Unisex T-shirts with awesome Raven's Brew label art by world renowned Alaskan artist Ray Troll - now on sale. While supplies last.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
20% Off Brings Restless Ghosts back from the Dead
Under the spell of seasonal enthusiasm we have committed a terribly rash act: a month-long 20% off special on our best selling coffee, Deadman's Reach®. Crazy, we know. Deadman's Reach is an ideal propellant for leaping triumphantly on heaps of raked leaves, producing god-like clarity and generally having a good time of it. This shamefully extravagant ignition system is not only a super delicious sensory experience but also makes everything totally fantastic (and inspires musical genius: listen to Phoebe Blume's Ballad of Deadman's Reach HERE and listen to more of here work HERE).
A literary footnote:
Halloween is traditionally a time for ghost stories, which we happen to have right HERE - written by the Shamus award winning Alaskan writer, John Straley. Reading this story aloud to restless ghosts, dead relatives, medium size children, small or large furry animals or fellow coffee cognoscenti brings good luck for a whole year - or maybe a whole lifetime (we haven't completed our study on this phenomena but the data that we have so far is VERY promising). Happy reading and happy quaffing.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Q Grader Course Day 5
I did it!
It's been an exhausting week, but I'm happy to say that I've passed all 22 exams to receive my SCAA Cupping Judge, Star Cupper, and Q Grader Certification from the Coffee Quality Institute. With most classes only certifying 20-25% of the students, our class did well with 3 out of 5 students earning their Q Grader Certification.
The class ended up being slightly different than I anticipated. I expected to come and have actual class time with the instructor reviewing much of the course material. In actuality, you had to ask specific questions about the areas you needed help in. The expectation is that the people coming to take the exams already have the background experience, knowledge, and ability to take the exams without much instruction. Much of our time was spent understanding the structure of each individual test and preparing the materials needed for each. This meant we spent a lot of time weighing coffee, calculating water volumes, and setting tables. The last two days involved a lot of retake exams for those who hadn't passed certain tests. Many of the tests required a minimum number of participants to complete, so if one of us needed to retake a test, it meant that we did it all again as a team.
I got to know the other students pretty well, and am happy to have had to opportunity to work with them. One of the things I love most about the coffee industry is the number of passionate people I get to meet. Being with others who share my enthusiasm for coffee really keeps me committed to what I do every day, and encourages me to continue learning and finding new or better ways of doing things. I want to bring that level of excitement back to Raven's Brew, the people I work with, and to our customers.
Coffee is an amazing thing. It has such an amazing journey and touches so many people along the way. It deserves to be handled and experienced in such a way that shows appreciation for the effort that has been put into producing it.
~Andy
It's been an exhausting week, but I'm happy to say that I've passed all 22 exams to receive my SCAA Cupping Judge, Star Cupper, and Q Grader Certification from the Coffee Quality Institute. With most classes only certifying 20-25% of the students, our class did well with 3 out of 5 students earning their Q Grader Certification.
The class ended up being slightly different than I anticipated. I expected to come and have actual class time with the instructor reviewing much of the course material. In actuality, you had to ask specific questions about the areas you needed help in. The expectation is that the people coming to take the exams already have the background experience, knowledge, and ability to take the exams without much instruction. Much of our time was spent understanding the structure of each individual test and preparing the materials needed for each. This meant we spent a lot of time weighing coffee, calculating water volumes, and setting tables. The last two days involved a lot of retake exams for those who hadn't passed certain tests. Many of the tests required a minimum number of participants to complete, so if one of us needed to retake a test, it meant that we did it all again as a team.
I got to know the other students pretty well, and am happy to have had to opportunity to work with them. One of the things I love most about the coffee industry is the number of passionate people I get to meet. Being with others who share my enthusiasm for coffee really keeps me committed to what I do every day, and encourages me to continue learning and finding new or better ways of doing things. I want to bring that level of excitement back to Raven's Brew, the people I work with, and to our customers.
Coffee is an amazing thing. It has such an amazing journey and touches so many people along the way. It deserves to be handled and experienced in such a way that shows appreciation for the effort that has been put into producing it.
~Andy
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