Drippers Back In and New Coffees

Happy autumn Thursday.

If you have been patiently waiting for a Beehouse Dripper, be aware that they are back in stock as of yesterday.

Also, there have been a lot of changes to our coffee menu as the seasons change.  Just as we are entering delicious local apple season, we are also entering delicious Central American coffee season.  Like any agricultural product, coffee is only harvested at specific times of the year in particular growing regions and, in turn, each coffee has peak times for consuming.

Here is the new coffee lineup:

Finca Nueva Armenia, Guatemala

Decaf 21st de Septiembre, Zaragoza, Mexico

Gayo, Sumatra

El Puente, Honduras

Finca Mauritania, El Salvador

Thunguri, Kenya

There will be more changes throughout the next few weeks including the famous and delicious Hacienda Esmeralda Special Microlot from Panama and some new Ethiopian coffees.

September Specials

Our September specials debut this afternoon.  It seems that September is the month of layers which does make sense, I suppose.

From Jeremy, we have Cursed Numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42):  Layers of crushed canteloupe, lemon-cinnamon creme fraiche and espresso.

From Grant, White Tiger:  Espresso layered between coconut milk and mango foam, served with candied ginger.

These, as well as the rest of our espresso menu will be made with our new house espresso: Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza from Mococa, Brazil.  Here is a description courtesy of Counter Culture Coffee.

One of the things that inspires us most is when independent minded farmers stand up for flavor and sustainability, in defiance of the agro-industry that threatens to turn everything into inexpensive, commoditized food. Here we have one of those stories.

The country of Brazil is the “big coffee” capital of the world. Producing more coffee than any other country by far, Brazil produces most of its coffee on giant, technified farms producing cheap coffee destined for supermarket cans and generic blends. The farms maximize their output using “conventional” techniques of chemical fertilization, mechanical harvesting, and monoculture. Besides being environmentally unsustainable, those coffees are bland, insipid and tasteless. Not our kind of coffee.

All this makes it all the more heroic when, amidst the biggest coffee economy in the world, a farm dedicates itself to tradition, flavor, and environmentalism. Enter Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza—a farm dedicated to diversity and sustainability in farming. “Fortaleza” refers to strength and power, but can also mean “fortress,” and “Ambiental” means environmental, so the farm’s very name declares its mission as a force of environmental sustainability, and acknowledges the power of nature itself. Under the leadership of Marcos Croce and Silvia Baretta, this farm is a group effort—incorporating vegetable, dairy, honey, and food farming along with community development, education, and simple enjoyment of a beautiful agricultural environment. Ambiental Fortaleza grows its coffee under shade, a very unusual practice in Brazil, but which we recognize as producing particularly flavorful coffee along with the benefits of wildlife preservation, water conservation, and carbon sequestration. Immediately upon meeting Marcos Croce, and hearing him talk passionately about the benefits of shade growing and environmental preservation, we knew this was a very special coffee farm.

And, as we learn over and over again, a healthy, happy, diverse farm will make the most delicious produce. So it is with Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza; the coffees are delicious, sweet, and full of unique Brazilian character. It’s rare to find a Brazilian coffee with this much personality and flavor; it’s no surprise that it comes from this rarest of Brazilian farms. It’s the first Brazilian coffee we’ve ever featured as a Single-Origin Espresso, and we’re so proud to be associated with the farm and to drink this delicious coffee.

Here’s how head roaster Tim Hill likes this coffee: a 1.5 ounce extraction using 19 grams of coffee and water at 198-199 degrees. An extraction time of 27 seconds gave us delectable flavors of roasted nut, a candy-like sweetness, and subtler notes of stone fruit, chocolate, and spice. Brazilian Naturals are often known for their body, and this coffee shows us a deeply creamy, satisfying body.

-Peter

Birthday Weekend

August 29, 2008 was opening day, so to celebrate our first birthday, we are offering some extra goodies this weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)

Birthday Cakes!  Well, actually cupcakes from our friends at Buzz.  We are getting both Vanilla/Vanilla and Red Velvet cupcakes.

Espresso Floats!  Inspired by our good friends at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, we will be offering a yummy scoop of Trickling Springs Creamery Vanilla Ice Cream in a sea of Espresso Aficionado.

