Bean & Leaf on NPR!

I'm very excited to report that Bean & Leaf will be featured on the Colin McEnroe Show today at 1pm. You can listen live here.

I listen to NPR for hours every day as I drive around this state. I am extremely excited to be on the air, and especially on the Colin McEnroe show. It's a great program and we are thrilled they asked us to participate.

Update: Here's the show from today! It was so much fun to be there. Colin, Chion, & Patrick were great hosts, and it was a pleasure to meet Nell Newman. I would love to be able to go on there every month to talk about coffee with them. There still so much to cover and so many interesting parts of this business. Plus, they were all just really fun and great to hang out with.

Farmer's Markets and Beans Online!

Well, today didn't turn out to be much of a farmer's market day, but I'm certain there are gorgeous summer days to come in the next few weeks. And once it does, please make sure to get out there and check out all the great produce and products at the various markets through the state.

Bean & Leaf is selling bags of beans, hot coffee & iced coffee in Hartford, Simsbury & Coventry, CT and we would love to see you there.

Also, we've launched our online store. If you are not able to get to one of these markets, nor to our store in New London, please consider purchasing some fresh-roasted beans via the interwebs. I roast the coffee directly before placing it in the mail and you will have it only days later. Freshness matters with coffee and I am certain you will taste the difference.

Pre-Ground and Gross

As if you didn't have enough reasons to buy whole beans from us and grind your coffee fresh for each brew, it turns out that the pre-ground crap is also full of bugs. Cockroaches, to be exact.

Here's the link to the Fresh Air story.

Tonight's International Film at The Bean is...

Le Samourai, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.

This 1960s French Noir masterpiece stars Alain Delon as Jeff Costello - contract hit man, loner, and without question the coolest looking guy you'll ever watch on screen. Considered by subsequent generations of film directors as a key influence on their own work (i.e. Scorsese, Taxi Driver), the film cross-pollinates gangster, samurai and French cinematic artistry to create its own hybrid of stunning minimalist noir.

Rotten Tomatoes LOVES this film. And here's a NYTimes review from a 97 International Film Festival.

Hi-Def, popcorn, and a free movie. What more could you ask for?

New Rules for Ethiopian Exporting

There's some not-so-good-news coming out of Ethiopia these days in regards to coffee. Yirgacheffe is one of the coffees we really love, and it is because of the specific characteristics of that growing region.

The Ethiopian government decided to trademark that name and is now putting even more stringent stipulations for growing and exporting. But unfortunately, these new restrictions limit the growth of direct roast-to-farm relationships.

Lights, Camera, Action

Tuesday night, March 24th at 7:30pm, Bean & Leaf is proud to present The White Balloon, directed by Jafar Panahi, in hi-def, for free. And yes we'll have popcorn.

This is the 4th installment of our 3 month long International Film Festival and it is a movie we are all excited about.

From Janet Maslin's New York Times Review:

It is an hour and a half before a new year begins in Teheran (on March 21), and the city is poised for celebration. A stern and adorable 7-year-old girl named Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) is pouting about not having the right goldfish for this occasion. The fish at home are skinny. She wants a fat one with better fins. So she wheedles her mother into giving her money for this purchase, but then the money is accidentally lost. Razieh enlists the help of several strangers to try retrieving it from beneath an iron grate.

Come on down to the Bean and enjoy a cheap (as in free!) evening of great art with good friends. Feel free to bring a bottle of wine, too! We cannot sell alcohol, but BYOB is allowed.

Bean & Leaf & Billings Forge

We have 2 events coming up in the next few days, and both of them are in and around Firebox & the Billings Forge Community Center.

On Saturday at 11am, Billings Forge will be hosting an open house to showcase their new space, "The Studio @ Billings Forge." There will be yoga, music, karate, dance and other fun events. And of course, Bean & Leaf coffee will be served. All events and activities are free so head on up to 559 Broad Street in Hartford and have some fun.

Then, next week on Thursday March 26 from 6-8pm we are back at 559 Broad Street, but this time at Firebox Restaurant. CT GreenScene is hosting a GreenDrinks event where we will serve Bean & Leaf coffee along with some adult mixers. I will giving a short presentation about the long journey a bean takes from a bush on a hillside near the equator to the delicious brew in your cup.

GreenDrinks are casual networking events for individuals and organizations that are interested in sustainability, eco-awareness and green initiatives. Whether your company is involved in projects like this, or if you are just someone that has an interest in chatting with like-minded individuals, we invite you stop by, have a few beverages and meet some new friends and make some great contacts.