Bella Donovan

the bella is the wool sweater of our blends - warm, comforting, familiar. wild and citrusy organic african paired with earthy organic indonesian makes for a vivid and fairly complex moka/java blend. it seems to weather the rigors of the automatic drip machine as well. this is, perhaps, why it's our most popular blend. it is also on the darker side: nice and thick without being inelegant. bella stands up to milk or cream well, and is easily enjoyed black.

Decaf Noir

a water process decaf that is vivid and packed with flavor, decaf noir is made from 100% organic water processed decaffeinated beans from africa and central america. if you drink it strong, store it carefully and use it up quickly (buy a smaller amount and try to use it up in a week), you will be rewarded with very big flavors. the decaf noir is surprisingly (some say freakishly) versatile: about the only preparation we don’t see consistently enjoyable results in is the siphon.

Giant Steps

a blend of organic coffee that is quite dark and chocolaty. maybe a bit more one-dimensional than the bella donovan, but it is a good dimension. giant steps is delightfully fudgy and thick in a french press or drip pot, and stands up to cream quite well. if it were any heavier-bodied, you could pour it on pancakes.

New Orleans

new orleans-style iced coffee and chicory- there's been a certain amount of clamoring, yes clamoring, for a way to make our new orleans-style iced coffee at home. here we are: a kit! we'll set you up with a pound of the coffee we use for our refreshing new orleans-style iced coffee, an envelope of pre-measured roasted french chicory, and a copy of the recipe we use scaled for one pound of coffee. you will need to add milk, a little sugar, and ice. 10% of all sales will go to the new orleans edible schoolyard project (find out more here - www.esynola.org).

Three Africans

this coffee is generally a blend of ugandan and two different ethiopian coffees which produce a big, chocolaty aroma, and excels in either the french press or the moka pot. unlike some of our fancy shmancy single origins, which tend to be nichey and polarizing, this blend has a very easy-to-like personality, good body, unthreatening complexity, and reasonably clean aftertaste. the ethiopians – a yirgacheffe and dry processed sidamo – leave subtle imprints of dried blueberries and cardamom, and clean up the slightly raisin aftertaste of the png, which we are currently using in place of the uganda. and, though the png is from new guinea, it maintains our flavor profile and we do not discriminate- or want to change the name to two africans, or purchase another stamp. a fairly dark roast, this inclusive blend will take milk or cream quite well. some say damn well.

17 Ft Ceiling

we developed this espresso blend for our café on mint plaza in downtown san francisco. this is a pleasant, consistent espresso – enjoyable without being demanding - plump with unremarkable complexity. what is remarkable, however, is the sweet simplicity owing to the fact that we reverse-engineered a blue collar italian espresso blend (yes … robusta!) and substituted higher-end organic coffees. our goal was a robust, crema-heavy unpretentious coffee. if the hayes valley espresso can be like consuming a volume of in search of lost time in liquid form, then the 17 ft ceiling is like flipping through the new yorker -edifying without being taxing. the baristas at the café updose massively, set the pid two or three degrees hotter than the hayes valley espresso (typically 204f on the gb5), and pull leisurely, avuncular 37 second shots, often skipping the first few drops. served with a water back, of course.

Decaf Noir

a water process decaf that is vivid and packed with flavor, decaf noir is made from 100% organic water processed decaffeinated beans from africa and central america. if you drink it strong, store it carefully and use it up quickly (buy a smaller amount and try to use it up in a week), you will be rewarded with very big flavors. the decaf noir is surprisingly (some say freakishly) versatile: about the only preparation we don’t see consistently enjoyable results in is the siphon.

Hayes Valley Espresso

we developed this espresso over five years ago for the launch of our kiosk on linden street. this is probably our darkest espresso, : lower-toned, minimal brightness, plenty of chocolate – with an engaging complexity as a straight shot. the shots are gorgeous: achingly heavy with voluptuous red-brown crema, and the silky, somewhat dangerous-looking viscosity of a power-steering stop-leak product once used on our (now departed) heroically battered 1983 peugeot. in milk, it tastes like chocolate ovaltine, and holds its own from the daintiest 3oz macchiato to our towering 12oz caffe latte. the coffees in the blend come from uganda, guatemala, brazil, ethiopia, and mexico. this is the most brahmsian espresso we have. brooding and autumnal, it is a coffee to mourn the passing of time.

