Just as Palestine has a right to exist, so too does Israel.
We do not stand with Hamas; we are with the people, as we are anywhere in this world where injustice and violence faces them.
All innocent lives have equal value. Love knows no vengeance. War strategies can come in many forms, and blindly supporting a side without questioning its strategy and tactics to achieve the shared goal in this situation can lead to a global war with far more innocent people dying than we could ever imagine. I’m afraid Israel and the U.S. have taken the bait, losing focus on human rights and diplomacy to bring about the change they require.
Nearly 2000 children have died in Gaza since Oct. 7. All access to water, fuel, food, electricity, and medical supplies have been cut off.1 Fewer than 60 trucks of aid have crossed the border into Gaza in the past 20 days. (UN officials indicate around 100 trucks would be needed daily to meet the needs of the now 1.4 displaced in Gaza.)2
What I’ve noticed in the U.S. media is offering a horrifically biased reporting of the war. It reminds me of the Black Lives Matter movement, where many would misdirect from the core issue by asking “what about blue lives, all lives, etc.” Our response was simply that we want all to believe that Black Lives Matter as well.
By expressing “solidarity with Palestine” we are making a similar statement. Until the world recognizes the value of innocent Palestinian lives as equal to that of Israeli and other lives, until an end comes to the continuous slaughter of thousands of innocent people locked in a dense land jail without access to the basic necessities to survive, we must stand up and be on the right side of history.
This does not mean we are against the right of the state of Israel to exist or that we are on the side of Hamas.
Hamas has committed beyond fathomable massacres that cannot ever be justified.
Nor can be justified the atrocities of the IDF indiscriminately bombing thousands of civilians while starving them of every key element required to survive - water, shelter, food, medicine.
Stating “Solidarity with Palestine” means we are with the people of Gaza.
If bombing were to rain down on innocent people of Israel and cut them off from the basic necessities to survive for 20 continuous days as the world stood by, we would have up on our window “Solidarity with Israel.”
With too many Palestinian and Israeli friends experiencing the horrific hell, I just don’t feel okay being complicit with silence. These horrific injustices are starting to seem genocidal and increasingly look like a strategy of ethnic cleansing, both in Gaza, and now in the West Bank.
This is a situation that I never could have fathomed happening. It is horrific. The whole thing. Both sides, Hamas and IDF, illegal antagonistic violent settlers, etc.
I find solace in reflecting on the message from last Thursday’s On the Ground fundraiser from two very close friends we’ve spent a large amount of time working with in Palestine & Israel and here in the U.S.
Nasser from Canaan Fair Trade had traveled from Ramallah to be with us, landing in Madison the day of the horrific slaughter in Israel. Check out what Joshua Davis (Jewish - American) and Nasser Abufarha (Muslim - Palestinian) had to say about their feelings on the situation. I tend to look to them to help guide myself and HG through these so twisted, horrible times. The part starts at 1:01 in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/live/5xIbr5K-rDM?feature=shared
Join us at The Alluvion on November 9th at 6 pm for a viewing of the documentary The People and the Olive followed by discussions and gathering in compassion. A light buffet of fine Palestinian food will be provided by Hexenbelle.
-----------------------------------Chris Treter co-founded Higher Grounds Coffee 20 years ago after completing his graduate thesis on the impact of commercializing coffee in the Mexican state of Chiapas. He is a founder of On the Ground Global, an international NGO addressing the root causes of poverty in coffee farming communities around the world. He is also a founder of Saveur du Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s annual specialty coffee cupping competition and value chain conference. Together with community leaders in Traverse City, Michigan, where HG is headquartered, Chris spearheaded and co-founded Commongrounds Real Estate Cooperative, the only multi-use, community owned real estate cooperative in the State of Michigan. Chris is the former interim General Manager of Cooperative Coffees, the only green bean importing cooperative in the world, and as such Higher Grounds is an owner. Chris holds a Masters degree in Organizational Management for Social Change from the School for International Training.
How are we contributing to this crucial work?
In 2017, the Cool Farm Tool Pilot project was developed to measure the carbon footprint of a selection of farms in our producer family. This initiative was formed as part of Cooperative Coffees’ commitment toward implementing carbon neutrality by 2025–not just in our roasteries and cafes, but also from the source: the very farms from which we source our bean crops. Findings from this study have shown that among the 370 farm parcels assessed within our producer sample, 62% were found to be carbon negative, with a median carbon emission of negative 1.2 kg CO2e per kilogram of coffee across the sample–exciting news!
“The Cool Farm Tool is a digital carbon calculation application designed to enable farmers to track and
understand the environmental impact of their production and determine the best organic
practices for climate resiliency and crop health. The launch of this project, focused on training
individual farmers in the use of the Cool Farm Tool, marks the beginning of an industry-wide
effort to recognize farmers’ leadership in mitigating climate change. In particular, the project
partners aim to improve farmer livelihoods and incentivize carbon capture by ensuring roasters
and importers can pay for it, or reward it, through the establishment of a voluntary industry-wide
soil carbon premium.”--Cooperative Coffees
Supporting Small Scale Farming through Sustainable Practices
On top of Higher Grounds’ commitment to paying above Fair Trade prices, for every pound of coffee sold, 3 cents go into Cooperative Coffee’s Impact Fund—which since 2015 has generated over $900,000 co-op wide. These funds go into producer-led community projects which develop, maintain, and support our collective goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025 via regenerative practices and an agroforestry approach: Reestablishing shade cover, maintaining healthier soil and plants, encouraging greater biodiversity, and sequestering carbon through small-scale farming.
Learn more at https://www.carbonclimateandcoffee.com
Dear friends and supporters of HG,
We are heartbroken to report the news of a devastating flood in Kalehe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the shores of Lake Kivu, which has impacted our coffee-growing community immensely. Many farming families of the Muungano cooperative are among those living in this area. On the Ground team member Herman has just returned from an in-person assessment, and the situation is even more dire than we initially anticipated.
The statistics paint a harrowing picture, with hundreds of confirmed deaths, thousands of people missing, and over 4000 homes destroyed.
Climate experts at the U.N. report that increasing temperatures due to climate change have intensified Africa's rains.
Herman witnessed firsthand the destruction in Bushushu and Nyamukubi, where the Red Cross continues to recover bodies from beneath the wreckage. Urgent needs include food, psycho-social medical care, clothing, cash, plastic sheets, hygienic kits for women, orphan care, and school support for orphaned children. Many of the victims are currently living in schools or with welcoming families, and the emotional toll of the disaster is immense.
Along with Muungano, we are working directly with two other farming cooperatives in South Kivu to bring desperately-needed aid. So far, very few organizations other than the Red Cross have been able to even make it to the area. Please join us in our mission to uplift these communities and ensure their future remains as strong and vibrant as the coffee they produce.
Like so many other delicious fruits and vegetables, coffee is a seasonal crop. And while we purchase large enough volumes of most of our coffees to last us an entire year (until the next crop arrives), we also purchase smaller, extra-special and limited coffees to feature in our Apex Series. "Apex" means "top" or "peak"--and that's what these coffees truly are: top quality, distinctive coffees that are as fleeting as they are delicious. They are truly seasonal offerings, as we get them soon after they've been harvested and processed at origin, and we feature them until the volume runs out.
For that reason, you might have noticed that our Apex lineup often includes more than one coffee from the same origin--because fresh coffees from one region usually come in around the same time. Sometimes these are single-farmer microlots or coffees that have been processed differently, resulting in unique flavor profiles. Right now we're featuring three exceptional Colombian coffees in the Apex Series.
The Cosurca cooperative is located in the Southern Colombian Macizo mountains, in the center and south of the region of Cauca. Founded in 1993, Cosurca's objective is to further the economic development of a region that was largely cut off from the rest of the country due to civil war and political violence. As a fundamental tenet of its philosophy of economic development, Cosurca strives to be as inclusive as possible by engaging ethnic minority groups and women in the different projects it implements in its communities. Producers Elizabet Garzón, Kevit Perafán, & Walter Zúñiga of the Cosurca cooperative contributed to our Apex Cosurca offering this year, a juicy cup with notes of apricot and toffee.
Then we have Orgánica, located inland of Colombia's southwestern coast, and composed of a tightly knit group of 104 friends and neighbors. The members of Orgánica value unity, transparency, democracy, and quality, and they hold two main priorities: 1) to improve the quality of life for their families; and 2) to improve the quality of their coffee. Our current Apex offering from Organica comes from farms affected by climate variation during the last growing season, which suffered with low production. The 15 families who made this coffee possible live in the municipalities of Tambo, Timbío and Piendamó in Cauca. This coffee contains a mix of Caturra and Colombia plant varieties, with delicious floral fragrances and delicate creamy flavors, notes of honey and cane sugar, and a medium acidity.
Our longest-standing relationship is with Fondo Paez, founded in 1992. Fondo Paez' primary goal is to recuperate traditional agricultural knowledge and indigenous culture which had been buried by centuries of conflict and oppression. Located in the remote, highland regions of Cauca, the Paez (who also call themselves Nasa, or “the people”) is the largest indigenous group in Colombia.
We began importing from Fondo Paez via Cooperative Coffees in 2004. We are inspired to see the extent to which Fondo Paez has created a sustainable vision for their indigenous communities. This is remarkable in and of itself, but the work and successes of this organization are truly extraordinary when viewed within the context of Colombian politics and globalization. From Spanish conquest centuries ago to the armed conflict raging in their territory for the past 40 years, the Paez people continue to struggle for their lives and livelihoods, their land, and their rights to self-determination.
Fondo Paez' coffee used to have a home in Higher Grounds' Signature Series, because we were able to purchase large quantities to keep the product available year-round. However, Fondo Paez has faced some big challenges in the past few years. Many of their member farmers have left the cooperative in favor of producing coca (sadly, they can usually make more money in the illicit drug trade), and Fondo's organic and quality requirements are stringent. They are now paying their farmers more in an effort to retain them, meaning that we also are paying a higher price for Fondo's coffee, which has continued to increase in quality over the years. The combination of both lower volumes available and the higher price, as well as the exceptional quality of the product, has meant that Fondo Paez has now moved into our Apex Series. The current roast is mellow, buttery, and balanced, reminiscent of shortbread and chamomile with a sugared grapefruit acidity.
We are loving these fresh Colombian offerings and hope that you are too!
]]>
The Higher Grounds Coffee Learning Lab, located on the second floor of Commongrounds Cooperative on 8th Street in Traverse City, has been officially operational since January 2023. We have hosted five official events to date, representing a range of topics and audiences from the general public to coffee professionals.
The Learning Lab’s mission is to be an educational resource for hospitality workers and anyone who enjoys a quality beverage, empowering them with both professional development and casual engagement opportunities to learn more about the world of specialty beverages. The Lab is building a platform for food and beverage professionals to engage more deeply with their work, learning valuable sensory and preparation skills that will equip them to stay in the industry and thrive.
WHY A LEARNING LAB?
Hospitality workers are suffering. Underpaid, undervalued and overworked, they are leaving the industry in droves. But what if their skills weren’t only valued but invested in? What if they were empowered with professional development and engagement opportunities that elevated both their confidence and their pay grade? The Higher Grounds Coffee Learning Lab is a platform for food and beverage professionals, within our company and beyond, to engage more deeply with their work, learning valuable sensory and preparation skills that will equip them to stay in the industry and thrive.
