Behind the Beans

8th & Roast named Official Coffee Partner of the Tennessee Titans.

It might come as a surprise, but it’s easier than you might think to inspire a blissful coffee shop experience in your own home. You don't have to be a trained barista, and you don’t have to drop $600 on any fancy equipment to fill your kitchen with the soul-nourishing fragrance of rich, freshly brewed coffee every single morning. All you need are two simple upgrades: First, Get Better Beans The perfect cup of coffee starts with a great bean. What we call coffee beans are actually the seeds of a fruit, and like any other fruit, the coffee cherry must be picked at just the right time. One reason single-cup coffee makers struggle to produce great results is because the grounds that end up in those little white pods -- or in the filters -- come from machine-harvested, mass-produced coffee cherries. At 8&R, we source the best beans in the world and roast them by hand. We only work with providers who carefully select and process our beans at just the right time, and we take great care in everything we do so you get the freshest, best tasting coffee possible every day. Second, Get A Burr Grinder Now that you have a bag of hand-selected, aromatic coffee beans, let's transform them into grounds. For a sweet, even, perfectly-balanced cup of coffee, you'll want to get a burr grinder. Burr grinders make it possible to go from a coarse grind for the french press to something very fine for a cup of espresso, along with everything in between. A consistent grind done right before brewing will give you the freshest cup of coffee. For an even flavor profile, your grind must be uniform. This is something a cheap blade grinder can’t do. Remember... Burr > Blade For a closer look at how a burr grinder can take your coffee game to the next level, check out our post about burr grinders here. Ready For A Coffee Upgrade? French Occupation is one of our best sellers. Order now with a special discount delivered via FB Messenger Here

Looking to improve your home coffee brewing set up? The grinder is, hands down, the most important investment you can make. Brewing a good cup of coffee is all about extraction, and the quality of your grind is the key to extracting your coffee evenly. Only 30% of the coffee bean is water soluble, and 20% of those solubles are pleasant tasting. Fortunately, the 10% of less tasty solubles move slowly, and take longer to extract from the bean. The truth is, not all grinders are created equally… and chances are, the one in your kitchen as you read this is a blade grinder. Why is this a problem? It’s pretty simple…. Blade grinders have uneven particle sizes, leading to less tasty coffee. Burr grinders are the key to getting things right with a home coffee setup. With a burr grinder, you can avoid all of this by limiting the amount of time the water has contact with the coffee grounds. It’s the perfect complement to a craft coffee subscription. 4 reasons to take the plunge and buy a burr grinder: 1. Burr grinders create an even particle size for optimal extraction. When you grind coffee using a burr grinder, a small amount of coffee passes between the two burrs where it is crushed and torn into small, uniform particles. The more uniform the particle size of the coffee grounds, the more evenly the water will pass through the coffee bed. 2. Burr grinders allow you to replicate and/or tweak your brew time. If you are using a particular grind setting on your burr grinder, you can make small adjustments to lengthen or shorten your brew time. Blade grinders do not afford this luxury, as they lack consistency from grind to grind. When you grind coffee using a blade, the blade makes contact with the beans over and over again (creating friction and heat), and there is no way to guarantee that your particle size will end up being even. This results in certain parts of the coffee bed extracting earlier than others, and you lose control of your overall brewtime. 3. Brew methods that do not use a paper filter require an extra meticulous approach when grinding. If you use a french press, or have an espresso set up at home, a burr grinder is mandatory for achieving positive results. In the case of the french press, your grind must be very coarse, but also incredibly even since there is no filter to hold back any undesirable solubles. The water is in full contact with the ground coffee for 3 to 4 minutes. If your grind size is not even, or not coarse enough, the water will over-extract the coffee and you will end up with a bitter cup. In the case of espresso, your particle size must be incredibly fine and even to get a proper extraction within the 25-35 second brewtime. Blade grinders cannot achieve the level of precision required to execute either of these brew methods well. 4. The best time to grind your coffee is right before you introduce it to water. If you are trying to achieve a quality cup of coffee at home, your best bet is to grind your coffee right before you brew it. A single coffee bean contains about 4.5 million cells. When you destroy the structure of the coffee bean, all of the delicious solubles are released from those cells, and if you don’t extract them immediately, they will quickly degrade after being exposed to oxygen. Blade grinders might be cheap, but they should be reserved for use as a spice mill (or something unrelated to coffee). Unless you like the taste of cheap coffee, it pays to invest in a burr grinder. My home coffee setup includes the Handground hand grinder. I am able to grind about 50 grams of coffee in the time it takes my electric kettle to heat up! They retail for $80, which is still $40 cheaper than the entry level automatic burr grinders on the market, and it produces a higher quality grind. I would highly recommend picking one of these up if you’re looking for a practical and economic solution to your home coffee setup. If you’re preparing to make the jump to a burr grinder, you will notice an immediate spike in the quality of your coffee at home.

  Washed coffees dry on raised beds at the Hacienda La Minita Microlot facility in Tarrazú, Costa Rica We were excited to feature two brand new coffees in-store in November from our friends in Tarrazú, Costa Rica, Hacienda La Minita. The drop offering was La Minita Gloxinia: an anaerobically-fermented washed process coffee that features a similar profile to our Costa Rica Santa Maria, but with the volume turned up!This fermentation delivers a coffee that's richer, fruiter, and just overall a little more expressive than its more traditional counterpart. In the cup, we're tasting hazelnut cinnamon roll, raspberry fudge and baker's chocolate.This coffee is unfortunately no long available, but we’ll be traveling to Costa Rica soon to bring more unique coffees back! More details for the nerds🤓This coffee is grown on the estate's main lot—near the guesthouse where our team had the chance to stay earlier this year—and at an elevation of 5700 feet above sea level. The lot is also comprised of a Hibrido Tico varietal which is a hybrid of bourbon endemic to Costa Rica.After harvest, the coffee undergoes a 72-hour anaerobic fermentation in tanks—which has a hand in enhancing the natural flavors of this amazing coffee.  After removal from the anaerobic tanks, the coffee is washed and dried on screen-covered raised beds, which are carefully monitored for moisture content over the course of 20 days or so.

