Blue Bottle Coffee

Review


I have been subscribing to Tonx Coffee for several years now. Earlier in 2014, it
was announced that Tonx would be joining Blue Bottle Coffee. The fortunate
thing is the coffee subscription service wasn't going to be changing that much,
only the branding.

The changes that are happening are going to make things even better. Below is more information about the subscription service, and a list of the coffees I
am receiving to give you an idea of the flavours to be expected when signing up.
The original list of coffees delivered by Tonx will remain on my site, as Blue Bottle
Coffee is still continuing on their tradition of delivering coffees from around the
world.

Blue Bottle Coffee

Blue Bottle Coffee is an independent operation based out of California. They
have both coffee shops there, but also coffee subscription services that sends
the best coffee or espresso from their roasters to your door for a low price. With
the addition of the Tonx team, Blue Bottle Coffee truly the best damn coffee out
there.
Until I subscribed to Blue Bottle Coffee.
Blue Bottle Coffee gives you that variety if you desire it, or a certain bean
type on a regular basis with consistent flavours.
Here are some links to learn more about the company:
- The Big Blue Bottle Coffee Machine - The Awl
- Blue Bottle Coffee's New Orlenas Iced Coffee - LAist
- The Multimillion Dollar Quest to Brew the Perfect Cup of Coffee - Fast
Company

Subscription Options
With Tonx, you only had two choices: a small bag of coffee, or a larger one. With
Blue Bottle Coffee, you have endless possibilities.
- Origins Subscription: A delicious new single origin offering from Latin
America, East Africa, or the Pacific Islands.
- Blend Subscription: A changing selection of our blends, each one
with its own origin story and profile.
- Espresso Subscription: A melange of our espresso offerings, including blends and single origins that we serve in our cafes.
- a choice of 7 other coffee roasts on a regular basis.
With each subscription, you will eventually get to choose the frequency (every
week, every other week, once a month, etc.) And like Tonx, you will get a few size
options as well.
- 6 oz is $13 for Origins Subscription ($12 for others)
- 12 oz is $21 for Origins Subscription ($19 for others)
Once you have the option to have shipments arrive once a month, the 12 oz bag
is going to clearly be the best option.

The Coffees
The other options available:
- Hayes Valley Espresso: Cocoa, orange zest, smoky finish.

- Decaf Noir: Nutty, chocolaty, dense.

- Bella Donovan: Heavy, comforting, deeply fruited.
- Three Africans: Fruity, radiant, creamy.
- Giant Steps: Viscous, fudgy, substantial.
- 17ft Ceiling: Effulgent, caramelly, enveloping, nutty.
- Roman Espresso: Jammy, malted, medium-bodied

Subscription Coffees Received

Buena Vista
Details: Roger Esa Herrera Ortz and his family of seven are responsible for
some of the most delicious coffee Nicaragua has to offer. Their farm, Buena Vista,
is located on the Cerror de la Explosion in San Fernando de Nueva Segovia. This
selection is pulped, fermented, and washed on the farm before it is transferred
to Beneficio La Estrella, in nearby Ocotal, to be dried and prepared for export.
Deliciousness: Nougat, cocoa, mixed berry, pear

Costa Rica Tarrqz Santa Rosa

Details: Beneficio Santa Rosa is perched high in the mountains of Santa Rosa de
Len Corts, in central Costa Rica. Owned and managed by the father and son

team of Efran and Herberth Naranjo, the farm and mill are modestly sized and
impeccably run. After pulping and mechanically demucilaging the fruit from
each tiny harvest, the Naranjos lay their parchment coffee out to dry on wellmonitored raised beds.
Deliciousness: Nectarine, watermelon, strawberry shortcake, maple.