CONTEXT FOR OUR VISION
Higher Grounds is a 20-year-strong business focused on trading fairly and strengthening our local and global communities. We’re expanding into a second cafe location (NoBo Mrkt, also a bar, market, and food hall) and this Learning Lab as part of Commongrounds, a real estate cooperative–the first of its kind in MI–owned entirely by business & non-profit tenants and community members. Higher Grounds' mission to confront inequality and cultivate human potential. We also happen to roast and sell coffee. This project is an opportunity for us to use specialty beverages as the means to tackle the growing challenges faced by hospitality workers and cultivate the vast potential of hospitality to be a force for good.
Our area of Northern Michigan is a tourist hotbed, well known for craft breweries, wineries, and restaurants. Yet we do not have a centralized industry-rated resource where workers can further their education without traveling very far. These workers are struggling to earn enough to live here, even while our thirsty tourists and foodie locals alike value high-end, farm-to-table, curated food and beverage experiences. We need our hospitality workforce to stick around and thrive within the businesses whose success fuels our local economies.
We’ll build the best beverage program in our region by cross-training bartenders, baristas, and servers to the top standards of specialty coffee, tea, wine, spirits, and beer–any and all craft specialty beverages–with ongoing development offered to our staff and to other workers in our region. NoBo Mrkt's GM Jerome Smith, a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers and a Certified Specialist of Wine with the Society of Wine Educators, has a wealth of experience across the hospitality industry, and our lead coffee trainer is a 20-year veteran of specialty coffee, Q Grader and Authorized Specialty Coffee Association Trainer.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
In addition to showcasing our area’s exceptional craft beverages, our courses include a lens of environmental and social responsibility. We’ll explore production processes, understanding sustainability and carbon-smart agriculture as they relate to the relevant supply chains. (The coffee importer co-owned by Higher Grounds, Cooperative Coffees, won the SCA Sustainable Business Award in 2020 and our Carbon, Coffee, and Climate initiative is working to create a more regenerative coffee industry.) Further, we’ll teach best practices for setting up and managing sustainable retail spaces, from simple things like utilizing reusable vessels for tasting to composting and zero-waste systems.
By creating the beverage education program our region needs, we hope to pave the way to a sustainable livelihood for the people we rely on for high quality culinary experiences. We need to lower barriers for hospitality innovators working towards a healthier, more connected community. Ultimately, we’re investing in the sustainability and wellbeing of the people who make our world a delicious place to be.
For more information, visit the Learning Lab site or email lab@highergroundstrading.com.
]]>We’ve co-produced albums in partnership with Music Ambassadors as part of On the Ground’s work in our partner communities. They’ve included the likes of Seth Bernard & May Erlewine’s album, New Flower; Joshua Davis’ A Miracle of Birds; and Heavy Color’s River Passage, all of which were partnerships with musicians in the countries where we work to benefit community development.
With the launch of Riff Roast, we are excited to announce the expansion of our work in partnership with artists. Together with Los Angeles-based Jail Guitar Doors (JGD), we have launched a campaign to bring JGD programming to Michigan.
On Saturday, August 20th, through Tuesday, August 23rd, we’re coordinating a series of events featuring legendary guitarist and cofounder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends MC5, author, and JGD-USA co-founder Wayne Kramer, who will be visiting Northern Michigan to promote the partnership.
Northern Michigan events include:
At each event, Wayne Kramer will be discussing his personal experience with the industrial prison complex and the important work of JGD using music in the prisons around the country to support healthy rehabilitation and reintegration of our citizens who have been incarcerated.
We’ve all had those moments in our lives where we connect with a song. Many times for myself, it has been during monumental life events, some happy and joyous, other times, sad and reflective.
Jail Guitar Doors provides musical instruments and mentorship to help rehabilitate incarcerated individuals through the transformative power of music. Through collaborative music and songwriting, JGD aims to achieve measurable outcomes to help diminish prison violence, reduce recidivism, and make communities safe. JGD intends to bring similar music programming to Michigan’s incarcerated to help facilitate healing and growth.
This partnership will focus fundraising efforts around the sales of a new Higher Grounds/JGD coffee that will raise funds to help bring JGD to Michigan. The coffee collaboration, Riff Roast, is a dark-roasted, fair trade, organic certified coffee from the COMSA Cooperative of coffee growers in Honduras, and features a smoky sweetness and tasty notes of molasses.
Five dollars from the sale of every bag will go directly to Jail Guitar Doors to fund their programming in Michigan correctional facilities.
The Northern Michigan events and coffee launch will begin a year-long campaign supported by the sales of Riff Roast that will feature concerts by Michigan musicians and virtual engagement by national artists to raise funds and awareness for JGD’s future Michigan programming. More events will be announced later this year.
Join us in helping Jail Guitar Doors and Wayne to “build a community of caring that includes those living behind bars in my home state of Michigan."
--Chris Treter
Jail Guitar Doors is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to bring the undeniable, universal power of music to the incarcerated to help our fellow imprisoned human beings onto the right track toward successful reentry into society.
Higher Grounds Trading Co. has been a Traverse City-area staple, roasting up high-quality, fair trade proof, and organic coffee for almost twenty years. We believe that high-quality coffee is sustainable only through a human-centric approach to trade, and we provide coffee drinkers with the opportunity to engage in a cycle that begins with, and returns to, our partners in coffee-growing regions.
Wayne Kramer's Jail Guitar Doors and Higher Grounds have teamed up to bring you Riff Roast - a smooth Honduran dark roast with a mission.
Jail Guitar Doors USA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing musical instruments, workshops, and opportunities to help rehabilitate prisoners in an effort to create a more fair and just America.
Help us meet our goal of raising $50,000 in 2022 to bring Jail Guitar Doors' rehabilitation programming to Michigan.
$5.00 of every bag purchased goes to JGD's effort to raise funds for their programs and to raise awareness to the need for comprehensive reform in our justice system.
Riff Roast tasting notes: Smooth, Smoky, Hints of Molasses
Click an image for more information on each Riff Roast option:
Higher Grounds is proud to be the title sponsor of the Adventure Bike Club by Norte. We've been part of Norte's community as a Dynamo Business Champion for three years, and we're happy to keep rolling.
Norte is the Grand Traverse region's bike-centric, a youth-focused advocacy organization. Its mission is to help build stronger, better connected, and more walk-and-roll friendly communities by empowering the young and young at heart.
Norte's goal is to inspire young people to be independent, happy, confident, and ready to learn. When young people succeed, they feel empowered and develop lifelong habits to move more and sit less. From there, they become leaders in their neighborhood.
Norte's programs and initiatives connect people of all ages to their communities. They encourage everyone to explore — by foot and by bike, of course — their neighborhood and region. Norte promotes policies and investments that keep people active by design. And they empower citizen advocates to take the lead — no matter their age. Finally, Norte empowers young people to be leaders in the community. Norte helps them stand up, speak up, and do some good.
Adventure Bike Club is Norte's spring and fall after-school program. ABC boosts confidence, builds community, and challenges upper elementary and middle school students to discover new adventures. The program provides loads of fun while teaching responsible riding skills.
And help us continue to support Norte by purchasing our Coast Summer Blend (during the summer, when it is available): https://www.highergroundstrading.com/collections/coffees-for-change/products/coast-summer-blend
]]>Coffee is worth more.
Globally, coffee is valued on a commodity scale. And as we wrote back on our blog in 2018, market shifts are expected with any commodity. But in the case of coffee, the livelihoods of 25 million farming families are at stake. The commodity price of coffee in 2018 did not cover a farmer’s cost to produce that coffee.
Over the past year, that global price has increased considerably. That’s actually good news for many coffee producers, who can now cover their cost of production and afford to pay a better wage to staff on their farms. For businesses on the consuming side, this shift is a timely opportunity to address the fact that for a long time now, specialty coffee has been artificially undervalued, and we want our farming partners to thrive. Further, with increased costs in shipping and logistics, packaging materials, and utilities, it’s simply becoming more expensive to run a coffee roastery.
Even though our prices have changed, our commitment to farmers and community remains steadfast.
ALWAYS ORGANIC + BEYOND FAIR TRADE
We choose organic because it’s better for the earth, for those tending their land, and for our consuming bodies. We pay premiums to ensure our farming friends are earning a profit and able to care for their families and their farms.
VALUING OUR STAFF WITH SUSTAINABLE WAGES AND BENEFITS
We care about our people. Our team works hard to craft and package coffee for you, and we support them with health care, retirement options, paid time off to volunteer in our community, and a stipend for wellness-related expenses.
LOWERING OUR CARBON IMPACT
The importer we co-own, Cooperative Coffees, is committed to be carbon-neutral by 2025. Along with them, we pledge to decrease our impact on the environment with more sustainable packaging and manufacturing.
TRANSPARENCY IN TRADE
View our contracts with coffee producers at fairtradeproof.org. See the price we paid and the certifications held by our producer partners.
EXCEPTIONAL COFFEE FROM A WORLD OF GOOD FRIENDS
We want specialty coffee to be beneficial for the entire value chain, from farmers to consumers. We’re here to share the stories of our producer partners and craft delicious coffee for you to enjoy.
]]>Note: The original version of this article was written by Tasmin Grant and published on Perfect Daily Grind.
For every cup of coffee you brew, roughly 98% is water. But water is rarely just water. Depending on your geographical location, it contains varying levels of a range of minerals and organic compounds.
These minerals and organic compounds – mainly calcium, magnesium, and carbonates – all have different effects on how coffee extracts and what it tastes like. This means that no matter how high-quality your coffee is, your water might be stopping it from reaching its full potential.
To understand more about how water temperature and quality affect coffee, I spoke with Jennifer Yeatts and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood. Read on to find out what they told me.
Before we get into talking about water quality and mineral content, let’s start by looking at water temperature.
Jennifer Yeatts is the Director of Coffee for Higher Grounds Trading Co., a B-Corp certified roaster in Michigan, US.
“When you’re brewing coffee, you want to keep your water temperature within a range of 90°C and 96°C (195°F to 205°F) to extract the best flavors,” she tells me. “If this temperature range is not maintained, you run the risk of decreasing extraction and losing flavor.”
During the brewing process, Jennifer explains that water extracts a number of volatile flavor and aroma compounds, which contribute to coffee flavour.
If the water temperature is too high, it can become more difficult to control the extraction process. This is because volatile compounds are being released too quickly.
A certain percentage of these compounds are bitter or sour-tasting, which means that when too many of them are extracted overall, the coffee can have a more pronounced bitter or sour taste.
There are also more of these compounds the darker a coffee is roasted. Darker roasts are more soluble than lighter roasts, which means that a lower temperature can help to mitigate the risk of overextraction.
Jennifer notes that this is one of the modules Higher Grounds covers in its barista training course. She also says that using the right equipment (such as temperature-controlled kettles) can help brewers hone in on variables that will improve their coffee's quality.
As well as filtration systems, equipment such as temperature-controlled kettles can maintain stable brewing temperatures. Whether or not they’re temperature controlled, she also recommends gooseneck kettles as they offer more control over the flow rate.
