George Howell receives Specialty Coffee Association of Europe highest award

The Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) has just awarded the Better Coffee World Award to George Howell, founder and CEO of The George Howell Coffee Company. "US-based specialty coffee pioneer George Howell , was named the winner of the Better Coffee World Award, the association's highest honour."

George proudly adds this to his other treasured prize, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in raising US specialty coffee quality standards as founder and CEO of the ground-breaking Coffee Connection. In 1999, after working as a consultant for the United Nations for two years, he conceived and co-founded the Cup of Excellence (with Susie Spindler, current executive director), the most prestigious and first-in-the-world coffee competition-internet auction. This program to identify and reward quality farmers is now working successfully in eight coffee producing countries. After leaving the Cup of Excellence in 2002 George founded the George Howell Coffee Company and its brand, Terroir Coffee, to further promote great farmers' coffees directly to consumers.

MINIMIZE SHIPPING COSTS of your prized coffee...! (and reduce CO2 emissions)

Why are we doing this?  We noticed a general resistance to re-orders of our coffees in 1-2 item shipments, because of shipping expense, relative to the cost of the coffee, and we empathize with this issue. 

To better serve you, we are offering a new Flat-Rate Program for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, at just $4! For more than 7 items, just add $1 per bag. This will be calculated automatically, of course, for you on our website when you make an order.

Customers can help us make this a permanent offer by having their coffee shipped to them at their place of work.  This saves the UPS up-charge of $1.85 for residential delivery which adds 36% to the typical shipping cost. Not only that, you'll be helping the environment by eliminating that extra trip of the UPS truck to your home.....

Bottom line.....if we can ship your order to you at your commercial work address, we can extend the flat-rate offer on a regular basis.

This is not your father's "Juan Valdez" coffee! This special discount of $2.00 per 12 ounce bag of Los Sauces is being offered until next Friday, June 1. As those who have been giving this coffee a whirl will attest, Colombia has coffees of extraordinary elegant complexity, refined flavor, sweetness. Los Sauces is one of those very rare Colombian coffees.

Colombian coffees are for the most part produced by very small farmers whose finished green coffees, some great, many average and others not so ripe are collected and blended together, then sold as a regional coffee or even just as a grade, such as "Supremo," which simply means larger screened beans very well sorted for visible defects. These coffees are among the best a commercially produced coffee can be. Maria Santos' coffee is a class above - and shows a Colombian, perhaps an Andean, terroir flavor-profile that is just emerging to more discerning palates in the specialty roasting business.

I am very excited by the emerging unique expression of finer Colombian coffees and have started visiting this country on a more regular basis to find more great farmers able to produce special micro-lots; Maria Santos' production is very limited. More on these visits - with photos shortly!

Nguguini (pronounced goo-guini), is grown in the district of Kirinyaga, beneath Mt Kenya. This coffee has that classic blackberry-black currant flavor but is mellower in acidity than past Kenyas we have offered. We especially recommend it to those coffee fans who may have had a hard time with our other more powerful Kenya offerings. The Nguguini is a supremely crafted, elegant and finely balanced coffee.

When this micro-lot arrived at our roasting plant we were blown away. The coffee was packaged in vacuumed airtight bags in boxes by Daterra Farm's Luis Pascoal who loaned his equipment and expertise to Cup of Excellence in Brazil. The Pedra Preta arrived to us as if harvested yesterday. What a difference from past Brazil Cup of Excellence coffees! Consumers for the first time can taste this winning Brazil coffee in the same condition as when the jurors did in December. Our lot of this coffee is now frozen (as green beans) to preserve its clarity of expression.

Great Brazils are all about softness. This is the reflected by the unique vocabulary they apply to their best cupping coffees. The finest is called strictly soft , followed by soft, softish, hard , and so on . This is an exemplary strictly soft coffee: mellow yet firm clean-fruit acidity in the cup with a wonderfully gossamer aroma. Full-bodied, delicate complex notes of hazelnut, fig, melon, plum, orange, vanilla and dark chocolate with a touch of floral lavender. This coffee will be specially roasted on Monday, June 25 in time for July 4. Please call (866) 444-5282 to reserve your order of Pedra Preta . $27.95 for 12 oz.

Farmer: Guillerme Dias de Castror
Region: Sul de Minas

Altitude: 3,500 - 4,500 ft
Rainfall: moderate
Processing method: pulped natural
Arabica cultivar: Yellow Bourbon
Size of farm: 173 acres of which 74 acres are coffee

Please join us at our roasting facility where we will give a tour, George will show slides illustrated with tastings and Peter will serve espressos that will open your palates to how bob-bon like a great one can be - none of that bitter stuff (no wonder latte rules!). Please call to reserve your place (we limit the number of people attending to make it pleasurable for all): (866) 444-5282 or (866) GHH-JAVA.