The Holidays are fully upon us - many of us have nailed our Christmas decorations to the eaves of our homes and plugged in thousands of watts of lighting. What’s next? Gifts!

PT’s is a great choice for house warming or Christmas giving: Our coffees are handcrafted in small batches by people that make their lives about coffee. We have options for any coffee lover, and our coffees get consumed with a smile - which is the best kind of gift!

To make the choosing extra easy we’ve put together a special holiday page. It has gifts for every price level and special interest:Just a pound? Check out our Lump O’Coal and Season’s Celebration blends. They are made from hand-picked batches of beans and just for this holiday season.Better yet, send a gift box from PT’s. There are several different themed boxes - the Cup of Excellence box delivers an award winning roast plus extras, the World Tour box gives three roasts from different corners of the globe, and some gift boxes even come complete with coffee, grinder, and French Press.Even if you don’t buy it, check out the ultimate gift for coffee lovers - PT’s Elite Box. A Technivorm brewer, 4 months of PT’s coffee, and tons of other goodies. This is the ultimate gift for people that have been VERY good this year.

Every week here at PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. hundreds of orders get placed. While a decent amount of them are shipped to their final destination, there are still numerous accounts that are in our local delivery range, local meaning from Topeka to the outer reaches of the Kansas City metro area. It takes an amazing person to drive these routes from week to week (to week) and we are so fortunate to have such a loyal and caring man in our delivery van: Ezra Anderson.

Ezra is in no way a new addition to our staff. In fact, he is one of the longest running employees at PT’s. He started with the company a couple of years after we opened our original store back in 1993. At the time he was working for the Topeka Capital Journal with Jeff Taylor. When Fred and Jeff decided to get their feet wet in the coffee business, Jeff invited Ezra to join them and be one of their baristas at our Barrington location. In his many years with us, he has held many positions including barista, cafe assistant manager, production worker, and now, Customer Service Assistant and Delivery Driver.

“I watch my other friends hating to go to work, but I honestly love getting up early every day and selling something that I love.”

He also told me that when he’s on his route that people will often see our logo and tell him how much they love our coffee. They think it’s great that he is out there spreading the news of good coffee. “People are always telling me how much they love us, because we treat them well” he explains.

As his coworker, I will say he has one of the quickest wits that I have ever encountered. He actually rattled off the phrase “without the love, it’s just coffee” one day when Jeff complemented a beverage he made. We have employed that line through out the years, because it’s not only catchy, but it’s true. He is also one of the most lovable people to have around, and very conscientious, always looking out for everyone’s better interests. He will call from the road, making sure that customers’ needs are met as they have requests throughout the day. He is dedicated and passionate about what he does, and because of that he is everyone’s favorite coffee guy.

When he’s not driving his black van to and fro, he can often be found reading. It’s one of his favorite pastimes and is a huge fan of C.S. Lewis. Currently he is making his way through the Harry Potter series for the first time. His present and ongoing favorite coffee is the Papua New Guinea. He says “It goes down smooth and it’s been good as long as we’ve carried it.”

Ezra is truly a joy to have on our team. Having someone of his caliber on the front lines of our business is one of our greatest assets. The delivery driver of any wholesale business is often the most constant face-to-face point of contact that a customer has, and to have one that loves what they do, as well as what they hand to people is rare and uniquely valuable find. There are many ways to express how awesome it is to be in our business, but I like Ezra’s:”Good beans, good friends, good times.”

Guatemala coffees are always a delight to roast, brew and drink. It’s hard to describe the flavor of a Guatemalan coffee though in generic terms. Thats because the country is so diverse, the land so rich in mineral content and the weather so perfect for growing coffee it’s almost hard not to grow a nice coffee here. But growing a great coffee is an entirely different experience. And a great coffee in one region of Guatemala will taste entirely different than a great coffee grown in another region. You’ll get great balance and richness from an Antigua coffee, high acidity from coffees in Huehuetenango region, great body from extra prime coffees that are grown at a slightly lower elevation. There are so many very nice coffees in this wild and beautiful country. But I’m not looking for “nice” coffees. You can buy those from virtually every roaster in the market today. So you can imagine how strange it must have been for the coffee farmers I would meet with a couple of weeks ago when I was traveling through Guatemala. They would ask: “what are you looking for?” and I would respond “a great, rare or exceptional coffee and I’m willing to pay extra for it.”Some of them - no most of them - were confused or thought I didn’t know what I wanted. But there were a couple that got it. One in particular that I look forward to working with. When I responded to him in the same way I did the others, he smiled and listed off his projects that he had underway already. Some naturally processed coffees (very unique in Guatemala), some very high grown Pacamara and Geisha trees, some experiments with fermentation and so on. He was eager to show me what he had. Only one problem, harvest is a touch late this year, so there really wasn’t any coffee to taste, only look at on the tree. But none the less, after a week of traveling, by small bus, in Guatemala, I think I may have found what I was looking for. It’s going to take another trip to Guatemala, in February, to confirm my findings.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!  

All of us at PTs Coffee Roasting Co.  would like to help in your search, for the perfect gift, for that coffee or tea lover in your life. We are now offering gifts that span the price ranges so that you can find something no matter what your budget.

