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What Does Fair Trade and Organic Really Mean?

At GCRC we strive to treat everyone with respect. This includes the skilled farmers producing our high quality coffees, the Earth from which all life comes, and of course our beautiful customers.

Fair Trade: certified to provide fair wages and safe working conditions (forced child labor is prohibited). Farmers are paid a premium to apply to projects such as healthcare, women’s leadership initiatives and micro-finance programs, as voted on by the farmers and workers themselves.

Organic: No synthetic substances such as most pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. Conventionally grown coffee is the most intensively sprayed crop in the world. Traditional organic practices on coffee farms today reduces the amount of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer entering the ground/water, maintains partial forest canopy, and reduces erosion. Most importantly, the use of pesticides and herbicides is a serious health concern for farmers and consumers, and one that’s not an issue with organic coffee.

We want to take the opportunity to thank you for supporting this mission to keep coffee ethical, sustainable, and of course tasty.

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Grand Opening of Good Coffee Roasting Company!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to announce to you all that the date has been set. This Sunday, February 3rd, 2019 is our official Grand Opening Date! Come on down to the Good Coffee Roasting Company at 201 3rd Ave E in Polson, MT.

We’ll have GCRC baked goods, our delicious breakfast burritos, and salsa; pies, pastries, and artisan sourdough from Lil House Pies in Dixon, MT; Lake Missoula Tea Company organic teas; and of course fresh locally roasted organic fair trade GCRC coffee.

Good Coffee Roasting Company is located in the back of the “old church” up the big wooden steps at 201 3rd Ave E Polson, MT facing Stutzman’s furniture and HWY 93.

Our doors will open at 6:02am. We can’t wait to see you there!

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Oily Coffee Beans: Good or Bad?

A question I get pretty frequently is: “Why don’t your coffee beans have any oil on them? Are they really old and dried out?” The answer is quite the opposite. My “dry” coffee beans are a sign of freshness and craft roasting. An oily coffee bean is an indicator that your beans are either pretty old or were over-roasted (generally both). Industrial roasters typically roast to get an even color, not to procure excellent flavors.

Oily coffee beans are the result of a chemical reaction that occurs when the internal shell of a coffee bean meets oxygen. Darker roasts have a more fragile shell due to their prolonged exposure to roasting, so they will lose their flavor faster and seep oil more quickly than a lighter roasted bean. However, eventually over several weeks every roasted bean, whether light or dark roasted, will develop this oily sheen.

Most people that tell me they prefer oily beans find, after they try one of GCRC’s dark roasted coffees, they are actually drawn to the dark roasted quality of the bean, not the oil that has seeped out. A properly dark roasted coffee won’t start producing an oily surface for a few weeks.

Have any burning coffee questions that need answering? Contact us!

-Celeste

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Cold Brew Recipe

Hot coffee is absolutely delicious and many can’t wrap their taste-buds around the concept of cold brewed coffee. Do not confuse cold brew with iced coffee. Iced coffee is a hot brewed coffee poured over ice. The slow and deep extraction of cold brewed coffee offers a completely different flavor profile and syrupy texture. Velvety smooth, rich flavor and little to no acidity makes cold brew an absolute delight during the summer months, or if you’re like me, all year round!

While the process is simple it takes planning to enjoy a great cup of cold brew, but trust me, it is worth the wait.
Cold brew requires 2x the amount of coffee grinds as a hot brewed cup, but it creates a concentrate. Add water to dilute the concentrate to your preferred strength. For a rich treat add cream directly to the concentrate. My friends affectionately refer to this concoction as “melted ice cream”.

How to Make Cold Brewed Coffee

What you’ll need:
-12 oz. freshly roasted, high-quality coffee

-96 oz. (about 12 cups) water

-Glass Container (large enough to hold coffee while it brews)

Brew Instructions:
– Grind beans to a medium-fine coarseness and place coffee grinds into the glass container

-Add half of the water (6 cups) on top of the grinds and stir to saturate all grinds with water

-Allow any foam, created by the CO2 gas released from the beans, to settle

-Add the remaining water (6 cups) to the glass container

-Cover the container with a cheesecloth or loose lid so that gas may escape, but dust and/or bugs are kept out

-Let this mixture brew for a minimum of 8 hours, but preferably 24 – 72 hours. This stage is to taste. Taste your brew every 8 hours to determine your preferred strength. *Remember it is a concentrate. It should be strong enough to handle dilution!*

-Strain your grinds with a layered cheesecloth, fine metal mesh colander, or paper filter.

-Pour over ice and enjoy with cream, sugar, spices, or (my personal favorite) black!

-Refrigerate any concentrate and keep for up to 2 weeks (the flavor starts to degrade after 1 week)

 

**Bonus Tips**

Due to the high standards of our craft roasting process, Good Coffee Roasting Company coffee beans will guarantee maximum flavor extraction.

Our Cold Brew Tasting Notes:

Colombian Tolima: dark chocolate, molasses, toasted hazelnut

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe: tropical citrus, blueberry, white grape

Get your freshly roasted high-quality, fair trade and organic beans by clicking here.

 

For more information on cold brew techniques or general GCRC questions please use our contact form.


 

 

 

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Polson Farmers Market

 

We love Polson, MT for so many reasons. The beautiful landscape, the four very distinct seasons, and of course the farmer’s market. This year Good Coffee Roasting Company will join the Polson Farmer’s Market to offer our fresh locally roasted coffee beans to all!

All our beans are fair-trade and organic. We roast our coffee in small batches to ensure each bag is delicious and super fresh! Good Coffee only sells the beans that pass our quality assurance tests. If we wouldn’t serve it to our loved ones, it won’t be served to anyone. Check out our current offerings in our online shop.

If you have any questions about our beans or are interested in placing a large order, please use our contact form.

See you at the market!
-Celeste