Some good news and some bad news.

The good news is there won't be a newsletter next week. The bad news is, I'm going to complicate things just a bit. Or, I guess you could look at it the other way around. In any regard...

 I'm taking a few days off and heading south on my  motorcycle for one last hurrah while the weather  permits. Rather than try and create this newsletter on  the road using my phone, which I did on my last road  trip and which was no fun at all, I've decided to  combine two ordering deadlines for home delivery  customers. My apologies in advance for any  confusion. 

When submitting your orders, please specify  if you want your coffee delivered onOctober 14th or 21st, or both.

This past week has been very busy. We received our biggest coffee shipment ever which was pretty exciting. When you're in the shop, take a look into the shop and you'll see the stacks and stacks of burlap bags, full of coffees from all over the world. So many coffees, so few days. :)

The other big news is that today we received our medal from the Golden Bean Awards which I mentioned last week. I guess that makes it official! It's great to know our coffee stands up so well against over 100 other roasters'.

The other big news is, they're baaaaccckkkk! That's right, the pumpkin spiced lattes are back on the menu so stop by and pick one up.

Another addition to the menu is a cardamom latte. This will be a first for us but we played around with them yesterday and came up with something that is absolutely delicious! Subtle and very well balanced.

As I mentioned in last week's newsletter, we're working with The Coffee Trust to help raise funds for coffee farmers in Guatemala who have been so hard hit by the La Roya blight.

The coffees from Guatemala have always been some of the most popular we've offered. They have consistently provided great cups of coffee with notes of chocolate, nuts and various fruit.

And from a roaster's perspective, they've proven to be some of the most consistent coffees available which speaks to the quality of the plants as well as the cultivation, culling and milling process which occur at the farms or coops at origin. It will be nice to help support  this continued effort.

 Beginning Saturday, there will be a jar on our counter labeled,  "Tip Your Farmer". Please consider contributing to this great  cause. All proceeds go directly to help train over 500  Guatemalan farmers on organic solutions to deal with coffee  rust.

 And just when you thought you'd heard everything...

 I've heard of using coffee grounds in compost, to border one's  yard to keep neighborhood cats out, as enemas and now, a  friend sent me a link to an article in GizMag, describing the process of turning used coffee grounds into biofuel. http://www.gizmag.com/used-coffee-grounds-biofuels/39731/  

It actually sounds pretty promising and what an innovative use for coffee. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

Only three more weekends of the St. Johns Farmers Market so be sure to take advantage of all the locally grown/created products while they're still available.

That's it for now. Stay cozy and keep the coffee flowing.

Many thanks,

Mount & Crew