Coffee & Crema

1402 Square Feet of Upper Retail Nirvana

2008-11-15T17:21:00.003-05:00

That's what yesterday's rather uncommunicative post was about. I just wasn't able to effectively say any more at that moment. I'll try to do a little better right now.

Yesterday afternoon I inked in an agreement that took nearly eleven months to put together, giving Coffee & Crema a new lease on life. We will take possession in early February of a largish space in Forest Park Shopping Center, the home of Fresh Market and Garner's, a natural supplements company. I feel we are a good fit with those shops and the University Center across the street and Greenville Tech, down the road. Our focus has always been coffee and is still coffee and - where possible - more coffee. That means we're staying away from food - oatmeal and ramen maybe but if you can't make it with a water tower, then we don't need it. Instead, we'll start having cool coffee-related events right here in Greenville instead of traveling abroad for them (like the awesome latte art competition in Charlotte last Saturday or the ones that happen regularly in Atlanta).

The build out is expected to take only ten weeks because the developer is putting his muscle behind the project - though I still have plenty to do. But for tonight, I'm gonna go find a celebration and join it.

I promise to keep everyone updated on our progress with the new shop, including pictures where they might seem worthwhile. If you have any questions or concerns, please drop a line and let me know.

Greenville is finally going to get coffee!

Oh God!

2008-11-14T18:11:00.001-05:00

More later ...

Brand New Family!

2008-09-29T19:41:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to our barista trainer Alex and his beautiful bride on the birth of their 8 pound, 6 ounce baby girl this Sunday!

As far as I know the baby was delivered without any difficulties and is now safely at home with mommy and daddy.

I'm sure Alex told me the baby's name some point but I can't remember at the moment.

Either way, we wish all three of them the best and hope to see them soon!

Korate

2008-09-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

Come by and see what all the fuss is about.

Putting Out the Call

2008-09-04T20:29:00.001-05:00

All right kitchen rock star baristas, retired champions or itinerant coffee evangelists, Coffee & Crema is hiring! Now is your chance to pull that cape out of the closet ...

... actually no, let's leave the cape right where it is.

Instead why don't you bring a love of coffee, a willingness to learn coffee and an eagerness to create a dialog about coffee? Yeah, that's better. We're really eager to work with anyone that will help us cultivate an exciting coffee culture here in Greenville.

Go to the library and download an application or stop by the shop and grab one.

We offer good pay, great benefits and awesome coffee.

Update of Things & Goings On

2008-07-28T10:55:00.001-05:00

The ginger ale is gone - it was a great success but too much work to make on a regular basis.

What's the next drink special you might be asking yourself? I don't know. I'll post something on it in the next couple of days. Right now I'm too busy getting ready for tonight's tea tasting! We'll have some interesting stuff like formed teas and matcha and white tea on the table. It should be very interesting. I hope to see you here.

Ginger Ale

2008-07-23T12:52:00.000-05:00

Alas, the Shaken Basil Orange-ade is no more. It was loved while it was here but the summer is long and other drinks want to take the stage.

This week it's ginger ale, home-made style. This drink is kind of a hassle to make, so don't expect it to be around too long. Chopping and boiling and straining and mixing ...

Anyway, get it while you can!

New Teas

2008-07-14T16:44:00.003-05:00

Four new teas just came in that I wanted to let you know about.

Izu Matcha Green Tea
Matcha has a long history that you can read about here but basically it is a powdered tea that gets whisked into hot water. That makes it one of the only teas where the actual leaf is consumed in the tea, instead of removed before drinking. It is traditionally used in Japanese Tea Ceremony and supposedly has a very high polyphenol antioxidant count. Our Izu Matcha has a jammy smoothness and the Gyokuro leaf provides a light astringent finish. It's messy too. We're already working it into drink recipes.

Jasmine Green Tea (with flowers)
This particular jasmine comes from the Fujian Province in China and is the first grade below the exotic jasmines. In China they call this level of green tea 'Jasmine #1.' Traditionally layers of jasmine blossoms are placed between fine green tea so that the scent of the blossoms can permeate the tea. It is a very floral tea with surprising body.

