I got to meet the Budweiser Clydesdale’s, the Coca-Cola Bear, and Elsie the Borden Cow. You’d think I went to the zoo. Nope, just the national FMI trade show in Dallas TX.  I spoke to folks from all over the globe who loved the coffee we sampled for them, and also some who would love to have us in their local store in the Lone Star State, so I have my work cut out. It’s so invigorating to tell folks what we do, and when they hear that we are also Farmers in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, it sets off a lot of conversation. By the end of the day, I’m hoarse and I hear myself in my sleep.

       We came across a great group of fellow exhibitors as well. Our neighbors Blue Bell Ice Cream (YUM!), and the folks representing Equal Sweeteners. We had us a big ol’ Ice Cream, Sugar Substitute, Coffee party! And so many others who shared their products with us as we shared ours. Everyone wants Coffee in the morning and then around 2-3 O’clock as things wind down, so we made a lot of friends.

        Then it was back to the shop, catch up for a day and head back out to New England. A Lot of rain, but nice people willing to help out as we look to make our way North. One of the best things I love about what I do is traveling & meeting new people and seeing if they have ever tried Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. Many have heard of us, but seldom tasted since it is so rare to come across. Watching the reaction as they expect (but yet don’t know what to expect) when they have that first sip. “Oh that is smooth” “So much flavor” is a lot of what I hear and seeing people smile in surprise is always a good feeling. I always encourage the first sip be black as mother nature intended so the aroma and taste can fully be experienced.

       The point of all this is to simply say thanks to all those who listen, ask questions, and read about Reggie’s Roast. I really appreciate the time you take to talk and share what’s on your mind. As always, please feel free to contact me at the shop (908)862-3700 if you’re ever in New jersey and you’d like to stop by. We Love visitors!! Or drop us a line at customerservice@reggiesroast.com if there’s something you would like to share!

Cheers! ~ Reggie

      The relevance to the “Where’s Waldo” phenomenon in the sales & retail industry is uncanny. We are all selling similarly  categorized  products; and yet we are so far differentiated by our own specific characteristics in trying to set ourselves apart from the folks next to us. So how do you find what you want? How do we as suppliers make our products more easily accessible?

       There is no right or wrong, it’s all trial & error truth be told. Consumers shop, suppliers kick and scratch to try and figure out what will make their product appealing, and capitalism shines in all it’s glory. The Internet has opened up the entire globe to be shopped and the  “market” has thousands of aisles with virtual carts big enough to fit an entire circus. Tell me what you CAN’T find online: the list is shorter!

        We are doing our part every day to bring the word of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee to the forefront of the retail world. For our Farms, the folks who tire during the harvest, and for the prosperity of Jamaica. We constantly strive to bring revenue in to a suffering economy on the Island and bring about the glory days of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

        You may find our products on our website www.reggiesroast.com, and in several retailers throughout the country. We have partnered with Retailers such as Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Sam’s Club, Hy-Vee, IGA, Gelson’s, Eden Market, Wal Mart, Jungle Jim’s, and our latest addition Buyer’s Best Friend.

         Buyer’s Best Friend  is a website where Retailers can find or products and buy and have them shipped at wholesale prices. This is a great opportunity for Owners of independent stores to buy wholesale without the overhead of distributor costs. All purchases from BBF go directly to us in our roasting house in Linden, New Jersey where all our coffee is roasted order. You are not buying pre-roasted and warehoused coffee. BBF orders directly from us upon receipt of your order so you are getting product with at least a 340 day shelf life.

         If you’ve read this far, please visit our website www.reggiesroast.com and click on the “Wholesale” page to see what we have to offer. And as always, you can call (908)862-3700 or email customerservice@reggiesroast.com .

Thanks for taking the time to read this! ~ Reggie

         While picking up some Green Coffee in Jersey City, I was chatting with a fellow farmer who is from Minnesota and farmiliar with Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee farms. He has traveled up into the mountains and has seen first hand what we do and had nothing but good things to say about our farming principals and the work we put in. Coming from someone who owns several acres and has his two sons farming his fields, that is quite the compliment.

