February 2026 Spotlight Coffee - Mexico Pueblo

Welcome to For the Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Our Spotlight Coffee for the month of February will be a newcomer to the Vienna catalogue - the complex, rich and balanced taste of Mexican Pueblo.

Quimixtlan (and neighboring Chichiquila) are high-altitude Náhuatl communities located at the intersection of the Sierra Occidental and Noro Occidental mountain ranges of Northern Puebla.

Coffee has been part of Mexico’s agricultural landscape since the 18th century. Production grew steadily through the 20th century, culminating in the 1970s when a farmer-friendly government expanded credit and extension services to smallholders. Over the next two decades, exports surged as farmers planted coffee across the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.

Larger estates, concentrated around Veracruz and Puebla, produce a significant volume of Mexico’s coffee. But the heart of quality coffee lies with the millions of smallholders where steep, high-altitude plots are farmed largely by indigenous communities.

For these local farmers, the path to market rarely runs through cooperative structures of the kind seen elsewhere. Formal co-ops exist, but offer little connection to household-level producers. Increasingly, though, regional associations and independent organizations are experimenting with new models—like our Importer, Crop to Cup's very own Good Coffee Program, which builds farmer-specific supply chains outside of the coyote system—creating limited but growing alternatives and opening pathways for community and individual-level lots to reach specialty markets.

We are proud to offer this outstanding coffee here at Vienna. After cupping several roast profiles, our expert roasting team decided on a Medium roast profile, with tasting notes of Mulled Cider, Brown Sugar, and Blueberries.

Addition info:

Body: Medium

Acidity: Mild

Country/Region: Puebla, Mexico

Farmer/Producer: Red de Quimixtlán (producer group)

Cultivar: Bourbon, Pacamara

Altitude: 1500+ masl

Processing: Washed

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

~Matt~

January 2026 Spotlight - Ethiopian Shantawene

Welcome to For the Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Our Spotlight Coffee for the month of January will be our award-winning single-origin gem - Ethiopian Shantawene.

As many of you already know, coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia in the mid-9th century, and some of the world’s best coffee is still grown there! Shantawene Village is located in the Bensa District of Sidama, Ethiopia. This natural lot is a collection of coffees from the village, produced at the local mill run by the Dukamo Family. In 2006, brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo founded Daye Bensa, a coffee grower and exporter in Ethiopia.

Daye Bensa exports coffee from its farm in the Shantawene Village and from “out-growers”(or smallholders) in Shantawene, Karamo, and Bombe. The farm is located at the heart of Shantawene Village amid natural forest and indigenous trees estimated to be more than 200 years old. Daye Bensa has quickly become the area’s leader in high-quality coffee, winning numerous accolades, including 7th place at the inaugural 2020 Cup of Excellence competition for Ethiopia.

Surrounded by rivers separating Shantawene from Bombe, the dry mill maintains natural shade trees and the fertility of the soil with the help of expertise from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture.

This beautiful coffee is processed using the Natural Process. In the natural process, the coffee beans are left in the red, cherry-like coffee fruit to dry on raised beds. Each lot is carefully hand-sorted to remove any unripe cherries before going to the de-pulper to remove the outer fruit layer of the coffee. This process results in the wonderful fruit-forward essence of the coffee cherry in the cup, as well as additional sweetness and body.

Here at Vienna Coffee, we roast the green coffee beans to a light roast degree to highlight all the natural dark fruit notes, medium body, and bright, fruity acidity. Tasting notes for this outstanding single-origin Ethiopian coffee are Raspberry, Plumb, and Lavender.

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

~Matt~

December Spotlight - Gesha

Welcome to another edition of For the Love of Coffee. A blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Guatemala Gesha will be our Spotlight coffee for the month of December. Gesha is a unique variety of coffee that originated in the Gori Gesha forest of Ethiopia. Gesha coffee is well-known throughout the specialty coffee world as an exceptional coffee that commands a premium price. In 2019, a Gesha at the Best of Panama coffee competition sold for over $1,000 per pound! Gesha is known for its unique flavor profile of floral and sweet notes, often containing hints of jasmine, chocolate, and honey, but can also feature bright citrus notes. Our Gesha offering comes from our exceptional partners at Finca San Jeronimo located in the volcanic Atitlan region of Guatemala. Farmer Georgio Brassani and family have worked this land for four generations and are producing some of the finest coffee in Guatemala. Their Gesha coffee is one of their crowning achievements, and we are proud to partner with this amazing family to feature their coffee here at Vienna Coffee.

