Update from the Field - Santa Maria de Jesus

At the beneficio - Front R - L: Pocho, Denis, Flavio, China;
Back R - L: Manuel, Robin, Les, Eric, Julio

Julio at the beneficio
(the mountain in the background is called the rooster)

Installing the generators to get the lights and depulper running

The beneficio with coffee drying. Volcan Picaya is in the background

Les Stoneham of Deeper Roots Development and Jamie Stoneham (owner, John Clark's daughter) is currently traveling in Guatemala to work the farmer's of our delicious La Armonia Hermosa coffee. Here's an update from their trip.

As we hear on the news of negative degrees in Tennessee, we are here in Guatemala with 50 - 75 degree weather. We couldn't ask for better temperatures. Just as great as the temperature is, the atmosphere around the newly constructed beneficio (coffee wet mill) is buzzing with excitement. Today we brought down the mechanical depulper and installed the generators to power the lights and the depulper.  

The dream of having their own wet mill is finally coming to fruition. All of the hard work and planning is about to pay off as the picking season is about to come into full swing. Soon they will be able to use the mechanical depulper instead of the bike powered depulpers which will cut the processing time by 2/3rds and provides a more eco-friendly alternative when washing the coffee. This depulper will also improve the quality of the coffee through better sorting, washing, and consistent pulping.

We are very excited, just like they are, for this new addition to their newly constructed beneficio, and look forward to seeing Julio's field later this week.

Meet Alan Patterson - our newest addition to the VCC family

We'd like to welcome our newest staff member to the VCC family. 

Fredrick Alan Patterson (Alan) comes to Vienna as our new Territory Sales Manager, with lots of sales experience and an enthusiasm that is infectious.  Please welcome Alan to VCC as he makes the rounds over the next few weeks to meet our existing friends and customers.  He’ll be learning all about our particular brand of specialty coffee as well as the suite of other strong brands the Vienna Coffee distributes to our customers like Ghirardelli Chocolate sauces, Monin and Torani syrups and sauces, Xtreme Freeze real fruit smoothie bases and of course Harney and Son’s Fine Teas.  Ask him what’s new.  You can reach Alan at alanp@viennacoffeecompany.com or call him at 865 809 5849.

Alan lives in South Knoxville with his wife of 13 years, Terry.  A Navy veteran, Alan has been stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago, Camp Lejeune, NC and the SEAL Team HQ in Little Creek, VA.  He grew up in and around the food sales business and has sold a range of products from insurance to Caterpillar parts to the wares of over 30 different food product manufacturers.  We look forward to his help taking Vienna Coffee to the next level of excellence in sales and customer service.

Coffee as Wedding Favors

Guess who just got married and had delicious Vienna Coffee Company coffee as give-a-ways for their guests? I did! Jamie Clark now Jamie Stoneham.

On September 17th, I got married to Les Stoneham at Gorman Heritage Farm complete with a full service espresso bar, home-brewed beer, and most of the food from the farm (where I work full time). It was such a beautiful day, and it was so great seeing all my friends and family gather around us and share with us this special day.

My mom, Sue Clark, made these great table runners out of the burlap sacs from Vienna Coffee Company. They were such a great touch especially since coffee is so important to both my family and Les. So many people helped out with making the wedding just so special!!

Did you know that Vienna Coffee Company does wedding favors? Well they do and it was a huge success!  Call the roastery if you are interested. 513.560.3986

New Summer Hours

It's too hot in the Roastery in the afternoon. Why not visit the nice air conditioned VCH instead and enjoy a frozen cappuccino, Mocha or fruit smoothie.

Still would like to check out the roastery here are our New Roastery hours:

Monday-Wednesday: 9AM-4PM,
Thursday-Friday, 9AM-2PM

Vienna Coffee Company at Taste of Blount in Maryville

Our lovely ladies gave out samples of our new sipping chocolate and a variety of different coffees at Taste of Blount in Maryville on September 20, 2010. (Photo courtesy of Blount Today by Leslie Karnowski)

It was also our first time announcing to the public that Vienna Coffee House will be opening on Oct. 4th!

Vienna Coffee got 2nd place in this year's Beverage and Drink Category at the Taste of Blount.

For more information go to the newspaper article at http://www.blounttoday.com/news/2010/sep/20/rain-goes-away-and-crowds-come-dinner-taste-blount/

Roastmaster John is in the News

Bad weather causes coffee prices to hit a 13-year high in commodities

Steve Butera Updated: 8/25/2010 6:43:38 PM Posted: 8/25/2010 6:35:06 PM

Sisters Marga Hinsley and Maureen Willis are making it a tradition to meet at Javerde, a West Knoxville coffee shop.

