Both coffees are from very rare Arabica cultivars which impart unique flavors to the cup. La Montaña will be roasted North Italian Espresso style, ideal for espresso and French press coffeemakers and those desiring a more caramel-laced brew, while La Esmeralda will be Full Flavor roasted, perfect for drip and for those seeking a sparkling cup. Call (866) GHH-JAVA or click here for descriptions, prices and to order.

I had the great pleasure of visiting La Esperanza last month. Its owner, Isaias Cantillo Osa, is very modest in speech and presence yet displays a striking determination and independence of mind supported by intuition and real ingenuity when it comes to farm management and quality development. He started as a coffee picker and worked his way over many years toward being able to buy a tiny farm with his savings. He then bought coffee seeds over time from nearby farms accumulating quite a collection of varieties along the way. He resisted “the establishment's” urgings to replant his farm with more productive Arabica cultivars and his farm is now a museum of Arabicas, some rarely seen these days, most of which are low producing but prized for quality.

During the harvest Mr. Cantillo takes the spent coffee fruit and turns it into mulch, as do many farmers. But he has added a twist: The aging coffee cherries are placed in a succession of specially designed bins going down a slope; his chickens peck and scratch through each pile sending older fruit down to the next bin creating a sort of conveyor system. At the bottom of many rungs lie cherries already becoming earth.

Mr. Cantillo's farm is dramatically different in appearance from those of his neighbors. In the midst of neighbors' high-production oriented, denuded, erosion-prone coffee fields La Esperanza's narrow 6 acre farm, laden with tall shade trees, looks like a thick eyebrow. It can be seen in the adjoining photo, from bottom left to the upper right corner. He uses no herbicides or pesticides.

Isiais Cantillo has completely understood how to properly dry his coffee even during the rainiest of harvests. The drying stage is where many problems occur, resulting in poor quality. He has built a two-story structure where the processed wet beans are pre-dried on racks on the bottom floor and then placed above on the breathing second level for finish-drying. This upper level has a plastic covering which can be fully opened from two opposite sides to take advantage of sunny periods but which also allows air to pass through at all times without water damage, thus bringing the beans down to the proper moisture level in the necessary time regardless of adverse weather.

To read more and/or to order La Esperanza's fantastic special lot please click here or call (866) – GHH-JAVA.

We are offering $2 off each of the following three very popular and outstanding coffees for the month of November and the first week of December.

Matalapa, La Libertad , El Salvador

100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel.

Read more and order here:  $10.95 , regularly $12.95

Kigutha, Kiambu , Kenya

This coffee's strong black-currant notes are particularly suited to a slightly darker full flavor roast, ideal for French Press coffeemakers. Makes a great dark-berry flavored iced coffee.

Roast Style: Dark Shade of Full Flavor Roast Spectrum

Read more and order here:  $11.95 , regularly $13.95

El Injerto, Huehuetenango , Guatemala SHB

The cup has dazzling razor-fine acidity with honeyed citrus, red currant and other berry notes and a touch of anise. Full bodied. 100% Bourbon variety.

Roast Style: Full Flavor Roast

Rated Best Overall by The Wall Street Journal

Read more and order here:  $9.95 , regularly $11.95

Gift Mugs for the Holidays

Hand Made New England Pottery

We have chosen to carry a very limited number of very high quality mugs as gift ideas for the holidays. These mugs are all hand made in New England , and each one is unique and of high quality materials and superb workmanship.

The wide mouth mugs from Chocorua Village Pottery are of high density material and are heavy and durable, each holding about 15-16 ounces.

They are simply glazed with natural color earth tones and have a glossy glaze inside. We like these because the wide mouth allows the coffee to cool to the perfect temperature more quickly than a closed or straight shaped mug, while the high density material lengthens the time the coffee remains at the perfect drinking temperature. There are four styles and will be offered individually and in sets of 2 and 4. The photos are representative, but each is unique.

While in Northern Maine George found these great Connie Harter-Bagley porcelain mugs. See George's write-up, below.

All products are being hand-made, fired and delivered in early November. We will start accepting orders November 16th. Shipments will start November 26th and continue while supplies last. Order early, these are not to be missed!

Connie Harter-Bagley

While passing through northern Maine I found these great porcelain mugs. Not only do I really enjoy the bold calligraphic design - I love the tapered bowl, closing in towards the top, like a wine glass, that concentrates the aromas. Each is handmade. We have a very small supply! – George Howell

These are high-fired porcelain cups, making them very durable and safe in the dishwasher, microwave and oven.
Each individual cup is handmade with traditional methods using the wheel and carving tools then hand-decorated with Connie's own unique palette of ceramic slips and glazes, and finally fired in a special kiln. Wide open handles make the cups very easy to hold.

