This month we’ve released a Limited Oxygen process coffee from Ethiopia. It has a unique flavor profile, one that gains more meaning when you understand the science behind limiting oxygen. Let’s dive in.
WHAT IS A LIMITED OXYGEN COFFEE?
There’s no fluff in the name—a limited oxygen coffee is simply a coffee that had its oxygen limited at a specific point. The coffee faces oxygen limitation during the fermentation stage before drying. In this case, whole, ripe coffee cherries are placed in sealed containers, where natural fermentation produces carbon dioxide that forces oxygen out of the container, thereby limiting the oxygen that the coffee cherries are exposed to. Once the limited oxygen fermentation is complete, whole cherries are laid out on raised beds to dry. This Ethiopia coffee is a natural process coffee with a limited oxygen fermentation stage.
WHY LIMIT THE OXYGEN?
Each step in the processing of coffee affects the end result. From how the cherries are sorted, to whether or not they’re pulped or how long they’re dried, there’s a host of variables that coffee processors work with to achieve a cup of coffee with the flavor profile their sellers are looking for. In the case of limited oxygen, it’s a step that distills the clarity of the natural fruit flavors found in the coffee cherry. By including the limited oxygen fermentation stage, we can achieve clean and clear fruit notes that are not found in other processing methods. With this Ethiopia, that means delicate notes like tea rose, tangerine and nectar can emerge with a soft, citric acidity.
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER TYPES OF COFFEE PROCESSES?
For context, there are three most commonly used types of coffee processing: natural, washed and honey. Limited oxygen processing is still quite novel and experimental, and it is done as an add-on during a process.
In a natural process coffee, whole coffee cherries are dried right after being picked, without removal of any part of the cherry. A washed process coffee will have the skin of the coffee cherry and most of the mucilage around the coffee bean removed via a quick fermentation that helps slough off the mucilage when the beans are washed. A honey process coffee is when the skin of the cherry is removed, but most of the mucilage remains during the drying process. Varying amounts of mucilage can be left, resulting in a range of white honey (most pulp removed), yellow honey, red honey or black honey (most pulp remaining) coffees from this process.
For limited oxygen coffees, each coffee producer has to run calculated tests to determine the extent of oxygen-limiting. Too long, and it will be a coffee you don’t want to drink. We’re thrilled to be a part of the experimental wave; the producers on this Ethiopia definitely have their limited oxygen formula down.
]]>Have you ever had a cup of coffee so great, it began to seem like something more than just coffee? We get it. At DOMA Coffee Roasting Company, we think of craft coffee as a journey, possibly one capable of true enlightenment. We're on the search for the perfect coffee.
Do we expect to find perfection? Not really. Perfection is an illusion. But there’s something beautiful in the searching. Like looking for the perfect summer, the perfect loaf of sourdough bread, or the perfect trail. The good news? The more searching we do, the more awesome coffee you get to drink.
Journeys are about people. At the heart of it, so is coffee. As we open ourselves up to epic learning, we work hard to roast notable craft coffee, the stuff loved by grandmas and coffee geeks alike, the cup of coffee you can’t help but get lost in for a while. Turns out, there’s a roast setting for that.
What lights you up? What keeps you searching? That’s what we want DOMA Coffee to inspire in you. We use our business to cheer on fellow humans in their journey to do good in the world. We support artists and local cyclists. We bike, hike, ski, party and value fresh water and fresh air. We give to the Spokane Riverkeeper, Kootenai Environmental Alliance, Zion National Park and Protect Our Winters. We work to buy much of our coffee direct trade, which makes life better for everyone.
For us, coffee is life. Because the search for good coffee is the search for a good life. We'd love to share a taste of it with you.
]]>Lisa: Tell me a little bit about your journey as an artist. How did you land on this medium of acrylic art?
Cori: I've always loved creating. From cooking to building to performing in school musicals and playing an instrument, I love creative expression in any form. When COVID hit, I started expanding on some of my floral doodles at home on canvas. I had been working with watercolors and drawing bouquets for fun, but I decided to take out some of my mom's old acrylic paints she had given me and began experimenting. I freaking fell in love. It would take me so many strokes with watercolors to capture the depth and brightness that I found with acrylic paint. From there, I started looking over some of my backpacking photos and tried to capture some of the landscapes found in Western Colorado.
L: You seem well-versed in that Colorado geography! What was it like to create art for DOMA that was based on North Idaho landscape? Can you talk about the process of learning a place in order to represent it?
C: I was initially a little worried about this at first. As someone not from the area, I wanted to do my best to honor Idaho's wild, colorful, and breathtaking landscape. To begin, I asked some individuals from Idaho about what areas they thought were staples of their wild community. From these conversations, I was introduced to the Sawtooth Wilderness area and was instantly captivated by the ruggedness of the peaks and the diversity of the flora that grows there. In continuing to research, I kept coming back to El Captain and Alice Lake. It reminded me of some peaks in the San Juan Mountain range that are my absolute favorites. This location is now on my bucket list to explore, hopefully sometime in the near future.
L: On your website you write that you "wrestle with the world around you." I love that topic. Can you expand on that complexity a bit and on how it informs your art?
C: I think, for me, it’s been about acknowledging the different moments and even realities of life around me. That sometimes life is full of joy and other times it's cruel. Often, I want to deny the existence of the pain that often comes from things I don’t understand or can’t control, but ‘wrestling with the world around me’ I think just means that I’m choosing to hold space for the good and difficult. Painting has become a healthy outlet for my wrestling: when I don't have the words, when I'm unsure or tired, I can simply start to paint. My canvas is a grounding space for me to process.
L: Your pieces include amazing bright colors. For you, how might that color choice influence a viewer's understanding or idea of that land?
C: I think people might feel slightly misled by the use of my colors? I currently live in the high desert of Colorado, and a lot of it is dry, barren . . . I’ve even heard the word ‘dull’ used to describe it. Meanwhile, I tend to see and paint it in hues of bright oranges and reds. While it’s not overly realistic to what someone might immediately see, I think my colors help illuminate more of the depth and emotion behind it.
L: I love the close-up florals in so many of your paintings. Where did that idea come about? What's your philosophy behind giving the micro the front stage?
C: Growing up, my dad was (and is) a landscaper. We constantly were surrounded by flowers and greenhouses growing up. I would always notice flowers first, in any landscape or design my dad made. As I started exploring and backpacking more, I found myself still looking down and taking pictures of all the wildflowers I could find. But soon I realized how much I missed by just staring at the ground. I hated that I had to either look out and up to enjoy the mountains or choose to look down and around to enjoy the floral landscapes. I decided with painting I could hold both in one space.
