Meet our newest employee...Henry!

Henry Brown is here! He told me that in his spare time he babysits people's poison dart frogs. Did you know that they're not poisonous unless they eat a certain kind of fungus? Crazy.

I started drinking coffee around age thirteen, pretty much strictly so I could feel cool. Hollywood taught me that all people who are really cool drink black coffee all day because they're U.S. Marshals or astronauts and don't get a lot of sleep. I decided that was the path for me. Suffering through cup after cup for the sake of someday becoming a starship pilot or maybe an FBI agent, the bitter, acrid beverage slowly started turning into a rich and invigorating one. My deli cup soon became an experience more than a wake-up button, and I started spending time with my friends at cafes drinking far far too much coffee, discarding sleep in favor of a newly discovered social and flavorful aspect of the brew.

It wasn't until after college that I came to understand that I hadn't scratched the surface. I moved to Chicago and answered a help wanted ad for a small roaster in town, figuring free coffee is good and and a nine to five is a nine to five. The day I walked into the warehouse and was hit with the smell of roasting coffee I was sold. The amount I learned at that job was astounding. There turned out to be so much more to coffee than I had imagined, and felt I could ever understand. Now, I continue to seek knowledge and explore the mighty depths of the complex and wonderful beverage, ever alert for new experiences and uncharted territories.

Cupping 7/22

From NBA Fancam

From Eric:

"Since there will likely be no NBA season New Harvest has created a program for under and unemployed professional basketball players."

Eric Loves Coffee

Eric Lepine is the Head Roaster at New Harvest. He is awesome. And he is one of the funniest people ever and one of the best writers about coffee. Read this.

(Also, he is best buds with Princess Kate.)

Like most people, I have very humble beginnings in coffee. My very earliest coffee memories are from mornings at my grandparent's house. I really loved spending the night at my grandparents because they would let me sleep in the RV parked in the backyard so it was like having my own fully furnished clubhouse. My grandfather was always a morning person and whenever I stayed there I would wake up early also. My grandfather had an autodrip coffee maker and he would set it up to brew the night before. He used Chock Full O'Nuts canned coffee. I remember being fascinated with this coffee from a very early age because it smelled good and grown-ups drank it so drinking coffee must actually make you a grown-up somehow. I tried it several times, black, with sugar, milk, cream, every sort of condiment combination you can imagine, but the flavor never appealed to me as a child. I distinctly remember the last time that I tasted it as a child and concluding, this just really is not for me.

As I got older, the appeal of coffee arose in my life is two related ways. The first was that I was beginning to be out and about until 3am every night. My nightly activities began to either require coffee to drive home safely or ended at a diner. The second appeal was that because I was out so late, I required coffee in order to be able to function at work the next day. I look back at my late-teen to early-adult life and I'm really not quite sure how I functioned on 4 hours or less of sleep every night. I also began playing music at this point in my life and so coffee became essential for those practice sessions that inevitably went on until the wee hours of the night. Those practice sessions somehow produced some music that allowed me to tour the world for most of my adult life. When I started traveling a lot coffee became absolutely vital to my day to day survival. People in bands who cram themselves in vans, sleep on floors or in the van because you have an 18 hour overnight drive and do not drink coffee are not human.

All of this time I had no real concept of quality coffee. Coffee was coffee. At the time I was working in the produce section of Whole Foods and traveling a lot and often when I got home from a tour I would have to scramble a bit to secure hours or a steady position while I was home. As fortune would have it, I came home from tour one day and could not get any hours for the job that I had and so I applied for a position at another store. That position was Coffee Buyer. I thought, well, I love drinking coffee, this sounds great. I got the job and I was pretty much immediately immersed over my head in all this "new" coffee. I read whatever I could find and just drank everything that was available to me. For someone who was accustomed to drinking "just" coffee, being suddenly privy to all these new flavors and aromas was really fun and exciting. I literally could not believe that there was so much variety and that it was all right under my nose this whole time.

I took to my new job very well. My newly developing passion for specialty coffee was paying off huge in the form of sales. By the third month I had somehow won an annual trip to origin that Allegro Coffee does. I was going to get to visit a Co-op in Costa Rica. This was really incredible but at the time I was still a bit too new to the industry to really understand how huge this was. It was not until I actually saw the Co-op in action that it really sunk in with me. So basically, a lot of my foundation for knowledge and interest in specialty coffee was born at origin. That's wild!

