I love their coffee

I don't usually do a post promoting a particular brand of anything. My tastes are rather pedestrian for the most part (yes I do shop at Walmart) but when it comes to coffee I am a snob. I will admit it and I am not looking to get help for the problem because there is no problem. I digress.

About 3 years ago or so my sis-in-law Laura gave us a Christmas gift from a coffee company called St. Ives Coffee Roasters. Up until that time I had been buying my coffee at the grocery store, whatever was on sale actually, in bean form but still whatever was on sale. Well, this coffee opened my eyes, made me see the coffee light so to speak. I made that first pot and it was good, really good. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe there was something to this using good coffee beans to get a good cup of coffee. So, I made the leap and actually ordered some coffee from St. Ives, which is located in Gainesville, GA. The order was promptly filled and arrived in good order. I was hooked.

Advance to the present day. We recently took a trip to GA where we are hoping to move one of these days. Our day of arrival we had planned to drive from Atlanta up through Gainesville to Baldwin where we were staying at the best B&B ever (more on that later). Dan looked at me and said, "Hey isn't that coffee place that you order from in Gainesville?" Well yes it is as a matter of fact. So Dan got on the internet using his lovely iPhone and looked up the website for the phone number. On the website it said that they gave tours so we called to enquire (not knowing how big the company was). The person who answered the phone put us through to Ed Thilenius who happens to be the VP and also the chief coffee roaster. Ed said that we should absolutely stop and he would give us a tour. Cool!

So, with the help of our trusty GPS, we wended our way northeastward to Gainesville and located the St. Ives Coffee Roasters building. It is very small and very non descript I will say that. The building is located in an industrial area just over a railroad tracks and there must be a chicken processing plant somewhere near by because we followed at least on truck full of poultry going off to become chicken piccata or something. We pulled into the parking lot and as I got out I could smell coffee. How lovely.

What a wonderful experience visiting St. Ives Coffee Roasters was!!! Ed Thilenius was so gracious in giving us almost an hour of his time to these two interlopers and sharing his coffee knowledge and humor with us, especially since he had 300 pounds of Colombian coffee beans to roast. Ed is a young man who actually started with the company as one of their drivers and has worked his way up the ladder to become VP and chief coffee roaster. He is passionate when talking about coffee and roasting. It was a great time. St. Ives also donates coffee to our soldiers in Afghanistan and that is something that is near and dear to my heart.

So, this is what I want you to do. If you love coffee and appreciate your morning "cup 'o joe" then I want you to go over to St. Ives Coffee Roasters and check out the website. Order some coffee. When they get your order they roast the beans for you. Your coffee isn't taken from a bin that has been roasted weeks ago, they do it in very small batches so that it is as fresh as it can be when it comes to you. Then remember to NEVER, I repeat NEVER put it in the refrigerator or freezer. Just put it in an airtight container and keep it in the cupboard so that it isn't exposed to light and then enjoy.

I am going to place my next order today. I can hardly wait.