The Mendocino Film Festival (MFF) began in 2006, and Thanksgiving Coffee Company has been a steady supporter since the beginning. This 2022 season an innovative program called "Native Cinema: Vision the Future" was lanched. This was created and produced by the Bee Bold Alliance (a project from Thanksgiving Coffee) to help tell the story of Mendocino’s regenerative renaissance.

The overwhelming positive response of the Native Cinema program demonstrated an earnest interest in the Native experience. It was screened to a sold out audience at Crown Hall in Mendocino, CA. and featured many wonderful Native Filmmakers and several remarkable local Native Leaders.

The tone of the evening was set by local coastal Pomo activist and cultural revitalizer Bernadette Smith. With her moving ancestral songs for the land, Smith gave respect and honor to her heritage and for those in the audience, the cultural experince of the original peoples of Mendocino, CA. Priscilla Hunter from the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo joined Smith in this acknowledgment with her prayers and helped amplify the intention for the evening of Native Films to come. (image: Bernadette Smith on left, Priscilla Hunter on right)

Strengthen our connection through Indigenous Storytelling

Part I

The Cinema portion began with the film Chasing Voices (a “Pat’s Pick”) documentary about Ethnographer John Peabody Harrington who spent 50 years recording and documenting over 150 different, dying Native American languages. This film has been included in Rhode Island International FF, Montana Int FF, Mother Tongues FF, and the Smithsonian Institution in Feb 2022.   (image: Pat Ferrero left, Daniel Golding right)           

Director/Producer Daniel Golding is an award-winning Native filmmaker with a degree in Cinema and American Indian Studies from SF State University. He has been making award-winning documentaries for the past twenty years and teaches digital filmmaking workshops to at-risk tribal youth through his Hokan Media Digital Filmmaking Academy.  

After viewing this unique and intriguing film, the audience engaged in a Q&A led by Pat Ferrero with director Daniel Golding. Listen to more behind the making of Chasing Voices at Forthright Radio here.

Part II

Nathaniel Golding hopes audiences will take away how a positive outlet will lead to positive things.

Part II of the Native Cinema program featured AWAKEN, a short film about the issues young people face on the Fort Yuma Reservation in Southern California. The first-time filmmaker Nathaniel Golding (an enrolled member of the Quechan tribe) tells the story of cousins Orlando and Kieran whose love for metal music has not deterred them from learning their traditional songs and dances. Nathaniel was the youngest film crew member. He is learning the Quechan language and songs and was inspired to make this film by his father, producer Daniel Golding.

(Image: Awaken filmmaker Nathaniel Golding) 

The second film Forest Grandmothers explores the activism of Priscilla Hunter (Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians) and Polly Girvin (Indigenous Rights Lawyer). For the past 40 years, they have tirelessly worked to preserve the forests and educate others about the cultural significance of biodiversity for Native People and the wellbeing of the planet.

(Image: Forest Grandmothers filmmaker Henry Thomas, center)

This unique film project was directed by first-time filmmaker Henry Thomas who led the Bee RYL Production Crew, a multicultural and multi-generational mentorship for youth to sustain local art and culture through film. Henry Thomas is a young aspiring filmmaker combining digital video with analog photography.

The Bee RYL Crew for 2021-22: Ronan Williams, Keiran Miller, Kyla Marchello, Josephine Steinbeck, and camera support from Amy Heckeroth.

*Bee RYL Productions is a pilot project of the Bee Bold Alliance led by Lavender Grace Cinnamon and sponsored by Thanksgiving Coffee Company in partnership with Hope4Natives, Mendocino Film Festival, and MHS Media Lab.

The fourth and final film of the evening was Pomo Land Back: A Prayer from the Forest by filmmakers Evan-Marie Petit & Louis Fox. Hailing from the red earth of her ancestors, visual storyteller Petite is from the Eastern Cherokee.

This film aims to honor the vital movement towards indigenous-led stewardship and rematriation of California forest lands. Created in collaboration with the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Pomo Land Back is a visceral poetic document of an alliance-building, inter-tribal gathering that took place in February 2022. The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians calls for protection and co-management of the 48,652-acre Jackson Demonstration State Forest.