Dog Biscuits!  We have a limited supply of free dog biscuits from Buzz for our birthday-celebrating canines.

Thanks, DC, for being so great to us.  It’s been an honor to serve you and we look forward to years and years together.

Travel Mugs!

Yesterday, we received a small order of travel mugs with the Peregrine logo on them.  (Unfortunately, these will be very limited edition as the company is discontinuing this mug design. We’ll be getting more mugs later in the year, though.)

They are $15 and look like this:

Coffee Menu and Weekend Festivities

First off, to celebrate our one-year anniversary, we will have some fine Buzz cupcakes this coming weekend as well as Espresso Floats with Trickling Springs Creamery ice cream.  These will be available Friday-Sunday.  More details to come.

Regarding our coffee menu, it is both an exciting and sad time of the year as new crops come in and old crops depart.  At some point in the next week, we will be saying goodbye to Ethiopia Misty Valley, Rwanda Rusenyi and Papua New Guinea Kuta.  We are still trying to determine exactly what will be taking their places but we know there are plenty of exciting coffee offerings to come in September.  Also, new crop Thunguri from Kenya will be replacing the Ndaroini in the next couple of days.

NewsChannel 8 and August Specials

We were on the news last night!

NewsChannel 8 was doing a story on wifi in cafes and we ended up getting featured during the piece.  That nice macchiato at the beginning was ours as well as the interview with Scott Phelps and, of course, the two lines that Ryan said.  Check it out here.  BTW, we have no immediate plans to change our wireless accessibility, though the time will come when the weekend market hours will require some sort of action.

August Specials are now being served–come get Dessert (Espresso and Pistachio Air paired with Mascarpone and Cranberry) or Vacation (Espresso shaken over ice with Almond-Anise Syrup accompanied with a Calimyrna Fig and Candied Almonds).  These will be available through the rest of the month.

Kojo Nnamdi Show Today!

Happy Wednesday.

If anyone happens to be around a radio or a computer around 1:23 PM today, feel free to tune in to WAMU 88.5 for a discussion with Kojo Nnamdi about specialty coffee featuring Ryan Jensen, owner of Peregrine Espresso.  Also part of the discussion are Ric Rhinehart, Executive Director of the SCAA; Peter Giuliano, Vice-President of the SCAA and Director of Coffee at Counter Culture Coffee; Dale Johnson, Owner of Java Shack in Arlington.  It should be a good time and I’ll be sure to post the link to the archived file when it is posted.

Update:  You can listen to the segment on WAMU’s website.

In other news, Finca Nueva Armenia from Guatemala has taken over as our On Tap coffee and we’ve also added Finca El Puente from Honduras.  So long, La Golondrina and Bwayi–see you next year!

Beehouse Drippers BACK IN!!

We just received a big box full of Beehouse Drippers and have another box arriving early next week.  That should be enough Drippers to increase quality coffee consumption all across the city.  Please be reminded that WE DON’T SHIP and, if you want one, you will have to travel here to purchase it.

See you soon.

July Specials and Jack loves Peregrine

Hi everyone.

July’s specials are here and are being served.

P.Y.T.   Espresso, lemon syrup and a hint of mint shaken with ice, accompanied by a spoonful of cherry vanilla cream.

Billie Jean    Espresso with whipped cream and homemade peach topping, served with a Pollystyle graham cracker.

Also, check out this picture of Hill resident Jack Stofer sporting his Peregrine shirt.  (He’ll grow into it)  We have onesies (12-18 months) and kid tees (size 4T) available.

Some New Things and Some Old Things

We are excited to have some new tarts from our friends at Buzz this week:  Lemon Blueberry with Italian Meringe and Vanilla Rhubarb Almond.  We’ll likely have these for most of July so come and enjoy them.

Also, over the next day or two we are excited to debut the first of the new crop Central American coffees:  Finca Nueva Armenia from Huehuetenango, Guatemala.  Also, July’s specials will be added to the menu tomorrow which I can’t talk much about until they are done.

And a couple of reminders:

Every Friday at 5 pm we hold a free public coffee cupping at Hill’s Kitchen at 713 D St SE (across the Metro Plaza) which typically lasts about an hour.

Also, follow us at twitter as well as our facebook fan page for the latest developments.