This past year, I’ve gone from stopping at Kru coffee once a day, to now stopping twice per day. Well there’s a really good reason for that. In this week’s SCOOP, I chat with Luke Rock, cofounder and head coffee roaster at Kru Coffee. Luke answers some questions about coffee in general, and what makes KRU’s coffee just SO. DARN. GOOD.

WHAT MAKES KRU UNIQUE? Luke shares that they are different than most local coffee shops because they handle all of the green coffee purchasing themselves. By sourcing their own green coffee and roasting it on site, they are able to tailor the coffee directly to the tastes of their customers.

WHAT DOES FAIR TRADE ACTUALLY MEAN? All coffees at Kru are either Fair Trade or Organic Certified. What “Fair Trade” means is that when the coffee is shipped and imported into the US, it is done in an environmentally sound way, and that the producers at the farm level are getting their fair share of the profit. Coffee is not actually a bean, but the seed of a fruit that grows on a tree or bush. There are usually two seeds per cherry, which are hand-picked. If you think about all of the work that the farmers and pickers put in, it is QUITE an insurmountable task.

ARE THERE ANY COOL COFFEE TRENDS WORTH MENTIONING? Right now Kru is all about the trend of smaller serving sizes, which help to accentuate the flavor profile of the coffee and specific flavors you get from the terroirs and farms from which they grew.

One of the biggest benefits you get from coming to Kru is that you are supporting a small family-owned business, who have their hand in every part of the process, and can tailor their menu to exactly what the customers want. For more information on Kru, click here.