Coffee drinkers should give thanks to a “Little Farmer” that works very hard in making some of the world’s best coffees. The Apis Mellifera or Apis Cerana also known as the Honey Bee, just like you see in the movies and on TV, is a diligent worker. To help explain how this wonderful creature helps the coffee industry, we will compare three different coffees from Africa. We will compare Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (pronounced Yer-Ga-Chef), Ethiopian Harrar, and African Kenya Kirinyaga. The Yirgacheffe has a citrus and walnut taste to it. Whereas the Harrar is just a pure citrus taste. On contrast, the Kenyan coffee has a black walnut taste. Why are these African coffees different? If one will remember from our earlier stories, the citrus taste comes from pollen collected by bees and other insects which cross-pollinate with the flowers on the coffee tree. The fruity tasting pollen comes from the orange, lemon, or other flowering fruit trees nearby. Planting fruit trees is a favored practice among coffee growers who rely on the little honey bee to make their fabulous coffees stand out from rival coffee growers “next door.” Same soil, same sun, same water, but it is the pollen that “carries the day” for these competing coffee growers. So, when you see a honey bee flying around, be sure to thank him “or her” for the hard work that they do.
Kenya AA is known to many as Kirinyaga AA. This Kenyan coffee is vastly superior to other Kenyan coffees sold on the market today. Kenya got a bad “rap” when for the longest time they only sold “Robusta” coffees. Finally, investors realized the wonderful soil conditions on the sides on Mt. Kenya were perfect for our “Arabica” beans to grow. This is a very “bright and tingly” coffee that dances on your tongue. It holds a black currant finish, and truly has a citrus malt effect when enjoyed. Try some St. Ives Kenya AA Arabica coffee.
Your Own Coffee Maker Can Be Your Worst Enemy. Yes, it is true. An uncared for coffee maker, though shiny and clean on the outside hides some secrets that you don’t want to know. This is a scary horror story that you might not want to read, so put your tough armor on and be prepared! Take a wet paper towel, pull out the filter basket, and wipe the inside of the basket. Do you see anything? One will find a brown film from the coffee oil that will soil the paper towel. You will need to rinse this basket out from time to time. Likewise, wipe underneath where the coffee filter basket meets the coffee maker. It is where the hot water comes out from the machine into the basket. Do you see what we are talking about? More grime. This is from the coffee “splashing” inside the coffee filter basket. The build up actually will become moldy, and that mold leads to sour tasting coffee, yuk! I told you this was scary! Wipe away the build up once a month, and you shouldn’t have this problem. Good luck, and be kind to your coffee maker. It really can be a better friend than an enemy to your coffee pleasure. When all else fails, buy a new coffee maker.
Maxwell House Coffee got its start back in 1890 at a Nashville Hotel. The hotel was called Maxwell House and they had their own coffee. President Theodore Roosevelt is said to have coined the phrase, “good to the last drop” after tasting some of Maxwell House Hotel’s coffee. Don’t get us wrong, Maxwell House is a fine company and has been an American icon for many years. However, the only coffee beans they purchased were the cheap Robusta coffee. Robusta is an ugly cousin to the Arabica beans we sell. The Robusta bean is harvested from the lowlands, has practically zero taste, and is super cheap to grow and harvest. Indochina (namely Vietnam) grows Robusta as well as a few places still in South America and Africa. More recently coffee drinker demand has shifted from Robusta beans to Arabica, namely because of the quality found in the Arabica bean. If you watch television, look for the Maxwell House commercials. They now advertise that they switched to Arabica beans…Welcome Maxwell House to the St. Ives world of taste.
Yemen Mocha is the very best dark coffee St. Ives has to offer. Yemen is believed, by some, to be the birthplace for coffee. The name “Mocha” actually comes from the name of the port that exports the coffee. Guess what, they also grow and export cocoa beans from there as well. The birds and bees cross-pollinate with the coffee trees giving a faint hint of chocolate in this coffee. We, at St. Ives, think you will fall in love with Yemen Mocha Matari. Order some today and see if you’ll get hooked.