L: What's your favorite way to get outdoors and what's your favorite way to take your coffee?
C: I love whitewater rafting. I've been guiding for years now in the summer and I am fully obsessed with the water. If I'm not guiding customers or friends, I'm out paddleboarding the river. Waking up and making coffee in the morning before a day on the river = *chef’s kiss.* In the winter, I love any and all things skiing. I'm hoping to do some hut trips this year with friends and family.
L: Anything else you'd like to share about your art, the process, or what's next for you as an artist?
C: Just know, if you create [art], that it may not be everyone's cup of tea. When I started selling some of my originals, I was so fearful of what others might say or think. And, sure enough, I had someone during one of my first live events pull me aside, heavily critique every aspect of one of my pieces (without me asking for feedback), and give me their beginner’s painting class business card because I seemingly had no idea what I was doing. It crushed me. I remember sitting in my car and crying. But I learned that if I put fear of rejection in front of me, then, dammit, I was never going to paint anything. The fear could be there, I just had to wrestle with it, and not let it win. In the journey, I have found people and people have found me who connect with my brush strokes and pieces. The beauty I'm learning within creating is that it doesn't have to be something everyone loves, it just has to be something I love. There will always be opinions, but the voices of others do not have to be what guide your artistic adventure.
Thank you, Cori, for your art and your time. To find more of Cori’s artwork, visit her website at coriwardartwork.com or follow her on Instagram @Cori_Ward_Artwork.
Well, after 8 years in its current state, it’s time for an expansion. Starting Monday, May 22nd we’ll be closed for one week, and then for the next few weeks while the interior transformation takes place we’ll be set up on the patio for a little spring-time outdoor coffee experience. Will it be rad? Yes. Will you be able to get the freshly roasted bags of coffee you’re used to buying in the lab? Also yes. Will you be able to peek into the windows to see the progress on the expansion? You were one of those kids that shook your presents before opening them, weren’t you? No spoilers allowed buddy. When we launch the renovated Coffee Lab, it’s gonna be a whole thing, so just stay on the lookout for our announcement of when it’s ready… you won’t want to miss it.
]]>This year’s Winter Wonderland art is an abstract take on winter. We hope it brings to mind whatever you love best about winter, or perhaps strikes a feeling of awe for the extremity of winter. We interviewed abstract artist Hanna Kuhns for her thoughts behind the art she created for this year’s label.
Hanna, a skier and trail runner, enjoys the field of abstract art as it allows her to be free and have fun with what she’s making.
“For me, abstract art is active, and I am always working to create balance within the composition,” says Hanna. “There is a feeling of freedom that comes through the movement and response to the marks that have been made. There is also a freedom from the constraints of making an image that is visually literal.”
Hanna says she’s very much in the moment when she’s creating, and cites the idea behind abstract art as put by one of her favorite artists, Helen Frankenthaler: make with the idea of “letting ‘er rip.”
To stay true to that in-the-moment process, Hanna keeps a sketchbook with ideas including notes on materials she would like to work with, but then moves fast when creating to avoid a static approach. That means sticking to her original plan doesn’t always happen.
When I was creating the image [for Winter Wonderland], I was imagining the feeling of floating on top of a fresh layer of powder, breathing in the crisp mountain air. I thought about the feeling of winter and what colors I associate with it. I was thinking about time shared with friends outside,” she says.
Each year, the DOMA Winter Wonderland label must include a tree and snowflake in some form. With abstract art, this may be a reference to the feeling of standing in a snowstorm, for example. We love the movement accomplished in Hanna’s art for this label.
Hanna works as an artist and high school art teacher, and hopes to branch out into the backcountry ski world this winter. She will continue working on a series of prints and paintings where she experiments with traditional printmaking tools used in a non-traditional way. To find more of her work, check out her Instagram account @hannakuhnsart.
This is one coffee we’ve been loving on a winter morning, and the gorgeous art from Hanna makes it great for gifting or displaying. Snag a bag of our seasonal Winter Wonderland coffee soon at your favorite DOMA retailer or on our web.
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Step 1) Remove single use plastics from your life! Think about your coffee habit—are you a coffee junkie (like me)? Do those road-side drive-thru coffee stands call your name whenever you pass? Does your favorite café speak to your heart every time you walk in? Then you should carry travel mugs with you wherever you go. In my car, I have a rotating cast of mugs and cups, sip lids and reusable straws. Some of our barista-approved favorite brands are Miir and KeepCup.
Step 2) Compost your coffee grounds and paper filters! This is an easy way to remove trash from the bin and add nutrients to your garden. Not big on composting? Try a reusable coffee filter! There are several styles, shapes, and sizes available on the market.
Step 3) Reuse your coffee containers! If you have access to a store that offers coffee in bulk, you can bring in (almost) anything you like to carry out your coffee. A great option to preserve freshness in your bulk-bought beans is with an Airscape. These containers have a one-way valve in the lid that will squish out all the air. They also look pretty sleek. Check out Airscape canisters here.
Keep being an awesome human and let us know if you have any questions about how you can be more sustainable by emailing web@domacoffee.com.
We interviewed Stasia to get to know a bit more about her work and life as an artist. Read on for the backstory on her technique, inspiration, and workshop cats.
What sparked your idea for this year’s Winter Wonderland illustration?
The last few years I’ve gotten really into foraging, mushrooms especially, and when I was told the coffee I would be creating a label for was “Winter Wonderland,” I immediately thought of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As a big lover of books, fantasy, coffee, and mushrooms, this cozy scene of an Alice-like girl in a fun wintery setting made perfect sense.
As an illustrator, what’s your method when starting a new project?
I do super rough sketches in my notebook and then tighter sketches digitally. I only recently (last year) acquired a tablet and love how easy it is to make large changes digitally.
What’s your artist origin story?
As a kid I was really shy and always occupying myself with drawing or crafting. Mama’s an artist, so creative stuff was encouraged from an early age.
You list coffee as one of the art forms you love. What did you enjoy about your collaboration with DOMA Coffee?
It’s been really great working with DOMA Coffee, mostly because of the flexibility and freedom I was given with helping to design the label. This project felt like I got to exist both in the worlds of current, adult-artist me and the child-me who could spend hours making art in “play mode.” This project was very fun and enjoyable and gave me an outlet to play in a way that not all work does. I got to draw/paint stuff that I’m already super into, and I’m really proud to have helped decorate bags of yummy coffee beans!
Do you have a certain winter woods hiking experience that inspired your art for this label? What do you hope a viewer might get from the scene you have created?
