In March, six of us from thump — and Finley — traveled to Portland to watch the U.S. National Barista Competition and visit some notable coffeehouses.

On November 18, Hazel, Kent and Finley zipped over to Portland and back for an evening “Meet the Producers” event, hosted by Stumptown. The guest of honor, Aida Batlle, is a rarity in the coffee producing industry — a woman(!) managing not one, but three, of her family’s coffee farms. We tasted her award winning [...]

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 [...]