Late November • 2011

DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY,

We’re close to the Holiday Season, and we’ve some beautiful new coffees AND equipment for you just in time for the big feast. Also, we’re opening our second store, and we’re looking for a few fine folks to join our team. Love, Your Seattle Coffee Works Team

State-of-Art Coffee Grinders at

Reasonable Prices

People ask all the time about the most important piece of equipment in making coffee: the grinder.

If you take it apart, you’ll see that a coffee grinder has either two discs or two conical burrs that rub against each other. If your “grinder” is one of those upside-down lawnmowers (aka spice or blade grinder), please be advised that it will be very hard to produce consistently good coffee. Ultimately, we’re interested in the quality of your grinder only because we want you to be able to taste how much better a meticulously sourced and roasted coffee tastes compared to much of the stuff out there.

We have the grinder for you!

Our entry-level is the Baratza Maestro Plus Coffee Grinder. CoffeeGeek.com says: “In its class, this is the best grinder you can get.” You can buy it for $129.00 (free shipping, no tax outside WA). Shop around – you simply won’t find a better price. For bells and whistles, check out the Baratza family of grinders. Here in the cafe, we’re using the Baratza Virtuoso with Esatto Scale – a great combo for precision AND value.

Coffee Tip - Guatemala Antigua Finca

Lorena, delicious Ethiopians, new arrival

We just released this year’s Guatemala Antigua Finca Lorena. The 2011 lot weighs in at 340 pounds – a mini-microlot! This coffee is Lorena Garcia’s labor of love, with a lot of help from her husband Aurelio Hernandez. Aurelio visited Seattle in September and some customers even got a hand-signed bag of coffee directly from him! Taste the difference a true direct-trade relationship can make.

Some outstanding coffees just in from Ethiopia: Yirgacheffe Work Cooperative and Yirgacheffe Chelektu Mill are juicy and refreshing, natural-process coffees. Also, for a milder more mellow-flavored African coffee, try: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke Cooperative.

More coffees from South America (Colombia, Brazil, Peru) and the Asia Pacific Region (Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, Papua New Guinea) are on their way. Please bookmark the single-origin section of our website and check often. We buy only as much coffee as we can roast and sell within eight months after harvest, so quantities of a specific coffee are always very limited. Luckily, there is also always a thrilling new coffee waiting in the wings.

We’re Opening a Second Store in Ballard,

and we’re hiring!

When the opportunity came up to take over a corner store from a small Seattle-based coffee chain, we jumped at the chance. We’re remodeling the space, and looking for a few fine people to join our team. Take a peek at our ad. If you or someone you know are interested in a career in coffee, please get in touch. Have a wonderful holiday season and let’s drink some coffee!

Love people? Love coffee?
Seattle Coffee Works LOVES you!

SCW is seeking team members for both our downtown location and our new store opening in BALLARD!

If you:
Love coffee
Love people
Are seeking a long term career opportunity in the coffee industry
Consistently work hard in a fast paced environment
Have exceptional multitasking abilities
Can follow through on projects
Love being a part of a team
Are committed to excellence

We want to meet you.

Send a resume and a brief personal statement identifying why you want to work with coffee and why you want to do so at Seattle Coffee Works to emily@seattlecoffeeworks.com to be considered.

Seattle Coffee Works is a small, independent company serving excellent coffee to our community. We are currently growing and are looking for folks to grow with us. We are committed to serving our community, fostering happiness, and doing so by roasting, brewing, and serving outstanding coffee every day.

Just as our company strives to consistently improve our product and our customers’ experience, we are looking for teammates who are lifelong students and seek new and innovative ways to push themselves as well as their fellow workers. We look forward to getting to know you!