Fourth-generation coffee farmer, Georgio Brassani, checking on the health of his coffee plants. Constant care and a passion for quality have contributed to their reputation as one of the finest coffee producers in Guatemala.

This month we will be selling this very exclusive coffee in 8oz bags for purchase in our retail shop and online store. Occasionally we will offer it on the coffee bar during special promotions, and it will be featured on the upcoming tasting table this coming Friday, December 5th.

If you would like to do a deeper dive into the history of Gesha and how it came to be such a prized coffee, you can check out this great article from our partners at Deeper Roots Coffee [HERE].

Peace, Love & Coffee,

Matt



November Spotlight - Kenya Ndaroini

November spotlight coffee quick facts:

  • Grown on the fertile slopes of Mt Kenya at 1,700 masl

  • Processed at the Ndaroini Factory in Nyeri, Kenya

  • Process - Fully washed

  • Drying - Raised Beds

  • Varietals - Batian, Kenya SL28, Ruiru 11

  • Roast Degree - Medium

  • Body - Structured

  • Acidity - Juicy

  • Tasting Notes - Cranberry, Peach, Cinnamon

After fully ripe cherries are handpicked, farmers deliver them to Ndaroini to be hand-sorted and weighed and then soaked in fermentation tanks for 24 hours. Once processed the cherries are dried on raised beds for 14 - 21 days followed by another round of hand-sorting before being prepared for export


October's Spotlight Coffee - Colombia Tolima

Welcome to another edition of For The Love of Coffee, a blog exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

October’s Spotlight Coffee, Colombia Tolima, comes to us through our Deeper Roots family and the relationships that have been formed with the coffee farmers and exporters of the region of Tolima. Colombia coffee is already world-renowned for its quality and consistency, and is often considered THE standard for what coffee should taste like!

In November 2013, Deeper Root’s Director of Coffee, Adam Shaw traveled to the coffee-producing region of Tolima to see first-hand the quality of the coffee farms. While there Adam had the privilege of visiting 5 different farms and was able to cup coffee with the farmers. Fast-forward 11 years, and Deeper Roots continues its relationship with this amazing coffee-producing region.

Tolima has approximately 1,800,000 inhabitants and an area of 23,562 square kilometers. It is situated in central-west Colombia. Tolima is a well-known coffee-producing region in Colombia. This coffee is from the growing areas around Ibague where Pergamino Coffee Exporters works with around 50 growers that bring their coffee to a logistics partner of Pergamino where there is a warehouse and cupping lab. The coffee lots are then analyzed one by one for quality and consistency before being added to the lots for export. In addition to growing coffee, the Tolima district is also the number-one rice and sesame producer in the country.

Once received here at Vienna, we roast and cup this delicious coffee to dial in on the optimal profile for producing the best flavors in the cup. The coffee features a Light roast degree and has subtle tasting notes of walnut, peach, and brown sugar. The acidity is bright and lively, with a full body.

Each Barista will be receiving a 4oz sample to take home and prepare using their preferred coffee-brewing method.

Wake up, drink coffee, sleep, repeat.

Matt


September Spotlight - La Armonia Hermosa

Welcome to the September 2025 edition of For the Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

Grown by the family of Guatemalan farmer Julio Cuy Xar, in the fertile volcanic soil of Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala. La Armonía Hermosa translates to “The Beautiful Harmony.” This could not be a better name for this wonderful coffee, for indeed, it is a beautiful harmony between the family who plants, nurtures, and harvests the coffee; the local farm that processes, packs, and ships the coffee; and Deeper Roots/Vienna coffee. It is also a beautiful harmony of flavors with this year’s crop featuring notes of Toasted Almond, Peach, and Vanilla.

The dormant volcano Agua towers above the city of Sant Maria de Jesus.

Les Stonham talks with Melvin about the years harvest.

