Coffee is grown in two ways: there are enormous coffee plantations which produce a substantial amount of the world’s supply of coffee, but much of the world’s coffee is produced on small holdings by farmers who have a tiny orchard of coffee trees attached to their farms. These farmers bring their crops to cooperatives to be processed. Also, a surprising amount of coffee is still picked from the trees growing wild, particularly in Ethiopia.
There are two main types of coffee plants—Arabica (air ah BEE ca or ah RAB ick ca) and Robusta. Put simply, Arabicas are the good-tasting beans that are used for specialty coffees. Robustas are lower in flavor and quality and are used mainly in commercial supermarket coffees. Surprisingly, Arabicas account for about 75% of the world’s coffee production. At Crimson Cup®, an Ohio coffee roaster, we use only the top 5% of Class 1 Speciality Grade Arabica beans for our coffees.
Like wine, coffee offers a variety of subtle taste differences depending on where the coffee was grown and how light or dark it is roasted. By blending different coffee beans, you have an infinite choice of flavors to match your palate exactly. When our Ohio coffee roasters blend coffee it is truly an art, not a science. It is equivalent to how a master chef blends ingredients to create memorable cuisine. By complementing the strengths of one coffee with the strengths of another, we get the best of all worlds. And you get a superior cup of coffee.
Creating masterful blends is one area where Crimson Cup stands out from other Ohio coffee roasters. In 1992 Armando Escobar, Greg Ubert, and Chris Lamb spent seven months creating a blend of coffees that surpassed all others. The result is our signature blend, worthy of the title “Armando’s Blend.” Armando’s blend is a medium roast made up of beans from Indonesia, Africa, Central and South America. The coffee is full-bodied, bold yet smooth, nutty and chocolaty. In addition to being used in drip coffee, Armando’s Blend is also coffee used for espresso and cold brewed espresso at Crimson Cup Coffeehouse and all of the Crimson Cup Community stores.
To learn more about Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup click here.
Blue Turtle – Located in Westerville, this unique tea and spice shop is the perfect place to get unique and delicious cooking ingredients.
Chelly Belly – This Delaware sandwich shop is really tasty. Check it out for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Farm House Ice Cream Parlor - This shop in Marysville just launched their breakfast menu today! They open at 7AM so make sure you stop by and try out their tasty breakfast menu.
The quality of the bean is the first step in creating a great-tasting, espresso-based drink. At Crimson Cup Coffee, we import and roast only Class 1 Specialty Grade coffee beans. This Specialty Grade represents the top five percent of coffee beans produced in the world. Why do we use only the best? The characteristics of these beans exhibit the most favorable cup qualities; the beans are more consistent sizes and shapes, which helps the coffee to roast evenly.
Roasting
Roasting coffee is both an art and a science. Our roastmasters use state-of-the-art equipment and scientific tools to assist them in developing the perfect roast for every individual coffee bean. Our roastmasters sample our coffee to ensure each coffee roast tastes perfect and is consistent from day to day.
Blending
There are close to 50 different countries that produce Class 1 Speciality Grade coffee. Most of those countries have many different growing regions, each with its own taste profile. Coffee from any one of these “origins” can have favorable qualities, but blending two or more together can create a truly unique taste sensation that can’t be found from a single coffee or from any other coffee establishment. Crimson Cup has a number of incredible “signature” blends to meet the needs of our coffeehouse partners. Our best selling blend is Armando’s Blend, which is made up of coffee beans from Central and South American, Africa, and Indonesia.
Freshness
At Crimson Cup, we want our customers to serve the freshest product possible so our coffee goes from our warehouse to our retailers within 72 hours. Our packaging is designed to keep elements—like oxygen and light—from robbing our coffee of freshness while allowing the coffee to naturally degas.
Brewing Standards
You can choose the best green beans and roast them to perfection, but if you mess up the preparation your drink is going to taste awful. This is why we have a comprehensive training program available for our customers. Whether you are pulling shots of espresso or brewing drip coffee or cold-brewed espresso, you must use the proper techniques.
To learn more about our coffee, products, or training program click here or call us at 888-800-9224.
Many of you wonder if our coffee shop marketing ideas and coffee shop marketing tactics really work. Are they appealing enough to entice customers to order what is in the picture? We are here to say, absolutely yes, and if done correctly you can get them for FREE! Keep in mind there needs to be a little strategy behind your placement of these materials, but they do work. Here are a few statistics from our coffeehouse on our most recent drink promotions:
Frozen Caramel Pecan Latte – Since the promotion was implemented on June 21st, the coffeehouse has ordered enough syrup to make 1,143 16 ounce Frozen Caramel Pecan Lattes in 31 days; at a $4.00 price point, that equates to $4572 in profit! Keep in mind for this promotion the product kit was only $145 and this included the FREE marketing materials. As a business owner it just makes sense to invest in the promotion.
Frozen Mocha Berry Lite – These marketing materials made customers aware that we carry an alternative version to frozen drinks that has more protein & fewer carbohydrates! As a result, the coffeehouse Polar Powder Protein Lite drink sales have more than doubled over last year!
Organic Iced Tea – Our coffeehouse‚ iced tea sales have grown over 400% from last year! There is no doubt, the marketing materials helped increase this year’s numbers over last year!
Still not a believer? Here is a quote from one of our customers in Iowa Falls, IA discussing our coffee shop marketing ideas. She said ” [Crimson Cup's] posters sell drinks. They are always so nice and crisp and colorful. Anyone not using them is crazy! They are well worth the investment.” Keep in mind the investment is just the cost of the products. This means you are getting the marketing materials for FREE because the products used in our promotions are products you already purchase if you own a coffee shop. Our Iowa Falls customer says it best, “that’s what makes this such an unbelievable deal!”
To start raising drink awareness in your coffeehouse, get free marketing materials or coffee shop marketing ideas, contact us at sales@crimsoncup.com or call 888-800-9224!
Coffee is grown in two ways: there are enormous coffee plantations which produce a substantial amount of the world’s supply of coffee, but much of the world’s coffee is produced on small holdings by farmers who have a tiny orchard of coffee trees attached to their farms. These farmers bring their crops to cooperatives to be processed. Also, a surprising amount of coffee is still picked from the trees growing wild, particularly in Ethiopia.
