Once a month, members of the Roastmaster’s Select Coffee Club have the opportunity to sample unique micro-lot coffees from around the world. “What is a micro lot,” you ask? Read up on how we source the beans and what happens when they reach our roastery.

Following the harvest cycle, Roastmaster’s Club Members have exclusive access to these one-of-a-kind coffees at their peak freshness, and now it’s your turn!

This month we're sharing coffee grown in Ethiopia by Daniel Mijane and light-roasted here at Thanksgiving Coffee in Fort Bragg, CA.

This family-owned and run farm is located in the Gedeo zone of southern Ethiopia, a little over 2,000 meters above sea level. Situated between the hills of Halo Hartume, this humid area provides the ideal coffee-growing environment. The Mijane family is deeply involved with the local community of coffee farmers to make sure the coffee is shade-grown with proper organic composting efforts and maintaining the high quality flavors that Halo Hartume provides.

Ato Mijane Worassa was the pioneer behind his family's investment in coffee culture. Now, his sons have grown up learning his techniques, not only in coffee farming but also learning how to manage the business. To carry on his legacy, one of Ato's sons began the Halo Hartume washing station. When you receive this coffee in the mail this month, know that you're supporting a long time family effort of some of the highest quality coffee beans grown in Ethiopia.

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from. Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted, bringing out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

We are thrilled to share the fascinating stories behind each coffee. This month, Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picked our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, which also happens to be one of our 2017 Roaster of the Year award winners! Join our Single Origin Club now to have only the finest of coffees delivered to your doorstep each month

Our Ethiopia Yirgacheffe is one of three award-winning roasts from our 2017 Roaster of the Year prize. It's grown by the Worka Cooperative located in southern Ethiopia at about 2,000 meters above sea level. The cooperative is comprised of around 411 members, and is part of the larger Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperatives Union (YCFCU). The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Gedeb coffee is picked and pulped and washed on the same day, then to be dried in raised beds for no more than seven days.

"Delicate, deeply sweet. Baker’s chocolate, magnolia, peach, black peppercorn, sandalwood in aroma and cup. Gentle, rounded acidity; velvety mouthfeel. The richly drying finish consolidates to baker’s chocolate and peach. An engaging coffee particularly appealing to those who value delicate, cocoa-toned coffees with gentle acidity and engaging spice notes. Reassuring environmental and socio-economic credentials.” -coffeereview.com

ORIGIN

Thanksgiving Coffee Company has long been at the forefront of sustainability, and several years ago we developed the Bee Bold Alliance, a regenerative ecology network for pollinator protection. Although bees do not directly pollinate coffee, coffee yields are increased by up to 50% when bees are around. Pollinators are a keystone species on the Earth. This became a logical focal point for our sustainability both at home and in the coffee countries from origin. This whole systems model collaborates with our local allies to learn and grow in harmony with our environment and nature.

Once a month, members of the Roastmaster’s Select Coffee Club have the opportunity to sample unique micro-lot coffees from around the world. “What is a micro lot,” you ask? Read up on how we source the beans and what happens when they reach our roastery.

Following the harvest cycle, Roastmaster’s Club Members have exclusive access to these one-of-a-kind coffees at their peak freshness, and now it’s your turn!

This month we're sharing our Finca de Alexa coffee grown in Nicaragua by Alexa Marin of PRODECOOP and roasted here at Thanksgiving Coffee in Fort Bragg, CA.

Alexa Marin lives with her two sons in the mountains of Northern Nicaragua, near the border of Honduras, where they focus on growing the best coffee possible. She has been a coffee farmer for many years and has worked with the cooperative PRODECOOOP since 1992, currently serving as their gender equality coordinator.

During a visit to Nicaragua in 2013, I had the opportunity to tour Alexa's farm. Above her coffee plants was an over-story of native trees and scattered here and there were decomposing into the soil which made me wonder what affect this could have on the flavor of the coffee cherries.

Later that day, I traveled to the PRODECOOP tasting room to do a blind tasting of coffees from 17 different farms. One coffee really jumped out as overtly sweet and citric. Guess what? It happened to be from Alexa's farm!