Small Mugs $18 ea
aprox. 3-1/2 inches wide by 3-1/2 inches tall and hold about 8oz.

Extra Large Mugs $22 ea
aprox. 4 inches wide by 4-1/2 inches tall and hold about 12oz.

Garden dragonfly is the name of the buttercup and avocado pattern.

Ocean Mist is the cobalt blue and sea green pattern.

Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.

Chocorua Village Pottery

Chocorua Village Pottery is nestled in a charming New England setting at the base of New Hampshire 's White Mountains . Here, in a converted 120-year-old barn, artist/potter Mylinda Grinstead makes clay works inspired by nature and designed for the home. She strives to combine the natural wonder of New Hampshire 's White Mountains with her passion for artistic expression within ceramic form. All her products are COMPLETELY handmade at her mountain side studio.

These wonderful earthen toned mugs are fired in a wood heated kiln up to a temperature of 2484 degrees. It is a long, laborious process that can take 36 hours. At the proper temperature, salt is thrown into the hot kiln; the salt vaporizes, fuming throughout the kiln interior, and combines with the clay of the pottery, forming a natural glaze on all the pots. Salt glazed stoneware is a more durable product than other pottery. It is physically stronger, can take more abuse, and is more impervious to liquids. The insides of these particular mugs are lined with a Tenmoku glaze. This forms a lovely tortoise shell like finish that ranges from black to honey amber. These glazes are completely lead free and safe for years of culinary use.

There are four styles: a blue decoration, a hazel decoration, a black decoration and plain earth-sand tone. These decorations bring a unique flavor to each style of mug. But Mylinda emphasizes that wood fired pottery is extra special because the wood flue itself conveys a truly unique and special flavor to each individual piece. The position of the pottery in the kiln, the combination of different wood types (hardwood and soft wood), the ambient temperature and humidity on a particular day, all effect the way the kiln burns and the way the flames lap around each piece. And this effects the look of each piece and also the outcome of each firing. Each individual wood firing is like an unique trip into the unknown and each outcome is extra special because the unpredictables and variables of nature has a major effect of the outcome. That is why, in the world of pottery, wood fired pieces are very sought after.

These mugs truly are "terroir". And we hope they bring to you "a sense of place" from our unique area in the mountains of New Hampshire .

Aprox. 4-inches wide (top) by 3-1/3 inches tall and hold about 15oz

Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.

We have transitioned to the newer style Technivorm brewers, called the CD Moccamaster models. These are the same outstanding brewers you are used to with a slightly smaller foot print on your counter.  Internally and functionally, they are identical, using very high quality components from Europe . 

These 1,475-Watt machines brew at the correct temperature of 200˚ F every time from start to finish, unlike others which are not powerful enough. A full pot of coffee brews in 6.5 minutes flat; it is simple to use, easy to maintain and comes with a one year warranty. We carry two models of the Moccamaster CD, one with a glass carafe (Model # 9932), and one with a vacuum stainless thermal carafe (Model # 9580). The Technivorm was designed by Gerard-Clement Smit, who was awarded this year's Technician Award by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe. Devaluation of the U.S. dollar against the Euro has resulted in a recent price increase, but we are still offering both models at $20 off regular price. We expect another increase after current inventory is exhausted. These make an excellent gift for the holidays .

We recently tested the Technivorm against several current home brewers, and plotted the actual performance results here. As you can see, the Technivorm coffee brewer reaches the proper extraction temperature fastest, and holds it there for the entire brew time, and they also finish first. Unlike other brewers, they maintain the proper extraction temperatures regardless of batch size.

We include a free scoop with all models. Order yours here.

Baratza Virtuoso Coffee Grinder, for $189.95, normally $199.
A real burr grinder is the gateway to making full-flavored fresh coffee with maximum sweetness. Getting the right uniform grind is critical to producing great coffee - you want to extract all the sweetness while holding back harsher notes due to over-extracted finer particles. The Virtuoso does the best job on the market in this price class and offers a wide selection of grinds to suit your brewer's needs. It is easy to clean, has a powerful motor and uses slow spinning conical burrs to keep the coffee from heating. It is solidly built. A great gift! Click here for more info rmation and to purchase. Time to junk the blade grinder for convenience and accuracy!

Flat Rate shipping program continued…indefinitely

Due to popular demand, and your support, we have made the Flat-Rate Shipping program permanent

$4 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a commercial address;
$5 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a residential address
via UPS Ground service.

For more than 7 coffee items, just add $1 per bag.

All other types of shipment are at standard rates.

Please help us continue this well received program by changing your ship-to address to a commercial address , and help to reduce green-house gases. If you would like us to modify your ship-to address to a commercial one, please e-Mail instructions to Jenny@terroircoffee.com or call us at (866) GHH-JAVA.

