Author archives: Bethany Priebe

October 10, 2019 In

“We Got You.”

It Started at Wednesday’s Gathering of Our Youth Cohort…

One part of the training for the week was how ‘story’ shapes us and how every individual can play a part in the story of their community. While the youth were engaged in the training conversation, it was not a surprise when none of the youth wanted to share their own story. Instead, a couple of the mentors told a piece of their personal story. The youth listened attentively.

One of the Cultivate mentors presented to the youth a service opportunity. There was a couple in a nearby community who were donating their home. A group of three young women who were no longer in the foster care system were having a difficult time with their transition especially finding a place to live. The current homeowners passionately worked to have the home ready by the end of the month. However, the home was still in need of some repair.

”While there’s still allot of painting to do, the projects could be anything that would be needed to get the house ready. Remember, though, this is a volunteer project” said a mentor to the youth. “It will be this Saturday and likely be for most of the day.” Before being able to ask for questions, one of the teens said “We got you.” Seven of the youth volunteered. Two of the volunteers even offered to work a shorter (paid) shift at the Cultivate Coffee Shop on that Saturday so they too could come later in the morning to serve with the team already there.

Along with two mentors, five of the youth were able to work along side the homeowners that Saturday. The Cultivate team spent the day painting closets, taping then painting baseboards through-out the home, and sanding down original doors and fixtures to soon be repainted. The homeowners shared through-out the day their appreciation for all the work being done. With a ”Habit” hamburger and shake lunch supplied by a supportive neighbor, one of the youth led a quick prayer of thanks that included a blessing for the young women who would soon be living in the home.

As a youth and mentor worked on a 60 year old door to prepare it for painting, the teen asked “why are we working on the doors because you’re not allowed to have doors in foster homes?” While the answer was shared around the young women being adults now, his question just opened another ‘door’ for a real life conversation. Both mentors were able to engage through-out the day with the youth finding ways to listen, relate, and equip as each amazing young adult continues to learn the importance of their own story.

(Thank you Randall for sharing this story and investing these youth!)

Posted by Bethany Priebe

November 9, 2018 In Christmas, Dignity in Work, giving, Good Coffee

Why Give Gifts This Christmas Season?

Christmas is one of the favorite holidays in the Priebe house (founders of Cultivate Coffee). Every year we pull out the Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. We break out Trader Joe’s hot apple cider and gluten free peppermint JoJo’s while cranking up the Christmas tunes. It’s the official start to a season of family traditions and great parties with friends. However, all the wonderful memory making is not why we love the holiday so much.

For us, it’s why we are celebrating. You don’t have to go very far or any length of time before you hear about or experience for yourself the brokenness of this world and the people who inhabit it. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It wasn’t how God set things into motion when He first came down to create our world and form man from the dirt with His breath. Yet, a rebellion occurred; sin was set loose and life became fragile, but even in the rebellion against Him, God made a promise to restore His creation. Over 2000 years ago, God Himself, Creator of heaven and earth left His thrown and glory to enter into the chaos and hurt of this world. He came to give a gift of salvation and the hope that this broken world would one day be set whole again. That hope came not through might and power, but a humble miraculous birth in a dirty manger.

It’s because of God’s great gift to us that we can now give gifts to others. One of the gifts we try to give at Cultivate is the gift of dignity in work. For the past several months we have provided avenues of paid work experience to fifteen youth who are either refugees in our country or foster kids who are approaching aging out of care. We want each of these teens to know that they are valued, loved, and that they too can have hope. Hope in their future and their potential. This holiday season we want to create more opportunities for these youth to work alongside us. One of the opportunities is through our gift packages. We will need help assembling the boxes and disturbing the gifts to paid customers.

We invite you to join us in our mission by giving the gift of a Cultivate Coffee gift box this holiday season. The contents will not only smell and taste amazing, but you’ll know that you’ve also participated in helping young people achieve dignity as they uncover more of their potential through honest work.

Posted by Bethany Priebe

September 19, 2018 In At-home, coffee, Drinks, Fall

Five Favorite Fall Drinks

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

There is nothing like the time of year when Fall begins creeping in, especially out here in the desert of Phoenix. By the time schools start each year, Phoenicians begin looking for every sign possible that Fall is on our heels. It’s not just because so many of us love the smell of fresh baked pumpkin bread, or the feel of a warm delicious apple pie latte going down our throat, but really, we are just darn tired of the heat! Celebrating Fall means we are celebrating the triple digit weather leaving and settling into the next 9 months of why we all live here!

Our Fall fever may kick in when school starts, but the reality is we still have a good two more months until we can even pretend the weather is cooling off. Today was our first day under 100 degrees for the season, and at Cultivate, we couldn’t be more excited! And believe me, we have checked the weather app over and over to make sure this is for real and that the trend is sticking around. Here’s to hoping!

For now, we’re going to start celebrating fall by making some of our favorite Fall drinks! There are so many you can make at home, even if you don’t have an espresso machine. Here are 5 of our favorites:

1. Dirty Chai Latte

I know. I just said, “drinks you can make at home without an espresso machine,” and our very first drink is a dirty chai. Although traditionally a dirty chai is made with a shot or two of espresso, it can be substituted for a very similar brew from a Moka Pot. Some even argue this is just as good as a shot of espresso your local barista pulls from their fancy machine. We will let you be the judge. You can pick up a Moka Pot for relatively cheap. Here’s a great recipe for a delicious dirty chai latte from This Original Organic Life

2. Mexican Cafe De Olla

One of the things we love about coffee is learning the many different ways other countries prepare it. This is a delicious option that’s great for when the weather cools down. It’s made on the stovetop, and although traditionally it’s made in special ceramic pots, you can make it in any sauce pan. However, using the traditional handmade pottery makes it a lot more beautiful and taste authentic. To learn how to make this at home check out Muy Bueno Cook Book’s blog.

