Frequently Asked Questions

"Certified Reference Coffee" is our own internal certification that essentially means "this coffee really does taste like the flavor notes stated by the roaster."

We taste everything blind (multiple times) before we put it up for sale, and only append this certification to coffees that consistently match their notes. In most cases, our partner roaster's intent shows through, but we might just be lucky because we only ask for "bestest bests" for our offerings. In rare cases when roaster notes consistently don't match up, we may choose to not sell the coffee, or sell it without the certification (at a discount).

Sometimes we may make minor alterations to tasting notes to be more specific or more general. For example, if one of our partners has "Lemon" and "Iced Tea" as a listed note, we may change that to "Arnold Palmer" to be more specific.

If the roaster lists a specific note such as "Kuromitsu" (a Japanese black sugar syrup) we may choose to generalize that note to simply say "Black Sugar" in order to more effectively communicate that note to American audiences. We will only do this in specific circumstances.

Don't take this certification too seriously, as taste is of course subjective. In fact, this "certification" started off as a tongue-in-cheek joke referencing NIST Standard Reference Materials, but over time we have learned that it's actually useful to set a baseline expectation between us and our customers. Obviously you might not taste everything as we do; there are simply too many variables (to include our own palate development, psychology, and the power of suggestion). Regardless, these notes can serve as a great waypoint to look out for, especially if you choose to taste blind, which we will ALWAYS recommend.

Not yet! But until then you can experience our idea of fine coffee and hospitality at pop-ups held regularly around New York City, and through our online store. Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter to never miss an event, product drop, or announcement!

Yes! We roast our coffee right here in Brooklyn, New York.

We also offer coffees from our partner roasters, to include Glitch (Tokyo), Red Poison (Kanagawa), and Lilo Coffee Factory (Osaka).

All of our coffees (both Lucienne roasted coffees AND partner coffees) are roasted 7 days before being vacuum packed and frozen for long-term storage.

That being said, you will find the following info for each coffee on the bottom of the bag:

Roasted: [Date]
Vacuum Packed/Frozen: [Date]
Thawed: [Date]

We don't have an official recommendation on whether or not you rest your coffees, but know this:

We let our coffees rest for 7 days before vacuum packing and freezing them for long-term storage. When you place your order, the coffee is thawed completely 24 hours before being shipped to you. Generally by the time you receive them they should be good to go, so consuming them within 14 days is reasonable.

Every coffee is different though, and there's no way for us to accurately predict when each coffee is "peaking" for your specific scenario as we don't know how you are storing them, ambient conditions, etc.

In short, you do you!

In short, not really!

But here is how I brew every coffee for the first time on the Clever Dripper:

Coffee Dose: 20g
Water: 300g
Grind: Coarse (~15 on EK43, ~4.5 on R-220)
Water temp: 199F
Total time: 3 minutes

1. Pre-rinse paper filter and discard water.

2. Grind coffee dose and pour into dripper, leveling the coffee bed and tapping the side to remove any air pockets.

3. Pour brewing water in concentric circles onto the coffee bed, slowly increasing the flow rate until you reach 300g. (The flow rate should end up being strong enough to agitate the grounds thoroughly.)

4. Cover the dripper to keep heat in.

5. Let coffee sit for 3 minutes.

6. At 3 minutes, swirl the dripper lightly and then plunge.

7. Drawdown should be around 1 minute.

This recipe works as a great baseline for most coffees. From here, I may make adjustments.

We vacuum pack coffees 7 days post-roast in individual packets, pre-weighed with their bag weight (80g, 200g, etc).

These coffees are then placed in a deep freezer kept at -10F (-23C) until it is time to thaw.

We do not refreeze coffee once thawed. (Not because refreezing is bad, just because it introduces another variable that we don't want to deal with.)

Sure! We have not had any problems ourselves with refreezing coffee that has been previously frozen, so long as you are vacuum packing it and make sure there is no moisture in the bag.

However, we do feel the beans become more brittle when refrozen. So keep that in mind. This can be a benefit to grind consistency, but we only have anecdotal evidence for that. Flavor-wise, we don't notice anything off so long as they are vacuum packed well.

Of course! If your order is a gift, please place your order as normal and contact us with your order number, explaining what you need.

We tend to only select incredibly clean coffees with exceptional clarity of flavor. Coffees like this tend to cost more. In addition, we only work with boutique roasters that we absolutely trust to roast high end coffees like these. (There's not much point in buying exceptional green if the roaster's skill is inconsistent or lacking.)

Please keep in mind that at this level of coffee, cost does not always necessarily equate linearly with quality. Sometimes a coffee is expensive simply because it is rare, or because demand is incredibly high, or both. In any case, we are not exactly looking for "value" driven coffee at Lucienne (even though great value is always a huge plus!). Instead, we focus our energy on utmost clarity of flavor, and/or exceptional examples of rare offerings. More often than not, it ends up costing whatever it costs.

We also strongly believe that specialty coffee is not a commodity product. It is a luxury product that should be treated and priced as such. Given the sheer quantity of labor and humanity involved to bring you a coffee that tastes like peaches or strawberries, it's a wonder that we pay as little as we do. But...that's an entirely different problem/topic altogether that I don't want to get into here. The point is, we want to compensate people in the supply chain fairly, and will pay whatever it costs.

Lastly, shipping overseas to the USA. It's expensive, but we do our best to keep it reasonable.

Conveniently, I have an entire blog post you can read about this here!

Possibly! If I still have the product page up, then the roaster is still producing said coffee. If interest is high enough, I may ask for an additional shipment.

Maybe! Shoot us an email and we'll look into it!

Oh my goodness of course! Feel free to contact me and I'll give you the rundown. :)

That's Lucy! He is a possum from near-future New York City. He was born from the following concept early in Lucienne's conception:

"Humans have abandoned Old New York City to nature. Slowly, the animals have begun to claim the ruins as their own. One day a lone possum named Lucy finds an abandoned Kissaten called Lucienne. He soon makes it his home, and begins to serve the local fauna specialty coffee.

Over time, Lucy creates a small community of regulars, to include Racoon, Badger, Deer, Rabbit, Skunk, Fox, Sparrow, Pigeon, Cat, and Rat. They all frequent Lucienne to try his coffees while reading ancient human literature, toying with abandoned mechanica, playing retro video games, and watching found human media together on TV."

(Largely inspired by Alan Weisman's "The World Without Us," but cute.)

Lucienne is the French origin of the American Lucy. I just really like the name. It's nothing deeper than that. Sorry!

Aside from free shipping, not really. I do this so you never have to wonder if "now is the best time" to buy something.

The Ludvi coffee project had to be abandoned many years ago due to military service. I'm glad you're here though!