A Brazilian in Winter

Augusto is heading south, taking his family to the warmer climes of Brazil. When asked about the trip, he insists this year's crop needs inspection, and that every bean deserves a careful look. That's how he's explaining his month-long "business" trip to Brazil. But we know he's homesick for family and the Brazilian sun.

Traveling with children requires solid preparation and often some coaxing, as little ones aren't always cooperative travelers. Augusto's son Adriano, however, is a born globetrotter. As soon as his passport photo was snapped, he began asking, "Can we go to Brazil now?" A few months later, the answer is finally yes.

"We’ll be flying into Sao Paulo, and meeting my parents there for the 3 hour drive to the farm, and I can already taste and feel the hot air filling up my lungs as we arrive in Brazil. The arrival in the farm is always special, all the familiar sights and sounds of my childhood, and the re-meeting of family; my grandparents and all my aunts and uncles. One of the most special things about going home to the farm nowadays is that I get to share all that richness in culture with my kids, who just soak it up and have loads of fun at the farm, just like I did and still do.

"I’ll be taking Camila and Adriano Horseback riding for the first time, and this is the first time much of my family will meet Giovani, our youngest who just turned one. And of course I’ll be doing lots of work, like mountain biking through the coffee plants to inspect this years crop, drinking copious amounts of fresh coffee to perfect my ‘cupping’ skills, and drinking beers with my cousins and uncles who run the farm to improve our ‘business’ relationship. :)

"After 2 weeks at the farm we head to Rio, and spend the remainder of the time at my parents home. Life in Rio is rough, my parents have a little pool at their house, but Ipanema beach is only 15 minutes away, so how can one decide what to do?!? Rio has some amazing forests and great trails for hiking and biking. The photo on the newsletter was taken a year ago, when I was mt.biking with my brother. That Hill is about 3 miles long with 1,500 ft of elevation gain, and the view is breathtaking. This portion of the trip is important for the business as it refreshes my Brazilian accent and helps maintain Nossa Familia Coffee truly genuine. Ok, ok, life is not all business. I just look forward to being recharged in Brazil and coming back full of energy for an exciting year ahead!

"Stay in Touch and stay posted for photos."

$15,000 in Donations to Local Charities

Over the Thanksgiving Weekend we sat down to start totaling all the money we raised for charity and start writing checks. As you know, we donate at least $.50 per lb of coffee sold to local charities and organizations. Every time we sell coffee we figure out the individual donation.

It gave us great pleasure to write check after check to all our friends who are doing great work to make this a better world. And as we grow, so do our donations. The most exciting news is that we raised 4 times the amount of money in November as we did in January!

These donations are only possible because of all of you who support us. Here is a glimpse of what happens with the money:

Water for People - will bring water to a remote village in Africa.

Community Cycling Center - will continue to bring bikes and education to underprivileged kids and adults.

Engineers Without Borders - will be able to bring electricity to a remote village in Central America.

Pangaea Project - will educate teens in Social Justice issues and provide a once in a lifetime travel abroad opportunity to inner-city teens.

Bicycle Transportation Alliance - will continue to make Portland and Oregon a safer place for cyclists and help reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

The Magdalene Home - will provide support for new single mothers who need it most.

World Vision - we are sponsoring a child in Brazil and we aim to add more kids every year.

University of Portland - funding an annual scholarship to a Senior who has demonstrated a desire to give back to their community not only while at college but also upon graduation.

Can we make this a better world? We sure think so! We're only in our second full year of operation and as we grow we hope to touch more and more lives. It's amazing what a pound of coffee can do. Thank you for all your support!

We Bought A Van

We did it. Kind of scary. Like moving in with your girlfriend or buying your first home. This is our first company vehicle and we're pretty excited. We do paperwork and all that stuff tomorrow and should have some photos by the end of the weekend. We could tell you all the juicy details about what it is, why it's so cute, and what we'll name her but we'll make you wait until we get the keys in our hands.

Stay tuned...

Now at New Seasons Market

We are proud to announce that by the end of this week, our coffee will be available at New Seasons Markets in and around the Portland Metro area!

New Seasons is committed to purchasing responsibly grown products and working with local companies. The focus and dedication to quality and community made it a perfect fit.

All five roasts will be carried in whole bean along with several pre-ground roasts. Find which New Seasons is closest to you and let them know how excited you are for them to carry us (available at every New Seasons except Sellwood and Raleigh Hills).

If you've never tried our coffee before, or just like free samples, make sure to swing by your local New Seasons Friday, June 15th as they will be showcasing photos from the farm and pouring some free cups!

A Ton of Coffee Ain't Nothing

A ton of coffee weighs 2,240 pounds. We moved that nearly 16 times over yesterday morning - 35,000 pounds! We brought in our first full container of coffee and unloaded it yesterday morning. It was a big step for us as we continue to grow and won't be the last. In the past we used to bring in partial shipments and 1 or 2 palets at a time. Not anymore.

With the help of our good friend Chris McBride, we unloaded each 132 lb burlap bag, stacked them 20 to a palet, and moved them into the roastery. We brought in several different types including a pulped, a pulped natural, some organic and some decaf. The FDA came by today to make sure we did in fact bring coffee. Once approved, it was released so that we can roast it up!

We won't have to do it again for a few months, thankfully. That should give us time to heel up. So while most of the hard work is done down at the farm in Brazil, every now and then we break a sweat here in Portland in helping get you the best coffee possible. Enjoy the pictures, have a laugh, and feel free to swing by next time we get a container - we'd love the help.

Delivery Van & French Fries

You should have seen our "delivery van" this afternoon. We had 3 huge brewers and enough coffee for a small army loaded in there for a delivery to Intel's Jones Farm. It's becoming more and more evident that we need to graduate to the 'next level' and buy a real delivery vehicle.

So we're begining the process and have fallen in love with Sprinter Delivery vans. They drive great, have tons of space, run on diesel and get 25 mpg! We've got a little bit of time but we'll have one sooner or later. And its got us thinking...

We try to be responsible and sustainable in all that we do. We could run biodiesel in this van. Pretty cool. But what if we ran vegetable oil? That's about as sustainable as you can get (plus it smells like french fries). And since we're brainstorming ideas - what if we picked up the vegetable oil from our coffee clients when we dropped off coffee and processed it ourselves? That's even cooler!

Of course, some copy-cat/PR coffee company machine in town will read this and steal our idea, but oh well. It's not about the PR - it's about doing the right thing. And the way we see it, doing the right thing can be a whole lot of fun. Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on our progress.

Coffee at the Beach

This past weekend, Augusto was at the downtown REI giving out samples of coffee and gearing up for Reach the Beach. The annual fundraiser for the American Lung Association is Saturday, May 19th. With five starting points, bikers can choose to venture anywhere from 26 to 110 miles.

No matter what you chose, you will end up at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. There you can enjoy your meal, a beer, and some great Nossa Familia Coffee. Check it out and we hope to see you there!

CBI = Farmer Brothers

Just the other other day it was announced that Farmer Brothers Coffee out of California had purchased Coffee Bean International of Portland. If those names don't pop off the page with familiarity, that's okay. They don't have much in common with us. Farmer Brothers is that coffee you've seen at truck stops and diners where you feel like somebody should be paying YOU for drinking. CBI isn't exactly in the same market as Farmers Brothers but has a huge capacity and has found success in going after institutional business and private labeling.

Supposedly Farmers Brothers will be investing heavily in the Portland plant to increase capacity. Sounds good for the local economy, but do I want to drink the coffee?