August • 2011

Our Excellent Summer Coffees

Arnulfo Leguizamo, 2011 Colombia Cup of Excellence Winner

Hello Friends,

In the midst of a spectacular Seattle summer, the 2011 Colombia Cup of Excellence brings brightness and beauty to our roastery and café. Wired Magazine recently wrote a full length article, “Sip, Spit, Grade: Coffee Experts Crown Colombia’s Best Beans”, describing how this award-winning coffee was produced. Bizarre Food’s Andrew Zimmern who came by our cafe last week to film a segment for the upcoming season, thought this coffee was “insane.” (We’d like to think he meant insanely good.) Suffice it to say that few coffees are worth the $49.95 price tag, but this coffee delivers on all fronts: rich, sweet, and sublime.

If you would like to sample a different outstanding coffee for a value price, we suggest the Colombia Geisha. For $34.95, this coffee has beautiful balance and depth.

Great new in-season coffees for under $15

For those of you seeking just a straight-up excellent coffee, we have not forgotten about you. Check out the wonderfully fruity, and according to one customer “addictive” Ethiopia Bench Maji. One of the team favorites for the past few weeks has been the floral and citrusy Colombia San Augustin. We would be remiss, if we omitted the very seasonal (”Rainier Cherry notes”) Panama Boquete Classico. All of these coffees are available for less than $15.

Top 10 Tips for Brewing the Perfect Cup of Coffee:

1. Use a French Press: Here at Seattle Coffee Works, we tested numerous methods of brewing coffee and found that in a blind taste test, the French Press produced the most consistently excellent results especially considering its easy of use.

2. Fresh Coffee: Have you noticed that we have the roast date on all of our coffee bean bags? We place a primacy on freshly roasted coffee, because coffee beans have a very limited shelf life of 2-3 weeks after the roast date.

3. Freshly Ground: Buy whole coffee beans, not ground. Once coffee is ground, you measure its freshness in seconds, not hours, days, or weeks. Grind your beans just before you brew.

4. Use a Burr Grinder: Invest in a burr grinder, instead of the cheaper, smaller blade grinder. A burr grinder produces a more uniform grind than a blade grinder. You can purchase a serviceable burr grinder for home use for under $50.

5. Filtered Water: Use filtered water: the cleaner and better-tasting the water you use, the more delicious your coffee will be. Faucet filters are the most sustainable and inexpensive way to filter your drinking water.

6. Use the Right Ratios: For every 4 oz of brewed coffee, use a tablespoon of ground coffee.

7. Hot Water, Off the Boil: Bring the water just to a boil and then let it cool for about 45 seconds to about 204 F.

8. Time it: Set your kitchen timer to four minutes and turn it on. Pour the water evenly over the coffee grounds. If you are using freshly roasted coffee, you will notice that the coffee grounds will float to the top.

9. Let the Coffee Bloom: Allow the coffee to bloom for a few seconds, before gently depressing the grounds (so that they all touch the water).

10. Press and Enjoy: Press the pot when the timer goes off and pour immediately.

Tell us what you think of the Colombian coffees and our tips for making the perfect cup of coffee.

Enjoy the rest of the summer,
Your Seattle Coffee Works Team

We want to extend our appreciation to all the participants who made it to Houston this year to compete in the US Barista Championship and the first-ever US Brewers Cup. It is always exciting and rewarding to watch people with such passion and skill throw down. You all make this industry much more engaging and fun.

Congratulations to Pete Licata of Honolulu Coffee, this year’s reigning barista champion. It was a pleasure watching you perform and hearing the tale of your coffee. I only wish I might have tasted it!

Congratulations to Nik Krankl (Gelato Bar & Espresso Cafe) and Ryan Knapp (MadCap Coffee), 2nd and 3rd place barista winners. I wanted to taste your coffees, too!

This first national battle of the manual brewers was of particular interest for me because two dear friends were competing AND both made it into the finals! Oh, the power of the SuperHario Brothers.

Congratulations to Andy Sprenger of Caffee Pronto, the first of the US Brewers Cup champions!

Congratulations to Mike Cannon (Independent!) and Erin McCarthy (gimme!) who placed 2nd and 3rd.

