Last weekend we visited one of our favorite farms, CMC Farms, located about ten miles west of Fresno. You may have noticed CMC Farms at various certified farmers’ markets; they have a unique offering of grapes, citrus, stone fruit and nuts, displaying the passion that Cruz and Manas (and Children: “CMC”) Saghdejian have about their own fruit. Our favorite crop from CMC are their Early Wonderful varietal pomegranates in the fall. Vartan, the youngest of the Saghdejian children, takes his job as farmer and salesman very seriously, and met us out on their second generation family farm to discuss the 2010 crop and show us the care they put into their fruit.

Vartan showed us how well organized the farm and the trees and vines are, allowing seven full-time workers on average at the farm to plant and harvest fruit. We talked about how important the “certified” in certified farmers’ markets is, and the business of retail, wholesale and the role of the fruit packers. We discussed the conspicuous “Dust Bowl” signs posted by larger macrofarmers along the I-5 corridor, its associated politics, and effects of current events on the working and economic conditions at the farms. It was encouraging that even amidst the times, a small well-run passionate family farm can survive and thrive.

We are always happy to be serving up some new flavors. After our very successful (and very crowded) public tasting, we narrowed down our selection and are proud to offer flavors we recently developed along with fellow artisan producers here in the Bay Area.

For our Blue Bottle Coffee flavor we created not only a new flavor but a whole new method for making coffee gelato. James Freeman sat down with us to discuss what is different about Blue Bottle Coffee and we had a cupping of several coffees. A day later, in our own kitchen, we decided that a cold press method of making coffee would make a delicious cup of gelato. And it does.

When we met Michael Recchiuti we knew we would like him because one of the first things he said to us was, “You should come by our kitchen and have some chocolate.” We spent several hours tasting chocolate, discussing gelato and working out ideas for a few Recchiuti flavors of gelato. Our stores are now selling the result of that, and several other conversations, Recchiuti Chocolate & Malt. We have several new flavors in the works as well, but we like to take our time so Michael will keep inviting us back.

Our guests were blown away at how true our tea flavors tasted. Ahmed from Numi Tea was instrumental in that because he showed us how to get the maximum amount of flavor out the tea. There are several flavors of Numi Tea we will be offering. You can stop by now for Numi Earl Grey gelato which has a wonderful Italian Bergamont orange flavor to it.

TCHO Chocolate has been very popular in our stores. We are currently using the TCHO Chocolatey version which was very popular at the tasting. This chocolate is sourced from Ghana and is dubbed “chocolatey” because of the rich, fudge-like flavor.

Gelateria Naia is proud to host the Gelateria Naia Pre-Release Gelato Tasting.

Sample twenty-two (22!) never-before released gelato flavors created in conjunction with the founders at Numi Tea of Oakland, Blue Bottle Coffee of Oakland, Recchiuti Chocolates of San Francisco, TCHO Chocolate of San Francisco and St George Spirits / Hangar One of Alameda. From 6:00pm to 9:00pm on Thursday, February 4th, you will be able to sample as much as you like from a wide array of gelato made from the finest local ingredients available.

Some of the flavors include a sneak preview of: Numi Tea Aged Earl Gray, TCHO Chocolate Nutty, Blue Bottle Coffee Sidamo, St. George Spirits Absinthe, TCHO Chocolate Citrus, Numi Tea Rooibos Red Mellow Bush, and Blue Bottle Coffee Bella Donovan.

Several of our friends from these local artisans will be on hand to discuss or sample their products as well.

Proceeds from the event will go to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) to aid the relief effort in Haiti.

*tickets need to be purchased in advanced*

Tickets are only available at brownpapertickets.com.

Sometimes making a new flavor can be an unexpected challenge. As we toured the Numi Tea warehouse with owner Ahmed Rahim, it was obvious he and his company are obsessed with tea. It was also obvious that there is a huge variety of teas, teasans, flowering teas, puerhs, herbal teas and on and on. Chris and I left the meeting excited and loaded down with two giant boxes of tea samples.

The reality of what we needed to do next sank in when we laid it all out in our gelato kitchen. We had nearly two dozen different tea varieties that needed to be made into gelato. That’s a lot of work so Chris and I came up with a plan, ask Todd do it.

We brought 18 samples of tea gelato back for the entire Numi office for a tasting. We were rewarded with huge smiles and kind words. They complimented our fine gelato and we praised their high quality tea. In a few weeks you will be able to enjoy several flavors of tea gelato made with tea sourced from Numi, another great Bay Area company.

We are always working on new flavors. Always. There are a number of things that inspire us to create a new gelato flavor but the best inspiration comes from meeting people. Here in the Bay Area we are spoiled with an abundance of fellow food artisans.

Last week we met James Freeman at his beautiful new Blue Bottle roasting facility in Oakland. We explained how we make gelato and he talked about different ways they roast and brew coffee. Then we enjoyed a cupping of several single origin beans. Then James said, “Where’s the gelato?” He gathered some people and we enjoyed another kind of cupping.

From that one conversation we developed a whole new way to make coffee gelato, we call it the cold press method. Our Blue Bottle Coffee Gelato will be in stores soon.

As the weather turns gray and damp it’s a great time of the year in our showcases. Our Winter Holiday flavors are out and selling well. This year we are featuring:

Gingerbread
Egg Nog
Marsala Raisin
Snowflake
Irish Cream
Peppermint Bark

The Irish Cream gelato is inspired by Rick’s family tradition of making Irish Cream in the days leading up to Christmas and uses their family recipe. Peppermint Bark is inspired by my wife’s annual Christmas treat. Each year she makes a big batch of Peppermint Bark for co-workers, friends and relatives.

Don’t show up empty-handed at Thanksgiving dinner. Or the Holiday party. Or the work potluck. Instead, come by and pickup a gelato pumpkin pie.

Bring one of our gelato pumpkin pies made with an all-natural crust and our hand-crafted pumpkin gelato and you will be praised for your thoughtfulness, admired for your cleverness and toasted for you sense of grace. Your name will be remembered next year and years to come and surely, more invitations will arrive at your door as a result.

But do keep in mind, our gelato pumpkin pies are only available through Christmas.