2009 Better Beans Featured Roasters

December 2009, Buddy Brew Coffee of Tampa, FL. Buddy Brew Coffee Roasters of Tampa, FL.

Dave Ward and his wife are passionate about coffee and OK, well maybe a little obsessed. As a matter of fact, the very first gift he gave her when dating was a coffee maker. Romantic huh!!?! Like others before them, after years of searching for a better cup of coffee they decided they'd have to roast their own to get the freshest, most delicious coffee beans.

We're thankful they did! They began by using the best green coffee beans from around the world and then roasting them to sweet perfection. Thrilled with the scrumptious freshly hand-roasted coffee they were creating, they decided to share this bit of joy! That Christmas they created a fun label for the brew (naming it after another love of their life, faithful dog Buddy) and packed up beans as gifts. Friends and family alike went crazy for the coffee and said "MORE please"!

The name has stuck, and so has their commitment to roasting. They've now steadily grown their business to a viable roastery, continuing to roast every batch by hand, as the orders come in. Now all of you will get to try our little coffee secret, a former corporate guy, tucked away in his well hidden roastery in the heart of Tampa, creating roast after roast of amazing coffee. Go Dave!

Shorty is a very good friend of Dave's, and a complete coffee freak. He's also Buddy Brew's biggest fan and supporter. One morning when Shorty came by to pick up his weekly addiction things were a bit busy and Dave was, well, DISTRACTED. Later, as was his habit, Dave called his friend to get a critique on that week's roast. Shorty said whatever he was drinking sure wasn't his ritual beaner…BUT it was the best darn coffee he'd ever tasted!!?!

HUH? And that's when the light went off...Dave had somehow mixed two bags of beans together, but which two? After much trial, error, and tasting of many combinations, they were able to re-create this delightful mistake. And that's the story of how a happy accident turned into honoring Shorty with his own blend. We all Thank You Shorty!

Shorty's Blend in short, is delicious. Rich and satisfying, you'll taste each note of the complex blend of beans. - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

November 2009, Armeno Coffee Roasters of Northborough, MA. Armeno Coffee Roasters of Northborough, MA.

Armeno Coffee is located in an historic mill on Smith Pond in central Massachusetts. In the business for 15 plus years, owners Chuck Coffman and John Parks share your love for coffee. They live and and work in a small New England town, but reach coffee lovers worldwide. Their customers even include a café in Taiwan, and British food writer Jon Thorn recommends Armeno in “The Coffee Companion: The Connoisseur's guide to the World's Best Brews.”

Working in idyllic surroundings, running a successful business with a loyal following of coffee lovers, John and Chuck feel fortunate to be doing what they love. Committed to giving back whenever they can Armeno donates more than a thousand pounds of coffee each year to Central Massachusetts food banks, as well as provides fresh-brewed coffee at charity fundraisers across New England.

Armeno Coffee came up with the Black & Tan blend to get through the long and cold New England winters. As you might have guessed, it's named after the drink. Armeno combined a light and a dark coffee instead of an ale and a stout. The perfect cup for those coffee lovers that can't make up their mind between regular roast and French roast. It's comprised of a rich blend of Indonesians, complex and full of hidden nuance. In addition Black & Tan has enough French roast to give it a kick - but not so much to be overbearing.

This full bodied cup has sweetness from the sugars in the full city roast and the caramels in the French roast. The unique blend shows the greatest breadth of artistry from the roaster. Simply Wonderful!

We think Armeno Coffee is a special find! And…in honor of the Thanksgiving season where better than Massachusetts to get your turkey day beans? - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

October 2009, 8th Sin Coffee of Raleigh, NC. The One Worth Roasting For! 8th Sin Coffee of Raleigh, NC.

We rediscovered 8th Sin Coffee, featured in the club four years ago, accidentally. We were at our community farmers' market, buying veggies and letting our son play on an old caboose parked behind the market as an historic display. Brian ran across the street to the local coffee house and came back with a cup of deliciousness. It was 8th Sin Coffee's monthly roaster's choice blend. He loved it so much we bought some for the house and then a few weeks later for all of you!