A special shout out to Ben Kaminsky of Ritual Coffee Roasters for once again (3 times!!) taking the title of US Cup Tasters Challenge grand champeen. We love tasting coffee, and apparently, so does Ben.

Finally, we just want to say that having a forum where coffee professionals get to nerd out in the extreme warms the cockles of our coffee geek hearts, and you’re all awesome in our eyes.

~Larissa

Wednesday October 27: Guatemala Extravaganza

Please join us in tasting some outstanding Guatemalan coffees on Wednesday October 27, 5-8pm.

TASTE FIVE AMAZING COFFEES

We’ll be cupping our lineup of most amazing Guatemalan relationship coffees. Also on the cupping table: Santa Clara y Anexos Operadora Santa Clara (Cup of Excellence 2010), see more below and, as a special bonus, a coffee blend that will only be created once: we’ll be blending the small samples of all Guatemala Cup of Excellence winners this year.

MEET THE PRODUCER

Meet Aurelio Hernandez, yes, Aurelio of Finca Aurelio y Lorena! Hear a brief presentation about Aurelio’s work on behalf of Global Visionaries in San Miguel Escobar, Guatemala, and how coffee and improving lives in Guatemala go hand in hand.

WIN THE COFFEE RAFFLE benefiting Global Visionaries

Put down $10 per raffle ticket for a bag of the blended samples of all of coffees represented in this year’s Guatamalan Cup of Excellence auction. All proceeds from our raffle go to Global Visionaries.

HAVE A PARTY

We’ll have plenty of coffee in all brewing methods; both our Slow and Espresso Bars will be open for use and geeking out. We also have some wine and beer on hand (cash bar) to let the day wind down.

THE DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Time: 5pm-8pm
Location: Our cafe at 107 Pike Street, Seattle, WA (phone: 206.340.8867)
Cost: no cost to attend, optional participation in the raffle, wine and beer (cash only)

Guatemala Santa Clara y Anexos Operadora Santa Clara (Cup Excellence

2010)

Ricardo Zelaya manages this larger farm which grows mainly the Bourbon and Caturra varietals. The hand picked fruit is processed and washed in a traditional mill with crystal clear water. Then patiently
sun dried for days in patios, giving each bean a distinctive blue-green color. This sun dried coffee has the highest standards of quality in Antigua. Every step in the mill is monitored constantly to maintain
the highest level of quality. More…

Nicaragua Las Flores (Cup of Excellence 2010)

Gonzalo Moreno and his family grow this highly rated coffee in the Pueblo Nuevo region. The Cup ofExcellence jury found such a wide array of flavor notes that it seems they really couldn’t stop talking about this delicious coffee (which is incidentally how we define great coffee here at Seattle Coffee Works: just can’t stop talking about it.) Here are some adjectives from the jurors’ descriptions: peach, custard, floral, jasmine, apple, mango, honey, fruity, strawberry, black current, cocoa, rose, vanilla, toasted pecan acidity: bright, complex, tartaric/malic, pear-like, winey, juicy, long aftertaste, creamy finish, sweet citrus… More…

Honduras Finca Bu (Cup of Excellence 2010)

The BU Farm is located in El Cielito in the Santa Barbara region where coffee is the main product, alongside corn, beans and fruits. This is a coffee growing zone with a great temperature range between 12 and 21°C, and rainfall of 1,200 to 2,400mm/year. The farmer, Pompilio Ramos Archila, began growing coffee in 1990, with a small lot, now he owns 5 hectares of coffee farm. Pomilio mostly uses the Paca varietal for his coffee which produces a deeply complex and delicious coffee. Think butter, molasses, grapes, raspberries, peach jasmine, raisins, figs, dark fruit, green apple, meyer lemon, sparkling, crisp, brisk, refreshing, robust, grape, super clean, refreshing, distinct, unique… More…

El Salvador Finca La Pinera (Cup of Excellence 2010)

The La Pinera farm is located in the Cacahuatique mountain range around Ciudad Barrios, in the department of San Miguel. The region has abundant water, fertile land and dense forests which are home to animals like deer, tepezcuintles, and lion monkeys.
Since the 1990s, the Araujo Guerra Family started to re-build its land after the economic effects of war and decided to grow Pacamara coffee with the help of Angel Cabrera and the supervision of Procafe. La Pinera is one of the origins of Pacamaras coffee, its seeds have been spread through different areas of El Salvador and Central America, giving birth to many other Pacamara coffee farms. More…

We’re hiring!