I grew up in part in Montana, where we get lots of snow in the winter, so as kids we did a lot of sledding, ice-skating, and snow-fort building. I only got serious about hiking a few years ago, here in Seattle where we don’t get too much snow and I don’t trust my city-car to handle wintery mountain passes. But I did go out today on a successful winter chanterelle hike. And I had my coffee thermos with me. Only thing missing was the cat.
I hope viewers get a sense of cozy homeyness from this label, along with some dazzle and awe from the magical snowflake-sprinkled forest.
Speaking of cats—they appear often in your art, as they do in our Winter Wonderland label. Do you have some real-life inspiration at home?
Yes, Kiki, age 11, and Momo, age 10, are my studio mates. I work from my home studio, and they definitely keep it from getting too lonely. I do have a lot of cats in my art, even more since I started vending at cat conventions a few years ago (imagine: all sorts of cat-paraphernelia you can demo and/or buy, like space-age litterboxes, fancy foods, exotic cat toys, catios [cat patios], cat photography, cat art, and even cat adoptions. So much fun!) The cat on DOMA’s Winter Wonderland label is loosely based off Kiki, who is ever-curious and underfoot.
Where can we find more of your work?
I post mostly on Instagram, as @stasiaburrington. I also have a website (www.stasiaburrington.com) and a shop on Etsy (www.stasiab.etsy.com) where you can find prints, tarot and oracle decks, stickers, enamel pins, embroidered patches, and original art.
Thanks, Stasia, for your beautiful work for DOMA Coffee!
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Mike originally created the mountain sketch you’ll see on the forefront of the new label for Protect Our Winters (POW), the organization that inspired this coffee. Shelly married the mountain art with a color scheme meant to evoke feelings you can get outdoors in all seasons—whether it’s a bit of tangerine that reminds you of wintertime alpenglow or a hazy pink that’s become all too synonymous with smoke season in the northwest. Twilight, dawn, transitions, and new beginnings come to mind; a jumping off point, whether into a new day or a new era of climate justice.
“I’m really inspired by flight and how the sky looks throughout the year,” says Shelly. “I have enjoyed many spring sunsets that I would have sworn were winter sunrises.” This sort of fluidity inspired the color palette as Shelly finalized this all-season execution of DEEP coffee to reenergize the outdoor community. “The POW community and focus has grown and we felt this would be a great time for the change in design.”
The mission of POW and our DEEP coffee aligned with artist Mike Daniels’ ideals too. Mike grew up on the coast of California and has been a goofyfoot surfer, skateboarder, snowboarder, and mountain biker who has worked with POW since close to day one. “I love the organization, the team, and the efforts in what they do,” says Mike. “I love coffee and love to support and push POW, so this was a perfect-fit collaboration for myself.”
Mike says pen and ink are his go-to art medium, because the tools he needs are minimum. He’s on the go with family and life, so when he finally gets to the sketchbook, its usually in small windows of time. He also enjoys charcoal / conte crayon.
If you’re thinking Mike’s mountain scene on our DEEP can looks a little like a place you know . . . well, that’s a good thing, but it’s not modeled after a specific peak. Mike never draws from pictures, so while he says a lot of people think this illustration is El Cap, Mike simply “started with a line and connected to another line. Typically what I draw are just places I want to be camping at, sitting, drinking coffee.”
We think that sounds like a good time too. Which is why DEEP coffee was made, to celebrate and protect our natural world. In this case, saving the planet and drinking coffee go hand in hand.
Why work to save the planet? Because we think it would be nice to have a place to live in 100 years and we work with coffee farmers who are directly affected by climate change. (Aren’t we all?) This coffee helps protect all the seasons to preserve the outdoor places we love by giving $1 from each can of coffee sold to POW. May they continue to fight the good fight.
Check out our current DEEP coffee tasting notes, information about the coffee farm, and order coffee here.
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Recently, we revamped our DEEP coffee project. A few years ago we created DEEP coffee to inspire deep thinking and deep change in regards to climate change. Now, instead of a summer and winter label, we’ve created a new and beautiful year-round label. Because, why not? $1 from each can of DEEP coffee sold goes to Protect Our Winters, an athlete-led advocacy group who work to protect all the seasons, not just winter, and amend or maintain our national environmental policies.
Protect Our Winters is a great example of supporting something we see as a foundation for community health: our environment. We’re long-time supporters of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance—the oldest environmental group in Idaho—and the Spokane Riverkeeper. The waterways of the world connect us all, just like great coffee. (And coffee is significantly better when brewed with clean water, so you might say we’re invested in keeping it that way.)
If you’re familiar with DOMA, you know we also love the arts. We partner with local and national artists to create beautiful coffee labels year after year, and we’re proud to support that creativity. We’ve also won a few design awards over the years (despite not being a design company), thanks in part to the amazing graphic designer Shelly Tansy, who’s been a part of DOMA for 20 years. Long story short: we value art and artists.
This fall, we are sponsoring a fun project through the Lopez Island Community Shakespeare Company as they give new life to a live radio show based on some Sherlock Holmes stories from the 1940s. Tune in for comic and old-timey fun, when you have a chance. Available for streaming in December at communityshakespeare.org.
We also like art in the form of words, so we regularly support the GetLit! Festival as they bring in writers from our larger community to share art and ideas. We buy the ingredients for the Pie & Whiskey event, a reading at which said pie and whiskey is served, but we’ll admit we like pie just about as much as good literature.
Another thing we think is awesome: bikes. It’s a pillar of community health—mental and physical health—but we also just think bikes are really cool. Locally, DOMA has supported a young mountain bike racer in her journey to national/international competitions (Ella Erickson is awesome). We also support Buddy Pegs, a great example of one family traveling to new communities to share the awesomeness of cycling.
So, as we work to roast great coffee, we’re also working to give back to people and the planet. From donating to the local food banks, fire stations, and women’s center to the Utah Avalanche Center, we try to do a little bit better every day.
If you’d like to learn more about supporting any of these organizations, or if you have a great organization in need of support, give us a call. We’re coffee people, but we’re also people-people.
The Community Shakespeare Company
Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
Friends of the Flathead Avalanche Center
Ella Erickson – follow her here on the 'gram
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Ian decided about four years ago that getting his Q-grader license was the next thing he wanted to pursue in his coffee career. A Q-grader license means a person has achieved a certain level of skill in evaluating and grading coffee. (Sort of like becoming a sommelier in the wine world.) Ian has been working for years to prepare for the course through cupping triangulations, taste modalities, and familiarizing himself with the Le Nez du Café aroma kit. Like we said — he’s tasted and smelled a LOT of coffee. It's hard work, but someone has to do it.
