All About Adobe Coffee Company: Crafting Tradition, Embracing Flavor
You may have seen our sister brand, Adobe Coffee Company, at your local Smith’s or Albertson’s. Maybe you read on the bag that it is indeed roasted right here in Albuquerque at Red Rock Roasters. What’s the story there?
Adobe Coffee Co. was born of a desire to fill a niche in the local coffee market. We felt that the New Mexico coffee roaster landscape could use an accessible—but solidly high-quality—grocery store brand. Most grocery coffee was not the best to begin with, and not made better by sitting on the shelf for six months or a year post-roast.
So we set out to launch a line of fresh, local, high-rated Specialty coffee—but for the grocery store. Why can’t high-end Specialty coffee, processed with care, be within everyone’s reach?
It was also important to us that we update our flavored coffee offerings. We wanted to continue to provide a product that a lot of people really love.
We have been selling piñon-flavored coffee since 1994. The first experiments with piñon coffee involved my dad accidentally burning piñones in our toaster oven, then grinding them to mix in with coffee grounds. The resulting product was expensive and didn’t end up tasting like piñones, which have a very subtle flavor compared to most other nuts.
So he commissioned a custom piñon flavoring extract. In 2014 we reformulated it so that it was 100% natural.Sometimes, in the coffee industry, we observe an attitude of, “You can’t even taste the coffee if there’s a flavoring on it, so why would you bother using anything decent to make it?” And we disagree. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. The coffee we use for flavoring is the same current-crop Specialty coffee we use for all other purposes, and we use a 100% natural flavor because it tastes more natural. We think you’ll be able to taste the difference too.
The name for Adobe Coffee Co. came pretty easily—a nostalgic callback to the adobe barn in which our company was founded. And the unique turquoise bag and pop graphic label art by Marie Shriver are such a delight to spot on the store shelf. It’s the Southwest in a bag.
So, the next time you see a cheery bright turquoise coffee bag at your local market, maybe you’ll join us on a journey of flavor and discovery. There's a place for everyone at our table.