Retrofit Espresso

a few years ago, there were rumors that the san francisco ferry plaza was going to be closed for awhile due to bart and bay bridge construction. the saturday ferry plaza farmers’ market, about half of our sales at the time, was imperiled. it seemed the very fate of the company hung in the balance. so we took the kind of action one would expect of us: we developed a new espresso blend and named it after our anxiety. thus was the retrofit born: a bit of a tightrope walk for the barista, but balanced and mild when well-prepared. coffee from (in descending order) brazil, guatemala, sumatra, and ethiopia comprise the blend, which would not seem out of place in an italian roastery circa 1972. we serve this coffee every tuesday and saturday in our little kiosk at the west side of the ferry plaza, and it pops in to make appearances at our other shops from time to time. generally, we serve on day three, four or five, up-dose moderately, and pull one and a quarter ounce doubles at a leisurely 32 seconds. this is not an espresso for big milk drinks. lovers of tall milky drinks might scratch their heads in disappointed confusion wondering where their coffee is. but if you know that a macchiato does not have caramel in it, this could be your espresso.

Roman Espresso

a bit of a hothouse flower, the roman espresso can turn on you in an instant if one of a dozen or so brewing parameters are not to its liking. generally, it likes lower brewing temperatures (approximately 184 at the portafilter), and slower extraction times. in the right machine, it is a crema bomb, pouring oceans of the red/brown frothy stuff into your unsuspecting demitasse. when all is well, the result is a sweet, carmelly, fruity medium-bodied espresso that takes modest amounts of milk in the most delightful way. as pleasant as it is, after a couple of years of tweaking and fine-tuning, it doesn't much resemble the espresso enjoyed in rome any more, but we're not about to shell out another twelve bucks for a new rubber stamp when we have a perfectly good one right here.

Cascara Tea Plan De La Batea

cascara is made from the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean. after harvesting, the fruit is separated from the coffee seed, and then, instead of being composted, it is painstakingly raked and dried to produce cascara tea. this particular cascara comes from el salvador’s finca plan de la batea - a farm owned by ricardo augspurg who is one of the neighbor farmers aida battle works with to produce aida battle selections. it is as meticulously produced as the coffee we bought from him last season. we like to steep 5-8 grams of cascara in 325 ml of 201.2 degree (f) water for 5 solid minutes. 50gm tins, no expiration date!

Ethiopia Nekisse

yet another transcendent coffee from our friends at ninety plus, the nekisse takes up where other ethiopian dry-processed coffees leave off. not just blueberries but loads of blackberries, huckleberries, sugared lemon slices, and prominent floral notes layer on top of each other while still remaining within an approachably smooth milk chocolate structure. it pairs the prismatic glory of a florida highwaymen painting with the integrated restraint of an eames chair, and still tastes good with ham.

Guatemala - Maya Ixil

a 185-member co-op located in the ixcan region in the department of el quiche guatemala, maya ixil is a superbly run co-op that we are very excited to be working with. like many co-ops in the region, individual farmers are responsible for processing their own coffee, and then taking the near-finished coffee in parchment to the warehouse where it is weighed and allowed to rest in pergamino (parchment). the coffee is dry-milled offsite at a co-op located in quetzaltenango before shipment. all coffee from the co-op is certified organic and grown under shade canopies. intercropped with the coffee are sugarcane, beans, and many native fruits. also, they produce a beautifully fragrant and delicate honey, which they sell domestically. during our visit this spring, we were happy to observe their cupping process at the warehouse, and the members were very receptive to our suggestions for improving their protocols further. this year’s coffee is summery and limpid, with a honeyed-corn note popping in early, much like an eager neighbor inviting himself to the barbeque before the coals are hot. mystery starts on the cool down— fenugreek, lemongrass, milk chocolate, and fennel pollen mingle as the classic high-grown guat acidity asserts itself, but never gets to the point in which the coffee turns shrill or dry. stone cold, we get brown-sugar-candied bell peppers perfectly pitched in volume and timbre for iced coffee sipped for pleasure rather than pharmacological necessity.

