Coffee 101

Just how many things can affect how your coffee will taste? Let us count the ways: terroir (qualities of the land/soil), farm elevation, processing techniques, when and how the coffee is picked,  roasting, brewing, and, yes, the actual variety of the coffee plant. (And probably, like, a million more things!)   We don’t want to get too in the botanist-like weeds here, but with the release of two different varieties of coffee from the same farm, we thought it was apropos to at least ‘dig’ into the proverbial coffee soil and pull up some ‘dirt’ on coffee varietals. If you do...

DECAF: DEBUNKED We’ve got a secret: we love decaf coffee. (Ok, so maybe it’s not exactly a secret and we certainly don’t intend to keep it one!)   Decaf coffee is often viewed as caffeinated coffee’s slightly worse relative that’s usually just there for those times when you physically can’t handle any more caffeine. But, regardless of the reason you may reach for a cup of decaf, we’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to taste bland, bitter and lifeless.   There’s a better way to decaffeinate coffee, and it involves just a bit of science that we’ll break...

(ALMOST) EVERY WAY TO MAKE ICED COFFEE Some of us drink iced coffee all year long, while others keep it reserved for the hottest months (which is, unfortunately, becoming pretty much every month in Tennessee). Though iced coffee may seem like a one-trick pony, there are a number of interesting ways to brew up your cold coffee concoctions right at home.   To get you started on your journey to your new favorite heat-squelching drink, we’ve laid out a few different recipes for brewing iced coffee--cold brew, iced instant coffee, iced espresso drinks (including a recipe for — yes, you...

WHAT IS COFFEE MILLING? On every bag of coffee we’ve produced, there’s a small info section on the label that covers many details. Today, we demystify one small element of that slew of strange words and numbers.   FARM/MILL Is it about a farm? Is it about a mill? Are those the same thing? How does any of this even apply to my life at all? In short: sometimes, sometimes, no, in mystical magical ways we shall soon reveal!   All coffees are grown on farms (except in some parts of Ethiopia where coffee grows in forests, but that’s a...