We’ve been on the lookout for an amazing Rwandan coffee for a while now—so we were so excited to connect with Kenny Ntwali of Higa Coffee at a chance meeting at our Charlotte Ave location earlier this year. Kenny, who is from Rwanda, studied in the US and now splits his time between the two countries, sourcing amazing coffees from East Africa and helping roasters like us build long-term partnerships with producers in the region. This is our first-ever Rwandan coffee, and we are honored to be able to share it with our customers! In the cup, you'll find notes of grapefruit, pomegranate, apricot, and candied pecan. It's a delicious and totally unique coffee, and it will only be around for a limited time! You can buy a bag online today, or visit one of our streetside locations and try it on drip or manual brew! To learn more about the Vunga Cooperative from our import partner, Higa Coffee: Vunga sits near the borders of Uganda to the North and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the West. This tiny station is located between the steep hills of Nyabihu District. Vunga is a woman-owned and managed washing station. It is managed by Daphrose Uwimana, who has created a close-knit community and mentors a group of women farmers that produces special women-grown lots. Daphrose founded the cooperative in 2009 and is the driving force behind the exceptional coffee coming out of this station. Daphrose saw a growing challenge for the station. Youth were not interested in becoming coffee farmers. In an effort to keep the tradition alive, Daphrose invested the money she made from coffee to purchase land with the plan to teach youth in her community about coffee farming. She hopes to inspire youth to enter the coffee sector and continue growing world-class specialty coffee. To see a video from the co-op, click here!

Costa Rican coffee is good, like really good—From the beginning, 8th & Roast has worked hard to have delicious and dynamic Costa Rican coffees available for our customers, and last year, we kicked it up a notch with the help of some amazing producers and import partners! In May 2022, we began working with Hacienda La Minita to bring in some really special coffees from the Tarrazu region. The first one we released was Santa Maria de Dota—a washed process coffee from several smallholder farmers in the Santa Maria de Dota region.When we first cupped this coffee a year ago, we knew immediately that we had to buy as much as we could of it—and this year, we bought even more! It's an incredibly versatile coffee that stands well on its own and adds something special to any blend we bring it to!Because it was received so well, we knew we had to go down and visit. Being on the ground in-country helps us get a better idea of not only where our coffee comes from, but how it is processed and the care that goes into it before it is shipped to us in Nashville. With that in mind, we packed our bags in February and traveled to Costa Rica to meet the amazing folks behind the coffee we buy. Our trip started with a drive from Juan Santamaria International Airport out of San Jose and then through miles of twisty mountainous roads outside the capital city. After a couple of hours, we arrived at the farm’s guesthouse and prepared to head to the Santa Maria de Dota area. The coffee we buy from this area is made up of coffee from several smallholder farmers, who bring their harvested ripe cherries to collection points set up in the area by Hacienda La Minita. After the cherries are unloaded, they are weighed and the farmers are paid on the spot for their coffee.One of the farmers that contributes to this lot is Don Rafa, a smallholder coffee producer who, along with his brothers, owns a farm on an especially hilly mountainside in the community of Canet. With the help of hired seasonal harvesters who pick the coffee at exactly the right time, Don Rafa is able to sell his coffee to La Minita at a premium, which processes them into the green coffee we buy and roast for our customers. We were fortunate to meet with him and so many amazing people behind the coffees from Hacienda La Minita. One of the highlights of this trip (and any origin trip) was sharing a bag of roasted 8th & Roast coffee with the farmer who grew it! Coffee producers rarely get to see the end result of their labor, so we always make sure to bring samples of the roasted coffee for our new coffee friends.Currently, we feature this coffee in our French New Wave and our Cold Brew Blend, in addition to serving it as a delicious single-origin. We’re also excited to announce that in addition to fresh crop Santa Maria, we’ll be releasing several outstanding coffees from Hacienda La Minita this year, including some really interesting alternative processes and an incredible washed Villa Sarchi micro lot! In the gallery below, you can see photos from our time in Costa Rica, from the coffee farms, to the mills where the coffees is processed and eventually bagged before shipment.   

We've talked about a lot of coffees from one particular farm in Guatemala this past year—Finca Concepción Buena Vista—and for good reason. The coffees have been absolutely stellar, and we've loved sharing all of them with our retail and wholesale customers! We’re busy cupping through the fresh 2023 harvest samples that will be available later this year, but until then, we’ve saved the best of the 2022 harvest for last. This unique coffee is an amazing nitro-lactic macerated natural-processed coffee that took 3rd place in the 2022 Guatemala One of a Kind Auction put on by Anacafé and The Alliance for Coffee Excellence. We were lucky to be able to secure a large portion of the auction lot through our friends at Co-Trade Imports, who have helped us bring in all of our coffee from San Martín Jilotepeque for the past two seasons.  This coffee used for this microlot—called San Joaquín—is a drought and leaf rust-resistant Anacafe 14 varietal, and was grown at 1800 meters above sea level. After picking, the coffee was macerated with nitrogen for 48 hours in an aluminum tank with 1.5 bars of pressure and a 5% concentration of lactic bacteria.After removal from the tank, the coffee was carefully dried on raised beds in the greenhouse at the farm for 20 days. The resulting cup is incredibly complex and creamy—we taste cherry, bubblegum, turbinado sugar, & even pineapple juice! If you haven’t had a chance to try our final release from the 2022 harvest, now is the time! It's available until the end of the month in 8 oz. retail bags to take with you, or on drip and manual brew at both of our shops. (Limited online sales coming next week too!)