(Image:Pomo Land Back filmmaker Evan-Marie Petite)

The evening closed with two honored local Tribal Leaders Chairmen Michael Hunter and Tribal Chairwoman Priscilla Hunter. Together they addressed the audience with a unique depth and humor all their own. They shared their vision to preserve the local forests and create a clean safe environment for future generations to come. Dynamic in vision and in action, the inspiring Chairman and Chairwoman Hunter actively work for the well-being of the planet and fortunate Mendocino is their home.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company is a proud sponsor of the Native Cinema event. It felt like a step in the right direction to strengthen our communities resilience. The evening created an opportunity to learn and gather some tools to use during these turbulent times. With positive outlets, we can be community-minded and learn how to grow through our shared experiences. Ultimately we are all in this together, let's tell a good story.

(Image: Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter left, Tribal Chairwoman Priscilla Hunter right)

This event was a collaboration with The Bee Bold Alliance, in partnership with Hope4natives and The Mendocino Film Festival and made possible by the sponsorship of Thanksgiving Coffee Company.

Resources:

Sinkyone Intertribal Wilderness Council 

Hope4Natives

Visit California Tribes

Pomo Land Back

Bee Bold Alliance   

*Bee RYL Productions Pilot Project appreciates the generous donations from Sweetwater Inn and Spa, Fortunate Farms, Cafe Beaujolais, Corners of the Mouth, Princess Seafood, and Simone’s Kitchen

Our Bee Bold Coffee supports biodiversity and Earth renewal with your daily cup of coffee. The Bee Bold Campaign offers a steady funding source for Conservation Works, training youth to support native bees and pollinators with the restoration and preservation of habitats to sustain a resilient ecosystem.

Milk becomes naturally-sweet when heated to the ideal, not-too-hot, temperature. (Ever get warm milk before bed as a child... or even as an adult?). It quickly becomes scalded-tasting at too high a temperature. For this reason, it is imperative that the milk steamed for espresso drinks not be over-heated.

Excellent steamed milk vs. sloppy

Integrating your milk with your espresso:

• Pour your desired amount of milk into the pitcher, and leave on the counter while you...
• ...follow Steps to Pull an Excellent Espresso
• As soon as you have pressed the button to start your espresso shot, begin steaming the milk. Milk should take about 20 seconds, espresso about 23-30.
• Follow all steps to velvety, naturally-sweet milk.
• As soon as your espresso is done, begin pouring milk into it. This should be done by tipping the cup so that the milk can pour slowly down the side, again making a convection-like current in the cup. When you have about 1” of room left, bring the pitcher tip close to the drink surface (which may require tilting the cup) while continuing to pour and tip the pitcher at a steep angle toward it, jiggling your wrist so that the foam piles onto the drink. No scooping with a spoon should be necessary.

Persistently bold in their visionary approach to coffee, the founders of Thanksgiving Coffee, Joan and Paul Katzeff, led an industry toward equality and justice. Their leadership established ethical sourcing directly from small-scale farmer cooperatives which in turn inspired the first Fair Trade model. The company is built on the interconnectedness of coffee farmers, the coffee they produce, and the health and wellbeing of our shared environment.

For 50 years, Thanksgiving Coffee Company has chosen to actively use coffee as our force for good for the planet. Our leadership inspires this goodness to ripple out to all the people we work with. Our relationship with coffee is what gives the company the perseverance and fortitude to stay in business through all of life’s challenges, and it is literally what gets us up in the morning, no really!

The next generation of Thanksgiving Coffee Company’s leaders are here. Stepping into the role of CEO, the founders’ son, Jonah Katzeff, helps guide us with his lifetime of coffee knowledge.

Together we continue to work with coffee as our medium, community resilience as our passion, and the health and happiness of our farmers as our goal. “Not Just A Cup, But A Just Cup” is our motto, and it is as true as ever. A new generation with a regenerative vision, I invite you to meet our leadership team.

Coffee as our medium, community resilience as our passion, and the health and happiness of our farmers as our goal.

It may seem like a contradiction in terms… Eating salmon to support Salmon Restoration, but the Salmon Trollers Association has been doing great work with this event for years. I’ve had the good fortune of participating in several different ways to support this event since I moved up here more than 20 years ago, but this year I think was the most fun, and I’ll tell you why.

Generous people, voting with their dollars to support a cause that has delicious implications.

