What's Happening at the George Howell Coffee Company/Terroir Coffee

Upcoming Events – Join George for a coffee dinner at Picco in Boston's South End on Monday February 27th. Check our website for more details or call 866-GHH-JAVA.

In the Press – We are happy to announce that in the last month, we have been featured in both the Food & Wine Magazine and the New York Times. In the March issue of Food & Wine Magazine’s “Taste Test” column, Terroir was featured as one of the top 5 boutique roasters in the United States.

Coffee News Around the World

George’s Trip to Guatemala. George recently visited the El Injerto and Providencia farms in Guatemala’s Huehuetenango region and will be sharing his photos and experiences online soon. Check www.terroircoffee.com in the next few days for his postings.

Drought in Kenya. Due to a widespread drought in Kenya, 3.5 million people face starvation, a crisis that might become the worst in 4 decades according to Oxfam. Kenyan and U.N. aid agencies have asked for $221.5 million for food (approximately 396,525 tons), needed to avoid mass starvation over the next 12 months. Many people and tens of thousands of live stock have already died from starvation and disease in the northern regions. Lack of water and food has increased violence between Kenyan farmers and herders and people from Somalia and Ethiopia. In some areas, malnutrition levels have reached 30 percent, more than double the U.N. standard for declaration of emergency. Unfortunately, nothing has been set up quite yet for donating to the Kenya relief effort, but, as always, you can donate to Oxfam. We will keep our eyes open for any Kenya relief efforts and release any information we can find on our website.

Coffee Tip – Brewing Temperature makes all the difference

You have a great coffee and a great grinder, but are you getting the best results when you brew? In order to get the best flavor from a coffee in a regular drip brewer, the temperature of the water needs to be at least 198F. Colder water will not extract the essential oils and compounds from coffee and will result in a weaker tasting cup. Beware: most home brewers only reach about 190F and sometimes even colder temperatures. We recommend the Technivorm as one of the few home brewers that offers a consistent brewing temperature over 198F. Its design, while simple, ensures that the water temperature does not drop before the coffee is saturated. And, as a matter of fact, Food and Wine Magazine recommends the Technivorm this month, too. In 2002, Wine Spectator also found it to be the best brewer.

You can get a great cup of coffee with other brewing techniques, too, as long as you are careful about the water temperature. When brewing in a French press, or when using various other non-mechanical brewing methods (eg. Chemex or vacuum brewing), it is important to make sure the water temperature is at least 205F. Preheating the vessels also improves results.

For more information about brewing techniques, visit our website or call us at 866-GHH-JAVA.

New Coffee – Espresso of the Month

New Adventures in Espresso. Tuesday February 21st will mark the beginning of our new Espresso of the Month Program! Due to the number of customer requests, each month we will choose one of our single origin coffees to roast for espresso. The first in this line up will be our Guatemala El Injerto. We roasted a few different Terroir coffees as espresso last week and George had, what he calls a “Wow!” moment with the El Injerto. The El Injerto Espresso will be available for purchase on our website this Friday (February 17th) and will be roasted on Tuesday (February 21st). Visit our online store for further details.

Events @ Terroir

Monday February 27th, Join George for dinner and a coffee tasting at Picco in Boston's South End. Keep an eye on our website for further updates.