Second Day of Christmas

Tis the second day of Christmas and my true love made for me, some piping hot fresh Colombian El Tambo coffee.

We should all be so lucky!

Today we are offering $2 off on all 2 pound orders. Mix and match from the list below. Just use the code 2pounds in the shopping cart and the discount will be applied automatically. We are roasting daily for holiday orders. Get yours now and give the gift of fresh roasted specialty coffee from Hanover Roasting Co.

 

Hanover Holiday Blend

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Kenya AA Kiambu

Peru Naranjillo Organic

Sumatra Blue Batak

Costa Rica Tarrazu

Guatemala Antigua

Decaf Sumatra Organic

Colombia El Tambo

Three New Additions to the HRC Lineup

Today we are adding three new and very exciting beans to our list of offerings. We always have our eyes open for new and difficult to find coffees to roast and offer to our customers and today that delicious list grows once again.

India Mysore Gold Nuggets Extra Bold AA

Mysore Coffee Plantation

It has been over a year since we stocked a coffee from India. These are rare beans and we are thrilled to offer them. The city of Mysore lies in the Southwest region of India. The area was originally targeted for coal mining, however when coffee plants in the region began to flourish it was clear that they had instead struck “gold”. Some of the plants cultivated from this coffee plantation are over eighty years old. They are a natural hybrid found only in the Mysore region.

Our Mysore roast has a very smooth medium body with a sweet, mildly spiced profile. This is a very refined cup with chocolate and floral notes adding to the cup’s complexity. A very pleasant sweet aftertaste lingers even as the cup cools. The bold nature of this cup makes it ideal for milk based beverages like cappuccinos and lattes or as a single origin espresso.

Papua New Guinea Kimel Estate

Harvesting ripe coffee cherries in Papua New Guinea

This PNG is another rare find that we are excited to be able to offer. There is a lot of competition to purchase these beans and a very limited supply. Papua New Guinea lies North of Australia on the Eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The Western half of the island, known as Irian Jaya is part of Indonesian island chain.

The coffee variety grown on the Kimel Estate is the Jamaica Blue Mountain variety originally brought here by the Dutch in the mid twentieth century. There is a unique rugged quality to the cup, but not nearly as earthy as a Sumatra or other Indonesian coffees. There is a mellow, muted acidity that combines with a rush of tropical fruit notes of kiwi and pineapple.

Colombian Excelso Rain Forest Alliance

High Mountain Colombian Coffee Plantation

Colombian coffee is widely perceived to be exceptional coffee. While this is largely true, the majority of grocery store Colombian coffee is uninspiring, consisting of little more than a balanced cup with little nuance or aftertaste. That being said, there are very impressive coffees to be found from Colombia. Our offering is a co-op coffee that is Rain Forest Alliance certified. This means that the farmers who sell their beans at the co-op take extra care to protect and preserve the land and animal habitats that they are farming on and around for a more sustainable growing environment.

This is an intensely bright, medium body cup. Ripe citrus notes stand out. As the cup cools a pleasant sweetness is noted. This coffee expresses itself best at a darker roast allowing the rich aroma to fully develop.

HRC Sponsoring 2011 Radical Bastard Challenge

Hanover Roasting Co. is excited to be sponsoring the third installment of the annual Radical Bastard Challenge. RBC is a five phase, 25 mile mixed terrain bike/climb that takes place annually in and around the North Phoenix Mountain Preserve. This year’s challenge is set for Saturday November 12th. The first leg starts at 6:00 am “sharp”.

We will be providing fresh roasted coffee to riders and volunteers. We are also working on a Radical/Hanover Breakfast Energy bar which promises to be both delicious and pack some great energy for the day. If any records are set we’ll be sure to take credit.

The start and finish line for RBC is Cristy Cove Park on 24th St., between Shea and Cactus. The morning chill will quickly fade as the riders drop into Phase 1, a solid 10 mile ride with lots of washes, grueling climbs and lightning fast descents that comes out at the Dreamy Draw Park area and continues on an incredibly long ascent up and around the North side of Squaw Peak then rapidly drops down into the parking lot for the Squaw Peak hiking trail.

Phase 2 takes participants up the classic hiking trail on Squaw Peak climbing roughly 1200 feet along the 1.2 mile trail. Taunting the RBC participants who reach the top just to the South and East is the legendary Camelback Mountain, otherwise know on this day as Phase 4.

Phase 3 is an easy five mile street ride between the two climbs. Catch your breath, you’ll need it.

