Our flagship coffee. The one that started it all. Maybe it’s not all that surprising that “Big E”, himself, is the inspiration for this coffee name. Everette has had, at times a rather unkempt rugged man look about him. For the last 13 years or so he’s pretty regularly sported a beard. The beard fluctuates between hipster cool and wild mountain man. Mostly depends on how difficult it is to get an appointment with the beard stylist (that’s me, folks, but I’m all kinds of busy).
But Big E is definitely more wild-mountain-man than hipster. While he CAN split wood, I’ve seen it, he isn’t a lumberjack. But put him in a flannel shirt and give him a tin coffee cup and he could definitely pass as one. Side note once: when we were first married we had to attend a costume party with little planning. I went as Little Red Riding Hood, he picked up a handsaw and went as the woodsman. People were impressed.
So lumberjack seemed like an appropriate name to represent this smooth strong coffee. It makes you feel like you could rip through a cord of wood before lunchtime when you drink it. But it also slides down nice and smooth on a lazy Saturday morning.
Our Commitment to Quality Coffee
Greetings everyone! Remember a few weeks ago we discussed the worldwide coffee shortage? We have been working diligently to make sure we have enough supply to meet our demand. But demand for coffee, in general, is pretty high, which if you remember from high school economics, scarcity causes prices to increase. And we are at the moment where in order to continue providing you with great quality beans we need to increase our prices. We are committed to buying fair trade and organic* beans, so beginning December 1st you will see our prices increase based on the increased cost. Prices will increase anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars. Eep!
But there is good news! We HIGHLY value our loyal customers. All auto-ship customers will automagically receive a 5% discount on their regular orders. Auto-ship helps us estimate demand and helps us keep our costs lower, so we can pass those savings along to you. We are so grateful for you, our customers. Those of you who buy our coffee, who share it with others, who made it possible to do what we are doing. Thanks for joining us on this journey, being a part of our story. Because we believe great coffee starts with great beans, roasted by great people, shared with great neighbors.
*We are not a certified organic roastery-but the raw beans are and we don’t add anything to them.
Coffee and Sleep
Sleep… There’s nothing like it. Lovely, gorgeous, beautiful sleep. Don’t we all want 8 hours every night? But let’s get real here for a moment. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometimes life.
A recent study in Germany set out to discover if coffee really can fill in the gaps of those sleepless nights. They created an experiment of two groups, both restricted to 5 hours of sleep for five days in a row. One set received regular coffee and the other decaf. During the day they were required to do a variety of cognitive tasks, testing their reaction time, processing, etc.
It turns out for three days the regular coffee drinkers outperformed the decaf drinkers. But after that, the results were indistinguishable.
So it turns out coffee really can help you function at a higher level on less sleep, for a period. But there is no long-term substitute for sleep. But my momma could have told you that. 🙂
So grab some of your favorite Big E Bearded Coffee to get you through those days, but don’t forget to rest.
Cooking with Coffee
I recently watched a cooking video where the chef was challenged to make an entire meal with a secret ingredient. It was coffee. They decided to pressure cook the coffee in hopes that the beans would soften. It was an epic fail. Lots of other stuff they did was great but after an hour in the Instant Pot those beans were as hard as ever. The problem they had is they assumed coffee was actually a bean. It isn’t.
It is actually the seed of the coffee fruit. More like cherry pits. They don’t get soft.
But that got me thinking what are some of the ways you can cook with coffee. I’ve used coffee in my pot roast and made mocha truffles but what other things are there? My curiosity piqued, I took to the internet and found some interesting things. I found a recipe for coffee jelly that sounds really tasty. As well as a coffee marinade. And even a recipe for baked beans with coffee. I’m ready to get some lumberjack and start exploring! How do you cook with coffee?
