As we glide into 2010 we wish everybody a happy and prosperous New Year!
2009 was a difficult year for most people, a year in which most of us had to adjust our expenses and reassess our purchases of those things that bring us pleasure... coffee included! On our websites, we have done our best to freeze our prices and offer as many savings as possible on our sites throughout the year. Now we are getting a little help from vendors, whose costs have gone down in 2010 and thus there have been no price increases from them.
Shipping costs have continued to rise but we negotiated a slightly better discount from UPS for our Ground shipping, so we do not have to adjust our shipping costs for 2010, which is the first year that we have not had to increase costs for shipping (Post Office went up 40% in the last 18 months! And they just went up another 5% for Priority Mail but they promise no more increases for 2010.)
In 2009 we tripled the number of coffees we carry. It has been a great deal of fun to seek out the best vendors of the world's best Heirloom Coffees from Southeast Asia, a quest that led us to Sumatra, Thailand and the Philippines as well as to other producers from Vietnam. We also added 4 different versions of Kopi Luwak (civet coffee), which makes us the only reputable vendors in the world to carry more than one brand and origin of certified Kopi Luwak.
We await the new season for production of Liberica in the Philippines, a fabulous "lost" species of coffee that is making a comeback. We are looking forward to having the 100% Liberica back on the site. At the moment we have a wonderful blend of Liberica and Excelsa, which has been getting rave reviews from customers, but we do hope to have the 100% Liberica back soon.
In 2009 we also developed our own ESE pod, a joint venture with Indochine Estates, featuring their fine Bourbon Arabica and Excelsa blend of espresso in a 45 mm ESE pod. Pods are not just for brewing in pod machines, they are also a perfect serving for use in any espresso maker, just tear open the pod, pour it in and tamp and brew. Perfect espresso every time.
We hope you enjoy our new offerings and your old favorites in 2010 as we forge into the future trying to bring you a little more "coffee nirvana" all the time!
