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Boyd Coffee Company newsletter, March 2010 | Can't see images? View this message in a browser.

Boyd Coffee Company

Veda Younger cupping coffee in the 1950s

Rebel with a Cup

This Women's History Month, we're celebrating the career of one-of-a-kind Veda Younger, who was once the only female coffee buyer in America. She made waves not just at Boyd Coffee Company, but throughout the industry.

A Leader in the Coffee Business

In the mid-1950s, Veda was considered out-of-place by some of the competing coffee brokers. But she ignored critics and built a reputation of selecting some of the best beans from around the world and negotiating their purchase price.

She is pictured above cupping the coffee to evaluate samples from growers, a process still conducted daily at Boyds. In Veda's time and today, every shipment Boyds purchases is for a specific flavor profile, and it is tested rigorously and repeatedly for consistency and quality.

It takes many years to become an expert in coffee buying, evaluating, blending, cupping and quality control management. Veda is one of only six people throughout Boyds' 110-year history who have managed the Origin to Cup process: founder P.D. Boyd, his son R.P. Boyd, Ed Perry, Veda Younger, Ron Roecker and now Randy Layton. Then and now, Boyds is highly selective, buying only one lot out of about every 10 that is cupped.

Veda was known for her incredible business acumen and was one of the main forces behind Boyds' growth in the 1960s and '70s. She retired from the company in 1978 as a Vice President.

Her Colorful Life

Born in 1912 to homesteaders, Veda grew up on a ranch, where she said she “learned to swear better than any of the hired men.”

"My mother caught me and tried to turn me into a little lady," she once said. "It just didn't work."

She remained active in retirement, golfing once or twice a week in her 80s and 90s with scores under 100. She continued to visit golf courses until just before her death in 2008, three days after her 95th birthday.

In Her Honor, We Suggest ...

Q-Graded Boyds Coffee Reserve® Estate Guatemalan

This month, we're recommending our Q-Graded Boyds Coffee® Reserve Estate Guatemalan in Veda's honor. She preferred bold, medium-roast coffees, and those who knew her think she would have liked this single-origin varietal's deliciously crisp, pleasant appeal.

This coffee has been Q-Graded by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), meaning it has been evaluated by the CQI or one of its partners and has successfully met the minimum requirements for green, roasted and cup quality as outlined by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).

Q-Graded Boyds Coffee® Reserve Estate Guatemalan is grown in Fraijanes on the highland plateau above 4,500 feet, in a wide temperature range. A natural sweetness and light acidity develop in this patio sun-dried coffee. With a delicate aroma and caramel-like notes, this coffee has a balanced body and sweet yet complex cup profile that has become a trademark of top coffees from Guatemala. We know that Veda would have enjoyed it, and we hope you will, too.

$10 Off

Enter coupon code INNOVATION at check-out for $10 off any order of $30 or more. Offer expires 3/13/10. Shop now.

Did You Know?

More milestones in Boyds' 110-year history:

2008 and 2009
Boyds is America's largest importer of Q-Graded coffee beans

2008
Boyds introduces the commercial Coffee Profiler®, the only brewing system certified by the Specialty Coffee Association of America to brew each cup to the Golden Cup Award standard

2002
Boyds' Roastery is certified within the National Organic Program

1982
Boyds introduces the airpot, which becomes an industry standard for coffee brewers

1964
Boyds' Flav-R-Flo® is the first home brewer approved by the Coffee Brewing Institute

1961
Boyds is the first company to use paper filters in its restaurant coffeemakers

1929
Boyds supplies customers with loaned coffee brewing equipment, an industry first

1910
The company's horse-drawn wagons are replaced with trucks

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Boyd Coffee Company

19730 NE Sandy Blvd.

Portland, OR 97230

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