Pai Mu Tan White Tea
This white tea also comes from the Fujian Province in China. In the cup it is slightly pale with fresh aroma and a velvety mouthfeel. It has also been described as reminiscent of a mild Bordeaux. These leaves were plucked from a particular varietal of tea bush called Narcissus, where only two special leaves and a bud are selected. The leaves are naturally withered and dried in the sun and should be almost gray-white in color. Naturally high in antioxidants, this tea is currently the rage in everything from performance drinks to skin-care products. We just like the taste.

Tibetan Rhodiola Tea
This tea is blend of Sichuan black tea, Rhodiola from Tibet and honeysuckle from the foothills of the Himalayas. Pretty exotic sounding, huh? It's also interesting because it is a formed tea, meaning it has been worked into little 'bird nests' to be broken into serving portions as needed.

So come by and try them iced or hot. We've got summer specials planned for the matcha and white teas. In fact ...

That's it!

This month's workshop will be cupping the new teas! I've never even done a formal 'tea cupping' before. Exciting! So Monday the 28th, a tea tasting. Mark your calendar.

I wonder if tea changes flavor as it cools ...

Shaken Basil Orange-ade

2008-07-11T20:34:00.001-05:00

Ok, I know I still have to announce what the next workshop will be. Bother me not with these bothers! This post is about our next drink special, the Shaken Basil Orange-ade. We are having a lot of fun with herbs (our last drink used thyme) here at the shop and this drink utilizes fresh basil. We combine it with a little ginger, honey, lime and orange juice to achieve a really tasty, refreshing summer drink.

But it won't be around long so get it while you can.

Also unfortunately, I still don't know what to do for the workshop. I've been preoccupied with ... stuff ... lately and haven't been able to give it much thought. And you the reading public haven't been much help either! Anyway, it will be the last Monday of the month whatever we end up doing. I'll let you know soon, I promise.

Workshop News

2008-07-02T17:20:00.001-05:00

I want to thank everyone that showed up for the cupping on Monday night. There were some really great coffees on the table this time around. And as we expected the Organic Ethiopia Sidamo Korate stole the show. The beans we got were not super-uniform in color or size (like I expect the auction lot to be) but the aroma and flavor were exceptional! Blueberry, vanilla, spice, butter - it was a liquid muffin! Thankfully, our roaster picked up a few bags before they were gone so in the coming weeks we'll have it at least in small quantities. Come by and grab a pound while it lasts.

As for this month, it's my turn to do a workshop but I haven't decided what to do yet. Maybe a triangle cupping or something. Any suggestions?

The Coffees Are In!

2008-06-27T13:02:00.001-05:00

The coffees for this Monday's cupping workshop have just arrived! We'll have the following:

Sumatra Blue Batak
Organic Sumatra Gayoland
Papua New Guinea Red Mountain
Brazil Oberon
Organic Ethiopia Korate

The last on the list is of special interest because it comes from the farm that has the number one coffee in the upcoming 2008 Ethiopia Limited Coffee Auction. It was rated an amazing 91.90! It cupped even higher than the Biloya, which has attracted so much attention recently. The auction will take place at the end of July but we have a little bit now. As with other super premium coffees of this sort, this is obviously not what was submitted to the auction but comes from the same farm, using the same production standards. Our roaster believes this is the best Ethiopian he's come across all year, bar none.

This is a great opportunity to try out a truly exceptional coffee, so don't miss it. The workshop is Monday at 6 PM. There is no cost, just let us know you are coming 864 678-9173.

It's Summer Drink Time!

2008-06-17T21:22:00.005-05:00

This is just a quick post to let you know about one of our refreshing summer specials.

For the next couple of weeks we'll be offering Blueberry & Thyme Limeade! It's tart and sweet and the thyme lends the whole drink a really interesting dimension I never expected. Summer is a great time to throw ingredients together and make interesting concoctions. It might be time to raid the kitchen cupboard ...

Later in the summer we'll be offering a Basil Orangeade, Genuine Ginger Ale and a few other drinks.