         We all take things for granted. Let’s be honest. How many times have you stopped to consider “How does this grow? Or where did this come from?” Not only consumables, but a large number of industrial products rely on Mama Nature.

        I planted some flowers with my five year old daughter Abby, and was amazed by how our little potted plants flourished with a bit of water, sunshine and a little girl’s love. We spent no more than $10 and have gotten an enormous amount of joy from our work. What other resource can give you that sort of return?

        If nothing else, I hope this finds you in good health and with the time to take a moment to ask yourself “What is my favorite gift that Nature gives me? ” You may come up with a few, or even more if you think of your favorite vegetable, flower, season, or vacation spot . Sunsets, Sunrise, Leaves in the Fall, Spring Blossoms, A snow-capped-untouched mountain or the simple joy of cutting a tomato from your backyard garden.

       Whatever you find to be your favorite in Nature- Animal, Mineral or Vegetable; we all have Mother Nature to thank. Take a few minutes and think of how you can be a part of the solution; don’t litter, and think before you throw out that next peice of trash – Can This Be Recycled? Odds are it can.  I took the time to see if we could find a recyclable package and found our new recycled cardboard composite 16oz cans. The sources are out there & it’s worth a look and the few extra minutes to see if you can Help Mama Out!

Cheers!! ~ Reggie

      We are fortunate enough to be in a time where more and more people have heard of or are talking about Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, and in specific, Reggie’s Roast. The phone is ringing more, we are seeing new names through our on line shopping community, and more and more retailers have heard of our coffee.

      I am not bragging by any sense, since as it comes, so does it go; but It’s good to see all the labor of our farms see some results and hope to bring about some fortune for the people of Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Farming community. The Jamaican Government has lent support in getting our Farmers paid from the processors more quickly, helped out with funds in aiding the Borer Beetle infestation, and is looking to continue to see Jamaica rise back to the glory days of Blue Mountain Coffee farming.

      As I have said before, I am lucky to be a part of this industry, and in having the passion of what we do is a great feeling to convey when I speak to folks about our coffee. I am proud when I find even one person each week who has heard of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee and asks me my favorite question “what makes it so special?” I have at least five answers for that one! I start with our Farms and go all the way down to how we leave no roasted coffee at the end of the day since we roast in small batches to order. Unless we are running the Big Girl, our 2 Kilo Probat Roaster, in which case we roast large batches to order.

       I am proud to say that we are busier this year than we were this time last year, and I will hold myself to the standards of being able to say that every year. For our Farms, for Jamaica, and for Reggie!!

PS ~ I am losing my coffee roaster next week. Anybody know someone who can roast coffee??

Our New 16oz cans in a Recyclable package

As farmers, we are very concious of the limited resources we are given from Mother Nature and strive to preserve those gifts when we roast and package your coffee. For years we have been using foil lined Poly Urethane valve sealed bags to preserve freshness when we package our freshly roasted coffee. Looking into a more Eco-Friendly solution, we have recently been delving in the realm uof other package options in wanting to set ourselves apart from the rest of the industry.

We have a Canco Can Seamer circa 1940′s when canning was a primary packaging solution. Cans are durable and a great means of preserving freshness. We all have seen their merits when we go into Mom’s or Grandma’s pantry and it is stocked with enough canned goods to see you into next season. Military rations, meats, vegetables, sauces, pastas, fruits, and any number of foods, fluids, and non-perishables can be found in cans.

But Coffee? Well yes, years ago in those metal cans that were kept on the counter with the metal burrs that would rip your finger open if you nicked the rim. Remember that? The big cans of Yuban, Foldgers, and Maxwell House? Fortunately on both accounts Coffee and Cans have gotten much better. Please read on, there are no burrs here folks.