3. Slow Cooker Gingerbread Latte

So, this may sound a little more Christmas than Fall, but let’s be honest, we all want to get as much time in for these favorite hot drinks as we can! This is a simple, but very tasty drink, and great for serving at parties. We found this recipe from Mom On Time Out.

4. Hot Buttered Rum Coffee

A few years ago, friends of ours turned us on to the delicious cold weather drink of Hot Buttered Rum. It is a rich, oh-so-good drink that will warm you from the inside out. Having this drink in Phoenix is a lot like trying to wear your favorite winter boots. You really only have a good week or two that it is truly appropriate, but you know you will start wearing them Oct-March despite being a high of 70 degrees out! This is a drink you picture yourself having on a cold day, sitting by the fire with some of your favorite friends – but you may have to make do hanging by your pool. Farm Girl Dabbles took this wonderful treat and made it even better by creating a coffee hot buttered rum!

5. Pumpkin Spice Latte

You were probably wondering if we were going to get to the most sought after Fall drink there is, a pumpkin spiced latte. Well we saved the best for last! We all know it’s Fall when Starbucks starts serving pumpkin spiced lattes, but what we don’t often know is how terrible they are for us. The fake ingredients, high calories, and not too mention the cost, puts a damper on this treat. We found a recipe that keeps the delicious, but takes away a lot of the bad. Oh She Glows adds a little twist by making it a Salted Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

Posted by Bethany Priebe

September 15, 2018 In

At Home Espresso

In our home we have coffee on the daily… and often all day long. Our typical choice of brewing is pour over (or drip for ease), but sometimes nothing hits the spot like a hot or iced Americano – a rich drink that I prefer with nearly a 1:1 ratio of espresso and hot water. The problem for most of us is getting espresso at home. When a decent espresso machine can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, it often feels like a luxury that is out of reach for the majority of us. So, instead we do with drip until we are out-and-about to hit up our favorite local shop. Yet, this also becomes costly over the years and is not always convenient. Fortunately, there are some good, affordable options.

Years before we started Cultivate Coffee…

Chris and I experienced a really unique time in our lives. We were both working for non-profits, while working on a startup on the side. We loved our work and were enjoying our newly married life when everything in our world changed within a few months time.

To our delight I got pregnant! To our surprise it was with twins. Around this same time, I lost my job due to lack of renewed grant funding. I was also hospitalized for 6 weeks because of the concern for premature labor. Our boys were born 10 weeks early and also spent another 6 weeks in the NICU as they finished growing and developing outside the womb. Between the loss of a job, the crazy housing market, and stacking hospital bills we found ourselves facing foreclosure.

Community building

Our Twin boys at about 8 months old.

Fortunately for us, we found an amazing opportunity to serve as the Cares team at an apartment community. Our role was to host events, welcome new residents, cultivate friendships within the community, and overall serve the residents and staff. We did all this for an extreme discount on rent, which was what we needed as we paid off medical debt and lived on a limited income. We found ourselves bringing treats to the staff and neighbors on a regular basis, as well as having friends in our home daily. Since we couldn’t afford to meet people at the coffee shop or pick up a simple latte to treat our manager, we needed to find a homemade and cost efficient way to bring caffeinated treats to our friends.

The hunt for an at-home espresso machine

We were shocked to see the average cost, but found there was a handful of cheap options. First, we tried the Mr Coffee home espresso machine simply because it was the cheapest on the market for about $50. What we found was the espresso never tasted quite right and was watery. So we decided to research some more to see if we could find quality without going into debt for our machine.

Different systems

As we researched, we learned that there were two different systems being used for countertop espresso machines. The Mr Coffee machine used a steam based system. Similar to the Moka Pot system, these machines bring water to a boil in a sealed tank. The steam creates the pressure to send the water through grounds in the portafilter. The problem is that these systems fail to produce the full 9 bars of pressure needed for a proper pour of espresso. In fact, they can barely do 2 bars of pressure. No wonder our coffee never tasted right!

The other system is a pump based system that is able to produce a minimum of 9 bars and also better controls the temperature. Most cheap pump based espresso machines start at around $200 and easily go up into the thousands. However, we found that De’Longhi makes a model for just about $100.

A great, affordable, at-home machine!

We love our De’longhi! It makes a nice, rich espresso with a beautiful crema on top. Even now that we own two different commercial quality machines, we still enjoy using this one at home, especially because it is a great size for small spaces. Our first one lasted about three years before it pooped out. We had another gifted to us and try to do a better job cleaning and descaling. It’s now been another 3 years and counting on this machine. We highly recommend this for home baristas. The steam wand can be a little finicky and needs careful attention when using it, but if you want a great cup of Americano at home, look no further.

One shot of espresso from our De’Longi machine

To learn more about different types of espresso systems, visit Kitchen Kaper’s blog. They explain these systems in more details, plus how the Moka Pot works, and other attempts at home espresso making.

Speaking of espresso, we are on the verge of releasing our espresso roast soon so be sure to visit the website!

Posted by Bethany Priebe