Ribbon Cutting for the UC Davis Coffee Center Opening

Fascinating work was showcased on a wide variety of coffee topics, including:

• Thermodynamics of To Go Coffee - What keeps To-Go Coffee Warmest? Study by undergrads.
  (Spoiler alert… It’s the lid.)
• Impacts of Total Immersion Brewing On Cold Coffee Flavor
• Climate Change Impacts on Coffee Growing Regions in Brazil
• A new mobile application for coffee bean grading and evaluation using color, size and defect analysis – all on a mobile phone.

Representative Raw Data -Thermodynamics of To Go Coffee

What does chemical Engineering have to do with coffee - source UC Davis Coffee Center Opening

Itenerary for UC Davis Coffee Center Opening

It was also fascinating that all these studies needed to be underwritten (in one way or another) by some type of sponsorship. The sponsorships ranged from in-kind sponsors who donated 100 cups, in 4 sizes, to Coffee roasters who donated services, to equipment suppliers who donated the funds necessary to do thousands of measurements to prove their thesis. Our higher education facilities are simply not able to fund all these kinds of projects without external financial aid, so they are very vocally appreciative for those who contribute sponsorships.

Upper left, Doctoral Candidate Laudia Anoke-Bempah, upper right Dr. William Ristenpart, Center, Chancellor Gary May, lower left, Peter Giuliano SCA, lower right Richard L. Corsi

Attendees at the opening of the Coffee Center at UC Davis

Interior of the new Coffee Center at UC Davis

UC Davis student roasted beans, from Royal Coffee, chocolate covered by students as well.

For many, coffee is the ritualistic start to the day, a beloved beverage that energizes and comforts. Yet, beyond the steaming cups and aromatic brews lies the coffee plant, a botanical wonder that is the genesis of every coffee lover’s journey. At the heart of Thanksgiving Coffee Company is a deep appreciation for this living tree source—the company respects and values the entire process, from the nurturing soil that cradles the seed to the satisfying sip that completes the circle. We have been connecting to this plant by growing our own coffee trees right here for many years.

Coffee Trees Growing at the Thanksgiving Coffee Company Office

Anatomy of the Coffee Plant: More Than Just Beans

Coffee Arabica - Rubiaceae L.

The coffee plant, with its glossy green leaves and ripe cherries, is both an aesthetic marvel and a complex organism. Beneath the soil, its roots anchor the plant and absorb vital nutrients. Above ground, the leaves play a crucial role in photosynthesis, while the bright red cherries house the precious beans inside. It's these beans that, once processed and roasted, give rise to the alluring aromas and rich flavors that characterize each cup of coffee.

Varied Flavors: The Many Varieties of Coffee Plants

Ripe coffee cherries on the Arabica coffee tree grown at the office

When you think of coffee, the two dominant species: Arabica and Robusta, likely come to mind. Arabica is prized for its smoother, more nuanced taste, while Robusta is revered for its robustness and higher caffeine content. However, there exists a myriad of lesser-known varieties, each with its own unique flavor profile, waiting to be discovered by eager coffee connoisseurs.

From the Soil to your first Sip: How Terroir Affects Your Coffee

Like fine wine, coffee is influenced by its terroir—the environment in which it's grown. The climate, soil composition, and even the angle of sunlight on the slopes where coffee plants thrive collectively contribute to the coffee's flavor profile. These factors, often subtle and complex, define a coffee's body, acidity, and notes, creating an array of tastes as diverse as the landscapes from which they come.

Ripe cherries harvested from our coffee trees.

Ready to Discover the Flavor of Your Own Coffee

If you are inspired to develop a closer relationship with your coffee and want to lean into the root system of your daily coffee ritual, we have a series for you. Our co-founder Paul Katzeff has been growing coffee trees at home for years, and will lead you through his process.

Check out the series:

Part I: The Beauty of Growing Coffee Trees in Your Home

Part II: All you Need to Know About Growing Coffee Trees At Home

Part III: Caring For Your Coffee Tree

Coffee Tree Source:

Frinj Coffee Trees

When you drink your coffee, you might want to know what goes into your cup, and if it is Thanksgiving Coffee, you might want to know why we became a certified B Corp. So let me tell you a little story about our coffee company and why we went through this rigorous process of certification.

When Thanksgiving Coffee Company began (now over 50 years ago) it was based on the co-owner Paul Katzeff's history as a social worker. The function of the coffee became a vehicle for social, environmental and economic justice in the world. In the 80's, during Paul's first momentus visit to the coffee farms of the war-torn country of Nicaragua, he created our motto "Not Just A Cup, But A Just Cup". This has been the intention behind every aspect of Thanksgiving Coffee's work. (If you ever get a chance, ask Paul to tell you the story of this first visit, it is quite something!) In the meantime you can read more on the revolution at Liberation News.  

