Heirloom Coffee

omg. I have since over to San Diego!!! Hi Len!!! Boy do I miss your coffees. .especially my Kopi Luwak!!! so glad to have re-​found you. I’ll be putting in my Christmas order today!

I order Vietnamese coffee from Heirloom. These guys know their coffee!

Len was so informative and our brewology class was so much fun! I would recommend to anyone and have!

Great Place! You can learn alot going here. The guys that run it are super nice and can answer all sorts of questions! I’ve returned since my first trip!

Well, I don’t really like to write reviews but I was compelled to write this one because I think I finally found something worthwhile. I bought coffee from Heirloom and followed that with attending the brewology seminar. I’m glad that I did because I learnt so many new things about coffee. I would recommend that people should attend the seminar even if they’re not crazy about coffee because you get to learn so much. Besides, you get to drink so many different types of coffeee and get a gift bag. So, it’s definitely worth it. Last but not least, the owners are a real pleasure to work with.

I purchased a Groupon for their coffee tasting class and didn’t really know what to expect. It was so interesting and so much fun! Len and Mike really know what they are talking about. The classes were arranged in an informal «sip coffee while chatting» type of environment. I really enjoyed trying all the types of beans that I never knew existed. If you have a chance to take this class then you definitely should!

Went for a seminar since it was available on groupon (or similar site) not knowing what to expect — I was very surprised how intimate and educational it was!
I expected a crowd of people in the room, but it was basically 5 couples in a room with the two (and sometimes three) owners/​employees. For about 3 hours, we learned about coffee, tasted lots of coffee, and had a very fun time. I really did not notice the time lapse.
Speaking from a more «casual coffee drinker“s perspective (definition: I thoroughly enjoy my morning coffee experiences — Not Can O’ coffee, but really nothing too fancy/​expensive/​imported — Usually will not home-​brew since I tend to ruin it), I was slightly intimidated by the high ratio of coffee-​afficionado in the room. That aside, the speakers were welcoming, up-​beat, and knowledgeable. They even had vegan-​friendly options — score! My helpful hint: prepare to be extremely caffeinated, and maybe I am a caffeine light-​weight (maybe 20oz a-​day usually) but I think I floated out of this coffee tasting.
I really was quite impressed, and it was well worth the money. The seminar is a fun activity for any level of coffee drinker. And if you need to step up your coffee buying game, this is the place to find a lot of coffees that you can’t find elsewhere. I really hope this place sees a lot of activity, it has some excellent potential.

Holy Caffeination! This place is INTENSE (in a good way). These guys sure know their coffee and want to share both their information as well as the coffee experience. You get your money’s worth-​no doubt!
Like others I had a Living Social Deal for the Coffee Brewology seminar. I didn’t know what to expect– maybe a little information, maybe a few small tastes of various coffees. But that doesn’t even begin to cover it. This place takes care of you! The brewing seminar was a little over 2.5 hours and the amount of information and coffee available was unbelievable. I drank at least the equivalent of a venti at Starbucks (in quantity, not quality) and there was so much more available. The quality of the coffee samples is amazing and it was really an eye opening experience. I walked out with a caffeine high and can’t wait to try the huge variety of samples I received in our take home goodie bag.

My girlfriend and I bought a Living Social Deal for one of Heirloom Coffee’s Brewology seminars. It is hosted in a nondescript building right on the Arlington /​Medford line. The seminars are 10 people or less so there is a personal feel to them which we definitely enjoyed. Mike, Len were excellent and really know there stuff. We learned a ton about the different kinds of coffee and about all the misconceptions that much of the uninformed public has about coffee.
We tried 5 different types of coffee which were from all 4 of the different species of coffee in the world. One of the most interesting facts was that all the consumer coffee we buy in America is Arabica beans. The different types give you the experience of coffees that you would most likely never try in a different setting. It was very informative and tasty too!
The best part was that they send you home with a goodie bag of your favorite kind and a few samples they recommend based on your taste preferences from the class. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is even moderately interested in coffee.

Awesome and excited to try new coffee. I think may have to become a coffee junkie. Side note, ring the bell for entrance. I strolled in thinking nothing of it. I felt like a home invader. Gentlemen sat, pressed samples, and explained in depth about his coffees. Wonderful experience coffee shopping. Who would have thought coffee shopping would be so enjoyable?!?

This place and the people who run it are incredible. I came with a friend to one of their Seminars and LOVED IT! We both learned a lot and I’d definitely go again. There is so much to learn and even though we both took a lot out of the seminar, I’m sure we’d learn even more by going again. The coffee was delicious and it was a fun experience. We came home with free samples and a few extra things we bought (great prices btw). My only advice for the seminar is that you eat breakfast before you go. They’re not stingy at the seminar. You get to try a lot of different kinds of coffees and will definitely get a caffeine fix. So my two suggestions are 1) GO! and 2) Eat something before you do.