David checks on the freshly drying natural process coffees on the farm’s raised beds. Our partnership with Finca Concepción Buena Vista in Guatemala grew this past year, and we really were excited to share several of the Solano family’s amazing 2022 offerings with our customers. We have two final releases from this harvest before the 2023 coffees arrive this spring, and they are wild! First up is the Buena Vista Sous Vide! Last year, fourth-generation coffee farmer (and 2-time World Barista Championship competitor!) David Solano from Finca Concepcion Buena Vista told us about a brand-new way of processing coffee that he and his brother Eddy were working on. Cupping the sous vide for the first time with David in Feb. 2022. When we visited last February, we cupped this experimental “sous vide” processed coffee, and we were absolutely blown away. We bought one of the two bags available from this micro lot and have been excited since it arrived late last year to be able to share it with the 8th & Roast family. David can explain better than us: instagram.com/reel/CnxSWioo3cb The coffee undergoes anaerobic fermentation in sealed bags submerged in a controlled temperature environment for 4 days. Following this fermentation, the cherries are spread on raised beds in the open air to dry for 21 days. This process was pioneered by the Solano brothers at their farm in San Martín Jilotepeque, and is the first known use of this process for green coffee. To read more about our relationship with the Solano family, click here. To buy more coffee from this farm, you can try their washed processed yellow bourbon here, and their natural processed red bourbon here. To learn about our sourcing and transparency goals, click here. You can try this amazing coffee for the next two weeks at our streetside locations, and limited quantities of 8oz. bags are available online until this amazing coffee is sold out! The Solano family. From left, Don Bernardo, David, Eddy, and Adriana.

I’ve always cared about the people I work with a LOT, and back when the pandemic happened, I started to feel the need to ask our team this question more than ever.  It’s so important to show how much you care for the people you employ, the people you are responsible for, and the people you love. Remember, we as leaders cannot assume that everything is ok.  We cannot assume when a team member clocks in for work, that individual is ready to give it one hundred percent. It’s our responsibility to communicate with them, to check in, to make sure they feel supported.  So one of the things me and my two brothers, Ed and Sam, decided at the beginning of this pandemic, was to remain consistent in showing our appreciation.  Although it sounds simple, we felt it was something we needed to show more through our actions than our words. Simple, yes… but not always easy. One of the first actions we took was setting forth clear expectations by conducting one on one coaching sessions with our employees. These coaching sessions helped us identify key team members looking for growth within our company. Empowering them to reach those goals is part of our mission and our culture. These conversations have also helped us get to know our team on a more personal level, and has even led to breakthroughs for some in their personal life.  Being consistent has been an essential ingredient in the growth of 8th & Roast. We love doing things like treating our team members to lunch for a job well done, partnering with a local Yoga studio for a team building yoga class, getting cupcakes in recognition of a barista’s birthday, sending key team members on specialty coffee conference trips for coffee education or random gift card giveaways in recognition of excellence.  The result of our consistent efforts to support our team in all areas, professional and personal, is a major part of our success because investing in people, and truly caring about them, creates a consistent and vibrant culture with a real mission. This in turn leads to consistency in other areas, because we’re all showing up in a more elevated manner. This is the “secret” to the consistency of our product.  Always asking “How Is Everyone Doing?” means we simply care and as a result, our team cares! “Good morning!” my mother would say.   When she walked in the kitchen she would ask, “How Is Everyone Doing?” It seems like coffee has always been lingering in the shadows of significant moments, essential conversations, and the drink of choice when brainstorming through the creative process.  I can still see myself as a kid growing up in Memphis, watching my mom take that first sip or my grandfather brewing that first pot on this old coffee maker that seemed to last for decades. That aroma that traveled through the entire house, I can still smell it. That smell of chocolate and apricots, in its own way, was some sort of an alarm for me to start thinking about my day as I prepared for school.  “Good morning!” my mother would say when she walked in the kitchen she would ask, “How Is Everyone Doing?”  My mother’s care was always consistent and as a result, I wanted to attack the day with my best effort.  8th & Roast has made a concentrated effort recently developing partnerships via wholesale coffee. We feel our product has a unique quality that exhibits the diversity of coffee through our global relationships with farmers. A great way to grow our business is to partner with restaurants, hotels, and other small businesses. “Sourced Globally, Roasted Locally” is our slogan, but if you dive into this much deeper, that first sip of coffee from us is all about a feeling of appreciation.  Let me explain….. We recently did a cupping class with one of our wholesale clients. Cupping classes are cool because it not only gives the customer the opportunity to curate their own coffee profile, but it gives the 8th & Roast team the opportunity to really connect with our customers.  Ben Cureton, who is the Head of Our Training and Quality control, started the class off with the first question, “How Is Everyone Doing?” I stood to the side and smiled. I knew at that very moment how much he cares, not only for his job but all that encompasses within the responsibility of his job including the care for our customers.  As clients began to take their first sip of coffee, you could tell by the look in their eyes, they knew we are passionate about what we do and we were all in the presence of gratitude. Just like back home in Memphis, the aroma, the atmosphere, and the culture around coffee all comes down to creating a beautiful moment… and doing it consistently.  Finally, I wanted to share one more story. I am a huge fan of supporting other local small businesses in the Nashville community.  A few weeks ago, en route to a brainstorming meeting, I decided to grab a couple of breakfast tacos at this local taco shop a few miles from our flagship store on 8th avenue. I admittedly was dragging along that day and needed some food to boost my energy. The night before, I stayed up way past my bedtime reading a novel by Bob Spitz. This novel is the story of one of the greatest Rock & Roll bands of all time, Led Zeppelin.  I have grown over the years to really appreciate the body of work of Led Zeppelin, before I met Sam Reed, my business partner, in the early days of our teenage years, I only listened to classic soul, hip hop and R&B. Sam made a concerted effort to include Led Zeppelin in the soundtrack of our high school years. If we were in a car, a local café eating breakfast and sipping a cup of coffee (yes we drank coffee in high school), or hanging out at a friend’s house, Sam would find a way to include Zeppelin in our rotation.  As I approached the counter at this local taco shop, I ordered two bacon and egg tacos to go. As I began to pay, I looked to my left and saw Robert Plant sitting at a table with friends drinking a cup of coffee.  I was completely in awe.  How could this be?! All the memories of my teenage years, riding around with my best friend with Houses of The Holy playing in the background, and the night before I’m literally reading about the early years of Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant is now 10 steps away from me!  I decided to approach his table. As I walked up, Mr.Plant took a sip of his coffee and looked up at me. I asked, “How Is Everyone Doing?”  For the next minute, I told everyone at the table how grateful I was for his work including his later music with Alison Krauss. He graciously said thank you, and shook my hand. And after so many years, decades, of being in the public eye, he actually showed gratitude and caring to me, a person he had never met before, among countless millions of people who absolutely cherish his musical gifts.  This is what it’s all about: creating a culture of gratitude and appreciation, with every person you run across.  I got in my truck that day, with my breakfast tacos, and drove to work, feeling great. And I couldn’t help but wonder if Robert Plant had milk in his coffee… Q-Juan Taylor of 8th and Roast

