For 16 years, our goal at the Daily Grind has been to provide exceptional coffee and espresso to the Carolina community.  We have been able to achieve that goal, in large part, because of our relationship with our coffee roaster, Counter Culture Coffee Roasters of Durham, NC. Counter Culture is dedicated to sourcing the highest quality coffees possible while promoting sustainable agriculture and maintaining direct relationships with the farmers who grow the coffee. Our partnership with Counter Culture began in 1995 and we support their endeavors to find the very best coffees and to roast them to perfection. 

An integral part of creating exceptional coffee is the quality of training our baristas receive. That training includes attention to detail during drink preparation, continuous equipment calibration and maintenance of the equipment. Each barista is tested to assure they are serving the very best cup to you.

Daily Grind House Blend

Our Daily Grind House is a blend of a few different single origin coffees at various roast levels. The Daily Grind House blend flavor profile is deep, full-bodied and balanced with a hint of smoke in the finish; sophisticated, bold and pleasant, cup after cup. We hope that you find it as delicious and pleasant as we do!

Single Origin

Shakisso from Sidamo, Ethiopia

• Certified Organic, Shade Grown

This wonderfully floral coffee features notes of strawberry, lemon, agave, and chocolate with a smooth, tea-like body.

Iced Single Origin

Finca El Puente from Marcala, Honduras

• Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified

This fragrant Catuai varietal makes a great iced coffee. It has distinctively fruity notes of plum, raspberry, cherry, and lavender. Try a refreshing cup today!

More Information

Why decaf is more expensive

Our decaffeinated coffee is more expensive than its caffeinated counterpart because it goes through an extra step between green bean export and roasting. Counter Culture sends the coffees to decaffeination plants that use one of three non-solvent decaffeination processes: Mountain Water Process, Swiss Water Process, or the CO2 Process. These processes are all-natural and let the coffee retain the most flavor (which can be stripped when using chemical solvents to decaffeinate). In short, it costs more to buy, but to the hardcore coffee drinkers who drink decaf simply for the flavor, this cup is for you.

How we decide on what single origins we sell

Sometimes it can be hard to decide what single origins to sell. There are so many different wonderful coffees from all over the world to try and so little time. What we do is drink coffee…a lot of it. On Fridays, the Daily Grind’s sister café, the Global Cup Café at the Fed Ex Global Education Center, has cuppings. These cuppings are open to the public and are a great way to develop your coffee palate and to try coffees from all over the world. Check our home page each week for the time of the cuppings at the Global Cup Café

Why iced coffee is more expensive than regular coffee

Our iced single origin coffee is brewed using a “Japanese” method; we grind a hefty dose of coffee and brew it directly over ice. Why? The melting ice immediately cools the brewing coffee and adds to the total beverage volume without weakening the brew. This “Japanese” style iced coffee retains aromatics lost in other iced coffee methods, is fresh, delicious and immediately drinkable; which makes it a win-win with us and our customers.

Why we don’t serve flavored coffee

We are sometimes asked if we serve flavored coffee. We don’t. We don’t feel good about serving coffee treated with harsh chemicals, and we know that inferior and unsustainable coffee is often chosen for flavoring, since the coffee’s unique and natural flavors will inevitably be masked with a chemical flavor treatment.  We do offer a wide variety of natural Routin syrups to individually flavor your cup of coffee, if you so desire.

Then what are those words like ”butterscotch, fig, and chocolate” doing at the bottom of the brew tags on the airports and urns of coffee?!? They are the descriptors of the naturally occurring flavors present in the coffee inside. Nothing has been added to the coffees, but coffee from different origins will taste different for a variety of unique reasons: different varieties, different washing methods, different soil and climate.  Each coffee is roasted and prepared to highlight these natural flavors.  That’s why African coffees may taste more fruity, American coffees may taste more sweet and chocolate-y, or Sumatran coffees may taste earthy. We want you to keep trying different coffees and experience the taste of  an exceptional cup.

Why the Daily Grind House Blend may taste different

Since coffee is the seed of a fruit, growing coffee follows a seasonal cycle (usually depending on the hemisphere the coffee is grown in). Counter Culture only offers coffee that is in season, which means that the particular origins they use for our blend are constantly changing and being tweaked by the roasters. What they strive to adhere to is the coffee blend flavor profile.

What Counter Culture Direct Trade Certified is and how it is different from Fair Trade Certified

The following is an excerpt from Counter Culture’s page, summed up very nicely. To learn more about CCDTC, you can check out their website.

We created the Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification (CCDTC) to codify and communicate the key measurable principles on which our coffee relationships are built, which are not only important to us, but to our producer partners and customers alike.

These principles are:
1. Personal, direct communication and long-term partnerships with coffee farmers
2. Fair and sustainable prices
3. Financial incentives that reward growers for exceptional quality
4. 100% supply chain transparency