In late October the One Village crew (It consists mostly of humans, as well as two dogs. And Rob.) took some time out to celebrate nature, each other and the beauty of Autumn leaves. We hiked The Pinnacle on the Appalachian Trail near Hamburg, PA. At some point the 8.5 mile loop turned into a 12 mile triangle. But that’s OK. Our advice is to consult the map in the parking lot before you head off, and, checking for ticks at the end will enhance the team bonding experience.

Just because OVC world headquarters may never be confused for the Taj Mahal (too few spires) that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do our best to make it into the roastery of our collective dreams. A new sample roaster, an improved and expanded cupping lab and more space for meetings (oh Lord, the endless meetings..) are just a few of the improvements we’re heroically undertaking (see pic of Aaron bravely battling technology.) We’re moving on up like the Jeffersons y’all!

Beginning today, One Village Coffee is daring to go where many a coffee company has already gone. We are launching a blog. Of course, the hope is that this little blog will steadily grow and, upon reaching its peak, land us a book deal. The moment that book becomes a bestseller, a movie will be made about us, our blog, you guys, and the story of how we are so incredibly awesome together.

It worked for Julie & Julia.

So, allow me to do some introductions. So while we’re on the subject, I’m Jacob Ford. I run our little website here. The site’s name is currently Fina Tey, but that often changes. Recently, it seemed like a lot of us around here were starting to burst into sudden fits of verbal bloggage. It was starting to get out of hand, so it just seemed like the right time to program a blog so that we could bring those outbursts directly to you, our valued customer.

So how does it all work? Well, it looks like you’re on the right track. All you have to do to see the lastest little surprise parties of amazingness known as our blog posts is go to onevillagecoffee.com/blog, sit back, and commence the smiles. All of us around here will be contributing to the blog, some on a more regular basis. So every post will display the name of the author right below the title. See it up there? If you want to see more posts by a certain author, just click that name up there or find it over on the left. “But,” you ask, “what if I am interested in posts about your lastest coffee roasting adventures, but I’m allergic to clicking on and digging through both Woody and Nelson’s posts separately?” Great question. Just for you, we’ve created categories. They let you read all the posts which are, say, Roaster Ramblings, so you don’t need to dig through a bunch of posts to get right to the good stuff. We’ll also have categories for road trips, local events, and possibly even our upcoming One Village Skydiving Experience. Just like with the authors, you can find all those categories over there on the left.

One more thing. Let’s say you want to send a friend a link to one of our blog posts? Well that’s just dandy! But here’s the problem. If you just send them a link to the blog, the post you wanted them to read will keep getting pushed back as new ones come. So, to get what’s called a permalink to one specific blog post, just click the post’s title and send anyone a link to that page. It will always go to and only to the post you see.

So let’s review. onevillagecoffee.com/blog will always show every posts. You can filter them by author or by category. And you can get a link to one specific post if you want. Any questions or other ideas? Let me know! It’s jacob, followed by one of those cool As with a circle around it, then onevillagecoffee.com.

Looking forward to a glorious bloggy horizon.

Just want to say a big thank you to the Whole Foods team at P Street in Washington D.C. Store customers were asked to vote on a name for the store’s new blend and select a local charity to benefit from a portion on the sales.

As part of our Local Village Series, One Village Coffee donated 50¢ from every bag sold of City Blossoms Blend towards City Blossoms; a non-profit organization that inspires communities and enriches the lives of children and youth through urban gardening projects.

City Blossoms' Stall at Whole Foods Market P Street

For many different reasons, beginning in 2011, One Village Coffee has decided to move from 16oz (1lb) to 12oz bags of coffee for distribution. The freshness of our coffee has been and always will be a top priority here at OVC. The less coffee you have sitting in each opened bag at home, the more coffee you can enjoy at it’s peak. As coffee can begin to loose some of its freshness after approximately two weeks post-roast if it is not stored properly, whatever we can do to minimize this time period improves freshness and thus overall quality.

Also, 12oz bags afford everyone an opportunity to try more of our coffee with less risk. Rather than purchasing a pound of a coffee that may or may not suit your individual palette, you will now have the ability to purchase a smaller 12oz bag that requires less of a commitment on your part but still allows you to form a well-rounded opinion over multiple brewings. Overall, we feel that moving to 12oz bags will provide a more positive coffee experience for everyone involved. Isn’t that what community’s all about after all?