About Us

3CUPS is a retail merchant based in Chapel Hill, NC.  We do things differently.  We sell only a few things - mostly wine, coffee and tea.  And we treat them as though they really matter.  We believe the most important thing to everybody involved (that's you, us, and the farmers who grow the crops that end up in 3CUPS) is how they taste.  It's so important we'd like to tattoo, "Taste is the most important thing!"... on the arms of everyone who works in the food business.  But we can't do that.  What we can do is breathe that sentiment into our business.  We sell things you can enjoy everyday, and if the taste of your coffee, tea, wine or chocolate isn't knocking your socks off, you're missing something.

At 3CUPS we think you can taste the difference between an authentic Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley, and a manufactured one from California, between an Ethiopian Harrar and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, between bland generic Darjeeling and a Makaibari Estate FTGFOP1S Darjeeling, between a chocolate bar made from cacao grown in Madagascar and another one with cacao from Venezuela.  We also believe you'll enjoy our products more if we can stimulate you to learn about what we sell... about the really good stuff.

We buy our products from the best small farms.  You can sample our single-estate coffee, teas, wines and chocolates in our store, and we hope you'll take some home too.

We provide an interesting access, a link to the farmers who grow the crops we sell.  We have transparent relationships with our producers and share them with our customers.  We not only know the source of the 2005 red wine we are featuring from France's Rhone River Valley, we know the name of the village (Beaumes-de-Venise) the people (the Soard family) who grew the grapes and made the wine, how the grapes were farmed, the blend of grapes, the vinification method, and why this wine stands out as a fine choice in the sea of wines from which you can select a bottle.  We provide a careful selection we really know about and believe in, rather than stock a huge inventory.  And we'd like to talk about the wine, but understand you may be busy and would rather take our write ups and read than at home when you open the bottle.

Think of it this way.  Would you rather buy produce from the farmer at market who's so proud of his world-class vegetables he can't contain his smile, or from the lifeless rack at the supermarket which features low priced produce trucked in by agribusiness?  Wine, coffee, tea and chocolate work the same way... hands-on farmers produce the best; merchants who deal with them directly acquire the best; and consumers who buy from independent merchants (that's us) end up with the best product - carefully selected, in season, with stunning taste.

We are a small store so we can be very picky about what we buy and you don't need a motorized vehicle to tour our shelves.  We guarantee all our products, each of which had to pass a careful taste test to make it to our shelves.  We not only carry these products, we love them and hope you will too... but if you don't like something you buy from 3CUPS we'll give your money back no questions asked.

It's a simple approach, there's us, and the farmers, and you.  Everybody gets a fair shake and shares the excitement and passion for authentic tasting products and the enjoyment of learning about them together.  And yes, we do sell some ceramic teapots and press pots and grinders, and everything else you'll need to make the perfect cup at home.

Really great food enjoyed in small amounts, is one of life's affordable pleasures.  Unlike the best shoes, vacations, cars, or most other things, the best cup of coffee can be savored for less than a dollar a cup if you make it at home.

We wanted to keep it short, but if you ask, we can talk a blue streak about what we do at 3CUPS.