This is the holiday that honors the kickoff to fall. It might still be a tad warm outside, but cooler breezes, the sounds of football and weekend mornings with a good read and cup of coffee are soon to follow. This is your time to relax and take some of the weight off of your shoulders. We are going to help with that task by offering the following special for the holiday weekend

*Free shipping on all orders over $30. Use promo code “LABORDAY”*

This offer is good until Midnight Monday September 6th.

Labor Day also puts a delay in our shipping schedule unfortunately, but not to worry, even though we will not be roasting or shipping coffee on Monday, we will still have someone to take regular scheduled orders.  All orders placed after 11:59 P.M. on Thursday September 2nd, will be roasted and shipped on Tuesday September 7th.

Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of the Month as well.  This means that we have released a new Single Origin Espresso.  As we tour the world over the course of the year, we were particularly excited about this month’s espresso, El Salvador - FINCA LAS MERCEDES - La Avila Honey.  La Avila Honey is a juicy espresso. Its high acidity has the essence of ruby red grapefruit that rounds to an apricot sweetness. Hints of light brown sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon in the finish.

In addition to being a great coffee, Finca Las Mercedes has everything that we look for in a Direct Trade farm. The quality of their coffee is outstanding. They go to great lengths to ensure that their coffee is as pure and clean as possible. They do all of their processing on the farm. Their dedication to sustainable practices, both environmentally and socially is commendable.

We hope everyone has a relaxing and happy holiday with a great cup of coffee.

Our Hunapu comes from a highland valley near the colonial city of Antigua, one of Guatemala’s premier tourist attractions due to its heritage and scenery.  Antigua is situated between three impressive volcanoes, Agua, Acatenango, and Fuego. The unique dry climate, magnificent landscape, and excellent volcanic soil  provide optimal conditions to produce some of the best coffees in the world.

Hunapu is a name established by Beneficio Bella Vista for a group of small producers that got together to separate their Bourbon varietal cherries and offer one of the best Antigua coffees available. The name Hunapu derived from the natives name for the Agua volcano.

The Hunapu Bourbon is the result of the hard work to separate 100% Bourbon varietal fully ripe cherries and deliver them to Beneficio Bella Vista, where the traditional washed process is used during the wet stage and fully sundried to bring out the best of the Antigua Bourbon profile.

The Hunapu has strong chocolate notes, a fine complex acidity with a tender orange aftertaste and a unique roundness characteristic of a high altitude Bourbon.

Due to fluctuation in the commodities market, pricing has risen to it’s highest point in 12 years, and weather patterns that have caused substantial reduction in crops in Central and South America, PTs Coffee Roasting Co. will have a price adjustment at the wholesale and retail level effective immediately. We regret that this step is necessary.

Regards

Fred Polzin and Jeff Taylor

PTs Coffee Roasting Co.

SOLD OUT!  More expected in coming weeks. What a great day for Hawaiian coffees!  Our Micro-Lot of Rusty’s Hawaiian just arrived and we plan to launch it next week. We are now accepting pre-orders for this exceptional coffee.

Lorie Obra next to a sign that denotes her family farm. The farm is named in honor of her late husband, Rusty.

For years customers have asked why we don’t carry Kona Coffee on our offering sheet, in our store, or on our website. I’ve always had the same answer. “The samples of Kona coffee that I’ve received  just don’t cup well enough to justify the price that is paid for a coffee carrying the Kona Coffee brand.”

I tell customers that “we make every attempt to offer coffees that are worthy of the price, not just the name.” Kona Coffee has had a tremendous reputation for years. But in recent years the samples I have received and tasted on our cupping table just didn’t measure up. So despite the pressure to offer a Kona Coffee or Kona Coffee Blend, we chose to stay the course and only offer coffees of exceptional quality.

Coffee cherry harvested by Lorie at her family farm in Hawaii.

Today, we are very proud, a coffee we’ve now carried for 2 years from the Hawaiian Islands placed 1st place in a Blind Cupping competition. I noted when we first bought this coffee that we had finally found a coffee worthy of the price from the Hawaiian Islands. Rusty’s Hawaiian Coffee is an outstanding coffee that is grown and harvested by Lorie Obra in the District of Ka’u. Lorie takes incredible pride in the coffee she grows and processes and is always willing to go the extra mile to make it exceptional.

