How it all started...The METAD coffee groups origin story begins with Muluemebet Emiru, the first female pilot in Africa during WWII. After WWII the Ethiopian Emperor awarded her with farmlands lush with wild coffee trees, in the Harrar and Sidamo regions of Ethiopia. She transformed the Harrar farmland into a private coffee estate, thus forging her family's deep connection to the land and the beginning of coffee cultivation that would go on for generations to come. METAD is managed by Aman Adinew who returned to Ethiopia after many years working abroad at the executive level for multiple fortune 500 companies...
Your morning cup of coffee contains myriad amounts of flavor, along with a pretty interesting story from the seed to the bean. Today, Vail Mtn Coffee & Tea Co. is going to walk you through the process of what it takes for that little bean to make its way to your favorite mug. When is a coffee cherry ripe? Harvesting is either done by hand or machine, depending on a farm's size and terrain. But it's not as easy as it may sound- coffee cherries on the same branch ripen at different times, which can make things tricky. All...
Improving Quality: ASPRASAR Colombia Project Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Co. and the coffee growers of Tolima's ASPRASAR association have come to completion on upgrades made to their facility in Colombia. In the past few years the association has made upgrades with the help of donations from VMCT and contributions from the association itself. The growers have dedicated their lives to growing coffee in the same tradition as generations before them. Now, with the help of Vail Mtn Coffee & Tea Co. and their surrounding community, the growers have been able to improve their operation for coffee production and the...
This fresh batch of beans is sourced from the Kenyan open auction system (Nairobi Coffee Exchange), where the quality of the coffee and generally transparent access has been credited for strong prices relative to other coffee regions. Most coffee is grown in the fertile foothills of Mount Kenya. Farmer plots are so small that size is gauged by the number of trees rather than the measurements of the land, which means producers often have more control to strategically pick and deliver only the ripest cherry to their local factory (wet-mill). Factories generally have an abundance of water lending to exquisite...
Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren) is quite the unique oolong. This type of oolong is known for the fuzzy white hairs that run up and down the tea leaf (very few oolong teas have carry the trait of fuzzy white hairs). The body of the leaf is short and fat and is commonly known in Taiwan as Peng Feng Wu Long (fat oolong) or Bai Hao Wu Long (white hair oolong). In the cup, this year's Oriental Beauty Oolong- Fancy Formosa has a lovely caramel sweetness with a long lingering finish. The processing of of these particular tea leaves...
For the consummate tea drinker, oolong teas hold a special place in their heart. While there is great attention given to the processing of all teas, oolongs require the hand of a skilled tea master to fully capture the spectrum of flavors oolong holds. The beauty of oolong, aside from the sweet- savory flavor, is that it falls somewhere between a black and green tea. So, when the afternoon sleepies start to come around and you need a little pick me up that won't keep you up all night, turn oolong. The caffeine content will be lower than black tea...
