A week ago we had our staff Christmas party. We always celebrate after the holidays since it's sooo busy in December, and most of us have a lot of other commitments. This way we can close early, and enjoy the time together without the stress. As usual, it was a lot of fun, complete with Chewbacca onesies and the usual epic Secret Santa gifts. I received some beautiful handmade art from Emily: wow! Thanks Em.

We are starting to get used to a slower pace around here, and we're back to getting updates done. Last week I got carried away revamping some of our labels, and ran out of time to write and send this newsletter. And the previous week with the New Year's holiday it didn't get done either (plus I took a day off to take my kids skiing). So I thought that I'd hop on here today to send out a quick email about this week's coffee.

Today we have a new Fair Trade Organic Honduras SHG COCASJOL for you. This seems to be one of those "what's in a name?" coffees. It's a long name--what does it mean? Well the first bit we've talked about a number of times, so I bet most of you are aware of what Fair Trade Organic means. In short, that this coffee is certified to be organic and to pay the farmers a fair wage. How about SHG? That stands for strictly high grown, which is sometimes also marked SHB or strictly hard bean. Although two different abbreviations, they both indicate that the coffee is grown at high elevation, which means that the beans are denser (thus "hard bean"), and with a lower yield that produces a higher quality.

The final word of the name, COCASJOL, is an abbreviation for the co-op, Cooperativa Agropecuaria Cafetalera san José Limitada, an association of 206 members within the municipality San José de Colinas in the department of Santa Barbara, Honduras. COCASJOL, according to our broker, works with these farmers on organic practices, and has their own cupping lab to maintain quality control. This has meant better prices for the producers as they create a higher quality product. This coffee is hand-sorted to pick out defects, and you'll see that they are clean and beautiful beans.

In the cup, this is roasted light and tastes of chocolate and pecan tones. It's a delicious brew, and you can try it on us with the code below. Happy 2020, and may this year bring you loads of good coffee. Cheers!

--Holly Fike