What's in the Box: Ethiopia Worka Chelchele Natural and Honduras Alex Aguilar

We’re welcoming in July with two outstanding coffees in this month’s box! To start, we have our first Ethiopia, a washed Guji coffee. This is a perfect summer coffee and ideal if you like to brew iced coffee. We highly recommend trying it brewed hot, and then flash chilled over ice. Start out with a 1:10 ratio with a slightly finer grind, and use enough ice so it doesn’t all melt!

The second coffee, Colombia La Victoria, is an old friend around here, making its fifth appearance! This is a delicious, everyday drinker–put it in the hopper and forget about it.

What's in the BoxBobby WrigleyAugust 2, 2023Colombia, Ethiopia

What's in the Box: Colombia La Victoria and Ethiopia Guji Shakiso

The second coffee, Colombia La Victoria, is an old friend around here, making its fifth appearance! This is a delicious, everyday drinker–put it in the hopper and forget about it.

What's in the BoxBobby WrigleyJuly 5, 2023Guji, Colombia

10 Weeks of Giveaways!

Are you busy this summer? Because you’ll want to pencil us in. Backyard Beans has hit a really special milestone—10 years as a roaster!—and we’ve planned a summer of fun to celebrate!

Since we’re so excited to hit 10 years as a roaster, we didn’t want to keep the fun all to ourselves. So we’re doing it up big and you can win big, too. We’ve partnered with some awesome brands for 10 weeks of amazing giveaways through August 21, 2023!

NewsAmanda DanzigerJune 5, 202310 Years

What's in the Box: Coffee from Colombia & Brazil

We’re welcoming the summer season with open arms and delicious roasts! This month, we have the return of Finca El Paraiso (but a different variety this time!), plus the sweet and creamy Sito Barbela from Brazil. Let’s unpack what exactly is in the box for June!

What's in the BoxBobby WrigleyJune 2, 2023Guji, Ethiopia, Kenya

2023 Summer Drinks at our Cafe

Sweet, sweet summer. We are so happy it has finally arrived and we are so looking for a summer of fun at Backyard Beans. At Backyard Beans Coffee Co., we know that the right latte can be the perfect accompaniment to a sunny day. Our seasonal latte menu features refreshing flavors like our signature Lavender Latte and new on the seasonal menu is the Ginger Honey Latte, which are the perfect complement to warm weather and lazy afternoons. Whether you're lounging by the pool or enjoying an early morning stroll, our summer lattes will help you beat the heat and keep your taste buds happy. So come on in and let us brighten up your summer with a delicious latte.

Cafe, Coffee RoastsAmanda DanzigerMay 31, 2023summer, Seasonal, top blog

Backyard Beans Coffee Company Celebrates 10 Years As A Specialty Coffee Roaster

The summer fun has just begun at Backyard Beans Coffee Company! This June, the coffee company will celebrate its tenth anniversary as a roaster, rolling out its special Anniversary Blend coffee, a 10 Weeks of Giveaways campaign to commemorate this big milestone, and a video interview with owners Matt & Laura Adams reflecting on their past ten years in business.

NewsAmanda DanzigerMay 26, 202310 Years, Anniversary, top blog

What's in the Box - The May 2023 Edition

This month we have two quite fruity and flavorful East African coffees—a washed Kenya and a natural Ethiopia! The Muda Tatesa Natural from Guji, Ethiopia is a return coffee that we sunsetted for the past six months as we wait for fresh Ethiopias to roll in, but please keep enjoying this still-vibrant coffee. Kenyas, on the other hand, are fairly rare on our menu, so when this one came across our cupping table as an early arrival for this 2023 season, we couldn’t pass it up. Kamwangi AA represents the best to be found in the Kirinyaga region this year. We taste blackberry, lime zest, and brown sugar.

What's in the BoxBobby WrigleyMay 2, 2023

May 1 - 7: 10% of Online Sales will go Towards Anaweza!

On the first Monday of each month we contribute 10% of our cafe sales to a local organization aligned with our values and mission (more details here on our giving prigram). But this month, we’re giving Make a Difference Monday a bit of a twist! We’re partnering with Anaweza Foundation for a special Make a Difference Week online.

NewsAmanda DanzigerApril 30, 2023giving

What's in the Box: Ecuador Bruhwer and Peru Colunche

We have two stunning micro-lots this month for our single origin subscribers. These are top notch lots from star producers in Colombia and Ethiopia. If you have had our Ethiopia Hamasho Natural then this month you get to try the washed process version of that coffee, grown in the highlands of Bensa, Sidama. This is a subscriber exclusive coffee, so if you have been considering jumping on the monthly box program, take note! As a subscriber, you'll get access to one-time limited releases.

Coffee Roasts, What's in the BoxBobby WrigleyMarch 31, 2023Ecuador, Peru

Feb 2, 2023

Our Time in Colombia at The Coffee Quest

Our company has been sourcing coffee from Colombia via The Coffee Quest for the past five years because they deliver the best Colombia has to offer. Check out the conversation we had below with Stephen from The Coffee Quest that highlights what sets specialty coffee apart from commercial, and the key stages at origin where quality is ensured. Namely, the farm level, the buying station, and the dry mill. We hope you enjoy!