Eddy and David Solano, fourth-generation coffee farmers on their family’s Finca Concepción Buena Vista in San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Excellent Coffee is about Great relationships. Great relationships throughout the supply chain are the foundation 8th & Roast is built on. Relationships with coffee producers and importers, and with our amazing wholesale coffee partners and customers, are the reason why we are able to do what we do. Today we’re highlighting one of the relationships we’re proudest of! Our partners and friends at Finca Concepción Buena Vista in San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala produce amazing coffees that we’ve been proud to share with our customers since late last year, and we’re excited to bring in even more of their delicious coffee for 2022. Situated at 5700 feet above sea level, Concepción Buena Vista is home to a unique microclimate. Guatemalan Coffee Is Known For Excellence Guatemala is known the world round for its fine coffees, and there’s no shortage of farms and producers that we could work with to share them with you. For several years, we’ve proudly featured excellent coffees from farms across Guatemala. Along the way, we have searched for ways to buy coffee in a more transparent and direct way. This “relationship coffee” from our friends at Finca Concepción Buena Vista helped set the tone for this model for 8th & Roast going forward, and we’re excited to tell you more about it! A Yellow Bourbon varietal grows at Finca Concepcion Buena Vista. You can buy this coffee here. Finding The best guatemalan coffee Beans San Martin Jilotepeque is a small community in the Guatemalan state of Chimaltenango, about 2 hours from the old colonial city of Antigua. Although it may be a lesser-known growing area, the coffees from Concepción Buena Vista benefit from a unique microclimate and topography that produces amazing sweetness and floral notes, with a good dose of the chocolatiness that Guatemalan coffees are known for. Washed process coffees drying on patios at Concepcion Buena Vista. Working directly with Family owned coffee farms Finca Concepcion Buena Vista has been in the Solano family for more than 150 years. Fourth-generation coffee farmers David and his brother Eddy have become more and more involved in the family business over the last several years, learning everything they could from their father Don Bernardo, and working to add capacity and implement new processing methods to create even more interesting and delicious coffees. The Solano family has made a large investment in their processing capabilities this year with the construction of their new on-site wet mill, which will be operational for the 2022–2023 harvest season. The Solano family has made a large investment in their processing capabilities this year with the construction of their new on-site wet mill, which will be operational for the 2022–2023 harvest season. Guatemalan Coffee Farmers THAT Support Their Community In addition to improving the quality of the coffees produced at the farm each year, huge investments have been made in the surrounding community — many of whose members work seasonally or year-round at the farm. Community improvement projects have included providing health care access on the farm to seasonal and full-time workers, housing, and an elementary school — all located within the farm’s boundaries. Natural and honey-process coffees dry in the the farm’s greenhouse. The raised beds of coffees Natural and honey-process coffees dry in the the farm’s greenhouse. The raised beds of coffees How 8th and Roast Ended Up In Guatemala Our first samples from the farm came almost by accident on a trip to Guatemala right before Covid-19 locked down the world. Our green coffee buyer visited David at their family’s coffee shop in Guatemala City, and brought back small samples of two lots of coffee to sample roast. After we tried them, we knew we had to find a way to work with the Solano family in the future. 8&R’s green coffee buyer Max chats with Eddy and David during a trip in February of 2022. That opportunity came last year when we secured a large amount of their Yellow Bourbon varietal that we currently sell and continued this year — after visiting the farm in February 2022 — we doubled our commitment and will be bringing in in the Yellow Bourbon washed process, and two other really special coffees that will be released later this year. Ground samples ready for cupping at the farm in February 2022. For a small, local coffee company, sourcing coffees directly from producers can be difficult, if not out of the question entirely. It’s often prohibitively expensive, and most small companies source their coffee exclusively through large importers. David preparing samples of the 2022 harvest for cupping at the farm. Sourced Globally Roasted Locally For the coffee from Finca Concepcion Buena Vista, we’re very happy to have been able to work directly with David and his family on pricing for these coffees, and with our friend Joel from Co-Trade Imports in Knoxville to import the green coffee to our roastery in Nashville. To us, this is what “relationship coffee” is all about… with global relationships in place, and at the same time, a local roastery. From their family to ours, and from our family to yours. To buy coffee from the Solano family’s Guatemala coffee farm, click here. If you’re a hotel, restaurant, coffee shop, recording studio, office, or any kind of business that offers coffee to your guests, check out our wholesale program by filling out the form for Wholesale Coffee Beans to get started.

