Today we launched a new and improved version of the Terroir website. We have listened to what our customers have told us and have created improvements upon those terrific suggestions.

The first thing you might notice is that we now have a Your Account section. From here, you can access your addresses, view & track past orders, change your email and more. To sign up for an account, or to view your account visit our website.

We've also heard your suggestions about our online store navigation. Now, all of the coffee-producing regions and categories of coffee and equipment are listed in one simple menu. We are always interested in your feedback, so if you have any suggestions, comments or concerns you can contact us either by email at george@terroircoffee.com or by phone at (866) 444-5282.

We are proud to announce that this Monday, June 26th, we will be roasting the first batch of our fresh crop of Shanga from Rwanda. This flavorful cup has a clean, smooth, balanced pecan-and-berries matrix embedding subtle, lovely, delicate floral notes distantly reminiscent of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. As Peter Lynagh, our Quality Control guru says "The Shanga is so great, I could write a poem about it." This fine coffee will be available online for purchase this Friday, June 23rd. $12.95 for 12 oz Roasted.

A terrific coffee is nearing its end. And, it just got here!

Maria Santos' modest 79 acre farm, Los Sauces, is perched at over 6,200 feet, in the Cauca department of the Colombian Andes, a little over 15 miles from the gorgeous colonial city of Popayan.

Maria Santos is an 80 year old widow who lives alone and has one permanent employee. Her husband died twenty years ago. A daughter, one of seven children, lives in Popayan and often helps her out. Besides coffee she cultivates beans, corn, peas, oranges, lemons and avocados. 17 acres are reserved for 18,000 shade-grown coffee trees (photo below).

More than half of her coffee trees were pruned last year and so were not in production last year. We purchased her entire first -grade production, which amounted to 770 lbs of green coffee. That translates to each coffee tree having produced 0.06 hand-picked lbs. per tree from over 10,000 coffee trees!

Maria's coffee was selected for its outstanding quality from hundreds of other farms. We paid her nearly three times the going market price for "similar" (ha!) quality, more than double the Fair Trade® price. This is what we at Terroir like to do: really incentivize farmers to produce ever-better qualities of coffee. We will run out of this fine lot sometime in August.

The Los Sauces is available online for $14.95 per 12oz Roasted.

Producers for the Food Network and Food Network host Dave Lieberman will be stopping by to visit the George Howell Coffee Company on June 25th to shoot a segment for an upcoming episode. Dave Lieberman, a rising star on the Food Network and a personal chef in New York City, will be talking to George Howell about what makes Terroir so different and sets us apart from other roasters.

Brewed coffee is 99% water. Any impurities or off-tastes in the water will still be in the coffee. If you can, try using filtered or bottled water when brewing, it can make quite a difference.