A Ton of Coffee Ain't Nothing

A ton of coffee weighs 2,240 pounds. We moved that nearly 16 times over yesterday morning - 35,000 pounds! We brought in our first full container of coffee and unloaded it yesterday morning. It was a big step for us as we continue to grow and won't be the last. In the past we used to bring in partial shipments and 1 or 2 palets at a time. Not anymore.

With the help of our good friend Chris McBride, we unloaded each 132 lb burlap bag, stacked them 20 to a palet, and moved them into the roastery. We brought in several different types including a pulped, a pulped natural, some organic and some decaf. The FDA came by today to make sure we did in fact bring coffee. Once approved, it was released so that we can roast it up!

We won't have to do it again for a few months, thankfully. That should give us time to heel up. So while most of the hard work is done down at the farm in Brazil, every now and then we break a sweat here in Portland in helping get you the best coffee possible. Enjoy the pictures, have a laugh, and feel free to swing by next time we get a container - we'd love the help.

Delivery Van & French Fries

You should have seen our "delivery van" this afternoon. We had 3 huge brewers and enough coffee for a small army loaded in there for a delivery to Intel's Jones Farm. It's becoming more and more evident that we need to graduate to the 'next level' and buy a real delivery vehicle.

So we're begining the process and have fallen in love with Sprinter Delivery vans. They drive great, have tons of space, run on diesel and get 25 mpg! We've got a little bit of time but we'll have one sooner or later. And its got us thinking...

We try to be responsible and sustainable in all that we do. We could run biodiesel in this van. Pretty cool. But what if we ran vegetable oil? That's about as sustainable as you can get (plus it smells like french fries). And since we're brainstorming ideas - what if we picked up the vegetable oil from our coffee clients when we dropped off coffee and processed it ourselves? That's even cooler!

Of course, some copy-cat/PR coffee company machine in town will read this and steal our idea, but oh well. It's not about the PR - it's about doing the right thing. And the way we see it, doing the right thing can be a whole lot of fun. Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on our progress.

Coffee at the Beach

This past weekend, Augusto was at the downtown REI giving out samples of coffee and gearing up for Reach the Beach. The annual fundraiser for the American Lung Association is Saturday, May 19th. With five starting points, bikers can choose to venture anywhere from 26 to 110 miles.

No matter what you chose, you will end up at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. There you can enjoy your meal, a beer, and some great Nossa Familia Coffee. Check it out and we hope to see you there!

CBI = Farmer Brothers

Just the other other day it was announced that Farmer Brothers Coffee out of California had purchased Coffee Bean International of Portland. If those names don't pop off the page with familiarity, that's okay. They don't have much in common with us. Farmer Brothers is that coffee you've seen at truck stops and diners where you feel like somebody should be paying YOU for drinking. CBI isn't exactly in the same market as Farmers Brothers but has a huge capacity and has found success in going after institutional business and private labeling.

Supposedly Farmers Brothers will be investing heavily in the Portland plant to increase capacity. Sounds good for the local economy, but do I want to drink the coffee?