Coffee and Music

We at Cup to Cup are avid fans of music,  especially when it comes to education and providing great music experiences to young people. So we are extremely pleased to be teaming up with the Savannah Children’s Choir in creating a fundraising coffee for them.

The Savannah Children’s Choir is a community-based choir whose mission is to united Savannah’s Children through the power of song. Fantastic, right? Here’s where you can help: The Savannah Children’s Choir Roast is a coffee blend created specifically for the choir. For every bag of this coffee sold, half of the proceeds will go directly to the choir.

Where can you buy it? We’re glad you asked. You can purchase this coffee on our website by clicking here. You can chose to have your coffee shipped to you, or if you live in Savannah, you can arrange a pickup at our roastery on Wilmington Island or at our downtown pickup location of ThicSavannah, at 35 Barnard street just off of Broughton.

We’re very excited about this and hope you are too! You get a great coffee and get to help a great cause at the same time. Make it happen!

Draw Coffee

Have you seen Draw Coffee? This new little blog makes fun, inspired, and very creative coffee doodles on the side of a Hario V60 filter. And today they featured us!

Huge thanks!

Welcome Malacara B!

We’ve got a new kid on the block, and his name is Malacara B. He comes from El Salvador and we are extremely excited to have him on board as part of our team. We’ll be doing a full interview later, but for now, we just wanted you to know you can purchase the coffee online. Come and get it!

Graba Cuppa Cup to Cup

We have been generally lax in sharing with you, our dedicated readers, when we have new places for you to find our coffee. In an attempt to remedy that, this post will highlight a few of our newest friends sharing coffee love here in Savannah.

Salt Table 

On 51 Barnard Street, right in between Broughton Street and beautiful Ellis Square, you’ll find a neat little store called the Salt Table.

The Salt Table sells gourmet salts, sugars, teas, oils, vinegars, honey, spices, dips, pottery, and of course, locally roasted coffee. Owners Dave and Carol are wonderful people and have gotten a great response to their business in their first few months of being open.

Soho South Cafe

 

This is one most Savannians (Savannahites?) will recognize. Located on Liberty Street (right next to our friends at the Wooden Sheep), Soho South Cafe has been around for a while now and has a reputation for some great food. They’ve got a fantastic atmosphere and a nice little art gallery in the front.

Moon River Brewing Company

Savannah’s best brewery, right on Bay Street. Moon River Brewing serves up quality craft beer and delicious food.

We were thrilled when we got together and decided to do individual French Presses for them. Head on over and grab a brew and a brew!

Cafe Florie

If you’ve been to many of the local farmer’s markets in the area, you’ve met cousins Theo and Toya of Gateaux de la Toya. From their cakes and pies at the Forsyth Farmer’s market to Johhnie Fries at the Hilton Head and Bluffton markets, Theo and Toya have been filling bellies with some fantastic food. Now they’re opening their own cafe, Cafe Florie at 1715 Barnard Street. Soft opening starts today! They’ll be serving breakfast and lunch and Sunday brunch through the Winter, and supper soon after. Go by and check them out!

That’s a good start and introduction of our newest coffee friends. Hopefully we’ll put up some posts featuring our friends that have been with us for a while already. And there are new friends coming soon! Stay tuned and stay caffeinated. Peace.

 

Coffee Spotlight: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Kochere

It has been a while since we did a coffee spotlight, and thought it would be a good time to reinstate it, especially with some of the great beans we’ve got in right now. Today’s guest hails from the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia. Everybody give a warm welcome to Kochere! (wild applause).

Cup to Cup: Kochere, thanks so much for joining us.

Kochere: It’s my pleasure. I’m very happy to be a part of the Cup to Cup team.

Cup to Cup: That’s very thoughtful of you. So. We know you’re from the Yirgacheffe growing region of Ethiopia, but that’s a pretty large region, can you give us more specifics?

Kochere: Of course. I come from one of the districts in the Borena zone. It is found 25 miles south west of Yirgacheffe town,  located between  north of amaro gayo and fisahagentet. That’s 20 miles from amaro Gayotoward north and 15 miles south west of fisahagenet. Here are some pictures of my home.

Cup to Cup: Lovely. What are those bench looking things in the pictures?

Kochere: Those are raised beds. After I am harvested and washed, I am put out on these beds to dry.

Cup to Cup: It looks like you’re very well taken care of.

Kochere: I am! I am an heirloom varietal after all. 30% of the coffee exported form Yirgacheffe to the world has come from my home. ECX (Ethiopian commodities exchange) categorized “Kochere”as Q1 (quality one).

Cup to Cup: Impressive! Tell us how you came here to the U.S.

Kochere: I was lovingly brought here by my friends at Keffa Coffee. They are really fantastic people. They pay premium prices for the finest quality in order to encourage farmers to continually invest in quality. They purchase most of their coffees directly from farmers who strive to protect their lands, their waters and the well-being of their workers. Their strong relationships at origin and direct sourcing approach ensure that the farmers who produce me get a fair price.

Cup to Cup: Wow. But tell us, how do you taste?

Kochere: Pretty good if I do say so myself. I have wonderful berry berry and citrus notes as a drip coffee. As espresso I take on some spicy characteristics like clove. You should try me in a blend! I’m the life of the party.

