When Can We Ride?

This past Sunday was the "Worst Day of the Year Ride" in Portland for all of those crazy bike people this town caters too. So we thought we'd help everybody brave the rain, and yes, crowds, by serving coffee and espresso drinks. We had a blast and I think the 1500 riders did too.

Packing up the van and warming up the espresso machine brought back some memories from just a few months ago. Cycle Oregon! And while it's only February and the ride doesn't start for another 7 months, we're already licking our chops and refining our barista skills.

This evening, the 20th Anniversary Cycle Oregon Route was announced at the Tiger Woods Center and what a route it is! Welcome to the Cascades Backroads. It's looks like one of the best routes ever and we can't wait to be a part of it. So check it out and make sure you register early as the ride is capped (and if you want that tent & porter service, then get moving).

Now if only we could train some folks to make latte's at 5am then we could ride the whole thing this year. Note to self...

From Brazil to The Cove: Alumni turn faith into action

Just yesterday, the Director of the Office of Volunteer Services at the University of Portland wrote a nice little story about Nossa Familia Coffee and our involvement with our alma mater in yesterdays campus newspaper.

UP is a great account for us in so many ways. Obviously, we love the fact that so many people are being exposed to the coffee and brand on a daily basis. It's served in the main dining hall, the cafe in the student union, staff dining room, at the sporting venues and at two espresso stands. As a result, we donate back $.50 per lb to a scholarship at the school that will begin in the fall of 2007. More importantly though, being on campus allows us the opportunity to educate the end consumer on the importance of drinking sustainable coffee from a responsible company.

Life & Nossa Familia Coffee

Great outlook on life...that just so happens to involve coffee. :)

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

"Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.

"Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

"God brews the coffee, not the cups...Enjoy your coffee!"

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

Great Testimonial

Got a great testimonial today from a food buyer where our coffee is sold at:

Hi -- I just want to tell you how much we love your coffee. My husband and I live here in Portland and of course, like most Portlanders, we are snobs about our coffee. We were fairly convinced that Stumptown was the best there could be -- and we do still enjoy it -- but last week I brought home Teodoro's Roast for my husband to try (I work at [market name removed] and we sell your coffee) and he was in awe! He thinks it's the best coffee he's ever had. I am not sure what it is that you do differently but this is just such great coffee. Thank you very much!

Suzi