We're on CNN!

CNN came in to interview Dan and I - not about coffee - but about the rumored Apple tablet. It was pretty exciting to be honest. Special thanks go out to JJB for keeping the shop running throughout the shenanigans.

Stumptown!

Oh yes darlings - you can now find select coffees from the Stumptown at Third Rail Coffee!

We had the immense pleasure of visiting them at their roasterie in Red Hook last week and cupped through pretty much the entire Stumptown lineup. They were ALL phenomenal so it was hard to whittle it down but a quick poll showed a few that consistently stood out to us, so we’re kicking it off with two single origin coffees that will surely impress. First up will be the Kenya Githima and El Jordon from Colombia, and later this week – HAIRBENDER espresso!

Having Stumptown at the shop is really exciting for us not just because the coffee is so great but because it’s being roasted locally and better yet by people we know and love.

Roots

From the birthplace of coffee itself we got a stunner in right now from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. My good friend Kyle was marveling over it the other day and it made me think of how Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia’s coffee buyer talks about how Ethiopia is the one place on earth where native coffees grow wild and that Ethiopia is home to more genetic varieties of coffee than anywhere else. He poetically describes the region this way; “The coffee here is a perpetually regenerating masterpiece and the land a tireless artist.”

I am no poet but will say, if you’ve never had a coffee from Yirgacheffe before you just might be taken aback by it at first. They’re usually very floral in nature, think of jasmine, orange blossoms and honeysuckle - with lots of honey and lemongrass in the flavor profiles. Acidity is usually pretty high and citrusy as well which leads to the perception of a “lighter” body. It all adds up to a very tea-like experience which is what I think challenges one’s perception of what coffee is, or can be.

The Yirgacheffe we have in now has got really great sweetness, lots of clover honey here, while still maintaining a very clean mouthfeel from the lime-like acidity. Super jasmine and gardenia blossom aromatics fill your nose while you taste notes of dark berries and lemongrass in the cup. It all finishes on a pretty well defined note of sweet herbiness and most importantly, will leave you smiling.