Maxwell is the co-owner and Managing Director of Colonna Coffee in Bath, UK. He is also the founder of water filtration system Peak Water and the co-author of Water For Coffee.
He explains the difference between water quality and hardness.
“Different regional and global water supplies treat water differently,” he says. “Plenty of municipal treatment systems produce water which is safe to drink, but it may not necessarily be good quality.”
The water used to brew coffee should always be clean, visibly free of contaminants, and odourless, but hardness and quality can vary from region to region.
“High-quality drinking water might not always be the best for making coffee,” Maxwell explains. “Bottled water brands like Evian, for example, are high-quality, but also relatively hard.
“The coffee industry talks a lot about water hardness as it’s a key metric for assessing carbon content and its impact on pipes and machines,” he tells me. “Water hardness, in terms of total dissolved solids (TDS), is a measurement of the minerals and ions in water.”
TDS meters can be used to detect the levels of microscopic minerals and organisms present in water in measurements of parts per million (ppm – a measurement of milligrams per litre).
However, there are two types of hardness. Total hardness is the amount of calcium and magnesium present in water, whereas carbonate hardness is a measurement of the levels of carbonates and bicarbonates.
Maxwell explains why carbonate hardness is often referred to as “temporary hardness”.
“When calcium is present in water, it fuses with carbonates to become calcium bicarbonate. This is deposited as limescale.”
Limescale can be found on the inside of brewing devices and coffee machines (including kettles and espresso machine boilers) as chalky deposits.
“This hardness can cause damage to boilers and machines,” Maxwell says.
For brewing, the SCA recommends using water with a total hardness of 50 to 175ppm and a carbonate hardness between 40 and 75ppm.
“You can also have water which is low in carbon but has a high TDS level, which means it won’t deposit limescale,” he adds.
During his 2014 World Barista Championship routine, Maxwell emphasized the importance of optimal mineral content for coffee extraction. He brewed three different versions of a washed Ethiopian filter coffee, each containing different levels of magnesium, calcium, and carbonates.
Calcium and magnesium ultimately affect coffee flavor. But the levels of these minerals remain largely unchanged. Carbonates, however, are more easily lost, especially when water is boiled for brewing.
Maxwell tells me more about why it’s important to have carbonates in your water.
“Adding carbon is useful for removing chlorine and other contaminants,” he says. “However, adding carbon will not manipulate the mineral content of the water – including calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium levels.”
In his WBC routine, Maxwell highlighted how bicarbonates play a crucial role in developing coffee flavor.
Bicarbonates are first formed when carbon dioxide reacts with water molecules to create carbonic acid. The acids then react with carbonates to form bicarbonates.
“Bicarbonates are sometimes referred to as ‘buffers’,” Maxwell tells me. “The higher the number of bicarbonates, the more the acidity will be buffered or reduced.”
The SCA recommends pH levels between 6 and 8, which are neutral. Higher pH measurements (i.e. more alkaline water) indicate the presence of more bicarbonates in the water. Consequently, the acidity levels of the coffee will be reduced.
Conversely, fewer bicarbonates will reduce the pH level and make the coffee more acidic and sour-tasting. Ultimately, having a balanced amount of bicarbonates in your water is important for extracting high-quality coffee.
Magnesium, calcium, and carbonates all contribute to the extraction of flavor in coffee, but in different ways.
Maxwell emphasizes that the volume of carbonates and bicarbonates in water can be the biggest indicator of how flavor might be influenced.
“Once you test the alkalinity of the water, you can better understand how it will affect coffee flavor,” he says.
Using pH testing strips is a good way to understand the exact acidity or alkalinity of your water.
Maxwell adds that hardness levels will also influence the flavors and textures of coffee.
“If the water is soft, then the coffee is going to have a lighter body and be more acidic – potentially to the extent of tasting sour,” he says. “However, if you have hard water, the coffee will have a muddy, thick, and chalky texture and will taste flat.”
Using water quality to guide how you brew coffee can have demonstrable results in terms of final cup quality. A research paper from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences has found that in particular, Brazilian and Colombian coffees scored higher when they were brewed using low to medium water mineral content.
Understanding water hardness and mineral composition is important, but knowing how to manage and mitigate these factors is essential if you want to brew great-tasting coffee time and time again.
Measuring the pH level and hardness of your brewing water is often the first step in the process.
“The easiest way is using a strip that you would use for an aquarium or pond,” Maxwell says. These kits usually test for pH level, as well as carbonate and total hardness.
Jennifer adds: “TDS meters and refractometers can help you measure your water quality and its impact on your brewed coffee.”
Maxwell says: “If you want to understand everything that is in your water, you need a full lab test. However, local water authorities may publish hardness levels and mineral contents.”
Once you know the hardness of your water, you can then manipulate the mineral contents to the optimal levels.
“If you live in an area with soft water, you can use a carbon stick,” Maxwell suggests.
Active carbon sticks can remove impurities from tap water, helping to some extent. However, they won’t adjust the water’s mineral content.
“If you live in an area with hard water, you might want to use an ion exchange filter,” says Maxwell. “This uses resin-based beads which alter the mineral composition of the water itself.”
As water molecules pass through the resin beads in the filter, minerals are either added or removed – depending on the hardness of the water.
Maxwell adds: “In areas where water hardness reaches over 550 ppm, people should consider reverse osmosis filtration systems, which effectively depressurise water to remove minerals.”
Reverse osmosis filtration uses a semipermeable membrane which allows water to pass through at high pressure. Minerals are removed according to the required hardness levels.
Jennifer highlights some other ways in which you adjust your water’s mineral content.
“There is a huge range of products available on the market,” she says. “These can all help you manage the quality of your water, from full-scale commercial filtration systems to Third Wave Water mineral packets.”
Improving the quality of your water can be difficult, but Maxwell emphasizes how understanding more about your local water source is imperative.
“One of the biggest challenges for consumers is that they can only start out with the quality that they already have, so understanding more about the tap water in your area is essential,” he says. “One of the reasons that we created Peak Water was because we noticed that filtration systems in coffee shops were adjustable according to local water quality, which then resulted in the optimal hardness range.
“Peak Water allows home consumers to replicate the water filtration systems in coffee shops.”
For coffee shop owners, Jennifer explains that it’s essential to look at water filtration as a serious option.
“Most commercial coffee equipment warranties come with a requirement to install water filtration,” she says. “If filtration is not used, the warranty could be void.”
It should be noted that optimal hardness varies depending on whether you’re making filter coffee or espresso. For home users, it can be worth adjusting your water’s mineral content according to your specific brewing preferences.
“Coffee has a pH level around 5,” Maxwell says. “If you add a small amount of baking soda to bright and fruity-tasting coffee, you will notice the acidity mellows.”
He adds that softer water works better for filter, while espresso works better with more alkaline water.
“Often with filter coffee, people prefer softer water (around 100 ppm) with alkaline levels between 30 and 80,” he explains. “When making espresso, it can be good to use more alkaline water as it helps to balance the acidity of the more concentrated coffee.
“You should also consider which roast profiles you’re using,” he adds.
Lighter roasts are less soluble than medium or dark roasts, so lower mineral levels will allow more of the flavors to be extracted.
As much as water is a key part of your coffee brewing routine, its importance can often be overlooked.
No matter how delicious your coffee might taste, your water will affect its flavour in one way or another. The best place to start is by ensuring the quality and hardness are appropriate for brewing coffee, and then deciding what to do from there.
“Start by testing alkalinity and then consider your solutions,” Maxwell concludes.
Photo credits: Tyler L., Perfect Daily Grind
Please note: Higher Grounds Trading Co. is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.
On the Ground
Higher Grounds’ Coffees for Change Partners:
Title Track Michigan // Shine On Blend
Northern Michigan for Veterans // Bold Glory Blend
Fishtown Preservation Society // Fishtown Blend
Jail Guitar Doors // Riff Roast
Women's Resource Center // WRC Blend
Safe Harbor // Harbor Winter Blend
We talked to our very own coffee bar manager, Vincent Grimaldi, to get a better understanding of these differences and how you can choose between the two methods. Keep reading to learn more.
Pour over coffee has been around for quite some time, but has recently enjoyed renewed popularity thanks to the third wave of coffee.
This brewing method involves pouring hot water over coffee grounds in a filter held by a pour over dripper. The hot water then moves through the grounds and into a server or cup below. Unlike the French press, which uses immersion to extract flavor from coffee, pour over is what we call a “percolation” brewing method.
Pour over is sometimes also called hand brewing or manual brewing because of the way it’s prepared. It can be a little bit more intricate than other methods, but provides a balanced, flavorful cup of coffee.
Popular manual brewers include the Hario V60 and Chemex. The Hario V60 is a cone-shaped brewer with angled walls and beveling that help to achieve even extraction. The Chemex, meanwhile, is a classic one-piece brewer and carafe that allows you to make larger batches.
In contrast with pour over, batch brew is a popular method to automatically brew large quantities of coffee. It is also a percolation brewing method, and has been popular across the country for years as diner-style drip coffee.
However, these days, batch brewers can produce much higher-quality coffee than you might think.
First and foremost, once set up properly, this method removes human error from the equation. Once the machine is dialed in, Vincent says the quality can be replicated batch after batch.
“It can still be dialed in, so the coffee can have an exceptional taste and can be a proper representation of itself,” he notes.
Ultimately, batch brew is quick, convenient, and requires minimal training to perfect. Once brewed, the coffee can then easily be stored and then served from a carafe. This usually works well for high-volume cafés wanting to avoid brewing coffee cup-by-cup.
Batch brew is automated, so it’s naturally the more convenient method. At a basic level, it’s essentially a mechanized version of pour over. The brewer handles all of the extraction variables you’d normally have to manage with pour over, leaving less room for human error.
Conversely, Vincent explains that the benefit of pour over is that it gives you absolute control over every variable when brewing a cup of coffee.
“You determine the ratio, brew time, and pouring technique for each cup,” he says. “Pour over allows you to make quick, efficient adjustments on the fly.”
Meanwhile, for batch brewers, you can usually easily make adjustments to the brew ratio and grind. However, Vincent adds that more complex adjustments might require more in-depth knowledge of the machines’ inner workings.
Vincent explains that the preparation for batch brew and pour over should be fairly similar, as batch brew is effectively just “scaled up” pour over. However, it’s important to note that grind size is important to achieving a well-balanced cup.
Too coarse a grind will lead to a sour, acidic, and underextracted cup. On the other hand, a grind that’s too fine will give the coffee a bitter or dirty taste.
As a general rule, you should use a coarser grind size for batch brew than pour over, as it steeps for longer and takes longer to brew. A medium grind size is the most common option for batch brew, with a similar texture to smooth sand.
For conical pour over brewers – like the Hario V60 – use a medium-fine grind similar to table salt. For the Chemex, you’ll want to go slightly coarser.
When it comes to comparing the flavors each brewing method can achieve, Vincent says there are a lot of variables to consider.
“All things being equal, you should be able to get pretty close,” he says. “A coffee bar that can invest in modern, high-end batch brewers should be pretty on par with what a professional and focused barista can do with pour over.”
However, depending on the quality of your batch brewer, you could get a very different final product with each of the two methods.