This is great coffee with passionate people and by going and buying anything, you are supporting a good causes. I could go into more detail, but you’ll just have to go to see what all the (well-​deserved) hype is about. :-)

Len, the owner, is really friendly and good to converse with. If you come in, he’ll most likely offer you a tasting and doesn’t try to «sell hard.» Prices are very reasonable and the store specializes in Vietnamese and Philippine coffee. We ended up buying the Kopi Luwak (at a great price) even though we hadn’t planned to, and he hadn’t pushed for us to. The business is small, down-​to-​earth, and worth supporting.

My girlfriend and I attended a coffee tasting here (using a groupon) recently. The coffee tasting was great (we got to try an interesting variety of coffees) and Len is incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining. You can tell that he’s really in it because he loves coffee. I plan to buy my coffee from Heirloom in the future.

If you want to talk about coffee, and live anywhere near Medford, this is the place for you. I have never met someone who knows so much and cares so much about coffee and the coffee making and tasting process as a whole until coming here. Len will always be my go to coffee person for now on!
We had a groupon for one of their tasting classes here, and I strongly encourage anyone who likes coffee (you don’t need to know anything about it, since he will teach you everything there is to know! Just be sure you don’t say you like Dunkin Donut’s coffee ha) then this class is for you. We got to try 4 types of hand selected coffees including one coffee that is made by the civet animals! After about 3 – 4 french presses worth of coffee, including one coffee iced and filtered out over sweetended condensed milk, and 2.5 hours of talking about coffee you will definitely have a buzz here. I wish they had offered us more water or food to offset the amount of coffee we were drinking, and I realize that I should have just not drank the full french presses of each coffee, BUT that coffee all tasted so good! How could you waste one drop?
You will learn here if you are an arabica or robusta coffee person, and you will learn all about the coffee growing process and how farmers make their money, etc. This place imports so many types of coffee from Vietnam and the Philippines it is incredible, including one type of coffee they are only US importers for. And all of these coffees tasted so unique and different in comparison to the coffees I normally drink off of the clover brews at Starbucks, etc. Len (the owner) is just awesome, and clearly cares so much about only offering quality products. They ship their imports and their website is easy to order from, but you should think about stopping by this little coffee shop in person just to hear Len’s stories and perspectives on coffee. I never knew there was so much to coffee, and now even with my tiny grad student stipend I will be sure to buy coffee from here a few times a year. It is worth it. I promise you. They also sell french presses and all kinds of other fun coffee things, so like I said, you should make Len your friend too.

I got a Groupon for a tasting class at Heirloom Coffee because I had seen Heirloom at local farmers’ markets and had tasted a couple of their unusual brews. The wife and I attended our class yesterday.
Len, the owner, taught us a great deal about the world of coffee beyond the hegemony of Arabica beans. There are several other commercially viable species which once were more popular in the US but now can hardly be found. As the lesson progressed, we were given samples. By samples, I mean 1 to 3 cups of 4 different highly caffeinated brews. One would think that is a bad idea, but me, I only got mildly jittery. It was hard to limit oneself to a small tasting when we were brewing such amazingly great coffee. Each was like a different world from the others.
We started with Kopi Luwak, the world’s most expensive coffee. Len ground a bag of this coffee and we each got a 3 cup french press full, doing the stirring and plunging ourselves. The story behind Kopi Luwak being so expensive: At night, Civets (weasel-​like mammals) pick the best, sweetest, perfect berries and eat them. Local hunter-​gatherers find the civets’ communal potty area, collect the scat with digested beans, and wash them multiple times. Regardless of the accuracy of such stories, the coffee is to die for!
Second was Trung Nguyên’s Legendee coffee, which uses enzymes in a lab to mimic the civet processing. We sampled this in the form of Vietnamese iced coffee, with sweetened condensed milk covered in cracked ice cubes. The coarsely ground Legendee coffee was put in a metal filter device placed directly over the glass, and the coffee was drip brewed in this device directly into the glass. I wasn’t as fond of this method, but it was worth trying. And we all got to take home a little metal drip brewery, so I’ll be able to try the technique with various beans.
Next, in french presses, we had a Liberica coffee, a species I had never heard of. Liberica coffees are traditionally brewed very roughly in boiling water, then served all day. One would expect a horrid experience, but Liberica beans, we learned, are not at all like Arabica beans. The coffee actually improved to my taste as we sipped for about 30 minutes.
Finally, a Sumatra Lintong coffee, again in a french press. This was more familiar to my palate being an Arabica brew. It was an excellent cup, except that I could barely drink coffee any longer, especially as all we had to eat were chocolate chip cookies and Taza chocolate.
I loved the experience and got to take home a goody bag with Trung Nguyen instant coffees, the drip brewer, and a bag of my choice (excluding Kopi Luwak.)
The shop is not officially a retail location, but they are generally around and welcome visitors for sampling and purchasing. Or you can order through their web site.

