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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates: Orders & Safety Precautions
To our Royal Coffee customers, Amid the concerns about COVID-19 and the statewide shelter in place directive, we want to keep you updated on the steps that we are taking to safeguard our operations, customers, and team. The safety and well-being of our community are, as always, our priority. Our...
A Taste of Perception: Examining Bias in Side-by-Side Coffee Tastings
A Taste of Perception: Examining Bias in Side-by-Side Coffee Tastings By James Scott, Crown Barista Over here at The Crown, we taste a lot of coffee--so much that we probably spit out more than we swallow (can you believe that?). Between slurps, we describe each coffee in as much detail as...
Could COVID-19 Put an End to Public Cuppings?
Editor's Note: This article first ran on March 9, 2020, in Daily Coffee News. It is reprinted here with permission. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been capturing headlines worldwide, the Specialty Coffee Association last week announced a series of new hygiene practices to be implemented...
International Women’s Day
We're fortunate to have team made up of incredible humans at Royal Coffee. In honor of National Women's Day, we are featuring some of them here, and sharing their career advice. Amanda Amato Junior Trader, 3 years with Royal Coffee Favorite Coffee: Colombia (Huila specifically) and Rwanda ...
What’s Brewing?
New panel discussion at The Crown: What's Brewing? March 27th, 2020 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm What’s Brewing is part of our "Understanding Extraction" series at The Crown, which brings experts together from adjacent industries to relate their experience with issues of sustainability, supply chain...
Guatemala: Hardship & Hope
Editor's note: This article was first published in Volume 74 of Coffee T&I Magazine in January 2020. It is reprinted here with permission, and you may download it in its original format here, courtesy the publisher. The only time I’ve ever actually sprinted through an airport to catch a...
Grading Green Coffee for Physical Defects
Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2020 edition of Roast Magazine under the Column "Technically Speaking" and is reprinted here with permission. You can view and download the article in its original format here. Sections of the article also appeared in Part III of our Green...
March 2020 at the Crown: Classes & Events Digest
Identifying Defects in Coffee March 5, 2020 09:30 AM (PST) Learn to grade coffee in this class focused on identifying both visual and taste flaws in the green beans. This class will cover both physical defects in green coffee and primary sensory defects. (Yep, we’ll be tasting them!) Coffee...
Roasting on the Ikawa – Updates & Comments (Part II)
The previous installment in this series outlined some challenges that presented themselves while using our Ikawa roasters here at Royal and The Crown. Below, we’ll look at the journey of creating roast profiles and making adjustments to suit many different purposes. After getting our machines back...
Unpacking the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide
Editor's note: This article first ran on February 17, 2020 in Daily Coffee News; it is republished here with permission. The Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide released its latest and largest update just a few days before the end of 2019. The Guide itself is a continuously evolving compendium of...
Royal Coffee Will Be Closed on Presidents’ Day 2020
The Royal Coffee office and Oakland warehouse will be closed on Monday, February 17th in observation of Presidents' Day. Please note that Caffeinated Cargo, Costa Oro and Dupuy Warehouses will also be closed and adjust your ordering schedule accordingly. Please email or call your trader for more...
Decaf, Methylene Chloride, and Royal Coffee
This week, Daily Coffee News published a summary of a surprisingly readable white paper by the Clean Label Project about decaffeinated coffee and the dangers of Methylene Chloride (or dichloromethane, CH2Cl2 for the scientists in the room). It circled the office this morning -- senior trader Jeri...
Nahún Rodríguez: Photos from Honduras
Occasionally, Royal Coffee will receive photos from origin that really stand out. We'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Nahún Rodríguez, who works in Honduras and captures life there through his lens. You can find more of his work on Instagram @nahunrodriguez.hn Nahún Rodríguez:...
Looking Towards the Future of Guatemalan Coffee
Editor's note: This article first ran in Daily Coffee News on January 14, 2020. It is reprinted here with permission. Guatemalan coffee has long held a place of honor among specialty coffee roasters. Regional names like Antigua, Cobán, and Huehuetenango are familiar to many, and are frequently...
February 2020 at the Crown: Classes & Events Digest
Tasting the Coffee Flavor Wheel Feb 6, 2020 03:00 PM (PST) An interactive tasting of the Sensory Lexicon of coffee using reference samples from fruits, spices, candies and many others. Go to event site Coffee Tasting: Southern Hemisphere Coffee Feb 7, 2020 01:00 PM (PST) Free, open to the public...