Cravens Blog
Understated Sweetness revealed in Organic Papua New Guinea Simbu
February 16th, 2012
The allure of coffee from Papua New Guinea is not well recognized. Papua New Guinea, after all, is not easy to find on a map and one of the least known coffee producers. Maybe that’s why we call it specialty coffee. If everyone were offering it, it won’t be special!
This unique coffee had our full attention since the very first cupping. If you like the earthiness of Sumatra coffee you will enjoy this sweeter, fruitier profile of an old favorite.
Offered by the Tribal Aromas Co-operative in the Simbu Province of the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea, this coffee is grown at higher altitudes in rich, black volcanic soil. The Tribal Aroma co-op is a collection of indigenous tribes whom pride themselves on small subsistence plot farms, where coffee is specially hand-picked and hand-pulped. Organically grown and certified.
Flavor Profile: complex fruit notes with distinctive grapefruit nuances, cedar aroma, chocolate finish.
Roast: Combination light and dark
We’ve secured of small lot of Organic Papua New Guinea for a limited time. Find this earthy, richly sweet coffee at area grocery stores, cafes and espresso bars serving organic Cravens Coffee.
COACHES VS CANCER BLEND
Again this year, Cravens Coffee is honored to bring you Coaches vs Cancer Blend. A special custom blend created by Marcy Few, Robin Rice and the folks at Coaches vs Cancer. We took care to combine just the right coffees for a full-flavored, hearty cup. Perfect for brewing at home or creating your own espresso work of art.
Marcy and Robin chose a coffee grown by Cravens’ friends at family-owned Finca Vista Hermosa in Guatemala. Grown in the highlands of this beautiful country, this coffee has a spirited flavor. Just like our wonderful Zags!
Thank you for choosing Coaches vs Cancer Blend. With your purchase we’ll donate proceeds to help send a child to Camp Goodtimes this summer. This local camp brings respite and joy to children battling cancer.
Look for Coaches vs Cancer Blend at locally owned grocery stores throughout the Inland Northwest during the months of February and March or on our website at www.cravenscoffee.com. Go Zags!
As always, thank you for choosing Cravens Coffee. It is a pleasure serving you,
p.s. Whether you have ‘friended’ us in the past or are new to facebook, please follow Cravens Coffee on our new page so we may better serve you.
Trust and Verify
October 8th, 2010In response to my last blog entry “In Defense of Fair Trade” many of you insightfully asked, “Is all Cravens Coffee Fair Trade Certified?” Thank you for your question! Answer … it is not. While Cravens Coffee is pleased to report we pay a premium price to the farmer (above 40%) to ensure fair trade practices we have instilled a model of “Trust and Verify”.
“Trust and Verify” is the Cravens Coffee system of identifying coffees from a limited number of origins that do not have links with Fair Trade USA. We like to go a mile deep, not a mile wide, gathering as much information about a coffee source as possible. Growers, millers, exporters, communities are critical. We then verify through country visits and first hand confirmation. As the saying goes, “it is amazing how much you see by looking.” Nothing could be more true when visiting coffee farms, mills and communities. Walking through a farm, picking cherries, getting hands in the soil is invaluable. The look of the mill. Is it clean and organized? Is it big enough not to be overwhelmed at harvest? Experience the community and its services to the families. Is there a library? Where do the children learn? This is ALL verification, and part of what we do with our coffee, whenever and wherever possible.
Is “Trust and Verify” BETTER than Fair Trade? No, but like Fair Trade, it has an end in mind, which the coffee roasting community should subscribe to – quality of coffee, quality of life.
Trust and Verify.
Thank you for choosing Cravens Coffee,
Simon
Trust and Verify.
In Defense of Fair Trade
October 6th, 2010Coffee roasters vs Fair Trade? Some newer coffee roasters claim they do it “better” than Fair Trade. I’d like to weigh in.
As the first Fair Trade certified roaster in the region, we at Cravens Coffee supported programs supporting the farmer early on. Details of the fair trade model are well documented (transfairusa.org) and include: fair minimum pricing for green coffee, representation through local co-operatives and addressing humanitarian issues such as safe working conditions and child labor.