Phase 4 is where many participants start to question the wisdom of such an event. The day’s second 1200 foot climb takes the willing up the Echo Canyon side of Camelback Mountain. Reach the top and you will enjoy an amazing view of the Valley of the Sun and beyond. Make it back to the bottom without the assistance of aircraft and it all comes down to Phase 5.

The final phase of the day is a nine mile street/mountain bike ride back to the park. Riders cruise up Tatum Boulevard from Camelback Mountain to the Eastern trail head for Trail 100. Riders will no doubt be in a state of dazed confusion and impressive exhaustion as they retrace some of the trails that started the day wondering why, but mostly marveling at how they could possibly have pushed through all of the day’s challenges.

Once riders return to the finish line they are rewarded with Radical Bastard Triple Belgium Ale from Dog Haus Brewery and Chefron’s famous street tacos as they share the day’s events with friends and event volunteers. Sound like too much? Pick a phase or two and take part in the camaraderie of the day. I participated last year but only did the ride phases opting out of the climbs. I am definitely looking forward to taking part in the full challenge this year.

More info can be found at:
RadicalBastard.com
RBC3 Facebook Page
Radical Bastard on Facebook

What’s Brewing?

Sun Drying Freshly Harvested Green Yirgacheffe Photo: Sweet Maria's

New Coffees
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe is now available from Hanover Roasting Co. Ethiopia is the birth place of arabica coffee and quite possibly the origin of the term “coffee bean” as well. The local term for the crop was and still is “kaffa bun”. This is among the finest of Ethiopian coffees. The exceptionally well balanced cup contains intensely bright floral notes with a long sweet aftertaste. Quite simply put, this is one fantastic cup of coffee!

Gift Packs
Give the gift of coffee! For the coffee lover on your gift list look no further. We have specially designed our gift packs to offer a wide variety of coffee enjoyment. Each gift pack contains both blended beans and single origin beans. The single origin will vary based on the current crops. These are guaranteed to delight day after day. Gift packs are specially packaged and shipped anywhere in the continental US.

Desert Stages Thater

July 8th thru Aug 7th

Our spot at Scottsdale Desert Stages Theater has been an overwhelming success. We finished the sold out run of Willy Wonka Jr. and are currently preparing for an exciting 5 weeks of Hairspray beginning July 8. Get your tickets now at www.desertstages.org, they tend to sell out fast!

Still running this weekend and through August 21st in the very intimate DST Actors Cafe is And Then There Were None. This classic Agatha Christie murder mystery runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm with a matinee on Sunday at 2:00pm.

We are offering a different selection from the Hanover Roasting Co. menu each weekend. We have added iced coffee to the menu in consideration of the triple digit temperatures that we are “enjoying” here in the desert.

Sold Out!
We had two varieties sell out this week. Thank you to all who are currently enjoying the last roasts of Sulawesi Peaberry and Kenya Kirinyaga AA.

The Kenya is still available to us as current crop, however the already high price for the green beans has jumped 25% in the last month and as much as we enjoy roasting, cupping and sharing this wonderful selection from one of our favorite regions, we will hold off on offering it in hopes that you can enjoy this cup at a rational price down the road.

Hanover Coffee at Desert Stages Theater

We are proud to announce a new partnership with Desert Stages Theater! Beginning Friday, June 3rd Hanover Roasting Co. will be offering coffee by the cup at the concession stand before performances of Willy Wonka Jr. and at intermission. We are very excited about this new opportunity to help support the theater and share Hanover Coffee with the Desert Stages community. A portion of all proceeds from coffee sales will go to support Desert Stages.

Desert Stages Theater is an award winning non-profit performing arts theater committed to offering high quality entertainment to a wide variety of age groups and musical tastes. Past performances have included Tommy, Aladdin Jr., A Raisin In The Sun and Cinderella. The current run of Willy Wonka Jr. goes through June 19th. Upcoming shows include Hairspray and And Then There Were None.

Come enjoy a show at this wonderful theater-in-the-round and show your support with a smooth cup of Hanover Coffee. We will be offering a different selection from our list of coffee offerings for each performance. Just like any live theater performance, no two cups of fresh roasted Hanover Coffee are exactly the same. Get Some!