Seeing coffee being picked and processed and talking to producers was one of the most life changing events of my life. It was almost overwhelming to have that sort of experience so early in my coffee career. What I took home most from the trip was that there are people working very hard to produce these coffees that I loved. It was no accident. I felt like I had a commitment to make sure that their hard work was carried through on my end of the supply chain and to try to translate that to consumers.

About a year after my origin trip Whole Foods sent me to Allegro's roasting facility. This was my first time seeing a roastery and it left a huge impression on me. I didn't want to come back home. I wanted to just start working there immediately. Shortly after this i was invited to take a tour of George Howell's roasting facility and the presentation that he gave left me absolutely floored. His passion for great coffee is something you can literally feel in the air surrounding him and it comes without any of the egotistical trappings of an expert. What really struck me about that visit was the idea that coffee is beautiful, but the potential has not been tapped. I think about that idea a lot to this day.

Eventually I stopped traveling so much and I thought, I would really like to have a coffee specific job and not a coffee related job in a grocery store. I actually emailed Gerra about a job out of the blue. I had no idea New Harvest was actually hiring. At the time my friend and also future Harvista, Rory was living with Devlin. I was at their house one day and I was tired and Rory jokingly told me to ask Devlin to make me some coffee and I jokingly replied "ask Devlin to get me a job at his work". I had not actually seen Devlin that night but I thought about how that sentiment was not really a joke. I really did want a coffee gig. I emailed Gerra the next day and the rest is history.

Mogey's Coffee History

You might know MorganEve Swain as one half of the amazing band Brown Bird, but she also works here as Assistant Production Manager. She is my favorite smiling face to see in the morning.

A man at a bowling alley named her Mogey, and it stuck forever.

I try to always use the best picture I can find. (Sorry, Mogey.)

"My first experience with coffee was drinking it with dessert out of delicate cup-and-saucers at Nanny's house (my mother's mother). It didn't matter that I was 5 years old; if was proper to drink coffee with dessert! For years afterward I always began my day with a cup of coffee a la Nanny: extremely light and extremely sweet.

During college, I got a job at a cafe (which shall remain nameless). I was one of the original employees at this cafe, which had just started up. We had Intellegentsia coffee, and where shipped several different roast levels and varieties each week. On slow days we'd brew up a whole bunch of half batches of different coffees and have our own "cuppings". That was my first introduction to the world of real coffee. Each coffee came with a description, which we'd read and try to identify the flavor notes. We'd also try to memorize which coffee was which, based on their flavor notes.

Once I was trained on the espresso machine, I was really in love. I liked nothing more than to have a line of drink tickets and be literally stuck on bar, cranking out lattes.

After a while the quality of the shop started suffering, and the stress level didn't match the sort of work we were doing. And I left. In favor of New Harvest, where I hoped to expand my knowledge of coffee and enter into coffee-world from the other side of the counter. And that's exactly what I did. Man, I love this place."

Cupping Tomorrow!

Sorry for the late notice. We are cupping two new coffees tomorrow at 3 pm!

How'd You Get Into Coffee, Gerra Harrigan?

Gerra has been here a really long time, almost as long as Rik. She's the head of marketing and sales, and maybe the Vice President? I get to share an office with her. She is awesome. Not

only does she know everything about coffee, but she has amazing people skills, and killer style.

"I started working in coffee in 1896 I mean 1986. I was 15 and worked four days a week at the Coffee Exchange in Providence. I loved it so much. We brewed coffee into glass decanters, made mile high cappuccinos and touted our Swiss Almond and Viennese Cinnamon flavors as much as our oily, blackened espresso. We served the best coffee in all of Providence and were unknowingly at the forefront of the specialty coffee movement because we were trained to care about coffee. We now do just about everything differently but guess what, I still care. Sappy? Yes, but true."

Question: How and when did you first start getting into coffee? Answer #1: Jim

Here's the first installment in a series of questions to get to know all of the New Harvistas better. Today Jim "Tuff Guy" Connolly, our main Tech Services Man (he can fix anything, people. ANYTHING.), tells us about how he first got into coffee.

I had been working a job with very long hours for a few weeks and eventually just "got in" on one of the many daily coffee runs. I started, like a lot of New Englanders, with flavored coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Over time i just started using less and less cream and sugar and eventually stopped with the flavored coffees in general. The next step was becoming a "dark roast guy." also, around this time I had started drinking coffee black. I was also drinking coffee more for enjoyment and flavor and not just to get through the day.

