This season we cupped ninety-three samples and bought six. That ratio sounds brutal written down, and it is, but most rejections are not about bad coffee. They are about coffee that would not survive our roast profile or our shipping timeline.

We send tasting notes back on every single rejection. Several producers have told us the notes are worth more than the order, because nobody else bothers to explain what went wrong in the ferment. Writing those notes takes longer than the cupping itself some weeks, because a vague note helps nobody and a specific one might change how a producer runs the next harvest.

We've had producers write back months later saying a note we sent changed how they timed a wash, and that the following lot scored higher because of it.

If we bought everything that scored well, we would need a bigger drum and a warehouse. We would rather have six coffees we can defend, in full, to anyone who asks why they're on the menu.