This event is one of the largest events in Fort Bragg every year, often with a total of attendance of 3000 guests or more. Most of the folks who attend are tourists and most of the locals who attend are actually working on the periphery to make sure all these guests have a memorable experience. From the ticket takers, to the corn shuckers, to the salad spinners, to the garlic bread team with their bread mops soaked with that delicious stinking rose butter, and finally to the dignitaries wearing their best bright yellow rain gear, grilling up salmon to the delight of the masses.

(Image: Paul Katzeff on left, Joe Seta on Right)

So at the end of that buffet line you find musical entertainment, the ice cream from our local legendary Cowlicks ice cream parlor, fine craft beer from North Coast Brewing Company (also a certified B Corp.) and Thanksgiving Coffee. We had cold brew, three different hot brews and the ability for the first time to sell bags of coffee.

(Image: Crowed at the Worlds Largest Salmon BBQ, Fort bragg, CA)

The morning starts with coffee for the volunteers, who are all extremely appreciative. Then, at about 11 AM… The line forms. That line doesn’t stop until 6 PM. For the next seven hours, Paul and I look like a pair of octopus pals, each with eight arms going in every direction, telling stories while serving and explaining the difference between light roasts, dark roasts and cold brew. We live for that kind of connection to our audience.

Luckily, in the early afternoon, Jonah and Joan Katzeff arrived to give us a break, and allow us to feast like all the other salmon supporters. Wading out into the sea of picnic tables, all made by aspiring craftsman from Parlin Forks Conservation Camp, it’s inspiring to see the instant community that gets established, just by sitting next to someone from another place, from another experience, and all gathered together for the support of the salmon.

Back to it after the break, the audience primarily switched from hot brew to cold brew as the sun starts to reclaim its rightful position overhead instead of the often-present marine layer of clouds. Did I tell you that we were giving all this coffee away? Well, the coffee was ‘free’ in exchange for a donation, in any amount, to Salmon Restoration. When we took an average at the end of the day people were donating about six bucks per cup of coffee… Generous people, voting with their dollars to support a cause that has delicious implications. (Image: Momma Grows Funk Band with crowd at Worlds Largest Salmon BBQ, Fort Bragg, CA)

Below are the coffees that were served at the Salmon BBQ for you to enjoy at home.

We’ve been in the coffee biz for a long time now and it’s time to pay homage to those who have been with us since the very beginning of it all. As you may or may not know, Thanksgiving Coffee was founded in 1972 by Paul and Joan Katzeff – you can read our full story here (it’s really quite interesting) and Down Home Foods has been around for quite awhile as well! Here’s to Down Home Foods! Thank you for offering Thanksgiving Coffee to your customers for over 45 years!

Down Home Foods is a small family-owned market in Fort Bragg offering fresh meals from sandwiches to samosas to baked goods, a juice bar - you'll want to try the Down Home Blend for sure - locally-sourced breads, deli-sliced meats and cheeses, handmade merchandise, organic beauty and hygeine products, bulk pantry items, snacks and so much more. Honestly, I could spend hours in Down Home Foods. AND, if they don't have something you're looking for, they can often order what you need to arrive at the shop. We're so lucky to have Down Home Foods here on the Mendocino Coast.

Try one of our June featured coffees!

20% off this month only.

Roast color determines 80% of a coffee's flavor.

Like a piece of bread, raw coffee is mostly carbohydrates like starches and oils, although there are over 1600 chemical compounds in a single coffee bean. When a slice of bread is toasted, it browns until it burns. Toasted light, you can taste the wheat. Toasted until burnt or very dark, you taste only the charred remains. So it is with our coffee bean (seed). The flavor changes with the degree of roast. A light roast Colombian tastes more like a light roast Nicaraguan than like a medium roast Colombian coffee.

Roast color is a function of temperature and time. Relatively speaking, artisan roasters use variations of these controllable factors to create flavor. Roasting is a craft much like pottery is. Two potters using the same clay, the same glazes, and the same shapes will have different outcomes. Temperature + time in the kiln will determine what the craftsman’s effort will produce. So it is with coffee. Generally, the coffee begins to roast at 405°F when the starches can get no hotter and they break down into simple sugars that carmelize at about 420°F. That is when the light roast is pulled or dumped. It can take from 8-14 minutes to get to a light roast color.

