Anaerobic coffees in particular have transformed modern specialty coffee. By fermenting coffee cherries in oxygen-free environments, producers can unlock deeply expressive flavor profiles unlike anything the industry experienced a generation ago: notes reminiscent of sangria, ripe mango, cacao nibs, or fermented berries.

For Jacob, this evolution opened the door to a new era of creativity. But it never changed the foundation.

“Paul really encouraged exploration. We already had a strong foundation and clear roasting parameters, but there was room to evolve, to seek out unique coffees and showcase what producers were truly capable of.”

That spirit helped shape Roastmaster’s Select, where seasonality, rarity, and craftsmanship take center stage.

June is also a time we recognize World Environment Day, and coffee reminds us how deeply flavor is connected to ecology. Altitude, rainfall, biodiversity, soil health, and careful stewardship all shape what ultimately arrives in the cup. Every harvest is a reflection of an ecosystem in consant motion.

Coffee is seasonal agriculture. Just as wine changes with vintage and climate, coffee moves through harvest cycles around the globe. One of the first things Jacob evaluates when selecting a coffee for Roastmaster’s Select is simple: is it the right moment for this bean?

Fresh crop coffees arrive with heightened aromatics, vivid acidity, and a clarity in the cup that slowly fades with time. Sourcing seasonally is not a preference. It is often the difference between a memorable coffee and a merely good one.

As Director of Coffee, Jacob works closely with trusted importers, cooperatives, and producers across many growing regions to source extraordinary coffees at peak freshness. His work combines sensory calibration, relationship-building, seasonal timing, and years of cupping experience to help shape each Roastmaster’s Select release.

This creates the opportunity to feature rare microlots, innovative processing methods, and seasonal offerings that many coffee drinkers rarely have the opportunity to experience.

As harvest seasons become less predictable and coffee communities adapt to new challenges, long-term relationships and shared knowledge have become essential to sustaining both exceptional coffee and the people who grow it.

These coffees represent more than geography. They reflect distinct climates, elevations, varietals, processing innovations, and the evolving creativity of the people producing them.

Through the work of the Cupping Labs project, before “single farmer lots” became a marketing phrase across the industry, Thanksgiving Coffee initiated farmer-focused sourcing through it's Campesino campaign (2005), moving beyond broad regional designations to spotlight individual growers and cooperative communities by name.

That early work laid the foundation for Jacob to create what the Roastmaster’s Select is today: coffees chosen not simply for origin, but for the distinct personalities, processing styles, harvest conditions, and craftsmanship of the people behind them.

Roastmaster Jacob Long evaluating coffees in Thanksgiving Coffee’s cupping lab

Roasting coffee at this level requires constant calibration.

Jacob’s work extends far beyond standing beside the drum. Inside the cupping lab, coffees are evaluated for sweetness, balance, defects, mouthfeel, and aromatic complexity. Roast profiles are continuously refined through tasting and data analysis.

His training through the Specialty Coffee Association and the Coffee Roasters Guild spans sensory evaluation, green coffee grading, espresso profiling, quality control, barista education, and coffee purchasing: a full spectrum of the craft practiced daily inside the cupping lab.

But even with all the science, coffee remains deeply human.

Roastmaster’s Select is also a story of mentorship across generations. Jacob’s nineteen-year journey has unfolded alongside decades of wisdom shared by Paul Katzeff, whose sourcing philosophy, sensory calibration, and commitment to craft helped shape the foundation Thanksgiving Coffee continues to build upon today.

“There’s a real privilege in working with coffees like these. And being able to talk about them with Paul has always been special because we’re calibrated. We taste similarly. We understand what we’re looking for.” Jacob Long

That continuity matters. It connects the original artisan coffee movement of the 1970s and ‘80s with today’s evolving specialty landscape and with the farmers who made all of it possible.

As coffee culture has accelerated, many companies have narrowed their sourcing or standardized offerings for efficiency. Roastmaster’s Select moves in the opposite direction.

It is built around curiosity, seasonality, and the belief that coffee can still surprise us: that there are still harvests worth waiting for, producers worth knowing by name, and roast profiles worth refining one batch at a time.

Each featured coffee becomes a window into a particular harvest, landscape, and way of tending the craft: a producer’s innovation, a region’s seasonal peak, a processing method newly emerging into wider recognition, or a fleeting flavor profile that may never appear exactly the same way again.

This is the heart of artisan roasting: not control over nature, but collaboration with it.

And after more than fifty years of roasting coffee on California’s North Coast, that sense of wonder still remains at the center of what we do.

Along the Mendocino Coast, summer does not arrive all at once. The season unfolds slowly through shifting marine layers, pockets of warm light, and the ongoing dance between fog and sun.

As the Summer Solstice approaches, mornings begin cool and quiet in Noyo Harbor before the light gradually breaks through. It is the kind of weather that invites long cups of coffee and afternoons shaped more by tide and wind than by the clock.

Whether brewed hot against the coastal chill or over ice when the sun finally takes center stage, Roastmaster’s Select is designed to move with the rhythm of the season and the harvest itself.

Along the harbor, coffee rituals shift with the season too. Most mornings call for a warm mug against the coastal fog, while brighter afternoons can invite slower cold brew pours shared between worktables, docks, and backyard gatherings.

We invite you to welcome this solstice season with a simple Roastmaster’s Cold Brew Float: rich coffee concentrate poured over vanilla ice cream for a balance of brightness, sweetness, and roast depth.

A harbor-side ritual for shifting summer skies and slow North Coast afternoons.

Roastmaster’s Cold Brew Float

The result is creamy, bold, and beautifully balanced between sweetness and roast depth: a small ritual worth building into the solstice season.

The Quarterly Roastmaster Select and the Roastmaster’s Select Coffee Club are designed for coffee drinkers who want to experience the evolving artistry of coffee harvests around the world, from washed Ethiopian coffees bursting with florals to experimental anaerobic lots layered with tropical fruit and spice.

For Jacob Long, the work remains both technical and deeply personal: listening closely to each coffee, honoring the harvest, and helping reveal the character already waiting inside the bean.

At Thanksgiving Coffee, we continue to follow the harvest with gratitude, curiosity, and deep respect for the people whose hands shape every cup.