April's Workshop

Monday night’s signature drink workshop turned out really well, despite my fears of pandemonium with so many ideas and ingredients floating around. As it turned out, pandemonium did ensue but it all worked well with Alex, Tigest and me helping Danaja turn people’s ideas into functioning beverages. There were some interesting drinks put forth, including an Americano with lemon-peel tea and raspberry, a jalapeno mocha and a variation of espresso smores. We voted on which drink should be the special of the week and a recipe of chai with sweetened condensed milk won. That’s right, the winner was a tea! We’ll put it up as the special as soon as we can nail down the recipe and think of a good name.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and made this workshop so much fun. And congratulations to Tigest for her winning drink!

The Mandate - Part The Last

No Such Thing as Just Coffee

Here’s where I throw all the other Mandates out the window.

Kinda. Let me explain.

This shop has long been oriented toward clean, wet processed, lighter roasted single estate coffees. Part of the reason for that was because of the mentoring companies I chose to educate me in taste and preference and part of it was the fact that the first really good espresso I ever had was from lighter roasted coffee. And other processing methods never seemed quite as clean as the wet processed method. Lately, however, I've begun sampling some excellent coffee produced via dry or pulp natural processes and it came as something of a revelation.

I realized that if I only kept my attention to a very limited kind of coffee, produced a certain way, tasting a certain way, I was going to miss out on a lot the world has to offer. So nothing is off limits now - neither by process nor by roast. We’ll continue to serve coffee that accentuates the flavor inherent in the bean rather than the roast of course but we won’t disdain trying other things. That even means trying blends & dark roasts occasionally.

DP robusta? Bring it on.

Monkey-handled green? Oh yeah.

Mbuni coffee? Sure!

Kopi Luwak? Uh, yeah. Great.

From now on there is no such thing as just coffee.

The Mandate - Part 9

First Impressions Count

If we want the average populace to respect the position of "professional barista" more than all the other service industry jobs in America then we need to act the part. That means both acting like a professional and dressing like a professional.

I personally am not very comfortable in buttondown shirts and I am downright UNcomfortable in a tie but I think that other people judge us by how we look. Is it fair? Of course not. Some of the nicest baristas I know are arm deep in paint and I would never try to make them hide that fact or homogenize them behind the bar.

I don’t want the uncoffeed world at large to think of us as bartenders, sommeliers or coffee snobs but something unique. We are like bartenders. We are like sommeliers. We are like coffee snobs. We are baristas.

To get the respect we deserve (some of us deserve) we need to impress on the public that we take our job seriously and take coffee seriously. Then maybe they will take us seriously.

So we’re buttoning up. Long sleeves probably, with the sleeves rolled up. I haven’t decided on whether they employees can pick and wear their own shirts or I should buy & logo-ize them. But I’m thinking along the lines of how baristas dress at the regional competions. We dress that way for a reason right?

But no ties. Definitely, no ties.

One last Mandate to come! Finally!

April 28th Workshop

This coming Monday Danaja will lead us through the process of making our own ‘signature drink!’ That’s right, this month the workshop is all about you. We will provide ingredients and advice. All you have to do is bring the inspiration (unless you have some really funky idea, then you might want to bring your own ingredients too). One drink will be selected as that week’s specialty at the shop and we’ll even let you pick the name!

This is a free workshop but registration is required beforehand. So definitely call or come by.

The Mandate - Part 8

Reducing the Number of Syrups We Use

When we started Coffee & Crema three years ago we took the previous owner’s syrup inventory as our guide to which flavors we should carry. That included stuff like cherry, rum, lemon, orange, butterscotch, curacao, coconut, creme de menthe, pineapple, amaretto, almond, banana, cinnamon, gingerbread, irish creme, raspberry, blackberry, caramel, vanilla, SF vanilla, hazelnut, SF hazelnut, peppermint and chocolate. Did I miss any?

It did not take long for us to whittle away at that list. In fact we have been whittling away at that list for the last three years so that this Mandate is really just an extension something we've done for a while. Ironically, this issue seems to irk people more than cup sizes or prices. They want their lemon blueberry latte and if we've made it once we should be willing to make it until the end of time.

My focus with all these Mandates and self-imposed restrictions is not to put myself out of business but to be something unique in the community. To offer a slightly different perspective on what everyone in the area has always taken for granted. I’m not a social visionary - I’m a guy who makes coffee and who wants to make really good coffee.

So.

I don't feel we need peppermint or toffee nut or blackberry to do that anymore. That will leave us with four syrups: raspberry, vanilla, hazelnut and caramel along with their sugar-free counterparts. We’ll also have three sauces: chocolate, caramel and white chocolate.

We'll add the usual flavors for the holidays and occasional flavors as specials but from now on I want us to start focusing on real flavor. If my plate wasn't so full at the moment and I had the time/energy/money/resolve to devote to this we would forgo syrups all together and prepare natural reductions of seasonally available material.

Maybe this time next year I'll come back and revise this particular mandate.

The Mandate - Part 7

Raise Prices

"This is totally uncool!"

I agree. I wish I could stay in business at the prices we used to have. But I can’t.

