[virtue]

Friends, please humor me while I do something that will outrage our benevolent moderator.

I'd like to pass on something that is as close to my heart as any Virtue amplifier: the coffee beans that are artisinally selected and roasted by one of our first customers James Takamatsu in Hawaii.

James used to run the coffee shop at his church and wound up owning it.  During some dark months for Virtue, he was kind enough to send me some Maui Mokka Peaberry beans.  Here's what I have to say about the beans: they never actually made it into a brew.  I ate these light, crunchy, fragrant, delicious little beans right out of the bag.  They're that amazing.

He's selling them for $25/lb and will mail order.  Run don't walk to get yourself some.

Virtue is about craftsmanship, beauty, community, and honest value.  James and Covenant (http://www.covenantcoffeeroasters.com) are upholding those values and I urge all of you out there to give his Maui Mokka Peaberry a try.

Newsletter follows below:

**************
 
Aloha Everyone-

We hope you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. Though the future always seems uncertain, we certainly have so much in which to be thankful. Many prayers to those that have had struggles and tests in the last few weeks; certainly our love and thoughts are with you.

New Arrival! Maui Mokka Peaberry-
We've anticipated this coffee more than any, since perhaps the Ka'u "Wood Valley". We've been buying Maui coffee since 2004, and we knew Mokka Peaberry existed, or may possibly exist, but we had never seen it. Finally, it showed up on Coffee Review's website, and was rated 95 pts. on the 100 pt. scale. Yeah, Top Ten Coffee of 2012. It took us several months, but we managed to secure a precious amount of this elusive ambrosia. Okay, I'm waxing poetic, but I really wanted this coffee! (Pretty obvious by now).

Roasted just past medium, the coffee is pungent with red and black fruit aromas, almost Cabernet-like, with notes of melted chocolate, cinnamon, and hints of earth. Flavors are oh-so-smooth chocolate and spice, silky, soft, almost creamy mouthfeel with a long beautiful finish. The universal comment of test tasters was amazing smoothness and softness. "I didn't want cream with it, and I always take cream". It's a different experience from any other coffee I can think.

Maui Mokka Peaberry, 1 lb. bag, reg. $29.99, sale $24.99.

Holiday Specials- Effective now thru Dec. 31, 2012:

Ka'u "Wood Valley" vs. Maui Mokka Peaberry 4 lb. Special
This is an epic contest- two of the top-rated coffees in one special package. 2- lbs. each of the award-winning Ka'u "Wood Valley"- aromatic, rich, smooth, classically romantic, and 2- lbs. of Maui Mokka Peaberry- exotic, complex, creamy, supple, and nuanced. This Ka'u Wood Valley comes to us is in the form of an updated profile of the finest classic Kona coffees ("supercharged" Kona, I like to call it), the Mokka Peaberry is an extreme version of "New Age" style coffees, with descriptive terms that sounds more like wine tasting than coffee. Which would you prefer?  Reg. $129.96, specially priced at $99.99 (No other discounts apply)

Molokai Peaberry 4- lb. Special
We bought the entire inventory of this blockbuster peaberry coffee from Molokai; there is no more left until 2013 harvest! One of our most popular coffees at our best ever pricing. Reg. $119.96, specially priced at $77.99 (No other discounts apply)

Last Chance! "Maui Yellow Cat" Washed 4- lb. special
The response has been great- We're nearly depleted of our Maui Yellow Caturra/washed special. This coffee was rated by Coffee Review at 90 pts. (outstanding) on their 100 pt. scale. For how much? 4- lbs $39.99 That's 10 bucks per full pound bag; regularly $67.96. (No other discounts apply) For any of these specials, please email us at covenantcoffeeroasters@yahoo.com

Ka'u Estate Coffee- This is the classic "Kona" style coffee profile we're all familiar with: Big, blooming, room-filling sweet aromas, smooth and supple on the palate, beautifully balanced, medium bodied, full flavored yet ever so delicate, overtones of flowers and spice, long, smooth finish. Never any hard edges or off-flavors. Ka'u Wood Valley may be the "in" thing in the coffee world, but this classically styled profile put Kona on the map as the King of Coffees. I think of it as a Kona turned up to "11".

