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

October Featured Coffee - Highlands Blend

Welcome to the October 2024 edition of For The Love of Coffee. A blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.

October’s featured coffee will be one of Vienna Coffee’s best offerings, the one and only Highlands Blend! This coffee has long been a customer favorite and one of our top sellers. The combination of beans used in the blend creates a wonderfully satisfying cup of coffee perfect for any season. Let’s take a closer look at what goes into this unique blend.

Highlands Blend is comprised of four excellent coffees, each of which makes an exceptional cup of coffee in its own right, but when blended something truly magical happens! The largest component, which makes up 50% of the blend, is one of our relationship coffees - Finca San Jeronimo. As many of you probably already know, this coffee comes to us through our Deeper Roots family who have been working closely with the Brassani family in Guatemala for many years. Their coffees are meticulously cultivated through every stage of planting, harvesting, production, and shipping and contributes the largest “flavor factor” in the blend providing notes of dark chocolate, black cherry and almond.

Les Stoneham talks with Finca San Jeronimo’s third-generation owner, Georgio Brassani about how they are are combating leaf rust on their coffee farm using natural methods.

The second coffee featured in Highlands Blend which accounts for 25% is the consistently clean and balanced taste of Costa Rica. This coffee comes from a large coffee-growing region called Tarrazu where some of the best coffees in Costa Rica are grown at an altitude of 1,220 Meters, or 4,000 feet above sea level! This high altitude makes for slow development resulting in more density and natural compounds in the bean, resulting in a coffee with wonderful balance, clarity and subtle notes of brown spice and pear.

The third and fourth coffees that complete Highlands Blend each come in at 12.5% of the total. They are Colombia Tolima and Tanzania Mwika. Both of these exceptional coffees come through our Deeper Roots connection and serve to complete the overall complexity and balance in the cup. Colombia Tolima provides rich notes of maple and cocoa nibs, and some amazing caramel and citrusy notes from the Tanzanian resulting in a delicious and lingering finish to the coffee.

A fresh bag of Colombia Tolima sits in the roastery at Vienna Coffee waiting to be blended into the next batch of Highlands Blend.

Above: A sense of pride is common in the people of the Mwika Cooperative in Tanzania.

Below: Some of you may remember the images from a few month’s back, when Tanzania Mwika was our featured coffee, of the new and improved washing tanks that Deeper Roots was instrumental in helping the farm acquire and complete.

Highlands Blend will be rolling out to the coffee bar soon, and each of you will be receiving a 4oz sample to take home and enjoy. We will also be doing some cross-promotion with Maryville College as well as they celebrate their Homecoming October 25th - 27th. Go Highlanders!

Stay Caffeinated,

Matt

It's baa-aack!! Red Roaster Blend is our September featured coffee!

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

Red Roaster Blend is back! Below you will find information about why we call it Red Roaster Blend and information about the coffee beans that are selected to create this uniquely complex and balanced coffee.

Red Roaster Blend is an homage to John Clark’s original red coffee roaster which he used when he first started roasting coffee on a larger scale. It wouldn’t be long before it was replaced by a larger roaster to keep up with demand. It is the very same roaster currently on display on our cafe stage.

John’s favorite coffee, Kenya makes up the foundation of Red Roaster Blend. Kenya makes up 50% of the blend and provides the deep wine-like quality found in the cup. Kenya is often referred to as “the wine of coffees” and it is easy to see why because of it’s bold, intense full-bodied flavor, bright acidity, and notes of citrus and berries.

This rich foundation of Kenya is perfectly complimented by the addition of Organic Fairtrade Mexico Chiapas to provide a sweet and chocolatey note with some nice floral spice.

Additionally, a new natural-processed coffee has been added which replaced the previous natural in the blend which was Ethiopian Shantawane. Some of you may remember that Shatawene is a very fruit-forward coffee. The new coffee is from Rwanda and has much of the same qualities as the Ethiopian did with it’s own unique notes of dark chocolate, strawberries, and tropical fruit.

Coffee from the village of Kinini in Rwanda is dried using the natural process on raised beds to make it easier to sort by hand and ensure a very consistent quality.

Red Roaster Blend is a coffee with a rich Vienna Coffee heritage, and is one of my personal favorite coffees that we produce. I look forward to having it on our coffee bar soon and sharing it with our community. In the meantime, please brew up the samples you received and talk it up with customers as you have the opportunity. It is an amazing coffee with a wonderful story to tell!

Matt

Colombia Tolima - August Featured Coffee

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

Today I will highlight our August featured coffee: the rich and satisfying Colombia Tolima. This coffee comes to us from our Deeper Roots family through the relationships formed with the coffee farmers and exporters of the Tolima region in the Ibague district. Colombia coffee is already world-renowned for its quality and consistency 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 10 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.

Here at Vienna Coffee we are fortunate to have a direct connection with this amazing coffee through our new partnership with Deeper Roots. We have taken the time to roast and cup this delicious coffee and to dial in on the best profile for producing the best flavors in the cup. The coffee features a light/medium roast and has subtle tasting notes of cocoa, maple, and honeydew. The acidity is bright and lively and the mouthfeel is heavy and full. We think that it will be a delight for our customers and have them asking for more information about this amazing coffee!

