The Mandate - Part 3

No More Brewer (Airpot) Coffee

There a number of reasons for dumping airpot coffee. The first is because ... well ... we already dump it. A lot of it. In our attempt to keep our "brewed" coffee fresh we end up wasting so much that it's not even remotely profitable. And besides, after ten minutes it gets hard to call it "fresh" anymore. For airpot coffee to be profitable we'd have to charge more for it anyway so we might as well give people something worth the extra money.

To that end we are making french press available to our customers at a reduced price in the coming weeks. I am waiting on the hot water tower and new grinder to come in (thanks Dave for the grinder advice) but once they are here the old equipment will come out and we'll be ready to roll.

There are a couple of other reasons to get rid of airpot coffee:

• Panera in the Mall offers it.
• Starbucks in the Mall offers it.
• Chick-Fil-A in the Mall offers it.
• That weird newsstand in the food court offers it.
• The Belk employee break room offers it for $0.25.
• Airpots can get pretty stinky.
• And they're unattractive.

Now you might ask yourself if we will be offering americanos or alternative methods of brewing coffee for the people that don't like french press.

Yes. We are going to be adding a "Methods" section to our menu that will include: Syphon, Chemex and cupping samples as alternatives to french press. And of course the venerable Americano.

There are lots of logistics to work out on all fronts but we should have all of this up and running in the next few weeks.

N.B.: There are only two 20 oz. cups left!

The Mandate - Part 2

No More High Fructose Corn Syrup

This one is pretty easy and I can sneak it in before the weekend. It isn't nearly as big a deal as some of the other announcements coming next week but it definitely falls in line with where I think this shop should be looking.

Simply stated: HFCS is addictive, has been linked to diabetes and is generally used by large corporations (i.e. THE MAN). So we won’t be getting Coke products any more unless someone can direct me to someplace that sells the cane sugar-sweetened variety.

Our syrups and sauces are already HFCS free so no pain there at least!

Besides, how hard is it to find Coke in a Mall? There are two vending machines thirty feet away if you’re that desperate.

Have a nice weekend!

Drinking Great Coffee All Day Doesn't Mean Losing Sleep

For the past several months I have been considering the direction this shop is headed and have come to the conclusion Coffee & Crema has a fairly unique opportunity in Greenville. So I've drawn up a "mandate" that will hopefully help us realize some of that potential and over the next few weeks I’ll go over the major points. Most of my agenda comes from the question "If I could make this shop any way I want, what would I do?" Then making it happen. There is a lot of room for modification but the overall goal is fairly clear: Be all about coffee and make it sustainable.

We are going to make some customers angry and we’re going to lose customers. I’m mentally preparing myself but I’m already hungry, so what have I got to lose?

The Mandate - Part 1

No more 20 ounce drinks. Why?

• Milk prices are up.
• The extra espresso takes time to prepare.
• Our lighter roasted espresso tends to disappear in that much milk.
• I've never in my life had 20 ounces of milk in one sitting.
• Who decided that particular size was a standard anyway?
• Syrup proportions went into ½ pumps, which can be inconsistent.
  

This is going to irk some of our regulars but they’ll have to get used to it because that isn't the most irksome thing we plan do ...

No, seriously.

Macapitating The Mazzer

The shop just got a new toy! Today we replaced our decaf grinder with our old Super Jolly and put a brand new Macap MXK Conical grinder in for the regular espresso! We haven’t had it long but really like our first impressions:

A worm gear makes adjusting the grind super easy.

The doser lets the grinds fall down. Just down. STRAIGHT DOWN! This little feat of engineering alone was worth $350 over another Mazzer.

The conical burrs are a lot quieter (if a little slower) than the Super Jolly.
The grind seems to be more consistent - less powder & chunks.

The hopper holds a huge 3.5 pounds.

The dosing chamber is completely open so you can see if your employee is wasting espresso.
The dosing chute holds about four grams of espresso (I don’t know if that’s good or bad, relatively speaking, just an observation).

The dosing lever is super laid back and easy to use - no more machine gun dosing.

It’s chrome baby.

The conical burrs alone make this machine worth the extra $300 I paid over the Mazzer. The worm gear adjustment is worth at least a hundred bucks and the dosing ... the dosing is priceless. I have hopes now for a clean bar, unwasted espresso, a competitive edge and world harmony in general. At least until someone orders something decaf.

March Workshop

Reggie went to Italy earlier in the month with the mission to find a truly excellent workshop for the month. What he came back with ...

... has nothing to do with Italy ...

... but should still be pretty interesting.

Monday 31st (the last Monday of the month) we will be conducting what you might call a "correlations workshop." Reggie will be using the Le Nez du Cafe in conjunction with coffee samples to exercise our sense of smell - or test our tendency to "transfer" the smell of one object to another - I'm still not entirely sure.

The workshop is free and will be from 6-7 PM so please come by and check it out.

We Gots Hario Pots

I’m glad to announce that we have Hario Vac Pots for sale here at the shop. We have the eight cup size that comes with a trivet for electric stove tops and a "personal" size that brews a 12 ounce cup. The smaller version comes with its own stand and alcohol burner but we also have more powerful butane burners with a controllable flame.

We'll also be brewing vac pots in store now for customers that want them. Come by, pick out your origin and we'll brew a 12 ounce cup of it for you at the counter. It’s fun to watch but even more eye opening to see how different the coffee can taste!

Miguk Saram!

I know I usually post shop-related stuff only on this site but I just wanted to let everyone know that my wife, Younghwa, became a citizen this weekend. She aced her interview on Thursday after lunch and took the oath before dinner. I’m super proud of her. She’s the best.

Imbibe Us!

Just a quick post to let you know that the newest issue of Imbibe Magazine has a little piece on us! We are mentioned in the article Coffee's Lone Rangers on page 66. We are squeezed in between Jon Ferguson and Jon Lewis, two infinitely more visionary proprietors than I ever hope to be. They get big pictures and I DON'T but that's OK because I'm not very photogenic anyway. And none of us are as photogenic as that Nick Cho guy on page 30!

Grab the latest issue and find out for yourself.