"This coffee shop happens to be equal distance from my house and my sister's house. So we can have a cup of coffee," said Hinsley.

However, getting that cup of coffee could soon cost more. Prices for a cup of java have gone up more than 30% in recent weeks, to about $1.89/pound. Experts said bad weather in coffee-growing countries in Central and South America is to blame. That in turn has some coffee shop owners keeping a careful eye on the markets.

"Across the board, coffee shops, it has made an impact," said Javerde co-owner Paul Grady. "If you look around, coffee beans are a commodity."

The caffeinated commodity has also affected local roasters. Maryville-based Vienna Coffee Company roaster John Clark, said he's made some changes to keep costs as low as possible for customers.

"We are modifying some blending so we can accommodate the same character in the end result by using different coffee beans," said Clark. Clark said three blends were affected, but coffee connoisseurs should not notice.

However, while costs stay low, customer said they will continue to come back.

"(Coffee shops) want to serve you, and they know that they're not going to be here unless we're here," Hinsley said. "So we're going to support that."

So far, only some store-bought coffee like Folgers and Maxwell House report that they will see a price increase over the coming weeks.

Maxwell House and other corporate coffee prices rise

Just in case you need another reason to buy Vienna Coffee Company coffee...

NEW YORK Aug 6 - Reuters announced on August 6th the following information...

"Kraft Foods raised the list price on select Maxwell House and Yuban ground and instant coffees in the United States, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The increases are 30 cents per lb equivalent on ground coffees and 2-1/2 cents per ounce on instant, said Bridget MacConnell, Kraft spokeswoman.

The price hike comes three days after trendsetter J.M. Smucker Co raised list prices 9 percent for most of its Folgers, Dunkin' Donuts, Millstone and Folgers Gourmet Selections coffees sold in the U.S. retail market.

The Maxwell House Cafe line of specialty soluble items is not included in the price change, Kraft said.

"Increases are due to sustained increases in the cost of green coffee," MacConnell told Reuters in an email.

Arabica futures KCc1 trading on ICE have surged 35 percent over the past two months, reaching a 12-1/2 year high on Aug. 2 at $1.8150 per lb. There are steep premiums on the physical market as top washed-arabica producer Colombia and Central America continue to face tight supplies. "

(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson - http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=marcy.nicholson&> )

Cupping for a new blend

At Vienna Coffee Company we are always looking to improve our coffee, and make new blends of coffee that will tantalize your taste buds. Here are a few pictures taken from this Monday during one of our cupping sessions. "What is a cupping session?" you might be asking yourself.

Cupping is one of the coffee tasting techniques used by cuppers to evaluate coffee aroma and the flavor profile of a coffee. To understand the minor differences between coffee growing regions, it is important to taste coffee from around the world side-by-side. Cupping is also used to evaluate a defective coffee or to create coffee blends.

In this picture, Bob Knoll is doing the first step of the cupping process, smelling the ground coffee before water has been added. The next picture is Audra actually tasting the coffee once the water has been introduced to the coffee. The next step would then be to taste it again after it has been sitting for a little while. The coffee will have different aromas and flavors at each process of the cupping. Knowing all of these flavors and aromas can help to make the perfect blend for anyone's pallet.

Are you interested in learning more about cupping and would like to join us for a cupping? Please email cristi@viennacoffeecompany.com for more information.

Espresso and Latte Art Class

On June 26, 2010, Vienna Coffee Company hosted an Espresso and Latte Art class at their roastery. With people from all around east Tennessee area attending, instructor Les Stoneham started the class talking about coffee from farm to cup. With beautiful pictures from his travels to the coffee growing regions, he helpped the students understand how much work and love goes into each and every bean. He also explained how important it is as a barista to create the perfect shot to allow all that hard to show through.

To further explain this point, the second half of the class was hands on where each student could create latte for themselves. He made sure that each student knew what to do and why it's important to do each step.

This is a picture of one of the lattes he poured as demonstration. To close out the class, student were invited to partake in yummy sipping chocolate and a plethera for munchies.

If you are interested in going to our next class. Make sure to sign up for our newsletters, check our facebook, or check back here for more details.

Thank you to our Veterans

In honor of Memorial Day and all the wonderful men and women who lost their lives serving our country, we wanted to take this time to thank and remember their sacrifice.

Here are some wonderful and heartfelt stories from some of our customers...

