Short and Sweet

Goooooood morning friends! Let's get into it.

This Week in Smooth Coffee...

Loans

Starting off with the bad news first, my first loan application was unfortunately denied. From talking with other small business owners in the area I'm confident in saying that most people don't get approved for their first loan, so I'm not letting it get me down. Just gotta continue grinding and we'll get them next time!

Round 2 Packaging Design

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Brennen has delivered a killer 2nd round of designs for Smooth Coffee's retail packaging and I am STOKED on the direction.

The burnt sienna color is continuing to prove as an exceptional base tone for the brand, creating a warm and flexible canvas to build the packaging design on top of. This Friday Brennen and I will be sitting down for a work session together to explore more colors, play with the product info sticker design, and start adding in more details around the container to really bring this thing to life.

Coffee Samples and Tastings

My 2nd round of coffee samples have officially landed! 10 pounds of coffee from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, and Ethiopia  are all accounted for and sample roasting is slated to begin this Wednesday.

I'm also stoked to say that I've picked up a tool that I've been hoping to acquire for a while now. 

If you check out the Smooth Coffee Co. Instagram you'll see a reel from April 6 showing me and my partner running through a traditional coffee tasting style known as cupping. Essentially, you brew coffee in bowls and slurp it from spoons which enables an experienced taster to really break down the component flavors of the coffee, check for defects, etc. While I fully believe that cupping is an important skill to have in the world of coffee, especially when it comes to making selections for coffee purchases, I've never particularly enjoyed the process of tasting coffee from a spoon, nor do I think it's a particularly enjoyable experience for those who just want to taste coffee for fun.

So in the name of "Making Modern Coffee More Accessible to Anyone", I've picked up a set of Rattleware Cupping Brewers to make the process of tasting coffee far more enjoyable for me and for anyone who joins a tasting in the future!

These brewers utilize a chambered design to brew coffee just like a cupping bowl, but then utilizes a silicone stopper to trap the grounds and allows the brewer to pour the coffee into individual tasting cups which, in my opinion, is a far more enjoyable experience than bending over a table to slurp coffee from a spoon. I first came across these brewers at LA Coffee Fest a couple years ago and have wanted to host tastings using these brewers ever since, so I'm extremely excited to get to do that starting very soon.

TTFN

And that's all I've got for you today! Thanks as always for reading and keep watching that Instagram for some tasting opportunities! Cheers, and see y'all next week.

Love,

Noah