Camp Coffee

In partnership with Need Supply Co.--a Richmond, Virginia based specialty clothing company that is world renowned for its selection of vintage and rare denim and its consistent ability to be at the forefront of new urban trends--we have created a very unique coffee to offer to offer to customers at their Carytown location and in their webstore.

As you can see by the custom label to the left, Camp Coffee is Dark Roast blend of Indian Monsoon Malabar and Ethiopian Harrar--two very unique coffees that are full of character and flavor.

Often coffee blends are kept a secret as proprietary information but we felt like these two beans had such a fascinating story that it would be a shame not to highlight them in the description.

Together, these beans create a rich, hearty and balanced cup that almost begs for a seat by the fire on a chilly winter evening.

Camp coffee is only available through Need Supply Co. so visit them on Cary Street or pick up a bag from the webstore--you'll be glad you did!

Blanchard's Coffee Co. is Hiring!

Guess what folks, its that time again!
In the past few months we've been growing fast and seeing lots of changes in the BCC team, beginning with Tom Thorogood moving on to bigger things and leaving us with his delicious Swan Song. Next we said bon voyage to Jonathan Lesko as he sailed off to an island off of West Africa with the Peace Corps. We were joined during the summer by Seth Bauserman whose steady pace, good tunes and expertise on the roaster gave us the time we needed to get our new Roast Master, Josh Taylor, fully acclimated to the complex art/science of coffee roasting.
Now that Josh has his sea-legs, so to speak, its time to get the Blanchard's ship running at full steam. We are producing a LOT of coffee so we need some more hands. We're posting the job description for a Production Assistant below, so if you're interested, give us a shout.

A few notes to preface: Working in the Roasting Lab is often dirty, hard work. There is a lot of lifting overhead and in awkward spaces. There is a good amount of smoke, a lot of heat and you will, more often than not, be covered in coffee. This is not to scare you away because the job is a heck of a lot of fun and you get to drink coffee all day, we just want everyone to understand that if you're not into getting some dirt under your nails, this probably isn't your ideal gig.

Blanchard’s Coffee Co. is seeking applicants for the position of Production Assistant.

The Production Assistant position carries a 25-35 hour per week schedule, depending on production volume.

The Production Assistant’s schedule is Monday-Friday beginning at 9:00am and ending when daily production is completed.

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

--Able to lift 60lbs over their head
--Reliable transportation to and from work
--Efficient and hard-working
--Clean driving record
--Punctual
--Coffee Lover
--Respectful of coworkers, superiors and company property
--Respectful of clients and other members of the community

Preferred qualifications:

--Coffee experience (coffee shop, restaurant, retailer etc)
--Interest in coffee education (roasting, brewing, cupping, barista training etc)
--Customer service experience
--Basic computer skills

The Production Assistant works directly with the Roast Master on a daily basis assisting with all tasks involved in producing and packaging coffee for wholesale accounts. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to inventory, labeling bags, batching and blending both green and roasted coffee, operating a weigh-and-fill machine, operating a belt and manual heat sealing machine, grinding coffee, packaging whole bean and ground coffee, answering the phone, delivering coffee, brewing coffee, Roast Lab cleanliness, equipment cleanliness, complying with USDA, VA Department of Agriculture, CCOF and Transfair guidelines for organic certification and quality control.

Blanchard’s Coffee Co. is growing and always hopes to give employees opportunities to grow as well. The Production Assistant will have the opportunity to learn coffee roasting techniques to support the Roast Master as well as overall coffee knowledge.

To apply, please email a resume and cover letter to Stephen@blanchardscoffee.com.

Testamonial

Mocha Java is the classic coffee blend--one of the first known. Every roaster should have a Mocha Java out of respect to the craft. We're super proud of ours and even more proud that it is a featured coffee at the VMFA Best Cafe every single day.