"My daddy, Staff Sargeant E. Milton Heider U.S. Army. He hit the beach at Normandy the day after D-day. He was a proud veteran, man and the best daddy anyone could ask for. Quite a snappy dresser too! Love you daddy! Miss you :(" - Bobby Montgomery

"Honoring the service of my Groenhout men: son, 2nd Lt. Adam Groenhout (USMC); husband, LCDR Brian Groenhout (USNRet); and his father, Eddie Groenhout (USN, WWII - Pacific Theater). "Old Grandpa Groenhout" (the Dutch immigrant) would have been proud." - Angela Groenhout

Thank you to everyone who served and continue to serve our beautiful country!

Mag's Coffee's Inspiring Story

We would like to take this time to show our support to Mag's Coffee in Clarksville. Husband and wife, Ken and Maggie Bradford have a real life inspiring story to tell about their small cafe located in Clarksville, TN that got hit hard by the floods this past month. Here is a great story about their perseverance through it all.

"Our adventure began with a rag-tag little building on the corner, and we began tearing out walls and practically removing every piece of wall material inside the building. Maggie has always been excited about the whole thing.

We decided to dedicate part of this property to our Mom's, neither of whom are with us anymore. The flower bed directly in front of the building was dedicated to Maggie's mom (Mille Linton), so we just named it "Millie's Garden". Closer to the street, we dedicated a small flower bed to my mom (Alma Bradford), thus "Alma's Rose". These pictures are the original flower beds (pre-flood).

Obviously, after being under water mixed with gasoline, most of the flowers did not survive. I feel it kind of ironic that the daylilies did survive and are now blooming. You see, the daylilies actually belonged to Maggie's mom in Houston, TX. I dug them from her yard many years ago and brought them to Tennessee. Somehow, we just thought that she was with us and wanted us to know that things would get better if we just kept on trying. All of the other flowers have been replaced and the beds look good again. Just yesterday, one of the city workers drove into our parking lot and told me that seeing those flowers back again was an inspiration to him. He said that the flowers told him that we are not defeated and everyone enjoys this one bright spot on a street of total destruction.

You must realize that even though we had 30 inches of water inside our building, some businesses had 8 feet of water inside theirs. A member of the Chamber of Commerce told Maggie that approximately half of the businesses on Riverside Dr. would probably not re-open. We haven't gotten the national news like the oil spill or Tiger Woods, but people are hurting down here.

I felt somewhat selfish about working only on our building and not helping other business owners with their disasters and told Maggie that we just had to do something. A couple of weeks ago I took the grill down to the shop and with the help of Maggie, Ashley, Dana and some others, we prepared some 220 meals and delivered them to the workers along Riverside Dr. That really wasn't much, but I guess it was something. By the way, my grill was stolen while I was letting it cool off overnight.

After drying out the building, removing the lower half of all the walls, replacing all of the electrical outlets, scrubbing down all of the new equipment that had never even been plugged in, getting our electricity restored (2 weeks), the local codes department informed us that the commode in our brand new handicapped bathroom was off by six inches. Now we had plumbers in our building cutting a giant hole in our ceramic tile flooring, throwing dust all over our freshly painted walls and trim. $2,200 dollars later, our commode had been moved six inches.

It seems that just because we are small that we are being watched under a microscope. We are really scared to do much of anything for fear that codes will require us to re-do.

We erected a partial fence around the front of the property (about 5 feet off Riverside Dr.) to prevent a young child from running into the street. The codes department called and told us to take it down, so we did.

Codes even went so far as to tell Maggie that her flowers were "questionable".

It has definitely been a journey and Maggie really does have a story to tell."

Mag's Coffee has definitely been through a lot, and we look forward to their opening coming soon! They will be serving Vienna Coffee. So if you are ever in the area please stop in and let them know how good their flower beds look, and how inspiring their story is.

Check out "Mag's Coffee" on Facebook.

NEW CLASS: Espresso and Latte Art Training

Attention all coffee lovers! Vienna Coffee Company has just added a new class!

Espresso and Latte Art Class

Date: June 26, 2010 Time: 6pm - 8pm Where: Vienna Coffee Company Roastery (106 Everett Ave. Maryville, TN 37804) Come in for a night of espresso and latte art magic as Les Stoneham, Great Lakes Barista Championship Finalist and trainer, teaches and demonstrates how to pour the perfect shot and create those stunning latte art designs that have won him barista competitions. This demonstration/hands-on class is great as a gift to any espresso lover or treat yourself and hone your own barista skills. Delicious snacks and latte drinks will be provided. Price: $24.00

Bike Month

May is Bike Month! Celebrate bike month by biking into the Roastery this month and receive a 10% off your purchase. Not only are you helping the environment, but you are saving yourself gas money AND getting in shape. What better time to bike anyways, it BEAUTIFUL outside!!!