Ian headed to Hawaii this spring to undertake the Q-grader course, making the most of his tropical trip with a 6-day coffee education and sensory boot camp, where he worked to calibrate to some of the other Q’s to achieve grading without personal bias. At the end of the session, becoming a licensed Q-grader requires passing 19 exams. (Read it again: NINE.TEEN.) After rigorous training, Ian passed all of the exams (Yay, Ian!).
Ian’s recent certification now makes him even more qualified to evaluate green coffee purchasing samples that are sent in from importers. In short, he helps choose the next coffees we’ll roast. He can suss out when a coffee sample is defective, or notice when it has been over- or under-roasted. He can evaluate a coffee for ICPs (in country partners/ producers), which lends their coffee a CQI/Q-grader seal of approval. He also helps create the precise tasting notes on all of our DOMA coffees. Best of all, he’s been sharing his education with his fellow DOMA employees, which gives our entire team a boost.
Congrats again, Ian, and thanks for being a leader in DOMA’s journey for quality, great-tasting coffee.
]]>The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a syrupy sweet coffee(ish) beverage infamously popularized in the early 2000’s by none other than Starbucks. This seasonal beverage is coveted by many, with huge groups of humans calling Autumn “PSL Season,” and this is just the sort of nomenclature that pisses off the PSL haters.
But, why has the PSL become a contentious topic? Is it because of the sect of humans who have coopted fall to be synonymous with Pumpkin Spice everything (Pumpkin Spice Candles, Pumpkin Spice donuts, probably Pumpkin Spice socks), or is it because of general Starbucks side-eye?
Well, whatever is causing you to hate on a PSL, knock it off!
While I, too, do not appreciate the OG PSL, I do love a good latte sweetened with a rich, spiced pumpkin sauce. Over the last decade of my barista career, I’ve seen countless cafes try to recreate the original recipe, but we don’t need a dupe, we need a pumpkin sauce that tastes incredible! And that’s what I’ve done!
Easily recreateable at home, this pumpkin sauce can be used in your coffee, to top your ice cream, or in any way you can imagine. This spiced pumpkin sauce will delight your senses with a smooth pumpkin flavor, subtle sweetness and a zingy spice kick.
Welcome to PSL Season everyone.
-Kaiti
]]>We’ve admired the work of Jeffrey Everett for a while now, so we were thrilled when he agreed to take on our Summer Lovin’ artwork this year.
Jeff has created art for bands like the Foo Fighters, The Decemberists, Jason Mraz, Gaslight Anthem, and Flight of the Conchords. He’s also made some stuff for Dreamworks, Universal Records, and The New York Times, and has had work published in some little magazines like, oh, Rolling Stone.
Sorry-not-sorry for name dropping. We have to share how awesome he is.
Of course, what actually makes Jeff awesome is his personality and integrity as an artist. Jeff was fantastic to work with when developing our theme for Summer Lovin’ 2021. We feel lucky that he helped us bring to life our idea around pinball culture.
Why pinball? Because it’s fun.
Because on a summer night at an arcade, the high score is the most important thing for a little while. And that sounded nice.
You can buy a can of Summer Lovin’ on the DOMA website, DOMA Coffee Lab, or at your favorite local DOMA stockist.
Enjoy reading as our copy writer Lisa Laughlin picks Jeff’s brain about his process as an artist.
Lisa Laughlin (LL): Can you tell me a bit about your art style and how you arrived at your medium?
Jeffrey Everett (JE): I was trained as a designer and stumbled into illustration by way of Edward Gorey and book and record covers. I love working in an architectural style with huge environments with tiny people, lots of lettering, thick lines, minimum colors (as I usually screenprint), and streamlined objects. I work with a lot of bands, and this style, I have noticed, really pops away from the knife and skull motif typically seen on the walls.
LL: As a viewer, I feel the scene you've created for DOMA's Summer Lovin' is very open to story; it's interesting and provokes questions. Do you feel there's a story behind this art that developed as you were creating it?
JE: I like to think that my work is like a still from a movie—there is a before scene and an after scene and it is up to the viewer to provide context. I work a lot with silhouetted people so people can project themselves into that moment.
For me, this was remembering times at Hampton Beach in high school playing games with my crush knowing a high score on Rolling Thunder would impress her.
LL: What mood were you hoping to convey with the color palette you chose?
JE: The color palette is all DOMA, and what a great color palette you have. That said, I wanted to use those deep reds and oranges with yellow to emphasize those humid, hot summer nights spent together.
LL: Were there any challenges in creating this piece? Did it come to you immediately or were there several iterations?
JE: From a technical standpoint, I typically work BIG; poster-size illustrations. This was tiny compared to most of my work and though I work with an architectural style, I had to minimize styling and add just enough texture to give it life without making it look cluttered!
LL: Are you a coffee or tea drinker? What’s your favorite?
JE: I am a HUGE coffee drinker, though I never lived up to the Dale Cooper profile of "as black as a moonless night." I love adding sugar and cream to highlight my sweet tooth and caffeine experience. I also enjoy a wonderful cold brew during the summer.
LL: Anything else you'd like to say about this project?
JE: I'm appreciative of all the love and support from the crew at DOMA. There were so many places we could go for inspiration and this worked so well. I'm so happy that it turned out well and people are excited! It was a delight to combine my punk aesthetic with the sophistication of DOMA.
Find more of Jeff’s work on his website, Rockets Are Red, or on Instagram or Facebook.
]]>We’re lucky to have the work of Josh Quick, an illustrator based in Missoula, Montana, on several of our DOMA coffee projects—maybe you’re familiar with the quirky and lovable scene on The Chronic coffee can or bag, or The Chronic Super Dank. When it came time to freshen up our look for one of DOMA’s classic coffees, La Bicicletta, we knew Josh was the artist to go to. A coffee that supports seriously cool people deserves seriously cool art. Josh delivered. Josh is someone who tells stories through his art, so we decided to tell his story as an artist. Our copywriter Lisa Laughlin asked him about his art process, storytelling through illustration, and his thoughts on the new La Bicicletta art.
Lisa Laughlin: Can you tell me a bit about your art style and how you arrived at your medium, so full of personality and recognizable style?
Josh Quick: My mom is a ceramicist and my brother a woodworker. Art was always just a thing that flowed freely through my home growing up. We had all types of creative inspiration floating around like comic books, skateboard magazines, Eastern philosophy literature and psychedelic motifs. My cartoonish style started there and has transformed with time. Also, many of my friends are amazing artists and knowing them has kept me authentic with my drawing.
L: How do you use your art to tell authentic stories?
J: Much of what I draw are vignettes of characters doing things. My hope is they communicate a narrative that goes beyond cutesy two-dimensional pictures. For example, with La Bicicletta, clearly it's a picture of two people riding bikes. But, who are these people? Are they in Idaho? Are they friends? If folks just see a cartoon, that's cool too, but I prefer to project myself into artwork when I look at it.