El Salvador Aida Batlle Tanzania

Details: Thanks to her scrupulous attention to picking and processing, along with
her savvy across all levels of the coffee supply chain, Aida Batlle has become the
first of a new breed: coffee producer as culinary celebrity. Cherries from Finca
Tanzania are hand-selected for their ultra-ripe "blood red and burgundy" coloration, then processed at J. Hill, an unparalleled facility in downtown Santa Ana.
Deliciousness: Caramel, maple, brown sugar, fig

Ethopia Guji Suke Quto

Details: The 68-member Suke Quto producer's association is located in the Odo
Shakiso district, in Ethopia's Guji zone. Founded in 2004, Suke Quto stretches

across a verdant 291 hectares and includes a diverse array of indigenous plant
and animal species. After being hand-picked at its apex of ripeness, this coffee is
fermented in concrete tanks, washed, and sun-dried on raised beds.
Deliciousness: Strawberry, rose hip, pluot, silk

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Costa Rica Tarraz Divino Nio

Details: With four generations of farming experience behind him, Mauricio Vindas is off to a great start at Divino Nio. Since purchasing the 12-hectare farm in
2009 (he worked as a cook to save up the money), he's planted more than 5,000
Caturra and Catuai trees. This year, thanks to some meticulous picking and processing. Divino Nio nabbed its first Cup of Excellence award.
Deliciousness: Citron, toffee, cocoa, brisk, clean.

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Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Bedhatu Jibicho

Details: In Gedeb, a fertile pocket of southern Ethiopia that's just east of Abaya
Lake. Bedhatu Jibicho is producing some of the country's most exciting coffee.
With help from her son, Tesfaye, who runs day-to-day operations on the farm,
she's getting delicious (and prodigious) yields from her 45 hectares. After careful
picking, this coffee is laid out on raised beds to dry, then taken north to be milled
at a cooperatively-run facility in Addis Ababa.
Deliciousness: Strawberry, dark chocolate, malted milk, cream

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Guatemala Cobn Santa Isabel

Details: Finca Santa Isabel, located in a lush corner of Guatemala's San Cristobal
Verapaz municipality, has been owned and operated by the Valdes family since
1875. Today, the 187-hectare farm stands out as a paragon of environmental sustainability, with a full 100 hectares dedicated to reforestation and a plenitude of
animal species making their homes there.
Deliciousness: oak, honey, dark chocolate, peach

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Ethopia Guji Hambela Natural

Details: Aman Adinew, formerly the director of quality control for the Ethiopian
Coffee Exchange, has an impressive resume. In addition to establishing the first
speciality-focused cupping lab in Africa, he was responsible for training more
than 60 certified coffee tasters. Hambela, a farm that hosts its own plants and
sources cherry from nearby smallholders, is the brainchild of he and his brother
Michael.
Deliciousness: Black cherry, floral, apricot, blackberry

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Colombia Cauca Caloto

Details: This coffee comes to us from a group of four smallholders - Marta Cunda, Diego Trujillo, Arturo Lizcano and Jairo Almeguer - all located in Caloto, a

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small municipality just a couple hours south of the Colombian city of Cali. After
picking, coffee cherries from these producers undergo a process of manual depulping, then they're fermented in tiled or concrete tanks for a period of 16-20
hours.
Deliciousness: Tropical fruit, tangerine, date, toffee.

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Guatemala La Bolsa el Cabro

Details: Purchased in 1958 by Dr. Jorge Vides, Finca La Bolsa is among the most
progressive coffee operations in Guatemala. Before Vides passed away in 1995,
he was a longtime director of the National Hospital in Guatemala City, which now
bears his name. Today, his socially-minded imprint lives on through numerous
farm programs: nutritious menus for pickers children, a school, first aid trainings,
and nurse evaluations.
Deliciousness: Plum, juicy, milk, chocolate, clean.

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Details: Hunkute is a coop comprised of nearly 2,000 farmers who deliver their
cherries to two washing stations in the Wonsho District in Sidama, Ethiopia. A
small group of highly-trained coppers evaluate every batch of the countrys

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prized coffee. With such ideal growing conditions and commitment to quality,
Hunkute is a long-standing favourite of our sourcing team.
Deliciousness: Peach, melon, delicate

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Details: Run by Erasto Weneza and co-owned by local farmers, the Mwasa washing station is a glimpse into Rwandas bright coffee-growing future. Thanks to geographic conditions like mineral-rich volcanic soil and winds from nearby Lake
Kivu, this washed coffee is bursting with sweet, deeply fruited flavours.
Deliciousness: Peach, brown sugar, date.