An entry-level batch brewer can still make a tasty cup of coffee, but may produce a bolder and more full-bodied brew that is less refined.
Pour over, meanwhile, yields flavor profiles with a bit more clarity and balance, since the extraction variables can be tailored by hand. This method is great for single origin coffees where you want to highlight a specific characteristic, for instance.
Coffee that’s left to stand in a batch brewer or urn isn’t as fresh as brewing cup by cup. While you’ll be able to serve more customers from a batch brewer, the coffee won’t be as vibrant if it sits for a few hours.
Ultimately, pour over is the best way to get the freshest cup. If the coffee is freshly ground and brewed shortly afterward, you’ll get a fresh, delicious cup with every brew.
Batch brewers are usually easier to use and more accessible than manual brewing. Once the settings have been dialed in, it’s easy to train someone to replicate the process and get similar quality every time.
Meanwhile, pour over is more hands-on and gives you control over all extraction variables, but even small shifts in technique can detract from or enhance your final coffee product.
Batch brewers are harder to clean than pour over brewers, purely because there are more parts that need to be maintained. This calls for a more complex cleaning regimen to make sure coffee oils don’t accumulate and affect the final cup profile.
Without cleaning, batch brewers tend to retain stale off-flavors and give the coffee a murky or skewed taste.
Manual brewers are much easier to clean as they tend to be more compact and have little to no complex internal parts that need attention. However, this doesn’t mean that cleaning this equipment is any less important.
Pour over coffee might be preferable if you’re more experienced and have the time to dedicate to learning the art of the method. If you’re willing to invest the time in learning, you can brew high-quality coffee at home at a minimal cost. It’s also the better option if you’re just making a cup or two.
Batch brew, meanwhile, is much more convenient and helpful if you’re serving lots of filter coffee. It’s still a great option for brewing specialty coffee, but lacks the same level of control and sustained freshness.
Overall, Vincent recommends that coffee bars invest in both methods.
“A barista should, in my opinion, be emotionally invested in crafting pour over coffee,” he says. “At the same time, every barista I know feels comfort when supported by consistent, reliable batch brewers.”
At the end of the day, your choice between these two popular brewing methods comes down to the skill of the person making the coffee and your specific needs.
Both options have the potential to make superb coffee, but each is suitable for a different purpose. Ultimately, it’s worthwhile becoming familiar with both methods. You never know when you’ll need to use either!
]]>Let’s take a look at the fundamentals of latte art, the techniques involved, and a couple of tips to help you become the best latte artist you can be. Read on to learn more.
Steaming milk properly is key to being able to pour great latte art. In most cases, you’ll want to use a steam wand to heat and add steam to the milk, and create beautifully textured milk foam.
Jennifer Yeatts is our Director of Coffee here at Higher Grounds Trading Co. She says that all great latte art designs start with getting the right texture.
“Focus on getting great milk texture first, because if your milk isn't the right pourable texture, you won't get good art,” she explains. “You want the consistency of wet paint or melted ice cream, [with] very few or no discernible bubbles.”
Distance is important, too. If your steam wand is too close to the surface of the milk for too long, you’ll get milk foam with bigger bubbles that are harder to pour. Conversely, submerging the steam wand for the entire time won’t aerate the milk properly, resulting in hot milk instead of milk foam.
The best method for steaming milk is a combination of the two. Firstly, aerate the milk for a couple of seconds to introduce air bubbles, then quickly submerge the steam wand for the remainder of the process.
A big part of creating latte art is maximizing the stability of your milk foam. It needs to be stable enough to hold the design, but not too rigid that the design becomes distorted.
Getting perfect milk foam means balancing three key things: milk proteins, fat content, and temperature.
Each kind of milk has different levels of protein and fat, which affect its stability at different temperatures.
The proteins in milk help to stabilize the milk foam. As you steam milk, proteins envelop the air bubbles, forming the foam and giving it its structure.
Steamed whole milk creates a thick, creamy foam, while skim milk creates a thinner foam with larger bubbles. However, if you overheat your milk, its proteins may break down (known in chemistry as denaturing) and ruin your foam.
Fat content, on the other hand, destabilizes the foam and creates richer flavors. Whole milk has higher fat content (3.5% fat) compared to skim milk (<.5% fat). The more fat, the less air the milk will hold.
Higher milk fat content leads to rich, smooth foam, while milks with lower fat content (like skim milk) will produce a stable, stiffer foam. However, stiff foam won’t pour smoothly, and tend to plop into the cup in one messy blob.
The ideal temperature for steaming your milk depends on which kind of milk you’re using. Generally speaking, latte art doesn’t require really hot milk, as going too high will cause your foam to disintegrate.
For dairy milk, you generally should steam until 140 to 150°F. Beyond that, the milk will become too firm and aerated. Higher than 160°F, and the milk will burn or curdle.
For alternative milks, the ideal temperature ranges from 130 to 160°F but this varies. Check online or ask a local barista if you’re trying a new type of plant milk.
Once you’ve got that silky smooth milk foam down, you’re ready to create some latte art.
Each design requires different techniques, but there are three main pouring factors to remember no matter the design: pour speed, the height of the pour, and the position of the pitcher spout.
Different pour speeds help to achieve unique design elements. You’re going to want to start with a slow, circular pour to create a solid base for your design without disturbing the crema.
Once you’ve got your base, increase your pour speed to create your design. A slower pour will make thicker strokes, while a quicker pour creates thinner strokes.
Getting the right distance between your milk pitcher and the cup helps to create an accurate, distinctive design. If you pour from too far away, your milk will just mix in with the espresso, rather than sitting on top of it.
Start your pour with your pitcher a few inches away from the cup to mix the milk and espresso. Then, when you’re ready to begin your design, tilt your cup at a 45° angle, allowing you to keep your pitcher as close to the surface of the liquid as possible.
When you pour low and close to the surface, your designs will be distinct and should float on the surface of the milk-espresso base.
The position of your pitcher’s spout over the cup will determine where your design will end up. It’s helpful to visually split your cup into three horizontal sections: above center, center, and below center.
The tip of your spout will correlate with the top of your design. We recommend not pouring a design with your pitcher’s spout anywhere beyond the center of the cup. This will help keep your art centered and leave your base undisturbed.
Let’s put all the basics for latte art creation together:
Once you’ve got some good milk that’s ready to go, don’t wait too long to start pouring your design. The milk will begin to destabilize and separate the longer it sits on the bar.
Jennifer also recommends starting simple and practicing a lot. She says this can be key to getting more comfortable and confident with your latte art.
“Start simple,” she suggests. “Pour a hundred monk's heads or hearts consistently before you jump to anything more complicated. Get that muscle memory down, then explore more complex multi-step techniques and designs.”
Beyond that, keep in mind that smaller cups will give you less space and time to complete your design. It might be easier to start off with larger cups, as they give you more room for error.
Last, and certainly not least, purge your steam wand after every use. Milk will build up inside, and that’s something nobody wants.
“Nobody wants dry, crusty old milk in their drink,” says Jennifer. “And a clogged steam wand will affect the steam pressure, as well.”
Latte art is an important skill for any barista, and a few key abilities – and plenty of practice – will mean you’re pouring like a pro in no time at all.
If you want to learn more about latte art, click here for more info on our barista training. We tailor courses to attendees and can cover a range of topics, from espresso and coffee fundamentals to more complex skills that you might need behind the bar.
]]>Now through March 15, Higher Grounds will donate $5 for every retail bag purchased of our winter seasonal blend, Harbor, to Safe Harbor. Safe Harbor is dedicated to the preservation of the physical health and spiritual welfare of adults experiencing homelessness, and a primary goal of Safe Harbor is to offer food, shelter and hope for their guests.
Safe Harbor operates a non-profit, volunteer-run Seasonal Emergency Shelter (pictured above) and a year-round Housing and Human Services Resource Center. As part of the Continuum of Care, Safe Harbor also focuses on community partnerships in order to better collaborate on long-term solutions to ending homelessness in our region.
Safe Harbor envisions a community with housing options for all, with homelessness being rare, brief, and non-recurrent. Safe Harbor offers safe shelter, love, dignity, and encouragement to people experiencing homelessness, relating to guests with love, empathy and encouragement. They are dedicated to safety and are diligent in their responsibilities, offering hope and dignity to guests by building trust, affirming relationships based on honesty and care, and coordinating with stakeholders and partners who share in their vision.
Check out this quick blog from when we first released this seasonal blend back in 2018.
]]>We’re delighted to announce that our Organic Apex Karla Portillo Honduras Microlot coffee has been declared a winner in the 2022 Good Food Awards’ coffee category. Read on to learn more about the awards, the coffee, and our partnership with Karla.
What are the Good Food Awards?
Officially established in 2016, the Good Food Foundation was founded to empower and celebrate often-overlooked foodservice brands and individuals in the US.
Initially founded as the Seedlings Project in 2010, today the foundation’s work is grounded in the principles of Slow Food philosophy. These include a drive for a more sustainable and regenerative food system.
One of the foundation’s numerous projects is the Good Food Awards. These are held annually, celebrating excellence in both food quality and sustainability – including for coffee.
Some 6,000 entries from 50 states have been accepted over the past decade, with more than 620 winners across the various categories.
However, entering as a coffee brand isn’t easy. The criteria for the Good Food Awards are rigorous. First, coffee must be roasted in the US or US territories, and must be traceable back to the farmer or co-operative at origin.
Coffees submitted to the Good Food Awards must also be sourced through direct trade models, and farmers must be paid the Fair Trade price minimum or more.
As well as practicing some degree of social responsibility, the Good Food Awards requires entrants to be dedicated to environmental causes. Nominated coffees must be sourced from farms or co-operatives which promote regenerative agricultural practices, such as water conservation.
Roasters must also have a sustainable focus in their business practices, which can include innovative waste management and recycling programmes, for instance.
Our 2022 Good Food Awards winning coffee came from our Apex Series: a limited edition line of coffees that are unique, high-quality, and produced and sourced sustainably.
This delicious microlot was grown by Karla Portillo at Finca Planeta Verde in Honduras. Karla’s coffee was grown at approximately 1,598 meters above sea level. At this altitude, the sugars in the cherries can fully develop – giving it an overall sweeter flavor.
Finca Planeta Verde was established in 2015 as a family-owned coffee farm, and in the years since, it has worked in harmony with nature to produce high-quality coffee.
Since the 2016/17 harvest, Karla has worked closely with the Café Organico Marcala S.A (COMSA) co-operative to develop her own honey processing technique.
After harvesting her cherries, Karla ferments and dries them until they reach 12% moisture – which usually takes between 9 and 12 days.
This enhances the lush, velvety mouthfeel of Karla’s coffee, as well as giving it a medium acidity. It has notes of strawberry, rhubarb, and streusel crumb topping, with a buttery and fruity cup profile.
We recommend brewing this coffee using a Clever Dripper at a ratio of 17:1. The full immersion technique, combined with a slightly higher brew ratio, allows you to fully enjoy the juicy sweetness of Karla’s coffee.
Established in 2001 and based in the town of Marcala, the COMSA co-operative has about 1600 members, including Karla. The co-op focuses on organic farming practices that improve quality for farmer members, as well as initiatives that give back to the land and local communities.