L: You’ve done several illustrations for DOMA. Can you say a bit about your relationship with DOMA?
J: 10+ years ago I discovered DOMA's connection to illustration through one of their postcards at Le Petit Outre in Missoula, MT. It had a wonderfully drawn picture of the roasting process made by the original La Bicicletta artist Chris Dreyer. I knew at once my artwork could fit in with their coffee products if they gave me an opportunity. I sent them a letter with some of my work and to this day we're still making cool things together!
DOMA Coffee's ethos regarding equal trade, quality, art, family owned business and environmentalism are qualities I look for in a collaborative partner and I'm proud to have my art on their products. Also, Rebecca, Terry and Shelly are lovely people and excellent communicators.
L: Are there challenges to working with an art brief when you’re a creative illustrator? Do you typically have a back-and-forth with the client or do you sort of just do the Josh Quick thing?
J: In my 20+ years of professional illustration I've been lucky to have so many excellent gigs. In my experience, most people are excited to create something for their business and it can be a fun adventure away from the daily work cycle. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of challenging issues that usually get resolved with discussion and iterations of the image(s). My thing is to be easy-going with the process and be a problem solver even if that means suggesting another artist.
L: What was your favorite thing about the La Bicicletta project?
J: Working with Rebecca and Shelly on this was fabulous. Also, La Bicicletta is legendary coffee. Chris Dreyer (an amazing artist) drew the original, so having my work continue in that legacy is something to be proud of for sure. I look forward to seeing this bag at friends’ and family's homes.
L: Does the color palette of the new La Bicicletta art evoke a certain feeling or idea for you?
J: From the beginning with Rebecca and Shelly direction the color palette had equal importance with the drawing. I pulled some of the yellow from the original and the other colors came from collaboration. In my opinion they feel playful, bold and will pop depending on where the bag is living.
L: Where there any challenges with creating this art?
J: I drew up a few ideas then Rebecca shared with me laser-focused vision on where to go with the visual. I took that direction and tried to make it my own. The final was truly a balanced collaborative effort.
L: Are you a cyclist?
J: For exercise I'm a runner, but I love my bicycle for transport to and from work. It's a wonderful thing to travel in an open environment and vibe with my bike-friendly community in Missoula.
L: What’s your favorite DOMA Coffee?
J: Summer Lovin' is my all-time favorite DOMA Coffee. I’m a Yirgacheffe fan and when I got to do a Summer Lovin' graphic it was the same summer my wife Tricia and I were married. We had cans of it all over the ceremonial grounds. I have real loving memories tied into that coffee.
Find more of Josh Quick’s work on his website or Dribbble portfolio.
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No, not the Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, but a brief glimpse into the world of DOMA. If you have ever wondered why Rebecca runs things, this clip should remove any doubt!
]]>First off, the coffee: this organic Mexico coffee comes from the Oaxaca region. The tasting notes are especially great for the holiday season and cold months, with a chocolatey sweetness, creamy body, and warming spice finish. Sound rad? It is rad. Taste for yourself.
Art this year comes from Alaskan-based artist Meg Smith. Meg works and plays in many mediums—acrylic, pastel, and watercolor; on ski, in kayak, and in air while flying her bush plane. We LOVE Meg’s work, and you can find more of it here.
If you don’t already know, every year we do our Winter Wonderland coffee, the art must include three things: the phrase Winter Wonderland, a snowflake or snow, and a tree. It’s been fun to see the many creative iterations that artists have come up with under this design brief. This year, the alpenglow colors of the winter scene remind us of winter’s unique beauty.
The coffee and art are story enough, but this art is also a tribute to the event that occurred on January 7, 2020, at Silver Mountain Ski Resort. The inbound avalanche on Wardner Peak that day took the lives of three skiers. Four skiers survived, and DOMA Co-owner Rebecca was one of them. Meg, a big backcountry skier herself, modeled the mountain in her art after Wardner Peak. Then she placed a raven in the Winter Wonderland tree. A raven is a symbol of souls lost in the mountains; it’s said when you see a raven in the mountain, those souls are looking over you. It’s a sign of good luck and remembrance.
We hope our Winter Wonderland coffee inspires gratitude and kindness this year. Have a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.
]]>In the world of craft coffee, Gesha (or Geisha, but no relation to the other Geisha you’re thinking of) is one of the rarest and most highly valued coffee varietals. The Gesha plant originated in Ethiopia and was transported back in the day to Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia and most likely a host of other places. In 2004, Gesha was ‘discovered’ and the accolades begin to roll in. And by “accolades” we mean this coffee is an award winner that delivers on the promise of both A) a delightful and nuanced drinking experience and B) a correspondingly high price.
Maybe you’re wondering how expensive a pound of coffee could be? In 2019, a pound of Gesha produced in Panama was sold at auction for $1,029. (DOMA’s will sell for a slightly lower price) Is the hype real? Depends. We’ve been told that taste is subjective. One thing is certain, though: people who appreciate a very nice coffee have shown up repeatedly, in the years since Gesha blew up, to purchase this extremely rare and delicious coffee.
So, how did DOMA come to be purveyors of such an unusual coffee offering? It starts, like many recent stories do, with the absolutely s#$% year we’ve been having. This was supposed to be a celebratory year for us. DOMA Coffee turned 20 years old in 2020. Cue the music, champagne, confetti, pie . . .except, that’s not how it went down, as you’re well aware. While the wheels were falling off the 2020 wagon, our friend Danny Perez of Family Bonds coffee farms in Guatemala was watching many of the buyers of his coffees cancel their orders. We’ve always been a company that likes to swim against the current, so instead of cancelling our orders, we went ahead and ordered extra coffee. This helped Danny a bit and so, as a thank you, he provided DOMA with a few batches of his own Gesha crop. It was one of those moments that make you go, wow, and just feel thankful for getting to know cool people like Danny.
We’ve always loved the Perez family’s work on their third-generation farms. They’ve innovated with incredible ingenuity and zest. An example? Danny’s farm is flat. He grows his coffees horizontally, rather than up-up-and-up like most coffee farms in his region of Guatemala. In the coffee world, this is definitely thinking outside of the box.
The Gesha coffee plant also has a special meaning to Danny. It’s a plant his family has grown a small parcel of, passing down seeds which eventually ended up in Danny’s hands. To Danny, Gesha coffee is about his farming heritage, his family legacy, and all the promise for the future.