 Between 420° and 475°F the color darkens until nothing is left to taste except burned plant matter!

Light Roast - nuanced, bright, lively

In the lighter roasts (both light and medium), you can taste the nuance and impact of terroir. If you’re a single origin lover, these coffees are your go-to. With a light roast especially, the specific qualities unique to the coffee’s origin stand out. If you’re sticking with Vienna and French roasts (the darker beans), you have to work harder to tell the differences between origins. With light, it’s all there in the first sip.

For those of you that cup your coffee and take the time to taste every flavor, the lights and mediums are probably the roasts for you. When purchasing a single origin coffee, the great ones are best at this roast color.

Medium Roast - nutty, spicy, balanced, fruity

Roasted about 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the light, the color on a medium roast coffee bean shifts into a chocolate brown. As you move from the light roast to the medium, the bright and lively acidity morphs into a smoother, deeper, and more balanced mouth feel. In every sip of a medium roast, you’ll find that a certain mellowness and maturity prevails.

Dark Roast - bold, spicy, chocolaty

The coffee bean color on our dark roast (sometimes called the Vienna roast) is still more brown than black. You could compare it to the color of baker’s chocolate. When this coffee is freshly roasted, the beans will have a shiny coat of coffee oils on their surface. The greatest dark roast coffees will have hints of carbonization, but shouldn’t be described as smoky or toasty — we’ll leave those descriptors to the very dark roast.

Very Dark Roast - toasty, smoky, carmelized sugars

Ah, the “French Roast.” This is the coffee that goes great with a splash of milk. The coffee bean color on our very dark roast is more black than brown, with rich and copious levels of surface oil. Roasted long and hot to produce deep carbony, smoky flavor notes. A well-made French roast will have caramelized sugar notes, licorice and roasted chestnut flavors, and a long wet (not ashy) finish.

Mara Elephant Project (MEP, est. 2011) protects elephants and their habitats across the Greater Mara Ecosystem in Kenya, one of the last wildlife refuges on Earth. When poaching emerged as a threat, MEP and Kenya Wildlife Service took action to successfully combat it. Today, the drastic expansion of the human footprint is causing habitat loss and conflict. Our Maasai male and female rangers are working to build a better future for their families by protecting elephants and their habitats for generations to come.

Protect Our Elephants Coffee supports the conservation of precious wildlife and habitats in Kenya.

$1.50 per 12 oz bag and $5.00 per 5-pound bag are donated to the Mara Elephant Project. Learn more about Mara Elephant Project at www.maraelephantproject.org.

I had an elephant friend when I was 10 years old. She lived at the Bronx Zoo and growing up, I lived five minutes from the Zoo. I got to know her by visiting once a week until I went off to college eight years later. On my early visits I noticed an elephant food dispenser near her outside enclosure and for five cents people could buy these little pellets of elephant food that came in 2-ounce packets. A person would empty the contents into their palm and offer them up to the nearest elephant who would extend their trunk to your palm and suck them up and then blow them into their mouth. I just couldn't spend a nickel on 2 ounces of smelly pellets when I could get two pretzels at the candy store on my way to the Zoo, but I could stop at my uncle’s fruit and vegetable store, which was on the way, and get a free bag of overripe bananas, rubbery carrots and a pound of fresh roasted peanuts which she loved and ate shells and all.

I visited with her until I went off to college after spending a long day saying goodbye. As I was about to leave, it was beginning to get close to closing time, the Zookeepers came out and asked me if I wanted to give Helen a hug. They took me into the enclosure and encouraged me to approach Helen and to talk to her while I moved forward toward her. She lumbered over to me and I touched her flank. I had only touched her trunk up to that time. I put the side of my face up against her rear flank. She was warm and her skin was tough. I was 18 , they told me she was 36.

After a short while her “keepers” signaled it was time to go. I know I was at a loss for words, How do you say goodbye to an Elephant? Turning my back I began to walk toward the enclosure's door when I was stopped by the full weight of Helen’s trunk on my shoulder and wrapped slightly around my neck. I stopped in my tracks. “Don’t be afraid” the keeper said ,”she is saying goodbye”. I turned around to find her big dark eyes looking right into me and I know I cried in that moment and all the way home. When I came home from College 4 years later she was gone.

