A few years ago a friend and all-around delightful human being inquired about our coffee. She asked for a recommendation, looking for something similar to her favorite Ethiopian variety. Yirgacheffe. “yer-gah-what?” So we started doing some research. Yirgacheffe coffee is grown in the high mountains near the town of… you guessed it, Yerga Chefe. The altitude and the more extended slower growing season make it taste so magical. A little nutty, a little dark chocolatey. Miss Betty B is a light roast coffee and it smells as magical as it tastes. Turns out our supplier offered a fair trade organic version so we purchased a small bag to try out. We are always open to new varieties but a potential customer takes some of the risks out of the situation.
Yirgacheffe, though fun to say, looks rather intimidating and didn’t really fit with the other names we were using. So we started calling it Miss Betty’s coffee and before we could figure out a different name, it stuck.
Now, I must confess that my grandmother’s name is Betty so I cannot say that Miss Betty is my favorite Betty but she comes in a close second. Anyone who knows her could hardly disagree. She is also working as a volunteer goodwill ambassador to convince her entire neighborhood to order our coffee. And she has been known to leave a bag of grits on her door for Big E because of their shared southern heritage and love of grits. Drinking Miss Betty B will make you feel almost as warm as spending time with the real thing.
