Time has really seemed to fly by this year and the winter holidays are already upon us! Whether you are buying a gift for family or friends, or trying to find a ‘thank you’ gift for your host, we have something for almost everyone.

Coffee Ideas

Despite all the troubles faced in coffee shipping this year, we are happy to still have a large selection of beans available. All of our coffee varieties are available in 1 pound or 1/2 pound size bags and ground to order. There are several new and interesting coffees in store:

• Bali Kintamani Organic Natural
• Costa Rica Santa Maria De Dota AA Peaberry
• Guatemala Atitlan San Pedro Honey *Special Offering-only here for a limited time*
• Kenya Nyeri Othaya Gichichi *Special Offering-only here for a limited time*
• New Guinea Siane Chimbu
• Peru APROCASSI
• Sumatra Aceh Gayo Honey *Special Offering-just in*
• Yemen Mocca Hajjah

In addition to our regular sized bags we have a few curated coffee sampler options. These offer multiple varieties, depending on the sampler chosen, packaged in 1/4 pound bags.

Tea Ideas

As always, we have a large selection of teas to please any type of tea drinker! Our Tea of the Month, Ceylon Lumbini, is a Special Offering black tea with complex flavors and full body. Our Masala Chai is also an excellent full bodied, full flavored tea for the winter. Another Special Offering in tea is the Holiday Tisane, an herbal and caffeine free option with fruits, flowers and spices.

Some of our employee favorites; Himalayan Honey Green, with a pleasant natural sweetness and clean finish. Golden Buds Milk Oolong, natural “peaches and cream” flavor and aroma, delicious hot or cold. Honeydew Strawberry Green, a green tea blended with strawberries and honeydew melon, beautiful aroma, sweet, mild and fruity in the cup.

Accessories

Don’t forget the “Accessories” tab! Brewing equipment, candies and other items to make your coffee at home better can all be found here. We have some great new storage jars from Fellow, as well as new “Kaffeeklatsch” branded goods!

You’re sure to find all you need for great coffee and tea gifts. We’re more than happy to help with selections, feel free to send us a message or call for assistance. Remember, it’s okay to gift yourself as well!

We wish you a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year! – The Kaffeeklatsch Crew

• The store interior is open!
• All of the crew is vaccinated
• Masks are not required but highly recommended
• Coffee cup service is back on – $3 for 12 oz. cup to go
• There is still a lot of construction going on around us so be aware!

• We miss talking to you at the counter but the store interior will remain closed for the foreseeable future
• We know you’re missing our to-go cups of coffee but we just can’t fit that service into our precautions at this time
• Our website has been updated to include merchandise so even though you can’t come in you can still see and order coffee & tea accessories. We’re also happy to show you anything at the door!
• About ordering; We are open our regular business hours and orders can usually be ready same day. We can take your order through the website, over the phone or at the shop door. You can have your order shipped, you can pick up at the door or you can order through Grub South for delivery
• We are unable to provide curbside service
• We greatly appreciate and highly recommend wearing a mask while you interact with us at the door

It’s hard to believe this year is almost over but here we are with Christmas just a couple weeks away! This has certainly been an interesting year for everyone. The crew here is so appreciative of all the customer support we have received and so happy we were able to keep the shop open most of the year.

There are some new crops in the store to highlight:

• Bali Kintamani Natural – A wonderfully wild coffee with high complexity, available for $16.95 per pound
• Jamaica Blue Mountain Clydesdale Estate – A well known name, an exceptionally sweet and smooth, available for $49.95 per pound
• Tanzania CPU Peaberry – A bit more mild than most African coffees, pleasant balance of citrus notes as well as sweetness, available for $15.95 per pound

For December we are featuring our Brazil Mogiana (you guys drank it all!) Honduras Honey as Coffee of the Month. Available for $15.95 per pound it’s soft and sweet and easy to drink. The Tea of the Month is Christmas Mint (known as Moroccan Mint usually). This proprietary blend we make in store is delicious hot or iced, certified organic and available for $6.50 per quarter pound.

Don’t forget we also have coffee and tea accessories for gift giving! Check the ‘Merchandise‘ tab to see coffee makers, grinders, mugs, tea accessories, shirts and candies. We know it can be hard to decide when you can’t come in to the store to look around, so please feel free to ask us any questions or have us bring something to the door for you to see.

