News
RITUAL WILL BE AT MAKER FAIRE!
posted on May 16th 2013 at 14:57 by
Come find Sputnik (the Ritual coffee bar trailer) at Maker Faire. Maker Faire is one of our favorite events of the entire year! We're kinda hard to miss, but Maker Faire is huge and full of fun and distracting things to see. We'll be near Homegrown Village. And fear not, we'll be serving up espresso drinks, V-60 coffee, batch-brewed coffee, and iced tea. Please come say hi!
San Mateo County Events Center
Saturday 10 AM - 8 PM
Sunday 10 AM - 6 PM
Have you ever wondered why a cup of coffee tastes better when it's made by a pro?
On Sunday at 3 pm, we'll be giving a talk: Make Better Coffee. Join Ritual's coffee buyer, Steve Ford, and Ritual's trainer, Chris Casassa, for a talk on how to make better coffee at home. Steve will present the basic points that most people miss. Chris will follow it up with a brewing demo. Bring your questions!
EL SALVADOR WEEK IS 5/17-5/26
posted on May 16th 2013 at 13:33 by
El Salvador week marks the first of the fresh-crop arrivals from Central America. We will be celebrating El Salvadorian coffee in our coffee bars beginning Friday May 17th through Sunday May 26th. We’ll have three different coffees available as filter coffee and two single origin espressos. Showcasing these coffees side-by-side highlights the diversity in flavors available even from such a small country.
We have been working with some of these producers since 2008, when we were first learning how to source great coffee. Their constant dedication to quality paired with innovative spirit for improvement won us over. These coffees are intensely bright, exceptionally sweet and have a special place in our hearts. We hope you will feel the same way too.
We’re proud to showcase the following coffees:
Monte Rey: Carrizal from producer Nancy Majano de Arenivar
Siberia: Plan de Cedro from producer Rafael Silva Hoff
Matalapa: Cidra from producer Vickie Ann Dalton
Ritual’s Origin Week Series showcases several coffees from a particular region or country in order to share the stories of our producers with our local community. We love to focus on a particular country in order to highlight the unique characteristics of coffees from that country and to celebrate the arrival of freshly harvested coffees.
ART BY JARED SUSSMAN AT RITUAL ON VALENCIA
posted on May 7th 2013 at 13:30
Jared Sussman is a painter whose work is vibrant, alive, and always changing. He often incorporates artifacts from his wanderings through life into his work: rope from his dog's leash, feathers and rocks from the beach, or bits and pieces he stumbles across from landscaping yards throughout San Francisco.
The work will be on display from May 5th to June 4th. We will hold the reception May 9th from 6-9pm.
SEEKING PRODUCTION ROASTER
posted on May 7th 2013 at 13:01 by
Ritual Coffee Roasters
Production Roaster
OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION
Ritual Coffee Roasters is a San Francisco-based coffee roasting company with four retail coffee bars. Ritual is known for outstanding quality at all levels. The mission of Ritual Coffee Roasters is to be a destination for people who love coffee while building a sustainable business and investing in the communities that support us, both locally and globally. Ritual is a growing, high-energy, fast-paced collaborative work environment where communication, self-direction, creativity, fun, and the willingness to pitch in wherever needed are highly valued.
Since 2005, Ritual has been growing and expanding. In order to increase our quality as we continue to grow, we are looking for a production roaster to assist in roasting coffee and related tasks.
For more information on Ritual, please visit www.ritualroasters.com.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Ritual is seeking a qualified roaster to join our roasting team and help coffee quality continue to increase. The production roaster is primarily responsible for daily roasting of coffee as well as tasks related to roasting.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
-The Production Roaster is responsible for daily coffee roasting (6-8 hours per day)
-Utilizing datalogger and photospectrometer to monitor and track roasts
-Daily cupping and discussion of roast lines for quality assurance
-Assist in weekly inventory and roaster maintenance
QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE
-We are looking for a minimum 3 years roasting experience for this position
-Cupping experience is critical
-Candidate should have a strong understanding of roasting but more importantly, a desire to learn and grow within Ritual's roasting approach
LOCATION
Ritual Coffee Roasters is based in San Francisco
COMPENSATION
This position is full time, competitive wage based on experience. Ritual also offers a benefits package including medical insurance, dental insurance, commuter benefits, and sick pay after 3 months.