Getting a cup a coffee was becoming more of a social thing as well, meeting up with friends for coffee and such. I sought out local shops and tried to stay away from chains, not for any sort of political reason but the smaller shops just seemed to serve a better cup of coffee. A chance encounter with a furious headbanger named Devlin led to me learning a little about the New Harvest name and that really started me on the path to drinking better coffee. I guess if you think about it it also started me on the path to working here at NH. That means now it's my turn to headbang furiously until someones asks ME about coffee.

The Original New Harvest

Found buried in the stacks: these photos of the first location of New Harvest, in East Providence, back when Rik was the only one. Just look at that scarf! He means business. And look how lonely and clean the roaster looks...

Cupping 7/1

Bryan and a Lion

New Harvest had the pleasure of serving espresso last Friday night at the Newport Flower Show cocktail hour.

A very special thank you to Inskip Motors for hosting us, Bryan and Todd had the rosiest time.

Welcome the Newest New Harvista!

New Harvest would like to welcome the newest addition to the family: Evan Richard Kleinfeldt! Born June 23, 2011, 9 pounds 6 ounces. Congratulations Rik and Paula, and proud sisters Marika and Franny!

Here's Marika holding her new baby brother...

Lookin' Goooooood

Hey, want to look freaking awesome? We have all these new shirts. That I drew. Two are celebrating some new blends we have, Steam Roller and Whisper, and one is celebrating a sleepy (hungover?) monster. The monster one is available in a t-shirt AND in a hoodie. (The hoodie is t-shirt-like, fyi. Still awesome.)

You can buy them online, or at the farmers markets at Lippitt Park on Wednesdays and

Saturdays.

Cupping 6/17!

It's wicked hot out theyah so...

Throwdown

Our sincerest thanks go out to all of the folks who came out to Friday night's latte art throwdown! The event felt like a big deal to say the absolute least, with baristas and shop owners coming in from some of PVD, Boston, and Newport's most prominent and quality-focused shops!

All competitors poured beautiful drinks, yielding all creative direction to the Providence Coffee Society's 'Wheel of Doom.' In the end, Blue State Coffee's Chris Randall took top honors, a handful of cash, and the PCS Green Blazer for the month of June. Many congratulations to Chris!


Details are firming up for an exciting summer with a lot more coffee events in both the Providence and Boston areas. We will definitely keep you updated on all NHC sponsored events as well as happenings in the greater coffee community.

Todd

Public Cupping this Friday

FRIDAY CUPPING

Today we will look at three coffees from Costa Rica. Our objective is to compare our two new micro-lots against our current Finca Los Mangos.

Come join us at 3 pm sharp to enjoy discussion and analysis.

We hope to see you here!

-Cupping Department

Congratulations Todd Mackey!

Our own Todd Mackey has been chosen as the Northeast Chapter Representative for the Barista Guild of America! They couldn't have made a better choice. Todd's one of the most genuinely coffee-passionate people I know. He is a wealth of knowledge, and is always ready to share it.

We promise he's not just in it for the money. (Maybe for the fame).

Here are some of the answers to the questions they asked him.

We are all so proud of you, Todd!

How are you involved with Coffee? How does this role fit into the BGA? I am a trainer and sales representative for New Harvest Coffee Roasters in Providence, RI. The majority of my time is spent working closely with the folks who are turning our roasted coffee into delicious beverages. My work and passion has been, and will continue to be, exciting, inspiring, learning from, and teaching those who are crafting coffee professionally. I feel that this is directly in line with the goals of the Barista Guild of America; to take seriously the role of the barista as a culinary professional.

Why might you be considered leadership material? I am leadership material because I wash dishes... ...I believe in hard work and 'the journey'...that it is not an arrival in this industry but more so a progression through experiences. These experiences vary individual to individual and our strength is in sharing them in order to learn from one another. I love specialty coffee because it is not structured like a ladder. It is more like a roundabout where we find ourselves spinning around and centered on the bean...growers, roasters, baristas, buyers, etc....not one more or less integral than the other. Leadership in this industry is manifest in the sharing of knowledge and experience; both of which I am committed to doing to whatever degree my learning and experience allow. I have shown this commitment through community organization in my co-founding of the Providence Coffee Society. PCS hosts events, lectures, and social gatherings in order to promote specialty coffee and cafe culture in RI.