We knew when the Gesha arrived that we had to do something special. We decided to give it the full DOMA treatment with our small-batch roasting, creative packaging, and incorporation of amazing local art. DOMA has always been about three principles: Coffee, Culture, and Meaning. With this coffee, we have an opportunity to offer a unique drinking experience. Our partnership with Family Bonds is a great representation of the value and meaning we place on our relationships with the people and locations that produce the coffees we roast. We wanted to finish the coffee with a design and package that was as unique and valuable as the beans themselves. The DOMA culture has always included love and support of our artist community. To produce a package up to the task of holding the Gesha, we turned to a local who is as passionate about his craft as Danny is about coffee. While Danny has saved and nurtured seeds from his family farm, Coeur d’Alene artist Jeff Weir has preserved his grandmother’s legacy of oil panting in his own modern-day works.
Each can of Gesha coffee will have a one-of-a-kind piece of art cut from an original 17’ x 5’ canvas painted by Jeff Weir. When you’re done enjoying the art on the can, simply peel and frame. You’ll get a custom coffee and a one-of-a-kind piece of art when you buy Gesha. Drink one, save the other.
All in all, this 2020 Gesha project has sent us back to our roots. We’re producing an extremely small run of these cans, about a hundred give or take a few; a number we used to make in the years when we were just getting started on our journey of roasting and meeting amazing people. And this truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This coffee has come to represent all of the things DOMA has ever done and will continue to do: partner with amazing artists, support small-scale and innovative farmers, create unique packaging, and—the foundation of it all—roast great coffee.
When you see a can of our Gesha coffee, we hope you’re inspired to do what matters and plant seeds for the future, just like the roaster, artist, and farmer behind it.
]]>Because it’s cool. And hot. It’s convenient, chemical-free, and travel-friendly. It’s sleek. And, best of all, it tastes great. Amazing, really.
We tried a lot of different brands and kept coming back to Swift, the folks we’d eventually collaborate with on our DOMA Instant. I’d never tried the old-school freeze-dried coffee. When I finally caved, I was pleasantly surprised. I tried a handful of coffees and was pretty excited about the possibilities. DOMA sent roasted coffee to a few different companies for samples and patiently waited by the mailbox for their return. In the meantime, I continued to try a wide assortment of instant coffees. Colombia. Guatemala. Burundi. Brazil. Kenya. Blends. Decafs. And here we are.
For our debut into the Instant coffee world, we decided to start with some DOMA favorites: The Chronic, DEEP (Guatemala), Rwanda, Carmela’s, and Jackie Oh Decaf. It’s a pretty stellar line up with something for everyone.
The most surprising thing for me was how well this coffee worked with cold water. Just take a DOMA instant packet, add cold water, and stir. Pretty simple, right? Looking for something a bit fancier and perhaps tastier? Here are a couple recipes that have become my go-to iced coffee beverage drink this summer.
COFFEE RECIPE PROBABLY OF THE SUMMER
1 x DOMA Instant packet of your choice
Pour contents into your favorite cup or martini shaker
Add 2 ounces of hot water
Stir
Add ice
Top with Chobani Oat Milk or if you need a chocolate fix and caffeine, try the Chobani Chocolate Oat Milk for a real treat. Oatly Oat Milk works really well also.
Stir or James Bond it.
Sit back and enjoy.
Now, those possibilities I talked about—take DOMA instant coffee camping or glamping. Hiking. Bikepacking. Skiing. On the water-ing. Hoteling. #vanlifeing. Just in a hurrying. Really, anything. It’s all the art without the grind, and you can have it anywhere (well, anywhere there’s water/liquid).
The packaging (box) and nifty little freeze-dried packet are compostable and biodegradable. So your footprint stays small while you enjoy on the go-ing.]
If you’re out in the wild, or just stumbling around your kitchen and want to show everyone your favorite picture of DOMA Instant, be sure to hashtag #Instantlyawesome on your ‘gram. Have some fun and creativity with it; best photo wins a box of Instant and a bag of your favorite DOMA coffee.
]]>To put things simply, we stand in solidarity with all people of color and support the goal of creating a more just and peaceful world. We proudly support the people and organizations who are fighting to ensure that Black Americans are treated with dignity, respect, and equality. We also support the governmental structures that work within our communities to keep us safe and healthy.
Our company was founded 20 years ago with the goal to do good in the world, and we do that today by supporting many local, regional, and national organizations who work to make the world a better and more just place.
We understand the impact a business can make on its people, its partners, and its community. As a green coffee importer and roaster, we were exposed many years ago to the inequities and mistreatment of coffee farmers throughout the world. We chose to do what was and is right by adopting buying practices that would ensure the coffee we all enjoy came from ethical and sustainable sources. Change can happen when a business operates on a value system that considers people, the planet and profits equally.
The DOMA community is open and inclusive to all.
We believe our differences can fuel our strengths.
We believe that positive and respectful discourse is the groundwork for cultural change.
2020 has made it clear that we must support and love each other on a personal, community, national, and global level.
To learn more about the organizations and causes we support, such as Black Lives Matter, POW (Protect Our Winters), Kootenai Environmental Alliance, Transitions, and more, head over to www.domacoffee.com and read all about it under Our Story.
None of the work we do can be done without our customers. For 20 years you have supported DOMA and we are here because of you. We come to work each day and roast (and drink) coffee for you. We love you.
Let’s all work to show more respect and understanding toward each other.
Peace and love.
DOMA
]]>Dominic’s | Rwanda | Veloce
We’re rolling out three cold brew coffees for the summer and are pretty excited about each one.
New to cold brew? Try one of the coffees listed below and you’ll become a convert. Cool and refreshing.
Old to cold brew? Maybe it’s time to up your cold brew game or try a new coffee. Get creative. There are some fantastic cocktail recipes that include cold brew, and the martini is a great starting point.
Dominic’s Organic Blend is our in-house cold brew. Crisp acidity with chocolate overtones. Add a splash of cream or a spot of sugar and you’re good to go. Bon voyage. And don’t forget to write.
Rwanda Limited Edition is a lighter roast, creating a smooth, clean-tasting and refreshing beverage. Its candy-like sweetness will keep you cool, calm and collected.
Veloce Organic is a blend of some of our favorite coffees from Guatemala, Colombia and Ethiopia. Sweet and juicy. A perfect refresher for those hot summer days.
The best part is that these coffees go both ways – hot and cold. Good for cool nights by the campfire or hot days by the river. Pour yourself a cup of DOMA cold brew coffee. Creativity and inspiration are sure to follow.
How to Toddy Cold Brew Recipe
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La Bicicletta—“the bicycle,” in Italian—has always had a place close to our DOMA hearts. We love bikes. We love people. We love people on bikes. This coffee fuels it all.
One third of the profit from our La Bicicletta blend coffee goes to support the following racing teams and cyclists. Because an awesome community starts with people doing awesome things.
