Muggswigz Employees Make Another Generous Donation

Working as a team, Muggswigz employees have generously chosen to donate upwards of $3,750.00 to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a foundation fighting childhood cancer. 

Alex’s Lemonade Stand is a program that enriches the lives of children diagnosed with cancer, as well as funding research and funding for travel and treatment for families and children affected by cancer. This is the 3rd year in a row that Muggswigz employees have participating in their Charitable Donation Program. Last year, participating Muggswigz employees donated about $3,000 to the National Parents Organization. Participating employees contribute their choice of dollar amount every pay period, matched 5% by Muggswigz, to a pool to be donated to an organization or program. The top donors pitch ideas of charitable programs or organizations to be voted on at the end of the year. It is optional for the employees to participate and contribute. You can learn more about Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, or make your own donation, by visiting https://www.alexslemonade.org/. 

 

New Columbia Coffee

A new Columbian coffee has been made available in our stores called Columbia Finca La Esperanza. Grown in a sub-municipality San Antonio within the state of Cauca. Anibal Pillimue is the owner of Finca La Esperanza, whose coffee farm has 4,000 trees  and spans about 1.5 hectares. The plant species of the coffee is Arabica and is grown at an altitude of 2010-2100m. The coffee is sun-dried on a patio in the Subregion of Cauca, undergoing fermentation for 36 hours.

 

New Ethiopia Kochere Debo Natural

We have a new Ethiopian natural prepped coffee, the Ethiopia Kochere Debo Natural. This coffee has notes of wild strawberry pie with cardamom sprinkle and lemon-lime soda. This coffee is grown at an altitude of 1900-2100m and is a Grade 1 coffee grade. The Kochere district has attained a reputation for growing highly sought after coffees, in part because of the 'heirloom' varietal that are to blame for the creative and distinct flavor notes from Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a great set up with their land consisting of high altitudes, great rainfall, fertile soil, and insights from locals' knowledge The natural process (using a sun-drying method) gives the coffee a more stone fruit, creamy, and  chocolaty flavor profile. Find out more - here

World Coffee Championships

   In April, Alex and Morgan Haas attended the World Coffee Championships in Boston, MA. It was here that the best baristas in the word came to compete on stages throughout the week. The World Barista championship and the World Brewers Cup. Alex got to work behind the bar with the 2018 World Barista Champion, Agnieszka Rojewska from Poland ans well as Australia's National Barista Champion, Matthew Lewin. The Barista Champions had a small amount of time to create and present three separate coffee drinks to judges individually. They would give the judges instruction on how to enjoy their coffee drink, where the coffee beans came from, how they were roasted and prepared for this competition. The Brewers Cup had competitors set up all of their brewing equipment, and during a timed presentation, brew and serve the coffee. The dialogue here was similar to the barista competition in that the competitors delivered information about the growing processes of the coffee, the preparation and why they are brewing how they are.

     It was common to see cold brew coffees being sampled out from other roasters. The Brewers Cup Competitors were serving coffee and talking more in depth about their roasts at a smaller stage, meant for  face to face interaction. A popular items served at the bar were milk alternatives. You could order your cappuccino with "milks" derived from coconut, rice, soy, almond, etc. It was a good opportunity to try the some of the milks with different espresso roasts and see how they compare to our Spro Blend !