What are some accomplishments you would like to see happen in the future of the BGA and/or SCAA? I would love to see an east coast / northeast Pull-a-Shot - I would work hard to make the BGA classes and certifications more widely available in my region - I would like to see more (and regional) events that promote the dialogue between all roles within specialty (roasters, baristas, growers, buyers, etc.).

Kia Ora Estate, Nyeri, Kenya

When you grind these beans you will quickly note an aroma of sweet citrus and marzipan that progresses to dried apricot and tomato as the coffee and water begin in interact with one another. The earthy wine-like acidity and light honey body of this coffee are truly delightful and create a stable environment for the notes of date, apricot and red wine to exist in a perfect balance. Please take all the time that you need to enjoy the long, smooth finish.

Kia Ora is a very rare coffee indeed for it is an organic Kenyan coffee. How rare? Less than 1% of Kenya's coffee exports are certified organic. Kia Ora is one of seven farms owned by Kenya Nut Company (KNC), who are one of the top five producers of macadamia nuts in the world. The coffee itself is, in fact, intercropped with the macadamia nut trees. In the 1970's the Kenyan government tasked KNC to develop the macadamia nut industry in Kenya and they have since expanded to cashews, tea, wine and coffee.

This is a very limited offering from us so please do not miss the boat on this!

Something to brighten the rainy days

Wolf Man Rik.

Throwdown!

You have to see it to believe it.

Finca Los Mangos, CooproNaranjo Microlot, Costa Rica

Beginning with a sweet aroma like milk chocolate and cinnamon that offers a slightly savory peak while it steeps, this coffee offers a clean and soft acidity and a very pleasant nectar-like body. Notes of milk chocolate, malt, citrus, and crisp apple will delight you on the way to a very clean and dry finish.

Finca Los Mangos is a source direct offering grown by the Blanco Family on a single hectare of land. We are proud to be the only roaster to offer this beautiful coffee. Because Los Mangos is so clean and sweet it is a great "all day" coffee. We love making iced coffee with it at the roastery but for hot coffee you might find that a chemex or other pour-over method works best to really accentuate the crisp and clean sweetness of this coffee.

Japanese Iced Coffee

Want to know how to make the most delicious iced coffee? Here's a start. Soon we'll be posting even more brewing methods. There is no end to the possibilities.

Throwdown Thursday

we pour, you vote. view the two pictures from each round and vote for the winner.

ROUND 1



contestant 1



contestant 2

fyi neither contestant is simon.

Providence Cycledrome

As many of you probably know, Providence is a super bike-y city. People love their bicycles here. It's awesome to see. Kids making custom bikes, Recycle-a-Bike, monster bikes at the Steelyard, Circle A Cycles, Dash, Legend, Providence Bicycle...am I forgetting anybody? I heard a rumor also that more bike lanes are happening soon, on Broadway and maybe some other places.

Full disclosure, I know how to ride a bike. But I know nothing about them. I've tried to learn all the parts and how to fix them and everything but that information does not stay in my brain. I truly admire people who know how to do all that stuff though. I've had lots of friends who can talk for hours in front of me about bike parts and it's like they're speaking another language. It's amazing. (It's kind of like when our tech guys, especially you, Todd Mackey, talk about espresso machines and parts in front of me. They know so much. I know how to drink it and sort of how to make it, but they could write a book. Seriously guys, maybe you should write a book.)

Anyway, what does this have to do with coffee? Welllll you may have seen, or even sipped, one of our newest blends, Cycledrome. You may know that Providence loves bikes, but did you know that in the late 1920s we had one of the largest bicycle-racing stadiums, or velodromes, in the U.S.? According to this (really great) article from Art in Ruins, the Cycledrome housed a wooden 5-lap track, and the races attracted thousands of fans. The Cycledrome was also where the Providence Steam Roller played football, which another one of our blends is named after.

I'd love to find out more about Vincent Madonna, an Italian-American Providence track-cycling star, made famous locally for his success at the Cycledrome, according to Art in Ruins.

Inspired by some photos of old-timey bicycle racers, I designed this label for Cycledrome Blend.

You can buy it here!

The connection between coffee and bicycles makes a lot of sense to me. Especially with small-batch roasters like us who think about things like Source Direct and Fair Trade and sustainability. Many roasters choose to deliver their coffee by bicycle, and maybe someday we'll be joining them. New Harvest Coffee Cycledrome Bike Team, anybody?

