Quills Competes on Road to U.S. Coffee Championship

A few of our Quills coffee charmers are on the eve of embarking on another great adventure. Tomorrow morning - Jesse Myers, Houston Miller and Michael Butterworth - will head to Durham, North Carolina for the Big Eastern regional coffee championship. 

Michael will be competing in the Barista Competition. The competition website explains what he has been diligently preparing for the past several week...

“In a 15-minute presentation, competitors prepare and serve three courses of espresso based beverages to a panel of four sensory judges, two technical judges and one head judge. Competitors strive for a harmonious balance of sweetness, bitterness, acidity, and aromatics. A signature beverage is a highly innovative, freestyle espresso-based beverage created by the barista for the competition.”

Jesse & Houston will be competing in the Brewers Cup which centers around manual brewing. Again- according to the website...

“Competitors are judged in two rounds by skilled coffee tasters. The first round is a blind tasting, the competitors all brew the same coffee on their chosen manual deceives. Those who advance to the second round will brew and present their chosen coffee to the judges’ panel.”

This past Friday we set up a mock competition at our UofL store fit with all the toys, tests and meticulous judging they'll be facing this weekend.  It was a lot of fun and a great success. Michael says, "After going through my routine 20+ times, I'm slightly less terrified than I was when I started. I thought the large crowd at the rehearsal would unnerve me, but I actually found it energizing." And Houston also found the trial competition very helpful: "Not feeling very prepared, the (largely improved) run-through helped me realize what I still needed to iron out and really helped me with getting feedback on my presentation"

And-of course-we've got a few pictures for you below (Thanks Darren!). Follow the guys on Twitter ( Michael, Houston, Jesse, Quills ) and wish them lots of luck! 

Good friend and smarty-pants Jamie Tooill (former Quills barista - now works with Argo Sons) will also be competing in the Brewers Cup. Good luck Jamie! 

Important! Please Join Us This Friday!

Hey Friends! Really exciting stuff happening right now with Quills, our coffees and mainly- our kick-A baristas. We are sending 3 competitors to the SCAA regional competition next week. Jesse and Houston will compete in the Brewer's Cup and Michael Butterworth will be our first ever Barista Competition* participant! (YEAH MICHAEL!!) 

*please click on the links to learn more about what goes into these intense competitions

One of the critical aspects of prep for this is the opportunity to do as many run-throughs as possible. To that end, we will be hosting a public run-through THIS FRIDAY NIGHT (January 10th) at 7:30pm at our UofL Store. THIS IS OPEN TO ALL PUBLIC!

In fact, it's critical that we have you-the most amazing supporters ever- there. All three of our coffee geniuses will give their full presentation with some experienced judges present. But we need to create something as close to the real competition as possible! 

Please consider coming down to the UofL store Friday night and seeing coffee making in the most smart, detailed, delicious and downright geeky  ways possible. 

It'll be fun. We promise!! 

New Coffee: La Pradera, Colombia

Our latest coffee comes from one of the best regions (Huila) in one of the top producing countries (Colombia) in the world! It was selected from a competition our importer attended, (and it sounds like they had a lot of fun with all sorts of indigenous beverages at this event. Read their own informative account here) bringing back 15 of the best coffees from Huila's June/July harvest. 

Huila has been the best region in Colombia for quality coffee over the last ten years. The cupping competition- simply titled "The Best of Huila" is what has fortunately provided us with this latest roast.

Cafe Imports reports: "Ninety Two producers entered lots that were cupped over the week and narrowed down to about 40 lots which were cupped again on the last two days, and finally, a cupping of the top 25. This is a format very similar to cup of excellence and guarantees that you get to see great coffees again and again and also reconsider something that other cuppers liked and perhaps you missed."

 This particular coffee we are serving you was grown on a lot of less than .01 square miles. We thank producer Don Over Aroca at Finca La Pradera for his hard work as well as Cafe Imports for the oh-so-difficult job of dancing, imbibing and celebrating …. oh and also for the truly very difficult job of choosing from such amazing coffees to bring back to us.  

There wasn't much of this one to go around so Quills will be featuring it for only a short time. Come get it while you can! 

Single-Origin Details:

• Farm: Finca La Pradera
• Region: Tarqui, Huila
• Process: Fully washed, fermented for 20 hours, and sun-dried
• Varietal: Caturra
• Elevation: 1,650 MASL
• We taste: Ripe, tropical fruit sweetness complemented by a white grape acidity and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel; all in perfect balance. Finishes with rich dark chocolate. 

The Mast Brothers and their Voyage into Making Chocolate

Take advantage of the snowy days inside and watch this beautiful video about chocolate-makers Mast Brothers.

Or maybe come by a bar at your local Quills and eat it while you watch it being made.