Costa Rican La Minita is St. Ives Coffee Roaster’s flagship coffee bean. The La Minita plantation prides itself on making the perfect coffee bean. The grower’s take special care in working the soil, growing the coffee trees, and harvesting the coffee beans (read more). Their careful attention gives that extra something special to the quality of the La Minita bean.
Bolivian Coffee is classified as organic from the plantation and is a bird friendly product. It is a dark medium to dark roast with a very sweet taste. St. Ives customers who sampled this wonderful coffee are quick to order a pound.
Coffee is grown in over eighty different countries that have Tropical and Sub-Tropical temperatures. Each tree, after planting, can take up to three years to mature. Each coffee tree can produce around 2,000 coffee “cherries” a year. This equates to 4,000 coffee beans. An estimate of the world’s total production of coffee is around 14 billion pounds of coffee.
If you were to collect all of the coffee beans Americans consumed each year, you would be able to create a very large pile of vast collection of beans. Imagine the pile shaped like a lumpy pyramid. The base of the pyramid would be almost a half mile wide on each side. The top of the pyramid would be higher than the Washington Monument! Talk about a close encounter of a aromatic kind.
Arabica beans come from coffee producing countries that specialize only in Arabica beans. Arabica is grown at higher altitudes to achieve their fantastic flavor.
The Arabica tree bears coffee “cherries” ready for harvesting. Inside each cherry are two coffee beans. Most Arabica fields are picked over 2 to 3 times to catch all the cherries as they ripen.
Harvesting coffee brings a lot of jobs to the local communities. These people depend so much on the coffee industry for their livelihood. This coffee will be cleaned, processed, and shipped world wide.
Inside the St. Ives warehouse, we store the processed beans called “green beans” until they are needed for roasting. Each bag weighs around 150 pounds.
A large Diedrich roaster roast the beans to perfection. Pictured here the St. Ives Roaster cools a batch of Costa Rican La Lapa.
St. Ives Coffee Roasters takes pride in every batch of coffee they produce. We’re proud to say:
St. Ives’ Coffee is the Closest You Can Get to the Coffee Tree
Did you know coffee was celebrated in classical music? The year of this story is 1732, the musician, Johann Sebastian Bach, and the place, Leipzig, Germany. Bach wrote “The Coffee Cantata”. This was the time when coffee began to take hold in Germany as the new drink. If one will recall in a previous post, we discovered the beginning of coffeehouses in London. Now, Germany is following suit. The secular cantata is a one act play/ operetta, that makes fun of the social elite who had to have their coffee. The story revolves around a father who is worried about his daughter and her coffee “addiction.” Quoted from Ukers, p.715 and written from a poem based from the writer Piccander, the daughter defiantly states to her father (and the audience).
“If three times a day I don’t drink my bowl of coffee, then in agony I’ll wither like a dried-out chunk of roasted goat….ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee, and if any one wishes to please me, let him present me with coffee!”
Don’t we all feel this way? Funny thing about this story, it sounds so much like us today, yet was performed in 1732! Enjoy your St. Ives Coffee today, for indeed it is “sweeter than a thousand kisses!”
The Flavor Story ~ 
have coined the phrase, “good to the last drop” after tasting some of Maxwell House Hotel’s coffee. Don’t get us wrong, Maxwell House is a fine company and has been an American icon for many years. However, the only coffee beans they purchased were the cheap Robusta coffee. Robusta is an ugly cousin to the Arabica beans we sell. The Robusta bean is harvested from the lowlands, has practically zero taste, and is super cheap to grow and harvest. Indochina (namely Vietnam) grows Robusta as well as a few places still in South America and Africa. More recently coffee drinker demand has shifted from Robusta beans to 
Coffee is grown in over eighty different countries that have Tropical and Sub-Tropical temperatures. Each tree, after planting, can take up to three years to mature. Each coffee tree can produce around 2,000 coffee “cherries” a year. This equates to 4,000 coffee beans. An estimate of the world’s total production of coffee is around 14 billion pounds of coffee.
The Arabica tree bears coffee “cherries” ready for harvesting. Inside each cherry are two coffee beans. Most Arabica fields are picked over 2 to 3 times to catch all the cherries as they ripen.
A large Diedrich roaster roast the beans to perfection. Pictured here the St. Ives Roaster cools a batch of Costa Rican La Lapa.
