By Corazon Padilla, Director of Quality Control & Corey Turner, Director of Coffee Production
As you can imagine, a lot goes into each coffee we put on our menu. We typically buy coffee in two ways: either by requesting samples that fit a certain flavor profile because we need to fill a spot on our menu, or by receiving samples from a producer that we buy from regularly and reserve a spot for when we make a buying plan for the year. We also try not to over-plan our menu for the year so that we have the opportunity to work with different producers. We want to develop new relationships while also strengthening the relationships we’ve already built.
We then roast samples, cup them, and decide whether we’d like to buy them or not. If we decide to buy them, we calculate how many bags we can buy based on the price we sell it for and the projected runout, and re-roast them at a range of profiles for us to determine the best approach for roasting a specific coffee and set flavor notes. Once tasting notes are set, we set a date for it to go on the menu, schedule a photo, release the first full bag, and order packaging materials. We then write copy and begin R&D for it to be brewed in our cafes. And after its first roast on the Loring, we make it live for ordering! It’s a months long process for every coffee we bring on, so we put a lot of care into these decisions.
We don’t usually buy a coffee unless we can get at least 5 bags, otherwise the entire process of onboarding a coffee isn’t financially viable. Because we can only sell so many bags of the same single origin as a small roaster, and we want to continue to grow our support of Rosalba and the farmers of Bella Vista, we decided to get creative and use it for our very first decaffeination project last year. This year, we took another big step and purchased coffee from the Women’s Group as one of our more limited-edition menu items, as well as buying the community lot for our second round of decaffeination and for the single origin you know as our Mexico Bella Vista (orange label).
Having three coffees from the same region on our menu allows us to showcase the range of Bella Vista’s coffee-- it makes a great comforting cup of single origin or decaf, and the Women’s Group coffee adds complexity and a sparkling clean finish to the familiar flavors of the community lot. It was important to us to serve all three of these special coffees on our menu at the same time this year in celebration of the work Rosalba and her friends and family have done to grow and improve their quality to support their community, and in celebration of the time we got to spend there as a result of our continued partnership with Mayan Harvest.
Sharing a meal at Fabio’s farm in Bella Vista. Left to right: Angie from Kindness & Mischief, Corazon, Corey, Rosi from Royal Coffee, Mo from Kindness & Mischief, Rosalba from Mayan Harvest, Lindy from Mayan Harvest, and Emmett from Happy Mug.
Thank you for tuning into our series on our time with Mayan Harvest in Bella Vista, Mexico! This post completes our series. To learn more about Mayan Harvest, check out this short documentary by Revista Roast: https://youtu.be/SDG4fCevokE.
Click through the slideshow below to see more photos from our trip.