And don't forget that we'll be preparing fresh Iced Coffee all summer long. Right now we are serving up a really delicious Sumatran - the Blue Batak - that works so wonderfully chilled! It really is a treat you shouldn't miss out on.

June Workshop

2008-06-10T07:05:00.002-05:00

Alex will lead a cupping this month! We haven't had a traditional cupping at the shop for several months now and it is nice to be offering one again. It's a little early yet to say which coffees will be on the table but our roaster Crema Coffee Roasters has some fresh crop in that will certainly prove interesting. More details as I get them.

This workshop will move back to the usual final Monday of the month, in this case the 30th. It's still free so call or come by and make reservations.

Coffee on Ice

2008-06-01T21:32:00.003-05:00

Since the vivisectioning of our menu during the Ten Mandates we have not had any iced coffee here at the shop. One of the first things we cut out was toddy/cold-brewed coffee because it never tasted quite like what I wanted and never moved quickly enough to stay fresh.

But the summer is here and even inside the Mall cold drinks are de rigueur. So coffee over ice had to come back in some form or another. We played around with various methods and counted out the iced americano and french press over ice pretty quickly. However, the "Japanese Style" method of brewing iced coffee has been in vogue lately so we had someone build us a pour over station to give it a try.

And we liked.

So, for the rest of the summer we will have fresh-brewed iced coffee available at our new pour over station for the same price as a french press. It will be available by the cup for any of the coffees we serve so come by and check it out!

Coffee Ethiopia Style

2008-05-27T16:59:00.005-05:00

Sunday’s Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony came out really well and I want to thank everyone that showed up. It was probably the biggest turnout yet for a workshop and I think our host Tigest did a great job. She was professional and elegant and super beautiful in her traditional gown.

We started with popcorn, as all good social gatherings should, and then lit incense. Then we actually roasted some coffee over an open flame. Smoke and chaff went everywhere and the fragrance department was cowed, if only for a few minutes. It was great. You should have seen the looks on their faces. It was a good thing this workshop was held on a Sunday afternoon because there were no managers around to stop us!

The resulting roast was definitely something the average roastmaster would cringe at:

But the taste was actually quite good, all things considered. I got caught making drinks during certain portions of the ceremony and missed some stuff but apparently there were four servings of coffee but only two stages completed. The first serving, called Abol, was served and then reheated and served two more times. Each serving got milder and milder. The second serving was served with ginger. This stage was called Huletegna. Traditionally there is a third serving known as Bereka, which means "good look/so long/farewell/." We spent nearly two hours on the first two stages and never even got to the third! So I guess that means we actually did it right, since the ceremonies last up to three hours.

Thanks again to everyone that came in for the ceremony - especially those crazy people that drove from Tampa! Absolutely wonderful!

Bereka

EDIT: I just spoke with Tigest and we actually did all three stages of the ceremony. The coffee with ginger was another Abol! So we were faster than I thought. How very American of us.

May's Workshop

2008-05-06T14:57:00.002-05:00

This month we have a very special workshop planned. It’s so special it won’t be on our usual last Monday of the month. Instead it will be held on the day before. This May 25th Coffee & Crema has the distinct privilege of hosting a real, genuine, honest to goodness, authentic Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

An invitation to a coffee ceremony is a sign of friendship and is often performed two to three times a day in Ethiopia. Tigest, one of our employees at the shop has been doing them for years and has agreed to do one for us at the shop! She will lead the workshop, roasting, grinding and preparing the traditional drink of her homeland. In Ethiopia this ceremony is often done for guests and can last for up to three hours but our workshop is planned to last only about 90 minutes. Popcorn, the traditional food accompaniment in the coffee ceremony, will also be served.

The workshop starts at 4 PM on Sunday the 25th. Admission is free but spaces are limited and expected to fill up quickly. To call and reserve a space call 864 678-9173.

April's Workshop

2008-04-30T16:54:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-28T15:30:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-26T08:46:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-22T16:46:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-18T19:38:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-16T15:42:00.006-05:00

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

2008-04-14T11:46:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-09T21:22:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-08T14:54:00.002-05:00

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.