By the time you take your first sip of that mug of morning coffee, it has already passed through the hands of farmers, growers, pickers, shippers, and roasters. What began in faraway soil has traversed a continent, and an ocean or two–thanks to the tireless work of numerous people–to end up in your cup, to be enjoyed whenever and however you like it. To imagine the scope and magnitude of the work it takes to wake you up in the morning is staggering. So what a shame then that the journey generally ends unceremoniously and upside down in your trash can.  But that needn’t be the case.

Many home gardeners are taking the process full-circle by using coffee grounds in their gardens. Turns out coffee grounds provide generous amounts of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper when it’s sown directly into the soil. They also release nitrogen as they degrade. Most of the acid in coffee ends up in the brewed product, so grounds boast a near-neutral pH level.

There is also anecdotal evidence that coffee grounds attract worms and repel slugs. We received this anecdotal evidence from Joe’s wife–and master gardener–Nancy, who swears by the method. 

Certain kinds of plants prefer coffee more than others. Rosebushes, azealas, rhododendrons, and camallias are coffee-loving flowers. Root crops like turnips and carrots grow well with the addition of coffee grounds.

Coffee grounds–and paper filters–are also compostable. Other uses for coffee grounds include:

• Before you clean out your fireplace, cover ashes with wet coffee grounds. This makes the ash easier to remove and also ensures your living room doesn’t become a dusty mess.
• Fix a stinky freezer by placing a bowl of used coffee grounds in it overnight. Add a drop of vanilla extract if you’re feeling fancy.
• Add a dose of used coffee grounds to keep bait worms alive and happy all day at the lake.
• Some people claim that a combination of orange peels and coffee grounds will keep cats out of your flower beds (and keep beds from becoming litter boxes), but a basic google search doesn’t offer much in the way of proof.

Saving used grounds from the trash can is a great way to help around your house and garden–and in a larger sense, to honor the work of coffee professionals around the world.

Over the years, we’ve helped many customers open their first coffee shop. Often, these customers come to us when the small but significant decisions about their new venture are piling up. While choosing the right coffee and designing a profitable menu are inarguably key factors in the success of a new cafe, the shop’s layout (everything from where the espresso machine resides to how easily a customer can find half-and-half) is equally vital. A well-executed layout will ensure a positive customer experience, while providing ease and economy of movement for the barista. Here are just a few things we’ve learned along the way:

• The espresso machine should be the star of the show, since it produces your most profitable drink. Place it prominently where the customer will naturally walk right up to it. It should be on the front counter so that the barista may engage the customer face-to-face.
• Placing the under-counter refrigerator beneath the espresso machine, but slightly to the right, seems to work best. This way, the barista will have the ability to fetch milk and other cold items without stepping back or breaking gaze with the customer. This placement also allows for a more positive fall angle for the espresso machine’s drain hose.
• The menu should hang on the back wall but near to the espresso machine (sensing a pattern?).
• Your back counter should be your cold bar and have room for an ice machine, blender, sauces, and sink. The back counter is also the perfect place for the coffee grinder, brewer, and airpots. Keeping these items further from the customer encourages them to turn their attention back to (you guessed it) espresso beverages.
• The condiment table with trash bin should be positioned some distance from the counter to promote traffic flow away from the line.
• Generally, your set-up should flow like this: pastry case→at least two feet of counter space for cash register and customer interaction→cups→the almighty espresso machine→espresso grinder→syrups→area to hand off beverage to the customer.

That’s just a little bit of the advice we offer new cafe owners. If you’re thinking of opening a coffee shop, let’s talk! Beyond our layout expertise, we just happen to offer the best beans in the business. We’re also really keen on helping new business owners make their reveries a reality.

To understand the history of coffee in El Salvador is to understand El Salvador itself. No other country in South America has been so deeply reliant on the crop, which the Salvadorans call “el grano de oro” or “the grain of gold.” Replacing indigo as El Salvador’s most important export in the late 19th century, coffee would decide the country’s economic and political stability for decades to come. During the course of the 20th century the Salvadoran coffee industry created vast fortunes for few and great misery for many others, spawning peasant uprisings, devastating massacres, and a 12-year civil war.

