Perhaps you've heard of third wave coffee? Third wave is the industry's name for specialty coffee that emphasizes taste in the cup while celebrating coffee’s growers and producers. It's been going on since roughly 2010. It seeks to employ and support sustainable relationships that care for people along the entire supply chain It’s a good thing. There is more outstanding coffee available now than at any time in history. But with that outstanding coffee comes a new challenge of how to communicate that quality to consumers. Unfortunately, third wave coffee has become a bit …precious. Intimidating. Pretentious even.  I’ve been there....

Kona, Hawaii, August 7, the day after my son Owen's 20th birthday. Our first family trip since long before the pandemic hit. We wanted to try our luck at Blue Marlin fishing. Things were looking bleak when Jennifer Boatwright Lint tried to find us a trip earlier in the week and everyone seemed booked up. She did find us a last minute mid-day 4 hour trip, though. We went in with low expectations, hoping to just enjoy a day on the water. However, when we showed up at the harbor, we learned our boat had blown an engine earlier in...

I have been less than thrilled with the inner workings of our website for a long time. The ecommerce company that has hosted us for over a decade is in bankruptcy and who knows when it will pull the plug for good. Beyond that, we have seen some glitches that slow down the ordering process and frustrate our customers, which usually results in a phone call to the shop to place an order (which kind of defeats the purpose of a website, doesn't it)? But building a website is a daunting task. I hired some experts because the subject matter...

I made a little phone video that shows our process for deciding on new coffees to offer.