Raleigh is technology country, and 8th Sin Coffee was started 6 years ago by two IT workers. While sharing a technical assignment, Greg Todaro and Katie Glynn discovered they shared a love of great coffee, and the dream to open a coffeehouse. So they did! Soon, they began roasting their own beans, and Eighth Sin Coffee Company was born.

With inborn creative flair and practiced scientific method, they've developed a sound roasting technique and now feature freshly roasted coffees from all over the world. They have been converting Starbucks fans by the droves with a simple draw; the more subtle, complex flavors and the higher quality of perfectly roasted beans.
8th Sin Coffee has created many unique blends. One we especially loved that you might enjoy trying on your own is their dark roasted Bad Kitty Blend; appropriate for October rain and Halloween hoots and howls, a truly stand up coffee.

For the club we chose their Autumn Roast because it's simply fantastic, and it's slightly less dark roast is sure to please most pallets. Autumn Roast Blend is a medium- dark roasted coffee, with slight nutty and fruity aroma, a tremendously smooth cup. The beans are expertly combined and translate well into what we would consider the 8th Sin signature taste.

We hope you enjoy this month's selection. Have fun testing your taste buds and see if you can determine the primary bean in this lovely blend. - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

September 2009, Matt's Wood Roasted Organic Coffee of Pownal, ME. Wood is Good is the mantra at Matt's Wood Roasted Organic Coffee of Pownal, ME.

Matt started his coffee company in Maine with a decidedly different approach. He wood roasts using a vintage Italian 30 kilo Petroncini; a cast iron and brick-lined gentle giant. Using all native wood, the roaster is typically fed rock maple; but they also use cherry and sometimes white ash which is very useful due to its quick, hot burn.

Roasting with wood can be a bit tricky, as a wood-fired roaster has some variables that an electric or gas- fired machine does not. Once the beans are dropped into the roaster, everything must be monitored carefully—not just the temperature from the thermocouples in the drum and the overall development of the roast, but also the airflow through the firebox, how the fire itself is progressing, how the ash is falling in the grate, and a few other things that make wood roasting a task requiring extreme focus. The high rate of airflow through the firebox and drum results in a bean that is exceptionally even in roast. The wood smoke is an added nuance, coming into contact with the beans during the entire roast cycle. Matt uses kiln dried, clean burning wood, and the smoke in essence only reaches the outside of the bean, so it's not a strong presence, but it's there waiting to please your pallet and leave you wanting more coffee created by this rare process.

All Matt's coffees are certified organic, with Bird Dog being his exquisite version of a northern Italian espresso. Such espressos are roasted more lightly than we Americans associate with the term. The result is a blend that, as a straight shot, is sweet, fat, and a little bit fruity, but when brewed is smooth and satisfying without any trace of bitterness. Bird Dog has a healthy dose of quality pulped natural coffee from Brazil for a base, with coffees from Indonesia, Central America and two selections from Africa rounding it out. Most of the components are naturals or pulped naturals, which provide the espresso with body and crema, but there are also washed coffees to complement the lower tones and liven things up a bit. This coffee's an award winner! We're not the only ones who think it's great. In January CoffeeReview rated it a 90, tying it for the highest scoring organic espresso blend in recent years.

Matt's methods make terrific coffee, and we are grateful that he decided to roast the old fashioned way.- Better Beans Coffee Clubs

August 2009, New Hampshire Coffee Roasters of Dover, NH. Lovers of rich, dark, and smoky rejoice! This month's coffee is a great one. New Hampshire Coffee Roasters of Dover, NH.

Owner Bill Coneys' brother Mike started this coffee company 20 years ago under the name Piscataqua Coffee Roasting. He named it after a local river, The Piscataqua, which in Native Indian means body of fast moving water. New Hampshire's Great Bay flows through the Piscataqua River and with a full moon will produce the second fastest tidal river in the world. In 2006 Bill and Mike changed their name and image to reach a broader market and thus more marketing identity…Success!