Mesa De Los Santos, Finca El Roble, Colombia

This coffee begins with a sweet but dry aroma with notes of cocoa, hazelnut and dried cherries. The dryness carries over into the acidity and is perfectly balanced by it's sweetness and creamy body. This coffee offers a big note of cocoa and hazelnut with a little bit of mellow citrus around the edges. It has a long, pleasant, coating finish without being overwhelming.

This Source Direct coffee comes to us from Finca El Roble and is grown by the one and only Oswaldo Acevedo, where our beloved Don Telmo Reserve is also produced. Mesa De Los Santos grows at an elevation of 5,000-5,200 feet and is a mixture of bourbon, caturra and typica varieties. It is organic and Rain Forest Alliance certified. Best of all, this is a Source Direct coffee for us which means that we have the pleasure of dealing with Oswaldo directly to ensure that his needs are met and that we keep getting great coffee every year!

This is a balanced coffee that just about anyone would love. It is really great if you love coffee that is really big in the cup and for that reason you may like to brew it in a french press or aeropress!

Tulip Tuesday 4/24

Our friend/bitter rival/sworn enemy Simon Ouderkirk at Seven Stars started a little thing known as Tulip Tuesdays. It's caught on over here at the NHHQ so here's some of todays work.



Jim, Tech: Attempt 1

Jim, Tech: Attempt 2

Bryan, Superstar: Attempt 1

Bryan, Trash Talker: Attempt 2

more to come as Tulip Tuesday progresses. tempers are flaring. you can cut the tension with a knife.

Ula!

Ula Cafe, in Jamaica Plains, Boston, won Best Local Coffee Shop 2011 in the Boston Phoenix!

"Comedians love the idea of making cafés sound like inhospitable drug dens filled with faux-intellectual snobs and vile snacks, but some cafés easily put that stereotype to shame. ULA CAFÉ in Jamaica Plain is one such establishment, where the atmosphere and food alone are enough reason to make the trip."

Congratulations Ula!

If you live in Boston, or even just nearby, go visit Ula! You won't be disappointed!

And in other café news, Tazza has re-opened in downtown Providence, and is serving New Harvest!

Man, I am overdoing it with the exclamation points this morning. Too much delicious iced coffee.

!!!!!

This Friday!!

Also, read more about these cuppings in the Projo!

South Korea, Comics, Coffee

Good morning everybody! How are you feeling? Got allergies yet? I do.

So, last year I graduated from the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, VT. It was an awesome place to be.

Anyway, for his thesis at CCS, my classmate Kevin Kilgore did a project where he drank coffee all around Seoul, South Korea (where he lives with his wife and son). I think the goal was to get a cappuccino at every cafe in Seoul, and at the same time it was a quest for a the best cup of coffee in Seoul. He's a super talented cartoonist,

and you can see more of his stuff here: http://blog.naver.com/keugemoya/

the site is sort of hard to navigate because a lot of it is in Korean, but just click around until you find some stuff!

Yay coffee and comics! Here is an excerpt from Kevin's thesis project.

TODAY

is a big day at the hope artiste farmers market. wanna know why? i'll tell you why.

for the first time this year we will be serving iced coffee at the farmers market.

but wait, there's more.

we'll also have "THE CART" with us so we can fulfill all of your espresso based desires.

big moves. can you handle it? see you there.

Public Cupping Tomorrow!

Have you been to one of our FREE public cuppings? "No" you say? "What is a cuppping?" you say? Welp, read about it HERE and then come check one out for yourself tomorrow at 3pm at our roastery. We'll be cupping the new crop of Costa Rica Finca los Mangos!

Tuesday's Wisdom

Or: A chapter title from Rik's autobiography.

The Cart

Enter The Cart

Our cart was hand made by our own Todd, out of reclaimed pallet wood which once transported our green coffee to us. He worked tirelessly hand planing the boards to uniform thickness and outfitting it with the best we have to offer.

Clean and simply outfitted, our cart is far from an eyesore. La Marzocco's GS-3 preforms under pressure and looks sleek and sexy. One cord runs to the cart, so no water hoses or tangles of extension cables will detract from what we are serving.

Perfectly pulled shots of espresso make for great drinks, and this machine is capable of doing just that.

Make your event more special by having New Harvest Coffee serving drinks brewed with love and attention. Our cart is furnished and ready to go to any event you can imagine.

Your wedding needs great coffee.
Your business needs great coffee.
We will provide.

Saturday Morning

Hey Everyone!
Cartoons aren't the only thing to look forward to on Saturdays. Come check out a killer farmers' market at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket. We brew and serve our coffee freshly roasted right across the building. We would love to see you and hand you a fresh cup of coffee.

