Corey and Ana go North!

Corey and I (Ana) set off Wednesday morning, accompanied by the new Brown Bird album (former New Harvest employee!) to visit D Squared Java in Exeter, New Hampshire.   Owner Dan Demers is operating the kind of shop that roasters dream about: totally about the coffee, with a passionate and inquisitive outlook that informs everything that they do. A chalk board lists the origin and roaster of each coffee offered, which you can get either as a chemex, aeropress, or espresso- with flavor notes on each method. They also do clever iced coffee to order in the summer.

Serendipitously, Corey and I went up on the day that Daniel and two other local roasters started doing weekly cuppings.  We brought up some samples, including our new Guatemala Santa Isabel and Rwanda  Karongi Gitesi so it ended up being a cupping with 3 different roasters, which was great for variety and conversation.  All the coffees were beautiful, and as always, it’s good to try what other roasters are doing.  We were lucky because the roaster Red Rover brought an Ethiopian Kochere, which was a staff favorite when we carried it a few months ago at New Harvest, so we got to compare. I loved the CQ Roasters Ethiopian Saris Abaya, and Claudia from CQ Roasters really loved our Santa Isabel.  Overall, each coffee held its own and it was a great table!

We then tried Daniel’s version of New Harvest’s Colombian Hacienda El Roble:  as a shot of espresso, and then as an aeropress.  The espresso shot was really wonderful, super balanced, oaky, with a milk chocolate finish that lingered minutes after the shot was gone.  The aeropress was delicious as well, with more dark cherry notes present than in the shot of espresso. 

Heavily over caffeinated, Corey and I returned south, stopped at the beautiful and spacious Voltage Coffee and Art in Cambridge, MA, which is going to feature New Harvest Coffee as a guest coffee.  We then stopped by to visit our good friends in Jamaica Plain- ULA! I was determined to visit them as a customer instead of coming in after hours to train new staff, because they are always posting delicious things on their Facebook page that I want to try!

We got hydrating herbal iced teas (even coffee people hit their limit!) and continued home to Lil’ Rhody. It was a wonderful trip, and so great to see our beloved New Harvest Coffee being made with such care all the way up in New Hampshire.  If you know anyone in or around Exeter, N.H., recommend they stop by DSquared!

BONUS- our pictures of Exeter, N.H.

Trying to take a photo of the adorable Water St., but Ana walked into the picture.

An artist adopted this small garden and gave the trees sweaters.