zin1953 wrote:Mike,

A winemaker CANNOT just decide to call a specific wine "Meritage."

Meritage® is, in fact, a registered trademark of The Meritage Association. Because it is a registered trademark, in order to use that word on their label, the winery:

• Be a member of the association;
• Must produce a wine that is in accordance with the definition of the term;
• Must get approval from the association to use their registered trademark.

Just askin' . . .

Cheers,
Jason

Jason:
Sorry for the delay in response, I was not able to log in after the HB server change.
Thanks for the note. If I were making wine instead of coffee I would be a bad, bad boy (if I did not pay the fees). Since I am using the word for our coffee, I am in no violation. I did my homework 7 years ago, with the help of 2 CA winemakers, contacted many people and made sure that I would not be getting any letters from lawyers if I used the words Meritage or Cuvee (I actually have a list of 12 wine related words I checked on). I am not sure if that is where you are going with this or if you were just wanting to get some info to me, but either way I appreciate you taking the time to send that over. I saw that you sent it as a pm and I hope you don't think I was ignoring you. Once again, I was not able to log in to get the message nor could I get on the forum.

All this talk about wine makes me want to find a great Meritage this weekend...any suggestions?

Cheers,

mmc

Decided to try an Americano today. It came out pretty darn good. The acidity is all gone and I get a nice "salt water taffy" taste. The body holds up really well in the Americano. My recipe for this one - 18gr Meritage, 25 sec pour at 94C, 4oz hot water just off the boil, pull the shot on top of the water - stir in - sweet!

Cheers

Ian

Mike,

Good job adding the roasted date to the bag. I always gave the Medici guys hell for not knowing when it was roasted.

Glad to hear Cuvee is printing roast dates! Is this for mail-order only or will we see roast dates on the shelf at Caffe Medici? Last time I came through Austin I picked up some Brazil beans at the Guadalupe location that were a bit past their prime for espresso.

I'm all about rest time and I don't feel the need to have beans that were roasted yesterday. But it *is* helpful to know whether I've picked up beans that are 6 days old or 16 days old.

Roast dates are now on all 12 ounce bags, including Caffe Medici and Whole Foods (just went on the shelf this morning)! I am listening to all the feedback so keep sending it. Feel free to email me directly any time.

Cheers,

mike
mikemckim@cuveecoffee.com

mikemckim wrote:Whole Foods (just went on the shelf this morning)!

That's a milestone. For the first time ever, coffee with a roast date on it... at the GROCERY STORE. I think my brain just blew a fuse. Congratulations, Mike & Co.!

shadowfax wrote:That's a milestone. For the first time ever, coffee with a roast date on it... at the GROCERY STORE. I think my brain just blew a fuse. Congratulations, Mike & Co.!

Not quite. Terroir has had roast dated bags at Whole Foods in New England for awhile now & you can figure out the roast date on Peet's coffees by looking at the last 4 digits of the code on the side of the bag. If I get bored while out grocery shopping with my wife I'll check out the dates on the Peet's in our local supermarkets. I've found bags of ground coffee over a year old! One time I called Peet's toll free number & told them how old the coffee was in one local market. They asked for the name & location of the store and sent me a free lb of freshly roasted coffee.

Stumptown coffees in grocery stores have had roast dates on them since at least 2003.
I think a lot of folks have had roast dated coffee in stores for a while.

Thanks for clarifying, guys. I guess my shock is from living in Texas and Oklahoma. I guess this is old news in the civilized world... Apologies.

Roast dates are now on all 12 ounce bags, including Caffe Medici and Whole Foods (just went on the shelf this morning)! I am listening to all the feedback so keep sending it. Feel free to email me directly any time.

This is good news Mike. I'm one of the people who have been requesting this for quite some time. You can tell Medici that I will be back now