We’ve all heard the saying “As American as apple pie.” There is one influential man to thank for this tradition, and today is his day! September 26^th is National Johnny Appleseed Day. As legend has it, John Chapman (a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed) was an American pioneer who traveled by foot planting apple trees and orchards. His trek took him from Pennsylvania to Iowa. He often walked shoeless with a wide brimmed hat shading sun from his eyes as he traveled. Now that’s what you call dedication! This conspicuous character was known for his work ethic and benevolence toward nature and mankind.

Not only did Johnny spread apple seeds, but wisdom and compassion as well. He was known to share books and the teachings of Swedish spiritual leader Emanuel Swedenborg. Story has it, this nomadic spiritualist would travel far and wide to nurse ailing orchards back to health. He rarely asked for payment but any he received went toward books which he would give out to people he met during his travels. While the popular legend paints Johnny Appleseed as a jolly individual, scattering apple seeds merrily as he traveled barefoot, in reality he was far more methodical. John planted nurseries, left them in the care of those he met, and checked back every few years to ensure they were thriving.

We think this day is a special one to be celebrated. National Johnny Appleseed Day represents the power of the individual driven by altruism, hard work, and attention to detail. While we would love to be thought of as mythical beings, sprinkling coffee beans throughout the country, the truth is we’re too busy roasting. We’ll have to leave the sprinkling to you!

This September, we plan on honoring Johnny Appleseed by pouring ourselves into the magic of our trade – making it easy, inexpensive, and fun to buy our coffee! We hope veryone we meet is a little better than before they found us. Celebrate Johnny with a cup of our Autumn Harvest or Apple Cider Donut coffee. Tell us what you think in the comments below!

It’s summertime, so we decided to play guinea pig to bring you the best iced coffee out there. As popular as this classic continues to be, iced coffee often alternates between watery and mouth puckering bitterness. Our goal was to create a cup solid enough to graduate from trend to timeless classic. We believe, when properly brewed, iced coffee may be the star of the coffee world. Not only can it be simple to prepare, (which we love, especially pre-caffeine) but it is the perfect refreshing treat to beat the heat.

Filtered water should be used to brew a double strength batch of coffee to start.  Flash brew iced coffee (aka ice brew) is made in a pour over (such as Hario or Chemex), but you don’t have to get all fancy if you don’t want to. You can make your iced coffee in an autodrip brewer too! Throw coffee ice cubes in to minimize dilution. Ta-da! A no-fuss, clean, crisp cup in minutes.

Homemade iced coffee is easy to make, but the right brewing method can preserve the nuances of the beans while other brewing methods can dull or neutralize their subtle flavor notes. The right iced coffee should be way less high maintenance than it tastes. We love a good shortcut and, finally, our resourcefulness pays off. All hail the perfect iced coffee, right from your very own kitchen! Check out our easy recipes and let us know what you think in the comments.

National Wine and Cheese Day has arrived! To get in the spirit, we decided to put our own spin on the classic pairing. Tea and cheese is the wave of the future, and we’re here to expand your palate! We did our own tea and cheese tasting, and not only did it fulfill our afternoon snack craving, but it also proved to be an entertaining way to unwind with friends.

Tea and wine have a lot of similarities, and both pair seamlessly with cheese. Who doesn’t need a little extra cheese in their lives? Teas, like wine, have a personality all their own. While many people compare coffee to tea, the attributes of tea actually correspond much more with wine. Their distinct qualities are largely based on the growing conditions and processing. From earthy and smoky to fruity and tart, the flavor profiles of loose leaf tea (and wine) vary considerably, which makes it fun to experiment with pairings.

If you know anything about wine and cheese pairing, or if you’re a newbie like us, the rules are consistent and relatively simple. Sweeter teas pair well with salty cheeses while milder, lighter teas and cheeses complement each other best. The ideal match lets both the tea and cheese flavors shine independently while revealing a “third flavor” that is unique to the pairing. After some reading and a whole lot of hands on (mouths on?) research, here are favorite matches. We hope this inspires your own tea and cheese tasting! Let us know what you think.

Good old Earth Day is rapidly approaching, and in our opinion, it totally deserves more than just one day of celebration a year. If we had it our way, it’d be Earth Day every day. That aside, there are numerous ways we can change how we live our lives day to day while also minimizing our footprint on the planet. You may be thinking that food has a large impact, but guess what else does? Coffee.

