The Knockbox

That's right, in celebration of the Yarmouth Clam Festival, and to show appreciation to the residents of Yarmouth, we'll be serving the rarest of all coffees, Kopi Luwak, at the regular brewed coffee price all weekend.

Flavor:

The world's most exotic and expensive coffee delivers an adventurous flavor that's rich, complex, earthy and a heavy body. Once you try this unusual cup, you'll never forget the experience.

Facts:

Owing to a production method that is clearly limited in volume, Kopi Luwak is a rare coffee that demands by far the highest price of any coffee on the world market -- currently around $300 per pound retail roasted.

Why is this coffee so much more exotic than any other? Because the unusual flavors are attributed to the natural fermentation the coffee beans undergo in the Asian Palm Civet, or luwak's, digestive system. it is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee's flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste.

The Freaky Bean is proud to support the Portland Green Streets initiative. Portland Green Streets is a grassroots effort to encourage the use of alternate transportation - and is comprised of people who commute through, live, work, study, or send children to school in Greater Portland.

On the last Friday of each month, supporters are encouraged to

* Wear Green (shirt, pants, socks, whatever!)
* Get Around Green (walk, bike, bus, carpool, telecommute, etc.!)
* And then to Celebrate (by signing in for freebies, discounts, & raffle items from local businesses).


The Freaky Bean and Maine Roaster locations will be offering a free small cup of coffee to participants who bring in their own travel mug.

Great coffee and a great cause. What could be better?

On Monday night, Jon Stratton had the honor of being the final speaker of the night for the ceremony announcing Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program. The program, founded with ACCION USA, the country's leading not-for-profit micro-lending organization, has a mission to partner with low and moderate income microentrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry to provide the tools they need to help them grow and succeed.

During his speech, Jon spoke about the exhilaration you feel starting your first business, and the trials you face trying to find money as a small business. He also spoke about the issues with funding the Freaky Bean faced while first starting out, and how ACCION's belief in supporting small businesses helped the company to get off the ground.

For more information, please follow this link for the press release

From the NewScientist.com news service: A strong cup of coffee in the morning can feel like a life saver. Now, one of the largest and longest studies of coffee drinking suggests that coffee may indeed boost your lifespan – providing you drink enough of the stuff, that is.

The study tracked 129,000 men and women over two decades. It found that people who consumed several cups of coffee every day were less likely to die of heart disease than those who shied away from the stuff. Heart disease is an umbrella term for conditions including heart attacks, stroke, and arrhythmia.

The researchers found that women who drank four to five cups per day were 34% less likely to die of heart disease, while men who had more than five cups a day were 44% less likely to die.

Music fans can help out the local scene by drinking their morning cup of coffee. The Freaky Bean Coffee Company has collaborated with the Portland Music Foundation to release the PMF Musician's Blend, available in 12-ounce bags at Freaky Bean and Maine Roasters Coffee Co. locations and that will be available at the end of June online at www.freakybean.com.

One dollar from the sale of each bag of PMF Musician's Blend will go toward the foundation's efforts to educate area musicians on such topics as booking, press relations, publishing, recording and legal concerns.

The blend is part of Freaky Bean's partnership with the PMF, which also includes hosting PMF networking events at its locations and supporting area singer/songwriters with in-store performances.

Freaky Bean operates three retail locations — 855 Main St., Westbrook; and 360 U.S. Route 1 and 2 Cabela Way in Scarborough. The company will soon open another location, on Broadway in South Portland.

Today marks the last day Jackie will be working with us at the Freaky Bean. Jackie was one of the first people hired by us when we first opened. Technically the second redhead (The first was bald) in a long line of redheads that have worked for us,  she gave the Freaky Bean a spark of energy and enthusiasm that will be missed. She also had a penchant for giving us guff, sometimes well placed, when she felt we needed to be put in our place. 

A recent article in Wired states frequent small doses of caffeine throughout the day can make you "clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance." What does this mean for you? This means I expect to see all of you at the Freaky Bean at least 3 times a day. No excuses.

I'm all for trying new things... but this just seems like a bad idea. Although I'm digging the old-school pull tab.

This blog is currently being created using Blogger. Unfortunately, since the very beginning, there has been nothing but issues trying to post using their service. Customer service has been nonexistent. Because of this I'm in the process of looking for a different provider.

I realize the feeling of helplessness people can feel when trying to buy or use a product you were willing to spend your hard earned cash for. There is a certain expectation of service one expects in exchange for their cash, and when it doesn't appear, you feel cheated, and much more likely to never use that product or come back through the doors of an an establishment again.

If anyone ever has any issues with service at the Freaky Bean, don't hesitate to talk to our managers or shift supervisors on duty. If you're still not satisfied, e-mail us at helpdesk@freakybean.com . We'll do our best to fix the situation immediately. The Freaky Bean doesn't exist without all of you, and we want to make sure you experience better coffee, whether it's your first time or your 50th.

Labels: customer service

Not exactly my cup of tea (or coffee) but it's still fun to watch.

The New York Times posted an interesting article on Organics and the increasing cost of raw goods. This is something the Freaky Bean constantly combats, from the milk used to make our drinks, to the flour used to make our pastries over at Bakers Bench. One of the greatest increases in raw goods we have seen is in our organic green bean costs, which have skyrocketed over the past year.

Some of you may have noticed that over the past couple of months we have rolled out separate lines Organic and Conventional coffees. The main reason for this is the realization that prices will continue to climb for the foreseeable future, and the fact that we know our customers are facing harder times as well.

We wanted to be able to offer our customers a choice in their coffee, without having to sacrifice flavor. The only difference you will find between the two lines of coffee will be an Organic and Fair Trade certification. Founders Roast will always taste like Founders Roast, and Moka Java will always taste like Moka Java.

We won't allow it to be any other way.

Labels: green beans, organics

Alex Steed, a former Freaky Bean barista, has created a new blog titled Words of Advice. It's great for folks who enjoy words of wisdom but detest self help. Check it out today.