The De La Paz Coffee Company

This past week was super busy.  Saturday was our first forum and we didnt know what to expect.  Everything turned out great.  We sold a bunch of coffee and got a chance to talk about the De La Paz Coffee experience. 

We also got our new drip stand.  We figured that it was time to upgrade and get more legit.  We wanted to design a drip stand that we can start offering to coffee shops, offices, and even homes.  Check out the new model.  It is a two drip stand that was designed by Kid Cam.  All stainless steel and great design!!!

Check back soon to see our new 1/2 lb bags.  Something new and exciting is always happening.  Also a quick shout out to the Bellas for their continued support and orders!!

Last week we got a new run of t’shirts printed at Ape Do Good Printing.  We went with a new and simple design and most importantly we went with a new water based pigment that Ape just started using.  We were just the second printing with this new pigment, and I must say it came out incredible.  The shirts are now even more environmentally friendly, plus the look is great.  Ape is actually the only print shop in SF that is using this eco friendly ink right now. 

On another note, we are participating in a forum (Best To Be Green) on May 19th from 12pm-4pm at Calvary Presbyterian Church at 2515 Fillmore St., San Francisco, Ca.  Best To Be Green is a forum and educational tool promoting green businesses in San Francisco.

This weekend De La Paz will be in Monterey, Ca for the Sea Otter.  We will be working a booth with the Velo Bellas so come by and check us out and get some good coffee while you watch some great racing.  We will have plenty of the Bella Blend for everyone. 

Then we will be racing back up to SF on Saturday (4/14) for a demo at Rainbow Grocery.  If you time your weekend shopping right, you might find us giving everyone free coffee.  The demo is from 10am-1pm. 

Lately we have been experimenting with espresso blends or great single origins that taste great as an espresso.  This is a picture of our single origin Brazil Poco Fundo pulled this morning.

We have been waiting a long time for the arrival of one of our favorite coffees.  Finding a Fair Trade Organic (FTO) Brazil is hard and we are lucky to get our hands on a good amount of Brazil Poco Fundo.  If you are in San Francisco and are looking for it, Rainbow Grocery just put it in their bulk selection.  If you are outside the area, just place an order on the webpage.  It is one of the only coffees that can be used as a single origin espresso and also tastes great in a french press or drip.  It has a syrupy taste that is very sweet and fruity!!

Our partnership with the Bellas is starting strong.  Just today we prepared and shipped 35 bags to Tennesse and North Carolina.  Here is a pic of us preparing the bags…

Until next time….

We are on the shelves at Rainbow Grocery Coop.  It has been a goal of ours to work with the great people at Rainbow and it finally happened.  We started out with two bulk bins and four bags.  It seems they are making an effort to have more local roasters on the shelves.  It’s nice to be able to load up the bike and make the delivery.  We printed up some special bulk bin cards last week at Ape do Good.  They really look cool.

We are also putting together a rad contract with the always fun Velo Bella’s.  We came up with a special “Bella Blend” that tastes so smooth.  It is excellent for an espresso or drip.  It has really nice crema.  Check out their own special bags that we designed.  I think these will be a hot item!!

Finally, we are having a demo at Rainbow Grocery next Sunday (Feb 11th- 10am-1pm).  Come by and say hi and have a fresh individual drip coffee.  Should be a lot of fun.

We had the amazing opportunity to attend this years CX Nationals in Providence RI.  Luckily the weather cooperated and we saw sun the whole time.  Since we had never gone to an event this large before we had no idea how much coffee to bring.  I was estimating that we would sell around 900 cups for the three days.  We ended up selling over 1400 cups.  Seven Stars Bakery in Providence was great.  They delivered all the pastries to us every morning before the sun came up.  For the third day we ended up grinding a lot of our whole bean coffee we brought to sell in order to keep everything moving smoothly.  Everyone was super nice and we met tons of new people.  There was a non stop line for coffee from the time we started until the final race.  We learned a lot and hopefully we will be a part of next years event. 

This is what the course looked like at 5:30am every morning.