FREE COFFEE: Tax Day tomorrow

Your dreaded taxes are due tomorrow. Don't forget to turn them in, and after you do, Come on over to the roastery. We are sampling some of our delicious coffee and get a free 2oz bag of any coffee of your choice. You deserve to get a little treat after working so hard!

A study shows that darker roasted coffee is easier on the stomach

Scientific American released an article on March 23, 2010 with the title, "Stomach Cells Happier with Dark Roast Coffee." This interesting article explains, "

In a study presented at the meeting of the American Chemical Society, food chemists found that dark roasting coffee produces a chemical compound that keeps stomach cells from producing the excess acid often caused by coffee drinking."

To read the whole article go to: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=stomach-cells-happier-with-dark-roa-10-03-23

If you are interested in trying one of our darker roasted coffee check out our french roast or our Organic French Roast.

Now Hiring!

Join VCC's team. We are now hiring an operations Manager. We're looking for the right candidate to help us get to the next level. Successful candidate will have at least 10 years commercial or industrial experience. Must be a coffee lover. Responsible for creating & executing operating procedures for packaging, wholesale and retail fulfillment, equipment maintenance and asset management.

John in Guatemala

John made his way from Atlanta to Guatemala city this past week in preparation to take an "origin" tour of different beneficios (coffee mills) and fincas around Guatemala with the Roaster's Guild.

Before his official tour John spent the weekend with Les, Jamie and the farmers of Santa Maria de Jesus. These are pictures of John depulping 250 pounds of coffee! Now that's a lot of coffee!

In the first picture Julio, Les and John are picking out the green (unripe) cherries before they go through the depulper. These exact beans were picked by some new farmers who have decided to join the co-op. We are excited to have them because they had some of the best picked coffee we've seen. "Solo rojo."

The second picture is of John actually cranking the depulper. The cherries go from the top and get squished along the copper grate which pushes the beans out of the cherry pulp. This is some tiring work. The stuff coming out at the bottom of the depulper is only the pulp that is later composted back into the soil.

The third picture is the beans coming out of the depulper. There are a few of the cherries left with the beans, but those will be sorted out in the washing process.

More updates from the field coming soon...

Announcing FlourPower

We would like to announce our newest Vendor of our coffee...

Please welcome FlourPower to our great list of vendors. Located behind Purple Dog Art Boutique in Abbeville, AL, this quaint boutique and bakery opened its doors at the end of November last year. Owners, Sarah Williams and Paulette Riley enjoyed a great Grand Opening with drinks, food, and entertainment from Clark Williams and Yuri Hoshino. Here's some pictures from that event. Thanks FlourPower for choosing Vienna Coffee.

Guate travels: Alberto

Jamie and Les left the freezing USA last Monday to go to the deliciously warm Antigua, Guatemala to work with and visit the coffee farmers of Santa Maria de Jesus. To their great happiness, their first week in beautiful Guate was great consisting of farm visits, shared meals, and many meetings.

Here is a snippet of one of their trips to Santa Maria de Jesus...
"After catching a ride on the back of a local's truck and taking the long hike down from the village onto the farmland, we came to Alberto's land where the harvest is looking great. (photos will come shortly). He has shade trees full of avocados, lemons, Kumquats, bananas, pacaya and many other delicious treats. His coffee trees are full and plump with beautiful coffee cherries ready for the picking. Alberto, a masterful farmer, has a great selection of different varieties of coffee which helps if a coffee blight takes over one of the varietals. You can tell Alberto has such great passion for his crops not only by his enthusiasm when showing off his land and the twinkle in his eye, but also the health of all of his trees and plants. BEA-U-TI-FUL!"

The picture is of Volcan Agua (the Volcano Santa Maria de Jesus is located on)

Please check back in the near future for more about Les and Jamie's trip and pictures.

INTRODUCING: Audra Doughty

Vienna Coffee Company is excited to introduce to you our newest employee...
Audra Doughty.

Audra found Vienna Coffee Company in 2005 when she opened her own coffee house in Athens, TN. Supplying the best available product and supporting local business being key to her success, Vienna was the obvious choice. After three and a half wonderful years of self employment Audra now joins our company with a vast insight into both the café business and its customers' needs. She is thrilled by the opportunity to pass her "trial by fire" experience, love for coffee and passion to see others succeed in their dreams on to Vienna's existing and soon to be customers.

Audra likes to start her day off with a 3 shot breve latte with just a touch of Monin's Pure Cane Sugar Syrup using only the best; Vienna's Espresso Bella.

So if you see Audra around town be sure to tell her, "hey!"