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It has been said that Montana is a small town with very long streets. When seen from above this sentiment becomes reality. Small towns and cities tied together by a vast landscape. It is amazing to live in a place so large in area and yet so connected in it's independent spirit, culture and sense of character. Home is where Montana is Montana is my home. The absence of action has more implications than presence of action~ Tim Minchin
We believe in supporting and creating solutions both big & small, for better products, better business, a better community and a better planet. As a business owner it is simple for me. It does not matter if the climate changes that are occurring are man made or a natural cycle; they are happening. As a company, we could not in good conscience go out of our way to hold on to equipment and processes that are were inefficient and, that added to the problem at hand. We needed to make a change. Cultural and scientific shifts take time and will only change in increments. It is not about being anti fossil fuels, it is about moving toward better technology regardless of what we are dependent on at the moment. I don’t see the same resistance when we compare the modern automobile to the horse and carriage, or the advances in computers, or phones. When things work better and are more efficient, the culture naturally gravitates toward them. Morning Glory Coffee & Tea, Inc. operates a hybrid vehicle, not because of ideology, but because it saves us money while supporting better and more efficient technology. We installed a low carbon footprint coffee roasting system not because it will save the planet on it’s own, but because it supports an American manufacturer that is dedicated to finding better, more efficient and cleaner ways to roast coffee ( http://www.usroastercorp.com/therevelation.html ). Through our actions, we have lowered our need for natural gas, almost completely eliminated our emissions and lowered our carbon footprint for production by 95+%. We have saved money for our company while contributing less to the problems at hand, regardless of how they came to be. If our society, governments and businesses are interested in creating a better world to live in , it would be best that we forget ideology and support science based solutions. It will create more sustainable jobs in the long term and help us to address real environmental issues that will affect us all, whether we believe in them or not. At Morning Glory Coffee & Tea, Inc. we operate in one of the most isolated rural communities in the United States. Just blocks from Yellowstone National Park, our town of 1,200 undergoes drastic shifts in park visitation throughout the year. Over 1.4 million visitors will pass through West Yellowstone, Montana this year, some stopping and others quickly moving on to see the sights of Yellowstone and beyond. Traditional business models do not apply here. When dependent on visitation, a business must strive to find new ways to connect with customers after they leave. At the same time, we have to nurture seasonal residents and return visitors to remember us and keep coming back. Before social media's rise it was more than challenging to communicate with customers once they left our store. It was almost impossible to track or contact those that consumed our coffees at area restaurants or bought our retail coffee off grocery shelves. Having moved to an isolated rural town, I had also lost contact with professionals within the coffee industry.
It is social media marketing that allows us to compete and grow regardless of our location.The importance of social media platforms such as Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and others to our business cannot be overstated. The use of these social marketing has allowed Morning Glory to communicate, educate, learn, sell and build our brand, in ways that were impossible less than ten years ago. You can learn a little bit more about us from this recent article in the our local paper, The West Yellowstone News~ http://www.westyellowstonenews.com/news/article_eb2d3b8c-b31b-11e5-b1d5-7f6eb6f5d129.html The world of Specialty Coffee has grown enormously in the past twenty five years. Improvements in agriculture, roasting and packaging now allow an incredible variety of great origin coffees, blends and flavors to be available to the customer.
For many of us coffee is the wake up call or the conversation with dessert. In coffee houses and homes across the United States coffee is presented in many forms to satisfy the thirsty connoisseur. Pour over, Drip, press, espresso, cafe' latte, cappuccino and blended, just to name a few. Coffee like no other beverage created, is prepared and enjoyed differently throughout the world. It is Coffea Arabica that has been the spark that has changed and continues to change human kind. From its discovery and first cultivation in what today is Yemen, coffee has transformed life, culture, religion, trade and business. In many ways, coffee is the one product that has the capacity to bridge differences and bring people of differing cultures, faiths and ideas together. At Morning Glory Coffee & Tea, Inc. we are very fortunate to share our coffees with visitors from around the world. We believe that whether you are entertaining at home, traveling or in your favorite coffee shop, the only wrong way to drink coffee is to not drink it at all. The rules are, that there are no rules, except to enjoy your coffee how you like it. With this in mind we should also share in the wonder that is coffee, by celebrating and better understanding its origins. The current coffee market is filled with a confusing mix of labels and marketing schemes that tempt us to pay an extra premium for our daily brew. Specialty, gourmet, single origin, organic, shade friendly, fair-trade, the list seems to be endless. Because the history and consumption of coffee is different among cultures, there is no simple answer to the question; What is the best coffee. There is, however, one distinct difference between commercial coffee and coffees labeled “Specialty”. Commercial coffee is of lower quality on every level. The coffees that are used in the major grocery brands are primarily purchased on the coffee futures exchange in New York City and London. The coffee traded in New York is all arabica species and is referred to as C grade; the lowest certifiable grade in the industry. Coffee traded on the London market is robusta Species. robusta is the second most used species of coffee in the world. Found in the 1890’s in Central Africa, robusta is now a large part of commercial coffee production. robusta is easier to cultivate, is more resistant to insects and disease and has twice the caffeine of arabica coffees; robusta is also cheaper to purchase. During times of high prices for arabica species coffees, robusta use is increased, as a blender to lower the cost and increase the margins of commercial coffee products. Specialty coffee is more complicated. Specialty coffee roasters typically by higher grade coffees, paying a differential on the daily C market price. The differential may vary based on origin, quality and availability. Higher prices and trendy terms do not denote high quality. With the rapid growth of the last twenty years, some roasters have chosen to focus on gimmicks to set themselves apart. Extravagant coffee shops and equipment along with an over analyzation of taste perception and brewing methods, threatens to marginalize growth of solid medium and high grade coffees. Producers must get sustainable prices for their entire crops not just the top grade, so they can continue to invest in improved methods of cultivation and production. Roasters must not lose focus on the bigger more complex reality of what makes quality achievable and sustainable. Having our pictures taken while visiting coffee origins, new brewing trends and latte' art are important in marketing, but we must not lose sight of where true quality comes from. The truth is in the cup~ |
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May 2023
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Location129 Dunraven Street,
West Yellowstone, Montana |