The quality of your coffee matters. It's true for cafes, restaurants, hotels, and event centers—and it matters in offices too! We've all experienced the bitter disappointment that's served up alongside a weak cup of stale, lukewarm coffee in any of these places. Serving bad coffee like this can be a huge problem for your business, and leave a (literal) bad taste in your customer's mouths. But before you panic and order your own home coffee roaster on Amazon—there's an easier solution to providing amazingly fresh, ethically sourced, and delicious coffee to your customers! The friendly wholesale coffee folks at 8th & Roast are here to help you avoid this problem. So what’s the next step? What do you look for in a wholesale coffee partner? Keep reading to hear more about how 8th & Roast can help! Keep Your Customer In Mind You know your customer better than anyone. Whether you've been in business for years, or you've spent years planning and you're now ready to open—providing your customers with the best experience is why you're in business in the first place. When it comes to coffee, like everything else, you have to consider them first.  We love working with our partners across industries to make their coffee dreams come true! Maybe you're a new high-end cafe, with a discerning customer base who demands a variety of milk options—we can help with those! Or perhaps you’re in an office space full of coffee connoisseurs who prefer fruit-forward natural process coffees alongside a pourover bar setup—we can help set that up! You might even be a hotel or restaurant looking for a custom house blend that will sell cup after cup and works for a broad intersection of customer palettes—we will work with you to find the perfect coffee! Does Your Wholesale Coffee Partner Roast to Order?  At 8th & Roast, we plan our roasting production schedule around our customers' coffee needs. You can rest assured knowing that we're doing the hard work behind the scenes to provide you and your customers with the freshest possible coffee every time you order! Each coffee has its own window for ideal consumption - that might be a few days or two weeks off-roast depending on the preparation method, and we can help make sure you are serving coffee to your customers at its peak freshness! What Should You Look For In a Wholesale Coffee Partner? First, and most importantly, it should be a partnership. If your current coffee supplier dumps a bag of beans at your door and says “Good luck!”, chances are they probably aren’t the best fit for you. A good wholesale coffee partner provides an excellent product and will also be with you every step of the way. From selecting equipment to staff training to making sure the product is presented as the best it can be at all times—a great wholesale coffee supplier will care about you and the coffee you serve your customers. At 8th & Roast, we sweat all the small details, so you don't have to! What Should Event Organizers, Hotels, Office Managers, and Coffee Shops Look For in a Wholesale Coffee Partner? A good wholesale coffee partner will have a broad selection of excellent coffees to choose from to best fit your customers' needs. Whether you're hosting an event, managing an office or hotel, or running a local coffee shop, you'll need to please a broad range of taste buds. Partnering with a roasting partner that has a good variety of featured coffees means you can present several high-quality options to your customers. At 8th & Roast, we bring this attention to detail and variety to each of our wholesale relationships and help you surpass your customers' expectations every time they have a cup of your coffee. What Should A Coffee Wholesaler Be Able To Help With? A good wholesale coffee partner exists to help make your life easier. At 8th & Roast, we are here to help! You'll benefit from the years of experience our team has in all areas of specialty coffee. From managing inventory and bean freshness to staff training and equipment selection, we've got you covered! To us, it doesn't matter if you are a brand-new business or if you've been around for years and are looking to make a change in your coffee program—we look forward to being your partner throughout your coffee journey! We know you can get coffee almost anywhere, but great coffee and great customer service can be hard to find. If you like what you've read here, and would like to chat about coffee, equipment, training, or anything else, please reach out! We're here for YOU. To learn more about our coffee program, click HERE.

This is the first blog in a series highlighting some of the coffee producers whose amazing coffee is featured on our shelves. At 8th & Roast, we're working to create long-term ethical and fair partnerships with coffee producers around the world. When we aren't able to work directly with farmers, we rely on a select few green coffee importers to help us bring amazing coffees into the country and onto our shelves.One of these special coffees is from Finca Medina (finca is the Spanish word for farm) in Antigua, Guatemala. The farm, which sits in the shadows of several volcanoes at nearly 4600 feet above sea level, has been producing coffee since 1842. The Finca Medina staff employ modern processing and quality control technology to ensure the best cup possible across every lot of coffee they produce. We're thankful to partner with Balzac Brothers, an importer of sustainable specialty coffee in Charleston, South Carolina, to bring this intensely fruit-forward coffee to you each year!In addition to their amazing coffee, we love Finca Medina's commitment to the welfare of their staff, which includes 30 full-time employees and grows by 200 during the harvest season. Their social responsibility programs fund education, healthcare, community service projects, and community housing.   Focus on Education Finca Medina awards educational scholarships to students in their community, which includes purchasing necessary school supplies and covering tuition fees for the children. Environmental Stewardship Every waste product that comes from processing is recovered and sent to a specific area where it is turned into usable compost. The wastes and other byproducts are used as organic fertilizer for the farm's coffee shrubs.

