Winchell Mountain Coffee For Your Valentine's Day { Review & Giveaway }

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Winchell Mountain Coffee is a family-owned coffee roaster from the Catskill region in New York that takes coffee to new levels with artisanal blends that taste absolutely delicious…..the perfect cup of coffee! I love that they are passionate about brewing the perfect coffee using Old World technique using the freshest, highest quality beans and roasting using heat and hands.

I love good coffee! Especially there is nothing like starting a day with a good cup of coffee before the kids wake up ! I used to think that any type of coffee would do, but now I am well aware that there is a big difference between a stale, bargain coffee and a fresh, perfectly roasted one.

Winchell Mountain Coffee is definitely fresh and expertly roasted!

Here are 4 of their popular roasts featuring label art created by beloved artist, Sandra Boynton:

•Valentine’s Day Coffee – An Affectionate Blend

•Country Morning Coffee – A Leisurely Breakfast Blend

•Beach Blend Coffee – A Mellow Moca

•Wide Awake Coffee – A Bold and Zesty Premium Blend

Each of the coffees are packaged in a 12 ounce bag and can be ordered as ground or whole bean. The coffees are very fresh and full of flavor and aroma. That was obvious as soon as the bags were opened. Smelling the coffee is wonderful and drinking it is even better.

Winchell Mountain Coffee is a wonderful treat!

HOW TO CONNECT - You can like Winchell Mountain Coffee on Facebook.

Here's a bit more info for you about Winchell Mountain Coffee and their

Boynton Collection:

The phrase "Mommy Needs Coffee" is one that Winchell Mountain Coffee, an

artisanal, family-owned coffee roaster based in New York State’s Catskill

region, takes VERY seriously. However, just because owners Will Rivkin and

Allen Ricca take the art of coffee seriously, they didn't think their coffee

needed to look so, well, SERIOUS! Proving that their coffee LOOKS as good

as it tastes, Winchell Mountain Coffee is pleased to introduce their

exclusive Sandra Boynton Coffee Collection -- witty, playful and

smile-inducing on the outside, caffeine-fueled bliss on the inside. A

beloved cartoonist and children's book author for well over 40 years, Sandra

Boynton's wry humor and legendary characters are perfectly matched with 15

varieties of hand roasted coffees with names like "Expresso Overdrive," "Not

a Morning Person," and "Bob's Diner."

To celebrate cupid's favorite holiday, Winchell Mountain Coffee is sharing

some caffeinated love with a limited edition Viennese roast "Valentine's

Day: An Affectionate Blend." A great gift idea for the coffee fanatic,

"Valentine's Day" and the entire Sandra Boynton Collection is available in

markets and cafes across the country and online

at www.winchellmountaincoffee.com.

Did I mention that owners Allen and Will take their coffee seriously? Some

quick facts as to why their coffee is truly something to be experienced --

for the foodies and coffee obsessed!:

* They use beans from all around the world and will not accept a shipment

until that harvest has been sampled repeatedly, both in its raw green form

and in its roasted form.

* With these carefully selected beans, they create exclusive blends like the

more rare single origin coffees called yrgacheffe. Yrgacheffe is a region of

Ethiopia and rumored to be where the first coffee bean came from.

* They roast their coffee in the old old-world tradition, only utilizing

heat and hands

* They are obsessed with quality and will throw entire roasts away if the

beans are not sampled perfectly.

* One-way goglio valve bags vacuum pack the beans so consumers are

guaranteed the absolute freshness. Using this technology there is no air

whatsoever entering the beans to spoil their integrity so the bags have a

healthy shelf life of up to six months.

I had the opportunity to interview the owners of Winchell Mountain Coffee , Will Rikvin and Allen Ricca ! Here it is :

1. Tell a little bit about yourselves .

Will and I have been best friends since we were 15 years old when we met at boarding school in Connecticut. We continued to always stay best of friends. We have been roommates since 2009 when we started Winchell Muontain Coffee. We both work for our fathers in the business' they have owned for thirty five years. I (Allen) went to Marquette university in Wisconsin and Will went to Roger Williams in Rhode Island where he played baseball. We have wonderful friends and family that we care for deeply. They have helped guide us always in the correct direction. We enjoy playing basketball, squash and practicing yoga. We also love the NY Knicks and NY Mets as well as the Giants. (we are sports junkies). We both just have a genuine appreciation for life and averyrhing that it brings your way! We seem to find enjoyment in everything we do and that is EXTREMELY important to us and part of the reason WMC is as special as it is. We genuinely love what we do and it spills onto those beans. In a nutshell we are two young men who were brought up by amazing people and are just trying to make the most of our situation

2. When you thought of starting a buisness , why coffee and not something else ?

Both our dads owned two companies that were in the food service business. Will's dad owned Schapiras Coffee and Tea which has been around since 1906 and my dad owns a seafood importing/distribution company in NYC in which I act as VP of sales at. So when we were kids we would always tell our dads we were going to figure out a way to combine the two companies. So that's what we did! My dad and Will’s dad (who are friends themselves) are food fanatics and quality food fanatics at that. Our parents brought us up with a tremendous emphasis on food so it just sort of happened naturally. When we graduated from college we said "we need to open a coffee company" but at the time Will was in Boston working in corporate America and I was working for my dad. After 2 years went by Will quit, I moved out of NYC and we started WMC. Our love of food and quality food is what drove us to this, it's what we knew best!

3. What difficulties did you face when you first started and how did you overcome?

The biggest difficulty was just the time. Like I said Will and I both work for our dads separate from WMC so we always had to respect their time. Both of our jobs at our dads’ companies are demanding and occupy a lot of our time so the most difficult part was just being able to make everything materialize. But you manage if you want it bad enough.

4. Any advice for people who are thinking of starting their own buisness ar just started out ?

Have a plan that you can execute. We have followed our business plan to the letter and are constantly amazed as to how we are able to accomplish goals we set in 2009. Everyone has something they are special at, something that they can offer. It is really up to us as people to recognize our potential and put fear in the back of your head and just tell yourself to go for it. You have to be confident and manage your expectations because things take time to materialize especially with a new brand nobody has heard of.

5. What can customers see in future anything new are something lined up ?

We are working on Mothers Day labels now and are brainstorming with Sandy Boynton culturally relevant labels and maybe some political humor for the upcoming elections. We are always working on new blends (Will’s dad really). But yeah we vow to have as many fresh new and exciting labels coming out as quickly as we can think them up and get them printed!

6. Anything else you want to add.

Yes, wake up and get some Winchell Mountain Coffee!

* GIVEAWAY *

Four 12 ounce bags of coffee (varieties listed above) – choice of ground or whole bean – ARV $

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