Folio is a small project run by Jean-Marc and Nancy, out of their home in San Jose, California. The idea is simple: pick a coffee or two each month, roast it carefully, write down what made it worth your attention, and put the bag and the writing in the same envelope.
We are not a subscription. There is nothing to commit to. Each issue is a numbered, finite release that you can buy or skip. If an issue doesn't sound interesting to you, that's fine. Wait for the next one. The model is closer to a magazine than a coffee club.
Jean-Marc roasts. Nancy shapes how it all looks and feels. Every coffee in a Folio issue gets multiple practice roasts before the production batch, with each profile logged in Artisan and tasted back-to-back until it lands right. Nancy works on the bag, the website, the printed cards, the small editorial decisions that make the issue feel like an issue. We both drink a lot of coffee.
The first issue is about Yunnan, China, partly because that's where this whole project started, and partly because almost no one in the US is drinking specialty Yunnan yet. Future issues will be from somewhere else. We don't pre-plan a year in advance. We pick what we'd want to drink next, and tell you why.
The name comes from the bookbinding term. A folio is a single sheet folded once, the smallest possible book. Each issue is exactly that: a small, deliberate thing.
Everything is roasted in our garage on a Kaleido M1 Lite. Bags ship within five days of roast date, vacuum-sealed for freshness. Local pickup is available in San Jose if you'd rather meet the people behind the bag.
— Jean-Marc & Nancy
San Jose, California