-Jacob Long, Thanksgiving Coffee Roastmaster

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from. Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted, bringing out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

We are thrilled to share the fascinating stories behind each coffee. This month, Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picked our Kenya Nyeri Peaberry coffee, which also happens to be one of our 2017 Roaster of the Year award winners! Join our Single Origin Club now to have only the finest of coffees delivered to your doorstep each month.

This Kenyan coffee is grown on the eastern slopes of Aberdares mountain ranges in Nyeri County, Kenya by the family-owned farms of the Othaya Farmers Co-operative Society Limited (FCS). Established in 1956, FCS has more than 14,000 members who generally have half acre plots averaging 250 coffee trees.

Tasting this coffee at its freshest is not something to be missed. This light roast from Africa has a unique mouthfeel with hints of milk chocolate, ripe peach, and caramel. We’re especially fond of this single origin, because it helped solidify our title as 2017 Roaster of the Year, from Roast Magazine. Along with our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Paul’s Blend, the Kenya Nyeri Peaberry was judged during a blind tasting alongside a variety of other entrants – and came out on top. We had the opportunity to meet with Jim and Phyllis, representing the Othaya Cooperative, at the Global Coffee Expo in April, 2017, and snagged this photo of them with our Roastmaster, Jacob Long.

Lavender Grace is the Sustainable Ecology Consultant for Thanksgiving Coffee Company.

Each month, our Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picks fresh and unique micro lot coffees that we deliver straight to your doorstep. “What is a micro lot,” you ask? Read up on how we source the beans and what happens when they reach our roastery.

Jacob’s selection this month is an eco-friendly coffee grown in Costa Rica.

Join the Roastmaster’s Select Club to begin your coffee journey around the world.

This month's coffee selection from our Roastmaster, Jacob Long, is not only delicious and awakening, it's also environmentally-friendly - which is very important to us. Our Costa Rican Santa Maria de Dota is grown by the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Dota R.L. (CoopeDota), established in 1960 and made up of over 900 farmers in the San José region.

To emphasize their environmentally-conscious farming techniques, CoopeDota is one of the first to utilize a certified carbon-neutral mill with hydro-powered energy consumption, water efficient eco-pulpers and mechanical coffee dryers fueled by coffee parchment. If all of that wasn't impressive enough, CoopeDota also provides trash pickup for the entirity of San Jose, furthering their committment to a healthy environment and bettering of the planet.

We're so thrilled to share this coffee with you! Remember to leave us a review and add a photo to earn more beans, for more discounts!

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted.

This month we're sharing our Congo Kivu coffee grown on Lake Kivu, Congo by the SOPACDI Co-op and medium-roasted here at Thanksgiving Coffee in Fort Bragg, CA.

Our Congo Kivu coffee is grown by the SOPACDI Co-op. (Solidarité Paysanne pour la Promotion des Actions Café et Développement Intégral) was created in 2002. This coffee co-op is located on Lake Kivu, straddling the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

SOPACDI now has over 5,200 farmers, 20% of whom are women and is a leader in promoting gender equality and helps revitalize the country's coffee economy. SOPACDI is the very first certified Fairtrade co-op in the DRC and is the 2014 Sustainability Award Recipient from the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

A loving review from one of our customers:

"Just had my first cup of the Congo Medium Roast this morning! It's wonderful! I may not have the sophisticated words of a real coffee connoisseur, but it was rich and full and smooth! Totally enjoyable! You just want to have one cup after another! My previous coffee had been from a grocery store, and this was such a treat to savor!"
-Margaret of PORTSMOUTH, Virginia.

Our Quarterly Roastmaster's Select coffee is wet-hulled, and we've talked about this a few times but just in case, here's what that means:

"Wet hulling’s popularity can be attributed to producers’ need for prompt payments. It was also adopted specifically by many producers who lacked the drying infrastructure that was needed to shelter drying parchment from the high humidity and inconsistent rainfall typical in Sumatra. At higher elevations with constant humidity and unpredictable rainfall, drying can prove to be slow, risky and difficult." -Sucafina

‘Wet Hulling’ or ‘giling basah’ in Indonesian is not to be confused with wet processing. Wet hulling is similar to wet processing initially – with the first steps of picking and pulping the coffee beans, then fermenting in order to break down the fruity layer of the coffee cherry called the mucilage, which is washed off the next day. The difference is, the drying process is much shorter in wet-hulling and it’s only dried until 50% of the moisture remains, resulting in lower acidity levels and more flavor and aroma.