As part of this, many COMSA members cultivate their coffee among inga trees (tropical nitrogen-fixing plants which are native to Latin America), as well as citrus and banana. These farming practices help to promote wildlife conservation and soil regeneration.
Organic coffee farming often involves a number of other practices which help to improve biodiversity. These include using natural pesticides and fertilizers, practicing intercropping, and disposing of waste in an eco-friendly way.
Although it’s difficult to maximize yields without synthetic fertilizers, organic coffee is often high in quality, and contributes to the overall environmental health of the local area.
It is these organic farming practices which the Good Food Foundation aims to celebrate and promote at the annual Good Food Awards, as well as highlighting the improving quality of coffee products.
While winners have already been announced, the Good Food Awards will take place in-person later this year. This year’s event will be held on March 4, 2022 in San Francisco.
If you want to attend the event and join us in celebrating America’s best food and beverage businesses, tickets are available here!
]]>To make sure that you enjoy your coffee at its absolute best, we’ve broken down why grind size is so important and what you can do to ensure you get it right every time. Read on to find out.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
Coffee needs to be ground to increase the surface area of the roasted beans. This enables the extraction of the soluble compounds that create the flavors and aromas we enjoy in every cup.
If you placed whole beans in hot water, they would probably extract some flavor over time. However, the result would be weak and watery, lacking the distinctive flavor of a cup of coffee.
By breaking down the beans into smaller particles and increasing the overall surface area, we are able to increase how much coffee is in contact with the brewing water. This allows the compounds to dissolve and extract into the water more quickly and efficiently.
However, remember that none of this matters if you don’t use fresh, good-quality coffee. If coffee is exposed to oxygen for too long, its flavors and aromas will degrade, eventually resulting in a flat, stale cup.
Grind size affects extraction, and therefore the overall flavor and quality of each cup of coffee.
Let’s start with a coarse grind as an example, like you would use with a French press or to make cold brew. We submerge or immerse the ground coffee in water, because it has a relatively low surface area (compared to finer grinds) and takes longer to extract.
However, if your coffee is ground too coarse, your extraction will be suboptimal, meaning that you end up with a watery, sour cup that lacks sweetness and complexity.
On the other hand, finer grounds have a much higher surface area, which makes extraction quicker and easier.
Be mindful that with too fine a grind, your coffee might overextract. This can mean bitter, ashy flavors in the cup and a muddy mouthfeel.
There are a number of different factors to consider when dialling in your grind size, but the first and most important is your brewing method.
Espresso, for example, is made with finely ground coffee. This is because it’s typically extracted in 20 to 30 seconds under high pressure. Because of the shorter brewing time, the fine grind size allows for more of the coffee’s solubles to be extracted.
Conversely, when coffee is made in a French press, the grounds are immersed in water for several minutes. In order to avoid overextraction, a coarse grind is used.
Pour over brewers generally use a medium grind, with the exception of the Chemex, for which you should use medium-coarse coffee.
Turkish coffee, meanwhile, requires even finer coffee than espresso, while a moka pot works best with grinds that are medium-fine.
The other key factors to consider are roast profile and age. Let’s start with roast profile.
With darker roasts, beans lose more weight and are more soluble in water than lighter roasts. As such, you should make your grind slightly coarser to account for this.
After that, think about the roast date. Ideally, you will be using freshly roasted beans, but as the days go by and your coffee gets older, you should tweak your recipe.
As time passes by, the flavors and aromas in the beans start degrading, which means you need to extract more from each cup. As such, grinding finer or increasing your dose for the brew can help extract more solubles and compensate for the loss in flavor.
While taste preferences and brewing method help you determine the right grind size, choosing the grinder you use is just as important. Getting your hands on a quality grinder makes a massive difference to consistency and therefore extraction quality.
Generally, you can find two types of grinders on the market: burr and blade grinders. Blade grinders chop up beans using spinning blades, and while they are more affordable, they are often not as consistent. This ends up affecting taste, as the coffee particles are extracted at different rates because of their different sizes.
On the other hand, burr grinders work by crushing the beans between two spinning burrs. Although these can be more costly, they are much more consistent (and what we recommend!).
On our web store, we offer two options. For example, the popular Baratza Encore is an electric burr grinder with 40 individual grind settings. This allows the user to consistently grind coffee for any brewing method, from espresso to French press.
Meanwhile, hand grinders such as the Hario Skerton are slightly less costly, more compact, and nowhere near as noisy. They require some manual effort to use, but are perfect for traveling.
Getting your grind size right is important if you want to brew the ultimate cup of coffee. By taking your selected brewing method and the quality of your grinder into account, you can dial in your grinder properly and make sure your coffee tastes as delicious as it should.
]]>This is even more true when you’re choosing a gift for your partner. No matter how well you know them, picking that perfect gift is something that requires a lot of planning and thought.
If this is the case for you, and you’re shopping for a coffee lover, we’re here to put your mind at ease. Keep on reading to discover the best holiday gifts for your partner.
Well, it might seem like an obvious choice, but we definitely recommend buying coffee.
If your partner’s already a big coffee drinker, freshly roasted coffee beans will always make them happy. If they are not, our specialty coffee might be just the best way to start them on their journey.
Did you know that as well as tasting delicious and giving you that burst of caffeine, coffee has a range of other benefits?
Take its health benefits, for example. Coffee doesn’t only naturally make you feel more energized, but recent studies also suggest that it lowers the risk of several conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
Furthermore, if you know your roaster or café cares about sourcing coffee in an ethical way, you can be sure that a good amount of money you spend reaches those who grow the coffee in the first place.
In light of this, we’ve put together a thoughtful selection of coffees for this holiday season. These are perfect as a gift for someone to enjoy on their own, or great when enjoyed with friends and family.
This special trio is part of our Apex Series, hailing from the COMSA co-operative in Marcala, Honduras. It comprises three amazing coffees produced by three amazing women: Miriam “Betty” Perez, Irma Garcia, and Karla Portillo.
Betty is a longstanding advocate of women in leadership positions within the co-operative. For years now, she has consistently produced outstanding coffees at Finca Clave de Sol.
This year, we are thrilled to be featuring her coffee. This particular lot is honey processed, with mellow acidity and beautiful, juicy flavors of caramel and green apple. In our opinion, it’s best suited for pour over brewers like the Chemex or V60.
Irma is another member of this trio. She began producing coffee in 2012 and joined COMSA in 2018. Her farm, El Suyapal, sits at an elevation of 1,615 m.a.s.l. in the community of Las Marías, where she produces the amazing coffee we roast in Michigan.
This washed coffee has a juicy body and bright, sparkling acidity. Its cup profile is sweet and delicate, with notes of tamarind, vanilla, and honey.
Last but not least, we have Karla. Her coffee is particularly special. This year, her honey processed lot stood out from the crowd.
It was recognized as a finalist for the Good Food Awards, an honor bestowed annually upon some of the most delicious and sustainable food products in the US.
Her farm, Planeta Verde, was founded in 2015 as a family project, with the objective of producing high-quality organic coffees. We can say with absolute certainty that the coffee Karla and her family grow lives up to this description.
This coffee is unique and distinctive, with notes of strawberry-rhubarb streusel and wildflower honey.
Our Sampler gift box features three of our best-selling coffee blends. These coffees are very special to us, as they represent some of our oldest relationships with farmers around the world.
They also span a wide range of roast profiles, meaning that there’s something here for everyone.
Funky Mamacita is a blend that we offer in honor of our founding coffee bar manager and good friend, Alita. Alita was the first team member to have a baby while working with us.
Funky Mamacita is a blend of organic coffees from Peru and Honduras. It’s roasted medium to dark, with bold, hearty, and earthy flavors, and notes of roasted nuts.
Highland Humanity is one of our best-selling organic coffees. It’s named in honor of the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, where we have worked for several years.
Like the Funky Mamacita, this blend also includes an organic Peruvian coffee. It has a delicious, balanced flavor profile, with notes of caramel and cocoa.
Our organic Justice blend is a medium-light coffee, and is our take on the popular “breakfast blend”.
Justice features coffees from Guatemala and Ethiopia, with delicate notes of vanilla and citrus, and a distinctive but mellow acidity.
At the end of the day, the holidays are a special time of the year, no matter how you celebrate them. It’s a time to enjoy yourself while surrounded by those you love.
Whether this is family, friends, or your other half, giving gifts is a great way to remind them that they’re in your thoughts.
From all of us here at Higher Grounds Trading, happy holidays and a happy new year!
]]>Hello! I work in the Higher Grounds roastery. I grew up in rural Leelanau County about 15 miles from Traverse City. I currently reside in Traverse City with my partner and our cat.
Why / how did you become an artist and what inspires your art?
I’m a musician first and foremost: I’ve been singing and playing piano since I was four, and currently have been fronting local rock band Little Graves for four and half years. I'm also writing a solo indie album. A long time lover of the visual arts, I also dabble in design, drawing, painting, and photography. I tend to draw fantasy nature dreamscapes with bright color palettes, and often incorporate water, cityscapes, tropical fauna, and the sky. I would consider my style maximalist for sure. I have also always been inspired by horror movies and the alternative, punk and goth scenes. Musically I listen to a lot of synth/electronica, alt rock, new wave, pop, alt rnb/hip hop.
What do you love about coffee? Describe your daily coffee ritual.
I fell into the coffee scene almost 10 years ago, working primarily as a barista. I love the coffee scene as a community in general. Cafes are an important hub in many people's social lives, and serve as a remote office for many. I always enjoyed getting to know customers, and learning the rich history and culture surrounding coffee. At home, we French press our coffee the night before. The first thing I do every morning is fire up a cup of coffee in the microwave (Norandino is my favorite, followed by Coast) and add a little oat milk to cut the acidity and bring out flavor notes. I'm also really liking Bold Glory and Revel these days.
Why did you partner with Higher Grounds on creating the t-shirt design?
Originally, Chris (Higher Grounds’ owner) noticed me drawing on my iPad on my lunch break and found some of my art on my Instagram. He expressed interest in having me do an illustration for a t-shirt for the cafe. I have done a bit of design work for my band over the years, but mostly photography-based, so I downloaded Illustrator for the first time and just hoped it wouldn't be too dissimilar to Photoshop which I'm more familiar with. It was a great opportunity to try something ambitious and new to me, and definitely a cool learning experience to add to my roster.
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But don’t worry! For the holiday season, we’ve put together our 2021 specialty coffee gift guide, which can make the experience of buying that perfect thoughtful coffee gift much easier. Anything from this list of specialty coffee staples is sure to put a smile on someone’s face.
Let’s take a look!
If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to leave a specialty coffee lover happy, well, it’s coffee.
One of the best things about coffee is its diversity. With that in mind, one of our favorite options for this holiday season is our Organic Apex Cariño Blend, which is a finalist for the 2022 Good Food Awards.
Cariño, which is Spanish for “sweetheart,”was originally designed specifically for espresso but works well in other brew methods too. It is composed of honey- and natural-processed coffees from Honduras, Peru, and Ethiopia.
