GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Last summer in Montauk, a self-proclaimed coffee snob friend brewed me a pre-beach cup. I was expecting something good; what I got was transporting — crisp, robust, with notes of apple, cherry, and a hint of honey, and still very much coffee.
These exceptional beans came from Brandywine Coffee Roasters, a Wilmington, DE-based roaster sourcing from small growers spread out among the great coffee regions of the world: Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. Head guy Vic Scutari keeps his roasts on the light side to better bring out the beans’ natural flavors. And those flavors pop when brewed, whether by pour-over, French press, or a big old carafe of drip.
The only problem is there’s never enough. To account for this, we started getting the Single Origins of Mystery 2lb subscription. On the first Friday of every month, give or take a few days, a package arrives in the mail. It might be from the Santa Barbara Estate in Colombia, with peach, honey, cherry, and grape tones, or Ethiopia’s Shantawene, bursting with cranberry, graham cracker, and honey notes. In September: Finca El Rosal Bourbon Chiroso varietal (passionfruit, intense florals, apricot). No matter, it’s excellence in a cup.
Earlier this year, I bought my business partner a six-month Single Origins of Mystery 12oz subscription for his birthday. When it ran out, he re-upped with his own open-ended monthly 2lb subscription. He’s learning what I now know, too: At this point, it’s almost criminal for any self-respecting coffee drinker to settle for the world of mediocre beans, when roasters like Brandywine make it so easy to get such reliably great coffee. –Noah Davis
→ Shop: Single Origins of Mystery 2lb Subscription (Brandywine Coffee Roasters) • $52.50 per.