Gratitude

After a great weekend in Illinois visiting my bestest friend, Glenda, I have been reflecting on all the beautiful blessings in my life. Good friends will engender such thoughts.

On Friday we went out to celebrate St. Piran's Day with the staff at Thousand Hills Coffee. As we learned about St. Piran (something related to Cornwall, England...) I was thankful for the people I work with. We not only have the privilege of doing good work together, I enjoy calling them my friends.


It is not common to feel this way about your coworkers, and I am thankful that I do.

I know I am WEIRD to be thankful for this, but it's raining today. It's pretty gross, and traffic stinks, but it's not bitter cold out there but it's overcast and rainy and, well, I am loving it. :-)

What are you grateful for? -EL

#1 email of the day...

"After conducting a blind taste test, your coffee came out well ahead of the other top rated coffees in America."

This young man is starting a coffee shop in his hometown and he was asked to share his top choices of coffee with their team. I was so excited to hear this from him! I fully agree with him, and might I remind you that I was a fan & advocate of the coffee before I started working here. :-)

In addition to my shared sentiments with him, I am also excited for him to be brewing the coffee because of this. For our sustainability as an organization we need to be the best cup of coffee you drink. If you don't love the coffee, don't drink it. But before we resort to that, can we talk about how you are making it?! :)

The people of Rwanda work hard to make the coffee great. They hand-sort each bean AT LEAST three times! The coffee beans have a limited amount of time to get to the washing station after being picked to ensure the perfect ripe-ness. They take pride in their work, and so do we.

Each day, our Roast Master (Daniel, or DR as you will see him on Twitter) cups the coffee. He tastes every roast as they make it and tweaks it as necessary. He takes pride in his work, and it shows in the coffee.

I hope you can take pride in your work, and that you can enjoy a great cup of Rwandan while doing it. -EL