That Tasted Like Ash

Monday night’s workshop went over great and I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out! Alex, this month’s host, put out six sample cups for us to compare: One filled with 100% Brazil Fazenda Tijuco Preto; one filled with 100% Brand Echs Italian roasted coffee; four others with varying mixtures of the two. Then he put out banana, white chocolate, 60% chocolate, 100% dark chocolate, biscotti and orange peel. The goal was to put the coffee and food in order of sweetest to bitterest and then pair the foods with the coffees.

What we didn’t expect was how quickly Brand Echs would pollute the lighter roasted Tijuco Preto. There ended up being one "sweet" coffee on the table and five varyingly bitter ones. The 100% dark roast tasted awful.

In the food pairing only the white chocolate managed to redeem the bitterest cup. The orange peel went well with the Brazil but otherwise there didn’t seem to be much agreement, except in the most general sense that the more bitter the coffee the sweeter you had to go with the food. So I guess we were actually pairing to roast flavor more than coffee flavor .... hmm. I sense a followup workshop in the near future. Alex, are you listening?

FREE!

That word always catches the eye, doesn't it?

This Tuesday night we invite the public to come by our shop and taste expertly crafted espresso beverages and try some of the finest coffees in the world. Unlike some retailers whose quality is so low they need to close their stores for remedial training, we are fully competent at what we do and are taking this opportunity to prove it.

To that end, this Tuesday, February 26th from 5:30-8:30 PM every coffee drink on the menu will be free.

We are willing to make this bold demonstration of our commitment to quality because we take the title of 'Best Espresso in Greenville' seriously.

Come by and experience what great coffee can and should taste like.

February

OK, so February is almost over but I still feel compelled to tell you what's going on for the rest of the month.

Next Monday is our monthly workshop, hosted this time by Alex. He plans to guide us through varying levels of sweetness and bitterness in coffee while at the same time pairing them up with complementary foods. It's pretty ambitious and I'm looking forward to how it all comes off.

Also, this week we are getting in an espresso blend of 50/50 Yirg/Sumatra Blue Batak. I'm pretty excited! We'll also have the Blue Batak by itself for brewing in the press or vac pot. Come by and check this really interesting coffee.