Just like everyone, we always like to hear compliments. Here's one from Brenda who worked at VMFA and has this to say about the Blanchard's Coffee Co. Mocha Java:

 I was so glad that you still have Mocha Java and as soon as I am out of what I have, I shall order two bags. Best coffee ever and when I worked in the cafe at the Museum as a barista, I became a great fan as did many others. We could not keep the carafe filled.
Be ordering soon.

Brenda


Thanks Brenda!

Blanchard's Coffee Co. is Hiring!

Blanchard's Coffee Co. is hiring!
Take a look at the job description and if you're interested please submit a resume and cover letter to Stephen Robertson at stephen@blanchardscoffee.com.

Big News

If you are kind enough to check our blog often, you've probably noticed that we've slacked when it comes to posting with any frequency. There are a million excuses but it all boils down to the fact that we've been very, very busy at the often awkward and always challenging art of growth.

A lot has happened in the past few months. We've worked very hard to expand our influence in the Richmond coffee world with prominent new clients like Kroger, Mamma Zu, Edo's Squid, The Empress, Crossroad's Coffee & Ice Cream and many more. We've also been working very hard on our sustainability practices, not to mention finding interesting new ways to grow with our faithful existing clients.

This has certainly been a journey and, though it has been tough at times, I think we can all agree it has been a positive experience overall. Change, somehow, always begets more change, and the Blanchard's Coffee Co. world is no exception.

Blanchard's is both saddened and elated to share the news that two gentlemen at the core of everything we do and stand for will be leaving us shortly.
Tom Thorogood, Blanchard's Roastmaster, is moving on to bigger and better things in the non-profit world. Tom was integral to Blanchard's moving from a cool, quirky small business to a highly organized, well-oiled machine. If you drink a cup of Blanchard's coffee, chances are, Tom was responsible for it; but a career is a funny thing. Gone are the days of a life-long job. Tom helped Blanchard's grow, and at the same time he grew his own ability and potential and now it is time for him to break out and do bigger, better things with the skills and experience he has developed.

Bon chance Tom!

Assistant Roastmaster, Jonathan Lesko is also parting ways with the Blanchard's Coffee Co. operations team as he just received his assignment for the Peace Corps. If Tom didn't get your coffee into your cup, it was certainly Jonathan or some combination of the two of them. Heavy on philosophy and light on stress, Jonathan has been a rock of thoughtful and focused coffee production and while we are sad to see him go, we are proud of what he's about to do (and a little jealous). For the next two years you can find him on a tiny island off the coast of West Africa earning his keep with the Peace Corps. I'm sure some day he'll be running the Fed or something, so we intend to keep him in good graces!

Change is often tough, and change is often good--for everyone. We are going to make the best of the changes we're having and turn it into something great for our company and all of our loyal customers. Get ready for great things folks, we're only getting started!

Of Garages and Crossroads

Our first batch of coffee was roasted in January 2005. I often joke that a child never fully moves out of their parents’ house. This fact will forever be written in stone for me. One week before our first coffee roaster was delivered, our lease fell apart. In true form, I now had a new business without a home. So, I did what I always did…I called my Dad! One week later, an eighteen wheeler stopped in front of my childhood home where my brother-in-law and I lifted a 1,000 lb crate with a pallet jack and wheeled it down the driveway to the garage. Two hours and 10 propane fittings later, we had fire!   

The last six years have been incredible. What was started as a passion and hobby has become an actual business! Blanchard’s Coffee Co. did end up moving from my father’s garage, but we are still a family business. I am grateful to have employees who are friends, believe in Blanchard’s and love coffee as much as I do. You really can’t teach passion; you either have it or you don’t.

Today marks a big day for the Richmond coffee world. Six years ago when I was roasting in the garage, I decided to go on my first sales call and I picked Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream. I would like to say that my relentless pursuit sealed the deal, but it didn’t. Today is not about pursuit, it is about coffee and passion. Today is about two Richmond coffee companies realizing that the sum of their two businesses creates something greater than what they are apart. Passion is an interesting energy, isn’t it? Passion needs fuel and unfortunately doesn't generate its own inertia. It needs ideas, creatively, affirmation, and support. Passion needs continual reinvention. Blanchard’s and Crossroads: coffee passion.