Jennifer Bosma on right, representing both Harvest Market and Rotary

North Coast Brewing Company's CEO, Jennifer Owen, along with senior brewing staff serving a thirsty crowd at the World's Largest Salmon BBQ

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted.

This month we're sharing our Guaya'b coffee grown in Guatemala by the Guaya'b Cooperative and light-roasted here at Thanksgiving Coffee in Fort Bragg, CA.

The farmers of the Guaya’b Cooperative grow coffee under a dense forest canopy that doubles as the winter home for dozens of species of migratory birds as well as local flora and fauna. It wasn’t always this way. 

When coffee was introduced to this remote region 40 years ago, it was promoted as an alternative to subsistence agriculture, and farmers were taught to clear forests to make way for this new cash crop. Fortunately, these farmers are closely connected to the health of their land, and have re-established their once logged forests providing much needed shade and diverse ecosystems in which coffee thrives.

Now, a new generation of farmers works to cultivate coffee and a variety of other cash and subsistence crops to increase incomes, and to protect the health of the land. Thanks to their partnership with our importer, Elan Organic Coffee, Guaya’b has perfected the art of picking, depulping and fermenting their coffee to produce deep, juicy, and full flavored coffee with a truly distinctive character.

LEAD Ranger

LEAD Ranger

Lavender Grace is the Sustainable Ecology Consultant for Thanksgiving Coffee Company .

Each month, our Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picks fresh and unique micro lot coffees that we deliver straight to your doorstep. “What is a micro lot,” you ask? Read up on how we source the beans and what happens when they reach our roastery.

Jacob’s selection this month is a special coffee grown in Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia.

Join the Roastmaster’s Select Club to begin your coffee journey around the world.

Our Roastmaster's Select coffee this month is wet-hulled, and we've talked about this a few times but just in case, here's what that means:

"Wet hulling’s popularity can be attributed to producers’ need for prompt payments. It was also adopted specifically by many producers who lacked the drying infrastructure that was needed to shelter drying parchment from the high humidity and inconsistent rainfall typical in Sumatra. At higher elevations with constant humidity and unpredictable rainfall, drying can prove to be slow, risky and difficult." -Sucafina

‘Wet Hulling’ or ‘giling basah’ in Indonesian is not to be confused with wet processing. Wet hulling is similar to wet processing initially – with the first steps of picking and pulping the coffee beans, then fermenting in order to break down the fruity layer of the coffee cherry called the mucilage, which is washed off the next day. The difference is, the drying process is much shorter in wet-hulling and it’s only dried until 50% of the moisture remains, resulting in lower acidity levels and more flavor and aroma.

U’ilani Wesley is a Kanaka Oiwi (Native Hawaiian) originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Xa Kako Dile: one of the first Indigenous and woman-led non-profits here in Northern California. She is an educator, activist, singer, speaker, mentor, and proud Mama. Positive change starts with ourselves, Imua Kakou (moving forward together).

U’ilani is honored to be a part of the fabric of Turtle Island to promote healing, awareness and share Aloha!  XaKakoDile.com

Lavender Grace - is of Celtic and Nordic descent raised on the California Coast and works with Thanksgiving Coffee Company as a consultant. She is the co-creator of the Bee Bold Alliance, a world renewal project to restore biodiversity and support local food systems. In partnership with cultural community leaders she is creating contemporary indigenous storytelling programs for multicultural and multi-generational mentor-ship and sound health.

BeeBoldAlliance.com

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted since this brings out their unique aromas and flavor notes.

This month, we’re sharing our Nicaraguan Flor de Jinotega with you, grown by the SOPPEXCCA Cooperative.

Nestled in the mountains above the regional capital Jinotega, the farmers of SOPPEXCCA grow coffee under the protective shade of bananas, mangos, and mahogany, and alongside dense forests providing home to dozens of rare orchids and winter habitat for hundreds of migratory songbirds. Jinotega is the heartland of Nicaragua’s coffee producing zone and many of the country’s finest coffees come from the thousands of small-scale family farms arrayed throughout the department’s lush mountain landscape.