The Lean Season

We find ourselves at a time of year when the previous season’s crop has mostly run out and the new one is yet to arrive. We are very excited for the new crops from Central America and East Africa. In the coming weeks look for new offerings from Kenya, Costa Rica, and possibly Ethiopia. Early feedback on this years crop is very promising. Of course, we still have stock of The Hanover Blend, Hanover Dark and a very special roast from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. As excited as we are for the coffee, the most remarkable change that I am seeing this season is the continued escalation of green coffee bean prices.

Ripe Costa Rica Coffee Cherries (photo by Tom Owen)

After years of relatively stable pricing, the wholesale price for coffee has skyrocketed. Over the past year the price for coffee beans has more than doubled. This upward trend shows no signs of slowing down. As you shop for coffee you are likely seeing an upward trend in prices at the retail level as well. Global warming, increased demand, source countries hoarding and reduced supplies are just a few of the reasons given for higher costs. Here at Hanover Roasting Co. There is a glint of a silver lining in this somewhat cloudy outlook.

We fully expect that we will be able to hold our price point stable through this time of change. We are well positioned to deal with increases at the wholesale level as a result of the timing of our entry into the market. Although it is always difficult to cope with a rapid rise in cost, it is even more difficult for companies that have long established pricing models and infrastructure costs. We have the benefit of having set our prices well into the recent rise and as a result, we are in a better position to maintain our price point while other roasters are being squeezed harder by the rapidly narrowing profit margins.

Wholesale Coffee Pricing

All of this price concern can lead to a reduction in quality as roasters look for less expensive beans to roast in an effort to maintain profit margins and sustain their business. At Hanover we pledge that we will always offer the top specialty grade coffee beans that we can find. While we are comfortable drinking most quality coffee offerings, we only sell the best available specialty grade coffee, period. The care that is taken by the farmers, processors and in our roaster is evident, as always, in the cup. Get some!

Kind Words From European Coffee Site

A pleasant surprise showed up on the ‘net this week. A short while back I send some samples for review to a recently launched coffee e-zine in the Netherlands called CaffeZine.com. They have posted a review of our Costa Rica that has recently run out. Although this roast is no longer available, we will definitely have it back once the new crop arrives. The review can be found here. Thank you Robert for the kind words (you too Mike). It was also pretty cool to once again see the paper bags that we used up until the past month. Now back to roasting!

A Fond Farewell and a New Standard

Today we bid farewell to a cup that we have enjoyed immensely over the past couple of months. Alas, the crop from Cost Rica has been exhausted and we must now wait for the next. Costa Rica is home to several of my favorites of the Central American Varieties. Fortunately it should not be too long before the next crop arrives and we will have it available as soon as it is ready.

The New Standard: The Hanover Blend

I am proud to announce the release of our signature blend. It took awhile to find all of the right components and after lots of cupping I have to say that I am very impressed with the results and I’m sure you will be too. We are offering this blend in two varieties, The Hanover Blend, and Hanover Dark. Delivery for The Hanover Blend will begin next week and we are very excited to hear your feedback.

First, a word about blended coffee. As you know Hanover Roasting Co. offers single origin specialty grade coffee. Most blended coffee cannot claim specialty grade. The Hanover Blend is different. It can be very difficult and very frustrating to blend specialty coffee because it is unlikely that you will end up with a result that is better than any of the single origin beans. Most coffee blends consist of inferior coffee that doesn’t stand up well on its own, and as a result gets processed into a blend so that it can be sold. The Hanover Blend is one of those rare exceptions to general rules. It is comprised of all top specialty grade coffees from South America, Africa and Indonesia. This is a truly superior cup of coffee with as much flavor as I could pack into a single cup. It has raised more than a few eyebrows when I’ve asked friends to taste the work in progress and now it is ready for your breakfast table.

Unlike our single origin roasts The Hanover Blend and Hanover Dark will be available year round. Look for both under the Coffee Selection tab. We’ve been working hard and it shows. Get some!

Another New Addition to the Hanover Coffee Family

Morning Mist Tana Toraja, Sulawesi Photo: Tom Owen

Today we are happy and proud to offer one of our favorites, Sulawesi Tana Toraja Peaberry. This is an exciting cup characterized by a moderate body and brighter profile than is usually found with Indonesian coffees, which is nice. Enjoy!

New Offering: Fresh Roasted El Salvador Siberia Estate

Mayan Ruins of Tazumal in Santa Ana, El Salvador

Today we are happy to announce a new offering of El Salvador Siberia Estate. This is a very balanced cup with nutty cinnamon flavor. Read the full review here. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new Costa Rica and the return of our favorite Sulawesi, which I expect you’re going to enjoy thoroughly!