After the coffee cherries are harvested all by hand they are put through a “de-pulping machine” in order to remove the fruit from the coffee seeds inside.

Large tarps are used for drying the coffee, both washed and natural process can be seen on the farm. Both processes require constant turning in order to assure consistent and even drying.

Les and I had the great privilege to jump in and help with the spreading and turning of the coffee cherries.

The entire lot for the year is purchased by Deeper Roots and Vienna Coffee to ensure a fair price for Julio and his family and for the pure enjoyment of our customers.

We are excited to feature this exclusive coffee from our direct-trade partner exclusively for our customers. Be on the lookout for Barista samples coming soon!

Thank you all for everything you do each and every day to make Vienna Coffee such a special place!

Matt

August Spotlight Coffee - Tanzania Peaberry Iyenga

Welcome to the August 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

As all of you know, our featured Spotlight Coffee for this past month of July has been Papua New Guinea Kinmuga Peaberry. We are continuing the peaberry theme into August with an outstanding washed peaberry coffee from the African nation of Tanzania. This coffee comes from the village of Iyenga in the Mbozi District, located in the Songwe Region, part of the highlands of Southern Tanzania. The region is well-known for producing a variety of cash crops, including coffee, sunflower, sesame, tobacco, and peanuts. The crops provide the area's inhabitants with a significant source of income, with coffee being the largest.

Founded in the wake of the Tanzanian Cooperative Act of 2003, today the Iyenga AMCOS (Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society) has 193 registered members and collects from over 500 farmers. These are smallholders, most with 1-2 hectare farms.

Most members are within a short walk of the washing station. Still, during the harvest, the group organizes trucks and motorbikes to collect all the freshly-picked coffee cherries to ensure they are all pulped within 8 hours of harvest! Some coffee is home-milled and delivered in parchment, while others are brought in cherry. Both are hand-sorted before pulping, fermented in water for 10-12 hours, washed, then moved to drying beds for 7-10 days.

If you visit during the harvest season you will find the pulper running from 4pm - 8pm, right around sundown. It is a government-granted eco-efficient machine that conserves water, which is critical to the area. Access to water is one of Iyenga’s biggest challenges, especially during the dry season.

We receive this outstanding coffee from our partners at Crop 2 Cup. You can read more about the coffee and our partnering efforts through our Deeper Roots connection to help with education and entrepreneurial training opportunities in the community by tapping HERE

Here at Vienna Coffee we roast this coffee to a Medium (2) roast degree to bring out all the natural beauty contained in the beans. Again, this is a peaberry coffee, so it has the unique “pea” shape of a coffee bean where only one bean develops inside of the coffee cherry.

After cupping this new and exciting coffee with various tasters and the Roastery staff, subtle flavors of Tropical Fruit, Macadamia Nut, and Agave were selected for tasting notes. The Acidity is described as bright and & juicy, and the body is medium.

Each Barista will soon receive a 4oz sample of Tanzanian Iyenga Peaberry to take home and brew up using their preferred brewing method.

Thank you all for everything you do each and every day to make Vienna Coffee Company such a special place for your co-workers and your community. You all shine bright!

Blessings,

Matt

ps. Comments are enabled to share thoughts, opinions, brewing tips, or any other random, unrelated quips.

July Spotlight - Papua New Guinea Kinmuga Peaberry

Welcome to the July 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

Here we are in the heat of summer and ready to introduce another beautiful new coffee to the eager coffee-loving masses! This latest offering feels familiar (see my April 2024 featured Organic PNG blog), yet it is new in its regional origin and variety; a “Peaberry”coffee from Papua New Guinea called Kinmuga.

Kinmuga refers to a specific type of coffee from Papua New Guinea. These coffees are sourced from smallholder farms in the southern Wahgi Valley. This region is known for its fertile soils, enriched by the proximity to an extinct volcano and the Wara Tuman river, making it ideal for coffee cultivation. 

The cherries are sold at the Kindeng wet mill, where they are pulped, fermented, and processed to parchment, then brought to the Kagamuga dry mill. Since 2018 Kindeng wet mill has had a wastewater digester, which enables environmentally friendly pulping and fermentation.

