Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Oklahoma’s T3 Roasters Completes a Historic Opening

Oklahoma-based coffee company T3 Roasters has opened a flagship brick-and-mortar roastery and coffee bar called T3 Coffee Co., inside a thoroughly remodeled historic building in downtown Collinsville. The building is…


New AFCA Director Gilbert Gatali on the 20th African Fine Coffees Conference

As the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) prepares for the 20th iteration of its flagship event, the African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition, the group is operating under new executive…


3 All-Women Coffee Roasting Companies that Are Changing the Game

The world of specialty coffee is still largely governed by men, but these all-female specialty-coffee roasters are helping to close the gender gap. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Feature photo courtesy of Lot Zero/7Gr As is the case for many commercial sectors, the world of specialty coffee continues to display gender disparity along the entire […]


Sumatra Coffee Farmers See Gains Through Agroforestry and Organic Fertilizer

Farmers in Indonesia’s Lampung province are making their own organic fertilizer in order to lessen reliance on volatile external supply chains. They’ve also diversified the number of crops they grow,…

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

In Tbilisi, Parsek1 Merges Comic Books with Specialty Coffee

We take a look at how this innovative café has changed the face of comics and coffee in the capital of Georgia. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Parsek1 When it comes to coffee and comic books, Japan is a longtime leader in the field. Manga cafés have been around for decades, combining […]


The Potential of Augmented Reality Technology for the Coffee Industry

Join us as we explore the applications and trends of “augmented reality“ in the world of coffee. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo courtesy of Pixabay In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a transformative force, blurring the lines between the digital and physical worlds. As we step into […]


Thread Coffee Roasters Opens Tailor-Made Roastery in Baltimore

The interwoven actions of Thread Coffee Roasters in Baltimore are finding exponentially more space this week with the grand opening of a brand-new production roastery and training lab. The worker-owned…


Don’t Skip the Budding Specialty-Café Culture in Quito, Ecuador

Introducing the specialty cafés of Quito, a city worth exploring on your coffee quest. BY JORDAN BUCHANANSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Featured photo courtesy of Stratto When traveling across South America, Ecuador can be forgotten between the high profiles of Colombia and Peru. Similarly, coffee from Ecuador may be overlooked due to its giant neighbors, including […]

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

What I Learned from My First Tea Ceremony

After taking in a brief moment of a tea ceremony in Thailand, I finally had the chance to participate in the full experience recently in Malaysia. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti In the years that I worked as a barista in a café, tea always played a marginal role in […]


Philadelphia’s Café Don Pedro Seeks to Build Up Small Businesses

A Dominican-owned coffee roasting company called Café Don Pedro recently launched in Philadelphia with ambitions for direct trading and boosting more Latino-owned small businesses throughout its supply and distribution networks….


An In-Depth Look at Gruppo Cimbali’s Coffee Technician Wheel

The Coffee Technician Wheel is a new tool that helps technicians understand the complexity of coffee extraction. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Edgardo Ferrero and Espresso Academy Coffee technicians are responsible for a complex set of tasks related to the production and extraction of coffee. They manage customer requests and need to […]


Philadelphia’s Café Don Pedro Seeks to Build Up Small Businesses

A Dominican-owned coffee roasting company called Café Don Pedro recently launched in Philadelphia with ambitions for direct trading and boosting more Latino-owned small businesses throughout its supply and distribution networks….

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Death Wish Coffee community started Operation Sandbox in 2016

We often talk about how we wouldn’t be where we are today without our amazing Death Wish Coffee community — and they become more and more amazing each and every day. 

Twice a year, our community holds coffee drives on Armed Forces Day and during the holidays called Operation Sandbox. Gail Dunmyer, one of our biggest supporters, organizes and ships the care packages. They send troops around the world coffee, merch, hand-written letters, and drawings from children that go with the shipments to the bases. 

“The response from the fan base was unbelievable,” Gail said. “We had so many bags of coffee to ship that wewere able to send to more than one base. Several of our community fan members had their loved ones deployed and we were able to send to their base addresses in Afghanistan.” 

Operation Sandbox started in 2016 when Gail met someone on the Death Wish Facebook page who was serving under the Department of Defense in Afghanistan. He hadn’t had a cup of Death Wish Coffee for over a year — and Gail wanted to change that. She and Lisa Wallarab, another community member, thought it would be a great idea to send coffee to deployed soldiers overseas, and Lisa came up with the name of this coffee drive. 

Fans from all over order coffee sent to Gail’s address — and they also oftentimes include notes and drawings thanking members of the Armed Forces for their service. 

“The troops really say that getting our Operation Sandbox packages are the highlight of their deployment. It means so much to them.” Gail recently told us. “To get something from “home” that is not only an exceptional and highly caffeinated coffee from a great company like Death Wish Coffee Company, but that the company’s fans, on their own, collects and sends it to them along with swag and their children’s cards-it means the world to them. They hang the drawings and cards at their coffee stations. “

“Every year our Operation Sandbox drive grows, and more and more community spirit is shared. Everyone contributes to the drive. Even my husband, Brian, who is a Vietnam vet, takes the boxes in to be shipped.””No words can describe what it means to our Armed Forces overseas to get a caffeinated care package of Death Wish Coffee from a group of people they do not know,” Gail said. “We all share the same bond of caffeinated goodness.” 

Thanks for constantly being amazing, Death Wish Coffee community! 

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

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