Cup to Cup: Sounds delicious! Kochere, thanks so much for letting us interview you, and thanks for being a part of the Cup to Cup family.

Kochere: My pleasure. Everyone has been so nice to me, I’m looking forward to saying here for a while.

 

What I Love About Coffee

I love my clients. All of them. I love the shops that buy large amounts of coffee from me and I love the individuals who come to the roastery and spend half an hour talking to me and buy one bag. As much as I love coffee, I love the people that coffee introduces me to.

I love my clients that bring me books to read and that I lend books to because we know each other well enough to share with each other in that way. I love my clients that tell me to bring whatever coffee I want because they trust me to bring them something they will love. I love my clients that make demands from me and push me to give them exactly what they want.

I love farmer’s markets. I love them because it gives me a chance to meet even more people and share with them. I go to the Hilton Head Farmer’s Market, the Habersham Farmer’s Market, and and very excited to announce this Thursday I’ll be attending the Bluffton Farmer’s Market for the first time.

I love the people I buy coffee from. I love that I can call them up and ask questions, make requests, and get exactly what I’m looking for. I love the relationships they build with farms and that they include me in them. I love that they bend over backwards for a client as small as me and it inspires me to behave in the same way towards my clients.

I love the people that come to my events. I love the ones that walk two minutes down the street to come, and I love the ones that travel five hours and bring their friends. I love that they come for great coffee, and I love that they come to support me. How thrilling and humbling it is.

I love the Cup to Cup philosophy.

“What is Cup to Cup? Cup to Cup is you and me, or you and your friend sitting down and sharing a cup of coffee and in turn, life, with one another.

Coffee is relational. There’s something about sitting down and enjoying a good cup of coffee with someone that breaks down barriers and opens the door to friendship. This is important to us. It also reflects our goal to provide you with a great coffee that is consistent, cup to cup.“

I don’t love it because I wrote it. I love it because it’s my heart’s desire for my business, and I love it because my clients have made it true. I love you.

Roasters Table: Coffee and Cookies!

We are very pleased to have Tara Noberini of Crumbs Gourmet Comfort Cookies coming as our guest for this Roaster’s Table. Tara is a graduate of the Culinary institute of America and has a business creating fantastic cookies and breads.

We’ll be doing a coffee and cookie pairing. We’ll take three of our coffees at Cup to Cup and pair them with cookies Tara has made to compliment flavors. Each cookies goes specifically with each coffee!

This is the first of what we hope to be several coffee and food pairings. We believe coffee is culinary and want to expand peoples minds on how they think about coffee. See you there! Peace.

This is a FREE event. We’ll be at Caraway Cafe, downtown on Broughton Street. The fun starts this Saturday the 20th at 4 P.M.  Check out our Facebook Page for more info. All are welcome. Of course you’ll be able to purchase the cookies and coffees you taste so you can keep the cookie coffee love going even when you get home. See you there!

Consider a Sip

Consider sipping your coffee.

Not a gulp, guzzle or glug,

But a single solitary sip,

Consider waiting just a moment;

That moment when you most want a sip

But you skip the sip and slurp instead

And burn your lip.

In that moment of waiting,

That moment before the sip

Preventing the burning lip from

Causing you to grip your cup

And tip it’s liquid love

On the floor, the table, your pants.

In that moment consider

The romance of a sip.

That sip that sings a song

So sweet you’ll sway along

To a tune of taste.

Imbibe the graceful notes

Of flavor and savor

A moment, just one.

But if you carry on

And add a sip or two or three

You’ll find that single melody

Develops to a symphony

Of taste, of time,

Of tempo sweet and smooth

And wild and free

A harmony of gustatory

Genuine veracity.

Consider a sip.

 

Consider: Coffee and Food

This is something that has interested me in the past but for various reasons went dormant until a local coffeeite roused it from hibernation.

(This is where you imagine an image of a hibernating bear waking up, in a good way)

Upon rousing, I remembered a previous post I made and the impression a new blend I was working on gave me when combined with an omelette. I was (and still am) a fairly new roaster at the time and had it in my head that coffee should be enjoyed by itself. No milk, no sugar, no syrup or flavors. To an extent I still feel that way, but feel there is a difference between coffee “combined” with something as opposed to being “paired” with something. You don’t drink coffee with sugar to enhance the flavor of your sugar, at least I don’t. But a coffee with big chocolate notes paired with a tasty cinnamon dessert produces complimenting foods.

But there’s so much more than desserts to work with. Coffee and fruit? Yes. Coffee and cheese? Oh yes. Coffee and  . . . honey? breads? meat? Yes yes yes.

These thoughts are in my head as I plan our next Roaster’s Tables. Stay tuned. Peace.

Roaster’s Recap

For those who didn’t make it, those who did, and those who never even knew it happened, we had an amazing Roaster’s Table last week.

We were thrilled to have Ricardo Pereira from BRASC Coffee Importers come to visit and share with us his knowledge of coffee.

Coffees were brewed, friends were made, and a good time was had by all.

A huge thanks to the people who came unreasonably long distances to attend.

I’m a happy roaster. Peace.