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages the world over. It is an economic mainstay for dozens of countries and produced by 25 million small share holders. As a pioneer Thanksgiving Coffee Company has gone to these coffee-growing origins around the world to meet with the farmers, to support their organic farming cooperatives, to pay a living wage for the beans, and provide meaningful employment along the entire supply chain to help innovate and create sustainable ecology for over 5 decades.

When a business becomes a Certified B Corporation it means that they have undergone an extensive process to meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose... This was a perfect community for Thanksgiving Coffee to join, with thousands of conscious companies in 89 countries who do real work to make our world a better place for all.

B Corp is A Network to Build Collaboration and Work Toward a More Inclusive Economy

Nicaruguan farmers who spoke out for justice were a huge turning point in our company's history. The women led farmer cooperative of Soppexcca is part of this Nicaraguan legacy and the work we do as a B Corp. When you go to drink your next cup of coffee, take a moment and ask yourself, what is in your cup, really? Is it a "Just Cup"? How does it sustain the Earth? How does it treat our life sustaining waters? Does it support the humanity of all the hard-working farmers? Can you taste the difference? Will you be the difference?

Image: Natividad Lopez Garcia, Reina Isabel Quintero, and Flor Rodriguez, founding members of SOPPEXCCA’s women’s cooperative in Nicaragua.

Celebrating Women and Coffee

In many countries coffee is one of the main sources of income for women to feed their families. This March we want to celebrate all the hard working women who grow, pick, process and produce the delicious coffees we send out into the world. We know how hard it can be, especially with all the unpaid work women are responsible for. We also know how important it is to have freedom over ones time, saftey and finances. It is our hope at Thanksgiving Coffee Company that all the women working in coffee can live happy and healthy lives.

Ethiopian Coffee Farmer

In order to bring the balance of labour and earned income for women, there is still a long way to go. The gender equality report from the International Coffee Organization found that 70% of labour in coffee production is provided by women, however, women have systematically lower access to resources, land, credit and information, and that keeps the women in a state of poverty.

Nepal- Women Sorting Himalayan ArabicaCoffee

El Salvador - Women Sorting Coffee

Congo - Coffee Farmer and Mother

An estimated 72% of unpaid care work in households globally is done by women.

Uganda- Mirimbe Kawamera Farmer and Mother

Thanksgiving has been fostering empowerment for women and working with our importer Etico to achieve gender equality with the Soppexcca Co-op since 2013. We have now been able to raise over $40,000 and give into the fund to support women coffee farmers for financial stability and resources for education and growth towards a better life.

Nicaragua, Soppexcca Co-op memeber planting coffee

Read more about our support for the women of Soppexcca:

"Recognizing the Value of Womens Unpaid Work".

Celebrate the Women Coffee Farmers of Soppexcca

Song Bird Coffee Protects Critical Forests

Songbirds are important, beautiful and a delight to the senses.

For over 25 years Thanksgiving Coffee has continued to support endangered migrating songbirds and the essential forest habitats they need to survive.

Our work to conserve Songbirds began 1998 with our line of Songbird Coffee. Here at Thanksgiving we continue to purchase from conscious coffee farmers who understand the importance of shade grown coffee, and it's role in protecting biodiversity.

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center recently released a wonderful video that highlights the process and the importance of shade grown coffee, and we want to share it with you.

It is called Cafe Y Aves

"In rural Colombia—and many parts of the world—coffee is essential to local culture and the livelihood of farmers. To birds and other wildlife, the places where coffee plants grow are just as essential. "

By 1996, the United States forests had run out of hardwoods such as oak, ash, maple, cherry, and all the wild fruit and nut trees due to unsustainable logging practices. The desirable wood of these trees is used for many things like furniture making, and also became very in demand as high end finishes for home building, like veneers for plywood, doors and window frames.

The timber industry, needed to find another source for hardwood. They turned their attention south, to the abundant rain forests of South and Central America, where these trees and many others grew plentiful, vitalized by the nutritious soil, temperate climates and abundant rain.

Bird Friendly Shade-Grown Coffee Can save up to 243 bird species

They noticed that the local coffee farmers had these valuable trees growing among their coffee crops and learned that coffee is a shade loving tree, that withers in the sun and needs the shade to be a healthy producer of coffee fruit. Mahogany, and a dozen other hardwood varieties were growing in unity with the coffee trees, providing the much needed shade for the farmers crops. There was a lot of money to be made if they could convince coffee farmers to log their trees. It is a long story of deception, but governments in collaboration with multinational corporations set out to convince coffee farmers, using flawed scientific reports and false information that by clearing away these trees and growing coffee in full sun would increase their yields and therefore make them more money.