We have been able to source a Foil-Lined Cardboard Composite Can that has a Valve-Sealed Easy-Open foil top. These cans preserve freshness, are easy to open, and are fully recyclable; even the plastic cap. The cardboard, of course, is recycled so we are using a renewable source along with the aluminum bottoms and foil tops to offer a natural product in a package that helps Mother Nature as well. And NO CAN OPENERS OR METAL BURRS!! From the customers who have used these cans, we have seen they are easier to work with than the bags. No folding, crumbling, and they hold their shape during storage.

A tip from me to you- Dont peel the Foil Top all the way off. Peel back half way, use and re seal to use the valve & keep the oxygen out…

The coffee is the same Freshly-Roasted-to-order that you’ve always been getting from Reggie’s Roast but in a better package at a lower price. Since we are able to save packaging costs, we pass that along to you directly; and are able to offer the best value on Freshly Roasted Jamaica CIB Certified 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee from our own farms. As I write, this is THE BEST DEAL ON THE WEB for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. We also offer 5 of our JBM Blends in our 16 oz cans as well.

I will be putting together packages and promotions so stay tuned for the latest and greatest. Find us on Face Book www.facebook.com/reggiesroastcoffee or visit www.reggiesroast.com , and you can “LIKE” us for 10% off and you can sign up for our newsletter for even more deals!!

CAN you dig it?!?!~~Reggie

       Mapping out the production was the first thing we had to do: Coffee comes in here and goes out there. Twenty pallets of “green” coffee were brought in to fill the order, a mix of Guatemala, Brazil, and Robusta Coffees. Based on the formulation of the roast, the coffees needed to be mixed to recipe specifications before roasting. 45 lbs of this, 27 lbs of that added to 18 pounds of that were broken down 268 times before roasting. That’s moving all 24,000 pounds BY HAND folks! The Green was measured and lifted into the feeding hopper of the roaster.

       Our Probat Roaster will flawlessly roast 180 pounds of coffee in 12 minutes- bless her drum. So we needed to take a total of 134 batches and complete that in three days at roughly 8,040 pounds per day or 804 pounds per hour on a ten hour day non-stop. We rotated our lunches so that the machine kept going without missing a minute and didn’t miss a beat. Once she is running, the roasting process is automated from bringing the green coffee into the charging hopper & roasting. Monitoring the color and roast profile, we manually start the quenching process and then automation takes over for discharging , cooling, and de-stoning into the filler hopper. From there it is loaded in super-sacks at 600 pounds each and sent to the grinder.

      The sack is percariously suspended twenty feet in the air over our JB-Mill grinder built circa 1950.  Shaking like a freight train she can put out 600 pounds of USDA specified ground coffee in an hour. She is a great tribute to a time when machines were built to last. A fresh set of grinder plates, a shot of grease on all the points and you can’t stop ‘er!

      We kept our Key Pack form and fill packaging machine running at 13 bags per minute, ten hours a day, for four and a half days straight. That is nearly 7,800 bags per day, not including time for repairs, film & valve changes. We used Plitek PV 28 degassing valves so we could grind and package the coffee without having it sit to de-gas (and lose flavor). Although this girl can be as temperamental as a teenager, she is able to come through once set in the right direction. As a father of a five year old girl, the Key Pack prepares me for the upcoming teenage years….I have had many a coarse word, to say the least, when she doesn’t cooperate!

       The cases were filled by hand, checking for any open or un-valved bags; twenty four bags to a case, 5o cases to a pallet. As the cases were sealed the USDA would stamp their seal of approval on them and off they went to be shrink wrapped and marked. Please note: Unless you crave nausea, DO NOT eat lunch before you continuously walk around pallets and wrap them.

      2000 feet of stretch wrap on 20 pallets, 2000 case labels, 3,334 feet of tape along with some blood, sweat & tears and we completed the order ahead of delivery schedule with compliment from the customer. Looking back two years ago when I started with Reggie and had no idea what any of these machines did, it’s a good feeling to have been able to run this job.

       There are roasters who do these sorts of numbers before Noon, but as a small roaster, we are proud of what we’ve done and it just shows what Reggie’s Roast is capable of when it comes to a large run order.