We’re currently looking for a full-time professional barista. If you know of anyone who has some
coffee experience and wants to be in coffee in the long term, please send her/him our way!

Our new artist beginning this month is Megan Marie Myers, who comes to us after being shrugged off by a certain iconic corporate coffeeshop a few months back. Megan was slated to show her paintings at Roy Street Coffee & Tea in February earlier this year until the company canceled the show just prior to opening.

Wait… In the wake of all the press about regaining local coffeehouse cred, how can Sbux simply shelve a local artist as sweet and talented as Myers?

After all, that’s what defines local: a space for people in the community to meet, share ideas and engage with each other.

So that’s what we offered Megan. A blank, brick wall canvas for her to display her art. A place where she can start a visual conversation. With vibrant, playful colors and visages reminiscent of “The Little Prince,” Myers’ work is on display in our 107 Pike Street café and available online at meganmariemyers.com.

Our good friend Coffee Hero recently brought up the topic of coffee prices (again – this was a topic almost exactly one year ago.) While he praises our prices and I agree on some points, there are a couple of things that might benefit from clarification.

There are really three types of coffee prices:

1. Roasted whole-bean coffee behaves  like a commodity in the consumer market. The price of this commodity is spiking right now for reasons involving seasonal speculation, reduced harvests due to fungus, low levels of coffee reserves in the US, and concerns about hoarding overseas. As a result of this market spike, Folgers raised its prices by 10% earlier this  summer. In cafes and grocery stores, the price of whole-bean coffee is going up by $0.50-1.00 per pound on average. This will affect not just the low-end but also higher-end coffees, like Peets. It will also affect Fair Trade certified coffees.
2. Super-premium coffees, such as our exclusive Direct-trade coffees from Guatemala (Finca Chicaman, Finca Aurelio y Lorena), cost more than commodity-traded coffees to begin with. Direct-trade coffees are mostly sold at a fixed price; their price will not be affected by the commodities markets this year. Likewise the auction coffees sold through the Cup of Excellence and other such programs. Those coffees are in a class of their own that is decoupled from commodity pricing.
3. Coffee drinks. It is true that the cost to produce one very rich espresso shot (23 grams of coffee grounds, that’s a serious triple shot) has gone up by roughly $0.03 because of the recent increase in coffee commodity pricing. Big deal. This should not make anyone raise their prices. But please understand that when you’re buying an Espresso you’re buying a service, not a thing. Most of the cost to provide that service is not contained in what accountants call the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). What you’re really buying is a nice stopover in a leak-proof, well-lit, comfortable cafe in a location you like, not to mention free WiFi, a comfy chair, free filtered water and clean, fully stocked toilets. And then there’s the barista who keeps the doors open, pours your drink, and maybe even lights up your day. Believe it or not, friendly, super-premium baristi like the ones at Seattle Coffee Works do NOT grow on trees.

So, I think it’s legitimate for roasters to raise the price of whole beans. For Ethiopian coffees, which are even more expensive this year than last, every roaster in town has done that. But increasing drink prices based on the increase in green bean cost is disingenuous. If cafes want to increase their drink prices, they could point to other factors:

• health insurance has gone up 20-30% this year alone;
• aggressive taxation by strapped local governments – we just submitted our paperwork for the personal business property tax of King County, a tax so arcane that in good times the government wasn’t even trying to collect it. It cost us hundreds of dollars in filing costs, probably more than the actual amount of the tax;
• increased difficulty of raising capital (the bailed-out, subsidized big banks are even more tight-fisted now than last year!);
• increased price of milk.