TO APPLY
Please send a cover letter explaining your interest and qualifications and a resume to joel@ritualroasters.com.
RITUAL NOW OFFERS CCOF CERTIFIED ORGANIC COFFEES!
posted on March 11th 2013 at 17:12 by
Since the very beginning of Ritual’s coffee sourcing program, flavor has been the primary arbiter of coffee quality. We’ve avoided the labels of organic, fair trade, or direct trade. We’ve chosen instead to engage you in a discussion about the inherent qualities and unique origins of our coffee, rather than rely on potentially misleading marketing jargon.
These certifications reflect a deep dedication on the part of the producer and as our relationships with these producers deepen, so has our desire to communicate that to you. Each year, we expand the horizons of our buying, and continue to happen upon wonderful tasting coffee that is also organic.
We have been buying organically grown coffees for years, but avoided labeling them as such. These coffees are selected by Steve, our coffee buyer, and make it onto our menu based on the qualities we find in the cup, not because they’re certified organic.
As we have established a deeper connection with a growing number of organic farms, it has been hard to tell the stories of these coffees without talking about the dedication and effort of these producers. It takes a lot of planning and hard work to go organic, and can be very risky due to diseases and parasites that can obliterate entire harvests. Producers must be very diligent for organic coffees to truly thrive. We want to highlight the extraordinary efforts made by these producers by presenting organic coffees as such, and now we can; our Roastery is newly certified organic by CCOF.
In the end, nothing has changed about the way that Ritual sources, roasts, or serves our coffee. It’s still all about flavor. Don’t expect to always see organic coffees on our menu, but if you do, you’ll know that these coffees are held to the same high standards to which we hold all of our coffees.
(Photo is members of the Aramo Co-op, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, the source of one of our favorite organic coffees!)
Featured Organic Offering
Potrerillos Organic, Equador: The Potrerillos exhibits a beautiful orange blossom aroma that turns into flavors of dried apricots, gooseberries, and graham cracker- a colorful melange that resolves in the cup with a toffee-like sweetness.
NEW BAGS FOR 2013
posted on March 5th 2013 at 16:19
We’re thrilled to now be delivering your coffee in foil bags. At Ritual, we’re constantly looking for ways to make the coffee taste better, and having coffee in an airtight bag is a huge step to even better quality.
In our Roastery, the coffee makes it into its bag just minutes after being roasted. Having that bag be a sealed foil bag with a valve means that the coffee gets to you in a state that’s as close as possible to being straight out of the cooling tray. The foil bag protects the coffee, preventing it from being exposed to air.
We only decided to switch to the foil bag after extensive testing. Of course, valve bags are the standard for big roasters, but they are selling coffee that is weeks, if not months (years?), old. We wanted to be sure it made a noticeable difference even for someone who consumes the coffee within days of it being roasted. And it does.
In addition to the oxidation that the air exposure causes, we found that paper bags themselves contribute to changing the wonderful flavors we work so hard to highlight. That discovery was very surprising to us, but once we tasted the difference, we knew we had to make the switch to a foil bag. We found that paper bags not only don’t protect the coffee well, they damage it.
Our new bags are not compostable like our old ones, so we’ll be looking for creative ways to reuse them. If you have an idea, please email us at
info@ritualroasters.comand we’ll share the best ideas on our website. In the meantime, we’re already experimenting with compostable polyethylene coffee bags. For now, we hope you’ll enjoy the difference in our coffee.
Freshness: you might be surprised to see our suggestions for when to brew Ritual coffee:
Filter Coffee:
Best days 6-10 after roast date
(Try not to brew before day 5, finish by day 12)
Espresso:
Best days 8-10 after roast date
(Try not to brew before day 6, finish by day 12)
Carbon dioxide builds up inside the coffee bean during the roasting process. Resting your coffee allows the carbon dioxide to escape over time and allows the subtle, complex flavors to develop. Our recommendations for the best days off roast are based on what we think tastes best!
Please don’t hesitate to get in contact should you have any questions about this exciting change.
-Eileen (and the rest of the Ritual Crew!)