It’s easy to do something small. It may not seem like much, but when you think about it, your coffee routine can have a significant impact on our planet. Where do you buy it? How do you brew it? What are you drinking out of? But okay, enough of that. Let’s get to the good stuff! Here are a few tips on how to green your coffee routine.

• Brew at home in ways that limit waste: Skip the line, and brew at home. Not only will you save money, but you’ll reduce your footprint too. If you want to take it a step further and use a manual brewing method like a French press, pour-over, or Chemex to cut back on electricity. You’ll have a delicious cup you can feel good about!Of course, not everyone has time to use a more traditional coffee brewing method. We get it. If you can’t make traditional methods work for you, you can reduce your impact with an Ekobrew reusable filter for your coffee machine. Instead of piling up landfills with wasteful coffee pods, you can be satisfied knowing you have reduced your impact while you sip!

• Re-use your coffee grounds: Inevitably, you will end up with coffee grounds when you brew at home, and they can most certainly be re-purposed in a variety of ways. They will work great for composting because they are rich in nitrogen. You can use them to exfoliate your skin, clean dishes, deodorize your refrigerator, and even fix furniture in your home. Behold the power of coffee!

• Get a mug: This one goes without saying: get a re-usable mug! Not only will you help reduce the 50 billion discarded cups every year, but you will get cool points. Mugs are super customizable, and the choices are endless.

We hope these tips help you feel a bit better about doing your part to help make our planet a cleaner place. Have any tips of your own to share? Leave us a comment below!

If you’re one of the many iced coffee lovers who’ve made the switch to cold brew, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about “flash brewed” iced coffee. Back before cold brew was a thing, iced coffee was often regular strength hot coffee (or yesterday’s coffee) poured over ice. The result was watery and disappointing. Also called ice brewed or Japanese-style iced coffee, flash brewed iced coffee is brewed fresh over ice, usually using a pour-over brewer like the Chemex or Hario. For a visual, check out our video on brewing hot or iced coffee with the Chemex. It can also be made with a regular old automatic drip machine or an Aeropress. The key is allowing the coffee to drip directly onto the ice as it brews. Drip by drip, it cools instantly and less dilution occurs than if you were to dump a cup or a pot full of hot coffee over ice.

Flash brew vs. cold brew

If cold brew tastes a little flat to you, that’s because ground coffee requires heat to release some of its acids and aromatic oils (for details on the cold brewing method, check out our post). Cold brewed coffee is much less acidic, but possibly also less nuanced in flavor. High temperatures also cause these oils to oxidize and degrade over time, resulting in the sour or stale taste coffee acquires after sitting on a burner too long. Both methods claim to minimize oxidation, cold brewing by omitting heat and flash brewing by minimizing the amount of time between exposure to heat and consumption.

Another important difference between cold brew and flash brew is texture. Cold brew is less filtered since the coffee sits in contact with the grounds for a long period and some finer sediment dissolves over time. The end result is a rich, mellow cup, with the velvety texture of French press coffee. Flash brewed coffee by comparison is cleaner and crisper, with more bite, more aroma, and some would argue, more flavor.

Flash brewed coffee also has a few convenient advantages over cold brews, depending on your perspective. While nothing is lazier than dumping grounds and water in a bowl and letting them sit, flash brewed coffee is ready right away – no wait required. Also, less coffee is required since cold brew recipes typically make a concentrate with a high ratio of grounds to water. For flash brewing, start with the amount of coffee you would normally use, and replace half the brewing water with ice. Increase the grounds to water ratio if you like a little stronger taste from your iced coffee.

So which one wins? Cold brewing will emphasize more chocolaty or nutty characteristics while the acidity of flash brew will taste fruitier. Try picking a single origin coffee with an acidity level and flavor notes that will either play up or balance these characteristics. For instance, the higher acidity level of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe really jazzes up a cup of cold brew. To further emphasize its brightness, try it flash brewed. To minimize the acidic flavor of flash brewed coffee, try an Indonesian varietal like Papua New Guinea or Estate Java. Flash Brewed coffee tends to have a more nuanced flavor, perfect for a light roast coffee, but there are no rules. Experiment with roast level, see what you like, and share your recommendations!