Each Barista will be receiving a 4oz sample to take home and prepare using their preferred coffee-brewing method. As always, feedback is encouraged as I always love to hear about your experience and impressions of our featured coffee.

Cheers!

Matt

What is "Washed" Coffee?

On their long journey from crop to cup coffee beans go through several processes. One of these is to determine whether the newly harvested coffee will be processed using the Natural or Washed method. Let’s take a moment to look briefly at each of these unique methods, focusing on the washed method, to see how each affects the coffee's flavor.

After the ripe coffee cherries are harvested from the coffee trees, they are sent to the processing facility where they are washed, sorted, and laid out in the sun to dry on large cement patios or raised beds. If the coffee seeds (beans) are left inside the fruity pulp of the coffee cherry during the drying phase, this is known as the Natural Process. The Natural process is the earliest known method used for processing coffee and typically produces more fruity notes in the cup, a heavier body, and often more sweetness.

By comparison, the Wet or Washed Process uses a “de-pulping” machine to remove the fruity outer skin of the coffee cherry before the beans are sent to the drying beds. Often this pulp is collected, dried, and used to make a tea called “Cascara”. The freshly de-pulped coffee beans are then sent to a large fermentation tank filled with water to soak for around 18 to 24 hours. During fermentation micro-organisms from the coffee beans create enzymes that break down the mucilage, a sticky substance left on the outside of the seeds after the fruit has been removed. The water is then drained and fresh water is introduced to give the coffee a final wash before sending it to the drying patios. The beans will remain on the drying beds until the coffee dries to around 10 - 12% moisture remaining. It is then collected and bagged for shipment around the world. Washed coffee is known for its clean, refined, and balanced taste in the cup.

Now when you see the words “washed” or “natural” on coffee bags you will better understand what that means and how each processing method contributes to the flavors you are experiencing in your cup.

July 2024 Featured Coffee: Tanzanania Mwika

Welcome to For the Love of Coffee! A blog exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

I hope you all are having a good summer and staying cool. All the recent heat waves have certainly made iced coffee drinks much more appealing lately! Today however we will focus on hot coffee, namely our featured coffee for July, the amazing Tanzanian Mwika! This beautiful coffee is sure to delight and inspire employees and customers alike.

Tanzania is a country located in the south-east region of the African continent. It is further south than Ethiopia, and its northern border touches the world-renowned coffee-growing country of Kenya. Tanzania is most famous for its peaberry coffee; a coffee which we featured here at Vienna exactly one year ago for our July 2023 featured coffee. If you are unfamiliar with Peaberry Coffee check out my previous blog from last year to learn more about this distinctive Tanzanian coffee.

We are lucky to be able to receive this amazing coffee through our partnership with Deeper Roots. Here are some insights about Mwika North from the Deeper Roots team:

“All of us here at DRC have been really looking forward to this year’s fresh crop Mwika North and it does NOT disappoint. It has always been a favorite of the team and we love sharing it with you all. This lot was processed using the Coffee Processing Unit (CPU or washing station) that is now operational after a decade of being unusable! One of our previous Community Giveback Projects helped get the CPU up and running and Mwika has been using it since the 2020 harvest.”

(Above) Coffee Processing Unit (CPU) with the fermentation tanks in front before the installation of new tile lining.

Coffee fermentation tanks as they appear today.

“This year’s lot is a continuation of that work and was entirely processed through the CPU.  We’re still working with issues locally to help Mwika fulfill their goal of running.  ALL their coffee through the on-site wet mill. Farmers will get paid sooner, quality will go up and we were all able to play our small part state-side. Option 3: Win-win-win.”

Mwika North members gather for a meeting on coffee quality and consistency at the updated processing facility.

We have cupped this coffee here at the Vienna Coffee Lab and found it to be an exceptionally complex, yet balanced coffee. It features a bright, fruity acidity, full body, and tasting notes of caramel, dried fruit, and orange blossom. You should have all received 4 oz samples of this amazing coffee to enjoy at home. Please share any thoughts you have with me about the coffee once you have tried it. I would love to hear your feedback!

And finally, a thought to ponder:

“Some say money can’t buy happiness. They lie. Money can buy coffee, and coffee makes me happy” ~Anonymous

Until next time - Peace, Love, & Coffee.

Matt

June Featured Coffee - Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

Welcome to another fact-filled, action-packed edition of For the Love of Coffee! A blog about all things coffee exclusively for employees of Vienna Coffee Company.

Today we focus on our featured coffee for June: the beautifully bold and balanced Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. As some of you may already know from a previous edition of FTLOC, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. From its humble discovery in the mid-19th century, coffee has become America’s most consumed beverage next to water, and the 3rd most consumed in the world after water and tea. And it all started on a humble hillside in Ethiopia.

The name Yirgacheffe comes from the village 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.