Both coffees are from very rare Arabica cultivars which impart unique flavors to the cup. La Montaña will be roasted North Italian Espresso style, ideal for espresso and French press coffeemakers and those desiring a more caramel-laced brew, while La Esmeralda will be Full Flavor roasted, perfect for drip and for those seeking a sparkling cup. Call (866) GHH-JAVA or click here for descriptions, prices and to order.

I had the great pleasure of visiting La Esperanza last month. Its owner, Isaias Cantillo Osa, is very modest in speech and presence yet displays a striking determination and independence of mind supported by intuition and real ingenuity when it comes to farm management and quality development. He started as a coffee picker and worked his way over many years toward being able to buy a tiny farm with his savings. He then bought coffee seeds over time from nearby farms accumulating quite a collection of varieties along the way. He resisted “the establishment's” urgings to replant his farm with more productive Arabica cultivars and his farm is now a museum of Arabicas, some rarely seen these days, most of which are low producing but prized for quality.

During the harvest Mr. Cantillo takes the spent coffee fruit and turns it into mulch, as do many farmers. But he has added a twist: The aging coffee cherries are placed in a succession of specially designed bins going down a slope; his chickens peck and scratch through each pile sending older fruit down to the next bin creating a sort of conveyor system. At the bottom of many rungs lie cherries already becoming earth.

Mr. Cantillo's farm is dramatically different in appearance from those of his neighbors. In the midst of neighbors' high-production oriented, denuded, erosion-prone coffee fields La Esperanza's narrow 6 acre farm, laden with tall shade trees, looks like a thick eyebrow. It can be seen in the adjoining photo, from bottom left to the upper right corner. He uses no herbicides or pesticides.

Isiais Cantillo has completely understood how to properly dry his coffee even during the rainiest of harvests. The drying stage is where many problems occur, resulting in poor quality. He has built a two-story structure where the processed wet beans are pre-dried on racks on the bottom floor and then placed above on the breathing second level for finish-drying. This upper level has a plastic covering which can be fully opened from two opposite sides to take advantage of sunny periods but which also allows air to pass through at all times without water damage, thus bringing the beans down to the proper moisture level in the necessary time regardless of adverse weather.

To read more and/or to order La Esperanza's fantastic special lot please click here or call (866) – GHH-JAVA.

We are offering $2 off each of the following three very popular and outstanding coffees for the month of November and the first week of December.

Matalapa, La Libertad , El Salvador

100% Bourbon. Layers of refined deep sweet citrus with no edge coated with creamed nutty caramel.

Read more and order here:  $10.95 , regularly $12.95

Kigutha, Kiambu , Kenya

This coffee's strong black-currant notes are particularly suited to a slightly darker full flavor roast, ideal for French Press coffeemakers. Makes a great dark-berry flavored iced coffee.

Roast Style: Dark Shade of Full Flavor Roast Spectrum

Read more and order here:  $11.95 , regularly $13.95

El Injerto, Huehuetenango , Guatemala SHB

The cup has dazzling razor-fine acidity with honeyed citrus, red currant and other berry notes and a touch of anise. Full bodied. 100% Bourbon variety.

Roast Style: Full Flavor Roast

Rated Best Overall by The Wall Street Journal

Read more and order here:  $9.95 , regularly $11.95

Gift Mugs for the Holidays

Hand Made New England Pottery

We have chosen to carry a very limited number of very high quality mugs as gift ideas for the holidays. These mugs are all hand made in New England , and each one is unique and of high quality materials and superb workmanship.

The wide mouth mugs from Chocorua Village Pottery are of high density material and are heavy and durable, each holding about 15-16 ounces.

They are simply glazed with natural color earth tones and have a glossy glaze inside. We like these because the wide mouth allows the coffee to cool to the perfect temperature more quickly than a closed or straight shaped mug, while the high density material lengthens the time the coffee remains at the perfect drinking temperature. There are four styles and will be offered individually and in sets of 2 and 4. The photos are representative, but each is unique.

While in Northern Maine George found these great Connie Harter-Bagley porcelain mugs. See George's write-up, below.

All products are being hand-made, fired and delivered in early November. We will start accepting orders November 16th. Shipments will start November 26th and continue while supplies last. Order early, these are not to be missed!

Connie Harter-Bagley

While passing through northern Maine I found these great porcelain mugs. Not only do I really enjoy the bold calligraphic design - I love the tapered bowl, closing in towards the top, like a wine glass, that concentrates the aromas. Each is handmade. We have a very small supply! – George Howell

These are high-fired porcelain cups, making them very durable and safe in the dishwasher, microwave and oven.
Each individual cup is handmade with traditional methods using the wheel and carving tools then hand-decorated with Connie's own unique palette of ceramic slips and glazes, and finally fired in a special kiln. Wide open handles make the cups very easy to hold.

