Bryan-David Scott, president and founder of North Star Fine Coffees, recently had a chat with Craig Breslow, a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Oakland A’s and founder of the Strike 3 Foundation.  He was able to ask a few questions and get Craig’s opinion of North Star’s coffees.  Here’s what Craig had to say…

What do you like/appreciate about North Star Fine Coffees? 

I appreciate the pride and personalization with which North Star deals with coffee and their customers.  Each customer should feel like they have developed a unique relationship with the company, because despite imminent growth, North Star maintains closely beholden to the customer and not the bottom line.

How would you describe our coffees? 

Obviously the taste of the coffees differs from blend to blend, however I would say that the one commonality is quality.  All the brews are impeccably blended and reach the consumer freshly and quickly.  The Strike 3 Brew, naturally, is my favorite!

What have you heard others say about our coffee? 

All the feedback I have heard has been great.  North Star was served at our gala to 500 people, and our guests raved about the quality of the coffee.  We have also been fortunate to have many of our executives sample the Strike 3 Blend, and again it drew rave reviews!

Try some Strike 3 for yourself and support the Strike 3 Foundation at the same time:

==> www.northstarfinecoffees.com/strike3

Bryan-David Scott was recently interviewed by Donn Dabney, Jamie Waterman, and Rick Miron, on KSVY 91.3 FM Sonoma on Friday, January 14 regarding North Star Fine Coffees involvement with the Strike 3 Foundation. 

Listen in on the conversation! 
(When you click the link an audio controller will appear.  Just click Play.)

Please click on the following link if you’d like to sample the ==> Strike 3 Coffee.

by Phong Huynh

A tip for any office that has a community coffee urn:  please rinse it out every once in a while! Coffee should never be chunky when dispensed, as often is the case at my office. Just one more reason to make my own coffee in the morning, which will be even easier with my new espresso machine. (Great excuse to buy one!) I can’t wait to try North Star Fine Coffee in the machine… any coffee good enough for the Sounders FC is good enough for me!

==> Share your coffee story

It’s common for me to receive news asking me to consider partnering with a company or charity, but when I received the following Yahoo article I knew I had to reach out to Strike 3 Foundation’s manager Joe Lizza.  We appreciate and respect what Oakland A’s RP Craig Breslow does on and off the field.  He embodies the spirit we try to maintain here at North Star every day… doing everything you can to make an important difference in our communities.

Craig Breslow

• http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-breslow091410
   
• http://www.strike3foundation.org/news/as-update-craig-breslow-ranked-no-1-on-the-sporting-news-smartest-athlete-list/
   
• http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/releases/releases.jsp?content=081610
   
• 10/3/10: Craig Breslow induces a flyout, collecting his fifth save of the year as the Oakland A’s end the season in victorious fashion:  http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12744249
   
• http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=10561995

ARCHIVES OF INTEREST

• http://mlb.mlb.com/search/media.jsp?query=craig+breslow&x=0&y=0

 
Andrew Bailey

Andrew was Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year, 2009.  His work on and off the field is impressive.

• http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091115&content_id=7669396&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
   
• http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/releases/releases.jsp?content=081610
   
• http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=11631887 

ARCHIVES OF INTEREST

• http://mlb.mlb.com/search/?query=andrew+bailey&x=0&y=0

On behalf of our family at North Star Fine Coffees, I’m encouraging every one of our fans to get behind the Strike 3 Foundation and support them.  Every gift makes a difference.

Remember, “Small things done with great love will change the world.”

Thank you,
-bd

Bryan-David Scott, President
North Star Fine Coffees
Seattle’s Luxury Coffee Company

Explore. Experience. Enjoy.

Seattle, WA
(206) 722-3060

by Steven Ward

Once the Room 203 blend arrived, I ground and brewed the coffee. The smell of freshly ground coffee seeping into the pot was intoxicating.

There is something about holding an amazing cup of coffee; students talked more freely, ideas exchanged more frequently and friendships created. In those few moments, all of the worlds problems were solved. In those few moments, everything in life made sense. In those few moments, a true classroom was created. In those few moments, I was a student and the students were my teachers. All of this based on the belief that room 203 can be created in every classroom.