While Cravens Coffee is clearly an entrepreneurially-founded business believing in business freedom, market forces of supply and demand and the concepts of competition through quality and service, coffee has unique inherent complexities. It is a third world agricultural product traded as a first world commodity leading to severe downward pressure on coffee prices at the farm gate. In dignified working conditions, true Specialty Coffee needed a mechanism to ensure earned value was realized. Hence the international Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO) and the US branch Transfair USA, whose name recently changed to Fair Trade USA, was created to serve.
Fair Trade is not perfect. We studied the model before certifying, and continue to monitor their efforts. They are open and communicative. But for a small roaster to say THEY do it better than Fair Trade is curious. Fair Trade has an assertive third party certification mechanism to ensure the stipulations for growing, picking and milling are all adhered to. Then they audit the finances and accounting of each co-operative to ensure the farmers are being paid correctly. They attend the Co-operative leadership meetings to ensure the agreed upon principles of democracy are embraced. There may be elements of this that sound like imperialism and/or socialism. But having seen the process and the results, it is quite the opposite. This is sustainable capitalism.
Quite simply, the roasters who say they do it “better” have absolutely no methods or mechanisms to do so. They are not able to monitor, audit or verify anything. If they say they have “people” who do that, who are they? The most over-used phrases in coffee at the moment are “Direct-Trade” and “Farm Direct”. Everyone is buying direct (apparently). Some roasters are truly doing so. I have a couple of colleagues in the business who travel 9 months out of year sourcing coffee for their companies. They are truly Direct-Trade (living on planes, trains and automobiles!). But for the roasters who say all this, yet have not traveled to countries of origin (not being judgmental – real coffee travel is hard), to say they are doing something better than Fair Trade is disingenuous.
Thank you for choosing Cravens Coffee,
Simon
E-Commerce Launch!
July 21st, 2010“How does the saying go? “Better late than never”?! Maybe it’s because we were busy sourcing extraordinary specialty coffee for you. Maybe it’s because we were occupied carefully roasting your coffee to the perfect point. Maybe it’s because we like talking to you when you call. Whatever the excuse, we are thrilled to announce the launch of Cravens Coffee e-commerce site. Thank you for your patience!
Simply visit our website, and select the “shop” menu from the top right-hand corner. Make your delicious selections and we’ll take it from there. Coffee on your door step in no time.
Thank you for choosing Cravens Coffee. Cheers!
Coffees on the Cupping Table
March 3rd, 2010New crop Central American coffees have hit the cupping table and they are outstanding.
Our Central American coffee selections are Costa Rica Monte Crisol, Guatemala Finca Vista Hermosa, Nicaragua Dipilto, Organic Nicaragua Segovia, Organic Guatemala La Laguna and Organic Mexico Pluma CEPCO. So far the Costa Rica has been incredibly bright and sweet, while the Nicaragua Dipilto is buttery and chocolate-y, the latter at the darker roast profile (see Northwest Dark Roast).
The Finca Vista Hermosa crop is the best ever. A late season rainfall allowed the cherries to finish ripening with a flourish, which increased the tanginess and spiciness of this Direct from the Farm coffee.
More news as it comes in….
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October 14th, 2009In 2008 the Susan G Komen For The Cure Eastern Washington Affiliate and Cravens Coffee came together to create the Survivor Blend. A tasting panel sampled blends based upon various single origins and roast levels, deciding upon an Organic Nicaragua Segovia based blend of half dark and half lighter roasted coffee.
The components of the blend are the afore-mentioned Organic Nicaragua, from the Nueva Segovia region and Prodecoop, the original Transfair USA certified Fair Trade Co-operative, along with Indonesian and African origins to dark and light roasts respectively.
The result is a chocolate-y, lemon-y and buttery profile, with Cravens’ signature sweetness and body, in all forms of brewing – drip and French Press – and extraction – as espresso. Suvrivor Blend is Organic and Fair Trade Certified.
For all Survivor Blend sold wholesale, 8% is forwarded to the Komen organization. In 2008 Cravens committed (bravely or foolishly – you choose) to serve coffee to every participant in the Race for the Cure. By brewing on large scale brewers starting at 4am in the morning, a sizeable Cravens crew was ready by race time. This culminated in over 4,200 cups of coffee served over the course of the event.
In 2009 we are game to ambitiously serve coffee to the anticipated 9,000+ participants, race workers and attendees.
Cravens is honored to be involved with Susan G Komen and the Race for the Cure.
Survivor Blend is currently available for the month of October in area Yokes, Rosauers, Super One, Huckleberry’s and Trading Company Stores.