Another new gifting option or perhaps gift to yourself, Coffee and Tea Samplers! The ‘Sample Options‘ tab shows these new creations, click the links below for more information. There are two choices for both coffee and tea:

• Deluxe Curated Sampler – features 3 coffees for $32.95
• World Tour Curated Sampler – features 4 coffees for $22.95
• Basic Curated Sampler – features 4 teas for $15.95
• Premium Curated Sampler – features 5 teas for $25.95

*Please note there is a limit on how many you can order, if you are interested in purchasing a larger amount please call the store*

Just to remind, as per usual we will close the store for a winter break. Our last day of the year will be Christmas Eve, Thursday 12/24 from 9am to 1pm (note that availability may be limited that day). The store will be closed Friday 12/25/2020 until Thursday 01/07/2021.

Again we are so thankful for all of you! We hope you have a Happy Holiday season, stay safe and well – The Kaffeeklatsch Crew

Service Reminders:

We miss talking to you at the counter but the store interior will remain closed for the foreseeable future — We know you’re missing our to-go cups of coffee but we just can’t fit that service into our precautions at this time — Our website has been updated to include merchandise so even though you can’t come in you can still see and order coffee & tea accessories. We’re also happy to show you anything at the door — About ordering; We are open our regular business hours and orders can usually be ready same day. We can take your order through the website, over the phone or at the shop door. You can have your order shipped, you can pick up at the door or you can order through Grub South for delivery. We are unable to provide curbside service — We greatly appreciate you wearing a mask while you interact with us at the door

In the previous news post I mentioned that one of our business constants is sampling green coffee beans before purchase so I wanted to give you a small glimpse at our sampling process.

We taste and choose all of our samples as a group. Having multiple palates and voices helps ensure we’re picking the highest quality coffees to fit our flavor profiles (of course multiple voices can sometime make the decisions harder!). You may have heard us say it before; we don’t want to sell you something we wouldn’t drink ourselves!

We receive small samples of coffees from our broker to roast and taste. Sometimes it’s a group of samples from one country of origin so that we may compare and choose which one to buy. Other times we’ll get samples for coffees we have already booked and the sample is for our approval before final purchase decision. The size of the samples (around 250 grams max) generally only gives one or two roasts so we have to be meticulous. Samples are roasted on our sample roaster, a Quest M3, the day before we are going to taste.

While we don’t sample using the exact Specialty Coffee Association process, we follow our own protocol. The samples are prepared identically; same water, same weight, same brew process. Samples are tasted blind, usually only the roaster knows what/which, and served in identical wide mouth ceramic cups. We taste together but instead of talking as we go we write our notes/thoughts and discuss after everyone is finished. Each person gives their notes on aroma,taste and body for all the samples. Then we consider which sample fits our profiles, our customers tastes, our blends and our personal tastes. Once we’ve decided what to buy or approve then we consider how much to purchase for the season (just like food crops coffee crops are seasonal). So there you have the basics of how we pick the coffees we carry.

Our newest coffees are listed below, click on any of the links to read more:

• Guatemala Huehuetenango Rio Azul The Huehuetenango region always seems to bring great coffees to the table
• Ethiopia Guji 1 Natural Uraga This Guji from Uraga is a good one to try if you are usually a Harrar drinker, Coffee of the Month for October!
• Ethiopia Hambela 1 Natural Yirgacheffe is gone for now but this lovely Hambela is just delicious. Also Certified Organic
• Mexico Finca La Laja Honey A great limited offer with the expected chocolate notes and creamy body but also some fine brightness from the “Honey” processing
• Mexico Oaxaca Pluma San Agustin Loxicha Another great Mexican from Oaxaca
• Kenya Nyeri Rugi Mihuti An excellent representation of the Kenyan profile with good focus
• Yemen Mocca Hawari As unique as ever and sourced from a female owned & operated business which is very seldom seen in Yemen

Some reminders about our continued new operations;

We miss talking to you at the counter but the store interior will remain closed for the foreseeable future — We know you’re missing our to-go cups of coffee but we just can’t fit that service into our precautions at this time — Our website has been updated to include merchandise so even though you can’t come in you can still see and order coffee & tea accessories. We’re also happy to show you anything at the door — About ordering; We are open our regular business hours and orders can almost always be ready same day. We can take your order through the website, over the phone or at the shop door. You can have your order shipped, you can pick up at the door or you can order through Grub South for delivery. We are unable to provide curbside service — We greatly appreciate you wearing a mask while you interact with us at the door

As always, we are so grateful for your continued support and we hope you all continue to stay well!

