We’ve previously explored the seasonality of coffee harvesting and how, like eating fresh produce when it’s in season, drinking coffees brewed from newly harvested beans is a more flavorful and enjoyable experience. Some coffeehouses — like thump — feature ever-changing drip coffee offerings that reflect what coffees have been recently harvested around the world. As [...]

Many people don’t think of coffee as an agricultural product that, like strawberries, peaches, and cherries, has a specific growing season. When fresh fruit is in season, you’re in heaven and you can’t get enough of it! When out of season, it’s usually a disappointment to eat. Similarly, coffees around the world ripen and are [...]

Once the season hints at warm weather, we get requests to start making our divinely refreshing cold brewed toddy. Most brewing processes use hot water and take a relatively short time, anywhere from 23 seconds to 6 minutes. Toddy however, requires cold water, a lot of coffee grounds, and patience, about 20 hours! The cold [...]

In previous Thumpology articles we’ve discussed how the roast can affect a coffee’s flavor. How it is processed after harvest can have an even more significant influence on its ultimate flavor. Not to be confused with processing food, which might involve removing nutrients, adding artificial stabilizers, flavors, preservatives, etc., processing coffee is an all-natural sequence [...]

Part I: How the Roast affects the Coffee’s Flavor Before we knew much about coffee, we’d buy black beans glistening with oil, with descriptions like, dark roast, smoky, robust flavor. This sounded pretty good because, who wants to drink a whimpy cup, right? If dark roast meant robust flavor, then it would stand to reason [...]

Whether or not to freeze coffee beans to retain their freshness is a frequent topic of discussion. The quick answer to this question is: Buy only what you will use within 10 days of the coffee’s roast date. (The quality of the flavor really takes a dive after 10 days.) Store coffee at room temperature [...]

Thump is most fortunate to work with a coffee roasting company (Stumptown Coffee Roasters) who searches the world for the finest coffees and farmers who treat both their land and their employees with integrity. Stumptown builds lasting relationships with these farmers, visiting them multiple times a year and paying them directly, at least double Fair [...]

Freshness & roast dates: We receive coffee the day after it’s roasted. Coffee, like wine, needs time to breathe and “open up” before it can be fully enjoyed. Most coffees need 24-48 hours to “off-gas” carbon dioxide, so we’re receiving and serving it at the most flavorful period of its life. Coffees also stale dramatically [...]

So you have your freshly roasted coffee and you’re eager to get it home and brew it up. You get out your grinder, pour some beans in, press the lid for a period of time, and presto, ground coffee. When you remove the lid, you notice that some of the coffee is powdery and some [...]

Really, this is the story of the land where coffee is grown and the people who grow it. These are the world’s most premium green beans, bought directly from growers at a fair price, exceeding even Fair Trade Certified, which means more economic benefit stays with the local farmer and community. Tweet

After all the care and attention given to selecting the perfect beans, the roast is where the coffee comes alive and develops its full flavor profile. Our coffees are hand roasted in small batches, each optimized for the bean, humidity and other factors. While green beans keep for extended periods, once roasted the coffee has [...]

In the end, it’s all about what ends up in the cup. We use only the highest quality commercial coffee preparation equipment, operated by highly skilled, highly trained baristi. Slurping is encouraged. Thump is proud to serve Stumptown Coffee, because Stumptown shares our passion for providing the freshest, most unique coffees, roasted by hand in [...]