While there has been quite a bit of news, we have not sent a newsletter this year. Mainly due to the fact that we hit the final stretch on our new web site and wanted to finish it.
The new website
Our new website is running on a .com domain and the old website will run on the older .co.za. So the new website is http://www.quaffee.co.za.
We have decided to run both the old and new website parallel with some of the links on the old website being set to redirect to the new site. Certain features on the old website we are currently not able to do on the new website. The main features we are struggling to replicate are the tabular view of the coffees and the one-page order form. These will run on the old site. Product summary pages will be under our posts sections, as will guides and advice.
Just a note: we have migrated only emails and names of those people that ordered online since 2016. However, because the new website allows logging in via social media accounts, these may not link to your account. We have disabled the auto-populate feature on the old website that used your name as a key. The reason for this is a number of people felt this was a security issue.
Take a look and tell us what you think.
PS. Those that join the website and subscribe to the newsletter, will get discounts on the coffees and other items – equivalent to the old “we have account” discount or the walk-in discounts. These discounts apply to all orders > 250g.
Extended Offering
We try to offer some of the best coffees we are able to source using our knowledge and partnerships. Budget, quality and ethics are the players in this game of brews. This said re-examining our offering has resulted in us now offering 2 coffees that are driven more by budget that quality and ethics. As a minimum we wanted the coffees in these blends to be at least organic and traceable.
While for us they score low in complexity, they are roasted to suit automatic coffee machines, and those that prefer milk and sugar in their coffee. We have named the cheapest of these coffees old-style-roast. This name comes from the style of roasting method used. A more commercial and old-school darker-roast style is used. As James Hoffman says in his book “World Atlas of Coffee”:
“Much of the acidity will have been lost and a new kind of flavour developed, often referred to as the generic ‘roast’ flavour. This flavour doesn’t depend on the kind of coffee used as it is a result of essentially charring or burning the coffee, rather than working with its intrinsic flavours”
Bean-to-cup
The cheapest of our offering that we have been developing this coffee with existing clients that are looking for this style of coffee. Using their feedback to create the coffee. It is nicknamed B2C, since as already mentioned it is more suited to the classic automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine. The coffee is available for R210 /kg. Order here: Old style dark roast. Note that this coffee does not come in the Quaffee bags.
Armonizar
The second coffee in the budget line is not as dark roasted as above, more a medium-light. Using only traceable coffees it is a classic blend with Central American coffees dominating. Read more here: Armonizar Blend.
Quality coffee
Are you interested in the steps taken to produce a quality coffee? We have started to post a series to explain how quality coffee is produced. The first of which is How is Quality Coffee Produced – Part 1: Cultivation. The next part will be on the complexities of Harvest.
Long mile coffees
We have new crops of the Burundi Long mile coffee project coffees. These will change as we make them available. However, we are roasting them at both locations to extend the offering. These coffees are winning acclaim throughout the coffee world. We have even had to send some to various coffee people throughout the world. Current coffees we have are a natural Peaberry – Gishubi, and from the Vineyard roaster the red-honey Mikuba. We also are still offering their Cup of Excellence coffee that placed 3rd in 2015 – Heza CoE.
New Microlot
For those that enjoy a complex coffee, we have something for you. We have a limited amount of Las Mingas, from Cauca, Colombia. A caramel and fruit coffee that we really enjoy. You can read more and order the coffee on the new website here: Las Mingas.
Other Coffees
Other coffees that are back, or available are accessible via quaffee.co.za/coffee. The Limu Konjo is back, a great example of how an Ethiopian coffee can be so different.
Keeping up to date
We had decided to not have a newsletter until the new site was up and running. The newsletter is reserved for when we have either important news or a collection of a lot of little items of news. We do not want your inbox SPAMMED with stuff. So we do a lot of posting on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. We are also posting videos on YouTube. For more up to date information and news we recommend you follow us on these platforms if you are not already doing so.
