Chief Operations Officer of Coffee Reserve, John Nugent, says, “We are excited to have someone of Ted’s caliber leading our business development initiative.  Ted’s extensive experience in developing and capitalizing on market opportunities, as well as his dedication to cultivating long-term customer relationships make him a natural fit for the Coffee Reserve team.”

Pearson is a beverage sales veteran with vast retail and food service experience managing national chain accounts and distributors, with a proven track record of building brands and growing volume in the coffee, beer and wine industries. He is skilled at understanding the beverage consumer, accessing his customers’ needs while providing superior customer support and building long lasting partnerships based on mutual trust.

Coffee Reserve will utilize Pearson’s expertise to focus on building business relationships and partnerships with regional and national restaurant, food service and convenience store chain accounts that have the desire to provide high quality coffee and iced tea to their customers.

Coffee Reserve Brands has been custom roasting coffee in Phoenix since 1997.  The company employs a team of renowned coffee experts to procure, taste, roast and package their coffees.  Coffee Reserve Brands is committed to procuring the finest agriculturally sustainable coffees such as Rain Forest Alliance certified coffee and Fair Trade coffee from around the world.  The company also creates traditional and proprietary iced tea blends that are served both locally and nationally in fine restaurants, coffee houses and hotels.  In addition, the company operates a custom packaging division which handles co-packing, toll roasting, in-room hotel packets and private label coffees.

The Advantages of Shamrock’s Coffee Program, Filmed at Coffee Reserve Youtube Video

The trips that we take to coffee producing countries play an important role in establishing relationships with coffee growers and ensuring that we have a consistent supply and quality.   Even more important is the batch roasting process and experienced roastmasters to bring out the best flavor from each origin and blend. According to Chef Bryan, that’s what sets Shamrock Foods and Trescerro Coffees from Coffee Reserve apart from the rest.

We roast each batch to order, and offer proprietary blends and a variety of packaging and labeling options.  We agree with Chef Bryan that consumers today are more and more discerning when it comes to their coffee. We owe it to our customers to provide the highest-quality, best tasting coffee to represent their brand.

When she’s not immersed in the world of coffee, you can find Deborah rolling up her sleeves and tackling her love of renovating older homes.  She and her two Labrador retrievers are currently living in her most recent project.

David Schomer, owner of Seattle’s Espresso Vivace is credited with bringing latte art to the forefront of coffee culture.  He first became intrigued with the “velvet foam” crafted at Uptown Espresso in 1988.  He worked on his technique of free-pouring the textured milk using the sides of the cup to form swirls and waves, and perfected the heart pattern by 1989.  He learned to create concentric rings around the heart by using a method of shaking the pitcher, which he learned from a barista in Milano.

Schomer saw the now popular Rosetta pattern (fernlike waves that form a floral design in the cup) first in a photo from another Italian café in 1992. He was smitten with the beautiful pattern and worked for about six months perfecting the technique.  Once the heart and Rosetta patterns are mastered, a creative barista can expand his or her repertoire into swans, rabbits, elaborate geometric designs, birds and other animals.

In the last few years, latte art throwdowns have become increasingly popular competitive events in the coffee world.  As in all culinary disciplines, presentation is a vital component of a successful creation.  In Schomer’s words, “The intent is to promote respect for caffe espresso as a culinary art that emphasizes flavor, a silky feel, and stunning presentation possibilities.”   As specialty coffee roasters, we love the history and dedication behind this growing art.

1. Use Great Water - a great cup of coffee is over 98% water. If you don’t start with great water, you won’t finish with great coffee. We work with water experts to analyze your water and recommend the filtration that is right for you.
2. Use Great Coffee - buy coffee only from a roaster dedicated to finding, roasting, and packaging great coffee beans. We are passionate about our coffee, and love to share that passion with you and your staff.
3. Use Great Equipment - great coffee is brewed within tight parameters of time and temperature. Be sure that your brewing equipment can meet the requirements of a great cup. We specify and test commercial brewing equipment that can meet the exacting requirements of great coffee.
4. Use Enough Coffee - a great cup of coffee depends on an ideal intersection of coffee and water. We ensure that the right ration of coffee to water is combined with the perfect grind to get a great cup of coffee.
5. Serve It Fresh - great coffee is always fresh coffee – freshly roasted and freshly brewed. We roast fresh daily, package in nitrogen flushed barrier packaging, and encourage you to serve coffee within twenty minutes of brewing.
6. Keep It Clean - great coffee comes from clean brewers, clean serving carafes and cups. We recommend a strict hygiene regimen to keep your coffee at its best.

Hopefully this was helpful for you as you try to make the perfect cup of coffee.  If you are able to combine the 6 keys to making a great cup of coffee above, you will notice a huge difference.  Let us know if we can answer any questions for you!

That’s why we’re pointing out the frog. Maybe you’ve seen the little green guy on packaging but aren’t really sure what it stands for. Since 1990, the Rainforest Alliance has been transforming tropical agriculture and now certifies over 100 types of crops, including coffee, cocoa, tea, sugarcane, flower and fruit. More than 2 million people, including farmers, farm workers and their families benefit directly from Rainforest Alliance certification, as certified farms provide a better future for people while conserving nature and protecting wildlife.

The Rainforest Alliance has worked within the communities and with experts in science, agriculture and the environment to develop farm-management guidelines that maintain important traditions and eco-friendly practices, while maintaining a growing awareness of social responsibility and ensuring economic sustainability.

Rainforest Alliance Week was created to bring awareness to the brands and products that support the mission of the Alliance, and to let consumers know that by purchasing goods showing that little green frog, you are making a difference in the world. So, the next time you are shopping, just follow the frog! Learn more about how the Rainforest Alliance is supporting a brighter future for people and the planet at www.rainforest-alliance.org.

Clouding can be caused by using hard water which contains high concentrations of minerals.  The minerals can take the form of visible solids that don’t dissolve at cooler temperatures.  Simply brewing your tea with water treated with a reverse osmosis and re-mineralization system can alleviate the cloudy appearance.  Clouding can also be caused by a component of tea known as theaflavins. Theaflavins remain evenly suspended in tea when kept at a higher temperature or cooled slowly.  If the tea is cooled quickly, the theaflavins will cause the tea to cloud.

Further studies have tried to determine why certain teas contain more theaflavins and thus are more prone to clouding. There are theories about teas from certain regions or those  grown at high altitudes being more likely to cloud, but the Sri Lanka Tea Research Institute has concluded that clouding can take place in either high or low quality teas.  Theaflavin content can change from harvest to harvest, making it difficult to predict a tea’s propensity toward clouding based on region.

A cloudy iced tea can be cleared up by something as simple as adding a very small amount of hot water, which demonstrates that the clouding is unrelated to flavor.  Try tasting the cloudy tea before and after adding a splash of hot water – just don’t dilute it in the process.  The simple discovery that clouding doesn’t affect the taste of iced tea may just open up a whole new world of great tasting teas to you.