So this blog post is for you Lorie: CONGRATULATIONS from your friends at PTs Coffee Roasting Co.!

Lorie strives to make her late husband proud and produce not just a coffee crop, but one that is exceptional. Today her dream was realized in a blind cupping competition. We are proud to work with you Lorie and look forward to working with you for years to come.
For more info see the local stories about the competition.

Our Micro-Lot of Rusty’s Hawaiian just arrived and we plan to launch it next week. We are now accepting pre-orders for this exceptional coffee.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Jeff Taylor

PTs Coffee Roasting Co.

As of Monday, July 19^th you will see some new names added to our blend offerings, while some will seem to disappear. No worries though, fundamentally these coffees aren’t changing…just getting a fresh look and feel. The coffees you have come to know and love will still be available, but here’s a run down of their new identities-

Thunder Road

Formerly our Rolling Thunder, this blend’s new identity is in homage to Jeff’s favorite musician- Bruce Springsteen. Hearty and smooth, this blend is still “The Boss”.

Ol’ 93

You will have known this blend as Moka Java, a classic blend of opposites. Sweet and earthy, this is our rendition of the oldest coffee blend in recorded history, and the new name reflects the year of our inception as PT’s Coffee.

Farm Girl

Bright but balanced, this blend has been loved by many. Previously our Sunrise Blend, the Farm Girl is still sweet and sultry and filled with character. We are currently out of this blend but it will return soon!

B-ville House Drip

This take on an approachable and well rounded drip coffee has been previously known as Coffeehouse Blend. Still a Direct Trade offering, this standard is still what we serve daily in our original café- Barrington Village, which has been coined “B-Ville” as our term of endearment for it.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email at info@ptscoffee.com or call at 888-678-JAVA!

Fazenda Ipanema in Sul de Minas is located near the cities of Alfenas & Machado. It has become one of the premier sources of all preparations of Brazilian Coffee in both Europe and the United States. One of the Ipanema coffees received the Cup of Excellence Award in the 2002 Cup of Excellence competition.

The Farm was established in 1970 and has embraced old growing techniques and modern quality controls, which have resulted in an excellent and consistent coffee. The Furnas Reservoir on the farm provides the coffee with a thermal protection from some of the potential damage of frost.

Fazenda Ipanema gained UtzKapeh certification for its environmental and social practices. Utzkapeh Certification certifies that the farm maintains the environment, food safety standards, education and training for the workers and their families as well as health care and cultural diversity on the farm. These criteria are in place for seasonal as well as permanent workers.

Prepared with washed, semi-washed, and natural coffees, this blend was trial run for three years before it reached its current make-up. When perfectly roasted and ground its low acidity, accentuated body and sweetness comes across due to the balance achieved by using the three coffee components, having an extremely pleasant aftertaste.  With distinct acidity, its creamy and velvety body brings you a pronounced orange honey finish.

At the recent El Salvador Cup Of Excellence Auction, we landed our hands on Lot #11 La Pinera Pacamara. We should have this coffee arriving sometime in July or August.

The La Pinera farm is located in the Cacahuatique mountain range in Ciudad Barrios, a department of San Miguel.  Formerly this mountain range was home to tribes like Lenca and Ulúa that were established due to its geographical advantage. The region has abundant water, fertile land, and dense forests in which animals like deer, tepezcuintles, and lion monkeys still live to this day. Furthermore, many archeological artifacts have been found in this land.

This area has been ideal for growing coffee, which was introduced for the first time at Ciudad Barrios by the General, Captain, and President Gerardo Barrios known as “The Father of Coffee” in El Salvador. The first coffee mill in El Salvador was built in Ciudad Barrios, which was a rustic machine used to triturate (rub, crush, grind, or pound into fine particles or a powder) the coffee grain and remove the coffee parchment.  It still exists today in Ciudad Barrios. The Araujo Guerra Family has been producing coffee for more than a century but in the 1980´s due to the war in El Salvador, which started in Ciudad Barrios, the result was many economic problems, unemployment, and human loss that affected this area for the next ten years.