For the same price as the psuedo fancy coffees and teas that you can buy at Target, you can get some GENUINE fancypants coffee and tea stuffs at Heirloom Coffee. Why buy the stuff that’s one step up from Folgers when you can get «a fabulous mix of high-​altitude, shade-​grown Robusta Peaberry, Dalat Bourbon Arabica, and rare Excelsa beans»? Fancy. pants.
I bought the Indochine Gold blend for $ 6.50. This stuff is Vietnamese coffee and therefore, according to the very knowledgeable owner, has low acidity and bolder, richer flavors than your average American blend. I also bought some wonderful teas: jasmine, lotus, and even artichoke ($ 3.95, $ 2.95, $ 4.75). And some chocolate covered coffee beans ($ 5.95).
The best part was when the owner came out with a vat of tea from the back that had been brewing for a couple hours; a big brown blossom bobbed in the glass container holding the tea. It looked like an upside down water lily. It was beautiful albeit kinda alien; I bet it would scare children if used as a center piece (as suggested by the owner).
He let me try it; it was delicious! Very floral and not bitter despite sitting for over an hour.
The place itself is not really set up as a retail store and more as a front for their online store. You need to ring the doorbell to be let in. They do sell mostly Vietnamese coffee and green or herbal teas of which there’s only a shelf or two of merchandise. The owner is amazing, and I am so happy that he gets to work on his life’s passion.
Note: I know nothing about coffee, and it was obvious. The owner never made me feel like I ought to know anything more than what I know. He just wanted to share the joy he has for the drinks he sells. When I need coffee and tea, I will order from Heirloom Coffee.
Disclaimer: I bought a Groupon now deal where I got an AMAZING deal, but I would gladly have spend the prices listed above (the regular prices are listed) for what I bought.

I have no reason to buy coffee anywhere else now. The quality and flavor of the beans they are getting is fantastic and the prices are reasonable. The owners are extremely knowledgable about their coffees and are coffee enthusiasts themselves so sit and chat about coffee and learn. He has samples available there. My advice is to buy as many bags of different blends as you can afford and then remember your faves but be warned they are all delicious. I love the Trung Nguyen blend number 3 mixed with a scoop of Indochine Dark :-) Don’t be put off by the strange looking storefront where you have to ring a doorbell. The place is really more geared up for online shipments but they do have a welcoming tasting shop in the front so ring the bell and go in. This place is just a couple houses down from Rt 60 in Medford so stop on your way somewhere.

I am an espresso junk-​box. Love the stuff. I am the kind of guy that changes the grind of my coffee when it gets humid or dry so that the extraction stays the same. I heard about Heirloom Coffee from my UPS guy when I told him that my old espresso machine had just died.
Heirloom Coffee is the in the middle of moving to a new Medford location on Jerome Street, so be aware that they will only be at 200 Boston Ave for a short while longer.
If you ever wanted to learn more about coffee production, species, and regions, this is the place to go.
Went I went into the place for the first time, it felt like it was a secret. There was no mention of coffee on the outside, but when I opened the door it was like finding a tomb filled with exotic coffees.
Len, the owner, was very generous with his own personal stash of Espresso D’Annam. I probably bought 8 – 9 kilos of the 40 that he had roasted for himself. It’s the best espresso I have ever had. The beans are from Vietnam (like most of their coffee) and is a blend of Arabica and Robusto balancing the fullness of flavor and the crema perfectly. The flavor is round, rich, sweet with a lower acidity than other espresso roasts. These isn’t a hint of bitterness to the taste at all. There is a softness or creaminess to the texture that I don’t have the vocabulary to describe.
This special roast is now available to the public and is no longer only Len’s secret stash. I just picked up a couple of kilos this week. Hurray!

This little gem is great! It is a little coffee sales company that run’s a test kitchen in our building serving AMAZING Vietnamese coffee and some yummy home cooked treats twice a week.
Before being introduced to Heirloom, I was a DD medium iced with skim girl… but now I have a much greater appreciation for things outside the dunkin genera. Vietnamese coffee is rich and has a large flavor profile. Add a little cream and its the perfect wake up to your morning. Each morning they will have an assortment of Vietnamese coffees ranging from the bold to the mild to the rare Kopi Luwak civit coffee (such a treat to be able to enjoy!).
They have an online business (
), but also sell coffee’s, specialty teas (love their rose blends and jasmine), french press’s and other goodies for coffee and tea lovers alike in their Medford location. If you are looking for a gift for a coffee or tea lover, this place is perfect to get them a truly unique and special gift! I’m pretty sure they do gift packages as well.
I look forward to every Tuesday and Friday they are open to enjoy their great cups of coffee and home cooked treats!