Coffee: Just in Case
You may be hearing rumors of coffee shortages. Turns out the rumors are actually true. Much like one’s Facebook relationship status, the reasons are many and complicated. Coffee is literally grown all over the world and there are environmental, political, and population factors influencing every country independently and the coffee industry globally. Since I am was (gray area) a licensed social studies teacher I am perfectly qualified to explain it to you. Mostly… I shall do my best.
First… Let’s clarify. There is a current shortage and a predicted shortage. The current shortage is based on the 2020 harvest. Beans are harvested, then dried then shipped, and the coffee being shipped now was harvested in 2020 (someday we’re going to do a post about that process). The predicted shortage is based on the 2021 growing and harvesting season (which we are beginning to enter in some parts of the world).
The predicted shortage has a lot to do with a frost affecting a large portion of Brazil’s coffee crop and a continued global labor shortage, largely due to the pandemic. As well as an increase in demand. Turns out more and more people than ever are turning into coffee lovers, and we are here for it! Literally, we are delivering it to your front door. While we do not currently offer any coffee from Brazil, the shortage in Brazil will likely increase the demand for the other coffee.
The current coffee shortage is pretty much because there is a giant backlog of cargo ships coming and going from ports all over the world. The cargo ship issue gets political and more specific to importing and exporting countries, but you can pretty much sum it up with “Global Pandemic Complications.” Some countries are sitting on a large pile of beans they can’t export, or it’s just taking forever because isn’t everything these days? Green (raw) bean suppliers in the U.S. are starting to sell out of varieties they have stockpiled in their warehouses as they wait on new inventory to arrive.
A few days ago Big E sent me this image of our main bean supplier. Usually, they have 50-70 varieties. As of that day-12. And you can see many of the quantities are down to the single digits.
So what does this mean?
Large coffee roasters have the capacity to stock up on beans in the hopes of riding out the shortage, small roasteries, like us don’t have the storage space to beef up our inventory. But don’t you worry. Big E is extremely resourceful and an obsessive researcher and we are working hard to balance inventory and sales demands so that we can keep supplying you with the coffee you love. And so far we are doing great.
But, you know, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t suggest you trying out a new Big E Coffee variety in case we run out of your favorite. I mean, it’s always good to have a backup. And we have lots to choose from. Check them out.
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Lights of Love$4.30 – $15.80
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Her Royal Highness$4.70 – $18.00
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Miss Betty B$4.30 – $15.60
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Five O’Clock Shadow$4.60 – $16.50
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Sue-Sue Decaf$4.70 – $18.40
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Lumberjack Blend$4.20 – $14.80
If you found this explanation fascinating or confusing, check out this article on the coffee market forecast, written by, you know, experts.
Big E tries to justify his coffee addiction
Everette likes coffee. When we first met he was drinking coffee by the gallon. Like for real, he was drinking a gallon or more of coffee a day, two to three pots. He was also sweaty and only slept about two hours a night, and just a tiny bit irritable. Because I love him, I suggested he switch to decaf after his first pot of coffee. He told me the caffeine didn’t affect him, so that was unnecessary. I then asked him if he like decaf, to which he replied, “yes, I love all coffee.”
Then I said, “well if you like it, why wouldn’t you just switch to decaf anyway? Why don’t you just try it?”
Check. mate.
So now Everette drinks one pot of regular coffee and then he switches to decaf, our decaf, Sue-Sue. Have you tried it?
But his heart always longs for coffee. He keeps sending me articles about how coffee is good for your health. He says they are for the blog posts, but I think they are so he can justify his coffee intake. And it turns out, there are some legitimate health benefits to coffee. It can lower your risk for Alzheimer’s, Type 2 Diabetes, and Parkinson’s Disease. Drink coffee. Drink more coffee, drink all the coffees. Drink our coffees. If you max out on caffeine, switch to decaf. Coffee: it’s good for your health.
Disclaimer: If coffee makes you feel bad, you shouldn’t drink it. We are not doctors. We just read science-y articles, and try to convince people to buy more of our coffee. Speaking of our coffee, have you tried it?