Grown in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, please welcome to the Cheza Roastworks offering list:

Periwinkles: Elegy of the Invisible

(Dried Cherry, Brown Sugar, Fig, Red Currant)

Many floriculturists of past generations, and even some modern-day floriculturists, held an understanding that most cultures and continents of the world used flowers for decorative and ceremonial practices, except the people of Africa. The common belief was that flowers were tossed aside for the more life sustaining fruits from the plant. This belief has now been debunked, and the Periwinkle is one of several different flowering plants that re-shaped viewpoints on African floriculture around the turn of the century. 

Slaves were given wild, overgrown patches of land, not otherwise suitable for farming or other purposes, for use in burying their dead. There were no headstones or designed grave markers available to them, so enslaved black folks used personal items of the deceased, such as utensils, pots, or tools, to mark graves alongside perennial flowers in line with the traditions they brought from their respective cultures. The Periwinkle was very often used as a grave marker by slaves for this reason. The Periwinkle blooms perennially and was an ingenious way of remembering children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and other lost loved ones year after year. 

Those same Periwinkles are still blooming over those same graves today; a somber poem of struggle, with timbres of strength, hope, perseverance, and endurance. Truly, the Periwinkle is an Elegy of an Invisible people.

“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” -The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952

Introducing our first blend of 2022! In honor of Pride Month and the Stonewall riots...

Pride: A Coffee of Equality

This is actually a regional showcase Geisha blend composed of beans from Huila, Colombia. All farms used to make this blend are part of the ASOBOMBO cooperative, who are about 200 mostly younger producers working together to make a new generation of coffee. Around half of ASOBOMBO's producers are women. The blend is composed of 100% organic Caturra, Pink Bourbon and Geisha varietals.

Expect a medium body and balanced acidity highlighted with notes of Amaretto, Chocolate, Cherry and Pear. The Geisha and Pink Bourbon lead the way with both aroma and flavor, with the Caturra adding body and balance. The final cup has a little something for everyone across the board to appreciate!