I Just Got Closer To Origin.

It’s been a long week. Much craziness has been occurring at the coffee bar and in life as well. I have not been to origin, but I feel as though I got a little bit closer this past week. Two nights ago, we had a grand celebration to honor the farmers that are part of our Tres Santos Project. For those who may not know about this, I’ll elaborate. When the harvest is finished in Colombia, the farmers lots are all kept separate, and each is cupped. This is a very long and elaborate process that Geoff Watts, Sarah Kluth, and others in our Q.C. Department all go through. The aim in the Tres Santos Project is to find our ‘three saints.’ Or, three micro-lots that stand above the others, cupping, at least, a 92 points consistently. This year, the three saints are amazing. Saturday I had the pleasure of cupping them all side-by-side. It was delicious. Such sweet, round, coffees. Brown sugar, orange candy, sweet melon, and so much more!

To celebrate, two of the three farmers of these micro-lots we brought up to Los Angeles. K.C. O’Keefe and Geoff were in town to take them around, see some sites, eat some great meals, and to let them experience Los Angeles as much as possible. They even had the opportunity to cup their own coffee for the first time. Oh, and in full Intelli.la style, we threw a barbecue for them.

I had just finished up my bar shift at 8:00 on Saturday night. Devin was manning the machine and several kids walked in. I was hearing whisperings and then the question, “Wait, so your dad owns what farm?” Two of the four, were the son and daughter of one of our farmers in Guatemala. They apparently were up in Los Angeles visiting their cousins and had heard about the cafe. So, they dropped by. Of course, we gave them a bag of their coffee and many pictures were taken of all of us… posing with the coffee. This all happened right before I was about to head to the barbecue, so we brought the kids along. Suddenly, I’m in the middle of a room with Geoff, KC, Glanville, Deaton from Oz, two very honorable Colombian farmers, the children of one of our Guatemalan farmers, and the world begins to seem like a much smaller place.

Monday was the party of the farmers. I was lucky enough not to have to work at this one. I was stuck behind the counter during the Esmeralda event and it’s really not when you want to be working. It was nice to just take in the coffee, listen to the farmers, and drink some delicious wine. All in all, a great week with amazing coffee…

Tags: , coffee, Direct Trade, El Cuervo, Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia, K.C. O'Keefe, Micro-lot, Tres Santos