The Conversation
Ray: Today we’re trying Ceremony Coffee I think they’re out of Maryland…
Kandace: Mmhm, yeah.
Ray: Huge fans of this little logo. Right? How did you discover them? Kandace.
Kandace: On a trip to Barista, here in Portland. This just stood out. So I was looking at a wall of coffee bags and this one was just I mean it’s really nice…love the illustration, love the side illustration. I really like the simplicity of the bag. Coffee should be something special.
Ray: Love the simplicity of that for sure.
Kandace: Yeah.
Ray: And I thought their website was interesting they’re doing something they call asymmetry so it seems like they’re trying out different things it’s like a blend of two beans. So they seem to be trying out some….
Kandace: From an offerings perspective, I thought their website was fantastic. But from a brand perspective, it wasn’t what I was anticipating. The brand that I was expecting wasn’t there but then through clicking deeper and looking at how interested they are in events and teaching in the blog I saw some photos of their space.
It’s like, and their Instagram, it’s ALL right on like, the brand does match what you see with the bags but when you hit their website, it’s just not quite there. And so, I could see that being elevated so it’s all cohesive.
Ray: For instance the coffees when you look at a coffee page you see a photo of those flavors…
Kandace: Which is a really cool concept.
Ray: It’s a great idea. I love that idea.
Kandace: Yeah. Mmhm.
Ray: Yeah. And yet the photos on Instagram were even better. I think they should reshoot those in the style of like their Instagram photos which were really cool.
Kandace: I noticed on Instagram that they have like a gorgeous wooden table a lot like our table, and they’ve got a lot of really nice shots from it.
Ray: It’s all about the table that’s the key to those shots.
So the coffee we got today was um, Ethiopia Wazzala…
Kandace: Out of Yirgacheffe.
Ray: Yirgacheffe district this a washed coffee.
Kandace:I just found out that Yirgacheffe was a district.
Ray: Yeah.
Kandace: What is washed coffee Ray? You say?
Ray: Washed coffee, also known as wet processed coffee, says the fruit covering the seeds is removed before they’re dried. They’re sorted by immersion in water, where the bad or unripe fruit floats to the top. This process is more expensive than dry and it uses a lot of water. But it brings out interesting sought out flavors.
Notably, most Ethiopian coffees are not washed so this was interesting that this one was. And it’s great! It has like a nice, like sort of like, bright lemon peel sort of flavor you’d expect from this coffee.
One other interesting thing about their site, if I can go back, is that when you look at all the coffees on a big grid there weren’t photos. It was all text, all descriptions so I actually kind of liked that it. I thought that was kind of on brand because, I wouldn’t necessarily want a different drawing for each one. It really worked just to see that list.
Kandace: Oh. No that…I would love a different drawing for each one. If the branches were different or if there was…if there was something different like…
Ray: Maybe they can get hand-drawn flavor.
Kandace: Yeah, like these are really fantastic. These are…
Ray: Yeah. Maybe they can have someone draw out their flavors that they…
Kandace: No I’d love to see that. I love these illustrations.
Ray: Could probably just trace these photos that you have.
Kandace: Are you talking directly to them now?
Ray: I’m talking directly to them…you guys should just trace those photos it’d be…perfect.
Kandace: Yeah
Also Kandace…
Kandace: Yes Ray?
Ray: The idea of their club was interesting. You could subscribe to coffees, change those at any time and subscribe to like filter baskets or whatever.
Kandace: No it’s a great idea. If you know that you’re you know using a Chemex to be able to get your filters at the same time as your coffee that’s fantastic. Super smart.
Ray: What was missing would be a type of membership. For someone like me I would say just send me…like what if I could pick like, three Africans and one Latin American and filters, and have them sent to me every other week? That would be great.
Kandace: Could you not?
Ray: No. It was you had to literally say which ones you wanted and then go back in and edit that list later
Kandace: Oh. I see. Just any three.
Ray: It would be great if you could just pick…Yeah yeah like have the roaster pick three interesting…you know maybe they could see my history and what coffees I hadn’t tried.
Kandace: Maybe they could call you each week.
Ray: Look, that would be COOL!
Kandace: It actually would be cool.
Ray: Someone should do that! It would be cool. And I think these guys are knowledgeable enough and if they could do that they could, you know. Maybe for an extra fee.
Kandace: Like you could check a box it’s like an extra fifty dollars…
Ray: I think we’re done here. Okay.
Kandace: Cool, so yeah. High five!
Ray: Alright, Ceremony Coffee. Get it, drink it, love it.
Kandace: I think we crushed this one.
Ray: I think we crushed it too.
Kandace: Yeah.