Now they are one of the larger coffee roasters in New Hampshire, yet still roast with an artisan's touch in small batches. Supplying restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and even institutions like The University of New Hampshire, Bill and his team know coffee.
NH Coffee's internationally recognized roast master, Mike, has been roasting for them for 13 years. On a recent trip to one of the many plantations they make their rounds to he roasted beans in the old fashioned way…over an open campfire with a cast-iron bowl!

As you might guess, campfires are about as inconsistent a source of heat as you can have. A little too hot and beans will burn, not enough and beans become smoky. But a pleasant surprise is what he got; smoky in just the right amount. A little dark, low in acidity, a quick finish, and that smoky lingering aftertaste. The roast reminded him of the smokiness of an Italian roast from wayyyyyy back. One of Mike's favorite programs is the long-running HBO hit The Sopranos. Following Mike's return to the states he nailed the roast he produced on the side of a mountain over an open fire and a new roast was created; “Soprano Roast”!

Hope you enjoyed this interesting story about the origin of Soprano Roast...we sure did! - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

July 2009, Canaltown Coffee Roasters of Pittsford, NY. This month a special treat for our members! Canaltown Coffee Roasters of Pittsford, NY.

We are featuring our favorite roaster of them all, our own Peter Pelletier, owner of Canaltown Coffee Roasters. Peter has over 15 years experience as a master roaster, and his coffees reflect his dedication to the craft. The story of Canaltown Coffee begins around 1991 with founders Bill and Ruth Anne Fisher. They served some of the first iced coffees in Rochester from a little cart at the city's famed Lilac Festival, then moved on to open a permanent location. At first a coffee house; there are now two locations and an in-house roastery. Canaltown has become Rochester's most loved coffee company.

Canaltown ended up just the right size for Peter, who now runs the business full-time and roasts all of the coffees. Most days you can find him behind the counter at one of his cafés smiling and chatting with longtime customers. And... you time your visit just right you'll catch him doing what he loves best; standing at his roaster minding the beans.

Rochester's Choice Blend is a great coffee. Countless hundreds, maybe thousands of Rochesterians count on this rich and delicious blend day in and day out. Peter created this coffee as a tribute to his customers, and one taste let's you know how much he cares about them. This coffee is smooth and well-balanced with rich, full bodied flavor and low acidity. This translates into a coffee well rounded enough to be your daily drink or a special cup.

This month we indulged our own taste for excellence. Hope you enjoy Peter's coffee! - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

June 2009, Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters of Charlottesville, VA. This month we're proud to introduce you to Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters of Charlottesville, VA.

We miss Charlottesville quite a bit. After living in the area for years we became somewhat spoiled. There are few places with so much good food, great music, excellent coffee choices, and beautiful vistas per capita. Right in the heart of the little city is Shenandoah Joe Coffee Roasters; one of our favorite places to drink coffee, hang out, or just stop in for beans. At Shenandoah Joe it has always been All About the Joe.

Started in 1993 as an artisan wholesale roastery, they began serving their customers shots of espresso when they stopped in to pick up their orders. People kept saying "open your own coffee shop!” so they did. Years later they are a Charlottesville institution and still doing things the way they did when they started. Each pound of coffee is still roasted to order in their old work horse San Franciscan roaster and hand blended and bagged. These guys care about coffee for coffee's sake and have managed to keep it real while growing and thriving.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are rounded, truly blue-green in color, and welcoming in their rolling undulations through the land. These lovely old upheavals are not overly forbidding in scale, and you can picture yourself traveling through them without a destination in mind (as many do along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail).

Virginia Blue Mountain Blend is a tribute to those mountains. A wonderfully smooth Breakfast Blend with good body, this coffee has a subtle bright citrus note that just peaks through the softness to give a little vibrancy. A sweet hazelnut character lingers in the finish.