Since the 1990´s, the Araujo Guerra Family started to rebuild their land and decided to grow Pacamara coffee with the help of Angel Cabrera, (one of the innovators of Pacamara) and the supervision of Procafe.  La Pinera is one of the origins of Pacamara coffee.  Its seeds have been spread through different areas of El Salvador and Central America, giving birth to many other Pacamara coffee farms.  Due to this great achievement, Luis Alonso Araujo received a prize for Coffee Innovator and Producer for the Pacamara Variety in 1996.

Lot La Pinera produces a high quality coffee but we should emphasize that Araujo Guerra family is very committed to helping with social labor, the environment, their employees, and assisting people who have high necessities.

Obituary for Jonathan J. Kaspar

Visitation:

Monday, June 07, 2010 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Christ the King Catholic Church
Service:
Tuesday, June 08, 2010 10:15 AM
Christ the King Catholic Church

Jonathan Jeffrey Kaspar, 20, Topeka, passed away on Friday, June 4, 2010 as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
Jonathan was born September 17, 1989 in Topeka, the son of Jeffrey and Susan Kaspar. He attended Christ the King grade school and graduated from Hayden High School in 2008. He had just completed his sophomore year at Washburn University.
He was employed as a barista at PT’s Coffee Co.
He was a member of Christ the King Catholic Church and Prodigy Soccer Club with the Topeka Blitz, and had been a volunteer with Meals on Wheels.
Survivors include his parents; sister, Jennifer Kaspar, all of Topeka; grandparents, Robert and Betty Hazzard, Meriden, Raymond and Peggy Kaspar, Topeka; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at Christ the King Catholic Church. Private family inurnment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Monday evening at the church. Penwell-Gabel Southwest Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.
Memorial contributions may be made to Meals on Wheels, 1500 SW 10th, Topeka, Kansas 66604.
Jonathan’s family wishes to express their appreciation to the PT’s Coffee family for their care and concern during this time of tragedy.

So why does Topeka, Kansas rank as the 10th best city in the country? In part, because of PT’s Coffee of course! In the July issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, they chose Topeka, Kansas as the 10th best city in the United States. In addition to Topeka’s growing economy and low cost of living, being the home of PT’s Coffee is listed as one of the reasons why Topeka is such a great place to live. Can’t really argue with that! You can check out the article here, and taste why PT’s makes the difference here!

The smoke has cleared, the bids are in, and PT’s Coffee is proud to announce our 2010 offering from Hacienda La Esmeralda.  After tasting each lot, we knew that there were two coffees that we had to have: Mario Carnaval and Mario San Jose.  Both of these spectacular lots are harvested from the region that traditionally produces the best geisha lots from Hacienda La Esmeralda.  There is something about these spectacular micro-climates that creates a flavor profile unlike any other.

Mario Carnaval (last year our roast received a 96 from Coffee Review) was harvested during the peak of the harvest season: February.  Out of all of the lots, Mario Carnaval stood out as our clear favorite.  In tasting the samples, Mario Carnaval seemed to jump off the table.  Its beautifully bright acidity and mesmerizing floral notes brought satisfaction to our eyes: this is what it is all about.  This experience is why people go to so much trouble just to have one cup.

Mario San Jose was harvested at the end of the harvest season: March.  On the cupping table, Mario San Jose surprised us.  Its fragrance and aroma made us think that it was Mari Carnaval.  It was big, it was bright and it was incredibly sweet.  When we tasted it, notes of strawberry and grapefruit filled out mouths.  Its sweet and juicy character made us long for more.  Although it was not Mario Carnaval, Mario San Jose stunned us with it unique and gorgeous profile.

Unfortunately, the Esmeralda Auction bring a little bit of sadness with its excitement and joy.  We finally know which lots we will be able to offer in the coming year, but we also know that we will have to wait a little while before they arrive in our roasting facility.  Fortunately, we have a small lot of last year’s crop still available.  While you are eagerly anticipating the new crop of Hacienda la Esmeralda, sip on the last bit of our Hacienda La Esmeralda Special - Mario Pascua.  Be one of the last ones to enjoy this special coffee here.