Drink coffee. Support local. Live connected.
At Three Ships Coffee Roasters we work to be a great place for great people, and we found the best way to do that was to live seasonally.
Coffee is an agricultural product and the produce we use in our Pungo Syrups are agricultural products. With this in mind, shouldn’t we listen to the changing seasons and grow to meet these products when they’re at their peak of greatness?
We partner with local Virginia Beach farmers to offer the freshest, tastiest Pungo Syrup flavors that mirror the changing seasons. We consciously source our coffee beans from different parts of the world when the ideal conditions for coffee production are present. We compost our scraps with Virginia Beach's local composting initiative, Drishti Compost, to give waste a second chance.
We aim to give back where we can and to give more than we take. Come taste the difference and get stoked about thoughtful connection and local support.
So, where did the inspiration for the Pungo Latte come from? From the very beginning of Three Ships.
When owners Amy and Brad Ewing began roasting their own nationally-renowned coffee and selling at local Virginia Beach farmers' markets, they wanted to build community, and what better way to do that than bring local products into the forefront of everyone's mind? With this consideration, and through the influence of popular demand for something sweet, Brad and Amy began offering a blackberry syrup made from locally-harvested blackberries.
Brad, Amy, and other members of their family were already on their way to pick blackberries at Henley Farms, as is their family tradition, so it naturally made sense to tie this personal element into the coffee they care so deeply about (plus the family now had an excuse to enjoy spending more time together picking more berries). Amy then turned the fresh berries into a syrup that forever changed the course of Three Ships and the coffee-lover's definition of a seasonal drink.
Why blackberry? That's what was in season at the time! And what a success this was! Locals began staking out farmers' markets just to get a taste of Three Ships Coffee and their Pungo Syrup. But, as we all know, blackberries don't stay in season forever. While this isn't ideal for blackberry lovers, it's exactly the short-lived visits from these jewels of nature that help us to appreciate them even more. The changing of the seasons brought a change in the Pungo Syrup, and the rest is history.
Beginning with blackberry in the summer, Three Ships then rotates the Pungo flavors to blueberry, peach, apple, sweet potato, and strawberry. Occasionally there's even a limited release of flavors like fig, squash, and persimmon- depending on what the seasons bring us!
Partnering with local famers brings us closer to the community and brings a better product to our customers. Local farms in Virginia Beach, including Cromwell's Produce, Flanagan Farm, Henley Farms, and Cullipher Farm provide us with the best seasonal produce available!
With changes happening all the time, the only way to know for sure what Three Ships is currently offering for their Pungo Latte is to stop in and try one for yourself!