The unique combination of the local people’s pride and commitment, the natural environment, and a high-altitude tropical climate (1,600 meters above sea level) gives these coffees their specific cup characteristics.

Ryan from Deeper Roots recently visited the Kinmuga farm and captured many amazing pictures of the farm and people who work so hard to ensure we are offering only the highest-quality coffee to our customers. He also visited the school that Deeper Roots helped to establish for the local children.

The term “Peaberry” refers to the unique shape of this coffee. When only a single seed forms inside the coffee fruit, it produces a round -shaped seed similar to a pea shape, thus the term Peaberry was applied to this unique coffee which was initially considered a defect and sorted from the regular beans. Now it is considered a premium quality.

Here at Vienna Coffee we roast this high-end coffee to a light roast degree to retain all it’s unique character and quality. In the cup it has a juicy acidity and a medium body with tasting notes of tart cherry, mandarin orange, and pistachio nut.

Samples will soon be delivered for all Baristas to take home and enjoy with their favorite brewing method. Comments have been enabled to encourage thoughts, impressions, recommendations on brewing techniques, or any other verbose pontifications.

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt

July Spotlight - Papua New Guinea Kinmuga Peaberry

Welcome to the July 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

Here we are in the heat of summer and ready to introduce another beautiful new coffee to the eager coffee-loving masses! This latest offering feels familiar (see my April 2024 featured Organic PNG blog), yet it is new in its regional origin and variety; a “Peaberry”coffee from Papua New Guinea called Kinmuga.

Kinmuga refers to a specific type of coffee from Papua New Guinea. These coffees are sourced from smallholder farms in the southern Wahgi Valley. This region is known for its fertile soils, enriched by the proximity to an extinct volcano and the Wara Tuman river, making it ideal for coffee cultivation. 

The cherries are sold at the Kindeng wet mill, where they are pulped, fermented, and processed to parchment, then brought to the Kagamuga dry mill. Since 2018 Kindeng wet mill has had a wastewater digester, which enables environmentally friendly pulping and fermentation.

The unique combination of the local people’s pride and commitment, the natural environment, and a high-altitude tropical climate (1,600 meters above sea level) gives these coffees their specific cup characteristics.

The term “Peaberry” refers to the unique shape of this coffee. When only a single seed forms inside the coffee fruit, it produces a round -shaped seed similar to a pea shape, thus the term Peaberry was applied to this unique coffee which was initially considered a defect and sorted from the regular beans. Now it is considered a premium quality.

Here at Vienna Coffee we roast this high-end coffee to a light roast degree to retain all it’s unique character and quality. In the cup it has a juicy acidity and a medium body with tasting notes of tart cherry, mandarin orange, and pistachio nut.

Samples will soon be delivered for all Baristas to take home and enjoy with their favorite brewing method. Comments have been enabled to encourage thoughts, impressions, recommendations on brewing techniques, or any other verbose pontifications.

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt

June Spotlight Coffee - Foxfire Blend

Welcome to the June 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee, exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Our June Spotlight Coffee (and new Seasonal Blend), beginning June 1st, will be Foxfire Blend! This new Foxfire blend is not the same blend as our Foxfire Espresso from a few years ago, which won a Golden Bean award in 2022 in the Espresso category. This newly-imagined blend exclusively features coffees from the Daye Bensa Farm in the heart of Shantawene Village, in Sidama Bensa, Ethiopia.

Gatta Honey (last month’s Spotlight) is 30% of the new blend and is prepared using a unique method called “Honey Process”. The beans are de-pulped from the fruit and, instead of being washed, are immediately moved outside to raised beds to dry with all the sticky mucilage (fruit residue) remaining on the coffee. This gives a unique variation to the two common processing methods (washed and natural), typically resulting in a sweeter, more complex flavor profile.

Depulped coffee beans ready to go straight to the drying beds.

Daye Bensa Washed Shantawene make up the lion’s share of the blend at 70%. This coffee uses the most common processing method of “washing” the coffee to remove all the fruity mucilage before going to the drying beds.

Foxfire Summer Blend features tasting notes of Honeysuckle, Peach, and Melon. It has a bright acidity, and a light body.