Quills Hosts Misc. Goods Co. Pop-up Shop

Misc. Goods Co. - owned by Louisville local (and one of the first ever Quills employees) Tyler Deeb - is a company that was launched after receiving considerable success on their first project, a completely redesigned deck of playing cards, that they released on Kickstarter last October. Since then MGCO. has been maintaining its store solely online. But this Christmas season, they're setting up a physical pop-up site for one month only, at yours truly- Quills Coffee on Baxter Ave.

The pop-shop will open Nov. 30th at 10am. In celebration of this festive opening day, visitors can expect live music by Evan Patterson from Young Widows, shopping, coffee and Quills baked goods. A food truck will show up at 11am.

The pop-up shop will include Misc. Goods Co.'s very successful deck of playing cards in all 3 colors: White, Red and Black. MGCO. will also be selling T-shirts, posters, uncut playing card sheets along with showcasing their newly designed leather card holder wallet and ceramic flask container.

The shop will be open until December 23rd.

Quills Currently Featured

During Thanksgiving week 2013 (November 24 - 30), buy one 12 oz. bag of coffee and receive another 12 oz. bag at half off. In addition to our decaf and Blacksmith espresso blend, here's what you can get for your bargain bucks! 

Ngororero, Rwanda 

Rwanda- known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" due to coffee grown between 1700 and 2000 meters above seal level- is now home to a growing number of very small farms which pool together in central washing stations for processing. Many of the coffees being produced these days are among the best in the world. We are proud to bring in this coffee from the Ngororero region which showcases the balance and brightness of a great Rwandan coffee quite well.

San Cristobal, Coban, Guatemala

This particular Guatemalan coffee-from the small Chiyuc community- comes from new importer Thrive Coffee Farmers who are employing inventive methods in improving the lives of farmer as well as their coffees. This coffee’s mysterious claim of “honey processed” means that it skipped the traditional washing tanks and dried in the fruit mucilage (which looks honey-like) after being de-pulped.  This imparts a higher sugar content and a more round, less aggressive yet still vibrant, acidity and body than you would find in its washed counterparts.

Inkwell: Quills 1st House Blend

This blend is a project long in the making for Quills; One that required us to dip our quill deep into the well of our creativity and coffee passion. This house blend has something for everyone, but it’s not just a simple crowd-pleaser. The first “chapter” in our new story represents everything we are proud to showcase in our coffees: care in production, intentional sourcing, and a roaster’s unique touch, all balanced in a complex, delicate dance. It’s been a long time coming, but it's worth the wait. Current Coffees: Santa Teresa, Chiapas, Mexico; Konga Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia; Finca Los Congos, Nicaragua. We taste: Caramel aromatics give way to a pleasing, smooth mouthfeel and hints of chocolate, balanced nicely with notes of lemon, apricot and cherry in a lingering finish.

Kiungu, Embu, Kenya

We couldn’t be more excited to bring you our first-ever in-house roasted coffee from Kenya. This country has quite the reputation in specialty coffee, and for good reason. Kenyan coffees are known for their dynamic acidity, which contributes to a broad range of sweet, savory and fruity flavor experiences. This coffee, from the Kiungu Factory of Thambana Farmers Cooperative Society in the Embu region, will take your taste buds on the whole journey across those flavor spectrums. We taste: Initially very much like a washed Yirgacheffe- black tea, floral and notes of lemon - but it quickly gives way to a creamy, dynamic cup with punchy tomato & grapefruit-like acidity, blackberries and a long, sweet finish.

Finca La Bolsa, Guatemala

Jorge Vides Molina’s farm has gained quite the reputation for quality year after year in specialty coffee, and they contribute in exciting ways to their community through educational and environmental efforts. His farm is one we’re proud to support on a regular basis. This particular lot-dubbed “Mirador”-is notable for its clean, crisp acidity and vibrant fruit notes

Quills takes us up where we belong

Still holding off on trying one of our delicious new chocolate bars from Olive & Sinclair and Mast Brothers? 

Perhaps Jewel and Erin can convince you.

You are witnessing now their first taste of the Papua New Guinea bar from Mast Brothers

Now lets see what happened after...

New Coffee: Ngororero, Rwanda

“Rwanda has one of the most interesting East African coffee histories. It is a place where the production of high-quality coffee is inextricably linked to the rising spirit of a population after the tragic genocidal civil war of the 1990s.”

— Sweet Maria's

Quills is happy to be a part of this harshly tried country's continued growth and welfare. Rwanda- known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" due to coffee grown between 1700 and 2000 meters above seal level- is now home to a growing number of very small farms which pool together in central washing stations for processing. Many of the coffees being produced these days are among the best in the world. We are proud to bring in this coffee from the Ngororero region which showcases the balance and brightness of a great Rwandan coffee quite well.

For more on this country's rich and exciting coffee history, check out this article from Sweet Maria's Coffee. 

Single Origin Details:

• Farm: Ngororero Washing Station
• Region: Ngororero District, Western Province
• Process: Fully washed and sun-dried
• Varietal: Bourbon
• Elevation: 1,800 - 2,000 MASL
• We taste: Subtle lemon acidity with pleasant wine-like overtones and a zesty spiciness