       To my partner Raul and his buddies Ovidio and James I thank you all for your very hard work last week!

~Reggie

         I am one who will chew on freshly roasted beans. There is no better way to palate the bean’s true flavor profile. Plus it’s a great pick-me-up without brewing a pot! Some may wince at the thought, but folks don’t knock it till you try it. As a roaster it has become an invaluable tool in creating our profiles and turned into an obsession; but I digress.

         So there is smoking beans, eating beans, chocolate covered beans (which will soon be coming from our kitchen to yours this Fall), beans for your grinder & cup, but what else?  I’m not going to regurgitate a bunch of Google information, but rather suggest an open think tank of experimentation. I love to cook and experiment. Sometimes good, and sometimes the cook has to eat it regardless of taste. So let the games begin!

         I’m talking cakes, cookies, pies, pick me up drinks, coffee Martinis, rubs for Bar-B-Que, sauces, Iced Coffee recipes, Hot Coffee recipes, after dinner (alcohol) drinks, and so on. Think about what would taste better with coffee? What would be better with a good pick-me-up? What flavor would a freshly roasted fruit add to this dish, drink, or dessert? I will be happy to discuss which coffee or blend would be best suited for your recipe, and with your permission we will gladly reproduce, review, post & feature your  recipe on our site. Get in touch with us at customerservice@reggiesroast.com or (908)862-3700

 Of course all due credit will go to the chef since this is not about us – It’s about you.

We hope to hear from you and look forward to sharing our creative nature & mutual love of our coffee! ~ Reggie

         Pretty impressive huh? Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce  CLIENT X. It’s us. I have always said numbers are ambiguous, they can be either good or bad depending on how they are presented. As a small business, for us it’s about survival. Cost vs. return on investment is the bottom line for us and there are folks out there who have no concern for your bottom line, but only for theirs.

         What they don’t tell you is that the sales they brought in did not cover the cost of the $2000 monthly retainer along with the extra we spent on Ad words to boost the search engine reach. Lets say of the 59% that we were allegedly up (they could not set our cart up in Google Analytics, so there really was no sales conversion tracking so the percentage can best be left at assumption compared to the previous year) The November 2010 base was so small to begin with that a percentage comparison makes it seem that the increase is that much greater. From a profit standpoint it is another story. If I sold one apple last year, and this year I sell three, I’m up 200%. See the ambiguity?  So looking realistically, we can say the 59% ” increase” minus our cost of goods sold including payroll is $1388.95; then subtract the $500 they needed for Ad words is now $888.95 approx. net profit. An ROI of NEGATIVE $1611.05. You won’t find that posted on the Internet.

         This along with the boastful new site visits and Face Book Likes should not be considered since we ran paid ads on both Google and Face Book for a combined three months. But self gratification is what some folks rely on to be justified; regardless that out of the entire year they were paid, they were only productive in terms of sales for four out of twelve months, and yet still no profit to be drawn on any of those four months. We asked them if they felt their performance was satisfactory, and I was looked in the eye and was told ”yes, we have gone above and beyond for you.”  They have since been let go from being anywhere near our business.  I have politely asked this blog be amended since there are no analytical facts to draw from in terms of sales. For those who may consider using such services, I am sharing this story on behalf of small businesses like us since we have to be careful of the limited financial resources we do have.  

         From what we went through, I did my homework and made some changes to our approach; hence the “Redux” comparing two months. Looking at Feb 2012 vs. 2011 we got 100 new likes from Coffee-targeted ads for $250, I spent $500 on SEO from a company that handles SEO only for 800 accounts and was up $500 in sales from last year in their first month – and the SEO is not even completed. They aren’t bragging, they are working. On a $750 investment, I am only at a negative ROI of  approx. $550 in the first month rather than $1600 after 11 months. Much Better!  And I have an 85% new visitor rate, my bounce rate has come down 6% from November 2011, and am now targeting and hitting my page goals more consistently. The previous company never set them up. And I also have found out they installed a cart that cannot work properly with conversions in Google so that’s why it wasn’t done. Now I have to have that taken care of.