Despite its name, this type of processing doesn’t involve any actual honey from bees. Instead, it gets its name from a sticky layer that coats the bean called “mucilage.” This is often removed, but for honey processing, leaving it on imparts more sugar into the bean as it dries.
For our Apex Cariño Blend, this means a sweet and complex flavor, with notes of black cherries and honey. This blend also has a delicious and creamy mouthfeel that lingers on the tongue.
We want to help bring coffee lovers new things, which is why we launched the HG Sampler. This is a selection of our best-selling coffees, spanning a range of roast profiles and paying tribute to some of our longest-running coffee sourcing relationships.
In the box, you’ll find three coffees: 6oz of our Funky Mamacita, 6oz of our Highland Humanity, and 6oz of our Justice blend. For a great holiday exercise, you can try cupping them side by side and talk about which you prefer!
The ever-iconic Chemex is an excellent gift for anyone who loves pour over coffee. Although it has a relatively modern appearance, this brewer has in fact been in production since 1941.
Designed by the German chemist Dr. Peter Schlumbohm, the Chemex brews a clean, nuanced cup. This remarkable cleanliness is in part attributed to the filters used by the brewer. They are 20 to 30% thicker than other paper filters, meaning they retain more oils and solids, keeping them out of your cup.
As well as brewing a delicious cup of coffee, the Chemex also looks gorgeous on any kitchen counter. So gorgeous, in fact, that it’s actually part of permanent collections in some museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Smithsonian.
Simply put, the Hario V60 is a must-have brewing device for any home barista. Launched in Japan in 2004, its name references its V shape and the 60° angle of its cone.
At launch, the V60 was only offered in ceramic and glass, but today plastic and metal models are also available. Some experts actually prefer plastic, as they believe it retains more heat throughout the brew.
We recommend that you pair it with a quality gooseneck kettle to create the perfect pour over gift hamper.
The Baratza Encore is the perfect entry-level grinder for those looking to add to their home coffee setup.
With 40 different grind settings, it can be easily adjusted for any brewing method, whether fine for espresso or coarser for immersion brewers such as the French press.
Thanks to its small design, the Encore is also great if you don’t have loads of kitchen space. It can sit in most cabinets or slide in near other appliances, for instance.
The Hario Skerton Pro is perfect if you love brewing coffee on the go. Its compact and durable design make it suitable to use both at home and outdoors, as it can easily slot into a suitcase or a backpack. Furthermore, its ceramic conical burrs ensure a precise, uniform grind every time.
The Skerton can also be adjusted for a range of grind sizes. If you are looking to pair it with another gift, a great match would be a portable brewer like the AeroPress.
What’s better than one bag of coffee? A monthly supply of it!
For the holiday season, we’re currently offering three and six months of our coffee subscriptions, so you can give someone you love the gift of coffee – for a while.
With those two pre-paid subscription packages, you can choose from four curated collections: Roaster's Choice, Signature Blends, Single Origins, or the Higher Grounds Apex Series. (Shipping costs are included!)
Signature Blends: our most popular offerings, where we combine coffees from two or three different countries or regions to create distinctive profiles
Single Origins: coffees from one single producer cooperative within one country, such as Mexican Maya Vinic, our flagship product
Apex Series: our most unique, special, and top-quality coffees, often from single farmers
Roaster's Choice: the coffees our team is loving most right now
If a subscription isn't right for you, just choose a bag or two to share. Justice and Maya Vinic are two of our favorites.
Our Organic Justice Light-Medium is our take on a breakfast blend. With flavor notes of vanilla and citrus, this blend combines a smooth Guatemalan coffee with a complex, delicious Ethiopian.
For a more chocolaty option, try Organic Mexican Maya Vinic. It’s one of our flagship coffees and represents our long-lasting friendship with the Maya Vinic co-operative in Chiapas, Mexico. In the cup, you can expect notes of cinnamon and roasted nuts, along with a balanced mouthfeel.
Whether big or small, a festive gift is a simple way of reminding your loved ones that you’re thinking of them. Plus, you can rest easy knowing that they’ll be drinking better coffee!
What are you waiting for? Buy them something special today!
]]>Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reducing inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.
B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The values and aspirations of the B Corp community are embedded in the B Corp Declaration of Independence:
We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good. This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation - the B Corporation - Which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. As B Corporations and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe:
B Corp Certification doesn’t just evaluate a product or service; it assesses the overall positive impact of the company that stands behind it. And increasingly that’s what people care most about.
Certified B Corporations achieve a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment - a rigorous assessment of a company’s impact on its workers, customers, community, and environment - and make their B Impact Report transparent on bcorporation.net. Certified B Corporations also amend their legal governing documents to require their board of directors to balance profit and purpose.
The combination of their-party validation, public transparency, and legal accountability help Certified B Corps build trust and value. B Corp Certification is administered by the non-profit B Lab.
Higher Grounds has been proudly certified as a B Corporation since January of 2016 with a current score of 90.5.
Higher Grounds believes that truly sustainable specialty coffee begins with and returns to growers, whose wellbeing is the heart of coffee quality. Through sales of organic, fairly traded coffee; community projects; and origin delegations, Higher Grounds offers coffee drinkers the opportunity to directly benefit producer communities.
Exceptional coffee is produced within a circle that begins with and returns to farmers at origin. When coffee professionals focus on the wellbeing of individuals all along the supply chain, the sustainability of the entire cycle is improved. The greatest potential for impact is a coffee origin, where producers face challenges mostly unseen by consumers of their product; poverty, lack of clean water access, severely limited educational opportunities. If the entire specialty coffee industry saw quality through a lens that also illuminated the realities of life as a coffee farmer, those realities could be improved for more of the individual responsible for our daily cup. When efforts are focused equally on sustainability AND quality, everyone involved benefits.
Each year, B Lab releases lists honoring the top-performing Certified B Corps in each impact area and overall, broken down by size, on the annual Best for the World List. Higher Grounds is proud to have been selected as Best for the World Community Honoree for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Communities help businesses flourish, and Higher Grounds ensures that their communities flourish too. As a Best For The World: Community honoree, Higher Grounds believes that success should be shared. To receive this recognition, Higher Grounds has scored in the top 10% of all B Corps globally in the category for our efforts in our community, including their charitable giving, investment in diversity, and education opportunities that they provide.
Learn more by visiting: https://www.highergroundstrading.com/pages/bcorp
Or check out our certification page here: https://bcorporation.net/directory/higher-grounds-trading-company]]>While this can be intimidating for the inexperienced, starting out by investing in high-quality equipment is a great first step. The tools at your disposal will dictate how well you’re able to brew coffee, and they will provide you with the basis to practice and hone your craft.
Here are a few tips for improving your home coffee setup to brew the best possible cup.
There’s an almost endless range of coffee brewing methods out there to choose from, and each one has its own unique characteristics. To start with, pick one that suits your tastes. This means thinking about the flavor profiles you enjoy in your coffee.
For a clean and mellow profile, percolation or pour over brewing methods like the Hario V60, Fellow Stagg X, and the Chemex are excellent options. If you want something heavier, immersion methods like the Clara French press or the AeroPress enhance the mouthfeel of a cup. Meanwhile, the Clever Dripper offers something of a middle ground between these two distinctive styles.
Experimenting with different brewing methods is also a good idea. Each has its own unique characteristics and will give coffee a unique and distinctive flavor.
After choosing a brewing method, you’ll want to take a closer look at the rest of your coffee setup. While it might require a little investment, buying quality equipment will make a huge difference to the end result.
To maximize freshness, you should always buy whole bean coffee and grind it fresh for each cup.
There are two main types of grinder: burr and blade. The difference is in the name: blade grinders use blades to slice and chop the beans, while burr grinders use burrs to crush and shear them.
Although they are much more affordable, blade grinders are often less consistent. This means you’ll end up with much more variance in the size of your particles, and subsequently causes extraction to become less even.
On the other hand, burr grinders, like the Hario Skerton pictured above, are more consistent and precise. This means that your extraction will be more even when you brew, resulting in a more balanced flavor.
While it might not seem that important, using a high-quality kettle can actually make a huge difference when brewing coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association sets out some exacting guidelines for water quality and temperature, as both factors affect extraction and final cup profile. We like the Hario Buono for an electric version as well as the stovetop-friendly Fellow Raven for its versatility and sleek lines.
Temperature-controlled kettles are preferable, but they are also more costly. They offer the advantage of allowing you to control temperature down to the degree (between 198°F and 202°F is best).
Whether you go for a temperature-controlled model or not, it’s still worth investing in a gooseneck kettle. Thanks to their long, thin, curved spout, these kettles produce a gentler, more accurate stream of water.
This means a more precise pour, which allows you to control flow rate and overall brew time to get the best out of your coffee.
Coffee-to-water ratios are important. This means that you should accurately measure the amount of water and coffee you use when brewing.
To do so, invest in a scale like this CJ-4000 digital version for weighing your beans as well as pouring water into your brewer. This will ensure that you are consistent, and remove any guesswork from the process of brewing coffee – eliminating imprecision and any margin for error. (Bonus: a scale comes in handy for other kitchen tasks like baking as well!)
Although it isn’t strictly a piece of equipment, your brewing water is not something that should not be overlooked.
At a microscopic level, tap water contains many different contaminants and minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium. The exact levels vary depending upon your area, and will affect the final cup profile if they are too high or too low.
As a general rule, you should look to use clean and odorless filtered water. You should be able to find water hardness testing strips at your local hardware store. These will tell you whether your tap water is suitable for brewing or not. If not, consider investing in a filter jug – you’ll find it makes a surprising difference.
Roasted coffee is volatile, and over time it loses its freshness, vibrancy, and aroma. Maximizing freshness is important if you want to enjoy your coffee at its absolute best.
Coffee’s greatest enemies are oxygen, moisture, heat, and light. As such, keeping your beans in a dark, dry, and cool place--like the MiiR airtight canister pictured above--will help to preserve their flavor.
It’s also important to note that retail packaging sometimes isn’t ideal for long-term storage. The best thing to do is buy from a roaster that ships coffee in airtight bags with degassing valves, but if not, you can also store beans in other hermetically sealed containers – like mason jars, for instance.
No matter how good your coffee brewing setup is, there’s always one limiting factor: the coffee you buy.
To brew the best cup you can, look for high-quality specialty coffee beans from roasters (like HG! but of course there are others!) who commit to ethical sourcing practices.
It’s also worth remembering that coffee is diverse. There are many different origins, varieties, roasts, and processing methods to choose from, and all of these have their own impact on flavor.
For instance, if you’re looking for bold or earthy flavors, try a medium-dark roast, like our Funky Mamacita. If brightness and clarity with a little sweetness is what you’re after, our organic light-medium Justice blend has notes of vanilla and citrus.
Whichever coffee you choose, remember that it's also important to be informed about how it got to you. The best coffees don’t just benefit you, they benefit those at origin, too. Look for beans that have been sourced ethically and purchased at a fair price.
Making a great cup of coffee can be complicated, but it’s not as daunting as it might seem at first glance.
By improving your home brewing setup, you’ll be able to prepare coffee with more precision and consistency – meaning that it tastes better when you drink it.