4 Oz Barista samples will be coming soon!

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt

May Spotlight Coffee - Ethiopian Gatta Honey

Welcome to the May 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee. A blog about all things coffee, exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Our Spotlight coffee for the merry month of May is the glorious Ethiopian Gatta Honey. This outstanding coffee comes from the Daye Bensa Farm in the heart of Shantawene Village, in Sidama Bensa, Ethiopia. The farm sits at 2,200 masl amid a natural forest with many trees over 100 years old.

Gatta Honey is prepared using a unique method called “honey-process,” where the coffee is pulped from the fruit and, instead of being washed, is immediately moved outside to raised beds to dry with all the sticky mucilage (fruit residue) remaining on the coffee. This gives a unique variation to the two common processing methods (washed and natural) and typically results in a sweeter, more complex flavor profile.

Depulped coffee beans ready to go straight to the drying beds.

We have had a strong relationship with Daye Bensa Farm for many years and we were honored to host the Founder, Asefa Dukamo, and his family here at Vienna in 2021. Just this past March, our own Les & Jamie Stoneham from Deeper Roots Coffee visited the farm once again and discussed their ever-expanding offerings and steady growth as one of Ethiopia’s premier coffee producers.

Daye Bensa school for children of the families who work for the coffee farm

For our Vienna debut, we are featuring this single-origin beauty as a light roast, giving this coffee a bright acidity, full body with bold sweetness, and tasting notes of black tea, bergamot, and tropical fruit.

Baristas, your 4 OZ samples are available to take home and try using your preferred brewing method. Once again, comments are enabled to facilitate questions and discussion about the coffee. I would welcome any feedback or questions.

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt

Introducing Brazil Morro Azul - Our April Spotlight Coffee

Welcome to the April 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee, a monthly blog about all things coffee, exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Spring is finally upon us, and with the changing of the seasons comes a beautiful new Brazilian coffee from our friends at FAF Coffees. FAF stands for Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (translated Environmental Fortress Farm) and has been a coffee plantation since 1850. Their stated mission is “to be a socially, environmentally and economically Sustainable Farm - a model that sows the seeds of Sustainability to the Individual, to the Family, to the Business community and to Society as a whole”.

From it’s earliest days the farm was exporting its quality coffee to the European market and was even nominated to be the official coffee of the Vatican in the beginning of the 20th century.

In 2001, FAF was still a traditional farm with 150 farmhands and conventional farm methods. When Silvia Barretto inherited the farm that year, she and her husband Marcos Croce took over its management, following the core principles of organic practices and sustainable management. They not only remodelled and reconstructed the existing coffee equipment and terraces but also started working on soil, water, and forest preservation.

Morro Azul, the specific farm from where this coffee derives its name, is managed by Flavio and Marcia Lucia and is a member of the FAF network of farms that are known as the “Bob-O-Link” farms. Named after the migratory bird that flies annually from the Midwest of North America to the Southeast of South America, Bob-o-Link coffees are produced in the mountainous Mogiana Region at altitudes varying from 900 to 1,400 masl. The Morro Azul farm is located in Mococa right on the border between São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

The Bob-O-Link farms agricultural methods aim to produce in harmony with nature. This means utilizing nature to create a healthy balance of shade and rich soil, respecting the habitats of animals, and keeping springs and waterways clean. The coffee is all handpicked selectively at the ripest stage of the fruit to ensure flavor, sweetness, and a clean cup. The coffee is then dried naturally on either raised beds or cement patios.

After the drying process is complete, the coffee is prepped and bagged to be shipped to discerning coffee importers around the globe. Once this exceptional coffee is received at Vienna’s roastery, it is expertly roasted to the degree that has been pre-determined by critiquing and discussing the coffee.

After multiple cupping sessions, we determined that this coffee shines at a lighter roast and produces subtle hints of cashew butter, pear, and honey. With a medium body and acidity, it makes for an excellent first cup of the day, and for caffeine addicts like me who need multiple cups each day, it is the perfect all-day coffee fix!

You will each be receiving a sample bag of this delicious Brazilian gem to try for yourselves at home. Please let me know your thoughts once you have tried the coffee. For the first time I have enabled comments to encourage questions, discussion, and for sharing your experiences!

