December Coffee News

-Maximo & Natalia return to Honduras
-Holiday Gift ideas and Holiday flavors
-New prices in 2008

Back to Honduras
Guillermo's parents, Maximo and Natalia, with impecable timing, headed back to Honduras just days before the temperature really dropped and the snow started to pile up. Before they left, we enjoyed several large family gatherings to celebrate Maximo's 82nd birthday and Thanksgiving. The contrast was extreme when we went from setting the table for 15 to a very quiet 3 as Guillermo and our middle son Jake went along to help manuever airports and luggage.

Guillermo reports more fun family gatherings and lovely 70 degree weather in Comayagua but rain and muddy roads on the farm up in the mountains. Winter in Honduras means rain so that is to be expected. We look forward to more news and photos from the family and farm when he and Jake return tomorrow night. (We are in the process of creating a photo gallery on our website. So look for a link to lots of photos in our January email.)

We made sure Guillermo would be back to help with the December order (typically our largest each year) coming up this week. Our fresh roast arrives from the roaster on Wednesday. Let us know if you are interested in coffee this month.

Holiday Gift Packs
Let us know if we can help with your holiday shopping. We can deliver or ship coffee for gifts directly to you. Or make it even easier and let us do the shipping too.We can mail coffee (with your personal note included too if you wish) anywhere in the country with only the added cost of priority mail postage. We ship over 30 boxes of coffee every month anyway, so we're all set up to do it. Just email us the details before we pack up our orders on December 13th (how much, of what kind of coffee, sent to where) and we'll take care of the rest.

And here is another gift idea - order a 3, 6 or 12 month coffee subscription for someone. We've put together a colorful gift certificate that can be customized for any occasion. (Buy now and you'll get our 2007 prices before they increase in 2008.)

Fair Trade Coffee Mugs
Make your coffee gift extra special and include a beautiful fair trade coffee mug from Lazos/Ties. We are pleased to be partnering with this Minnesota based fair trade business that offers beautiful handcrafted fair trade coffee mugs, espresso cups, cream and sugar sets and coffee pots that will go very nicely in a gift pack with Velasquez Family Coffee. All items are dishwasher and microwave safe. We've uploaded photos, prices and more details about the Mexican artisans to our website at www.vfamilycoffee.com/holidays. But place your order as soon as possible as their products have been popular and supply right now is very limited! If we get your order in time (before they run out and before our shipments), we'll deliver or ship them to you with your coffee order.

Holiday Flavors a big hit
We've had great feedback about the holiday flavors -- so place your order now while supplies last (after December we won't be reordering). As a reminder here is the list:

Kahlua - Similar to the liqueur. Gourmet Kahlua flavoring combined with rich coffee to produce a refreshing brew, great as iced coffee or after dinner.
Eggnog Cream - A warm, spicy Eggnog with a rich Custard finish. (This was so popular last year, we're bringing it back!)
English Toffee - A tad of caramel, a touch of chocolate, a spot of cream, very British, very buttery, very good.
Pumpkin Spice - Nutmeg and pumpkin flavors make this the perfect flavored coffee for those chilly mornings or in front of the fire.

We also have a limited amount of Pumpkin Spice and English Toffee in Decaf. And don't forget we still have all our regular flavors: African Cinnamon, Almond Amaretto, Carribean Hazelnut, Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla and Irish Cream. (Look for Jamaica Me Crazy and Chocolate Hazelnut Cream to appear in February in time for Valentine's day!)

All flavored coffee is available in 8 oz bags, whole bean or ground for $5.50.

Green Coffee & Espresso Grind
A couple new products are being rolled out. For those of you who are interested in roasting your own coffee (or know people who have their own home roaster), we currently sell green unroasted coffee in 5# bags for $25.

Also, although a number of our customers tell us that our Maximo French Roast already works great for making espresso, we have also had interest in providing a finer espresso grind. We don't have this ready yet, but if you are interested in purchasing our Maximo's French Roast in a finer grind, let us know so we know how much to order in January.

New Prices in January
After much contemplation and delay, we are finally, really, really going to raise prices starting January 1, 2008. Based on the feedback we've received from our customers, 12 oz bags will be $8.50 and 8 oz flavored bags will go to $6.00. 5# bulk bags, wholesale and fundraiser pricing is still being finalized but will be based in part on quantity purchased. Thanks to your understanding and support as we make this difficult decision.

And thanks for your interest in Velasquez Family Coffee!! We are very grateful for the opportunity to build new connections across borders.