Well by this point it’s just hard to believe it’s September already. Saying this year has been odd and trying is quite an understatement for all of us. Here at the store, we had to rethink a lot of what we do and how we do it, affecting not only us but our customers as well.

Through all of this there were a couple of things that didn’t change; Our customers continued support and the need to taste and buy green coffee. Since those are two of the most important keys to making our business run, we felt quite fortunate to continue to have both!

We’ve tasted several samples throughout the last few months. Below is a list of the newest arrivals. Click on any of the links to read more:

• Guatemala Huehuetenango Rio Azul The Huehuetenango region always seems to bring great coffees to the table
• Ethiopia Guji 1 Natural Uraga This Guji from Uraga is a good one to try if you are usually a Harrar drinker
• Ethiopia Hambela 1 Natural Yirgacheffe is gone for now but this lovely Hambela is just delicious. Also Certified Organic
• Mexico Oaxaca Pluma San Agustin Loxicha Another great Mexican from Oaxaca
• Kenya Nyeri Rugi Mihuti An excellent representation of the Kenyan profile with good focus
• Yemen Mocca Hawari As unique as ever and sourced from a female owned & operated business which is very seldom seen in Yemen

In addition to some wonderful new coffees, we also have a couple of new teas. These are limited offerings:

• Purple Bamboo Black A newer tea created from an existing cultivar in Yunnan Province, delightful body and balance of flavors
• Fragrant Fruit Mountain Oolong Lovely and delicate oolong with low tannins, also from a fairly new cultivar

Some reminders about our continued new operations;

We miss talking to you at the counter but the store interior will remain closed for the foreseeable future — We know you’re missing our to-go cups of coffee but we just can’t fit that service into our precautions at this time — Our website has been updated to include merchandise so even though you can’t come in you can still see and order coffee & tea accessories. We’re also happy to show you anything at the door — About ordering; We are open our regular business hours and orders can almost always be ready same day. We can take your order through the website, over the phone or at the shop door. You can have your order shipped, you can pick up at the door or you can order through Grub South for delivery. We are unable to provide curbside service.

As always, we are so grateful for your continued support and we hope you all continue to stay well!

Now that we are back to offering the option of store pick up, we wanted to go over our policies so you know what to expect.

The store interior will remain closed to the public for the foreseeable future. With the size of our space we are not able to accommodate social distancing and can not provide a proper level of safety to our customers or ourselves. To-go coffee cups are still discontinued at this time but we will provide updates as we evaluate our plans for that service.

We can take your order through the website or over the phone. While we will take walk up orders at the door, we may not be able to fill your order on the spot, you may have to return later or make alternate selections. We attempt to prepare pick up and shipping orders same day but this is not guaranteed right now. We suggest ordering ahead rather than just coming to the store.

*If you come to the store: You will not be able to come inside – There will be menus but you will not be able to smell anything or examine any products – We recommend wearing a mask anytime you are out in public – Expect us to be using extra precautions when we interact with you – Please be aware of markings outside the door to help with social distancing*

*If you have any symptoms of illness, have tested positive for COVID-19 or have interacted with someone that has tested positive, please do not come to the store, place an order online or via phone for shipping instead*

For Pick Up Orders:

We are unable to provide curbside service for pick up orders.

Orders placed through the website: receive an email confirmation when order is placed — then receive another confirmation when order is ready for pick up

For call in orders: we’ll take your order — then call you back when it is available for pick up. If you don’t reach us and leave a message with an order, wait for confirmation that order is ready before coming to the store

If you place an order at the door: we may not be able to fill it as you wait — you may have to come back later or make alternate selections.

Between a high order volume, our small staff size and extra safety precautions (including not wanting too many customers waiting around outside the store), it can take us a bit longer to get an order together. Again we highly suggest placing an order ahead of time and waiting for confirmation that it is available for pick up.

For Shipping Orders:

We continue to offer the option of having your coffee shipped, whether you are out of state or at a local address. We especially recommend this for any customers that have any type of illness. Orders can be placed through the website or via phone. Shipping options are USPS or UPS, if you don’t have a preference we choose the lower price for you. *Please note that we have no control over how long a package takes after it has left our store. Our shipping partners are working extra hard right now at a time when they are understaffed so it’s not out of the ordinary for deliveries to take a little longer than we all might be used to.*

We appreciate your understanding of these policies as we continue to do our best to protect our patrons and ourselves in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Any updates or changes will be posted to our website and social media pages.

