Meet Max

Max

The Cat

Nickname: MAAAAAAAAAAX
Super power: Twerking (yes really)
Special Skills: Taking down his favorite toy (and sitting next to it until you will make it move again), loudly commenting on every single aspect of household life, blackbelt snuggler.

Max's mom and dad were customers of ours, and we fell in love with Max's story! Here is Max's bio, as written by his mom:

Max is likely some sort of Russian blue, but we will never really know because he was a street kitty who wandered into our lives without any official paperwork. He adopted us in the summer of 2009. He was this scrawny, skinny, cat who meowed so loud you thought he had rabies. It did not take long to realize that even though this cat sounded like he was downloading the souls of the damned when he spoke, his unique meow was actually just how he begged to be loved. He began to learn the sound of our car, and when we would arrive home at the end of the day, we would hear him yelling at us from several houses away as he ran to find us! He moved into our yard, and would sit in the window of whatever room we were in in the house and yell at us. If we moved to another room, so did he, and the yelling would continue until we would go outside and pet him or feed him, and even then he could never get enough. Towards the end of September 2009, we were getting married and about to go on our honeymoon. It also was starting to get cold, so we decided that if Max was still living in our yard when we got back, we would take him to the vet and see about adopting him. The house-sitters looked out for him while we were away, and thankfully he was faithfully sitting in our yard when we returned and that was it! The vet told us that he had no microchip, but that his health and his teeth indicated that he had not been on the street for very long. We quickly concluded that a cat with so many opinions may not be welcome in everyone’s house, but he was perfect for ours. He moved in shortly thereafter, and he has been the happiest (and loudest) house cat known to mankind.

Now he is perhaps 11 or 12, but has as much if not more energy as he has ever had. When the doorbell rings, he beats the dog to the door to find whatever new friend is there to pet him (while he yells at them of course). He will sit by his favorite toy all day long until you make it move and when he catches it, he celebrates with his own special twerking dance. He would gladly spend the rest of his time snuggling with his mom, or if she’s not available, he’ll settle for planting his kitty butt on his dad’s foot while his dad is working. At least once or twice a day, he’ll “get lost” in the house and begin wailing until you call his name and he can get some special kitty snuggle time. He is as unique a cat as they come.

His name is Max because when we met him, it sounded like he was trying to tell us his name. But he still hasn’t quite figured out how to say an X sound yet. So it’s just MAAAAAAAAAAAA(x)

The Coffee

Max is now the face of our Hazelnut flavored coffee, which is now going to be called, Max Hazelnut: Hazelnut to the Max! Look for new labels with his face in the coming weeks!

Cats & Shelters

How does your feeding cats program work?

We partner with shelters all over the country and make donations to their general fund. Each bag makes a donation in the amount that it takes to feed a cat work a week. The amount has been calculated on the current average cost of dry cat food. We do not earmark donations specifically for food, because our goal is to be beneficial to the shelter, and we want them to have the funds necessary for whatever their most pressing need is. We do know that food is a big expense for many shelters, so we know that ultimately, the funds we donate go to help feed, protect, and heal homeless kitties in need.

Can I select a shelter my specific order supports?

In order to make a meaningful impact, we choose a shelter each month for every order from our online sales to support. Check out the front page of our website to see which shelter we're supporting this month!

Can I submit my cat to you to have a coffee named after them?

We're always happy to take submissions :) We get LOTS of submissions on a regular basis, so we hope you understand that we may not be able to use your specific cat, but we have definitely used customer submissions in the past, so if you have a compelling kitty feel free to email us!

Coffee & Ingredients

When was my coffee roasted?

We roast our coffee 3-5 days a week, so we promise that your coffee is always super fresh.

We don't put a roast date on the bag because we know that there's a lot of misinformation and confusion out there relating to coffee freshness, and we don't want to add to the confusion. If you do want to know, feel free to email us with your order number and we're happy to look up when your specific bag was roasted.

Our goal is to make fresh and delicious coffee that can be made in almost any standard at home equipment, so that's how we roast. Our coffee is best enjoyed within 2 weeks of opening the package.

Which grind should I select?

Whole Bean
Whole bean coffee should only be selected if you have a grinder at home.

Regular

This is what most people should select, as it works with the broadest range of brewing equipment, and was designed for an at home drip coffee pot.

French Press

Select this grind if you would like to make your coffee in a french press, or in cold brew. Since our coffee is more delicate than store brands, you may find that our french press grind is a bit finer than some brands. We do this on purpose, and believe that it produces the best results in a french press.

