The Sisters of St. Nina's Monastery
wish to all
a joyful Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
wish to all
a joyful Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
 So many of us drink a cup of coffee (or two!) every morning. And what Sunday would be the same without the parish coffee hour?
But where does that coffee come from? People are starting to care more about where we get our food, who grew it, where. If we can afford it, we buy fair-trade or organic. We are beginning to realize that our every choice has importance. What if your daily cup of coffee, or the pot for your parish gathering, could be more than just a mass-processed product of unknown origin? St. Nina's Coffee is roasted by the Sisters of St. Nina's Monastery with love, care, and prayer as part of our effort to become self-sustaining, living by the work of our hands like the Apostles before us. We source our beans from Crop to Cup, a small importer based in Brooklyn that works with small farmers and cooperatives producing fair-trade and organic coffees. Every cup of our coffee is made with love. And we all know that not only does something made with love taste better, it is better, for all of us. Why not order a pack of St. Nina's Coffee and taste for yourself?
 As summer heats up, it's time to cool your coffee down. Like iced tea? How about some refreshing iced coffee!
Try cold-brewing our Ugandan Bukonzo Nayabirongo for a chocolatey cup or Ethiopian Yirgacheffe for a sweet brew with a hint of fresh berries. Perfect Iced Coffee Prep time: 8 hours Difficulty: Easy Serves: 24 Ingredients:
Instructions:
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with cold-brewed coffee. Add a splash of half-and-half. Stir. Then drop in 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (or just plain old sugar) and stir once again to combine. Adjust to taste.  Hannu of Six Pot Coffee in Helsinki. Earlier in this blog we introduced Eija, longtime friend of our Monastery and fellow roaster. She hails from Helsinki, Finland, and it is in Helsinki that she met Mr. Hannu, the man behind Six-Pot-Coffee, "probably the smallest micro-roaster in the world" and model for our own start in coffee roasting... here's the story in Eija's own words, "a tale that begins on a rainy day in August 2015:" In August of last year I was cycling in Helsinki. The weather was great, and it was fun to cruise along the Baltic. Then suddenly the sky got darker and soon enough it started to pour down rain. I was close to a small mall, and went inside from the rain. There, by the door was a table with tens of brown pouches, a heavenly scent of coffee and a smiling gentleman, Hannu, who is the CEO of Six Pot Coffee. I am a friend of St. Nina’s and we had many times talked about coffee, its origin in Ethiopia, and the possibility to roast some African coffees at the monastery. Hannu and I got to talking and he explained the sourcing of beans, roasting system, packaging, the channels for marketing, etc. I returned to Washington and talked with Abbess Aemiliane... and the rest is history... In October we got our first roaster, now we have three units, and do the sourcing and packaging and marketing much like Hannu had advised.  Hannu sharing his expertise. He roasts with three small roasters right in his café to give his visitors the whole experience. Eija's back in Finland for the summer and had a chance to meet with Hannu a few days ago to catch up and enjoy some of each other's coffee. She reports:
Maybe! :)
We at St. Nina's are forever grateful to Hannu for all his advice and support as we entered into the magic world of coffee roasting. Check out Hannu’s Six Pot Coffee Facebook page and see what's brewing over in Helsinki.  That's right, our hand-roasted fair-trade organic coffees are now available for purchase at your local branch of New Windsor State Bank:
New Windsor - Main Office 213 Main Street PO Box 489 New Windsor, MD 21776 Phone 410-635-6406, 410-775-1468, 410-549-1414 Mt. Airy - Twin Arch Branch 1001 Twin Arch Road Twin Arch Shopping Center Mt. Airy, MD 21771 Phone 301-829-7355, 410-549-8948 Taneytown 222 East Baltimore Street Taneytown, MD 21787 Phone 410-756-1580 Westminster - College Square Branch 444 WMC Drive Westminster, MD 21158 Phone 410-751-7000, 410-526-BANK (2265) Westminster - Market Place Branch 810 Market Street Westminster, MD 21157 Phone 410-751-6297 Pick up a pouch or two today! More retail outlets in your area coming soon—stay posted for updates :) Many thanks to our friends at NWSB for this opportunity to share St. Nina's Coffee with their clients.  Abbess Maria with Abbess Aemiliane of St. Nina’s. A big part of why we got into Ugandan coffee is Mother Maria, Abbess of St. Mary of Egypt Monastery, the first Orthodox monastery in Uganda. Our own Monastery's friend and fellow roaster Eija Pehu met Mother Maria on a research mission to Africa and made the connection. With her help and God's blessing, Mother Maria came to stay with us at St. Nina's for three months in the summer of 2015, establishing an ever-deepening connection between our Monasteries as we grow in Christ together.  Mother Maria with friend of St. Nina’s Lillian at St. Mary’s this spring. Passionfruit is one of the cash crops Mother Maria and her Sisters cultivate to help support the Monastery.  Mother Maria at St. Nina's last summer. When we were just starting to get into roasting coffee late last year, the question arose—what coffee? And we remembered that St. Mary of Egypt Monastery is located in a region where coffee has been cultivated organically for many hundreds of years. Why not start with Ugandan coffee, as a first step toward our ultimate aim of partnership with St. Mary's in sourcing coffee directly? Mother Maria and her Sisters could put their experience and expertise in the areas of community development and agriculture to good use in helping to support themselves and the fifteen orphans they care for with proceeds from coffee sales, and we at St. Nina's could offer coffee from women farmers who are neighbors of St. Mary's in a Monastery-to-Monastery exchange!  In St. Nina's kitchen. As a beginning step to this goal, we developed and perfected our own roast of Ugandan Bukonzo Nayabirongo, a fair-trade coffee imported by Crop to Cup in Brooklyn, NY. And is it ever good! Sweet, bright, and clean like a morning in the Rwenzori Mountains. Like a morning at St. Mary's or St. Nina's. Try it and tell us how you like it. Would you like to help out Mother Maria, her Sisters, and the children they care for? Contact us for more information about their needs and ways you can get involved.  Mother Maria with her goddaughter Evangelia, who was baptized along with her parents and four of her brothers and sisters last spring at St. Nina's.  We roast using three Behmor 1600 Plus machines, known as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. Each one has its quirks and requires a personal approach :) Roasting coffee is no 'set-it-and-forget-it' process—we call our coffee hand-roasted for a reason!  This blog most fittingly commences with the thing itself— coffee being roasted today, right here at St. Nina's. Today’s coffees were Ugandan Bukonzo Nayabirongo and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.  Fellow roaster and friend of the Monastery Eija was here to collaborate.  Shaking out the chaff post-roast and catching some fresh air in the process! What a beautiful roast! |
St. Nina's CoffeeOrganic fair-trade coffee hand-roasted by the Sisters of St. Nina's Monastery, Union Bridge, MD. Archives
April 2018
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