Mark Bender/B-Line Racing
Mark Bender was a PNW racer who had a terrible accident. In roughly 30 days, with the help of Jenni Malloy, we were able to raise $10,000 by selling La Bicicletta coffee to donate to Mark. At the time of the injury, he had an active family that included four boys, all of whom raced bikes (including his wife, Sarah). Today, Mark is wheel chair bound. Going from able-bodied to a wheel chair. . . well, his whole life had to be modified. Transportation, housing—everything. Our cycling community really rallied through the sales of La Bici to help cover some of those costs. Mark and Sarah went on to help start Finding HUP, which provides equipment, community support, and positive experiences for people dealing with SCI/ paralysis.
Mark remains involved in the sport he loves through B-Line racing, which La Bici coffee helps support today: https://www.b-lineracing.com/.
Ella Erickson
Young, talented, and fast. Ella is a 17-year-old downhill mountain bike racer from Hayden, Idaho, who competed in all 8 NW cups, 3 pro-GRTs, nationals and the US Open last season. La Bicicletta coffee helps fund her race travels. Here is her race schedule;https://www.redbull.com/us-en/uci-mtb-world-cup-calendar. It’s pretty amazing and ambitious. She hopes to expand into the international circuit this year. Go Ella!
Buddy Pegs
Scott and Jannine started Fitzgerald’s Bike Shop in Victor/Jackson Hole. They reached out to DOMA years ago for help setting up their coffee bar in the Victor shop. It has been continually ranked as one of the top bike shops in the country. Always committed to the next adventure, they sold the shop, wrote 2 children’s books on cycling, and started Buddy Pegs, a company that teaches the youth around the nation to love cycling. This means they traveled in a van year-round last year with their young son and dog. In 2020 they’re stationed in Bentonville, Arkansas, and continue to spread the good word of biking.
Fitzgerald’s Racing Team
We mentioned Fitzgerald’s in the last line; Scott and Jannine’s shop is still awesome, with three locations, two coffee bars, and a racing team. We help sponsor the bike team and events/races they put on.
https://www.fitzgeraldsbicycles.com/ and a link to those fantastic events:https://www.fitzgeraldsbicycles.com/events
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We’re sharing our trip report so you can live vicariously through our travels and get a glimpse at our coffee selection and research process.
Day 1
Our trip began in a bulletproof Land Rover—our ride from the airport in Guatemala City, courtesy of Onyx coffee. Onyx has been farming in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, since 1957. Since then, they’ve done a bunch of cool things and become a trusted regional resource for coffee sourcing. We wove our way through traffic to the Onyx Coffee Headquarters in Zone 4 of Guatemala City. There we met up with Ty Dougherty and Chris Poh, our rep from the Bellingham, Wash., Onyx office. We had breakfast at a nearby cafè called 12 Onzas before beginning our coffee sampling journey.
Our crew ventured through the chaotic city to meet Ashley Prentice of Finca de Dios and Gento Coffee. We cupped through 10 coffee lots from her family farm. The coffees on the table were a mix of day lots and lots that Ashley had blended. We traded cupping notes, scores, and found some exciting contenders for future single origin and blender options.
Back at the Onyx office, we cupped some washed Guatemala offerings. Then it was off to Huehuetenango, a western region of Guatemala, via a small prop plane. The view was one to remember—we marveled at the mountainous landscape of Guatemala, embedded with small cash crop farms and settlements.
In Huehue, we met up with Edwin Martinez, owner of Onyx coffee, and his father, Don Edwin Senior. They put us up in the Onyx house, which they use to host world travelers and families who visit the coffee farms. We caught a bit of sleep after our day of travel.
Day 2
With a full day of coffee farm exploration ahead of us, our Onyx hosts treated us with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast made of eggs, tortillas, beans, and plantains. We were whisked into the heart of Huehuetenango in the bed of the company pickup with our driver, Ernan. The highway threaded through many small villages, bustling with locals heading to work and children walking to school.
After an hour of driving, we headed up a steep road toward the town of San Pedro Necta and our first coffee farm destination. On the way we picked up a farmer named Alfonso. Turned out, he owned the place. He chatted with our group about a project that would teach farmers and their families to grow organic vegetables and fruit to prepare and eat at home.
ASOCPE/K-finos had financed a construction of a small greenhouse at the local elementary school, where children were learning to grow healthy, organic food. When we got to Alfonso’s farm, we paid a visit to said nearby elementary school to see the garden construction. This was a glimpse into a changing culture, one that’s concerned about organic growing on a community level.
Later, Alfonso led us through his plants to show us where he created organic fertilizer. It was a mix of removed coffee cherries and pulp, composted fruit, and chicken and horse waste. We also talked about the organic pesticide his farm created. To get around conventional chemicals, Alfonso used a mix of onion, garlic, soap made from pork fat, and tobacco hand-rolled from cigarettes. As he talked, we could sense his excitement and pride. We were excited, too—good organic coffee starts with good, organic farm practices.
That afternoon we explored a jungle of coffee plants on Alfonso’s farm. After ending up at a small washing station next to Alfonso’s house, we joined him for a lunch of warm tortillas, black beans, rice, pico de gallo, and small chiles that had a kick.
Alfonso’s place was only our first stop of the day. Back in Huehuetenango, we met up with our partners at K-finos, who buy, cup and blend the coffee parchment from ASOPCE, a co-op consisting of over 300 small lot farmers. The K-finos offices were framed by a yard of healthy lemon, lime, and avocado trees, as well as coffee plants.
At the K-finos office, we made future plans for DOMA, discussing the coffee we planned to purchase in 2020. We also talked about the recent coffee harvest; overcast weather had caused the coffee to dry slower, which had boosted the quality. A future experiment on the farm will involve using mesh shade for coffee drying patios. This is an experiment we’re excited to invest in, and a great example of how small organic farms in the region continue to evolve.
Day 3
We got an early start from the Onyx house and headed out to Finca El Injerto, one of the largest and most pristine specialty arabica coffee farms in Guatemala. They’ve been farming coffee since 1990 and gained traction in the U.S. by working closely with Stumptown Coffee Roasters.
The drive took about two and half hours. We took the same highway that had led us to Alfonso's farm the day before. Once we arrived in the small town of La Democracia, we took a left onto a narrow bumpy dirt road. The farther we went, the greener and more jungle-like the landscape became. The entryway of the farm looked like something out of Jurassic Park. It was lush, wild, and gorgeous.
At the mill / headquarters of the farm, we met up with the farm manager and had a quick cup of Bourbon coffee that was grown on the farm. Our driver Ernan led us on a tour of the farm, including a point on the property that sat at 1800 meters above sea level and was the growing site for their Pacamara coffee. El Injerto farm produces Catuai, Bourbon, Pacamara, and Geisha varietals of coffee. At the Pacamara growing site, we wandered into the coffee plants. We mingled with a few coffee pickers, who lived at the farm during picking season.
