'SPOOKY CITY' BOX NOV. 2022

Oct 19

Written By Kayla Clark

‘SPOOKY CITY’ BOX…

… celebrates Halloween by showcasing three roasters from the nation’s spookiest cities. From the Salem, Massachusetts Witch Trials, to America’s most haunted city, New Orleans, and the paranormal hotspot of Portland, Oregon, we’ve found incredible coffee roasters and brews nestled away in these petrifying places.
*Image: Atomic Coffee Roasters.*

From the Roaster:
Atomic was born in 1996 when two brothers, both professional cyclists at the time, set out to answer the question "how hard can it really be to run a cafe?". The first Atomic Cafe opened on Cabot Street in Beverly later that year.
That simple question has lead us down a flowy single-track we've been riding for over two decades now. In the early 2000's we began roasting coffee to create a point of difference for ourselves. At the time, Atomic Cafe was established, but we were becoming frustrated with the companies we were buying coffee from. This was very unique at the time as we were the only micro roaster in the area. We roasted on a Diedrich IR7 in our original Cabot Street cafe to raise awareness for what we were trying to accomplish-- sourcing, roasting, and serving great coffee.
The decision to roast coffee for our own shops eventually spun off into a separate company, Atomic Coffee Roasters, as we set our sights on elevating coffee experiences beyond the four walls of a cafe.
From the Roaster:
This is our third year offering Costa Rica La Pastora, after our team had the chance to visit the farm and meet the Esquivel family in early 2020.
The Esquivel family has owned and operated Finca La Pastora for over 60 years. They have their own wet mill on the farm, which allows them to do experimental processes and fermentations with coffee. This particular lot is what they call "African Washed" process, which is processed in a style more typical of Kenya, where the cherry undergoes an initial fermentation before being depulped, fermented again, and then sundried on raised beds.
We look forward to this coffee every year-- it is sweet and fruity without being too bright. It also makes a great shot of espresso or a cortado if you prefer to add a bit of steamed milk.
TASTING NOTES
strawberry, 'nilla wafer, elderflower liqueur
ORIGIN
Tarrazu, Costa Rica

From the Roaster:
Named after the collective noun for a group of alligators, Congregation Coffee Roasters is a specialty coffee company in New Orleans. Launched in 2015 out of the back of a shotgun house with a mission to bring quality coffee to the New Orleans area and beyond.
Our collective mission is to create compelling coffee, outstanding customer experiences, and a sustainable brand through autonomy, equity, and curiosity.
It’s important to us to make coffee that tastes interesting. We think ours tastes uniquely like our home in New Orleans.
We aim to be the preeminent coffee roaster and regional hub for barista training and coffee education in the South. We embrace tradition while setting our sights on the future by focusing our best selves on our present day. We are craftspeople, sourcing, making, teaching, and serving the best coffee and foods we can produce.
Everything we do is for our employees, customers, vendors, and other small businesses, young artists, and causes we can help support and grow through our platform.
Because in this crazy world, everyone deserves a great cup of coffee and a place they can feel comfortable every day.
From the Roaster:
This natural processed coffee is so sweet and juicy, you might mistake it for a gusher candy. Enjoy it in any brew method. As espresso, the fresh strawberry shines. As drip coffee, the sweet berry jam cools into decadent milk chocolate. As cold brew, it recalls a melted red popsicle.
TASTING NOTES
fresh strawberry, jammy, milk chocolate
ORIGIN
Guji, Ethiopia

From the Roaster:
Junior’s Roasted Coffee is a micro-roastery based in Portland, Oregon, and was founded by Caryn and Mike Nelson. In October, 2014 The Nelsons started roasting as Junior’s while living in Tallahassee, Florida. They wished to combine Mike’s background in academia and coffee with Caryn’s background in community service and hospitality in a project that would serve a community and create relationships around quality coffee and sustainability education. After Mike completed graduate school at Florida State University they returned to Portland, where Mike’s family calls home, to join forces with business partners Toby Roberts and Carrie Lind. Together they opened Guilder, a cafe that also serves as the Junior’s Roasted Coffee roastery.
From the Roaster:
Truly, an elegant coffee. This single variety, single farm coffee comes from Dinkalem Ademe in the town of Bita in the Keffa zone. Dinkalem owns this farm, and also owns a dry mill that processes coffee for many producers in Keffa. Catalyst Trade, a transparency oriented coffee importing company based in Portland, OR, has worked extensively with Dinkalem and his dry mill over the last several years, and it is through Catalyst’s facilitation that we’re receiving Dinkalem’s own coffee. In fact, this is the first harvest from his own farm that Catalyst is receiving. The farm is located on 400 hectares of land, 40 of which are planted with coffee. Some of these coffee plants are of the “Wush Wush” variety. We are so very privileged to be working not only with a single farm (Ethiopian coffees are often multi producer blends), but to be working with a single variety, the Wush Wush variety. Lastly, Dinkalem’s farm is growing at elevations as high as 2,000 meters above sea level (masl), so we can expect seed density, complexity, and (balanced) acidity. This coffee is naturally processed before it is rested and further milled at Dinkalem's dry mill. This coffee tastes like raspberry, peach tea, and red currant.
TASTING NOTES
floral, delicate, raspberry
ORIGIN
Keffa, SNNPR, Ethiopia