The farmers, already living on humble incomes and with the idea of making more money in the future, allowed these large timber companies to log their land. But without the leaf litter from the big trees which fertilized the soil every year, oil based fertilizers would be needed (enter Dupont). With sunlight reaching the ground, weed killers would become essential (enter Monsanto). With forest habitat lost for migratory songbirds who fed on insects, the need for pesticides became essential. A destructive cycle of harmful chemicals became a necessity.

The big chemical companies now had new markets, timber companies gained new inventories of almost unlimited, inexpensive hardwoods, and the poor coffee farmers paid for all this with higher costs, lower quality coffee, and a 90% loss of biodiversity on their farms. It is a sad story, but one we want to bring awareness to and are actively working to reverse.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company continues to partner with the American Birding Association and is Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified. This is the "Gold Standard" for coffee grown to support biodiversity and song bird habitat.

You can support Songbirds too!

When you purchase our bird friendly coffee, you are part of the solution for our planets songbirds.

Namanyonyi Co-op united a community

The wheels were set in motion many years ago when Thanksgiving Coffee began our work with the Ugandan Coffee Cooperative “Delicious Peace” to bring their Interfaith coffee to market. For those of you who have been following us on this unique journey, we want to share another perspective. It is an article written by an organization that understands cooperatives are run by people, and people have many ups and downs.

"We love this story of multiple faiths helping each other, moving beyond personal beliefs"

The Article For You To Read:

How A Coffee Co-op United A Community – And Was Reborn After A Leadership Crisis

More of our history with the Delicious Peace Cooperative:

2009: Delicious Peace Moves Forward

2014: A Trip To Africa

2020: Delicious Peace Coffee: A New Story

2023: Evolution of Change

Where it all began - the Delicious Peace Coffee

Fort Bragg High School Culinary Arts Visit

Thanksgiving Coffee Company recently hosted 30 students from the Fort Bragg High School Culinary Department for a morning of touring, tasting, and education about coffee production.

The students have a wide range of reasons to study the art and science of cooking. Some wanted to learn how to cook better for themselves while others are considering a career in food service. We discussed coffee flavors and aromas, the early origins of coffee, and the role that Thanksgiving Coffee has played in the development of Specialty Coffee since 1972.

Fort Bragg High School Culinary Arts Students visiting the Cupping Lab of Thanksgiving Coffee

Coffee Picking

They had fun picking their own ripe coffee beans from the tree that is producing in our office. The sense of wonder increased as they witnessed the artisan roasting by our team, seeing the flames, watching the color of the beans change, and smelling the magic as the roasting process cycled through.

The Students Were Surprised To Learn That We Import Over 500,000 Lbs. Of Coffee From 22 Different Countries Annually.

Taste Range

When we finally got back to the cupping lab and could taste a range of coffees - light roast, medium roast, dark roast, French roast, and decaf – the reality of the process came full circle and the appreciation peaked. We discussed coffee flavors and applications as ingredients from things like dry rubs and even coffee jelly as a dessert element.

The best feedback came afterward when our Roastmaster/ Director of Coffee, Jacob Long, heard from his son, Abe, who is currently a senior at Fort Bragg High School, that the students had a great time and got a kick out of meeting his Dad.

Educators of Coffee

We are ready to promote coffee knowledge and are willing to do anything we can to support coffee education. This was a great experience all around.

Benefits of Coffee - Cultivating health

It’s a New Year and we want to start out with some helpful and hopeful news. Yes, we want to share all about the health and happiness that coffee adds to our lives. As we grow and evolve, so do the studies on the health benefits of coffee.

Coffee Culture

Coffee has been consumed in coffee houses for centuries. People all over the world gather to share in the vast benefits of this darkly brewed elixir. Coffee culture has helped fuel the art of the renaissance, sparked revolutionary thought and even inspired some “to reach divine consciousness in midnight prayers.”

For us coffee is our source of purpose, it is our direct link to meaningful work, and our reason for the regenerative focus of our business. Coffee connects us to our ommunity and an active lifestyle of long walks outdoors with family, friends and pets. It is our companion as we watch the sun rise in the morning and helps us greet the new day.

Billions of cups of coffee are consumed daily, thank goodness it can also support for our health. Of course, health comes in many different forms, as does happiness. Both are individual and can only be attained by the one attaining it. So really, your relationship with coffee is unique to you, and your own physiology. The key here is to know yourself and how best you take your coffee.