Agricultural tensions have existed in El Salvador since 1881, when legislation mandated that only land-owners had the right to farm the lush and fertile mountainsides of the country. Until then, many farmers had cultivated their crops communally, working together on shared land. For the next 100 years tensions between coffee barons and these landless campesinos simmered, often boiling over into violent confrontations. In the late 70’s–reacting to burgeoning communist sympathies in the country–the United States poured military aid and advisers into El Salvador. What resulted was a reform agenda that returned much of the land to plantation workers in the form of agricultural cooperatives set up by the Salvadoran government. Coffee barons opposed vocally and violently, and hundreds of cooperativists were killed as reform measures took effect. El Salvador had reached its breaking point.

The 12-year civil war that followed would claim 75,000 lives. However, when the UN helped negotiate a peace agreement between warring factions, hope for a new era of prosperity was almost tangible. In the 1990’s democratically-elected governments replaced rigged systems of oppression, 78 percent of coffee farms were back in the hands of small farmers, and the coffee industry employed 155,000 Salvadorans.

The challenges that Salvadoran coffee producers face now are largely external. Plummeting coffee prices have forced many farmers and pickers off the land and into cities in search of work.

The coffee we offer from El Salvador is grown on Finca Las Pampas, one of the many farms of the Magaña-Menéndez estate.

 

Located on the slopes of Cerro de Apaneca, in the Apaneca municipality, Las Pampas comprises a total of 60 hectares of land planted with Bourbon and red Caturra coffee. The area is known as one of the most fertile soils of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range. The Magaña-Menéndez estate is pledged to environmental stewardship, producing coffee that is Rainforest Alliance Certified.

The estate is just as concerned with the well-being of its workers and neighbors. It administers a central clinic (providing services in gynecology, pediatrics, and family practice) and pharmacy, providing free care to employees, employees’ families, and nearby communities. The estate has also supplied drinking water for adjacent towns and built soccer fields for school children. Workers at Las Pampas receive fair wages and extensive training in a safe work environment.

Coffee from Las Pampas boasts notes of toffee, cocoa, and lemon. It is a bright coffee with a clean and subtle body, fragrant but nuanced when compared with other Centrals. This exceptional coffee is a testament to the struggle, strength, and resolve of the Salvadoran people as well as their enduring commitment to el grano del oro.

Every day we receive multiple inquiries from folks looking to buy Seven Hills Coffee straight from the source. For 30 years, we have directed these requests to our retailers, opting instead to focus on our wholesale accounts.

In the last year, however, we have made the organizational reinforcements necessary to be able to seamlessly support our wholesale efforts as well as offer coffee to retail customers who are unable to get it elsewhere (we’re looking at you, Cincinnati ex-pats).

That means, for the first time in three decades, you can order Seven Hills Coffee directly from us! We’re currently hard at work getting an online store up and running, but, to make sure your holidays are as happy (and as caffeinated) as they should be, you can now place your personal orders by phone (call us at 513.489.5220).

Furthermore, for mega fans of ours–okay, or just people who appreciate comfy t-shirts–we also have for sale new Seven Hills Coffee apparel. Guaranteed to make you look as cool as these fellas:

We’re really excited about these new efforts, but don’t worry, all the good stuff is still the same. We’re still carrying all of your (and your customers’) holiday favorites. As in years past, we’re offering the following flavored coffees for the season:

*Christmas Morning*  *Nutcracker Sweet  *Holiday Cookie*  *Roasted Chestnut Cream*

*Pumpkin Spice*  *Cinnamon Orange Spice*  *White Chocolate Christmas*

It has been a momentous year for us. We adopted a new logo and launched a new website and helped open dozens of shops in the area. We feel endlessly lucky to serve the best customers in a beautiful city, and want to thank you sincerely for inviting us into your cafes, your restaurants, your grocery stores, and now–your homes!

May your holiday season be filled with all the things that matter most: fun, family, and incredible coffee.