Pour Over

Select this grind if you would like to use a manual pour over brewing method, such as a V60 or Chemex.

Espresso

This is a very fine grind intended for an espresso maker. While we do offer this grind for convenience, we always recommend purchasing whole bean and grinding your beans fresh when making espresso at home.

What are the ingredients in your coffee?

In our unflavored coffees (most of our coffees), the only ingredient is coffee.

In our flavored coffees, the ingredients are:

Coffee, Natural Cane Alcohol, & Natural Flavorings

We work with a natural flavorings supplier that creates extracts that we apply to our coffee. The base for the natural flavoring is a natural cane alcohol that is designed to evaporate off of the coffee within 24 hours of application (so it's done before it gets to you!).

All of our coffee is:
Vegan
Sugar Free
Gluten Free
Allergen Free (per the FDA's top 8 most common allergens)

Why are you not fair trade or organic certified?

We believe in sourcing high quality coffee in an ethical way that's good for farmers and the earth.

Organic

Most of the farms we get our coffee from are small, family run farms and run on tight margins. In order to sell organic certified coffee, every stage of processing must be certified organic. That is, both the farmer and us, as the roaster. Unfortunately, these certifications are extremely costly for the farmers, so it's not something many of them opt to do.

We source only high quality specialty coffee. In order to produce this high end product, the farmers can not use things like chemical pesticides, one of the primary concerns in organic farming. So although our coffee is not certified, we still feel confident that our coffee is chemical free and good for the earth.

Fair Trade

Like organic, fair trade is a practice that is regulated and requires expensive certifications. We believe that the best way to give farmers a fair price for their coffee is to utilize a direct trade sourcing method that puts the money straight in the pocket of farmers, and not in co-ops. In our research, we've found that sourcing our coffee directly from farmers for a fair price does the most good for coffee farming commmunities--we believe it even goes further than Fair Trade.

Shipping & Order Information

How long does it take to receive my coffee?

Processing Time

For 99% of our orders, if you order before 12pm EST, your order will ship same day. There are a few things that may in rare cases cause order delays:
Special grinds (anything besides regular ground or whole bean) or decaf flavored coffees that we do not currently have in stock, unexpected order volume (especially for orders meant to ship on a Monday), inaccurate or incomplete shipping information provided at checkout.
These may cause a delay in shipping your order by 1-2 days.

Shipping

At checkout you'll be privided with a delivery estimate, and most often the estimate is pretty accurate. It takes into account our typical processing time, so the date shown should be a good estimate for when the package will arrive at your home. Please note, the delivery estimate is NOT guaranteed. We are unable to guarantee any delivery date, including for express shipping. If you are concerned about whether you'll be able to get your package in time for a specific event, please contact us ahead of time BEFORE placing your order.

Why is my order over $40 not qualifying for free express shipping?

We are able to offer our free express shipping program through FedEx's express saver program. For this program, we are required to use FedEx provided packaging, and as such, some of our products are too big or too fragile to ship with this method.

Another reason your order may not qualify for free express shipping is if you are ordering items from our partner, SPOD. Some of our merch items such as t-shirts are printed on demand by SPOD and shipped out by them. Since the items are printed on demand, this will add the processing time.

What should I do if my order arrives damaged?

We're so sorry this happened! Make sure you let us know as soon as possible--it must be within 10 days of receipt.

In order to assist you, make sure you provide us with your order number, a photo of the product that's damaged, AND a photo of the outer shipping packaging that is damaged, especially if there is any evidence of specific damage such as a tire or shoe mark on the box. We will need all of these pieces to file a claim with the shipping company, so that we can send you a replacement.

What should I do if my package does not arrive?

If you tracking number says that you should have received your package, but you can not find it, the first thing to do is to wait 1 more day. Unfortunately many shipping carriers are running very tight schedules, and from time to time drivers mark packages as delivered even though they are not. In this case, they will most likely deliver it early the next morning.

The next step is to contact your neighbors and try to look around in any odd places. We've heard reports of packages being found on the drivers seat of a car, inside of a green house in a gated backyard, and of course, left with the neighbor accidentally or on purpose to try to keep it safe. Another common place for smaller packages to be found is in your mail box.

From there, most carriers have a missing package process that can be initiated on the tracking page. If you are having trouble going through this process, you are welcome to contact us for assistance!