Lately, it seems there are quite a few articles being written comparing the various attributes of two of our favorite beverages--wine and coffee. As Sonoma County's leading purveyor of sustainable coffee, we can appreciate the similarities. Both require a painstaking labor of love and in return offer us an intriguing world of flavors and aromas to explore. Both come to us from distinct regions around the world and take on a signature, or terroir, from the unique places they are grown. Both have developed into a kind of personal ritual, often as bookends to our day.

But the comparison fails us when it comes to one important difference: freshness. While wine can often improve with age, we can say from experience that this does not hold true for coffee. Coffee is best when it is fresh, and in this respect is perhaps more akin to bread than wine. Over time coffee, like bread, loses its essential flavor and becomes a shadow of its former self. In fact, in our opinion, more breakfasts are spoiled by stale coffee than by stale bread.

In recent months, Taylor Maid's continuing concern over our environmental footprint together with the recognition of the importance of sourcing more of our food locally, has led us to reconsider the practice of offering our coffees through our website. Fortunately, the United States is now populated with a number of coffee companies that serve their local communities with fresh, high-quality products. Our belief has always been that local communities are best served, and are actually strengthened, by supporting local businesses.

It is for these reasons that Taylor Maid Farms will no longer be offering our products by mail. If you have been purchasing our coffee and tea at your local grocery store, café, or our own Maid at Home stores, we encourage you to continue buying our fresh and locally roasted products. For those of you who live in other parts of the country and would like to continue to purchase our products, we recommend that you order through Dandelion Goods, www.dandeliongoods.com, our neighbors here in Sebastopol & exclusive mail order partners.

Please continue to access our website for information about specialty organic coffees and teas, tips on coffee preparation, organic agriculture as well as news about the coffee industry. Also, we will soon be adding a store locator feature to assist you in finding Taylor Maid Farms coffee in your neighborhood.

With best wishes,

The folks at Taylor Maid Farms