According to Worldbank, nearly 80 percent of the world’s poor are farmers. The shocking reality that a significant number of the people who produce our food are going hungry themselves is the primary justification for the Fair Trade movement. Fair Trade USA promotes a market-based approach that empowers farmers to get a fair price for their harvest, helps workers create safe working conditions, provides a decent living wage, and guarantees the right to organize. Through direct, equitable trade, farming and working families are able to eat better, keep their kids in school, improve health and housing, and invest in the future. Often, these efforts are accomplished through the work of cooperatives. These cooperatives benefit from sharing technical assistance, taking their products to market at the same time, and leveraging their buying and selling power to better their lives as well as the lives of their neighbors.

Today, 97 percent of all Fair Trade certified coffee is produced by cooperatives. The extra money these farms earn by banding together under the Fair Trade banner is then spent on life-changing community assets like healthcare, education, and roads.

October is Fair Trade Month. We celebrate our Fair Trade commitment everyday, but for this occasion, we’d like to spotlight the inspiring cooperatives we work with. Not only do these growers produce some truly excellent coffee, they are revolutionizing the coffee industry in their respective countries. By purchasing coffee from these co-ops, you are directly supporting a better life for farmers and their families.

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In Colombia, we support the ASEMPROGROPE cooperative, a newly-formed cooperative focused on the participation of women in the coffee business. The director of the co-op is a woman, as are half of the board of directors.

In Ethiopia, we support the Nura Korate cooperative, a member of the larger Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union. The SCFCU was founded in 2001 and supports members through training, marketing assistance, and developing producer-buyer relationships.

In Guatemala, we support the Chajulense Cooperative, whose mission is to “promote a sustainable development model that is environmentally sound, economically feasible, fair from a social point of view and appropriate from a cultural standpoint.”

In Mexico, we support the CESMACH cooperative. Members are committed to environmental protection and social development. They are planting new coffee trees and other fruit-bearing trees, as well as spearheading a project to teach leadership development and cooperative management to women members. The co-op recently completed construction on their dry processing plant.

In Nicaragua, we support the PRODECOOP. Cooperative member, Allan Arauz Alguilera says this about his involvement with the group: “Fair Trade has helped me buy more land and add improvements to our house. Now we have access to electricity, water and television, but most importantly, we have access to consistent income. It guarantees that there is food for our children.”

In Peru, we support  CENFROCAFE. Beyond the vital technical support that the co-op provides, the CENFROCAFE financial team provides short-term credit that helps farmers cover the front-end costs of harvest and production equipment.

In Sumatra, we support the KBQB co-op, established in 2002 by 600 farmers in the highland district of Northern Sumatra. The cooperative’s name is Arabic and loosely translated means “getting to heaven through the wealth of our children.”

Seven Hills Coffee was among the very first Fair Trade coffee roasters in the United States, becoming Fair Trade certified in the fall of 1999. Since then, we have continued to expand our Fair Trade offerings, working with these and many more worthy cooperatives over the years. All of our Fair Trade certified coffee is also USDA certified organic, to promote environment stewardship and  sustainable growing practices.

We’re so proud to be members of the Fair Trade movement and we hope that you will encourage your friends, family, or local barista to take part as well. October might be Fair Trade month, but supporting ethical and sustainable labor practices is the right thing to do all year round.

New Guinea is the second largest island on Earth second only to Greenland. Papua makes up the eastern territory of the island, while Irian Jaya (a part of Indonesia) claims the rest. Papua New Guinea boasts a very diverse topography and culture. More than 850 languages are currently recognized in the country—12 percent of the world’s tongues. A majority of the Papuans live in the rural areas of the country; only 18 percent of its population reside in cities. Rugby is the sport of choice.

Papua New Guinea coffee is rich in cultivars. Coffee-growing in the country began in 1926 with the introduction of Jamaican Blue Mountain by early plantation holders. On September 16, 1975, Papua New Guinea gained its independence. Throughout the decade, the country worked to improve its infrastructure as well as relationships with foreign contacts; soon the island started to stand out as an origin for fine green coffee.