For us here at Seattle Coffee Works, the current coffee commodity market provides one more reason to move toward more direct-trade and to ditch a system of price discovery that just doesn’t fit gourmet foods like super-premium coffee.

In the meantime, thanks for the kudos on our $1.82 espresso ($2 including tax). That hasn’t changed in the nearly four years of our existence – hey, we just had an anniversary! We’re not planning to change prices anytime soon. Especially not during a recession. So come on in, let’s drink some super-premium “cof” – that’s coffee, without the added “fee.”

[Photo credit goes to the most amazing, unflappable, wonderful friend: MANGO POWER GIRL (Mohini Patel Glanz) -- check out her stuff here and here.]

Post Scriptum (Oct. 3, 2010): A friend sent along this link to an article I’d missed. A bunch of coffee commodity analysts seem to think that coffee prices are peaking this year with no basis in supply. It’s mainly about the fungus infection in Colombia and some other speculative reasons. In 2011, they’re predicting a hefty surplus of Arabica coffee. All those coffee chains raising their drinks prices pointing to green-coffee price increases? Not funny, not in a recession. Check out the article I missed.

Friends, we have been growing a lot. Knock on wood.

Our growth hasn’t been miraculous – it’s been the result of a lot of passion and a lot of work.

When last year we always worried about how to have enough work for everyone to make a living, this year we’re more worried about how to get it all done.

We need some help!

Here’s the kind of things we need help with:

Managing and nurturing a few of our most exciting small businesses.
Manage roastery operations, a fast-growing mail-order business, and be a face for the company. (This is  an odd mix of marketing, operations, creativity and detail-oriented execution – you better know why you’d like to do this one!)

In one day, we might encounter any of these kinds of tasks:

• answer a call from BBC London with poise and authority;
• respond to an online customer who’s wondering where her package is;
• set up a new coffee offering in the cafe and online;
• swiftly and effectively respond to an event organizer who’d like to pre-order 400 pounds of coffee, ground for flat-bottom filter, with a customized label;
• pack 500 bags of coffee, because the person who’s usually doing that is on a much-earned vacation (you have to be able to rally some help for that one – a winning personality helps!);
• plan, prepare, and execute an ad campaign which will create 3,000 mail orders within a couple of weeks;
• sweep and mop the floor.

Cashista-ing / Barista-ing.
We’re a somewhat unusual coffee house. Everyone on the team gets to play with amazing coffees. Everyone has a voice. Everyone sweeps the floor.

On any given day we might run into these challenges:

• explain how we survive, nay: thrive, amongst the 999 corporate coffee walk-throughs around town. (This might happen any number of times on any given day, and even when you’re on number 10 it must sound as if you’re explaining for the first time;)
• make some amazing coffee by taking great care about each step in its preparation (if you don’t know much about coffee that’s fine – but you must be extremely eager to learn everything you can about this ambrosia!);
• taste almost every cup of coffee before your customer gets to taste it, and make it again if it’s not excellent;
• professionally, cheerfully, energetically lead a coffee tasting with four groups – one corporate team from Procter & Gamble, one party of ten family members celebrating their great grandmother’s 101st birthday (the great grandmother is there, too!), a small group of tourists visiting from Tokyo; and a tour group from Texas taking a peek at Seattle on their way to the cruise ship to Alaska (they voted for the presidential candidate you hate the most, twice);
• assemble sandwiches;
• do the dishes;
• sweep and mop the floor.

Managing the cafe at 107 Pike Street.
This one might seem like a far shot. First of all, we have a cafe manager, she’s awesome and not going anywhere anytime soon, so no need to rush. But if you think you’re born to manage a mid-size little coffeehouse operation and grow it grow it grow it, then please do step forward. No rush but we’re dead serious: we do need another cafe manager.