Physical Benefits of Coffee

Coffee beans have mostly been associated with caffeine which can bring acuity, focus and a boost of energy. However, it is also full of antioxidants and polyphenol, which helps protect your body in a myriad of ways.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine states that drinking the right amount of coffee can: support longevity, ward off heart failure, support healthy liver enzymes and it even decreases breakage in your DNA strands. The “right amount” is based on what is best for your own body, for many people that is 3-5 cups a day. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, best consult your support team.

“The overall evidence has been pretty convincing that coffee has been more healthful than harmful in terms of health outcomes,” said Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in an April 5, 2021, article in Discover. “For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet.”

Brew A Healthy Cup

Let's get into more about this health cup. Here is the main breakdown:

choose organic beans

Coffee Beans are one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world. When you choose organic beans, it will reduce your intake of harmful pesticides. The higher altitude will produce the highest levels of polyphenol in your coffee, so it is recommended to use coffee sourced from Ethiopia, Central and South America for that reason. 

Light Roast - Fine Grid

The lighter roast and finer the grind will retain the most antioxidants and beneficial compounds in your brewed cup. This means an espresso or Turkish grind can be one of the healthiest choices. 

Filtered

This study indicates that drinking filtered coffee can reduce 30 times more cholesterol-raising compounds, so filtering your coffee is good if cholestoral is a concern.

Good Water

 Lastly the water you use is important, and filtered water is best. If you want the most antioxidants you will need to stick with a hot brew, and best take it black.

Black Coffee

Black coffee also has micronutrients, including potassium, magnesium, and niacin. Try adding spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg or tumeric to increase the flavor.

If you are wanting more caffeine and lower acidity, a cold brew will give you what you are after. And if you’re sensitive to caffeine, don’t worry: decaf coffee has a similar roster of benefits.

Here is a wonderfully researched article read “How to Brew The Healthiest Cup of Coffee" by Danielle Braff.

Live Longer

          Support your Heart

                              Strengthen your DNA

Cultivating Health

At Thanksgiving, coffee supports us to be part of the whole picture working towards becoming our best selves and building upon our 50 years of coffee knowledge. The coffee farmers we support care about their farms, they cultivate their trees with love, and the coffee they produce tastes like it. Every bag of coffee we roast has been purchased from small family farms and farmer co-ops working towards bettering themselves and their families. 

The coffee we produce offers warmth and vigor to carry on even in the face of the difficulties life can throw at you. The ability of our artisan roasters to bring the best qualities of these cultivated beans adds another level of depth and excellence to the overall wellbeing of the process. This coffee inspires us to walk the path of equality and build a healthy planet with every bean. We wish for you a wonderful cup full of hope, joy and inspiration filled to the brim with our deliciously exquisite coffee.

A Few of our Many Healthy Choices

The Name Was Not Created, It Was Given.

In retrospect, it might have been a moment in time when the word needed to be spoken out loud and attached to something physical. I explain it as a moment in the evolutionary naming process sprinkled with a dose of spirituality.

In the beginning there was a piece of wood

Growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood in the Bronx, my family did not celebrate the Thanksgiving Day holiday with a big feast. My first impactful encounter with the Thanksgiving holiday was at the traditional Thanksgiving day football rivalry between Cornell University and University of Pennsylvania. The year was 1959, my senior year at Cornell. My brother and I traveled to Pennsylvania to be at the game. I have no recollection of the game itself, including which team won the game. But after the game, at the final buzzer, my brother and I rushed out of the stands with thousands of other fans to fight for peace of the goalpost which was a tradition back then. With thousands of fans fighting for the crossbar, it was an amazing thrill to be running like a crazy person out of the stadium with a 3 foot piece of the 4 x 4 crossbar under my arm, my brother running at my side. When I left New York City a decade later I loaded it into my '46 Mack truck and headed west. That piece of wood  traveled with me and to this day it remains housed in the Mack truck that helped me escape from Greenwich Village to Aspen Colorado a decade later. It remains in the truck, now parked at my home in Mendocino, California.  

Cornell vs Penn NCAA Thanksgiving Day Football Game Program 1959

Paul's 1946 Mack Truck

Arriving in Aspen without a clue

Upon arriving in Aspen Colorado in the fall of 1969, I set out to find a job. Not being successful in finding one, and with winter coming on, I did some good panic thinking. It was my first experience with small-town rural living and I still had a Greenwich Village New York city state of mind, so it was just a small leap to consider the possibility of opening a coffeehouse. So I began my search for space. I found the basement at 420 Hyman St., rented it, and began to visualize it how it should look as Aspens first and only coffeehouse. Should it look like the Fat Black Pussycat or the Hip Bagel or should it be more European /Middle Eastern in style like to Café Figaro ? I rented the place for $200 a month and began.

