Strawberry Moon
Tonight marks the eve of the Strawberry Moon. We send our monthly newsletter on the full moon to celebrate how we launched, roasting on a coffee roaster wheeled out of our barn in Jamesport, under the full moon. The Strawberry Moon is typically the last full moon of spring or the first of summer. Its name comes from Algonquin Native American tribes to commemorate strawberry gathering season. This year’s Strawberry Moon will be the lowest riding moon in decades. The reddish color is particularly pronounced because the moon is sitting at the lowest position it will reach for about 19 years.
This full moon marks our own moment of transition. As a business, this transition looks like: moving our green coffee bean storage from shelves to pallets, many emails with logistics professionals as they document the journey of our beans to their final destination in the warehouse, the smaller member of our husband and wife team relying on machinery to lift the bags of green beans now that they come in 150 lbs sacks (thank you Jeffrey with the forklift who brings the beans to the roaster), documenting the joy of learning about new coffee beans with photos of every late night cupping.
Since last month’s newsletter we’ve searched high and low for a new batch of green specialty coffee beans to bring our light, medium and dark roasts to the next level. We were searching for beans to really define the profiles we created for each of our roasts - an organic light roast that is fruity and citrusy with the sweetness of toffee, an organic medium roast that goes a level juicier with notes of cherry, mango and grapefruit; and finally our High Tide Espresso, a blend of Guatemalan and Brazilian beans with a “chewy” body, notes of dark chocolate, jammy dried fruit and berry undertones.
Working with two separate coffee importers we found exactly what we were looking for: organic Rwandan Sholi beans for our light and medium roasts, a washed and a natural process respectively, and a new Guatemalan Ayarza natural for our High Tide Espresso, keeping the Brazilian Pedra Branca natural process as its counterpart in the blend. (For a refresher on washed vs natural process, refer back last month’s newsletter link).
The Rwandan Sholi beans originated from a cooperative that was founded in 2008 by 30 women as an offshoot of the women's association Kundwa, which means "love" in Kinyarwanda. The cooperative's name, Abateraninkunga ba Sholi, translates to "mutual assistance" and reflects the members' commitment to working together to improve their coffee and community. Sholi's coffee is known for its high scores and meticulous attention to detail, from cherry selection to processing and storage. The cooperative uses traditional Rwandan processing methods, including pulping cherries at the washing station, drying lower grades locally, and dry fermenting higher grades for 12–18 hours.
The Guatemalan Ayarza beans are from El Porvenir cooperative in Guatemala. The coffee is grown at altitudes of 1,400–2,000 meters above sea level on the steep slopes around Laguna de Ayarza, a volcanic crater lake in the Santa Rosa department. The coffee is shade grown and picked when ripe, then naturally dried for 5–6 days on patios overlooking the lake and mountains.
All of the beans that we work with are Specialty Coffee beans, which means they receive a rating of at least 80 out of 100 points on the Specialty Coffee Association’s scale when evaluated by Q graders for flavor, aroma, acidity and overall balance. We put a lot into the process of selecting and roasting the beans, and hope that comes through when you make our coffee at home.
Seattle coffee event
Join us at our first Seattle-based coffee tasting event! If you’re in the area, please mark your calendars for June 24th from noon-4pm at
Cafe Feva (link) in Fremont, 3663 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA 98103
We’ll be sharing our cold brew and will have beans available to purchase.
Things we’re excited about that have nothing to do with coffee
We are launching an apothecary section on our website by the next full moon. Writing it here means that it will be ;)
Herbalism has been with me (Ana) for as long as can remember, starting with an arnica salve my mom used to put on my bumps and bruises as a kid. I formalized my interest in herbalism on the North Fork by attending workshops with herbalist Courtney Hall at Sang Lee Farms and working one on one with herbalist April Alexander of Blooming Curiosity. Here in Seattle I’ve gone deeper with a year-long apprenticeship with Sara Butters of Hawthorn and Honey to learn how to identify, forage and prepare the plant gems of the Pacific Northwest (the only place where Oregon grape grows in abundance!) and I’m a member of a medicinal plant CSA to give my supply an additional oomph.
What I love about herbalism is knowing how to harmonize with local plants for their healing properties, and the self-sufficiency of it all. It is a beautiful way to care for ourselves and our families. My weekends have been filled with foraging and formulating with so many plant friends, old and new, from plentiful classics like nettle and cleavers to plants that are newer to me that grow in high elevation and require care to identify and brawn to dig up like lomatium and arrowleaf balsam root. I will share this magical, high vibrational medicine on our site starting with a basic bruise balm formulated with the infused oils of arnica that I foraged in Eastern Washington state, and comfrey.
Links: Courtney Hall, April Alexander of Blooming Curiosity, Sara Butters of Hawthorn and Honey, Root Digger medicinal plant CSA
That’s all from us for now! We’ll see you on July 10 for the next full moon, the Buck Moon.
Warmly,
Ana and Brett
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Find our coffee in person on the North Fork at
LUMBER + Salt // Jamesport, NY (full coffee bar)
Lombardi’s Love Lane Market // Mattituck, NY
Sang Lee Farms // Peconic, NY
…or order directly to your doorstep here on our website!