This landscape wasn’t always organized this way. Before the revolution of the 1980s many of these small family farms were actually consolidated in expansive haciendas owned by foreigners and the country’s elite and farmed with the intensive use of agrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. The farmers themselves were hired labor, invariably poorly paid. In fact, the genesis of the revolution itself traces directly to these large farms, and the thousands of farmers without access to land. One of the central demands and outcomes of the revolution was a process of land redistribution whereby farmers gained access to the land they had worked for generations. Cooperatives arose out of the need to organize these small farms in larger economic unions that could market coffee, facilitate much needed financing, and serve the community’s broad social, economic, and environmental needs.

Yemen Mocca from Pearl of Tehama was selected as our quarterly featured coffee by our Roastmaster and Director of Coffee, Jacob Long.

Our Yemen Mocca coffee comes from some of the oldest rootstocks in the world, originally having been transplanted from Ethiopia, to create the first commercial coffee trade. In fact, the word “Arabica” refers to Arabian coffee supplies that were the first to reach the West, initially from the port of Mocca. 

Coffee is one of the crops in Yemen that continues to persist, despite a wealth of challenges, partly because of the deep social tradition among the coffee farmers which keeps these communities together.

Over 1,000,000 people work in Yemen’s coffee trade, from farmers to exporters. Over 3 million people have been displaced due to the protracted civil war in the country. Nearly 2/3 of the country needs food or medical aid, so when a new crop becomes available, we look at it with reverence, knowing the obstacles that had to be overcome in order to reach us.

Altitude: 

1700 - 2400 meters

Processing:

Full Natural Dried on rooftops and raised beds

Farmer: 

615 Farmers around Pearl of Tehama

Varietal: 

Sa’adeh & Ibb Governorates, Yemen

Each month, our Roastmaster, Jacob Long, hand-picks fresh and unique micro lot coffees that we deliver straight to your doorstep. “What is a micro lot,” you ask? Read up on how we source the beans and what happens when they reach our roastery.

Jacob’s selection this month is a special coffee grown by the Garmindo Cooperative in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Join the Roastmaster’s Select Club to begin your coffee journey around the world.

Our Sumatran coffee was grown by members of the Garmindo Co-op, formerly known as ASKOGO. This cooperative currently has 760 members, growing Fairtrade and Organic coffee in the Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah regencies of Sumatra which are renowned for producing excellent coffee. The small farms are tucked into the dense tropical forests of the Northern Gayo Mountains, from 1000 to 1500 meters above sea level.

The Garmindo Cooperative offers regular training activities to each of the farmers in their co-op, in order to improve the quality of their coffees, learn new harvest techniques, and implement more beneficial farming practices. This group was founded in 2008, and has continually improved their coffee in the subsequent years. We have been purchasing coffee from Garmindo Cooperative since 2015.

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted, making this one unique.

This month we're sharing our Delicious Peace coffee grown in Uganda by the Naminyoni Cooperative and medium-roasted here at Thanksgiving Coffee in Fort Bragg, CA.

In 2003, a Ugandan farmer walked door-to-door asking his Muslim, Christian, and Jewish neighbors to leave behind a history of conflict, and unite to face their struggle against poverty caused by low coffee prices. The farmers came together and founded a cooperative to build peace and prosperity in their community. From 2004-2014 they were known as the Mirembe Kawomera Interfaith Cooperative. Today, after a decade of support, the co-op no longer exists, having been depleted by the corruption of its founder.

But! We have helped the 200 members who left the co-op to form a new intertribal/interfaith cooperative called the Naminyoni Community of Shalom Coffee Cooperative. We now begin our second decade of interfaith support, happy to be their first and primary coffee buyer.

Also, our clean water project was inspired from our work with the Namanyoni Cooperative. Each sale of our Delicious Peace coffee is going to providing clean water to Ugandan coffee farmers and we've already provided the Namanyoni Co-op with clean water! It is a study in what moves Thanksgiving Coffee Company to be better at what we do, and it is about an evolving theory of change. Click here to read all about it!