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Roasting Alone in the Time of COVID 19
Editor's note: Lowell Powell, partner to Royal's Marketing & Outreach Director and Catracha Coffee Founder Mayra Orellana-Powell, is the architect of the Catracha Quality Project and a driver behind many of the coffee processing innovations taking place on the ground in Santa Elena's coffee...
Consent and Participation: On Photography at Origin
Editor's note: A different version of this article originally appeared in Daily Coffee News on August 4, 2020. Consent and Participation: On Photography at Origin Consent in photography is a complex topic, and one that has been explored in great depth by anthropologists, philosophers, legal...
Impeachy Queen — Assume Nothing! A Year of Recipes
"Assume Nothing!" A mantra for The Crown as we worked towards opening our doors in March of 2019, the phrase became a Menu section, encouraging our visitors to drop their preconceptions and be open to new and delicious experiences. And now it's the title of a recipe series, for you to recreate at...
A Note from Our Tasting Room Director on Reopening The Crown
I’ll be honest – I was nervous about reopening the Tasting Room. Of course, I had good reason. The pandemic was (and is still) in full swing – in fact cases in the Bay Area are on an upswing. Our block of Broadway has also been the stage for some of the biggest protests against police violence...
Tamarind & Makrut Lime Soda — Assume Nothing! A Year of Recipes
"Assume Nothing!" A mantra for The Crown as we worked towards opening our doors in March of 2019, the phrase became a Menu section, encouraging our visitors to drop their preconceptions and be open to new and delicious experiences. And now it's the title of a recipe series, for you to recreate at...
Ethiopia: Coffee’s Heirloom
Publisher's note: check out our fresh crop Ethiopias. In December 2018, a small group of us drove the mercifully paved high route from Yirga Alem, in Sidama, to Shakiso, in Guji, arriving in the dark. Early the next morning on our way to the farms we stopped at a café for fatira, a flaky breakfast...
Roasting on the Ikawa – Updates & Comments (Part III)
The long and winding road of Ikawa profiling led me to pen previous articles on challenges and some new ‘from-scratch” sample roast profiles I have been employing regularly for Crown Jewels and other coffees. Yet, I’ve long been seeking a low-airflow alternative to the high fan speeds I tend to...
Royal Coffee Says Goodbye to Ron Garrigues 1930-2020
Part: 1 By Robert Fulmer Ron Garrigues just might have been the first hippie in the coffee business. When I first got to San Francisco in 1976, still dazed by the tall buildings and trying to figure out how to tie my new Macy’s work-required tie, Ron presented an appealing alternative. He was...
July 3rd Royal Coffee Office and Domestic Warehouse Closures
Please be advised that Royal Coffee will be closed Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th in celebration of Independence Day. Carriers are also closed on Friday, July 3rd. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our main office at 510.652.4256 or email us at info@royalcoffee.com....
The Cast Iron Coffee Roasting Experiment
By Nate Lumpkin, Crown Barista Since we’ve all been stuck at home for months, it seemed like there was no better time than now to practice roasting my own coffee. I do most of my home cooking on a cast iron skillet that a friend gifted me many years ago, and I’d heard that it’s possible to roast...
What is “Good” Coffee?
By Elise Becker, Crown Barista COVID-19 has changed many things about how we go about our day-to day. In fact, it’s why I’m writing articles and recipes instead of serving drinks. So many brewing guidelines are floating around right now, and people who are used to picking up coffee from their...
Kumquat — Assume Nothing! A Year of Recipes
"Assume Nothing!" A mantra for The Crown as we worked towards opening our doors in March of 2019, the phrase became a Menu section, encouraging our visitors to drop their preconceptions and be open to new and delicious experiences. And now it's the title of a recipe series, for you to recreate at...
Comparing Common Coffee Brewers – Part II
Comparing Common Coffee Brewers - Part II By Nate Lumpkin, Crown Barista As you all know, everything’s closed down for a little while to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, and the Crown is doing its part by staying closed. In the meantime, I have a lot of time on my hands. I’ve been curious...
We’re Getting to Work
This has been a particularly difficult and emotional time for many of us, particularly for our Black and Brown employees and communities. We all know the coffee industry in the United States is overwhelmingly white. I cannot imagine how weird it must be for a Black person working in this industry....
Petal & Pod — Assume Nothing! A Year of Recipes
"Assume Nothing!" A mantra for The Crown as we worked towards opening our doors in March of 2019, the phrase became a Menu section, encouraging our visitors to drop their preconceptions and be open to new and delicious experiences. And now it's the title of a recipe series, for you to recreate at...