Our Coffee
Coffee With a "Taste of Place"
Growing up, I had an advantage over many other people when it came to good quality coffee. Not only did my parents drink lots of coffee all over Europe while living in London, but my mom Janice is a certified Cordon Bleu chef, and culinary expert. It wasn't until much later in my life when I realized that most people didn't know what good coffee was supposed to taste like. While searching for the perfect Brazilian coffee and espresso to serve at Espresso Brazil, I made it my goal to not only share the experience of what good coffee is with my customers, but also to educate them on responsible coffee drinking and buying. 
My first experience with Brazilian coffee was during my first trip to Brazil at age 17. Coffee, as I soon discovered, is almost like a sacred elixir in Brazil. Brazilians drink coffee morning, noon, and evening, and almost always after every meal. Similar to most European countries, lunch, or Almoço, is the main meal of the day, and is almost always followed by a strong, very sweet and thick "cafezinho", or "little coffee". If it's not prepared in an espresso machine, they simply use an espresso grind in their brewers or some other drip device, in order for the coffee to be rich, strong, and thick.
It's almost like drinking thick, strong, unsweetened chocolate! I remember thinking, "wow, this is the best coffee I've ever had," while enjoying my first cafezinho. Everywhere you go in Brazil, you can find this type of coffee, and once you try it, you will be hooked. We've tried to emulate this unmistakable, rich, smooth, non-bitter and chocolaty flavor in the espresso and coffee that we serve at Espresso Brazil.
We had a few bumps in the road while searching for the perfect coffee to serve at Espresso Brazil, mainly because I had very specific criteria for the type of coffee that I wanted to share with my customers. The most important things were that it had to come only from Brazil, it had be from the highest quality beans, and it had to be "responsible" coffee, meaning that not only did the coffee itself have to be environmentally responsible, but it also had to be economically and "people" responsible as well. You don't know how many times I was told that I couldn't have a good espresso blend if I wanted the coffee to come only from Brazil. But, I didn't let that deter me. I knew that some of the best coffee I had ever consumed was in Brazil, and was 100% Brazilian coffee.
My seemingly impossible quest finally ended when I found Camano Island Coffee Roasters. After emailing and talking to many roasters, I finally emailed them once again explaining my goal for finding the perfect Brazilian Coffee. Much to my surprise, the CEO, Jeff Erickson, personally answered my email with a phone call. I was completely floored! He had the coffee that I had been looking for, and he completely understood what I was trying to accomplish. After tasting a cup of coffee made from the freshly roasted sample that he sent me, I knew that this was it! This coffee had everything I was looking for. I had finally found a way to responsibly emulate the "taste of place" and share that with my customers and friends. That place that I want everyone to taste is Brazil. [Read More About Our Coffee]