==> Share your coffee story

by Karen Jarocki

Different people have told me different secrets of how to make great coffee…

My grandmother never scrubbed her coffee urn because she believed that that would ruin the flavor. (To her dismay, once her daughter scrubbed the urn and it ended up falling apart.)  Others scour the pot so that there is no residue.

I’ve bought nearly every brand recommended and I’ve found that the brand and type of coffee used really are the difference to making a great cup of coffee. I’m eager to try yours and see if it really is the best.

==> Share your coffee story

by Tamara Wilson

My parents, always cutting edge in the 1960s, would never consider a brand of coffee that wasn’t the highest quality.

They used Chemex filters, Danish mugs from a trip they had taken, and of course the most expensive coffee at the “Safeway.”  My father would go bonkers if it was out of stock, we just wouldn’t drink anything else. 

When Starbucks opened in the market, they would drive from Tacoma to get their Grand Central Bread and Starbucks… then FREEZE it for the next few weeks.  He had a system of course.  To this day, he is a fanatic about the latest burr grinder, blends, you name it… 

ME, just one cup of hot coffee please and don’t tell me how you got it from the mountain top in snowy weather and warmed the beans between your knees…

==> Share your coffee story

by Carol Pang

When I was working full time I used to say that when I retired that I wanted to be a barista.  It took a while to get hired, as I was 69 at the time and probably considered too old for the stress of the job.  Persistance paid off and I have been working as a barista for almost two years.  It is a very rewarding job to serve customers something that they enjoy and that makes them feel better.  I was fortunate to have a boss who was willing to take a chance on a senior person and we have a great working relationship.  Also, I love a good cup of coffee.

==> Share your coffee story

from press release

THE FREEDOM WRITERS FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH SEATTLE’S NORTH STAR FINE COFFEES

Long Beach, CA – The Freedom Writers Foundation, a nonprofit organization, has partnered with North Star Fine Coffees, a luxury coffee company based in Seattle, to release “Room 203,” a blend formulated especially for supporters of the Freedom Writers, in an effort to raise funds to support the Foundation’s mission to provide educators with the tools to empower at-risk students to reach their full potential. The Foundation was established by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers during their experience at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California.

As an idealistic first-year English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of students deemed “unteachable.” Challenged by the students of classroom 203, Ms. Gruwell used books written by teenagers, such as Anne Frank’s diary, to reach her students and encourage them to write about their own lives. Following Frank’s example, her students began chronicling their stories in journals and dubbed themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the Civil Rights activists, the Freedom Riders. Four years later, her students defied the odds, shattered stereotypes, and graduated from high school. A year later, Doubleday Books, published their journals in The Freedom Writers Diary. In 2007, Paramount Pictures released “Freedom Writers,” starring Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell.

Ms. Gruwell and her students set up the Freedom Writers Foundation in an effort to recreate the success of room 203 in classrooms across the country. “I drank lots of coffee in room 203, so to have a coffee named after our magical classroom is such an honor!” Said Erin Gruwell, Founder and Executive Director of the Freedom Writers Foundation, “we’re thrilled about the partnership!”

Bryan-David Scott, North Star’s founder, was so moved by the Freedom Writers film that he contacted the Foundation to share his experience after watching and connecting to the Freedom Writers’ story. After a few conversations, it became apparent that North Star Fine Coffees and the Freedom Writers Foundation could work together to make a good blend of coffee available to overworked teachers and raise funds to provide educators with support and innovative tools to make connections with students in classrooms across America.

After months of hard work, Bryan-David’s team created two blends, a medium and a special dark roast. Coffee expert and connoisseur Steven Clark tasted the coffees and described them as “well balanced and aromatic, with tones of cocoa,” he went on to say that the coffee, brewed with a French press, was “full bodied, with tones that rested on the back of the tongue, the same place where wine carries most of its flavor.”

Click here to try 203 coffee for yourself.

by Shawnee Frasca

I have always been a tea girl.  Coffee was just for dunking cookies in.  Well then I met my soulmate and he LOVES Coffee.  And you know I am so much in love that I have actually learned to like it… well I still need lots and lots of sugar and cream…. but I like it well sweetened just like my man.  And I even make coffee for him.  Something I swore I would never do again after my first husband complained about my lack of coffee making skills over 20 years ago.  LOL.  Well there is my story and I am sticking to it.

==> Share your coffee story