Welcome to the Quaffee Newsletter. A short summary of what is covered in this edition:
- Our new coffees have arrived from Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil and El Salvador.
- After 2 years of hunting we release our fully recyclable packaging and it is locally made, the first we know of in coffee.
- Nic has moved on to run CoffeebloC
- New coffees coming
- Survey and sundry news
It is a longer read than normal. Please enjoy and thanks for the positive feedback. Do you know that our newsletter is opened almost twice as much than average newsletter in the industry. There is a survey at the bottom too, please complete it. FYI Our next open day is on the 3rd Nov 2012.
Regards,
The Quaffee Team
New Coffees
Our six new coffees arrived a week late for the October open day. We are spending a week to determine a roast profile that exposes the flavours we prefer in the coffees. So far we have just released the Cup of Excellence winner from Coatepec, Mexico. We are tweeting our results as we go, and are not rushing into releasing them until we are happy. So watch the website,facebook page and twitter account for updates.
Locally made Recyclable Packaging
Quaffee’s philosophy is that our product is our brand. Over the past 6 years we have found that our best marketing is achieved by producing a product that fellow coffee lovers enjoy and want to tell other coffee lovers about.
A part of this philosophy is to positively affect all people in the process of growing, producing, roasting and consuming coffee. We have changed our packaging a few times, and last year we took it on ourselves to try and create a fully recyclable product. This means no wax layered paper or layered plastic or foil or tins or things that use stickers or gas.
After our taste tests confirmed results from 4 years ago we started sourcingLow-density polyethylene based packaging. Three months of use later and we were happy with the flavour and aroma retention (in fact we found in some cases it exceeded the traditional retail packaging especially with style of roasting we use on the coffees we source).
After extensive research we found a local producer of this packaging in Atlantis, who was also able to print on the bags with a recyclable ink. This ink is not like normal ink it does not blend the way you get in standard printing so each colour is its own colour. This then gave us our LDPE bags. For the 1kg bags we added a second grip lock, so that they would stay sealed better. The smaller 250g bags we decided to add a box around the bag. This too can be recycled using the standard practice, since it has no sticker on it, which prevents paper and plastic from being recyclable.
The good news is that those that want to recycle can now recycle. And the better news is that the coffee is not adversely affected (as we found with some packaging, especially the bio degradable packaging). So look out for the packaging next time you get your coffee.
Our 250g locally made and recyclable bag |
Our 1kg locally made and recyclable bag |
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CoffeebloC
As part of our move to Buitenverwachting, we were asked to help setup a Deli / Coffee shop, to showcase the coffees, and the multi award winning food that the restaurant is already famous for.
Nic was keen to take this on as his own, and since 10.10.12 the Deli called CoffeebloC has been open at Buitenverwachting. Here you can enjoy a coffee / espresso / cappuccino and have a snack. You can also purchase almost all our coffees in 250g form and other goodies.
Pop in and try the great fare.
New Coffees for the New Year
We have ordered the next batch of new coffees. This time it is only two coffees, since the Colombian’s are not ready yet. We may have them before Xmas, but from experience we are not promising anything:
- From Guatemala we have secured the winner of the Cup of Excellence El Injerto. And unusually this is not from the Antigua region but from Huehuetenango. The coffee is full bodied with a sweet and fruity character. It is also our first Rainforest Alliance coffee since Timana in 2008
- From Honduras a microlot coffee from Enemenico Marquez. This was a coffee that stood out for us when we cupped it about a month ago, and hence have decided to bring it in.
These coffees will sell for around R300 per kilo, but we are convinced are special enough (they sell for almost double that in the US). Once again twitter and facebook is the best place for up-to-date news here. The coffees are leaving this week for Cape Town.
Additional News and Question
Besides the producers of the coffee we roast, our clients are the most important part of the loop. This has made us consider introducing a loyalty system. It will reward those that purchase our speciality coffees more than the blends – since the blends we essentially produce at a discounted rate. There will be a list of items that will be available for the points earned. So you can for example get a sample pack of coffees, cleaning tablets for your Jura, a Barista training course if you are running a commercial machine etc.
Tell us what you think Click to Answer Survey
Next Open Day
For those of you interested in attending the next open day it is on Saturday November 3. A new event will be created on facebook.