Vienna’s Organic Yirgacheffe coffee comes to us from our long-time organic, fair-trade importing partner, OPTCO via the Kerchanshe Trading Company, Ethiopia’s largest exporter of coffee. The coffee comes primarily from the Debeka Farm which is one of the largest farms owned and operated by Kerchanshe. Coffee is grown under a sprawling one-hectare greenhouse so that they are grown uniformly. After harvesting the coffee cherries are processed using both washed and natural methods. Here at Vienna, we purchase the washed- processed coffee for a distinctively clean and crisp finish in the cup.

Each coffee lot is carefully tended and tracked to assure quality controls.

Washed coffee drying in the sun until it reaches it’s precise moisture content of 10 - 12%.

Once the coffee is received in our roastery, it is expertly roasted by our skilled roast master, Trace. The coffee is allowed to rest for a few days and cupped in our QC lab to ensure it is ready for our discerning customers. Tasting notes for this Organic Fair Trade Yirgacheffe are Cocoa, Brown Sugar, and Black Cherry along with a full body and bright 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! Ya’ll are THE BEST!!!

It’s a great day for coffee!!!

Matt

May Featured Coffee - Natural La Armonia Hermosa

Summer is finally here! To celebrate the warmer temperatures our May featured coffee will be the bright and fruity harmony of Natural La Armonia Hermosa! Here at Vienna, we have become very familiar with this exceptional coffee and this natural-processed version adds a whole other level to the experience! This coffee is roaster Light to bring out all of the delicate fruit notes in the bean. Tasting notes are “strawberry pop tart, green apple, and cane sugar”. Get ready for a real treat!

A colorful and vibrant culture is everywhere in this quaint city where people get most of their goods in open-air markets and shops that occupy the very old buildings along the towns cobblestone streets.

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

Les Stonham talks with Melvin about this years crop.

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 offer this exclusive, natural-processed coffee from our direct-trade partnership with Julio Cuy Xar and his family in Guatemala. I believe you will find it a delicious and inspiring addition!

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

Matt

April Featured Coffee - Organic Papua New Guinea

Welcome to For the Love of Coffee, a blog exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee!

This month’s featured coffee is both organic and a relationship coffee from our Deeper Roots connections. Adam Shaw, Deeper Root’s Director of Coffee has spent years traveling to coffee-growing regions around the globe and developing relationships with local and regional coffee producers. Through his relationship with Vikram Patel at Benchmark Coffee Traders he has developed connections with local coffee producers and farmers in the Highland region of Papua New Guinea.

Ariel view of the Highland Regions of Papua New Guinea.

Located in the Southwest Pacific between Indonesia and Australia, the island nation of Papua New Guinea is an incredibly diverse and beautiful place. It encompasses the eastern half of the island of New Guinea which is the second largest in the world. Known for its pristine coral reefs, beaches, and inland volcanoes, Papua New Guinea is perfect for growing some of the world’s finest coffee!

The island nation of Papua New Guinea. Circled is the Highlands Region where our April featured coffee is from.

Regarding the relationship between Benchmark Coffee and the coffee families of PNG, Vikram says “We have funded the textbooks for five elementary schools for six years now and in 2023, in partnership with Deeper Roots, we completed the construction and opening of a brand new elementary school. 88 Children attend this school which has two teachers and a treasurer and is part of the national Papua New Guinea school system. In addition, positive impact projects are central to our perspective on coffee. We don’t just support positive impact projects by buying coffees at fair prices, but we directly engage and directly fund social projects on an ongoing basis. We favor projects with tangible results in the education and water access realms, and women’s hygiene, which we continue to support.”

Papua New Guinea has a 40% illiteracy rate which is among the highest in the world, so free elementary schools have significant impact and help create healthier communities.

It is believed that when coffee first arrived on the island around the late 19th century, Lutheran missionaries planted beans from Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee trees. There are claims that the Germans were the first to bring coffee, but there are also claims that it was British settlers that brought the bean around the same period. The first official documentation of coffee being grown commercially wasn’t until the 1920s. Fast-forward 100 years and Papua New Guinea is currently the 17th largest coffee-producing nation with almost all coffee being produced on small farms. There are approximately 2.5 million people (around 30% of the population!) employed in the coffee industry, the majority working on the approximately 280,000 small farms. 90% of the coffee production on the island is done in the 5 Highlands Provinces of Western Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Simbu, Morobe, and East Sepik.

Coffee estates all over the world often organize themselves as integrated villages, providing workers with structure and services as well as housing. Each of the Carpenter Estates – Sigri, Bunum Wo, and Kindeng – takes care of the needs of its workers fully, providing a modest but distinctively modern lifestyle almost totally independent from the outside world.

Our Organic Papua New Guinea Coffee comes from these small farms through a regional Co-op called the Premium Smallholder Crop. The coffee is purchased from smallholders who pulp, wash, and dry their green coffees. Once purchased, dry milling is finished on the Kindeng Estate. Once we receive the green coffee it is roasted and bagged on-site in our roastery. We are proud to offer this outstanding coffee to our customers! Baristas, you will each receive a 4oz sample bag to take home and enjoy.

Customer Info to share

This coffee shines with a creamy body, low acidity, and subtle notes of cocoa, walnut and brown sugar, with a rich, chocolatey finish.

It’s a GREAT day for coffee!

Matt