Contributed by David Blanchard

Coffee Tip::Getting Green

At Blanchard's Coffee Co. we pride ourselves in being fairly kind to the environment even though our daily roasting does crank out some smoke on to Forest Hill Avenue. Is that causing harm? Likely a little bit but we work hard to make up for that in other ways. People say the movement towards greening businesses is a toothless fad that doesn't hold a lot of true meaning or value; this may be true for oil giants and manufacturing companies but in small business a little bit of effort can go a long way. We're already doing a lot but we can do a lot more.

Current Efforts
We recycle everything we can. As much as we'd love to be a paperless business, we end up having to print out orders to keep everything straight, so we make sure those print-outs get to a recycling facility.

We are huge proponents of the re-use strategy; here are some things we currently re-use until they're completely destroyed: boxes, coffee bags, cups, java jackets and containers of all sorts.

We also love to repurpose a lot of our waste. Burlap bags that are used to ship green coffee, make excellent display material for many of our clients who creatively merchandise our products. We also end up with a lot of bio-mass from roasting and brewing coffee which we offer for free to home gardeners and farmers.

Plans to do Better
Our first order of business is to switch all of our disposable paper products to Green Duck Compostables so our paper footprint isn't as extensive.
One of our biggest initiatives this year is the idea of bringing together local businesses, crafts-people and community members to promote and support local happenings and causes. This is sort of a far reaching project that includes a ton of different avenues. For example, we will be sponsoring and hosting events such as our upcoming Community Night in the Roastery that brings folks into the Blanchard's roastery for a fun evening with coffee, other beverages, food and a silent auction featuring local crafts-people benefiting a local organization. We are also ramping up for a great 2011 RVA Barista Jam season beginning with our first event on 23 February 2011 at Ellwood's Cafe from 6:00-8:00pm. This year we're kicking up the event with raffle prizes and a slightly different format but it still promises to be great coffee-social fun!
We're also working on creative ways to bring the coffee community of Richmond together to support more sustainable business practices. Collectively, all of the coffee businesses in town put a lot of coffee related bio-mass in the garbage. At the same time, many local farmers are paying for similar bio-mass to aerate their soil or feed their composts. We aim to organize as many coffee houses and roasters in town as possible to set their bio-waste aside to be picked up and donated to local farmers. Heck, if we're lucky we might even get a few vegetables out of the deal!

We're probably just at the tip of the iceberg of what we could do to make our operation more sustainable and green, so our ears and eyes are always open to ideas and suggestions to make our community and our world a little better.

Ride In Style with Blanchard's Cycling Kits!

Are you fueled by Blanchard's? Tell the world!

Three Sports is now carrying Blanchard's Coffee Co. cycling kits!

Stop by Three Sports to get a sweet looking kit along with a bag of coffee to keep you going (the bags support the SproFit program and its athletes!).  Need more incentive? You don't have to just bike in your kit. You can even roast coffee in it.

(No, okay, that was a lie. Tom didn't really roast in his kit.)

The bibs set you back $80 and the jerseys $65, right in range with the rest of them out there. Send us a photo of you in your kit and we'll send you a coupon for a bag of coffee from our online store! Just so long as you don't mind that you might wind up on our blog.

Three Sports is located at 6241 River Rd. RVA 23226 and is open from 10am-5pm on Saturdays, and 10am-7pm Monday-Friday.

If you're interested in a kit, but don't live in the area, let Tom know, and he'll either try to get one from Three Sports for you, or add you to a list for the next time we order!

Keep brewing, and ride safe!

Barista Jam this Wednesday be there

Barista Jam from David Blanchard on Vimeo.