Guatemala Finca El Injerto Capadocia Peaberry

harvested on a fastidiously maintained farm in western guatemala, our finca el injerto is a great example of what can happen when everything goes right in a coffee production process. thanks to four generations of family expertise, the el injerto offers a beautiful scale of flavors: graham cracker sweetness unfolds into tart cherry before dissolving into wisps of dusted cocoa. we’re not surprised it won guatemala’s cup of excellence for five consecutive years.

Honduras Santa Elena

this coffee is, in the most literal sense, close to our hearts. one fateful day a couple of years ago, back when our entire administrative staff was cramped into one wee little office and we still sold pajamas, a woman named mayra orellana-powell got in line at our webster street coffee bar. she happened to strike up a conversation with our green coffee buyer. they had a lot to talk about: she not only worked at the port of oakland, where most of our coffee lands; she also came from a family of coffee producers in santa elena, a small mountain village in honduras. we agreed to cup her samples, and what started as a simple, neighborly gesture quickly corkscrewed into a near-fanatical obsession. this year, we visited mayra's family at origin and split our spoils into two separate offerings. the santa elena, a collection of five select lots from neighboring family and friends' farms, is a cowboy lullaby of a coffee: on the cupping table, deep molasses fades into hints of pipe smoke, dried spice and (dare we say it?) good old-fashioned baked beans. it’s a bit subtler as a pour-over, with tinges of melon, a crème brulée sweetness and a dried cherry pluck that hangs on like a dude on a steer. like our chiapas, the santa elena is dense, simple and versatile. try it with some flapjacks or some meaty chili. or better yet, try it black, pardner.

Mexico - Chiapas Proish

this organic mexican coffee from the chiapas region of mexico comes from a co-op of small, mainly indigenous landholders. it is carefully milled and processed near the growing region and beautifully sorted for export. at a single roast level this coffee is pleasant but dainty, with sweetness but not much complexity. but roasted at different levels and then blended together (called mélange roasting in the coffee biz – a practice sadly out of fashion these days) it really comes alive: hints of sage and leather, a touch of wood smoke – a john ford western in a cup. more important than any implausible grasping for adjectives, is that this is an excellent food coffee – a bacon and eggs coffee. big bowls of chilaquiles, stacks of pancakes, buttered brioche: the chiapas is a lovely companion to almost all conceivable breakfast foods. takes milk well. stalwart black. invite some friends over, make waffles, and drink some coffee. lots of coffee.

New Orleans

new orleans-style iced coffee and chicory- there's been a certain amount of clamoring, yes clamoring, for a way to make our new orleans-style iced coffee at home. here we are: a kit! we'll set you up with a pound of the coffee we use for our refreshing new orleans-style iced coffee, an envelope of pre-measured roasted french chicory, and a copy of the recipe we use scaled for one pound of coffee. you will need to add milk, a little sugar, and ice. 10% of all sales will go to the new orleans edible schoolyard project (find out more here - www.esynola.org).

Panama Hacienda La Esmeralda Geisha

this geisha comes from the famed, impeccably maintained hacienda la esmeralda in panama’s boquete region. the geisha cultivar (an ethiopian varietal lost to commerce for almost a century) was rediscovered earlier this century and has been widely propagated since 2004, when it snagged the top spot at the “best of panama” competition. freshly brewed, it’s a delicate combination of lemon tea, tangerine zest and well-buttered piecrust. pricey? yes. worth it? also yes.

Yirgacheffe Gelana Abaya Natural

yirgacheffe, a subregion within sidamo, ethiopia, is known (and revered) for its clean, delicate, lemon-and-jasmine-redolent, washed coffees. rarer are dry-processed yirgacheffes, which carry all the citrus of their washed cousins, but bring a heavier body, more sweetness and a bubble-gum pack of vibrant fruit flavors. grown near the border with kenya in the bule hora region, in the south of sidamo, the gelana abaya is not in the strictest sense a yirgacheffe. but you wouldn’t know it as the cup explodes with strawberry jam, melon, peppery spices, vanilla, jasmine, bergamot and apples. the juxtaposition of complexity, approachability and sensory reward makes you feel like you’ve stepped up to a 1, 000-piece puzzle, assembled it in 3 minutes and been handed a pork roast as a reward. a further plus for this coffee is its versatility – it will shine in any preparation method you choose, from siphon to espresso to chemex to kyoto-style iced. we hear it even works well as a rub on pork roasts.