This month's selection was a pleasant trip down memory lane for us!- Better Beans Coffee Clubs

May 2009, Stone Creek Coffee Roasters of Milwaukee, WI. Stone Creek founder Eric Resch is a coffee lover and aficionado of coffee quality. Fifteen years ago, in December of 1993, Stone Creek's first batch of coffee came pouring out of a little roaster in Milwaukee and was delivered fresh to a single store in Whitefish Bay. This month we're proud to introduce you to Stone Creek Coffee Roasters of Milwaukee, WI.

When we found Stone Creek Coffee we were excited. Cup after cup, blend after blend…truly excellent coffee. This isn't only unusual, it's almost unheard of. Most artisan roasters have a blend or two that they are especially proud of and that really stand out. With Stone Creek we had a tough time picking out what to share with you! Eric's standards are rigorous, and his approach to coffee flawless. With two master roasters on staff, every pound of beans is a shining example of quality.

These days, Eric and his team are roasting on a larger machine and delivering coffee to eight retail stores throughout metro Milwaukee. Stone Creek is committed to socially responsible practices with employees, customers, and coffee farmers alike. To further this commitment, they have developed a Socially Responsible Coffee certification system.

From a city that has always known how to work hard comes a coffee that works as hard as you do. Milwaukee Blend is a well-crafted combination of strength, balance, and medium-dark roasted flavor that yields a great tasting, rock solid cup of coffee, time after time.

A delightful combination of Brazilian, El Salvadorian, and Ethiopian beans medium-dark roasted to perfection. We love this coffee and moved things around a bit to bring it to you in May As strong as the bricks that built the city, Milwaukee Blend will give you the fuel to start your day and the muscle to finish your work.

Milwaukee residents are lucky to have access to Stone Creek's excellent coffees every day!- Better Beans Coffee Clubs

April 2009, CaffeMarco of Clark County, KY. We are really pleased with this month's selection. We are fairly confident that without our coffee detective work you wouldn't have had the opportunity to taste this month's amazing blend, fresh from CaffeMarco Coffee Roasters of Clark County, KY.

We found this small coffee roaster at Combs Ferry Kitchen in rural Kentucky outside of Lexington. Set amidst the sloping, green pastures and artfully constructed rock walls, the aroma of roasting coffee comes as an exhilarating surprise.

Mark Newberry, owner and sole roaster of CaffeMarco's delectable coffees, started out as a wine maker in California. He loved wine making and California, but fell hard for the beautiful Bluegrass region of Kentucky. After years of traveling he happily settled there. The only thing missing was an excellent cup of coffee. The search for a local roaster began and ended rather quickly; there wasn't one!

The pleasure of having a smooth cup of coffee every morning was a simple goal, but it would lead him to a new life's work and a passion for small batch roasting. Inspired by a trip to a Cincinnati roaster where he enjoyed the best cup of coffee he'd tasted in years, Mark decided he'd fill the coffee gap in the Lexington area himself. From the very beginning his vision was clear; buy top quality green beans, roast them in a state of the art, small-batch Primo coffee roaster, and offer them fresh the day after roasting. Mark sells most of his coffee whole bean at the Lexington Farmers' market, but is also featured at a few select restaurants and small food stores. About 300 loyal devotees buy from him. This month's selection, Kentucky Cup, is a coffee they look forward to immensely. Created in honor of the horse race by the same name, and only offered a few times a year, it's an exceptional blend.

Medium roasted, and comprised of new crop Mexico Chiapas and Guatemala coffee beans, it's worth the wait. The cup possesses a silky, smooth body and nuanced, earthy aromatics. There is also a definite milk chocolate quality in the finish. Perfect for breakfast and all day long. Certified Organic & FAIR TRADE.

Next time you're in Kentucky, don't forget to visit Mark's beloved Bluegrass region!- Better Beans Coffee Clubs

March 2009, Savannah Coffee Roasters of Savannah, GA. Each month we bring you a special coffee from a special place, and this month is no exception. This month's Roaster's Best selection is from Savannah Coffee Roasters of Savannah, GA.