Aspen 1970

The first miracle

One early morning an old friend from "the village" back in New York city walked down the steps to my partially finished basement Coffee House. I was sanding a tabletop. Now this fellow, Bob Horn, holds a special place in my heart, and in the serendipity in the name, that was eventually given to the unnamed basement we were both standing in. Bob was my first roommate back in 1961 when I moved for my ancestral home in the Bronx to 66 W. 10th St. in Greenwich Village. We were friends for the entire decade of the 60's and in 1969 when I headed my Mack truck West over the George Washington Bridge towards the Rocky Mountains, he was the only friend I could not find to say goodbye to before I left New York City. It was something that bothered me all the way to my final destination, Aspen Colorado. But when good intentions are deep and honest Providence will step in to help. So I'll redirect this story for a moment to the actual time my Mack truck pulled into Aspen on that first fall afternoon in September. My mind was set on locating the closest gas station. I needed to find water for my dog Panda and some for my trucks radiator. We had just come over Independence Pass. That old truck struggled to get over that 14,000 foot hill, and it too was thirsty.

Aspen Coffee House 1969

I helped Panda out of the truck and set out a bowl for water. I noticed another person with the dog heading for the same water at the pump. I looked up and as he got closer I could see it was my dear friend Bob Horn with his dog Daisy. We both arrived in Aspen with our dogs and our trucks at the same time, neither of us is knowing the other was heading for the same place. Providence? What was the meaning of this miracle I thought ? I would soon find out.

Panda 

Finding Out

A couple of months later Bob walked into my almost finished coffee house to see me working on the table and asked," What are you going call this place?”  I looked up from the rough tabletop and without missing a beat I said," I'm going to call this place Thanksgiving. It was a spontaneous response. It just came out in sort of, a burp. Now I don't really know how such things happen. Were higher powers waiting for the moment when they could act to bring "the word" into the world as a name of a coffee house, and they deemed me worthy? Bob smiled, said he would see me later and left me to my tabletop sanding.

Later that day

Bob reappeared as I was finishing up, getting ready to go home and said he had gone to the library to search for the word Thanksgiving as it might appear in the Bible, if at all. He said he found the word Thanksgiving in the New Testament. He had located it by using a book called "The Concordance." The word was located in 1 Timothy 4.

"All things that are God-given should be received with thanksgiving”.

The phrase ring true to me and with that kind of support, plus the preceding miracle of my friend Bob arriving in Aspen at the same moment I did, and heading for the same place as I, both of us wanting to get water for our dogs, I stuck with "the word’ and it became "the name”.

We are not claiming it was a religious naming, but more a spiritual naming. We are happy to bring this uplifting word into every day use, into the light, so to speak, for all to feel the power of the word and the lift it gives when spoken into the world. It is the nicest word in the English language. We hope you enjoy seeing it and starting your morning with Thanksgiving.

Joe Seta putting out samples with CEO Jonah Katzeff . Josh Long brewing the coffee in back.

We chose to serve coffees in a variety of roast spectrums: two of our Lights Roasts: Ethiopian Natural process, and Ethiopian washed process; a Guatemalan Dark roast, The Upsetter espresso, and our Royal Decaf coffees (see links below). Except for the espresso and a batch of cold brew Ethiopian natural, we brewed everything else via French Press which made us compete very well against our competitors who were making their coffee in pour overs. Our preference is the ESPRO French Press with its multiple filter layers. The total immersion of a French press develops a depth of flavor with which a pour over just can't compete. We got great feedback on all our coffees – even the Decaf because we were the only presenter that offered one… and ours tastes as full-flavored as any other coffee.

Our Festival Team

left to right: Josh Long, Jennifer Brown, Jonah Katzeff, Nathan Niel

Our festival team included our CEO, Jonah, our cofounder Paul, Josh Long (Roaster), Nathan Nies (barista/Sales Representative), Jennifer Brown (Office Manager) and me. Our stylized baseball jerseys were Jennifer's idea and boy did they make our team look good. The jersey colors worked very well with our branded canopy and really helped make a cohesive statement visually.

We participate in this annual public event to help expand our brand presence in the Bay Area where we are represented but not nearly to the extent as many of the local competitors. It is very safe to say that a lot more of the Bay Area is now familiar with our name, our story, and the flavor of our coffee after this wonderful event.

left to right: Joe Seta, Josh Long, Jonah Katzeff, Nathan Nies

Cups at SF Coffee Fest: "Coffee - Africa's Gift to the World - You're Welcome"