Dec 22, 2022

2022: A Year in Review

That’s a wrap on 2022! It was another jam-packed, fun-filled, whirlwind of a year, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all that it brought us. From the launch of our new recyclable packaging, to our expanded warehouse space, continued community initiatives, and everything in between, it’s been a successful year on so many levels. Let’s recap it, shall we?

Sep 1, 2022

Meet Our (Dramatic) Family

Allow us to introduce ourselves, we’re Matt and Laura Adams, and we’re the owners of Backyard Beans Coffee Co. Our family consists of three wild children and sometimes we encounter drama. So, in order to celebrate the return of one our most popular seasonal blends, Family Drama, we put together a little dramatic video of our family for you to enjoy.

Jun 29, 2022

A Reason to Recycle

Wondering why we made the switch from compostable to recyclable LDPE (low density polyethylene) coffee bags? A lot went into this decision, but the quick version is this–with limited municipal composting in our area, we've come to realize that the compostable bags may not be the best “green” option for our company. Our new bags are plastic, and they are recyclable at nearly all grocery stores or big box stores at the plastic bag collection bin, along with several curbside and commercial recycling services! As a wholesale roaster, most of our coffee is purchased through our grocery partners. Simply drop the bag into the recycle collection bin on your way into the store. Use this locator to find a bag recycling deposit at your local grocery store: https://bagandfilmrecycling.org.

Apr 28, 2022

Pour Over Iced Coffee Recipe

We all love a good iced coffee, and with the warmer days coming ahead we created this easy tutorial on how to make the best pour over iced coffee at home.

Feb 15, 2022

What to Drink in Season

First, a little horticulture background. The coffee we roast comes from a flowering plant called Coffea Arabica, grown at latitudes close to the equator and at high altitudes where the weather is cooler. This plant flowers one to two times a year, followed by the development of its fruit. Inside the fruit are seeds—that’s what we roast and turn into our decadent and delicious brew. The fruit looks like a small, firm cherry, usually red, but sometimes orange, yellow, or purple. The fruit is referred to as “cherries” or “grapes”—although there is not much fruit around the seed to be enjoyed. And interestingly, after the seeds are processed and roasted they are commonly referred to as beans.

Mar 5, 2021

How to Store Your Coffee At Home

We get a lot of questions about coffee, but one of the most common has to do with storing it—whether it’s better in the fridge or freezer, in a mason jar or vacuum canister, you name it. So, we’ve decided to demystify the storing process so you can maximize your coffee and enjoy it fresh for as long as possible.

Jan 25, 2021

The Story of Coffee

The birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia. There’s a legend passed down from generation to generation that a goat herder, Kaldi, and his goats were the ones first responsible for discovering coffee. Merchants eventually took those stimulating dried coffee cherries to the port of Mocha in Yemen, and then up the Red Sea to Mecca. It was there, in Mecca, that the first coffee house was built in 1511—but the coffee was nothing like what we drink today. It was a boiled infusion of the dried coffee fruit, later referred to as the wine of Arabia. Not long after that, the religious Sufis of Yemen began roasting the seed, grinding it, and brewing it, which led to an amazing discovery—black coffee! Coffee consumption then spread through the Muslim culture in the horn of Africa.

Jul 17, 2020

What are coffee tasting notes?

Because everyone’s senses are different, it can often be difficult to pin down a coffee’s precise flavor. Much like the food we eat, coffee is very chemically complex and we experience it through gustation (taste) and olfaction (smell). When coffee is brewed, it is around 98.5% water, so the tiny amount of dissolved solids, oils, and strong aromatic compounds in the brew pack quite the punch. Bringing those flavors to life is quite a complex process involving many chemical reactions.

Apr 17, 2020

Specialty Coffee Explained

Specialty coffee is a term used for the type of green coffee that we buy and roast. It is coffee that scores over 80 points based on a 100 point scale. This scale is industry standard and is taken from the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCA) cupping score sheet. The climate, soil, harvesting techniques, processing methods, sorting, storing and age all play into the quality experienced. So when you take a look at the back of our bags and wonder why we have the nerdy information on the back, that’s why! Coffee geeks know that we’re a specialty coffee roaster because of this information. If you’re just getting into the world of specialty coffee, take a look at the bags in your grocery market and compare them!

Jan 23, 2019

Processing revisited - Washed Process and Natural Process

When the skin and pulp are removed from the seed of the coffee cherry prior to drying we are talking about the washed process, or wet process. Washed coffees require more machinery, water and infrastructure. The cherry is depulped by a machine, separated by density, and usually fermented submerged in water in tanks for 12-50 hrs depending on the location. The fermentation helps to loosen the remaining pectin surrounding the seed that remains after the depulping. After fermenting in the tanks, the coffee is laid out to dry (in some cases mechanically dried with machines, but most cases for specialty the coffee is dried on raised beds or on concrete patios). There is one last layer that remains on the seed after drying and that is called the parchment. Parchment protects the seed from drying too quickly as well as protecting it from the environment to a certain extent.