A Great Many little Things

Workshop Post Op

The first workshop of the year went well and I want to thank everyone for coming out and making it a huge success! We went through our chosen coffee (Kenya AA Top Lenana) in a vac pot, kona coffee maker and french press and tested for total dissolved solids. Interestingly, the kona made the strongest brew, though nothing made it to ‘optimal’ SCAA-recommended levels.




In other news:

We have wireless access here at the shop now! That means, well I don’t know what that means exactly. But if you have a laptop and work to do (or not) you are finally able to do some of it at the shop.



And finally:

This week’s coffee comes from Crema Coffee Roaster in NC. The Lenana & Finca Medina have already proven popular here at the shop but the other three are totally new to us. I’m looking forward to evaluating them in the next few days.

Colombia, San Augustin
Kenya AA, Top Lenena
Guatemala, Antigua, Finca Medina
El Salvador, Monteray Estate
Brazil, Minas Gerais, Fazenda Tijuco Preto

Most of them carry a shadegrown/rainforest alliance certification of some stripe. The last two are 100% bourbon, the Kenya comes from the SL28 varietal. They are all available as french press or vac pot, and if it isn’t busy we’ll even attempt to pull them as an espresso!

2007 is Dead. Long live 2008!

There are lots of things in store for the new year but for the moment I just wanted to mention that Alex has been promoted to the position of barista trainer! He will now be in charge of preparing new employees for work behind the bar and for making sure our experienced baristas stay sharp. He’ll also be writing training material based on current barista competition standards, since they tend to promote efficiency, excellence and even customer service. Who knows where that might lead ...

In other news, I will be stepping back from the monthly workshops so that everyone else at the shop can have a chance. On the last Monday in January Danaja will lead a brewing workshop. She will be using the Kenya Top Lenana and a Vac Pot, Kona coffee maker, french press and five ounce rocks glass to compare taste profiles. We’ll even pull out the TDS meter and test relative brew strength. It’s free but reservations are a good idea. So call us!