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt

NEW Spring Seasonal Coffee, Trillium Blend is about to bloom!

This is a supplemental informational post in addition to the regular monthly coffee blog For The Love of Coffee sent on Saturday.

It’s purpose is to provide a brief description of our new Spring Seasonal coffee, Trillium Blend, and it is meant to be saved and recalled for quick reference.

Juicy Apple | Stone Fruit | Floral

50% Ethiopian Shantawene - The classic taste of a washed Ethiopian contributes to the amazing floral and stone fruit flavors like peach and apricot.

25% Kenya Ichamama - The addition of Kenya brings a great depth to the coffee with the mouthfeel of a deep red Merlot wine with hints of dark chocolate and black cherries.

25% - Papua New Guinea - The PNG rounds out the flavor profile with a bright juicy apple taste and subtle hints of spice and earthy undertones.

Roast Degree - Medium (2)

Acidity - Bright, Juicy

Body - Medium

Web Description:

Trillium Blend, our new Spring seasonal coffee, is named after the lovely three-petaled flower that welcomes spring in abundance across the Great Smoky Mountains. It is a delightful combination of three outstanding coffees. We begin with the fruity-floral notes of a classic Ethiopian coffee, blend it with the deep winey-citrusy notes of an exquisite Kenyan coffee, and round it out with notes of stone fruit and Fiji apple from coffees of Papua New Guinea. This blend is bright, balanced, and features a medium body and acidity. Perfect for a tranquil Tennessee Spring morning drinking in the blossoming transition of the season.

March 2025 Spotlight - Ethiopian Shantawene

Welcome to the March 2025 edition of For the Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

Our Spotlight Coffee for the month of March will be our award-winning single-origin gem - Ethiopian Shantawene.

As many of you already know, coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia in the mid-9th century, and some of the world’s best coffee is still grown there! Shantawene Village is located in the Bensa District of Sidama, Ethiopia. This natural lot is a collection of coffees from the village, produced at the local mill run by the Dukamo Family. In 2006, brothers Asefa and Mulugeta Dukamo founded Daye Bensa, a coffee grower and exporter in Ethiopia.

Daye Bensa exports coffee from its farm in the Shantawene Village and from “out-growers”(or smallholders) in Shantawene, Karamo, and Bombe. The farm is located at the heart of Shantawene Village amid natural forest and indigenous trees estimated to be more than 200 years old. Daye Bensa has quickly become the area’s leader in high-quality coffee, winning numerous accolades, including 7th place at the inaugural 2020 Cup of Excellence competition for Ethiopia.

Surrounded by rivers separating Shantawene from Bombe, the dry mill maintains natural shade trees and the fertility of the soil with the help of expertise from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture.

This beautiful coffee is processed using the Natural Process. In the natural process, the coffee beans are left in the red, cherry-like coffee fruit to dry on raised beds. Each lot is carefully hand-sorted to remove any unripe cherries before going to the de-pulper to remove the outer fruit layer of the coffee. This process results in the wonderful fruit-forward essence of the coffee cherry in the cup, as well as additional sweetness and body.

Here at Vienna Coffee, we roast the green coffee beans to a light roast degree to highlight all the natural dark fruit notes, medium body, and bright, fruity acidity. Tasting notes for this outstanding single-origin Ethiopian coffee are Raspberry, Plumb, and Lavender.

This coffee also won a Bronze Medal for Veinna at the 2022 Golden Bean Awards, a national coffee-roasting competition. The coffee won the award in the “Pour Over Filter” category. We will be sure to have something in the cafe pointing to this fact and encourage customers to try the coffee prepared using the pour over method.

I hope you all take pride in knowing that every single day you are serving our customers only the highest quality coffees, sourced from farms that take great pride in their product and care deeply about their workers and the natural environment. Take the opportunity this month to try this truly outstanding coffee and please share your thoughts, I would love to hear them!

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

~Matt~

February Spotlight Coffee - Kenya Ichamama

Welcome to the February 2025 edition of For The Love of Coffee, a blog exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

I know, I know…. the February Spotlight coffee has a funny name, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a serious coffee! The coffee’s unusual name comes from the name of the wet mill where the coffee is processed. The wet mill is named for the Ichamama River which flows near enough to the mill to be a water source used for processing the coffee. The Ichamama wet mill is one of nineteen washing stations that make up the Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society and serves over 780 local coffee farmers living in the villages and towns surrounding it.