       In all sincerity, my point is not to bash anybody (but I’ll probably get some feedback as such) , but to make anyone reading this aware of the sharks in the water and beware of anyone who says they can be your “Total _____   whatever it may be “. Remember a Jack of All Trades is a master of none. Find someone who specifies in what you need, and research what this SEO game is about in order to pinpoint your needs. Believe me it’s well worth your time to find some do-it-yourself type research,  and see what elements you can handle in house before spending an arm, a leg, and a year on nothing. I admit I have learned a lot, and am the better for it in terms of what I now know about SEO and website development, but it was not anything I would recommend.

      I got a call from a customer today saying the contact email address they had set up for our site in customer service was undeliverable. ( Oh yeah, they built that too which was amazing… The scheduled development time was eight weeks and they were able to get it done in just under 7 months!!) After another hour of my own time it is fixed and I am still cleaning up the mess. As always, it’s customerservice@reggiesroast.com (908)862-3700

      In a few simple  words: “It was a catastrophic success!” ~ Reggie

      Unfortunately with the rewards of farming also come the risks of uncertainty brought forth by Mother Nature and the economic continuity of the Farmers on the island. As of this writing the Jamaican Government along with the Coffee Industry Board is putting together a plan to prevent further damage from the  Berry Borer infestation. The Coffee Berry Borer is native to Africa and was spread to other coffee growing regions early in the nineteenth century and is now the largest threat to coffee crops world wide. They chew through the walls of the dried ripened cherries where they flourish on one or migrate to several plants. Control through use of Borer Traps and cleaning the fields properly after harvest and removing the in-consumable cherries are the best defenses in use today. As you can see compared to a coffee cherry, these critters are no more than the size of a sesame seed, but their damage can be devastating.

      The situation in Jamaica is economical, and in a struggling economy, that is the last thing we want to hear. Farmers get paid a certain amount “per box” from the processors who buy the cherries for processing, grading, certification, and exportation. Due to certain factors including exportation delays, money exchanges and payments from importers to the factories, the farmers are last in line to be paid for their crops. It is not as easy and glorified as one may think, and as with any business there can be a lot of red tape. This sometimes leaves the farmers with no means to pay for the fields to be cleaned as they should and we run the risk of the berry borers. As with all things that go into production, there is a cost associated and this is where our situation turns for the better.

      Fortunately the pride of the Jamaican agricultural community is not easily wained. We are pulling together with help form The CIB, Jamaican Government and our processor Mavis Bank.  They are getting the farmers paid more per box to cover costs associated and are securing more timely payment  to see that the funds are in farmer’s hand when they need them. In a release this week, Senator Norman Grant reiterated Mavis Bank’s commitment to our farmers and the restoration of  the glory days of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee production.

      The Jamaican Government has allotted $29 Million in funds to the coffee industry. $9 million is to go toward the Borer Bug task force and the other $20 million will provide fertilizer & finances for our coffee farmers. Without this aid we would be facing Jamaica’s lowest producing crop in decades without any help at all. This aid has been called for long ago as farmers asked for the help and without reply  abandoned their farms, leaving ripened berries to host the Borer Beetle. The Coffee Industry Board has had to reduce it’s projection for 2012 from 234,000 boxes to between 150-180,000 boxes in considerstion of  farmers losing between one-third to one-half of their crops from the infestation.

       This means there will be less global supply of an already small crop that sees the Japenese consuming 80% of Jamaica’s annual output. Consumers may be seeing shortages of supply throughout 2012, and that of course heightens demand, and well, you know what comes next. All of us Reggie’s Roast will do all we can to keep your freshly roasted Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee coming to your doorstep without missing a beat as we are currently securing our supply from this year’s crops to continue to bring you “Absolutely the Best Coffee in the World”

       I hope you enjoyed this “peek behind the curtain” ~ Reggie