There are lots of coffee shops across America that are pricing their drinks to match their biggest competitor, staying a nickel ahead or behind, depending on their philosophy. But I got sick of thinking we are so dedicated to great coffee that we can charge just a nickel less than the shop upstairs. Only a nickel less! We work hard to make the drinks right, buy better coffee at much higher prices and generally offer a superior coffee experience. So we can charge a WHOLE NICKEL MORE?

No way.

From now on our drinks are being based on what we need to be sustainable - because that word should apply to every link in the chain - irrespective of what the place upstairs charges for a drink with a similar name. We aren't out to gouge anyone, just price fairly. Some prices will go up and a few have actually gone down. We've reduced the price of our french press by a dollar because that’s where the numbers work. They squeak, but they work.

But this might be the stone that sinks the ship for a few customers. "No large-sized cup? No old, stale, stinky, busted airpot coffee? And now $2.50 for a mug o' joe!"

Still, other people are paying attention to what they are drinking now, precisely because of the pricing, looking for value. All we have to do now is make sure we give it to them.

The Mandate - Part 6

Keep Frozen Drinks

I might lose a couple of the hard core coffee purists out there (actually, I don't think there are that many people out there at the moment paying attention to "The Official Coffee & Crema Blog") but I actually like the taste of our frozen drinks.

We use good ice cream, fresh espresso and quality syrup/sauce. The taste is relatively sweet but the espresso is always present in the drink. We think it makes a good balance and on a hot summer day it’s quite refreshing.

We also hope to push a more aggressive cold coffee drinks menu this summer - more along the lines of barista competition drinks. These would be smaller than the usual 16 oz. drinks and more concentrated with coffee but still enjoyable to the average Mall goer. That's actually a pretty tall order when you think about the average Mall goer but still, this is my Mandate and I can do what a want with it!

The Mandate - Part 5

Flavored Coffee

Just kidding. I really mean:

Single Estate Coffee in General

This is a natural extension of the previous Mandate - and one that most progressive roasters are well on board with. And we've been doing it for a while now.

The only thing I might be able to add to this, if I haven't already made it apparent, is that these estates will all be lightly roasted - delicate might even be a way to describe them. There's no point in roasting an estate coffee to the point where the roast interferes with the inherent flavor of the bean.

We will offer these estate coffees as part of our daily french press program, some in the "special finds" category, some mixed in with the daily availables.

I would like to say seasonality will play a big part of this estate system but not being a roaster I don't have much of a way to effect that. Actually, from what I hear not even roasters have much say in how quickly they get their lots. Most coffees seem to arrive at our ports months after they have been harvested.

If we can get oranges from Brazil in less than four months, why can't get coffee as fast? Some parts of our industry seem pretty stone age.

OK, OK I almost got off on a rantangent there. Back on track.

Five more Mandates left. Stay tuned.

Imbibe a Little More

I just posted to the Library a Pdf version of the March/April edition of Imbibe, for those that wanted a copy and couldn't find one.

The Mandate - Part 4

Estate Espresso

(Quite honestly this is the scariest of the Mandates I have (or will) put out since it dictates the very product that keeps us in business. I've sat in front of the computer for hours deliberating whether or not to commit myself to this. Since you’re reading it though that means I'm committed. But if it goes sour then it could seriously affect us. I just try to keep in mind: With great power ... No not that one! It’s: If I could make this shop whatever I want what would it be? No point playing safe.)

This isn't so terribly surprising for anyone that knows me. We've been serving single estate espresso on and off ever since the shop opened back in 2005. In the beginning that was more just fluke and circumstance but once I got to know espresso a little better I came to appreciate what one bean could do.

It doesn't need to be said that there are great espresso blends all across the US these days but what I want to strive for is best summed up by the term "distinctive." If you leave my shop having tasted something you haven’t tasted before then we've done good. I truly believe that the ability SE espresso has to palpably be some single thing makes it a better bridge to engage the average coffee drinker than any blend. The Yirg in the hopper right now is like biting into a sweet orange - rind and all. That’s something customers can grab on to. Some (many?) may not like it for lacking balance or roundness or whatever ... and where’s the chocolate? ... but it’s so great to see people flip out once in a while because their eyes were opened.

Estate espresso is still a pretty new concept among roasters; Many of them don't even consider it to be real espresso. But I have a feeling that we'll be able to swing some pretty good stuff in the next few months. We'll still test blends and occasionally make up our own (since not sampling other espresso would contradict a later Mandate - you'll see soon enough) but hopefully the emphasis will remain on the estate.

And no second grinder, that’s cheating! OK, no not really but I don’t have room on the counter for another grinder and I’m afraid of beans going stale in one hopper or another. Besides, I want everyone to experience these unique tastes (be they good or not so very).

I've recently heard of some really great stuff out there which might perfectly fit what I’m looking for. Anyone with suggestions please sound off!

Pressure

Hectic day. The grinder and hot water tower arrived this morning, along with a shipment of coffee. Had to take apart counters to make the grinder fit on the counter.

Space is full of old equipment and stuff that used to be on the counters and coffee I can't find a place for.

But it's on. We're officially press only now.