Located north of the country’s capital of Nairobi, the Ichamama wet mill lies peacefully between the base of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Ranges, where the red volcanic soil in this famous coffee-growing region results in thick and sweet coffee fruit. The mill itself is located in the town of Othaya, in Nyeri County, Kenya.

This exceptional coffee is grown at an elevation of 1,741 MASL (meters above sea level) and is hand-picked by local workers. The freshly picked coffee cherries are then immediately delivered to the Ichamama wet mill where they are hand-sorted, weighed, pulped, washed, and dried. The coffee is then delivered to the dry mill for milling, grading, and bagging.

Picked cherries are hand-sorted to select only the best, most developed coffee to go to the drying beds.

Raised drying beds are meticulously tended and the coffee beans regularly turned to ensure even drying.

It takes many hands, and constant attention to ensure that the coffee is up to the high standards of the Cooperative.

Once the coffee has been dried to exact moisture content standards it is bagged for shipment and makes its ocean voyage to New York where it arrives at our US importing partner, Royal Coffee. We purchase the coffee from Royal and receive it at our warehouse in Maryville where it is expertly roasted, allowed to rest for 24-48 hours, and then tasted in our Quality Control Lab to determine body, acidity, and tasting notes. This outstanding Kenya coffee features a bright, sweet acidity, a full body, and tasting notes of Praline, Black Tea, and Pear. You will each receive a 4 oz sample of this delicious coffee to take home and prepare any way you choose to enjoy it.

Thank you everyone for all you do to make Vienna Coffee a success! From our amazing Roastery Team to our Marketing and Social Media, to our awesome Kitchen staff and incredibly talented Baristas. Each of you contributes to the “Great Adventure” that we offer our customers each and every day.

Matt

January Spotlight Coffee - Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Konga

Welcome to a NEW YEAR and another fact-filled edition of For the Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee exclusively for employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

Our first Spotlight coffee of 2025 will be our newest organic offering: Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Konga. As some of you may already know from a previous blog post, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. History records its discovery sometime between 575 and 850 AD. Today coffee is a global commodity and is surpassed by only water and tea as the world’s most-consumed beverage. And it all started on a humble hillside in Ethiopia!

The name Yirgacheffe comes from the village Yirga Chefe near which this coffee is grown. Yirgacheffe is home to the most elusive and complex profiles Ethiopia has to offer. Located in the southern region of Ethiopia, Yiracheffee has ideal coffee-growing conditions such as rich volcanic soil, mountainous terrain, and just the right amount of annual rainfall to grow some of the best coffee plants on earth.

The Konga cooperative is one in a network of cooperatives in the Yirgacheffe region belonging to the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU). Its 2,400 smallholder members distinguish themselves with their impeccable attention to detail in processing.

This outstanding organic coffee comes to us from one of our long-time organic partners, InterAmerica Importers, and is from the Konga Cooperative, a large partnership of Yirgacheffe coffee farmers. As part of the cooperative’s community-focused mission, it recently renovated buildings at a primary school and outfitted them with new supplies.

Grown at elevations ranging from 1,900 - 2,300 MASL (meters above sea level), Ethiopian heirloom varietals are chosen from the forest and transplanted to small gardens, adding a layer of selection to the incredible complexity available among wild coffee plants.

Farmers hand-sort for unripe and overripe cherries.

Coffee is pulped with a 5-disc Agaarde pulper and wet fermented for 24 to 36 hours.

After sorting based on density, the fermented coffee is washed in clean water before being dried for one to two weeks on cloth drying beds. Workers cover the coffee with plastic at midday and at night.

Once the coffee is received in our roastery, it is expertly roasted to a medium roast degree. The coffee is allowed to rest for a few days and cupped in our Quality Control lab to ensure it is ready for our discerning customers. Tasting notes for this outstanding Organic Yirgacheffe are: Fiji Apple, Bergamot, and Black Tea and features a full body and smooth acidity.

