San Rafael Coffee Company's Weblog

One Pound Coffee = Excellent Mail Order Gift!

sanrafaelcoffee — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:32:43 +0000

This year, we know folks are on a tight budget. We also know that coffee makes an excellent gift. That is why this season we are charging a flat rate to ship one pound of our coffee to anywhere in the continental United States. For $14, you can send one pound of either our French Roast, City Roast, or even our Dark Matter Espresso Blend and Single Origin coffees upon request. (For a list of our single origin coffees, scroll down the blog page and check out our “new coffees” post.)

We’ll roast it, package it, and make sure it arrives within four days of the roast date. Premium coffee handroasted and promptly shipped by San Rafael Coffee Company for the wonderful price of $14. Visit our online store at www.sanrafaelcoffee.com/retail.htm

I hope everyone has a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

~Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

San Rafael Coffee Company’s Packaging is Recyclable and Even Biodegradable

sanrafaelcoffee — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:52:35 +0000

At a very young age, I began to be very aware of how infinitely beautiful our world is and began developing enormous respect for it. Exposure to it through the Scouts taught me that we are stewards of its preservation. With that idea in my twelve-year-old head, I launched a campaign in our house to turn our family into recycling fools! It took me a few years of sorting paper from trash cans and scolding my folks, but to this day they still save a ream of paper from ending up in a landfill each week. By bringing that same enthusiasm into my roastery, San Rafael Coffee Company itself saves probably two or three reams each week from the landfill.

As a business owner producing a packaged food product, it is my duty to be conscious of the amount of waste my business produces. Since I am producing something my customer will hopefully purchase frequently, I want to make sure that my bottom line doesn’t create avoidable waste.

Packaging is responsible for around 30% of the total waste that reaches a landfill. This is largely due to the prevalence of petroleum-based plastics in most packaging.

My goal from the beginning was to craft high-quality coffee products coupled with recyclable and or even biodegradable packaging. To that end I now use glassine-lined natural kraft paper packaging.

Natural kraft paper is recyclable, biodegradable, and even compostable. The glassine lining this bag is a highly-polished sheet of the same natural kraft paper. The result is a rigid sheet of translucent paper similar to wax paper that is highly grease resistant and resistant to oxygen permeation, which keeps the coffee fresher over time.

This means that once your finished with your coffee, our packaging including labeling is completely recyclable. No more waste!

Yours in environmental consciousness and awesome coffee,

~Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

Coffee Tasting This Saturday

sanrafaelcoffee — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:26:57 +0000

This time we'll explore three different regions.

Join us for an exciting afternoon of coffee exploration. This time we will be taking a tour of 3 distinct coffee growing regions. To sign up for this event or for more information, please call us. Seating is limited.

Cost $ 5.00 (includes an 8 oz. Bag of coffee and material

I’d also like to give thanks to our co-sponsors: Cafe Verde, Produce Station and Meadow Fete for their support.

Holly Day Markets in Downtown Farmington

sanrafaelcoffee — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:40:16 +0000

This year we are proud to be a part of the Holly Day Markets hosted by the Farmington Downtown Development authority. Starting after Thanksgiving and running until Christmas, each Saturday Farmington will host a number of local vendors showcasing their products. It is sure to be an exciting event!

We will be serving up our freshly brewed coffee by the cup as well as offering our coffee blends by the bag. Our holiday coffee gift baskets will be on display and folks can order them on site and we’ll have them ready to be shipped out for the Holidays.

The Holly Day Markets will be located at the Walter E. Sundquist Pavilion in Riley Park, 33113 Grand River Ave, Farmington, MI 48336. This is the same location as the Farmington Farmer’s Markets. The dates are November 29th, December 6th, 13th, and 20th from 10am to 3pm. Be sure to dress warm and bring your highest spirits for this great event.

Hope to see you there!

Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

Gift Baskets for the Holidays!

sanrafaelcoffee — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:54:38 +0000

With the Holidays coming up fast, we have the perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life – San Rafael Coffee Gift Baskets! We will be offering three different basic baskets featuring our coffee (of course!), chocolates, coffee mugs, coffee storage jars, coffee presses, grinders, etc, in various combinations. You can order them online, designate where you’d like us to send it, and we will make sure your basket arrives on time.

In a few days we will be posting these baskets for order on our website. Tune in later to reserve your gift baskets.

Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

Exciting New Coffees in Stock at San Rafael Coffee Company

sanrafaelcoffee — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:45:16 +0000

We now carry Kenyan AA, Columbian Excelso, and Papa New Guinea! These coffees have a great legacy in the industry and we are proud to have them in stock. With the addition of these fine coffees to our wholesale product list, we will be scrambling to come up with a few more products to offer our customers. We look forward to sharing them with you!

Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

The Produce Station presents: Savor and Sip 2008

sanrafaelcoffee — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:50:36 +0000

Our good friends at the Produce Station in Ann Arbor will be hosting Savor and Sip. 50 great wines. 8 tables of gourmet food. One Fall charity event for a good cause. It all adds up to a great time. Tickets are available at the Produce Station, Ann Arbor Art Center, and Elie Wine Company.

San Rafael Coffee Company will be catering the coffee and joining in the tasting fun! Hope to see you there.

Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

Dark Matter Roast – Our New Coffee Blend

sanrafaelcoffee — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:28:24 +0000

I hope you all are ready for this:

I am excited to announce that our new coffee blend is ready for production. Dark Matter Roast was created with the help of a few of our closest coffee geek friends Erin, Forest, and Mike. After countless hours of pulling shots, pressing and dripping it, we’ve decided that this blend is worthy of its name. Density, gravity, hidden law-defying physical powers – it’s all there right in the cup! We currently have it stocked at Cafe Verde. Soon it will be listed on the website available for purchase.

~Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

Our Coffee in Local Markets, Restaurants, and Cafes

sanrafaelcoffee — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:47:34 +0000

Here is a list of all the markets, restaurants, and cafes that serve or stock San Rafael Coffee Company’s Highlands Blend both City Roast and French Roast:

Arbor Brewing Company – 114 E Washington, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Bella Ciao – 118 W Liberty St, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Bello Vino Marketplace – 2789 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105

Boulevard Market – 102 E Chicago Blvd, Tecumseh, Michigan 49286

By the Pound Foods – 615 S Main Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Cafe Verde – 214 N Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Cafe Ambrosia – 326 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Fresh Seasons – 2281 W Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103

Harvest Fresh – 22128 Farmington Road, Farmington, Michigan 48336

Jerusalem Garden – 307 South Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Old Town Tavern – 122 West Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Rendez-Vous Cafe – 1104 South University, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103

Dino’s Cafe – 773 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007

Sparrow Meat Market – 407 Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

The Produce Station – 1629 South State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Main Party Store - 201 N. Main Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Hiller’s Market – 3615 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Hiller’s Market – 425 N Center Street, Northville, Michigan 48167

Hiller’s Market – 15455 N Haggerty Road, Plymouth, Michigan 48170

Hiller’s Market – 39950 14 Mile Road, Commerce Township, Michigan 48377

Hiller’s Market – 3010 Union Lake Road, Commerce Township, Michigan 48382

Holiday Market – 520 South Lilley Road, Canton, Michigan 48188

Holiday Market – 1203 South Main Street, Royal Oak, Michigan 48067

Market Fresh – 31201 Southfield Road, Beverly Hills, Michigan 48025

Market Square – 2100 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, Michigan 48323

Market Square – 1964 Southfield Road, Birmingham, Michigan 48009

I hope all who read this are close to one of these excellent marketplaces. If you know of a marketplace that could use our freshly roasted coffee, feel free to drop us an email or even phone us. Visit our website for contact info.

~Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast

Our Guatemalan Highlands Blend

sanrafaelcoffee — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:08:02 +0000

One of the strengths of our coffee is our direct relationship with our family owned and operated coffee farm – La Finca San Rafael in Guatemala. There the subtropical climate, volcanically enriched soil, and high altitudes combine to produce some of the highest quality coffees on the planet. Guatemala is one of the places in the world where you can simply reach out your hand at any time during the year and grab fruit right off the tree.

Jose Lemus and his family in Guatemala help us source other family owned small-estate farms, sort out the high quality strictly hard beans, and package our blend using techniques to ensure dryness for shipping and storage. Anyone with the means can obtain high quality coffee, but we make sure we care for it from shrub to cup.

We then receive this coffee and store it in our climate controlled bean room before it is carefully and manually roasted in our Diedrich small-batch roaster. Our whole goal is to ensure freshness in every cup by roasting every day and delivering within 24 hours of roasting, thus shortening the time from the roaster to the cup.

~Karl Hinbern, Roastmaster

San Rafael Coffee Company

The Freshest Local Roast