Coffee is now Papua New Guinea’s second largest export (after palm oil). Small holders (those who farm less than 1,500 trees) produce roughly 95 percent of crops. These coffee crops are some of the highest-grown in the world. Often, precious beans are flown from mountaintop airfields.

The Kimel Estate was established in 1974 by an Australian, and named for the picturesque river that it borders. Today, the indigenous Opias Tribe owns and manages the land, employing more than 400 workers. These workers reside on the estate, where their children receive schooling and medical care is provided.

The beans are wet-processed and a provide a vibrant, bright, and full-bodied cup. The strong and broad profile acts as a blend within a single origin. The beans lend themselves to a medium roast, resting 24 hours after roasting for full flavor development. The nose is tempted with this coffee’s chocolately aroma, but it is the taste that makes this one of our grandest coffee offerings.

Sure, it’s late in the summer, but it’s as hot as ever. Temperatures in Cincinnati have hovered in the mid-nineties for weeks, and this oppressive humidity just won’t let up. While this is a bummer for some folks (others of us love this time of year), the good news is that iced coffee season remains in full swing.

Every May and June we receive a lot of calls from our customers asking for advice about the best way to make iced coffee. There are lots of methods, but we prefer the Toddy Cold Brew System for a few reasons. It’s inexpensive, super easy, and makes really great cold brew. It’s how we make iced coffee for ourselves and many of our customers swear by it.

We carry an inventory of small Toddies for our customers, or you can snag a brand new Toddy from a variety of outlets for $30 to $45 (check eBay for a steal, too) or a commercial Toddy for about $85 or $90 dollars. The small Toddy will yield 48 fluid ounces of concentrate and a commercial system will yield 2.5 gallons.

We always recommend our Brazil Serra Negra for iced coffee, as it produces a flavor that is sweet and chocolate-y, with an edge that stands up nicely to cream or milk.

The Toddy method is simple. First, you fill a brewing container with 1 lb. of course-ground coffee. Slowly, you pour five cups of room-temperature water over the grounds, followed by four more cups a few minutes later. After soaking the grounds for eight to ten hours, you remove the small rubber stopper (see picture above) from the bottom of the brewing container, allowing the rich cold brew concentrate to flow into the decanter through a super-fine filter.

Once chilled, the concentrate can be used to make iced coffee, using a ratio of 1-to-1. (Note: we have found through our customers’ experience and our own experimentation, that 1-to-1 is ideal. However, the Toddy instruction manual suggests a 3-to-1 ratio. Spend some time trying this yourself, until you settle upon the right balance for taste and profit.)

It’s that easy. If you have questions about cold brew, or iced coffee in general, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We love talking shop and we love talking about your shop even more.

When we sat down last Summer to discuss our 30th anniversary and just how we wanted to celebrate it, we unanimously agreed that it was the right time to freshen up our branding efforts and breathe new life into our web presence.

The truth is, back in 1986, those things were pretty far down the list of priorities (to be fair, Instagram was more than 20 years away from even being conceived). When Andy and Joe opened Seven Hills Coffee, their sole focus was providing incomparable coffee to a thirsty audience. In fact, the sign that hung outside that first Bond Hill Warehouse was made with stencils and a permanent marker!

After the first few years of selling coffee mainly to established businesses and restaurants, our focus shifted to helping our customers open successful coffee shops–a brand new and exciting trend back then. Our logo evolved slightly over the decades, always incorporating our now-recognizable blue, green, and yellow and, of course, the seven hills of Cincinnati, the city we’re glad to call home.

Now, as we celebrate 30–a milestone we’re so proud of–it’s important to us that our brand identity reflects the dynamic, vibrant, and modern company that we are. Online, we want to be more accessible to our customers, as well as to their customers, who increasingly want to know where their coffee comes from. Our new site will fill in those gaps from farm to (coffee) table. It will be a place to learn about our new offerings and industry trends. But, most importantly, it will be one more powerful way for us to interact with the people who matter most–you!

So take a look around, check us out on Instagram, and stop back often for news and updates. Whether you’ve been our friends for decades or this site is your introduction, thank you for being a part of our journey! Here’s to 30 more years of great coffee!