Later, we saw the farm’s fermentation tanks, drying patios, and weighing / bagging room. We also saw El Injerto’s drum dryers, used when the weather doesn’t permit patio drying. We got a tour of the defect sorter and the huller, which removes the parchment layer from the coffee cherry. In short, we got to peek behind the curtain, and it did not disappoint.
We topped off our tour with a cupping of six coffees of each varietal from the farm, as well as a varietal blend.
Back in Huehue, we cupped more coffee with our partners at Family Bonds. We were greeted by owners Danny and Madeline Perez and also snagged a tour of their mill.
Then it was off to Guatemala City for the night via a quick flight over the local volcanos.
Day 4
At the Onyx Lab, we cupped seven coffees. Most of these had a natural process, but two were Anaerobic processed. These were awesome coffees and a great way to start our morning.
After the cupping, we headed to the Fraijanes region of Guatemala. We were on our way to Bi-Café, the mill that works with ASOPCE. Bi-Café has been around since 1992, operating as a coffee mill and exporting company. We discovered the mill was surrounded by a tall, concrete wall and guarded by armed security. This was a reminder that an origin trip is not your everyday sightseeing trip; the country of Guatemala is both complex and political, stunning and serene. And it’s the place to grow some epic coffee.
At Bi-Café, we chatted with Executive Director Rodrigo Cordòn about the coffee industry in Guatemela and the history of Bi-Café. Rodrigo is charismatic, humorous, and seriously cares about the well-being of the coffee farmers.
After our chat, we had a tour of the mill. We happened to be there while they were loading a container for Illy Caffe, a coffee roasting company from Italy that’s been around since 1933 and orders their coffee from Rodrigo in 2,000 lb. bags. Rodrigo continued on to show us the ropes, from receiving to shipping. We saw the huller, bean sorter, and bag filler. We also got a peek at the organic room where they store the coffee that DOMA purchases.
The day went by in a flash of greenery and good coffee. Back in Guatemala City, we grabbed a few drinks at a jazz club.
Day 5
On Friday, we visited Finca de Dios. This was the family farm of Ashley Prentice, whom we cupped with on Day 1 at Gento Coffee. Her grandparents had purchased the land to raise horses, but when her mother Ellen got a hold of it, they went toward coffee.
The Prentice family farm was unique and beautiful. We hiked up a hill and Ellen pointed out the “mother plant,” where they got starters for the “La Joya” region of their farm. The La Joya lot is a coffee that DOMA plans to purchase in 2020, so it was great to stand on the soil and see the sights surrounding this coffee.
We hiked back down to the farm wet mill, visiting Ashley’s father Stewart’s bee farm on the way. The wet mill was buzzing with workers sorting through their pickings from the day. We got a rundown from Stewart from pulping to drying. He then showed us the drying tent, a greenhouse-like shed that Stewart had built himself to store day lots until they reached the right moisture content. It was clear from our tour of the place that the Prentice family is an ingenious bunch. We’re really looking forward to sourcing with them.
Day 6
We were lucky to travel from the Guatemala City to a new area to see the youngest coffee farm we had ever seen. A huge undertaking by the hardworking and dedicated Perez family. Almost ½ million plants had been transferred from the nursery in Huehuetenango to be replanted on the flat land that boarders an old volcano nearby. The unique aspect of this young farm is the irrigation project that lays just beneath the soil. Many thousands of hours of labor are evident in the layout of the farm rows, with pipeline and drippers running to a huge reservoir that holds the water supply. With dependable watering guaranteed this farm will be producing coffee very soon and irrigation projects could be part of the future of growing coffee in Guatemala. Climate change if forcing change in many aspects of farming, and the group at Family Bonds is responding with innovation and foresight. It will be exciting to watch these plants grow and hopefully be a part of the first harvest season. We spent with rest of the day with the Perez family. Enjoying a family meal at a wonderful restaurant and a tour of their high end Café Libre, (home to two Kees Van der Westen Spirit espresso machines) We witnessed that businesses were slower on this Sunday as the beginnings of the Covid-19 pandemic news affected Central America.
The world had changed just in the days we’d been on this trip. Some things seemed like they’d stay the same—the towering volcanos; the great, leafy fields of coffee plants; the people who made us smile with their creativity, hard work, and love. But, of course, everything was changing.
Day 7
We caught the last Delta airlines flight out of Guatemala City before they closed the borders to incoming travel. Using even more precautions than before we navigated our way through the airports, being bombarded with the apocalyptic news that was happening all over the world. Glad to return home safe, uninfected, we self-quarantined for 14 days. Stiff Covid rules for manufacturing were already in place at DOMA coffee roasting company, we just missed our co-worker family. This truly was an odd re-entry form a sourcing trip.
And now . . . new Guatemala coffee!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our virtual origin trip.
Now more than ever, maintaining the relationships with the people behind our coffee will help keep us all connected. We’re thankful we were able to spend time in the beautiful country of Guatemala before travel restrictions set in.
Our new Guatemala single origin coffee has a chocolately sweetness and juicy body. You’ll find notes of milk chocolate, cherry, and hazelnut. Sip and think of mountainous jungles, wild greenery, kind people, and maybe even that Led Zeppelin cover band.
We hope this coffee will inspire your creativity, good vibes, and resilience in 2020.
]]>Here’s another business that uses their company for good and not for evil:
Little Star Diner in Bozeman, Montana, is a family-owned operation growing most of what you’ll find on your plate in their greenhouse. Don’t let the word “diner” throw you—Little Star is serving some of the best breakfasts, lunches and dinners you’ll find. Anywhere. Charley Graham and Lauren Reich have combined their talents of chef and farmer to create a menu from the best quality ingredients available.They use meat from small family ranches and bake goods daily using organic Montana flour and grains.
Little Star Diner owners Charley Graham and Lauren Reich with their family.
Growing their own produce eliminates the emissions from food transport, tractors, and other machinery used in large-scale agriculture. What they don’t grow, they buy from within a 30-mile radius of their store. They also minimize waste by 1) sending food scraps to a local pig farmer and composting whatever the pigs shouldn’t eat in their own compost, which nourishes their soil 2) using all parts of a food to produce their ever-adapting seasonal menu 3) discouraging any and all single-use items.
Little Star is a place that makes their own butter from cream, then uses the buttermilk in their biscuits. It’s a full-circle, eco-friendly diner that’s a must-stop on your next trip to Bozeman! https://www.littlestardiner.com