A few pictures of the course and scenery.

Mugs are finally in!!

It has been a while since the last time we posted anything.  November was filled with lots of traveling and also our first holiday season with De La Paz Coffee.  One of our favorite stores, Bi-Rite, is using our coffee for all their gift baskets. 

This photo was taken while we were in Boulder Co during the USGP series race.  Our friend and great photographer, Brian Vernor, has a tent at all the USGP races, where he is taking pics of racers, spectators, and anything else interesting.  He will be showing them in Providence Ri during the Cyclocross National’s. 

I also forgot to post a great review by the infamous green la girl.  Check it out here (Green LA Girl) and lets us know what you think. 

If anyone is interested in a De La Paz Coffee Gift Basket, check out this link… Bi-Rite.  They have a great gift baskets for the holidays at a very reasonable price. 

Finally, if anyone knows any good, organic bakeries in Providence Ri, please send us an email.  We are traveling there in mid December for the Cross Nat’s and want to sell some tasty local pastries. 

This past weekend highlighted two races.  On Saturday there was a race in Fairfax and on Sunday we had the famous Surf City Halloween race.  Everyone was out showing their best costumes.  It was also our second race with our new coffee bar. 

It was great to see people coming back for more coffee after the first race.  We met alot of great people.  One of the perks about selling coffee is that you get to meet alot of new and interesting people. 

Team Hunter was also debuting the new team kits.  They are all wool and hand stitched in Oregon at Rainy Peak.  They even have the de la Paz Coffee logo on the arm!! 

This weekend we are off to Boulder Co for the big USGP series.  Stop by and get some fresh coffee on saturday.  Should be super fun. 

This past weekend was a blast!!  It was our first event where we were selling fresh coffee.  It was a ot of work getting ready, but it was all worth it.  It was very rewarding to see people happy and excited about our coffee.  Thanks to all the velo bella crew and all the people at surf city #1.  The new coffee bar works great.  Thanks Conor! 

We are headed to LA on the 28th and to Watsonville on the 29th.  After that we fly to Denver on the 4th for a GP event.  Should be fun.  MariPaz and I also hit 2 years!!!  Mucho amor.

This week’s DFL race was a blast.  It was held at the famous Crocker Amazon Park.  Huge turnout as usual.  I think Cameron (Team Hunter) took it all. 

Coffee has been treating us well.  We picked up a few more accounts this week.  It even looks like one location wants to start brewing our coffee on a daily basis.  Rock on!! 

We just got a bunch of new bags printed.  Ape do good is da bomb!!  www.apedogood.com  That boy knows his stuff.  Good to see that there is some high quality printing going on in the mission. 

Been super busy ever since we got the new roaster.   We did manage to slip in a long weekend to Yosemite, and let me tell you, it was sweeet!!  Great weather, great people, and great food.  We even got MariPaz to climb a rock. 

Cross season is right around the corner.  This year we are sponsoring a few series and when possible we will have a booth selling the best cup of coffee around, and fresh roasted bags of coffee to take home after the race.   Check out the different series dates to find out when we will be in a city near you…

http://www.pilarcitos.com/

http://surfcitycx.blogspot.com/

http://www.socalcross.org/

http://www.nashvillecyclo-crossseries.com/

We will also be at the infamous urban outlaw races.  Expct lots of people running around in tight clothes and dresses. 

Finally, check out a killer article in The New York Times on great coffee and skilled barista’s… Espresso’s New Wave Hits Town 

The long awaited Primo Roaster has finally arrived.  For the past few months we have been working overtime to fulfill all our orders and the site of the new roaster in it’s large crate was very exciting. 

We spent the first day unpacking the new machine.  It took three people just to lift it up the roaster onto its platform.  Luckly our friends in the warehouse were there to give us a hand. 

The second day was spent running all the new piping.  We needed to run new lines for the gas and also a new system for the venting.  Once it was finished, it looked great. 

Now that we have the larger machine, we can finally look for larger accounts and roast more coffee for all our family and friends.  The next few months should be very exciting!!