Savannah in the springtime, what a sweet discovery. While our beautiful little village in western NY still shivers through most days, Savannah is putting on a show of spring color most welcome to us northern visitors. With her many city squares, beautiful architecture, and the added advantage of a waterfront setting it's a truly special place to see the first daffodils and tulips open their petals to the sun.

Hayden Banks, co-founder of Savannah Coffee Roasters and a master roaster, was born in this idyllic city. He's been roasting coffee there for over 20 years and his coffees are true to place; evoking the richness of life and history that surrounds him.

Hayden's skills were recently acknowledged in a big way. Paula Deen, chef extraordinaire, Food Network celebrity, author, and expert on all things southern and tasty, has selected Hayden for the roasting of her private label coffees. Now that's an endorsement you can take to the bank. We congratulate this wonderful roaster, and his pursuit of excellence. We think you'll enjoy his delightful selection (a blended roast he is especially proud of) for this month's Roaster's Best coffee as much as we did.

If you've read Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt, then you remember the delightful sense of mystery and discovery the author carefully constructed around a true story of murder and relationships. If you haven't, you’re missing out on a good story; an escape into all the wonderful eccentricities of Savannah.

Savannah Coffee Roaster's Good & Evil blend was named in honor of the book, and faithfully represents the intriguing combination of flavors and personalities Savannah secrets away amidst her alleyways, waterways, and grand old homes. Good & Evil is a rich blend with a robust but immensely smooth flavor.

So grind a few beans and enjoy a delicious cup of Good & Evil. Curling up with the book, or even the movie, wouldn't be a bad idea either! - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

February 2009, Small World of Princeton, NJ. The small world concept is based on the idea that the world is becoming increasingly connected. There is a theory that every person is linked by a short chain of social acquaintances, ala "six degrees of separation." And so what does this have to do with coffee? Well, for one, our featured roaster this month is Small World Coffee of Princeton, New Jersey.

We'll posit that Small World got its name from their community-centric business philosophy. The founders of their cafe wanted to create a place where people could come together. Since 1993 they've been doing just that. And, since 1997, Small World Roasters has been supporting them with high quality beans and precision roasting. But, Small World's name might also be based on the idea that the beans in your cup come from all over the world, linking you to the small farmer in, say, Aceh, Sumatra. Regardless of the inspiration for their name, Small World Roasters has a good name and a good conscience.

Let's talk organic coffees. For years, Small World has offered only organically grown beans, and are now in the process of obtaining organic certification. Organically grown beans are important to our small world, as you know, in terms of sustainability. Not using chemical pesticides or fertilizers assures the health of the soil, the forest, and the farmers for years to come.

It is, as they say, a small world. - Better Beans Coffee Clubs

January 2009, M.E. Swing Co. of Washington, DC. Every four years around this time, Americans can look forward to the inauguration of a new president. And this year, whether you voted for him or not, you can't deny there will be a lot of hoopla in our nation's capital. So to honor this most American of traditions, the parade, the pomp and circumstance, the balls and festivities, we've headed to Washington, DC, to pick up a little souvenir for you: beans from the M.E. Swing Company Coffee Roasters.

M.E. Swing has been roasting coffee for over 90 years, and we figure they were around for the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson back in 1917. Back in the day there were no need for tickets, teleprompters, jumbo-trons or porta johns, but still it was a big deal for Americans facing a war in Europe.

Today, Swing's has one coffee shop located at 17th and G Streets, across from the Old Executive Office Building. And if there's one word to describe this roastery and coffee shop, it's "historic." There you can get a good cup of coffee and a slice of history. The building is in the Art Deco style. Although not the original shop and roastery, many of the historic fixtures have been moved there, including the original mahogany fixtures, vintage grinders and wooden coffee bins.

So this January 20th, brew up a pot of M.E. Swing's "world famous" blend brought to you by Better Beans. Then settle down in front of your favorite cable channel to watch the inauguration of our 44th president, and smile knowing you're warm and comfortable enjoying your own little slice of American history! - Better Beans Coffee Clubs