Here are a few examples of things you might need to be able handle to be a star store manager:

• one refrigeration unit or another breaks, or two at once, on the hottest and the busiest day of the year (you calmly get someone to help, pronto!);
• one of the team members is sick – you get the call at 6am. You’re in the store at 6:30am to cover for the poor soul;
• you puzzle out the schedule for next week. One team member has had something come up, you have another five emails or notes from other team members as to their scheduling needs, you know that a two-day weekend is a must for everyone, including yourself, and you make it all happen;
• you notice that we’re buying more pastries than we’re selling; you make a call and adjust the pastry order;
• oh, man, you notice so much. You might notice that a team member is having personal trouble – check-in required; your day is busy, you’re the boss;
• sweep and mop the floor.

Ok, friends, that’s the short of the long of it. If you know anyone (including yourself) who might be interested, send ‘em on down. (They should read that blog post about our unique process first though.)

I should mention a couple of things that would pretty likely be show stoppers: we noticed that while cigarettes and coffee go together really well, it’s hard for smokers to taste the fine differences in coffee – probably doesn’t make us a great fit for you if you smoke (you’d miss all those delicate flavors). And, yes, it’s retail: lifting 50lbs or so happens all the time; we’re open 363 days a year, including Sundays and Holidays (and that means certain times are just not ok for a vacation).

And, did I mention?, everyone mops and sweeps the floor. It’s fun for us. And you?

Coffee Drinking Man is taking a brief rest. Many friends of our café have noted that his arm, which normally moves up and down as he “sips” from his coffee cup, is bound in a sling. Yes, our very own 14.5-foot tall Coffee Drinking Man needs a break. Constructed by City Lights Sign Company, Coffee Drinking Man has been experiencing slight muscle fatigue from tirelessly sipping his cup of coffee for over 365 consecutive days. His arm, gripping his orange cup, lifts and lowers every 45 seconds, which translates to around 788,400 cycles per year.

The “muscle fatigue,” as diagnosed by the experts at City Lights Sign Co., lies simply in a simple bounce. Drinking Man has an internal motor that powers his 50-lb kinetic arm to rise and fall. As the motor fights gravity to raise his arm, it also struggles to apply a break to lower his arm as well. In the transition between the rise and the fall, his arm bounces which places a strain on the rod that connects his arm to his body.

In short, gravity works.

Back at the drawing board, City Lights Sign Co. is working on a stronger motor and a less stressful mechanism to power his arm. The goal, says City Lights, is to find the right gear combination to fight the bounce by keeping equal pressure on the rod that holds his arm in place.

Drinking Man's Motor

Installed one year ago in July ’09, Coffee Drinking Man has become an iconic host for a city known for its coffee culture. Like Seattle Art Museum’s Hammering Man, who pays homage to the working class, Coffee Drinking Man honors the gathering of people over coffee and the burgeoning influence of coffee in culture and society.

We’re optimistic Drinking Man will make a full recovery. Last November SAM’s Hammering Man underwent a similar procedure and, after a successful surgery, is persistently hammering his 15 hours a day again. We’re confident Coffee Drinking Man will emerge from his procedure healthy and ready to sip from his cup by the end of the summer. Just in time for a good cup of coffee in Seattle’s cool autumn weather.

This is a good year to be in coffee. We see it in our cafe, and we hear it from our industry friends. It’s nice to have arrived in 2010.

A new analysis on mintlife (based on mint.com spending patterns) shows that:
+ Seattle is the top coffee market in the country when you consider spend per person (capita?)
+ Spending on coffee is up for folks who do spend on coffee (”users”) by 20% over 2009.
+ The average ticket is down a smidgen vs. 2009.

What we have seen at Seattle Coffee Works confirms these national trends but with one twist. Our average ticket is up by almost 4% vs. 2009: we’re selling more whole bean coffee and we see a trend away from consuming coffee in our cafe to home brewing. We also see a strong interest in single-origin non-espresso coffees away from the usual 12-oz latte. We’ll give an update on those numbers in the fall (once we’re through our busy summer season.)

Here is the graph from mint.com: