Terroir Coffee was founded by coffee pioneer George Howell, a “coffee missionary” who began his career with the founding of The Coffee Connection in Cambridge, MA in 1974, subsequently opening 23 additional locations across the Boston area over the next 20 years before selling the business.
Howell was awarded the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 in recognition of his critical role as a pioneering standard bearer of quality coffee. He next shifted gears and created models of economic sustainability for coffee farmers for the United Nations and International Coffee Organization. This project led to his conceiving and co-founding the Cup of Excellence™ in 1999, a program designed to help break the commodity/price cycle in the specialty-coffee industry...
Terroir Coffee represents a return for Howell to his roots: identifying, roasting, and discovering the highest quality single-origin coffees possible. Terroir Coffee is based on the simple premise that the apex of coffee quality is represented by single estates, be they farms or carefully focused cooperatives and the related “terroir”—that ineffable combination of region, climate, and craftsmanship that gives each coffee its unique qualities.
George continues to travel to coffee-producing areas to personally identify and source these rare finds and has even begun to arrange for very special small lots directly from producers, hand graded to his quality specifications. Once a coffee is chosen and acquired, it is re-packaged and stored under special conditions, which halts the naturally accelerating degradation process of raw coffee.
For green coffees arriving to us in jute bags, we immediately re-package the green beans into vacuumed airtight containers on arrival at our plant. This storage method dramatically softens the aging process that takes place over the months of storage but does not halt it. Another action is required! The final step to producing a year-round harvest-fresh coffee experience is deep-freezing the hermetically sealed green coffee .
A coffee harvested nine months or even two years ago can now taste as if it just came off the farm. This is a Terroir™ world-innovation and, while expensive, it promises to revolutionize the world of quality coffee. Terroir™ coffees are also carefully tested and monitored to ensure their quality does not degrade. As always, George roasts with a light touch, one that does not overpower the coffee but allows it to exhibit its natural sweetness.
For George and everyone at Terroir coffee, it is about the thrill of inspiration and about respect—respect for the farmer, both his efforts and results; respect for the coffee, how Terroir™ roasts and packages it; respect for you and your ability to discern a truly exceptional product.
Roasting Process / Roaster:
Gas -Drum / Probat
