News!

Sometimes it is hard to keep this blog new and interesting because, quite frankly, we've got so much new and exciting stuff going on it usually gets swept by the wayside.
So what is keeping us so busy you ask? Well, here's a little update on what we're up to and some exciting news from the Blanchard's Coffee camp.

We've been growing as fast as we can, getting great new clients and helping some others grow.
Locally, we're providing coffee for the new localvore restaurant Selba which opened recently. It is absolutely gorgeous in there and Chef Abe has created an excellent menu.
We're excited that UofR is getting fired up again soon where we provide coffee for the Passport Cafe and Lou's. UofR is also launching a retail coffee program soon that will be roasted by Blanchards and sold on campus and in the up and coming downtown location.
Speaking of retail coffee, both Mamma Zu and Acacia offer their signature BCC blends in private-labeled retail bags so you can take some home after dinner!

Outside of Richmond we're really excited to be working with Para Coffee in Charlottesville and Java Shack in Arlington. Para Coffee is one of the most charming coffee shops we've seen in a while and it is chock full of talented baristas. Java Shack is an awesome location right in the thick of Clarendon that has been in business for over 15 years!

On a larger scale, we're very happy to be working with the nation's largest foodservice provider, Sysco Foods, to offer our coffees to high end restaurants and cafes outside of the Richmond area that might otherwise not have access to Fair Trade and Organically roasted, fresh, small-batch coffees. Despite the stigma of large, corporate goliath food companies, Sysco is a great, quality and service oriented company and we've been impressed by their excitement about our coffee, our brand, and getting us to more outlying areas.

Finally, we are very pleased to announce that our trial period at Kroger Willow Lawn in the Natural Foods section has come to an end and the corporate folks were impressed that our sales met and exceeded expectations, even while the store was under renovation. Because our 8 Fair Trade Organic coffees were so popular, they have decided to place us in 6 additional Richmond area Kroger locations! As soon as we have confirmation of the exact stores we'll announce them officially.

Obviously, we owe all of you a big Thank You because our growth and popularity is a direct result of you all drinking our coffee, talking us up to your friends and family and visiting all of the awesome restaurants, cafes, coffee houses, grocery stores, markets, convenience stores, churches, salons and schools that proudly brew Blanchard's Coffee--we raise our mugs to you!

Espresso Works at Para Coffee in Charlottesville, Virginia

We're really happy to be able to roast some coffees for Para Coffee in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Para is a beautiful, successful shop on The Corner near UVA and they've made a name for themselves as a proper espresso bar serving up real, professional drinks in a great environment.

We try to spend a day or so each week at the shop working on coffee offerings, giving tastings and working with the custom espresso Para and Blanchard's designed together.

Here is a little footage from our Tuesday session; enjoy!

Coffee & Technology

We don't use a ton of cutting edge technology when producing fresh Blanchard's coffee for you; it really comes down to fire and air. We are, however, very eager to find cool new ways to do what we love to do the most: talk to anyone and everyone about our great, fresh roasted coffee.

We really like the idea of using tons of different types of media to reach folks who might want to learn more about our coffees or follow what we're doing in the social media worlds of Facebook, Twitter & more. With that in mind, we're starting to play with QR Codes.
Here is an example of the first one we created:



Here's how it works: If you have a smartphone you can download a free app that will read bar codes and QR codes; I personally like ShopSavvy because it is also an interactive shopping tool that helps me find the lowest prices on items I scan. Once you have the app you simply scan this code and it redirects you to a page we associate with the code. This one, as you'll see when you scan it, takes you to a generic page we created that allows you to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, view a short video of our roaster in action and visit our website.

Eventually you'll start to see these on coffee bags and signage in all the places you find our coffee. Each type of coffee will have its own code that will tell you about the coffee you've chosen, give you ways to interact with us and that product like tasting notes or brewing tips, and perhaps offer special deals with the product and the location you've scanned it. It is sort of like a coffee education adventure!

Keep you eye out for codes popping up anywhere you find Blanchard's coffee, and happy scanning!

A Perfect Match

As you probably know, Blanchard's Coffee Co. is a certified organic coffee roaster. This means that not only are many of our coffees certified as organic at the farm level, but we, as a roaster, have a certified organic production. We feel this is important in demonstrating our commitment to natural and sustainable production of great, fresh coffee.

We pride ourselves in partnering with companies and organizations that share this commitment and vision as often as possible. With that in mind we are extremely excited to announce the beginning of what we hope will be a long and successful partnership with Farm to Family, an organization for which we've always had the utmost respect. If you are not familiar with what Farm to Family does I suggest you visit their website, though the scope of their work and influence might make for a long read so it is best to go out to their retail space in Mechanicsville or find them on one of their Farm to Family busses and strike up a conversation with owners Mark and Suzi Lilly.

The Farm to Family folks will be offering Blanchard's fresh roasted coffee for sale on the busses and at the retail location. Coffee will also soon be available as a part of the CSA program. We are also proud to share the coffee space with another local coffee roaster, Lamplighter Roasting Company, who are great friends and talented roasters.

Moving forward, we plan to work together on some fun cool projects like "Coffee Pop-Ups" where we will piggy-back on the Farm to Family bus and offer coffee tastings and short classes on tasting coffee and the agriculture behind the brew we love so much.
If you haven't had the pleasure to see what Farm to Family has to offer, consider this your invitation. Don't forget to let Mark and Suzi know we sent you!