Origin Trips

We took a trip to Costa Rica a few weeks back to cup coffees from Don Mayo, Luis and Oscar Monge, and Fransico Mena—all producers we know through Exclusive Coffees, a local organization that works to connect buyers and farmers and elevate the quality and experience of coffee for everyone. A few of our team members came along and got to visit coffee farms and see the beginning of coffee’s story first hand. Sean Woestehoff (barista and musician extraordinaire) shares some thoughts on: cupping in a building surrounded by coffee-plant-laden hills, the anaerobic process, the many fruits he’s never tasted...

CREMA’S TRIP TO COFFEE FARMS IN COSTA RICA At Crema, our partnerships with the people in these countries are essential to our ethos. We rely on these expert farmers, processors and pickers to bring you the tasty coffees we offer. As you may have heard us say before, we are a small part of the larger journey of coffee from seed to cup.   As part of our benefits and well-being plan, Crema employees are eligible for a trip to origin after 3 years with the company. After a two-year origin trip hiatus (Hmm, I wonder why?), a few of...

I got on the plane in 2015, but I think this trip started for me sometime in 1996.   I was a senior in high school. I had a free period in the middle of the morning and a car to get off campus. So a couple of times a week I would drive four blocks to the donut shop. I would get a glazed donut, a cake donut, and a cup of coffee. The coffee was, of course, beige. It would shoot out of a spout whenever the donut-guy pressed the button on his automatic french vanilla cappuccino machine....