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The “Raven” Stovetop Kettle
The “Clara” French Press
The “Stagg X” Pour Over System
We also have their “Carter Move” mug, featuring artwork by local artist Em Randall! Let's get into it…
Starting with the Clara: At Higher Grounds, we love manual brewing. We love the control we have over the outcome and the delicate flavors of the end result. A clean cup of coffee is important to us. The Clara French press has everything you love about a typical French press, but with more flair, more delicacy, and it’s clean.
Let's start with the mesh filter, the bread and butter of any French press. The one we find on the Clara is particularly fine and durable. This opens up more grind possibilities and helps keep your coffee a little bit cleaner during the final press. A second filtration system during the pour catches anything that might slip past. The coffee brewed is still smooth and robust, just cleaner and more refined.
She has a 24oz capacity, plenty for two to three people to enjoy a delicious cup. Maybe you're brewing for yourself though and that sounds like a lot? Not to worry. The Clara is incredibly well insulated and, in my personal testing of the device, I was able to enjoy hot coffee with it for the full duration of my morning routine. Only my third cup had a noticeable heat drop off, but it was still hot. For reference, my routine incorporates two to three cups (depending on drinkware size).
In a two hour time frame, the Clara kept my coffee hot and fresh.
Last of all, the clean up: my biggest gripe with a French press is cleaning it. Most presses have either a glass or clear plastic body that inevitably tarnishes with time. The mesh filters usually detach into a few relatively fragile and lose-able parts, or worse yet, don’t come apart at all. As I said before, the mesh filter on the Clara is strong. It cleans up very easily and is dishwasher safe. The body of the Clara itself is an insulated stainless steel with a PFOA-free non-stick coating. It is not dishwasher safe, but it doesn’t need to be. Leftover grounds fall right out. A few swipes with a soft, soapy sponge and a quick rinse is all this French press needs.
Next, the Stagg X Pour Over Set:
Unboxing this pour over, I was greeted by a very hefty device indeed. The Stagg X is an all-metal beast of a brewer that feels like it will outlast the ever changing world around it.
Composed of three different and totally essential parts: The brewer itself, a drip tray that doubles as a relatively accurate dosing tool, and a funnel for grounds that doubles as an adapter for different receptacles. We’ll get into the brewer in a second, but I was surprised at the usability and functionality of its accessories. The drip tray invites you to enjoy mess-free coffee brewing, but before you even get there, it has two levels of dots inside for dosing coffee. The first dot is supposed to be 20g, the second is 40g. Now, the professional in me cannot help but insist that you get a scale for coffee, but in a pinch I found this dosing tray to be pretty accurate and totally usable.
The funnel is great; it keeps things mess free and allows the Stagg X to seal onto most cups/carafes. It’s worth noting that these things all clamp onto the bottom of the Stagg X when not in use, keeping all of its accessories safe and secure in one place. This pour over system is...dead simple. It is clean, effective, and consistent. This seems to be a trend with Fellow’s whole line as best as I can tell.
The first thing that stuck out to me was the speed of the pour over. My pour over recipe with a traditional V60 is typically a six minute brew time. On the Fellow Stagg, I’ve been making the same recipe in roughly three minutes. In blind taste tests I conducted throughout the company, most of my coworkers preferred the Fellow or could not detect a notable difference between the Stagg and the V60. I repeated this test with a few of my favorite coffees, namely our seasonal Revel blend and our Miriam Betty Perez Honduran Microlot, all with relatively consistent results and the variables that I expected. It left me with an obvious question: Why am I getting similar results in less time?
I attribute this to a few things:
Okay, maybe that last one is a little hokey; I can’t find other reviewers pointing this out. I still think it’s worth mentioning. Regardless of the why and how, this discovery made me feel like I had an incredibly wide berth in which to experiment. Where I found myself pushing the V60 to its limits, the Stagg encouraged me to try different things. I ended grinding the coffee a little finer, making slightly heavier pours. I now find myself enjoying a cup of our Miriam, beautifully extracted over a 3:45 brew time on the dot.
As far as the flavor, the tasting notes seem to be more easily discernible and the aftertaste seems to be more pleasant on average. The coffee I’ve been brewing with the Stagg X seems to have a thicker body and mouthfeel than the other pour over methods available to me for testing (excluding full immersion methods like French press, aeropress, etc). One major advantage is that the construction of the Stagg yields a hotter cup of coffee. Its metal walls retain heat in droves, whereas its glass compatriots leak it in every direction and at every opportunity.
Ultimately, this pour over set is opening doors for me and it is exciting. I am experimenting again and it has honestly been fun. I can’t wait to keep going with it and I can’t recommend the product to you enough, dear reader. If you want an addition to your coffee bar that brews as good as it looks, the Stagg X is definitely for you.
The Raven:
This kettle is interesting and surprising. As a local adult, I feel like space is important. Quality, multi-purpose items that do the job of two or three different things are hard to come by and highly valued whenever I do. Behold, the Raven kettle from Fellow.
This kettle has a built-in tea basket that is well made and easy to clean. Most importantly, it works. When brewing tea, I recommend pouring heating water in a different vessel (go ahead and use the thermometer built into the Raven’s lid to check your temp). Insert the tea basket in the Raven, put the desired amount of tea into the basket, and pour your water in. Place the lid in and wait. When ready, you will be greeted to a delicious two or three cups of tea with an easy clean up.
This kettle is also a decent pour over option. No, it’s not as specialized as a goose neck kettle, but its performance is surprisingly good, and if you don’t have a cupboard dedicated to different kettles for different purposes, I find the Raven easy to recommend. The thermometer built into the top is accurate and has coffee-friendly temperature readings. Remove the tea basket, fill it to the desired amount with water, and set the Raven on the stove. When your water is the right temperature, prepare for a pretty reasonable pouring experience. The kettle's spout comes to a very fine point and, thanks to its counterbalanced handle, controlling the water stream is a relatively simple task. If you’ve never used a gooseneck kettle, the difference will be revolutionary. If you have, with some minor technique changes you’ll be brewing in no time. Also, I’m not going to lie, I definitely heated water with this kettle to cook some Top Ramen with. Worked like a charm.
In line with the rest of Fellow’s products, the sheer quality of this kettle is second to none. Just like the others, it is easy to clean and will look incredibly attractive on anyone’s coffee bar. And, as I said at the beginning of this review, this kettle does it all. If I can use one tool to make three of my favorite things, I call that a win.
Thank you for sticking around for this brief-ish look at our new merch! These can be picked up on our website and at our cafe, where we would love to discuss these (or any of our brewing equipment) further with you! From myself and everyone else at Higher Grounds Trading Company, we wish you happy holidays!
--Vincent
]]>My name is May Erlewine, and I'm a songwriter, performer, and producer. I use my music to serve the community.
Why / how did you become an artist, and what inspires your art?
I believe we all have a lot of creative energy inside of us. I was encouraged to spend a lot of time with my creative self early in life and when I found songwriting, I felt a deep connection to that craft. I think I found it so meaningful because it is all about telling stories. I am inspired by everything and everyone around me and I try to practice the art of noticing. I use the observations of life to create songs that speak to our human experience.
What do you love about coffee? Describe your daily coffee ritual.
I love coffee because it is a ritual. Of course the flavors and the smell and the consumption are a wonderful thing, but the act of greeting the morning and taking time to brew a beautiful cup is something that is really fulfilling to my soul. I love a clean cup of coffee and I use the Chemex to create it.
Why did you partner with Higher Grounds to create Shine On Blend?
I travel a lot and enjoy many different coffees and appreciate many roasters all over the world. In all of my journeys, I've never seen a company that cares about the coffee farmers and the regions they live in more than Higher Grounds. It is a serious relationship that goes beyond the fair trade of the coffee bean for the dollar. Through the On the Ground organization, Higher Grounds creates opportunities for real conversation, collaboration and solidarity between the farmer and the consumer. Of course I love HG and they are my neighborhood coffee bar, but this relationship goes far beyond my morning latte and I'm really grateful to be a small part of their big work.
Shine On Blend is a Higher Grounds Coffee for Change supporting Title Track and racial justice education in Michigan. Check out our full line of Coffees for Change here, and for more with the amazing May Erlewine, please find some additional resources below:
See our previous blog posts with May to learn more about the collaboration: https://www.highergroundstrading.com/blogs/news/higher-grounds-and-may-erlewine-present-shine-on
Scroll down through this Stateside episode to find an interview with May and our co-founder Chris: https://www.michiganradio.org/stateside/2021-04-19/stateside-agri-biz-update-shine-on-coffee-illegal-dumping-freep-on-b-1-1-7]]>My name is Em, and I’m an illustrator and painter here in Traverse City.
Why and how did you become an artist, and what inspires your art?
I’ve been creating art in some form of another my whole life, which was always encouraged by my family (very lucky!). So in many ways it feels like there has never been an alternative path, or one that didn’t involve me utilizing my only-child-pretending-to-be-a-horse-in-the-backyard imagination in some way.
I’m heavily inspired by folklore and object symbolism, shapes and forms in nature, snippets of dialogue from movies and books. There’s a running list!
What do you love about coffee? Describe your daily coffee ritual.
Dang there is so much to love about coffee. I love that it’s something so common yet so different depending on where you are in the world. That we all honor it and define it differently, and that from soil to cup there are so many individuals who interact with the process. I love that there is an endless amount of things to learn about it and that I basically know nothing.
In my little corner of the world coffee is synonymous with taking a moment and putting the nonsense on pause. The daily ritual includes a morning cup, and then a strategic second cup that I plan within my day where I know I can sit and relax and not have to be darting to the next thing. I’m all about the cozy coffee time.
Why did you partner with Higher Grounds on creating the design?
The intimate and intentional way in which Higher Grounds sources coffee and fosters relationships with the farmers is something I view as really special and unique. So when I was approached about doing this design, with the request to depict a coffee farm in some way, it felt like a really great opportunity to honor those roots of the business.
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I’m actually in this category myself, at least when it comes to at-home sipping. For folks who just want to prepare a single cup of coffee at a time, for reasons ranging from living solo to simply being the sole coffee drinker in the household, we have some excellent brew pots for single-cup coffee preparation:
Clever: $34. Brew time: 4 minutes. Result: A smooth, full-bodied cup with zero fuss.
AeroPress: $30. Brew time: 1-2 minutes. Result: depending upon your recipe, you can achieve a result that ranges from espresso-like to a standard filter brew. We like to brew a short concentrate, then add water for an Americano, milk for a latte, or sip straight up.
Fellow Stagg: $69. Brew time: 5+ minutes. Result: akin to auto-drip, with a clean mouthfeel and plenty of nuanced character. (Pictured in headline photo above.)
For brewing more than just one cup but less than a whole pot, my favorite method is the 40-oz Chemex ($46). A bit more labor intensive than a French press (since it requires a slower, more precise pour of hot water over the grounds), the Chemex method boasts a cleaner result, because it filters out the sediment and heavy oils that remain in French-pressed coffee. Those who are used to traditional auto-drip brewing will enjoy the Chemex.
40-oz Chemex: $46. Brew time: 5-7 minutes. Result: a nuanced cup with a clean mouthfeel.
32-oz Fellow Clara French press: $99. Brew time: 5 minutes. Result: a bold, viscous brew.