Ka'u Estate Coffee, 1 lb. bag, regularly $34.99, on sale, just $25.99. or even better, 4 lbs. for just $99.99! (As above, not combinable with other discounts. Email us with your order, we'll send you a Paypal invoice). Available in either our deep medium roast, or dark roast.

And our monthly website Specials:

$5 off orders over $50
$10 off orders over $100
$20 off orders over $200
$30 off orders over $300

Visit: covenantcoffeeroasters.com

Q&A's, Helpful Hints, Recipes- I'm sorry, but I've really fallen behind in the last few weeks in updating the website. But, I will be doing additions in the next several days and weeks in posting these updates. As usual, please let us know if you have any questions or problems with the website or shopping cart. As always, you can always text/call us on my cell phone at  808-383-5619.

Mele Kalikimaka and Mahalo,

James and Karen Takamatsu
Covenant Coffee Roasters Hawaii

[Tarzan]

Are these the new products?

[ericlp151]

I too live in Hawaii.  While Kona Beans are nice.  The east side of the big island (puna coffee) is much nicer... Puts kona to shame.   

I think the rain and the cooler air mixed in with filtered sunlight from the liquid sunshine produces a better bean.  JMO.   Try Sharkeys coffee and you'll never go back to anything but....  They grow/roast and mill it all in one shot.  No middle men... Straight from the farm. 

[tabrink]

 
Oder in to James and Karen. You got to love small businesses as the backbone of the American economy! I went deep and scored a Trifecta of Kona! 
Just sayin'...

[Jason T]

James

I had no idea you roasted coffee!
I love me some coffee but have yet had the courage to pony up more than $10 for a lb so feel privileged 

email coming your way! 

[classicjt2]

Ha ha-

What's this? Coffee discussion in Audio Circle? Actually, there's been a long relationship between audio and other "high-end" hobbies. Harry Pearson, who started The Absolute Sound magazine around 40 years ago, was, by profession, a photographer/reporter for Newsday. He used his photographic descriptive terms (imaging, focus, depth of field, etc.) to visualize to his readers what he heard through his audio system. Robert Parker popularized descriptive terminology for wines, and it exploded into many other hobbies. Descriptive terms often used for wines show up frequently in coffee tastings.

Having been in the audio/video retail business for over 25 years, it was certainly a change to work in the food/coffee industry. We had some tough days in electronics, stories of carrying 400 lb. big screens up staircases or over fences, setting up stereo systems till 2 in the morning, but I don't think there are many that work so hard for so little than in the food industry. My wife and I worked for our church's cafe/bookstore for 10 years, and we're just getting too old to work the line. So this is our pre-retirement employ. If we make something like minimum wage from all this, I'll consider it an accomplishment.

Roasting coffee on a small, boutique scale as we do is not far off from manufacturing high end audio equipment. We have a product (in the case of coffee, a certain type of green coffee bean), we roast it into something usable by the consumer, then evaluate the result. Not far off from, say, choosing an amplifying device (in the case of a Virtue Sensation, a Tripath circuit), doing the design work and choosing associated components, then testing the result. My advantage is I get to find out how we did in 15 or so minutes of roasting (actually, 2-4 days after), and Seth knows it may take months or years to develop a circuit. If I don't like a coffee bean or roast profile, I can change it the next day. If something doesn't work in a circuit design, it may take months of design and testing just to find you've wasted months of design and testing. I admire Seth's determination, patience, and unwillingness to compromise. I told Seth a year ago, if I were him, I'd buy into making tweaked-out Chinese amps, and offering a really entry-level Virtue amp for $199. But he figured it wouldn't be a real Virtue amp.

Good thing Seth has a day job.

James

[virtue]

James,

I took delivery last week and it's absolutely amazing.

To all of my customers, I say this: buy some.  James is an artist and frankly, he's charging less for these amazing beans than the new fancy-brew at Starbucks.

If you can afford a $75 interconnect, consider splurging on some Covenant perfection in a glass.

Seth