click buy
canyon coffee, cafe grumpy, groundwork
Gifting coffee can be as simple as a click. Or, as a complicated as scrolling a seemingly endless web page of options. While many are online for #CyberMonday looking to buy things, I wanted to give the people out there, who may be in dense cities or coffee deserts a small guide to buying specialty coffee from Amazon. While this isn’t an endorsement of Amazon or Walmart, two platforms listed, it is simply a reference for those seeking to buy coffee for themselves or another that you can easily access and ship digitally.
These three brands have been part of my coffee ritual in more ways than one. I’ve ordered their coffees online, have visited their in-persons and have sat and drank their coffee by skilled barista hands other than the owners. They each have a unique history in specialty coffee on their respective East and West Coasts. They receive my endorsement for coffee that you can shop and click with ease and quality assurance.
1. Cafe Grumpy is a Greenpoint based roaster is helmed by a husband-and-wife team out of New York named Caroline Bell and Chris Timbrell. For seventeen years and counting, they’ve strategically opened up each of their dozen locations while roasting their coffee with a signature style that aims to keep faces smiling. Each location across the three cities which they can be found in provides a signature of their imprint on specialty coffee with selections from a variety of origins from Burundi to El Salvador.
My two recent favorites have been Shamba (Burundi) which gave me the vibe of a cherry cheesecake and La Bolsa (Guatemala) which was wildly flavorful, ranging from notes of molasses, rosemary and lime to that of a fresh Neapolitan pizza with organic tomato sauce. Remember, I did say wild!
If you’re not in Miami, New Jersey or New York where Café Grumpy’s physical stores are located including its recently opened takeaway café in Rockefeller Center this October, this is the ideal time to discover them on Walmart. The Heartbreaker blend hails from Colombia and Ethiopia and is a signature espresso whose deeper chocolate flavor will pair well with milk and might I even suggest eggnog.
2. The coffee duo behind Canyon Coffee – yes that one with a rose gold foil, canyon river line as the signature of its branding – opened in 2016. For the past six years, its founder Ally and Casey have forwarded a mindful, lifestyle coffee brand in the most normal and interesting places farmers markets in Los Angeles, hotels across the state of California, as guest roasters in Parisian restaurants to intimate coffee hangs with creatives at home and in the great outdoors.
As this company expands to not only include a newborn that the founders recently welcomed, they’ve also brought on talented humans whose careers in coffee as roasters or shop owners speak for themselves. Supporting this organic coffee brand inspired by their own travels and that of coffee shops they discovered while doing so, led to them focusing on a relationship coffee model whereby they work to “ensure the well-being of the farmers and their families whose livelihood depends on the coffee trade,” according to their website. You can purchase it online at Thrive Market, a digital destination that offers well curated food goods.
A noteworthy introduction to their coffee is their signature organic roasts named Beechwood. In my opinion it often tastes like milk chocolate and persimmons and I love to especially brew this on a Sunday morning. I have sent it as gifts to many friends this year and I might say, it makes me look like a great Coffeetographer. So, choosing their certified organic coffees mean choosing to support a boutique roaster whose brand is all about rolling with a ritual that is full of flavor and joy.
3. Groundwork Coffee is a Los Angeles founded coffee roasting company that is certified and wholly organic. What does that mean exactly? It means that as a company it takes ultimate measures according to their website to have “long term partnerships with farmers at origin.” They facilitate organic growing of coffee plants, practices that help farmers be committed to the process of growing coffee at a higher standard while also supporting the economic investment to do so which facilitates living wages for farmers. This includes solar panels, being sensitive to sun exposure times, to using low-emission machines.
When I visit their Venice flagship café, my go-to is a classic latte with one of their blends. Organic Venice is my current choice; I can’t resist a great toasted marshmallow, a liner note in the light roast coffee. One of the light roast coffees that’s currently available on Amazon is from Ethiopia and is their Angel City Roast which comes as a 12-ounce whole bean bag. Buying this coffee means your supporting a climate pledge friendly coffee – an astute recommendation for yourself, a family member or a friend.
Additionally, there are options to purchase coffees from Mexico and Papua New Guinea as well. To learn more about their organic commitment visit here.
See you in cyber coffee space.