When I need larger quantities of java, I go for as big a batch as I can squeeze out of the largest Chemex, dosing 50 grams of coffee (coarsely ground) and 800 grams of water. This ratio will produce about four small cups, and that way, folks can enjoy their coffee fresh and hot while I brew up a second batch.
I also like the Bonavita batch brewer, but unfortunately it's currently out of stock as the manufacturer is having supply issues. Hopefully we can restock soon! One of a handful of SCA-certified home brewers, the Bonavita is simple to use and brews an excellent cup. It’ll brew eight servings in about five minutes, directly into an insulated serving carafe.
For any and all of these folks, accessories beyond the brewpots make great gifts as well. My favorite from the HG collection is the MiiR canister ($29.95), a brushed-stainless storage vessel designed to keep air and light away from your beans. The MiiR has two covers: one inside, to press down onto the surface of the coffee, and another airtight lid on top. This canister lengthens the freshness of those ever-sensitive beans.
If you don’t have any coffee-obsessed friends, then go ahead and categorize yourself. Got it? Good: now you know what to put at the top of your own wish list.
--Jennifer
]]>The COMSA cooperative is located in Marcala, Honduras. Through ownership of our importer, Cooperative Coffees, Higher Grounds has been purchasing large FTO lots from COMSA since 2014 for a few of our signature blends. So when we had the opportunity to purchase small lots from individual farmers within COMSA, uniquely-processed and cared for within their microlot program, we were thrilled. Each year since 2016, we have selected microlots from a handful of individual COMSA producers, who passionately work together and support each other to produce exceptional coffees. This year, Karla Portillo's honey processed lot stood out among the rest, and we're thrilled that it has been recognized with this prestigious designation.
Finca Planeta Verde, Karla Portillo's farm, was established in 2015 as a family project with a clear objective: to process high quality organic coffee in harmony with nature. As a fair trade certified farm, Planeta Verde ensures that all workers are treated equitably and compensated fairly.
Our director of coffee, Jennifer, spoke with Karla about her farm. Karla says, “The farm project is about being friendly with nature, respect for the environment is paramount, specifically with the care of fauna, birds […and] bees.” Karla’s farm also has a social project specifically to support families in her community with clothing. 2021 was her first year producing a microlot, and with the extra income from that, she hopes to expand the support she can provide for school supplies in her community as well. Further, she shared that her area is characterized by an abundance of birds, and they plant fruit and ornamental trees so that the birds can come to the farm “to eat fruit and live happily. In other words,” she said, “birds live freely, not in captivity.”
Jennifer also asked her about any special projects she was working on.
“A social project that is always done specifically is to support some families with clothing,” she said. “This year is the first time that we sell coffee in microlots, and with this support we hope to improve the bird project and support with school supplies in the community where the farm is located. Social support is mainly done with the farm's collaborators.
“Our area is characterized by the abundance of birds and birds. What we do is plant fruit and ornamental trees so that they can come to the farm to eat fruit and live happily. In other words, birds live freely, not in captivity. [Our coffee] is certified organic.”
The profile of this cup is something special, characteristic of strawberry-rhubarb streusel and wildflower honey. We enjoy it most using a 16:1 ratio of water to coffee, brewed through a well-rinsed paper filter, in a method like Hario V60 or Chemex to bring out all the subtle nuances and highlight its silky body. You can enjoy Karla’s coffee as part of our trio gift set of female Honduran producers, along with small lots from Irma Garcia and Miriam Perez, both of whom are Karla’s fellow members of the COMSA cooperative.
Carino is a blend that we originally designed to be prepared as espresso, but as it turns out tastes delightful when brewed pretty much any way you like! Sweet, juicy, and fruit-forward, Carino (which is an endearing term in Spanish meaning “sweetheart” or “honey”) is a blend of honey- and natural-processed coffees. These processes, which happen very near where the coffee is grown and harvested, involve leaving some of the coffee fruit on the seed throughout fermentation and drying, resulting in a heavier body and more prominent sweetness in the final cup. We used to feature Carino as a seasonal product, but we’ve fallen so hard for it that we’ve decided to keep it in our lineup year round, altering the blend with different honey- and natural-processed coffees as needed to maintain its berry-sweet character. Currently we’re using coffees from Honduras, Peru, and Ethiopia.
Be sure to include these exceptional coffees on your Christmas gift list!
]]>Veteran-focused and organized to overcome challenges and build partnerships, Northern Michigan for Veterans is a non-profit, volunteer organization intent on improving support to veterans and their families, while attracting veterans to the region. Via advocacy and outreach, Northern Michigan for Veterans aims to ensure that northern Michigan fulfills its tradition of service and commitment to all veterans and their families.
Northern Michigan for Veterans' goal is to improve access to healthcare, education services, and job opportunities for veterans and attract veterans to northern Michigan to strengthen the labor force and leverage their skills to advance their careers, contribute to the local economy, and meet business needs by filling jobs.
Keep up to date with Northern Michigan for Veterans updates as well as National, State, and Regional veteran news by visiting their website here: https://www.northernmichiganforveterans.org/]]>Since their beginning in 1995 as the Michigan Land Use Institute, Groundwork has been giving people an opportunity to create the Michigan they want to see, protecting the environment, strengthening the economy, and building thriving communities. Today changes are taking place that will define the future of our communities for decades to come. We can either accept what heads our way or be intentional by engaging with innovative, principled ideas, and inspired work. We can trust our hope and create optimistic solutions that shape a bright tomorrow for our people, communities, and environment. At Higher Grounds and at Groundwork, we believe that we—all of us as a community—have no choice but to take action, from the ground up.
Farm to School is a name for a system in which schools purchase food from local farmers. The name highlights the direct connection and hints at the nutritional and economic value of the relationship. The most direct benefit of Farm to School is that locally grown food arrives at the school as fresh as possible, and that means it contains the greatest nutrient quality for children. Research has shown that food higher in nutrients can lead to better brain development and increased learning—upping the odds for brighter futures for kids. Healthier food also addresses head-on the dangerous diet-related childhood diseases the United States faces today, the kinds of diseases that threaten to bankrupt our medical system.
Schools that have farm to school purchasing typically increase their food health education, aiming to instill healthy shopping, cooking, and eating habits throughout life. When schools purchase directly from local farms, the farmers tap into a stable revenue stream that is most active during a typically lean time for farmers—the school year. Financial stability is essential for keeping farms in farming, and keeping their land beautiful and safe from development.
Groundwork was an early advocate for farm to school purchasing in Michigan, and we trace our involvement back nearly two decades. At the dawn of the movement, they consulted with school food directors and superintendents and helped secure grants for early programs. They've also been instrumental in developing class curriculum, planting school gardens, and improving the cooking capacity of school kitchens, all with the intent of creating a broader healthy food culture in schools to create healthy lives while also supporting family farms.
To learn more about Groundwork’s Farm To School, visit: https://www.groundworkcenter.org/farm-to-school/
To participate in our fundraising campaign, purchase Harvest Blend to donate $5 to Groundwork here: https://www.highergroundstrading.com/collections/signature-blends/products/harvest-fall-blend
]]>Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, in-person events around the world have been forced to adapt and move online; this has been the case for seminars and workshops to coffee cuppings and concerts.
However, while restrictions are slowly being eased around the world and more in-person events are going ahead, virtual events are still popular.
The digital events sector was valued at $78 million in 2019, and is projected to grow by around 23% a year between 2020 and 2027. Furthermore, a LinkedIn report claims that some 45% of all future B2B events could be held virtually.
So, how can coffee businesses benefit from this change? And if you’re planning a virtual event, what should you consider? Keep reading to find out more.
Although virtual events might not offer the same face-to-face experience we’re used to, they do have a range of benefits.
May Erlewine is one of the Midwest's most prolific singer-songwriters, and a Higher Grounds partner for the Shine On blend. As with many musicians, she was forced to “go digital” when the pandemic came to the US.
”I have performed virtually every week since April 2020,” May says. “I just finally ended my weekly livestream last month, and am now offering a concert once a month to my Patreon members.
Their benefits have also been realized in the coffee sector. The Specialty Coffee Association held its own conferences through 2020, including High Density and the Coffee Retail Summit. Training sessions, coffee cuppings, and educational workshops also switched to become virtual, with both customers and speakers alike enjoying this newfound flexibility.
For a coffee business, there are a number of reasons you might want to host a virtual event, even after you’ve started the process of reopening your premises.
Read on to learn more about a few of them.
Virtual events can be a great option for businesses looking to host a more flexible, cost-effective event.
When you’re hosting a webinar, training course, or an online coffee cupping, you can cut your costs significantly. Staff, venue rental, accommodation, food, and travel all become less prominent. The biggest investment as far as your event is concerned will be finding a suitable platform.
You’ll also end up saving a lot of time on event logistics. However, keep in mind that virtual events also demand time for organization, setup, coordinating any speakers, and other similar tasks.
By hosting a virtual event with an open registration policy, you can easily “go global” and reach a wider, more global audience. In the coffee sector, this means opening yourself up to people at both ends of the supply chain – at origin and in consuming countries.
The ease of participating in an online event also means attendance can be higher. The logistics involved with physically gathering people in one place are a lot more complex, and the capacity for attendees can be effectively unlimited.
Virtual events can be a lot more flexible than in-person events, which opens them up to changes. Whether you’re hosting a coffee cupping, a live music session, an educational course, or webinar, you can fine-tune the format to suit your needs.
For instance, if you’re inviting people who speak different languages, you can add translation options, This then means that more attendees or speakers, regardless of their country of origin, can join the event and understand the content.
These benefits mean that hosting a virtual event is a practical option for many businesses. Irrespective of the pandemic, virtual events can serve as a convenient way to engage with the global coffee community and bring everyone together.
No matter what you’re hosting, however, any event – online or otherwise – will require meticulous planning and preparation. See below for a few key factors you will need to consider.
Managing these parameters appropriately is crucial to any event. Whether your attendees will be local or global, you will need to consider the right date, time, and duration for your event.
Ask yourself a few key questions: will the event be part of the attendees’ working day? Would they want to give up their evenings? Will it be live, or pre-recorded?
Another point to think about is structure. Is this a collaborative discussion after a coffee cupping? A workshop or a lecture? A conference or a roundtable? Think about the type of content you want to share and what degree of interaction you want to see.
Remember: joining virtual events is easy, but so is leaving. As such, your content really needs to step up and keep people interested.
Which platform will your event take place on? After more than a year of lockdown, there are many options to choose from, but some are more suitable for certain types of virtual events than others.
Depending on the size of the event, you might want to choose anything from a specialist digital platform to an established social media channel like Instagram.
Last but no least, remember that you will still need to market and promote the event. It’s a good idea to ramp up your online presence prior to the event. Build up your social media channels accordingly; use them to promote the event and to keep people engaged during it.
However, events are often great sources for other kinds of content. For instance, you can easily write up a blog post or article about the event, and share clips on your social media channels.
Engaging with customers and staying relevant in the industry is not always easy. However, through virtual events, coffee shops can ramp up their brand awareness and drive long-term engagement.
While the need for in-person interaction will always exist, the pandemic has fundamentally changed how we connect with others. It’s likely that we’ll see more and more in-person events returning, but it’s also clear that virtual events aren’t going anywhere.
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