As we move along in this new year we're reminded of change and transitions. Many of us reflected on 2017 as we moved into 2018. Now it seems as if 2017 is rapidly fading behind us in our rear view mirrors. We're fully locked in and engaged in 2018. For many this new calendar year is the time to make bold and life-changing decisions to hopefully carry us through the year. I see it every January as my local gym is inundated with more people. But I know all too well that by mid-February it will be back to normal.

As a company we change. We learn, adapt, and figure things out on the fly as we go. We've added more teams, riders, and races that we sponsor. We aim to get into even more bike shops and events this year as we grow our partnerships and fan base. Change is good. Progression is even better.

With that in mind, we've completed the transition with all of our coffee bags. The black bags that we've used for the past year and a half are now discontinued. Moving forward all of our coffee bags now feature the brown bags with a unique stamp and image for each coffee that we roast. It's been a long time in the making but we love to feel and vibe of our bags and have heard the same from you.

As you can see below, as we approach our 3rd birthday in April we've been through a number of different bags. This is all part of us progressing and more importantly having fun in the process.

The last two bags that we've swapped out to our new bags is the Mystery DH and Boondocker. On occasion we're asked about the images that we use on our bags. So why were these images selected to represent these coffees? Let's take a look below.

MYSTERY DH (Guatemala Cubulco)

Mystery DH is a North Shore trail in North Vancouver, BC. This particular trail name was chosen to represent one of our coffees because, well, if you know the colorful trail names on the North Shore this was a "user-friendly" one to choose. We selected a 1x narrow wide chain ring for a cinch system. That seems pretty fitting for the North Shore.

Boondocker (Colombia Santander)

While the North Shore is a playground for big bikes the riding around Revelstoke, BC is much friendly to enduro or trail bikes which is why we chose this image for the Boondocker bag. Sometimes decisions require the precision and genius of a rocket scientist where as other decisions (like the image on our Boondocker) means that we go with the obvious ... the "well duh" decision making process. A solid 150mm travel bike ... maybe carbon maybe aluminum.

So there you have it. Two new bags for 2018. Now we're excited to see what else happens this year. Thank you for being part of our story.

Words by Sean Benesh, Loam Coffee Founder and Brand Manager.