Now you will never have to decide between coffee or tea...new research has shown tea brewed from Coffea plants have the highest levels of anti-oxidants of any leaf used to brew tea...higher than green tea and all other teas in fact. Antioxidants combat inflammation and fight free radicals in the body.

Tea brewed from coffee leaves has more health benefits than roasted coffee beans themselves, but less caffeine, researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, UK found. Coffee leaf-based tea, which was first marketed in the 19th century, may never have caught on because of it's mild caffeine levels, but it has been popular among East African coffee-growing communities in Ethiopia and Sudan for centuries.

Along with high antioxidant levels, leaves from Arabica coffee plants are rich in mangiferin, another potent antioxidant originally found in mangoes. Tests of 23 species of coffee plant found varying levels of mangiferin, which has been shown to lower the risk of diabetes, blood cholesterol. 

The study, published in the Annals of Botany, also noted that antioxidants have role in protecting neurons and may reduce the risk of Parkinson's and dementia.

Tea brewed from coffee leaves is said to be somewhat bitter but not unpleasant, and could be blended with other tea leaves to provide a tasty, healthful followup to morning coffee. The additional revenue from harvesting coffee leaves along with berries could help fair-trade farmers and encourage sustainable harvest practices.

....at all 8 Markets of Choice throughout Oregon.  A beautiful rich and sweet coffee, and some of the fattest the varietal is a cross between the Maragogype, or "elephant bean", and the native Pacas) and phattest beans we've had this year! Check the MOC "savories" flyer...sale goes on til Dec 29.

Sumatra Red Badger has left our stock for this year....a great coffee, and thank you Johnson and Denny from importer Red Goni Coffee for sharing the wealth with us.  For fans of big-bodied, clean Far East coffee we now have the organic Taman Dadar from the island of Java.  A small-producer group from the villages of Curah Tatal and Kayumas have united S795 and typica varietals in perfect harmony to produce this exceptional wet-hulled method coffee.

Starting this week Badbeard's Microroastery is presenting special coffees in support of two great organizations, the Oregon chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters, Columbia-Northwest.  Anything we can to to continue empowering the tireless efforts of great people doing important work in this community! $4 per pound sold will go directly to these offices.  Direct contributions can also be made here for the SDF and here for BBBS

As the campaign says at Big Brothers Big Sisters, "Start Something!"

Confident that the Far East region is showing promising coffees, we are saying goodbye to the last few pounds of treasured Sumatra Red Badger for the season and preparing to roll out the red-carpet welcome to an exciting coffee from the island of Java known as "Taman Dadar" (flower garden in the native tongue). We'll expect it in on Friday, Nov. 30 and start rolling it out beginning next week.  This is an organic- and Rainforest Alliance-certified certifed wet-hulled coffee of unusual depth, body and aromatic makeup comprising mostly S795 varietal predominant in the Ijer Plateau plantations in Eastern Java.

Also requisitioning a substantial stash of newbie fave El Salvador Santa Leticia Estate Pacamara.  It will be on special offer at all Oregon Markets of Choice in mid-December...keep your eyes out for the Savories offering!

Excited to have  three Ethiopian newbies/"oldbies":  Yirgacheffe "Blue Nile", a hand-selected offering from the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), more fabulous Nigusie Lemma group natural process Limu (sweet and floral as can be) and natural process Sidamo Royal Select water process decaf. One the non-Ethiopian front we will be debuting big/fat/honey-sweet Pacamara varietal from El Salvador's Santa Leticia Estate. We haven't had coffee from the Valdivieso family farm in several years, but it was always top-notch (and then only had their 100% borbon, a smaller bean).  The Pacamara is a hybrid of Pacas and Maragogype, the latter being one of the largest-sized beans in the coffee world.

We had a nice run with these two exceptional coffees, and they have been sold out! But the Fazenda Santa Ines is gorgeous, one of those really peak Brazils which come to the 'States sporadically.

Excited to have a limited quantity of the exceptional Fazenda Santa Ines in house today.  This farm, run by the Dias Pereira family in Carmo de Minas, Minas Gerais State, has 75 hectares devoted to Bourbon Amarelo, Catuai and Acaia varietals, and our offering is 100% Yellow Bourbon, grown at 1200 meters.  Picking is by hand, unlike the vast bulk of machine-harvested cherry in Brazil.  Clean and sweet cup profile evincing much chocolate and citrus.

Worth the few days extra wait for inventory newbies from Kenya and Colombia and reinforcements from Yirgacheffe and Sumatra.  The Kenya is extra-special indeed.

Badbeard will be out of town from Friday, Sept 25 thru Sept 29th and resuming roasting activities Sept. 30 bright and early.

Well we've finally said goodbye to the yumbo Kaliluni and Kirimara peaberries but replacements on the way in the week after Labor Day...there are some tasty new offerings on the cupping tables in California and I'm going to get us some, y'hear?! Stay tuned....