2
Aug
2010
August’s Coffee of the Month – Beach Brew
Beach Brew is back! This time, we’re showcasing our Sumatra Medium Roast which brings a richness of flavor unlike any other coffee. Sumatra coffees (as a general rule) tend to have a heavy, buttery body. Sumatra is easy to find, although high quality Sumatrans are harder to come by. Even so, many regard Sumatra coffee in general as a great dessert coffee due its natural richness.
Dark vs. Medium Roast (in regards to Sumatra coffee)
Many people only ever get to drink darkly roasted Sumatra. While Dark Sumatra is a great coffee and many, many people love it (especially our Dark Roast Organic Sumatra)… many would love the slightly lighter roast of a Sumatra Medium even more. The common thought is: Darker = Richer, and that has a truth to it; However, Lighter = Richer is also a true statement.
Here’s the best way to describe it. Roasting coffee to a darker degree does two things:
- Natural “Coffee Flavor” is baked out of the coffee more than lighter style roasts.
- “Roast Flavor” is increased due to the length of time in the roaster.
Many people really like one more than the other… or enjoy a balance of one to the other. I personally drift more towards lighter roasts because I just really enjoy tasting the flavor of the coffee bean. Many others like the darkness introduced in the roasting process and really enjoy having that added flavor characteristic. I always say “That’s what makes coffee so great! It appeals to everyones taste buds in some way.”
I find the Sumatra Medium Roast to be perfect for lighter roasted coffee drinkers like me… as well as people that enjoy the depth of darker roasts. The natural Sumatran richness coupled with a good, medium roasting level provides all the flavor necessary to thoroughly enjoy this wonderful dessert coffee – even if you can’t relegate it strictly to dessert!
Dan Ericson
“Coffee Guru”
CICR
27
Mar
2010
A Meeting with Agros International
This past Wednesday, Dan and I had the opportunity to visit Agros HQ in Seattle. It was a great time and they were very hospitable to us. We were able to share some of the new things CICR has been working on. Many new faces (for me at least) were there for the meeting.
Our customers all know of our close relationship with Agros as we talk about it all the time. Just as it’s important for us to communicate to you the changes you create through being members of our Coffee Lover’s Club, it’s also important for us to spend time communicating our focus with Agros as well. For us, giving Agros a check from our Coffee Lover’s Club orders is only a sustainable act if we can also communicate with Agros and allow them to communicate back. Knowing of Agros’ future goals is part of responsible giving. Allowing Agros to communicate their goals back is part of responsible receiving. We’re so happy to have a wonderful relationship with Agros.
Dan brought his camera and took a few pictures in between making Frozen X-plosion’s and serving brewed coffee.
The table we sat at had a wonderfully colorful tablecloth. Emily at Agros provided Dan and I very delicious sandwiches!
Shannon grabbed Dan’s camera when he came out with the Frozen X-plosion’s for everyone and took a couple great pictures:
Here are a few of the Agros workers enjoying Frozen X-plosion’s.
The purpose of our visit was to for me to share CICR’s vision with Agros and “update” them on the things happening around CICR.
All-in-all, we had a great time.
Jeff – CICR
1
Mar
2010
March’s Coffee of the Month – Papua New Guinea Medium Roast and Sumatra Medium Roast
Our fun blend of Sumatra Medium Roast and Papua New Guinea Medium Roast has been a yearly favorite by many. Just typing this, I can think of a dozen customers that get excited every time we bring this special blend back. At the Roaster, we’ve lovingly dubbed this coffee as “PapuaMatra”.
Usually we are a straight “Varietal Roaster”, meaning that we sell coffees that are only from a single country of origin (with the exception of our Varietal Supremo espresso). One of the reasons I enjoy our “Coffee of the Month” is for the shear joy of exploring great coffee pairings. As usual, we only try to make very easily replicated blends so our customers can enjoy this at home.
The profile of this coffee is an interesting, yet perfect blend of flavors and nuances that make this coffee as unique as it is interesting. Both Papua New Guinea and Sumatra are Indonesian countries and enjoy similar weather systems. This lends towards the compatibility of the two beans. The Sumatra coffee brings a full, rich, nutty base with a subtle dried fruit tone into the mix with a rich chocolate overtone found in our ever-popular Papua New Guinea. The result is this heavenly blend!
On a fun side note, the artwork on this Month’s coffee label is a new painting HOT off the press by a local artist out here, John Ebner. He’s actually a pretty well known artist and his work is amazing. This is the 4th label made from his artwork that we’ve done. I encourage you to check out his other paintings. His website is www.johnebner.com.
For those who’ve been waiting, it’s finally back! For those that haven’t tried this yet, you’re in for a treat! I know you’ll enjoy our “PapuaMatra” coffee immensely!
Dan – CICR
2
Jun
2009
Coffee of the Month – June
Papua New Guinea and Sumatra Medium Roast
The perfect blend of two great coffees. The Papua New Guinea brings subtle chocolate tones while the Sumatra provides distinct dried fruit tones and ties the two together with a nutty base. This coffee is always a favorite of our customers each time we bring it out as our monthly special. Papua New Guinea and Sumatra are both Indonesian countries that grow coffee as their main cash crop.
Sumatra is the largest island located entirely in Indonesia. The largest city in Sumatra is Medan with a population just under 3.5 million people. As a whole, Sumatra is not very densely populated with about 96 people per square kilometer. It is, however, the 5th most populate island in the world. The coffee Camano Island Coffee Roasters offers comes from the Gayo Mountains. For more information you can visit Wikipedia.
Papua New Guinea is part of the Australasia ecozone which includes Australia, New Zealand, eastern Indonesia, and several Pacific Island groups. Many of the surrounding islands contain entirely different species of birds and animals leading experts to believe the islands were never linked. Unfortunately, only 3% of Papua New Guinea is privately held. The rest is held under a 99 year State Lease or held by the state. For more information you can visit Wikipedia. We have also featured Papua New Guinea back in April of 2009 and you can read some different information there.
This coffee is a great coffee to wake up to as well as enjoy after dinner with dessert.
Enjoy!
Dan – CICR
