Why You Should Be Drinking Bird Friendly Coffee
You might see organic or fair trade certifications as you look for your next coffee, but bird-friendly brews will be harder to find …
Impact Roasting: Electric & Local, with Bellwether Coffee
How is new electric roasting technology mitigating coffee’s historical carbon footprint? We talk to Bellwether Coffee to find out …
Sustainable Sourcing: The Future of Specialty Coffee
Sustainable coffee sourcing starts at the farm, where the environmental and agricultural attributes of coffee are first determined …
Sustainability as a Core Value
Specialty coffee roasters are making committments to eco-friendly business practices and the sustainability of coffee …
Is Specialty Coffee a Commodity?
Is specialty coffee a commodity? Should it be priced as such? If so, how should stark differences in quality be accounted for? …
The Individuality of Taste
What factors contribute to the taste of coffee? Or rather, your perception of its taste? Will you taste the same notes as an expert? …
Beer and Coffee: The Best of Both Worlds, with Prairie Artisan Ales – Part 2
Amongst all the great beers I mentioned in Part 1 of this post, there is one additional beer that resonates with me the most – Bomb! by Prairie Artisan Ales out of Tulsa, Oklahoma …
Beer and Coffee: The Best of Both Worlds, with Prairie Artisan Ales – Part 1
On Lightyear we exhibit just how complex coffee is, from its composition to how it may be processed or roasted. The possible flavor and appearance outcomes of a brewed cup of coffee are seemingly endless. It’s much the same with beer. From ingredient sourcing, to chemistry, to fermentation, brewing beer is a maze of artistry, experience, trial and error, and hard science …
Australia & Coffee, With Gumption Coffee
Conducting even a casual search of topics related to Australian coffee culture yields results with some pretty effusive language …
Lightyear’s Why
LYC’s goal is to bring visibility to small roasters who are at the frontier of sustainability and innovation in specialty coffee …
Roasting and Intrinsic Flavor
Roasting is one of the final steps in the long journey that coffee beans take from being planted to sold or brewed …
Global Coffee Exports vs. U.S. Roasting
As a global commodity, the market for coffee beans is large and dynamic, including dozens of exporting and importing countries …
The Waves of Coffee
What wave of coffee is my latte from? That’s probably not a question you have asked at a coffee shop lately …
The Future of Coffee Packaging – An Interview With Savor Brands
Just as coffee itself is an art and a science, so too is coffee packaging. Whether you’re a coffee newbie or aficionado, packaging is the first thing you will see as you research and explore different types of coffees and roasters …
Why Traceability Matters
Traceability is a key part of understanding coffee and where it comes from – but why is that important? Why should we care? …