It’s fair to say specialty coffee is experiencing a really exciting moment in time. Think about this, at no time in history has coffee been so good and so widely available as the present. And coinciding with rapid increases in quality over the past decade or so we’ve also seen a tremendous increase in transparency and accessibility of information about where our coffee has come from, who produced it and the conditions under which it was grown and processed. These factors have contributed mightily to the proliferation of single origin coffees available not only at specialty coffee shops, but increasingly on our grocery store shelves.

At the expense of blends.

The poor, sad blend, once the belle of the ball, is now a mere memory from a bygone era … as if it’s some artifact from a time when people lived and behaved and drank coffee in strange, unfamiliar ways. You may find one in a museum if you look hard enough. But who’s looking, anyway. It’ll be there alongside a lumpy, stained sofa, a signboard that reads “Java Hut” and a man with a soul patch and a bucket hat, waiting for open mic night to begin.

 Are blends really a thing of the past? Are they terrible? Harmful, even?

In the summer of 2017 we released the very first Mammoth Collaboration. This special coffee was the start of a project with our roasting partner, Madcap Coffee, in which we sought to highlight exceptional, seasonal coffees. Over the years we’ve released several different versions under the Mammoth Collaboration label, with the components changing with each release. Though the coffee profile changes, the goal is always the same – to showcase coffees that are vibrant, complex and full of life, befitting the City of New Orleans.

We’re pleased to announce the latest Collaboration, a blend consisting of two Ethiopian coffees and one Kenyan coffee. The Ethiopian components come from the Mulish (Sidamo) and Reko (Kochere) washing stations and the Kenyan is from the Gichuna Estate (Kiambu). The resulting blend is vibrant and expressive, resulting in a balanced coffee with notes of tropical fruit and a tea-like mouthfeel.

This Mammoth Collaboration will be available for a limited time on our pour over menu, in 12 oz retail bags and occasionally served as our featured espresso.

If you’ve stopped by the shop recently then you may have noticed a few new merch items (if not, find photos/info here). We’re excited to announce another addition to our merch/apparel lineup with the Mammoth Espresso cap!

This stylish cap was produced with our friends at Weld Mfg, who not only embroider the cap but build each one from scratch. This means we had full control of the style of the cap, from the felt skull front patch with embroidered eye bolts to the leather back strap with a special NOLA hem tag. This cap also features Mammoth Espresso embroidered across the back arch.

The Mammoth Espresso cap is made from black, brushed cotton twill in a 6-panel “field trip” style. It’s a terrific piece of headwear that’s also a great gift option as the holidays approach. Pick one up in the shop or online in our store.

I sure do love a new merch drop. We spend so much time taking coffee seriously – the meticulous attention to detail, professional development, recipes upon recipes and the culmination of years spent behind the bar learning the craft to bring coffee to new heights. So it’s really satisfying to let the creative juices flow and put something out there that’s full of whimsy and irreverence. On a personal level, it’s a reminder of the joy of coffee culture and what attracted me to this business all those years ago. It’s a note to self: let loose, damnit.

Maybe you’ve had this experience before … you walk into a specialty coffee shop to be met by a barista who’s waiting with bated breath to regale you with their utterly impressive vocabulary of tasting notes. Ah, this Colombian features notes of plum compote, spiced Chinese white pear, a sparkling acidity, hints of cacao nib and dried lavender layered with ginger snap and a bouquet of Yuzu rind and Elder flower. Amazing! But when this other-worldly coffee arrives in a paper cup with Thomas scribbled along the side (you’re Thomas in this example), you eagerly take the first sip and think, “Ah, I get a note of, uh, coffee.”

What about the plum compote? The Yuzu rind? Sparkling acidity? Was this nothing more than a lie? Have I, Thomas, been deceived by this coffee establishment?!

Taste, you see, is tricky. Not to say the barista in this scenario is wrong, or that you somehow are unable to unlock the full complexities of the coffee you were provided, but rather, taste and our ability to understand and describe it is impacted by numerous factors all coming into play simultaneously. In this article, we’ll review a sampling of those factors. Some you can control, and some you can’t (flippin’ genetics, man), but your understanding of these factors will undoubtedly make you a better taster.

To really understand matcha is to first understand the origins of tea in Japan. Let me offer a quick story. The legendary origin story of Japanese tea centers around the Bodhidharma, a 6th Century Indian prince and founder of Chan Buddhism. As with many forms of Buddhist practice, Chan Buddhism places a heavy emphasis on meditation. (Side note: this discipline would later become Zen Buddhism, which is widely practiced today.)

The Bodhidharma, while meditating in Japan, made a vow to never sleep again so that he could devote his entire life to meditation and the achievement of enlightenment. One day, out of exhaustion, the Bodhidharma fell asleep. This angered him so much that he ripped off his eyelids and buried them in the ground. From that very spot, two small shrubs arose. Tea, the story goes, had arrived in Japan.

Not everyone has had A Friend Like You. And, frankly, not everyone needs A Friend Like You. But we can all agree that once we’ve had one, we’ll wonder how we ever got along without A Friend Like You.

Our latest signature beverage, A Friend Like You, incorporates our Matcha Uji, traditionally prepared, then served atop a sparkling glass of Topo Chico mineral water infused with housemade lemonade. A refreshing, comfortable sipper that highlights the sweet umami of the matcha against the vibrancy of fresh lemonade.

And while a friend like you is there ‘til the end, A Friend Like You is available for a limited time.