The Kuju Journal — coffee

These days there is no shortage of ways to make your morning coffee. Espresso. AeroPress. French Press and perhaps the most buzzworthy - pour over. But what is pour over? Why is it better? How do you do it? We’ve pulled together the ultimate guide to pour over coffee. Let’s dig in!

The same ease and convenience of the Pocket PourOver with single origin beans artfully sourced from three of the world’s most celebrated coffee locales. 

Why is it that our coffee routine at home is one of our most cherished, protected morning rituals but when we’re away from home, we quickly lower our standards as we accept lower quality, “I guess this will do” options? Whether it’s in a hotel room, an airport or a campsite, we’ve all been there.

I think a lot of marketing out there attempts to justify the existence of a product that quite frankly just doesn't really need to exist. I'm not going to go into specifics but I think we can all remember a time learning of a product and just wondering, "What is this for?".  And so I just want to keep this straightforward in explaining why we created the 5-pack.  

The Travel 5-Pack was created because so many people had requests for a larger "bag" of Pocket PourOvers that they could bring with them any time they wanted quality coffee on-the-go.  Whether it was to a hotel room for a few days or a weekend camping trip, having 5 in an easy-to-carry bag just simplified the whole experience. 

The second piece was for people who have never experienced brewing a Pocket PourOver, the larger format just makes it easier to read and follow the directions, thereby assuring more people that they will get the incredibly flavorful cup of Kuju Coffee that is promised.

And my personal reason is actually because we think it looks beautiful. As entrepreneurs, we believe extending our work to pursue our mission of helping people reclaim their moments of rejuvenation is holistic - it happens in all parts of the business - not just supply chain and the actual coffee experience, but even in packaging design. The hope here is that the visual look of the Travel 5-Pack exudes a sense of rejuvenation whether you use it in your home kitchen, office or monthly travels.

So the next time you're brewing some coffee, grab your Pocket PourOver Travel 5-Pack and share the love!  

Here's to Quality,

Jeff
CEO / Cofounder
Kuju Coffee

Kuju is a coffee company. And naturally, when we first started, the biggest question we faced was, “What coffee should we sell?”

To some, this may seem like a simply question, but when you live in San Francisco — arguably one of the specialty coffee meccas of the world — picking your coffee is no easy task.

It was so difficult for us to make this decision that we simply delayed the decision and focused on other parts of building a company instead. I think Justin and I in some ways were hoping for the other person to make some headway. Overtime, neither of us did.

So what pushed us to make the final decision?

Well, at the end of the day I recall sitting in a church service and just thinking about all things Kuju. What are we really trying to achieve? What do we want to stand for? What do we want our coffee to taste like? How should it be roasted or brewed?

And it was in a split second moment that I remembered meeting a man named Paul who was sourcing coffee from a farm in Thailand. And what was unique about this farm was it employed former sex trafficked victims.

This struck a chord in me because my job before Kuju was selling fair-trade greeting cards, handcrafted by women who had escaped sex trafficking in the Philippines.

In that moment I decided for us that we would source from that farm with Paul’s help, not for any other reason than knowing deep in my gut that it was the right thing to do.

Amazingly, what has ended up providing Kuju with our unique and recognizable flavor is the coffee from this very farm.

I share this story because so many decisions we as a society make are often times based on the outcome we want to achieve. This makes perfect sense, but I do think sometimes it’s worth making decisions based on doing what we think is morally right, even at the risk of the most optimized outcome.

I believe that because of this decision, we brewed into Kuju Coffee a deeper, more caring soul from the very beginning and it’s something I hope we cultivate as we grow.

Here’s to Quality,
Jeff
CEO & Eagle Scout, Kuju Coffee