Each Barista will soon receive a 4oz sample of this fantastic coffee to take home. Thanks to each one of you for for representing Vienna every single day with such professionalism and enthusiasm!

Welcome 2025! It’s going to be a GREAT YEAR for COFFEE!!!

Matt

December Spotlight - Hearth & Home

Welcome to the December 2024 edition of For the Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

It is hard to believe that 2024 is coming to a close and soon we will be turning the page to welcome a brand new year. I look forward to ending this year on a high note and heading into 2025 with a fresh vision and excitement for all the great things we can accomplish together!

For years now Vienna has offered a special seasonal blend of some of our finest coffees during the Holidays, and this year is no exception. Hearth & Home is specifically blended to highlight the season and all the traditional and heartfelt sentiments that make this time of year so special.

Let’s look at the coffees that make up this outstanding blend.

The world-renowned taste of a beautiful washed Kenya makes up 45% of the coffee used in the blend. Kenya is universally known as one of the finest coffees in the world featuring full body, bright acidity, complex sweetness with tasting notes of dark berries, orange or sometimes lemony citrus, and a dry wine-like finish.

Grown in the rich, fertile lands of Nyeri County, Kenya, the red volcanic soils in this famous coffee-growing region result in thick and sweet fruit. The wet mill is located north of the country’s capital, not far from the base of Mount Kenya, near the town of Othaya. The prized coffee cherries come from farmers all across the Othaya region who are part of the Othaya Farmer’s Co-operative Society.

(Above) Kenya coffee farmers and members of the Othaya Farmers Coffee Cooperative

The second coffee in our Hearth & Home blend is one which we are all very familiar since it has been our Spotlight Coffee for this past month of November. La Armonia Hermosa makes up another 45% of the blend and adds all the delectable cherry, chocolate, and cinnamon notes inherent in this outstanding relationship coffee.

Our good friends Julio and Melvin Cuy. Family Coffee Farmers and proud producers of our exclusive La Armonia Hermosa coffee!

Workers on the Cuy Family farm spreading coffee out to dry in the Guatemalan sun.

Prized for its rare and exclusive properties, the last 10% of the blend adds a truly special touch! The exclusive and rare coffee varietal, Gesha, which we receive from our friends at Finca San Jeronimo adds the perfect amount of sweetness, complexity, and floral essence to the cup.

Third-generation coffee farmer Georgio Brassani tends his highly-prized Gesha coffee plants in preparation for their re-planting to the main growing areas of the farm.

Hearth & Home 2024 Holiday Blend is truly a special coffee that we here at Vienna are very proud to produce for our customers, friends, and families. Be on the look out for samples coming soon so you can try this wonderful coffee at home and be sure to purchase several bags for some delicious stocking stuffers for yourself or the coffee lovers in your life!

Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays!

Matt

November Spotlight - La Armonia Hermosa

Welcome to the November 2024 edition of For the Love of Coffee, a blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

November’s new Spotlight coffee will be La Armonia Hermosa. Grown in the fertile volcanic soil of Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala. La Armonia Hermosa translates to “The Beautiful Harmony”. This could not be a better name for this wonderful coffee for indeed, it is a beautiful harmony between the Guatemalan family who plants, nurtures, and harvests the coffee; the local farm that processes, packs, and ships the coffee; and Deeper Roots/Vienna coffee. It is also a beautiful harmony of flavors featuring notes of ripe cherries, rich chocolate, and sweet cinnamon.

The dormant volcano Agua towers above the city of Sant Maria de Jesus.

Les Stonham talks with Melvin about this years crop.

After the coffee cherries are harvested all by hand they are put through a “de-pulping machine” in order to remove the fruit from the coffee seeds inside.

Large tarps are used for drying the coffee, both washed and natural process can be seen on the farm. Both processes require constant turning in order to assure consistent and even drying.

Les and I have the great privilege to jump in and help with the spreading and turning of the coffee cherries.

The entire lot for the year is purchased by Deeper Roots and Vienna Coffee to ensure a fair price for Julio and his family and for the pure enjoyment of our customers.

We are excited to feature this exclusive coffee from our direct-trade partner to our customer. Be on the lookout for Barista samples coming soon!

Thank you all for all you do to make Vienna Coffee such a special place.

Matt