What's Happening at the George Howell Coffee Company

New Coffees

#1 Cup of Excellence Award Winner - El Aguacate, Narino, Colombia

Arguably the finest Colombian coffee ever offered on the market, the El Aguacate, Narino was the #1 prize winner and Presidential Award Winner in the Colombia Cup of Excellence. The El Aguacate has an exquisitely delicate floral green apple aroma, structured with a complex intertwining of honeyed tropical fruit flavors and balanced with dark chocolate. This incredible, limited release coffee, is available exclusively online from Terroir now. We will be roasting the El Aguacate on Monday May 22nd and will roast only enough for the orders we have received by 9am on Monday. We have a small supply of this exceptional coffee, so we are making it available only by limited release. Note: GHCC paid 13 times the Fair Trade price for El Aguacate and 85% of that price went directly to the farmer.

Karindundu, Nyeri, Kenya

We are also releasing a new coffee from Kenya, the Karindundu. This vienna roast Kenya is a great replacement for the Kiamabara. It has black currant notes with ripe blackberry sweetness lightly overlaid with fine bittersweet caramel. This fine coffee is now available online. The first roast of the Karindundu will be on Monday May 22nd.

New Roaster's Choice Varieties

If you’re a fan of Terroir’s Roaster's Choice, you’ll be happy to know that we have expanded Roaster’s Choice to include various regions and styles. Do you enjoy our African coffees, but don't know which to choose? Let us choose for you! The new varieties of Roaster's Choice are now available online.

Peter Lynagh invited to judge in the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence

Resident Terroir coffee guru, Peter Lynagh, has been invited to join an elite panel of international coffee aficionados to judge in the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence at the end of this month. Peter has been studying under George Howell (founder of the COE) for years and is the youngest judge ever in a Cup of Excellence competition. It is rumored that Peter has been staying up late at night to watch videos of top Brazilian cuppers so he can perfect his slurp for the hundreds of cups he will be judging. While in Guatemala, Peter will also be visiting farms in Antigua and Atitlan.

Coffee Tip – Cleaning your grinder

Over time, old grounds and oils build up in any grinder. This will not only affect the flavor of your coffee, but can slow your grinder down and even wear out the burrs or blades.

Before you start cleaning, empty the grinder of any beans or grinds still in the reservoirs. To remove the last few beans/grounds set your grinder to the espresso grind and wait until it empties. Then make sure your grinder is unplugged.

Take off the top and side reservoirs, which are usually plastic, and machine washable. Wipe the reservoirs clean with a paper towel or damp cloth, making sure to remove most of the oils and grounds before putting them in the dishwasher. Find a clean dry paint brush, preferably with stiff bristles. Use the brush to dislodge stuck grounds and oils from the burrs. Hold your grinder upside down (over a garbage can or container of some kind) and shake it. Slap the sides a few times to make sure all the grounds fall out. Be careful though, lots of grounds will come out of the grinder. If there are still oils and grounds stuck to the burrs, use a dry paper towel or Q-tip to wipe the rest clean. Make sure the burrs do not get wet, since this could easily cause rusting.

When you are finished, reassemble the grinder. If you brew coffee regularly, you should try to clean your grinder at least once a week.