Coffee… where would we be without it? It may be hard to imagine, but there was a time when coffee was barely with us -  let alone our favorite spot to sit and sip it. This got us thinking...how did they come about? And when? And why? Here we’ll explore the origins of coffee houses and their evolution up through today.   1400’s - 1600’s: New Beginnings Percolate Although the origins are murky, and coffee was around for a bit longer, records of the first coffee shop indicate it started around 1475 in Istanbul (previously Constantinople - cue They Might Be Giants). Far from the fancy stuff we drink today, this was simple - unflavored, black and very strong. The wildly popular drink was even feared for a time by imams, who issued a decree banning coffee houses for about twelve years. The issue, apparently, was that coffee houses were becoming a hotbed for political thought - thought that some saw as a threat to the current rule. The ban was eventually lifted and coffee gained such cultural acceptance that it was apparently legal for a woman to divorce her husband on the grounds of not providing her with coffee!  By the mid 1600’s, England had opened up its trade route. Queen Elizabeth I opened up her country diplomatically to the Turkish and Ottoman empire. Aside from being a savvy political move, this brought in some new perks… like tea and chocolate. And, of course, coffee. Soon after, coffee shops started popping up around England. One of the first was called “The Turk’s Head”, founded by Pasqua Rosee. The shop still stands today and, in fact, still serves coffee (although called “The Jamaica Wine House” and obviously under different management”)! The first official coffee house - by some accounts, anyway - was called “The Angel” and founded in Oxford. “The Turk’s Head”, however, had smarter marketing - they distributed flyers introducing the English populace to this strange new drink, and colorfully describing its benefits. In an ironic twist, the founder’s house is now a Starbucks.    1700’s -1800’s: Grounds for  Free Thought And Revolution  So what were coffee houses like back then? Turns out, they were pretty similar to what we know of today - at least to a point. Think of them like a tavern, but for business - lots and lots of business was conducted over a hot cup of joe at coffee houses (minus the free wifi) In fact, Lloyd’s of London, a famous British insurance company, essentially started out of a coffee house. Jonathan’s Coffee House - run by proprietor John Castaing - was deeply involved in trading stocks and is the earliest recorded establishment that bought and sold securities in London.  Many coffee houses were special salons  - not in the get-your-hair-did, get-your-nails-did sense, but in the older meaning of the word. They were a meeting of minds - hot topics of the day were discussed, and sometimes revolutions were fomented. The famous Cafe de Procope was one such place - a haven for intellectuals, authors, and other artists of the day. All the people most despondent over the state of things could rub elbows with the likes of Robispierre, Marat, and even Napoleon. It is said that in his early days, the future Emperor would play chess in the corner all day - sipping on coffee. He even once forgot his money at home and had to leave his hat as collateral for his bill.  This coffee house (as well as others that cropped up across the country) was a hotbeds of political intrigue, spies, and revolutionary plots - just a bit more interesting than your average Dunkin’ Donuts.  Coffee has its place in American history too. Have you ever wondered how America - a former British colony - came to prefer coffee? As you might expect, it’s rooted in politics. Shortly after the Boston Tea Party - where American revolutionaries chucked a fortune in tea into Boston Harbor - Americans almost completely switched to coffee. While England couldn’t conceive of American’s going without tea, America - in part out of patriotism, and in part to thumb its nose at the monarchy - stubbornly decided it liked coffee way better. Similar to their French counterparts, American coffee houses became fertile ground for political planning and discussion - the Continental Congress even met in one regularly.    1900’s - Today: Innovations Fueled by Caffeine  Interest in coffee - as well as innovations - boomed into the early twentieth century. Self serving espresso machines were invented in 1901 by Italian inventor Luigi Bezerra, who noted how much more productive workers were after coffee. Other innovations - including decaf, instant coffee, and the first drip coffee maker would all be well in the public eye by the first decade of the new century. Coffee imports spiked during prohibition, and demand just kept growing. Even hundreds of years later, coffee shops were still inspiring new generations to challenge cultural norms. The Beat generation of poets in the 50’s were well known to congregate in in various corners where coffee was poured. In fact, it is said that Caffee Reggio in New York was a favorite spot of Ginsberg and Kerouac - and one of the first places in America to serve cappuccinos.  Just like McDonald’s did for the burger, though, coffee went corporate toward the later end of the twentieth century. Places like Starbucks began to pop up every block (sometimes twice in the same block). On the upside, there are now coffee shops (usually several) a stones throw from anywhere in America - further cementing the place of coffee shops into our lives. Still, things are changing again. More and more we are seeing a drive toward more homegrown, independent coffee shops. Discerning customers seek the small batch, artisan style coffee that stands in stark contrast to the bland, mass produced beverages chains often produce.  Regardless of all these changes, the role of coffee shops has remained surprisingly consistent. More than a place to grab your favorite drink, it’s somewhere to sit and relax. Or work on your laptop. Or catch up with the latest political news on your phone. Or delve into deep philosophical discussions with friends and colleagues. Or maybe start the next big revolution. 

Seven tips for amazing coffee at home There’s making coffee at home...and then there’s home brewing. As any coffee aficionado knows, there is a whole world of difference between putting a pod in a Keurig and going through the rewarding (and delicious!) process of brewing your own.  Not everybody hits it out of the park the first time though, so we asked our resident coffee ninja masters to come up with a few tips and tricks to help the folks at home get the best out of their home brew setups. 1. Start with the right roast To really kick your brewing into high gear, you need to start off with the right ingredients - a key one being superior coffee. Sure, you can go to the supermarket and just buy whatever is on sale. But there is a world of difference between bargain brand and something hand selected and crafted by artisans. It might cost a little bit more, but if you’re going to all the trouble of elevating your coffee time, it’s worth it. 2. Brew at the ideal temperature Beans plus hot water equals coffee, right?  Yes...and no.  Technically speaking, that equation is correct. But coffee aficionados over the years have discovered that if the water is too cold the coffee doesn’t release it’s full flavor - a lot of times this contributes to “weak” coffee. Too hot, and you actually burn the beans, making your coffee bitter and gross tasting.   Fortunately, you don’t need to do a lot of scientific calculations - the exact number you’re looking for is 205 degrees. You can use an old school thermometer or electric kettle to help you achieve the perfect water temperature for your coffee. 3. Get consistent grounds You trust your grinder implicitly, right?  Even the best appliance is going to wear out over time. And even at their peak they may not grind perfectly one hundred percent of the time.  What’s the big deal with inconsistent grounds? Well, for one thing, different size grounds are going to release flavors differently - this gives your coffee an inconsistent flavor. This is where a burr grinder comes in. Burr grinders help make sure that luxurious coffee you took the time to grind comes out perfect. If you’re looking for a place to start, check out our deep dive into burr grinders HERE.  4. Use the right water Using plain old tap water might be the easiest thing, but isn’t always the best. You might like the taste of your water right from the spigot - and if you do, that’s great. But a lot of chemicals can be added (including chlorine) that can negatively impact the taste of your coffee.  If you find your coffee tasting weird, tap water might just be the reason why.  There are other factors as well. If water doesn’t have enough minerals in it, (example: distilled water), it’s considered “soft” and  you might find the coffee coming out pretty flavorless. Water with a lot of minerals in it - like high levels of calcium and magnesium - is considered “hard”.  Different beans respond better to different types of water, too. Some are perfect for hard water, and sometimes soft water helps the flavor to shine. You can do the legwork yourself to find out what kind of water you have - calling your local water authority is a good start.  5. Store your coffee properly The freshness factor has, at times, taken on an almost religious character, but there’s truth in it: air, light, and heat all act on coffee beans in different ways, changing the flavor and quickening their demise.  That said, it’s good to keep things simple. You don’t have to store your beans in a doomsday bunker, liquid nitrogen freezer, in amber colored glass canisters, to follow some best practices. In fact, putting coffee in the freezer can cause the beans to crack, and can lead to condensation on the beans after you take them out, damaging the aroma and structure.  If you keep your beans in airtight containers, out of direct sunlight, you should be fine. And remember, it takes about a week after the roast date for most of the C02 to be released (that’s why our bags have a little hole in them) and the flavor evolves over that time (Darwin was right!) 6. Let the coffee speak for itself Of course there’s nothing wrong with sugar and cream, after all we have flavored drinks in our brick and mortar shops and Nashville airport locations, and we go way beyond milk and sugar… you can get an Oat Milk Lavender Latte at 8&R… but there’s also something special about letting the coffee speak for itself.  Remember, these beans have traveled half-way around the world to get into our roaster and eventually fill your cup with incredibly unique, distinct flavors and aromas… each roast has a story to tell.  So even if you like cream and sugar, let yourself experience the roast you’ve brewed on its own first, just for a second. You might just notice some subtle details that weren’t detectable before.  7. Try out different brew methods Auto-drip coffee makers have been a fixture of modern life for decades, but there’s other options: for a classic experience, try a French press or Chemex. What you sacrifice in terms of convenience is more than made up for in the experience of great specialty coffee made with intention.  Two other options to try are the Kalita Wave and the Clever Brewer, both slightly different ways of getting a great pour over. There’s a lot that goes into a great cup of coffee - time, energy, and yes...expertise. Whether your own or that of a trusted roaster like 8&R, the care and consideration that goes into specialty coffee is a world unto itself… a world you can step into every morning, in your own kitchen.  Don’t know where to start? Get on the “Roaster’s Choice” subscription HERE and we’ll send you a different roast each time!

