Overview

If you’re like us, you agree... it’s the questions that make you better. And since we’re a coffee business, we always start with this simple question: How can our coffee be better?

From sourcing and roasting to preparation and delivery, we’re always looking for smarter answers-answers that make sense for the coffee and that make sense for the business. Sound familiar?

No matter what the context-coffee bar, seasonal restaurant, specialty market, boutique hotel-we want to work with people who share our dedication and who want to bring the very best but know there’s always room for improvement.

Drop us a line and let’s talk about our coffee and your business.

Useful Questions

As we’ve said, we love questions. Here are some of the questions we would love for you to ask us (and they are the same questions you should ask any roaster):

Sourcing Questions

• Do you have face-to-face relationships with the farmers you buy from?
• Do you build economic partnerships with the farmers you buy from?
• Do you provide direct economic incentives to farmers to promote the production of highest-quality coffee?
• Do you write your coffee contracts transparently, giving every participant in the chain a clear picture of the profit earned at each step?
• What percentage of the coffee you sell fits this Direct Trade model?
• Why are some of your coffees Direct Trade and some not?
• From how many different origins do you source coffee?
• Is seasonality important to your coffee and how do you demonstrate this?

Roasting Questions

• Do you roast to order?
• How do you manage your roast profiling?
• Do your roasters cup their roasts daily?
• What does your quality control department look like?
• What do you do when a coffee doesn’t meet your quality standards?
• Are your blends lower in quality than your single origins?
• Do your blends have the same coffees year round?
• If your blends change, why do you keep the same name?
• Do your coffee bags have “Best By” or “Roasted On” dates?
• Are your coffee bags valve-sealed for freshness?
• How do you produce the coffee descriptions on your labels?

Business Questions

• Are you a local business and what does that mean in the coffee industry?
• Are you a green business and what does that mean in the coffee industry?
• What training do you provide?
• What equipment do you provide?
• What does your service department look like?
• What free services do you provide and how do you pay for them?

Equipment & Service

Great roasted coffee requires a great deal of effort, so of course we’re keenly interested in having the best equipment available. We’ve chosen to offer espresso machines and brewers that meet the high standards we’ve set for our coffee.

If you choose a “Slow Coffee” option, you can brew with a Chemex or a pour-over bar. On the other end of the spectrum, perhaps you’re going to serve many coffee drinkers at once and need a larger Fetco batch brewer. Either way, we’ve got you covered. And if you’re going to work with espresso, you can choose a La Marzocco or Synesso to provide the stability necessary to create the best drinks. Of course, we also have a large array of accessories to round out our offerings.

We also have one of the best service departments in the country with decades of experience between our technicians. If we cannot be there in person, we also have a large service network. We only work with the best technicians in any given market, and our high expectations drive our network to provide superior service.

Training

We care a great deal about our coffee and understand that all of our effort will be for naught without that final link in the chain-the delivery of the cup. Brewing great coffee requires vigilance and care, precision and knowledge, a real desire to be good at what you’re doing. But being good doesn’t just happen naturally; it takes an enormous amount of training and dedication. Our company takes its training mission very seriously. We want everyone to understand the importance of making a great cup, be it espresso or brewed coffee, and to know how to get there. We have a training menu that will take you from beginner to expert, and everywhere in between. Not everyone can dedicate themselves to becoming an SCAA barista champion, but learning to make your coffee shine is vital to your success and ours.