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Costa Rica Santa Rosa 1900 La Plaza

Details: Finca La Plaza is one of three coffee farms run by the Naranjo family. It is
situated adjacent to the Santa Rosa 1900 microbial, so named for its elevation (in
meters above sea level). Production is a longer process at this elevation, where
tree growth, cherry ripening and drying take significantly longer than they do at
lower farms. These factors allow the Naranjo family to employ careful and deliberate methods, producing a coffee we are thrilled to offer.
Deliciousness: Almond paste, kiwi, honey

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Colombia Cerro Azul Gesha

Details: Nestled in the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia, Cerro Azul is known
for its Gesha, especially since it is the only varietal they grow on the farm (30,000

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trees- all Gesha!). Advanced climate tracking technology provides farmers with
detailed information about factors such as rainfall, sun, and wind so that they can
optimize their harvest.
Deliciousness: Sparkling, jasmine, plum

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Panama Emporium Estate Natural

Details: Panamas Emporium Estate (formerly Dona Berta), is owned and handily
managed by Graciano Cruz. Having placed in the Top 10 coffees in the annual
Panamas Best competition in past years, its no wonder that Emporium continues
to surprise and delight us. Their signature naturals are meticulously processed
on African-style raised beds.
Deliciousness: Blackberry, plum, tropical

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Peru Puno San Jorge

Details: Located in the Sandia Valley of Puno, Perus southernmost province, San
Jorge is one of eight cooperatives that make up the Central Agricultural Cooperative of the Sandia Valley (CECOVASA), which oversees a membership of 4,700

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farmers. As most of the farms are on the smaller side, nearly all of the coffee is
picked by the farmers themselves, sometimes with the help of neighbours.
Deliciousness: Balanced, milk chocolate, cherry cola

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Rwanda Nyanza Iwacu

Details: Iwacu, which means our place, is run by a gentleman named Uwizeye,
who formerly managed coffee washing stations for Rwandas Ministry of Defense.
During the growing season, he manages nearly 2,000 farmers. Uwizeye and his
team are very committed to sustainability, their machine utilizes pressure instead
of water to de-pulp cherries.
Deliciousness: Red currant, lemon, nectarine.

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Kenya Embu Gikirima

Details: In early 2014, our green coffee buyer became the first representative
from any coffee roaster to set foot in Kenyas Gikirima washing station. The
farmers producers apply a meticulous hand to their fermenting, drying, conditioning, and storing operations. Part of the Kibugu Farmers Cooperative, Gikirima produces some of the most delicious coffee Kenya has to offer.
Deliciousness: Blackberry, mandarin orange, vibrant

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Details: La Boisa, so named for the bag-shaped topography that the farm sits in,
was purchased by Dr. Jorge Vides M.D., in 1958. With great elevation and a small
river running through the property, the land is ideal for growing and processing
coffee. Dr. Vides highly valued the health of his employees, and implemented a

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number of programs to ensure it, before he passed away in 1995. The farm is
now managed by his daughter, Maria Elena Vides.
Deliciousness: Plum, grapefruit, creamy

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Brazil Minas Gerais Carmo Select

Details: Nestled in Brazils Mantiqueira mountains, both Fazenda Ignacio Pereira
and Fazenda do Serrano are overseen by the Sertao Group and the Pereira family. This Yellow Bourbon variety is a pulped-natural coffee, meaning that the skin
and some of the sticky mucilate are removed mechanically before beans are laid
out to dry.
Deliciousness: Chocolate mousse, almond, red apple

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Details: Fourth-generation farmer Mauricio Vindas Vargas named his farm Divino
Nino in honour of his son, who recovered from a serious childhood illness. They
say gratitude reaps rewards, but we know hard work does, too. Marco bought
these 12 hectares in Costa Ricas Tarrazu region with money he earned as a cook.
He planted 5,000 Cattura and Catui trees and dries the beans in the sun. Whatev-

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er the reason, Divino Nino is getting its due. This year, it nabbed its first Cup of
Excellence award.
Deliciousness: Toffee, vanilla, currant

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Malawi Misuku Hills Mzuzu

Details: The Mzuzu Coffee Farmers Cooperative works with 3000 producers
from six villages in northern Malawi. The co-op places an impressive and inspiring emphasis on rural and social development, with a focus on improving food
and housing security, education, and opportunities for women. When the co-ops
not improving farmers lives, its helping them produce gorgeous coffees like this
one.
Deliciousness: Cola, tamarind, syrupy
$5 off your Blue Bottle Coffee Subscription
To be updated as subscriptions are received

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