot I pulled and all the froth I foamed got better as the day wore on.

2. At least a dozen or so people who have not yet tried Redeye Roasters coffee became enlightened.

3. My new/used Rancillio espresso machine was put to the test and “it rocks”

4. The whole experience was good practice for a future retail situation.

5. Team Work

6. Customers openly complimentary on how much they enjoy my coffee.

7. Cute kids

8. Smiles

9. Friends that want to see me succeed.

10. When you’ve got the best wife/soulmate in the universe, things are never that bad.

1. PANAMA/Hacienda La Esmerelda “Diamond Mountain”-The Peterson Family that produces the world famous “Geisha” coffee also produces this rich and complex Eco-friendly Rainforest Alliance coffee. This what I discovered cupping this coffee.

FRAGRANCE- Caramel and Vanilla with hints of roasted hazelnuts.

FLAVOR-Peppery with a lemon citrus twist.

BODY-Rich, and thick

FINISH-A nice spicyness that resonates on the tongue. Very Clean.

2. GUATEMALAN/San Jose Ocana Estate-The Ocana Estate was the #2 winner in this years “Cup of Excellence” competition in Guatemala.

FRAGRANCE- A fudgy cocoa aroma with hints of honey and walnuts.

FLAVOR-Smooth and sweet with a red delicious apple note.

BODY- Medium, viscous.

FINISH-Very clean and refreshing.

3. SUMATRA/”Blue Batak”- A semi-washed carefully processed coffee from the Lintong region south of Lake Toba. Sweet and clean with bright acidity. Very uncommon for Sumatra.

FRAGRANCE-Herbal/floral

FLAVOR-Super sweet with hints of honeydew melon and Jasmine Green Tea.

BODY-Plush

FINISH-Long, sweet and herbal

4. ETHIOPIA/Amaro Gayo Organic- Organically farmed and processed by Asnakech Thomas the only female coffee producer and exporter in Ethiopia. 80% of her employees are female.

Amaro Gayo is a berry bomb. I was going over my cupping sheet that I used a few weeks ago and there is a big WOW! in the fragrance and aroma section. I remember when I broke the crust an amazing blueberry/cherry aroma drifted up and curled the hair in my nostrils. (it was a good thing). I loved this coffee.

FRAGRANCE-Berry, berry, and berry

FLAVOR- A full and sweet fruit flavor

BODY- Thick and buttery

FINISH-Long and fruity

5. KENYA/Tambaya PB- A peaberry (one whole single bean instead of two half’s) that I found had a very intense complex flavor with a nice balance. I only received a small sample when I cupped this coffee and roasted it very light as I always do when I cup. I’m really looking forward to try some different roast profiles and see what I can really bring out in this coffee.

FRAGRANCE-Milk chocolate that carried through on the break

FLAVOR - Tangy, full and complex

BODY-Soft and creamy

FINISH-Clean lingering peppery note.

Our team for the 2007 Roasters Challenge competition. Apparently our coffee sucked, but heck we looked damn good.

Redeye Roaster’s newest home is Foodie’s Urban Market, a cool neighborhood spot located in the South End of Boston. The thing I love about it is, the diverse “Manhattan” neighborhood feel that seems to be well connected with the community. Another store will be opening in Duxbury on the South Shore sometime in the fall. Living in Hingham I’ve been hearing some buzz about how excited the locals are about them coming. Joy and I gave out samples on Friday and got to meet and chat with some of the people from the neighborhood, quite amiable and very complimentary on the quality of the coffee.

If you don’t live on the South Shore of Boston you probably have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention “the Greenbush Line“. Say hello to the new commuter train that will carry folks to and from Boston and hopefully reduce heavy traffic going into Boston from the south. (ha!) What’s a $515 million dollar train project have to do with coffee you ask? Well, I want each and every passenger at the Scituate train stop to get on each morning with a cup of Redeye Roasters coffee, espresso, latte, or cappuccino. The logistics of it are a little crazy but this is how I plan to do it. Each morning I’ll drag a 7×12 trailer with my Ford Bronco to the first Greenbush stop on the Scituate/Marshfield line. The trailer will be eqipped with a 2 group La Spaziale espresso machine, Fetco coffee brewers, and grinders. All the coffee will be roasted the day before and ground fresh so the people are getting a very high quality cup for their trek into beantown. I’ll set up around 5:30 am and sling coffee and espresso’s until 9:30-10:00 am. Getting power to the trailer is the biggest hurdle at this point. The idea of using a portable generator has more or less been scraped due to the fact that in order to push all that equipment I would need a honking 18000 watt monster. I know, buy ten cups of coffee and get a free set of earplugs. Hopefully the T managers will turn out to be really good guys and provide 240 electrical service for me. I need to find someone that has really good fresh pastry that I can pick up each morning before I head to the train. If anybody has resources or suggestions on how to make this work, I’m all ears. They are saying the train will start rolling in the fall 2007. That, remains to be seen.

Just received this email from a customer. Somehow it makes it all worthwhile.

“it’s just seriously, very seriously, an outstanding cup of coffee. thank you for putting so much energy and effort into your roasting. “