Coffee Gift Ideas

It's almost time for last minute holiday shopping, people. Soon enough our website will be overrun with customers looking for last minute deals, and trying to figure out whether they need to use Next Day Air, or if 2nd Day will cut the mustard. I know this from experience as I will soon be doing the same thing!!

This year I have 2 great ideas for coffee gifts.

The first is our Organic Coffee Club Auto-Ship program. This sends 2 to 4 pounds of coffee to a recipient, for 3, 6 or 12 months. It's a reoccurring gift that will remind your loved ones that you're thinking of them year round! We mail fresh coffee out at the middle of each month, and change it up each month with different coffees, both single-origins and blends. For more info on this product click here! (ps I just remembered we throw in a free French Press when you order the coffee club!)

The 2nd idea is the Organic/Fair Trade Gift Package. This is 4 pounds of coffee, in a nice wicker gift basket with a personalized card. We select 4 of our freshest coffees and send them right out! This has become our most popular present online. To learn more about this package click here!

One thing that is really nice about both of these gift ideas, besides their affordability, is the fact that all of the coffee is organic and Fair Trade. Sending a sustainable, and socially-conscious gift in 2008 is more important than ever. People from all over the world are aware of the green movement, and also of the importance of Fair Trade products. For more info on Fair Trade, read this article from last year. For more info on Organics, read this article.

Let me know if you need any help with your holiday shopping. We're around the office a lot at this time of year, and always ready to assist in any way we can.

Best,

Matt

New French Presses have arrived!

Just a heads up, we've added the Chambord French press, by Bodum, to our accessories page. It labeled as a "4-cup press," which is about a mug and a half, or to coffee drinkers like us "enough for one person." This is the orginal French Press, designed in Normandy, France in 1924. Constructed from glass and chrome-plated brass, it's one of their most beautiful preses. The Chambord might make a perfect stocking stuffer!! Click here to check it out.

Don't Call it a Comeback!!

Well at least not THAT kind of comeback! --->

It has been 5 long months of no FCN blog posts. I'm posting today to let everyone know that we're officially back! I apologize for my lack of attention to the blog for the past season, but I have a great excuse, I promise: I got married. In October, months of planning (and perhaps years of anticipation) came together and my wife and I tied the knot. Now, after a brief respite, it's time to return to work full time, and get back to updating our customers and friends as to what's been going on in our warehouse.

Over the next few weeks I'll be making a lot of posts, catching people up on what we've been up to. We have some new coffees, and some old faves are back in stock. We also serve our coffees in about 15 new locations, so I'll be updating the map and letting everyone know where they can get a cup o' Joe. In the meantime, for any of our Jamaican fans, we have put Moy Hall on sale for $39.99 until Friday evening. This is the beginning of our Holiday sales run, where we feature discounts on different coffees or gift packages until the new year, allowing our customers to send something to that special someone far away.

Enjoy the Jamaican, and cya soon...

Best,
Matt

Fair Trade at a glance...

I've been doing a bunch of in-store demos lately, where I basically meet customers at supermarkets, IGA's and co-ops, and give info about and sample of our coffee away. One of the most common questions I get relates to Fair Trade coffee. People want to know what it's all about.

I'm going to post a link to a blog post from last year, that is something all of our customers need to read. The Fair Trade movement is a big deal, not just in coffee but for all products that offer it, and I encourage everyone that reads this blog to learn more about Fair Trade, pass on the info to friends and family, and act upon what you read.

Here's the link to the old blog post entitled Fair Trade 101.

There is a video under the "About Us" section of the Fresh Coffee Now website that discusses Fair Trade. Click here, and then scroll down and look to the right, to view it.

Thanks!
Matt

Where do you find coffee in the Bahamas?

There comes a point in January or February where everyone in Vermont freaks out and starts buying plane tickets to "anywhere that's not so damn cold." In my case, I bought a ticket to the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas, to join my fiance and her family for their yearly winter vacay.

The Bahamas are beautiful, especially Eleuthera which is not built up and developed like so many of the bigger islands. We have an old, fun house, right on the beach!

Here is the view out of our bedroom:


So the one problem the family, who arrived a few days before us, ran into was "where do get coffee in the Bahamas?" Most of the stores around here have Maxwell House, and Foldgers and that is about it. This does NOT do the trick for the fam, who are all tried and true coffee addicts, since shortly after birth. So, I got the phone call: "Matt, help!"

Now, we are all set to go with 10 pounds of Organic Colombia Reserva, a bodum grinder, and a French press to boot. Waking up here this morning with a fresh French press was about the best thing I could ask for. I want to give a special shout out to Joe for roasting such awesome coffee, and for watching the shop while I'm gone. Thanks mon frere! (Readers: don't feel TOO bad for him: he is going to Mexico the day I get back!)

The moral of this story: next time you are in the Bahamas and need to find coffee, call us up and we'll mail some down to ya!

Have a great week, to anyone that's reading this. Joe is going to take over for a couple days on the blog front, and I'll cya when we're back in town.

Matt

New Places to get Fresh Coffee Now!

Today we started selling coffee at some new places, and I wanted to let people know where they can get our coffee:

Middlebury Natural Food Co-Op in Middlebury, VT: offering our Organic Mexico.

Rutland Area Food Co-Op in Rutland, VT: offering our Organic Colombia Reserva, Organic Nicaragua and Organic Peru.

Coffee Gourmet Cafe in Kennebunk, ME: offering our Organic French Roast, Organic Peru and Organic Nicaragua.

Big Chile Republic, the Tex/Mex fusion restaurant in Colchester, VT: offering our Organic French Roast, Organic Nicaragua, and Organic Peru Decaf.

We will also be serving 6 organic coffees by the cup, and selling them in bulk and by the retail bag at Fresh Market/Cheese Outlet on Pine Street in Burlington, VT.

If there is anywhere that you would like to see our coffee, please let me know, and thanks for your support!

Matt

Leap Year Sale!

Leap Year only happens once every 4 years, and we've decided to do some deep discounts to celebrate the occasion. Visit www.freshcoffeenow.com for the remainder of the month: Jamaican Blue Mountain Moy Hall is on sale, and we are taking 29% off of all our organic coffees.

Enjoy!
Matt

Weekend demo's are a success!

This weekend's demos @ Hunger Mountain and Shelburne Supermarket were a success. Thanks so much to everyone that came out and drank coffee with us. We demoed our Organic Nicaragua coffee, our Organic French Roast, and the Organic Colombia Reserva.

Our next demo will be this Friday at City Market in downtown Burlington during lunch time. Come see us! We're signing everyone that visits our demo station up for a drawing to win a free pound of coffee. We're also going to start giving away coupons to use on the website to people that come to the demos.

Here's a couple pics from Hunger Mountain on Saturday:






Here's Joe hamming it up with some coffee nerds about the difference between our French Roast, and your average burnt coffee that the competition labels "French Roast."














Now a crowd begins to grow as people smell freshly brewed coffee!









Cya soon!
Matt