Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

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Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

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Why our community started Operation Sandbox for the Armed Forces

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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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