Here's the info!

Double-Double Shot, aka More NBA Coffee Fails

Check out this picture of Minnesota Timberwolves Forward Kevin Love serving drinks at a Starbucks! There is something terrible afoot in the NBA. These players are receiving the services of world class chefs and health experts and look at how weak the coffee situation is! Something needs to be done about this before the league falls apart. Although, Danny Ainge if you are reading this, Kevin Love looks pretty good in green, huh? Taking a Kevin from Minnesota has already proven to be a GREAT idea. Be greedy!

An Open Letter To Ray Allen

Dear Ray Allen,

WTF!? Flo Allen-Hobson didn't raise no fool!

Sincerely Concerned,

Eric Lepine

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Here is something that was mentioned on our facebook page! It is a science fiction manga written and illustrated by Hitoshi Ashinano. The story is about an android that runs a coffee shop. If you like manga and coffee you can look at some of these comics on this site!

If you have something coffee related and fun to share with us we'd like to hear it!

Coffee Is Food!

Something that I think about often is that coffee is food. This idea is so simple and obvious that almost everyone takes it for granted. Working in the coffee industry, you realize pretty quickly that although coffee is everywhere, people don't generally put much thought past the grocery shelf or the coffee bar. Coffee is almost never further than a couple blocks from any of us. When you can buy it at gas stations, in vending machines, hell, you can buy coffee at TJ Maxx right now, it becomes pretty easy to lose sight of what coffee really is.

Coffee is the seed of a fruit, and not, as some would say, a fruit in and of itself. When you buy an excellent coffee from an excellent roaster or shop you can be certain that this coffee was treated as a food product, a fine food product at that. But how much of that coffee is representative of coffee as a whole? As it turns out, the specialty market is only 17% of coffee imported into the US by volume. That means the vast majority of coffee is of mediocre to low quality. I don't mean to presume that people dealing in these coffees are not treating their coffee as if it were food but I do think that it is certainly being marketed in ways that create a disconnect between farmers and consumers.

So much of coffee is provided in a setting of convenience rather than a culinary setting. Even when coffee does manage to find itself in a culinary setting it seems to more often than not be treated as an afterthought. How many times do you go to a great restaurant, the food is great and clearly of high quality, great care is taken in the preparation and then the coffee is horrible? Often a restaurant is serving stale pre-ground coffee that is prepared with little skill or understanding. Serving stale coffee is serving stale food! Preparing coffee properly should be important to a restaurant that takes pride in it's execution!

I'm not going to lay all the blame on restaurants. As consumers we would do well to treat coffee as a food. When you are buying coffee you should invest the same time and effort that you would selecting any fresh food. Also, because coffee is a food you will be rewarded for taking the time to prepare it properly in just the way that cooking a food properly is rewarding. I know convenience is not going to give up it's reign any time soon but if you've gotten to this blog it's certainly something you may like to consider.

If you haven't been to the roastery please let me extend this invitation to you. Feel free to come by and see coffee being roasted, see raw coffee from all over the world, ask questions and perhaps get a real sense that coffee is food.

Tuesday is Rik-Quote-of-the-Day-Day

Priceless.

My Crafty Mom

It's not Mother's Day yet but I thought I'd do a mom appreciation post today anyway.

Not only is my Mom, Michele, a coffee fiend (she drinks about 6 cups a day, that's about 5 times more than I can handle), and an awesome mom, but she is a crafting machine. If you come in to our Roastery Coffee Bar and look to your left, you'll see these fab coffee cozies that she made from recycled felted sweaters. There are little ones for coffee cups, and sweaters to keep your French Press warm. She also made that paper maché bowl that they're in. She's crazy.

My mom isn't selling stuff on the internet yet, but she and my sister and I have a little craft blog.

How does your Mom like her coffee? Michele likes our French Roast, made in a french press, with a little half-and-half, which she never stirs because she likes "clouds in her coffee".

I'm interested in hearing your family coffee stories too...does your family have some sort of weird coffee tradition that you've never experienced anywhere else? Or a cultural tradition that you still have an attachment to? My Aunt Susan makes her coffee every day in a drip machine with cinnamon in the grounds. I'd definitely couldn't do that every day (and also as New Harvest Coffee we wouldn't recommend it) but for me personally there's something familiar and comforting about drinking it once a year when we spend Thanksgiving in King of Prussia, PA.