Small Mugs $18 ea
aprox. 3-1/2 inches wide by 3-1/2 inches tall and hold about 8oz.

Extra Large Mugs $22 ea
aprox. 4 inches wide by 4-1/2 inches tall and hold about 12oz.

Garden dragonfly is the name of the buttercup and avocado pattern.

Ocean Mist is the cobalt blue and sea green pattern.

Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.

Chocorua Village Pottery

Chocorua Village Pottery is nestled in a charming New England setting at the base of New Hampshire 's White Mountains . Here, in a converted 120-year-old barn, artist/potter Mylinda Grinstead makes clay works inspired by nature and designed for the home. She strives to combine the natural wonder of New Hampshire 's White Mountains with her passion for artistic expression within ceramic form. All her products are COMPLETELY handmade at her mountain side studio.

These wonderful earthen toned mugs are fired in a wood heated kiln up to a temperature of 2484 degrees. It is a long, laborious process that can take 36 hours. At the proper temperature, salt is thrown into the hot kiln; the salt vaporizes, fuming throughout the kiln interior, and combines with the clay of the pottery, forming a natural glaze on all the pots. Salt glazed stoneware is a more durable product than other pottery. It is physically stronger, can take more abuse, and is more impervious to liquids. The insides of these particular mugs are lined with a Tenmoku glaze. This forms a lovely tortoise shell like finish that ranges from black to honey amber. These glazes are completely lead free and safe for years of culinary use.

There are four styles: a blue decoration, a hazel decoration, a black decoration and plain earth-sand tone. These decorations bring a unique flavor to each style of mug. But Mylinda emphasizes that wood fired pottery is extra special because the wood flue itself conveys a truly unique and special flavor to each individual piece. The position of the pottery in the kiln, the combination of different wood types (hardwood and soft wood), the ambient temperature and humidity on a particular day, all effect the way the kiln burns and the way the flames lap around each piece. And this effects the look of each piece and also the outcome of each firing. Each individual wood firing is like an unique trip into the unknown and each outcome is extra special because the unpredictables and variables of nature has a major effect of the outcome. That is why, in the world of pottery, wood fired pieces are very sought after.

These mugs truly are "terroir". And we hope they bring to you "a sense of place" from our unique area in the mountains of New Hampshire .

Aprox. 4-inches wide (top) by 3-1/3 inches tall and hold about 15oz

Click here to order or call (866) GHH-JAVA.

We have transitioned to the newer style Technivorm brewers, called the CD Moccamaster models. These are the same outstanding brewers you are used to with a slightly smaller foot print on your counter.  Internally and functionally, they are identical, using very high quality components from Europe . 

These 1,475-Watt machines brew at the correct temperature of 200˚ F every time from start to finish, unlike others which are not powerful enough. A full pot of coffee brews in 6.5 minutes flat; it is simple to use, easy to maintain and comes with a one year warranty. We carry two models of the Moccamaster CD, one with a glass carafe (Model # 9932), and one with a vacuum stainless thermal carafe (Model # 9580). The Technivorm was designed by Gerard-Clement Smit, who was awarded this year's Technician Award by the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe. Devaluation of the U.S. dollar against the Euro has resulted in a recent price increase, but we are still offering both models at $20 off regular price. We expect another increase after current inventory is exhausted. These make an excellent gift for the holidays .

We recently tested the Technivorm against several current home brewers, and plotted the actual performance results here. As you can see, the Technivorm coffee brewer reaches the proper extraction temperature fastest, and holds it there for the entire brew time, and they also finish first. Unlike other brewers, they maintain the proper extraction temperatures regardless of batch size.

We include a free scoop with all models. Order yours here.

Baratza Virtuoso Coffee Grinder, for $189.95, normally $199.
A real burr grinder is the gateway to making full-flavored fresh coffee with maximum sweetness. Getting the right uniform grind is critical to producing great coffee - you want to extract all the sweetness while holding back harsher notes due to over-extracted finer particles. The Virtuoso does the best job on the market in this price class and offers a wide selection of grinds to suit your brewer's needs. It is easy to clean, has a powerful motor and uses slow spinning conical burrs to keep the coffee from heating. It is solidly built. A great gift! Click here for more info rmation and to purchase. Time to junk the blade grinder for convenience and accuracy!

Flat Rate shipping program continued…indefinitely

Due to popular demand, and your support, we have made the Flat-Rate Shipping program permanent

$4 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a commercial address;
$5 for shipments of 3-7 coffee items, to a residential address
via UPS Ground service.

For more than 7 coffee items, just add $1 per bag.

All other types of shipment are at standard rates.

Please help us continue this well received program by changing your ship-to address to a commercial address , and help to reduce green-house gases. If you would like us to modify your ship-to address to a commercial one, please e-Mail instructions to Jenny@terroircoffee.com or call us at (866) GHH-JAVA.