In the heart of our company, keeping everything going, is our Roasting Crew. Their tasks are to transform the green beans we gather from the finest coffee farms and coops in the world, and turn them into the remarkable coffee that you brew into your cup, and they do this every day! The process is a living breathing commitment to every batch of beans as they turn in the barrel of the roaster. With over 1600 chemical compounds in a single coffee bean, artisan roasters use variations of temperature and time to create the unique flavor and find the perfect roast color to determine the flavor of the coffee. I invite you to meet the roasters of Thanksgiving Coffee Company.

Resulting Awards from our Roastmaster and Crew:

2019 Good Food Award

2017 Macro Roaster of the Year

Award Winning Coffees

Our organically grown coffee is free of pesticides and preservatives.

We’ve been in the coffee biz for a long time now and it’s time to pay homage to those who have been with us since the very beginning of it all. As you may or may not know, Thanksgiving Coffee was founded in 1972 by Paul and Joan Katzeff – you can read our full story here (it’s really quite interesting) and Anderson Valley Market has been around a little longer! Here’s to Anderson Valley Market! Thank you for offering and serving Thanksgiving Coffee to your customers for over 45 years!

Anderson Valley Market is a full-scale grocery store and deli featuring an espresso bar where you can get freshly crafted lattes, cappuccinos and your other favorite espresso beverages. While you're waiting for your coffee, stroll around and pick up delicious comfort foods, fresh sandwiches and any household essentials. The market is located in Boonville on the iconic Highway 128 - the gateway to the Mendocino Coast or link to Highway 101 inland. Gaze at the towering redwood forests as you drive the western portion of Highway 128, then, which a dramatic change of scenery, notice the picturesque rolling vineyards through Anderson Valley wine country. This is the perfect pit-stop for your road trip snacks and beverages - say hi from us if you stop by!

The quintessential expression of coffee is espresso.

-Ernesto Illy

A few words about espresso...

Espresso was invented in Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century as a way to brew a fresh, delicious cup of coffee fast. It is made by sending pressurized hot water through the coffee grounds to extract the sugars and oils from the coffee. Because of the speed and high pressure of this method, a full, rich coffee is created, without many of the bitter notes that come out in coffee brewed at low pressures. With this in mind, you should strive to make every espresso beverage with careful precision and attention to freshness.

Now, lets get into it! Keep reading to learn how to pull an excellent shot of espresso.

Written by Paul Katzeff

Coffee does not have immortality. If a roasted bean is left exposed, it will slowly stale within one week and even sooner if ground. However if properly stores, coffee can have a shelf life up to six months.

Air (oxidization):

Roasted Coffee beans are composed of approximately 800 organic chemical compounds. Many of these organic compounds create the flavor you love.

There are sugars, alcohols, acids, Ketones, Aldehydes, minerals and all sorts of volatile flavonoids and antioxidants. When these organic compounds are exposed to air, many of them will combine with the Oxygen, forming new organic compounds that don’t taste good. The coffee becomes flat, losing its brightness and personality. This doesn’t happen immediately– it begins when you open a vacuum packed bag and the process continues on for about a month. The great flavor of high-quality coffee lasts longer at first but their fall over the cliff is more dramatic then lesser coffees. This is because the taste of lesser coffees when fresh often resembles stale coffee.

Heat:

All chemical reactions are speeded up by heat, so we want to keep the coffee at a low temperature. That will go a long way in saving the flavor.

Oxidation can be slowed down or speeded up. Temperature is the factor and since Staling is caused, essentially, by oxygen combining with other compounds, we want to keep the beans cool but not frozen.

Moisture:

Your coffee beans are pretty devoid of moisture. When we put green raw beans into the roaster they are about 11% moisture. When they exit the roaster after being at high heat (400-465 degrees) they are really dry. But like a dry sponge, they will attract moisture from the air. This is Osmosis. Moisture softens the beans and further enables organic compounds to combine and change, reducing flavor and speeding up the oxidization process.

Light:

It takes an awful lot of light to make coffee stale; if you address the air, heat, and moisture issues, then the light will become a small factor. On it’s own, in my experience, light alone will take a long long time to damage coffee beans. However, if coffee beans are exposed to prolonged sunlight, then heat becomes the primary culprit.

Cover photo credit: coffeegeek.tv