What's Brewing

June 8 | Exquisite Specialty Coffee Do you remember our conversation in the previous email... about the classification provided by the SCA for coffee scores? Most of the coffee collection available from Café de Guadalupe falls within the "Excellent" Specialty Coffee range. However, these two new additions are the highest-rated coffees we have added to our store, according to the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) as "Exquisites" These two coffees offer a truly unique taste experience. They have earned the prestigious classification of being "among the best coffees in the world," which is evident in their remarkable score of 92 out...

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is an organization that oversees the quality of specialty coffee worldwide. In 1984, the SCA introduced a scoring system known as the SCA Cupping Form, which involves evaluating coffee using 10 categories. According to this coffee-tasting protocol, coffee that scores above 80 points on a scale ranging from 0 to 100 is classified as specialty coffee. If the coffee surpasses 85 points, it is considered excellent. And if it exceeds 90 points, we are presented with an exceptional coffee.   The relationship between quality and price in the coffee industry is closely intertwined. As the...

Ever wonder why America is not a large coffee producing country? Neither are the Scandinavian countries, even though Americans and Scandinavians are the largest consumers of coffee in the world. The answer is quite simple, it is not feasible to grow coffee in areas with thermal seasons. Meaning that fall, spring, summer and winter, favor many harvests (apples, perhaps the most), but they actually hurt coffee plantations. The best region to grow coffee is the coffee belt.  The coffee belt, also known as the coffee-producing region or the coffee-growing region, refers to a specific area of the world where coffee...

Did you know that coffee beans are technically a coffee cherry pit? What are coffee cherries? And what can you do with them? Coffee grows in large bushes not much different from all other berries. Interestingly, when it comes to coffee cherries, it is the pit or bean, where we find the popular product from which the wonderful drinks and all its ways of serving come from.  After the cherries are picked they are put through a process to remove the pulp and prepare the beans by washing them and drying them before being roasted. From there, the beans travel all the...

We are fortunate to live in a coffee-friendly world these days, but things have not always been that way. Throughout history and across different cultures coffee has been a meeting point for politics, economics, and societal expectations. This meeting point is a quite interesting place as it is where we get to see what people from the past thought of coffee and how they related to it.  This list compiles laws that nowadays we would consider bizarre, but to rulers of these times and places, the laws made sense. Most of them revolve around roasting, growing, and policies around where...

What is a better person? While we all may have different values and cultures, it is interesting to think that our understanding of what a good person is does not vary too widely. Perhaps that is why the Romans and the Greeks have become The Classics, given that their pursuit of virtue is universally understood as the core of being a good person. Life can be distracting but in the simplicity of the coffee farms there is plenty to learn on how to become a better person.  Humility The Chinese thinker, Confucius once said "Humility is the solid foundation of...