We are one of the few coffee roasters that  roasts, exclusively, professionally graded coffee. We purchase our green (unroasted) coffee beans from our sister company, Invalsa Coffee®, which cups, grades and categorizes all their green coffee beans.  You may want to visit their website to learn about their coffee grading.  Except for our House & Decaf roasts, all our Bolivian, Brazilian, Costa Rican and Cup of Excellence® green coffee beans are vacuum-packed (or in GrainPro® plastic bags) at origin to preserve their natural aroma and taste and to provide long-term storage, so that we have harvest-fresh green coffee beans all year round.  Because of new developments in transporting and storing coffee, which Invalsa Coffee® pioneered commercially, you no longer have to wait for the "season" to enjoy great-tasting coffees.  They are available throughout the year.

Our roast categories are divided into two groups:

1) "Americano" & "Boliviano" roasts (House, Specialty, & Espresso/Cumbre), and
2) "Grand" roasts ( Supremo, Micro Lots, National Winners & Cup of Excellence®).

Americano, Boliviano and Decaf roasts normally represent a "terroir", but cannot be directly traced to a farm or estate.  We buy the coffee beans from coffee cooperatives, indigenous agricultural enterprises or multi-farm groups. Such coffees are normally mixed together from several growers. This is the coffee consumed by most people and the one most available in quality-coffee markets.  Grand roasts are fully traceable to and indentified by farmer or estate.  They are kept individually marked from the farm gate to the vacuum-packed Mylar bag, and come with a compelling story. These are truly one-of-a-kind, seasonal, vintage coffees. These are the coffees a very small group of people (though steadily growing) are fortunate to discover and enjoy.

Cupping Scores:

Total cupping scores are based on a 0-100 point scale. Each Total Score is the sum of the ten individual coffee attributes scores, each of which is based on a 1-10 point scale. Specialty coffee starts at 80 points.

Total Score        Description 

95-100                  Exemplary

90-94                    Outstanding

84-89                    Excellent

80-83                    Very Good

75-79                    Good

70-74                    Fair

<70                        Poor/Bad     

All of our coffee beans are either certified organic or grown under organic conditions but without organic certification (usually because the farmer cannot afford the certification). All of our Boliviano roasts are certified Organic®. Other roast are also Organic and/or Fair Trade® depending on the lot, please check each lot.  Our Grand roasts, by their own unique nature, can have some of these certifications, or none of them!  The overriding criteria for Grand roasts is quality (cupping score) and a compelling story.

For all our Grand roasts we pay the farmer significantly above Fair Trade® prices.  We like to call them "Fairer Trade". We do not pay them for certifications, we pay them for quality.  And this is why farmers with particularly good lots (especially small ones, about 20 to30 sixty-kilo sacks), with or without the expensive certifications, actually seek us out. We rather pay for quality instead of the use of a certificate.