Many non coffee drinkers (I know right, who knew they existed?) - claim they simply dislike the taste of coffee. Possibly because they tried something bitter or bland, they wrote coffee off altogether – not realizing the wide array of flavors and tasting notes great coffee can have. And yes – it can even be fruity. Enter Shakiso – often referred to as a “fruit bomb” because of it's combination of bold, fruity flavors (and no, that's not a reference to anything unsavory). Shakiso hails from Ethiopia – largely considered to be the birthplace of coffee and still home to some of the best and most unique coffees in the world. Ethiopia is home to a few different types of coffee, each with their own unique taste. For instance, the Harar region has a decidedly mocha hint to it while Sidamo has more of a citrusy bent. Generally, though, the coffees in this area of the world are light and fruity, perhaps even floral, and often possess some complex tasting notes. The way it's processed can even change its flavor profile – for instance, wet processed coffee tends to be lighter and almost even tea-like (think lemon grass), while naturally processed coffee tends to be more fruity.  Ethiopians take their coffee very seriously - it is, after all, how the country makes 60% of it's money. But it isn't just a business to them – it's a culture. While here in America it's not uncommon to sip a tall latte alone, sipping is a communal activity in Ethiopia. Entire families and even villages come together and connect over a pot of coffee. Perhaps it’s because Ethiopia is the only place in the world where coffee grows wild, or perhaps it’s their reverence for coffee in their culture. Either way, Shakiso is a unique, flavorful brew not to be missed – even by those who might otherwise not like coffee! Ready to explore Shakiso alongside our other roasts? Click Here to see the selection and get a special discount via FB Messenger!Also, special thanks to our friends over at Homegrounds.co for the very informative article on Ethiopian coffee!

Roasters love high elevation coffee because there's way more flavor potential, let me explain. When coffee is grown at a higher elevation, the plant matures more slowly. So if you know about plants, you know about chlorophyll and that plants use sunlight to feed themselves, that's... How cool is that? Anyways, when the plant has direct sunlight kept off of it, the coffee cherries are given a lot more time to ripen, and in the meantime the coffee plant is fortifying its seeds with food for really, really healthy seeds. When the seeds are fortified by the plants they end up packed full of sucrose and simple sugars and the flavor potential is leaps and bounds beyond something that was grown on a flat surface, low elevation, in the sun. As a roaster, it’s super exciting to get a new bag of coffee and immediately know, "Oh it was grown way up high." When the green coffee goes into the roaster it doubles or triples in size but loses about 15% of its weight. The roasting process also creates over 800 compounds, just based on what was there in that green coffee to begin with. The roaster’s goal is to bring the flavor out, rather than incinerate it. A lot of times cheaper coffee that doesn't have exciting flavor will be roasted super dark because people are trying to mask some of the imperfections. You don't really want to let all the characteristics of cheaper coffee come out because they're not all good. It's kind of the same as getting a cheap cut of meat, cooking all the flavor out, and dousing it in ketchup. High elevation coffee is like a filet mignon, so don’t overcook it, and hold the ketchup! Every type of coffee has something it does really well. High elevation coffee is something special that needs to be savored. For an example of high elevation coffee, check out our Ethiopian Shakiso.

We've been hard at work in the first few months of the year, visiting farm partners across Central America, catching up with our friends, and making new ones along the way! Our first trip of the season was to Costa Rica, where we work with Hacienda La Minita to bring you amazing coffees from the Tarrazú region. The coffees we tasted this year were excellent, and the first ones from the 2024 harvest will be arriving at our roastery this month! This is our third year working with Hacienda La Minita, and our biggest by far! We bought our first full container of coffee from them this year—nearly 40,000 pounds of it. Our Santa Maria de Dota coffee is a community blend produced by 14 incredible farmers in the Dota area with post-harvest processing by Hacienda La Minita's state-of-the-art mill on the Tarrazú river.  Thanks to the amazing team at Hacienda La Minita, we were able to purchase this coffee exclusively from one community receiving station (recibidor), and pay a premium per-pound price to the people whose coffee makes up this lot. One of the farmers we had the chance to spend time with was Javier Umaña, who owns a beautiful farm in the community of Canet. Several members of Javier's family own parcels of farmland nearby—the land, which was used for cattle for years before coffee was planted, was divided amongst family members over the years. We met Javier's uncle, Don Rafa, last year on our first trip to the area, and were excited to visit this special area again. Javier's farm is located at one of the highest elevations in the area, and produces incredible coffees. In addition to buying the cherries from the receiving station nearby for our washed process Santa Maria de Dota coffee, we arranged to buy a micro lot from Javier, to be processed naturally by La Minita's processing team. That coffee will arrive later this year, along with other delicious microlots from Hacienda La Minita. We're incredibly grateful to the entire La Minita team for their hospitality at the farm, and for working with us year after year to find amazing coffees for our customers back home. 