For starters, we put together a couple of different gift boxes that should make any coffee lover go gaga. These gift boxes will contain at least one 12 oz bag, of one of our best coffees, a PTs stoneware mug and a PTs T-shirt. It will all be packaged in a beautifully constructed, birch gift box.

From here, the gift boxes only get better! We have gift boxes that include the Baratza Maestro Conical Burr Grinders, French Presses and coffee scoops. For those tea lovers out there, we are offering a variety of Numi Tea gift boxes and have also put together a gift box with an assortment of Numi and Harney and Sons Teas. One of these would be great to take to the big Thanksgiving feast or would make a perfect Christmas gift!

For those of you who want to go all out for that coffee fanatic in your life, we have the ultimate coffee gift package for you. This package includes everything you need and more to make that perfect cup. It starts out with a Technivorm KBT 741 10 Cup Brewer. The Technivorm is one of the only brewers to pass the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s standard for brewing. We include a Baratza Maestro Plus Conical Burr Grinder to compliment this truly spectacular brewer. And of course we will supply the recipient with plenty of the best coffee money can buy. We include a four month membership to ourPassport Coffee Club. As a member of the Passport Club, the recipient will get three 12 oz bags of our award-winning Passport Coffees every month, chosen by our own coffee buyer, Jeff Taylor. In addition to all these items, we will also throw in 2 PTs stoneware mugs, 2 PTs travel mugs, a T-shirt, a hat and a package of beautiful postcards from origin.

If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve probably picked up on our infatuation with Ethiopia Biloya. While we are confident that it is one the most exquisite coffees that we have had the pleasure of encountering, it’s always nice to know that we aren’t the only ones excited about it. Mark Prince of CoffeeGeek.com is apparently just as smitten with it as we are. He wrote about his experience on his site and made it sound so intoxicating that it inspired me to drink a cup (what I’m drinking as I write this sentence)!

Coffee Review also had something to say about our fair Biloyathis month. It was reviewed under the parameters of this months subject: Natural African Coffees. The beauty of Biloya shone through and it made the cut! Here are some of the cupping notes:

“A dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. A soft cup, rather simple aromatically but “well-balanced” (co-cupper Miguel Meza, 91) and “smooth and deep in structure” (Ken, 91). Miguel finds “berries, citrus and chocolate,” Ken reads some quiet chocolate and perhaps some orange. The finish is quiet but impressive with continued chocolate and fruit (Miguel: strawberry and cherry) notes.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but after all this talk I am craving another cup! If you haven’t had a chance to try it, it will knock your socks off! A group of professionals agree, as well as a gaggle of coffee-nerds

In the next couple of days, we will launch a holiday gift section on our website. We here at PTs would like to help in your search for the perfect gift for that coffee or tea lover in your life. We are offering gifts that span the price ranges so that you can find something no matter what your budget. To start out, we put together a couple of different gift boxes that should make any coffee lover go gaga. These gift boxes will contain at least one 12 oz bag of one of our best coffees, a PTs stoneware mug and a PTs T-shirt. It will all be packaged in a beautifully constructed, birch gift box. From this base, the gift boxes only get better. We have gift boxes that include Baratza Maestro Conical Burr Grinders, French Presses and coffee scoops. For those tea lovers out there, we are offering a variety of Numi Tea gift boxes and have also put together a gift box with an assortment of Numi and Harney and Sons Teas. One of these would be great to take to the big Thanksgiving feast or would make a perfect Christmas gift!

For those of you who want to go all out for that coffee fanatic in your life, we have the ultimate coffee gift package for you. This package includes everything you need and more to make that perfect cup. It starts out with a Technivorm KBT 741 10 Cup Brewer. The Technivorm is one of the only brewers to pass the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s standard for brewing. We include a Baratza Maestro Plus Conical Burr Grinder to compliment this truly spectacular brewer. And of course we will supply the recipient with plenty of the best coffee money can buy. We include a four month membership to our Passport Coffee Club. As a member of the Passport Club, the recipient will get three 12 oz bags of our award-winning Passport Coffees every month, chosen by our own coffee buyer, Jeff Taylor. In addition to all these items, we will also throw in 2 PTs stoneware mugs, 2 PTs travel mugs, a T-shirt, a hat and a package of beautiful postcards from origin.

One of our more beloved coffees, Ethiopia Biloya, is not just a hit with us here at PT’s. Mark Prince of CoffeeGeek.com is apparently as infatuated with it as we are. He wrote about his experience on his site. He made me want to drink a cup

He’s not the only one who had something to say about Biloya this month. Coffee Review chose to review natural African coffees for the month of November and we made the cut! Here are some of his cupping notes-

“A dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. A soft cup, rather simple aromatically but “well-balanced” (co-cupper Miguel Meza, 91) and “smooth and deep in structure” (Ken, 91). Miguel finds “berries, citrus and chocolate,” Ken reads some quiet chocolate and perhaps some orange. The finish is quiet but impressive with continued chocolate and fruit (Miguel: strawberry and cherry) notes.”

As you can see, this is an extraordinary coffee, worthy of note. If you haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet, I highly recommend getting you hands on some before it’s gone. It’s one of the best coffees I have ever had the pleasure of tasting in my life…and I am not just saying that. It’s truly amazing!

Holly

For those of you who wondered how it all went down…we took pictures