Hello Kaffeeklatsch Patrons, we’ve missed you!

With the lifting of Gov. Kay Ivey’s Stay At Home Order and the switch to the Safer At Home Order, we know you are all wondering when you can refill your coffee jars. The Kaffeeklatsch will be getting back to filling orders on Tuesday 05/05/2020 with a slow start and some limited availability.

From Tuesday 05/05/2020 through Saturday 05/09/2020 we will be roasting to refill our stock and fill our Monthly Mail Orders. During this week orders will be shipping only, no pick-up, and must be placed through our website. No call-in or walk-up ordering will be available. As stock is refilled we may not have all varieties and blends available. This will be reflected on the website so you can order from what is available only. Please note that orders might not be filled same day.

From Tuesday 05/12/2020 through Saturday 05/16/2020 we will continue to fill orders for shipping only, no pick-up. Orders can be placed through our website and we will begin taking phone orders, but no walk-up orders. Our coffee stock will be replenished at this time so all varieties, blends and flavors should be available on the website. Please note that orders might not be filled same day.

On Tuesday 05/19/2020 no contact pick-up and walk-up ordering will be available. The store interior will remain closed to patrons. As the date approaches, watch for updates regarding these procedures on the website and social media.

We hope you have all been doing as well as possible during the last month and that you and your loved ones continue to stay healthy during this pandemic. We can’t thank you enough for your continued patronage and understanding of our policies! – The Kaffeeklatsch Crew

We have been so thankful for all of our customers continued support during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of today Gov. Kay Ivey has issued a shelter in place order for the state of Alabama. For the safety of ourselves, our customers, our community and the country as a whole we feel that closing the store is the best option at this time. Health and safety are top priority for everyone now and we can only beat this by working together to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Please know that this is only for the time being and that we can’t wait to be back to work and getting our coffee to you as soon as is safe. Again we thank you all so much for your support during this time and throughout the years. We pass on all our love and care to you and hope that you may stay safe and healthy during these difficult times – The Kaffeeklatsch Crew, Grant and Kathryn, Joanna, Katie, Rita and Ross

*Orders for shipping and pick up that are received through the website by midnight on 04/03/2020 will be honored*

*Monthly Mail Order Customers orders will be shipped on 04/04/2020*

We have been blown away by our customers loyalty and need for coffee! We are so thankful for all the love and support and so pleased that we can provide a product that gives some comfort and normalcy during these uncertain times.

Between our workload and our desire to protect everyone we do need to make some more changes to our operations. These changes will go in to effect starting Tuesday 03/24/2020.

At this time the store will no longer be open to in-store shopping or payment.

Orders can be placed on our website, www.kaffeeklatsch.com, or by phone, (256) 539-1636. Orders can also be placed through Grub South in Huntsville.

Shipping Orders

Shipping orders will continue as usual as long as there are no disruptions to USPS or UPS services. Orders may take up to 24 hours to be shipped. You will receive an email confirmation once your order has shipped.

Delivery Options:

• Orders may be placed through Grub South. They are able to provide no contact delivery, follow instructions on their website for this service.
• Our staff is able to deliver to the 35801 zip code. We may consider an address outside of 35801 if you are still in close range to the store. Ask when you call or order online and we will check your address. Your delivery will be no contact. If you are ordering through the website please note your request for delivery in the ‘order notes’ area at checkout.

No Contact Pick Up

We are still offering order pick up at the store but will have a new process. Orders must be paid ahead. Once your order is complete we will call to let you know and give you further instructions about pick up. Please do not come to the store if you have not heard from us.

At this time we will continue to operate within our normal store days/hours. We are working very hard to get orders processed same day but we just can not guarantee it at this time. Please understand it may take up to 24 hours and that we will contact you via email confirmation or phone call as soon as your order is ready for shipping, delivery or pick up.

We will continue to serve you as long as we can. Due to the uncertainty of what may happen, our shopping options may change at short notice. We will post updates on our website and social media. We offer all our hopes that everyone can stay as healthy as possible and we thank you so much for your continued support.

– The Kaffeeklatsch Crew – Grant and Kathryn, Joanna, Katie, Rita and Ross