Our featured coffees this month both come to us from Manuel Pereira and his farm, Finca La Concepción, in Marcala, Honduras. We've been buying Manuel's coffees for components in our blends for the past three years, but have never featured them as single origins until now! Manuel has dedicated his life to producing amazingly processed coffee and taking care of the land that it is cultivated on. The two selections we have from his farm are really special, and we hope are a good representation of the hard work put into them.  Ater years of WhatsApp messages and emails, we'll finally be traveling to Honduras for the first time this March to strengthen the relationship and see the amazing work he does firsthand. More on that soon! On to the coffees: First up, exclusively on drip, the washed process from Finca La Concepción is exceptionally clean, with a flavor that will remind you of hot cocoa and marshmallows—a perfect daily drinker as we make our way from winter to spring. It's an approachable crowd-pleaser, but becomes more complex and interesting as it cools! Buy the washed process here! Next, the natural. We've been buying Manuel's natural processed coffee for several years now to add a fruity and winey note in our Jetsetter blend. It's been fantastic as a blender, but it deserves its own spot in the lineup of featured single origin coffees.This month, it will be available in-store as a pour over and brings deep notes of raspberry jam and chocolate. As it cools, you'll notice a subtle acidity and really pleasant aftertaste that makes it nearly impossible to not take another sip. Buy the natural process here!

The view from La Minita’s microlot facility in Tarrazú. Costa Rica is an incredible place, and some of the most interesting coffees we’ve had over the last two years have come from one area in particular there: Hacienda La Minita. Our first release of the 2024 is actually the final microlot we selected from their 2023 harvest. This extremely small lot—just 600 pounds in total—was the favorite of the farm's QC and processing team and it was ours too.  This coffee is truly special. The entire lot is made up of a variety of arabica called Villa Sarchi—a natural mutation of bourbón discovered in Costa Rica in the 1950s. Villa Sarchi is a dwarf coffee plant known for its sweetness that thrives at extremely high altitudes. This coffee in particular was grown at the highest property that La Minita owns; a microlot called Melico that sits at 1,850 meters above sea level, or over 6000 feet in elevation. After harvest, the coffee undergoes full fermentation with no mechanical removal of the mucilage. After fermentation, the coffee is washed and dried on raised beds, with the team at La Minita closely monitoring the evenness of the drying over the course of several weeks. We cannot emphasize this enough: this is one of the sweetest coffees we've ever tasted. When we cupped it at the lab in Costa Rica, we were actually  shocked. Even if you take your coffee with cream and sugar, you need to try this one without it first—we promise you won't regret it. Along with the amazingly pronounced sweetness, you'll taste raspberry cordial, chocolate cream, and even a pineapple juice-like brightness on the finish. This coffee is both complex and at the same time very simple and approachable. Availability is incredibly limited, and will be available on drip, manual brew, or in 10 oz. retail bags in-store only on January 4th.  

Eddy Solano looks on as his wife, Adriana, a microbiologist, uses a microscope in the farm’s new lab. We've been lucky to feature several amazing coffees from the Solano family at Finca Concepción Buena Vista in San Martín Jilotepeque, Guatemala over the last few years. They've become one of our biggest farm partners, and are some of our closest coffee friends! When they visited Nashville last year, we had the chance to hear directly from David about his unique experience as both a coffee farmer and World Barista Championship competitor, and tasted some amazing coffees with our entire 8th & Roast team. One of the standout coffees from that night is our latest release: La Joya Honey—a Lactic Maceration Honey-Processed coffee. This is the first year the Solanos have produced honey-processed coffees, which are a step between a natural process, which is dried with the cherry fully intact, and a washed process, where the cherry is removed entirely. For the lactic honey process specifically, cherries are selected for size and ripeness and then moved to fermentation tanks where they are sterilized with ozonated water for half an hour. After the water is drained, they fill the tanks again with UV-treated water and a lactic bacteria "mosto" (or liquid) from the same lot of coffee, which is extracted on-site in the farm's microbiology lab. Using lactic bacteria from coffee of the same lot and varietal enhances the fermentation, and intensifies the flavors naturally occuring in the coffee.  After 75-90 hours of fermentation in anaerobic tanks, the cherries are removed, depulped and taken directly to raised beds to dry for around 15 days. The resulting cup is complex and deep and gets more and more interesting as it cools! In the cup, we're tasting strawberry rhubarb pie, Arnold Palmer, and chocolate. La Joya Honey is available now on drip or manual brew at our 3 streetside locations, and online soon! Read below to hear David Solano talk about what processing their first honeyed coffees means to them. David Solano makes a pourover of 8&R coffee at his cafe, 12 Onzas, in Guatemala City earlier this year. "The idea started with the goal of creating a coffee that will have this really nice creamy, silky texture (created by the lactic bacteria) but with the brightness and sweetness that characterized the washed process. We were motivated and happy to make our first honey process. This year, we ran for the first time in the farm history, our own wet mill on site. This is a huge milestone for us, because now we are able to control the missing piece in our specialty coffee: fermentation... We were motivated to learn more about it, explore the cup profile that we can get out of our coffees by doing the honey process. Our starting point was the lactic natural process (in terms of bacteria concentration), but drying of the honey process was also something new for us. We were so happy to learn more about coffee profiles, and this Honey lactic definitely taught us a lot.Being able to have our own wet mill, definitely sparked our desire to play more with the coffee. This year marked the base or starting point for more experimentation for sure. It definitely opened our mind to understanding the possibilities of working with live mucilage and the possibilities of enhancing these new techniques with natural agents that live on the same ecosystem, for example, fruits that adapt to the same ecosystem of our coffee trees.Also, for our community, it was the first time that people learned and worked the honey process. It's amazing how these small ideas spark interest not only for us, but also for the whole community."