Event this coming Saturday June 18th @ Simon's

We will have v60 hand pours of our newly arrived Costa Rican Coffees this weekend from 10-5 Saturday the 18th. It will be the first chance to try these coffees and see fresh crop offerings.

We have a lot from Rio Jorco that cupped amazingly this year. We also have a few new lots from Don Mayo, a follow up to last years Don Mayo Mt. Canet offerings that were so popular.

Save the date, bring a friend and talk to our green buyer about our buying practices and his travels to Costa Rica to visit the farms and mills we sourced these coffees from.

Updates for May 1st

Some new things are happening that have kept us extremely busy in shop. It kept us from participating in the NERBC this year or having time to visit the USBC among a long list of other things.

The first being that Hong gave birth to our first child, a daughter named Sofi on April 7. Since then, we have been blessed with this wonderful distraction that keeps us grounded and quietly focused. I promise never to tie her allowance to whether she will drink coffee with no milk (Ridiculously enough, I've heard stories an industry old timer nearby did this with his kids).

While short on time and working hard to keep things moving, our priorities have obviously been focused away from what is happening in the industry at large. With that being said, we somehow found the time and resources to sign a new space. We will be opening a new coffee bar concept in the following months. It is a barismo sponsored project but is really a complete and separate business from what barismo does and will carry a new name. A preview of what is to come will arrive in two months: A manifesto reflecting the mission statement, the rules for submitting coffees for the guest program, and a public review process that provides a feedback loop. We are planning on an event schedule of rotating speakers and unique industry topics as well. As to the gear on bar, it will be a new template for the modern coffee bar, able to do quality and volume without compromising. On the whole, we feel it will be one of the most thoroughly developed and well thought out coffee bars in the nation from day one. We intend to put the Boston metro/greater Cambridge coffee scenes on their respective heels.

A lot of this reflects what barismo was at it's core, in the beginning, or one could say the vision the founders of the company had (still have?). Holding a higher bar of accountability for the products we serve and communicating the reasons behind that will be a key aspect of this new project. I expect to ruffle a few feathers with the approach we will be taking but it's inevitable. We've been quietly working towards this over the last six months and the excitement about the space is building. The work is just beginning and we have a lot more still to do. We are about to turn 3 this year, in September, and have a strong appreciation for the hurdles we have overcome to get where we are.

In shop, we are quickly running out of several coffees. The despair of empty space in our storage can only be buffered by the serious amounts of coffees scheduled to arrive shortly. We have some fresh new Colombias on the shelf and a slate of El Salvadors arriving soon. To follow that, we have Costa Ricas coming in and then finally some new lots from Guatemala. A busy slate of new coffees this summer!

Event this coming Saturday April 2

Our green buyer, Silas is back and will be in this Saturday to field questions and inquiries about our upcoming offering list. Curious about the changes at El Bosque and want to get an update, this is the chance. Want to get more information on our buying practices, this is the chance to ask those questions.

Silas just returned from Central America and has a lot to share. We will have a coffee or two on bar from his trip to Colombia on the bar that day as well!

Event: This Saturday pour over bar in Lexington

Our trainer will be at Ride Studio Cafe in Lexington this Saturday (05MAR) to present several coffees on v60. So you probably heard all the hubub about per cup in the NY Times, this is another chance to see what the fuss is about at another local up and coming shop.

Chris will be there most of the day offering up several coffees of our coffees that are ideal for hand pour, so come out and support progressive american coffee at it's finest!

Notes for Mar 1st

First off, it has been a rough past few weeks for Simon Yu (owner of Simon's) and his family. Simon had been quite ill for the past few weeks and was hospitalized. It looks like Simon is making a solid recovery and gets to go home today. While we may not see him back at the shop any time soon, it is good to finally hear positive news about him. While he was out, the turnout and support of customers at Simon's has been exceptional. it reminds me why I have such a soft spot for that place and the regulars who frequent it (having worked there myself in the past). The place is packed and people are always checking in to see what the status is with Simon. The staff have done a great job picking up the slack so Simon can take his time to recover but we will definitely have to have some kind of welcome back party when Simon is ready to make a return.

In shop has been really quite busy as Silas romps around Central America visiting farms we are buying from and looking for new connections. The trip has been quite successful so far and it looks like 2011 will be a year where we really expand our offering list within the countries we are working with. he will return with tons of travel logs and photos at the end of next month.

We have a couple of new faces in shop helping pick up the slack and get some projects going we have been talking about for a long time. More to come on those projects soon, but keep an eye out for changes. We reorganized our roast schedule and have been doing a lot of things to get ready for a busy year. This includes auditing accounts, evaluating our shipping methods, and in some cases cutting ties where it just wasn't working. We love the account representation we have right now and are happy to see the growth they have undergone and progress made. It is a bit overwhelming to sit back and think about the support we get locally and the following we enjoy at places serving our coffees. We are lucky to have some awesomely loyal customers. I often find myself taken aback by how willing they are to go to bat to tell others about what we do.