February 2008 Blog Posts (78)

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Genuine Italian Quality?

(NB: This is a follow up for uni - I started a discussion on here a while ago asking why coffee is perceived to be Italian at least in the UK. These are just some thoughts and experiences on that topic)



Walking round Darlington town centre gives you a relatively large selection of places to get cups of coffee. There are numerous 'traditional tea rooms' where coffee is an afterthought, and greasy-spoon cafes who will do instant Nescafe in a polystyrene cup. And then there is two… Continue

Added by Bel Townsend on February 16, 2008 at 10:24am — 1 Comment

ooooo a blog

I just figured I would give this whole blog thing a shot. It's been a really long time since I have done this...not to mention my one and only blog was on xanga.... any who, it's late in Kansas and I am watching Harry Potter (#1) and just finished season 3 of 24. I did practically nothing today, with the exception of writing up descriptions of our competition espresso blend. It should be up on the site by Monday I would assume. Well, even though this is the 72nd time I have seen it, I must… Continue

Added by Holly on February 16, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

brew bar signs.

our store uses a brew bar system (with Melitta cones and #4 filters) to make brewed coffee. my location (Mormon Trek) has six brew bar slots (four for straight coffee and two for flavor). to make it easier for customers to figure out where their coffee is, we make signs and direct customers to the sign under which their coffee is dripping away. i made some kickass signs today... breakfast cereal characters (with vintage cereal boxes for the pictures). included were Count Chocula, Trix Rabbit,… Continue

Added by Amanda Lanyon-LeSage on February 15, 2008 at 7:50pm — 1 Comment

The CIA is Finally Taking this Counter Culture Thing Seriously

News arrived yesterday that the CIA has formed a partnership with Counter Culture. Reaction around the world has been a swift and resounding "What?!" And yet it is true. The implications of this unusual partnership bring up many troubling questions, paramount among them is how...



Okay, I just can't go on with this farce any longer. Not that it can't be done, mind you, but there are simply too many possible jokes embedded within this news item for any sane person to willingly go… Continue

Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 15, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Happy Valentines Everyone!

Happy Valentines Day everybody! Hope you all like the new color scheme of the home page of the site. ;)

Added by Matt Milletto on February 13, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

What will be your special drink on Valentine's Day?

I received a call from the spouse of a regular customer...Somebody wants to treat their Valentine to a treat in the shop and I don't know what to nake...Cinnamon Latte maybe?

I normally discourage flavoured drinks in favour of tasty espresso but the masses speak.

Any suggestions?

Added by Stickman on February 13, 2008 at 5:50pm — 8 Comments

Global Barista Exchange- Noe Castro Cacao at Barefoot

February is the month of coffee and love with Valentines day and Specialty Coffee month sharing the stage. And that coffee love is blooming at Silicon valley's Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Barefoot is hosting Guatemalan National Barista Champion Noe Castro for the month of February. Noe Castro was the Guatemala national Barista champion and went on the compete in the 2006 World Barista Championships in Tokyo nabbing 28th place. Noe recently took third place at the 2007 Guatemala Barista… Continue

Added by Andy Newbom on February 13, 2008 at 4:38pm — No Comments

Starbucks is Closing for Training? Aw, They Really Do Care

A day of reckoning approaches, friends, for on February 26, 2008, between the hours of 5:30PM and 8:30PM local time, the billion dollar global retail coffee monolith known as Starbucks will close all 7,100 US company-operated stores to train--or, as they call it, retrain--their employees in the elusive art of pulling espresso shots. Well, my word, this is news!



Questions most definitely arise in the wake of this announcement. Is this decision to close for a whole three hours an… Continue

Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 13, 2008 at 8:30am — 22 Comments

A Night to Celebrate the Life of Dr. Illy - February 22nd

At Bellissimo’s January 2008 staff retreat, we discussed if it was possible to re-release the complete Dr. Illy Milan Interview, which we originally released on video a few years ago. We all agreed that the time was right for the latest generation of coffee people to see this 75-minute interview and be exposed to the insight and amazing perspective offered by Dr. Illy.



Last week as we got the sad news of Dr. Illy's passing, and at the end of the week the DVDs arrived in our… Continue

Added by Matt Milletto on February 12, 2008 at 12:30pm — 3 Comments

Love for Coffee.

The Industry, the Community, the People, the Customers; Everything.

It keeps me motivated, and I feel fortunate to be in a business that I am in love with.

Anyone else?

Who else feels the love! :o)

Added by Jason Haeger on February 12, 2008 at 12:28pm — 2 Comments

people

i think its really hard having to deal with people all the time. you get some nice and then some not so nice but when the not so nice come you usually want to confront them and ask why they think they need to act the way they do.......

when i started out working with people in the food service industry i was pretty much up front and treated everyone like crap then i thought of how i am a christian andi need to reflect how jesus is and that changed the way i acted twards others. its makes… Continue

Added by David on February 12, 2008 at 10:40am — 1 Comment

More Coffee in Art--Literally

So yesterday I blogged about Oliver Jeffers' use of coffee rings in his illustrative art, which can be viewed on his web site. Ingenious! After being so inspired, I decided to take a look around the ole Internets to find some more and viola! I happily ran across the site of Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur. These two have some amazing talent, and I'm not joshin' ya, people.



Andrew and Angel create paintings entirely in the medium of… Continue

Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 12, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments

when idiots work alone

I really love working alone. And while I have my solitude and independence, there are always customers to keep from feeling deprived of human contact. Except on days like yesterday.



Yesterday, I crawled out of bed and slapped two fried eggs between the slices of a day-old-day-old-day-old bagel. I felt like I was dead. I could not believe how tired I was. But I stumbled out of the house, hopped on my bike and took to the streets.



The streets were empty and so was the bike… Continue

Added by Joe Stormer on February 12, 2008 at 8:35am — 8 Comments

day old muffins!

Here's what I like about closing the store: we get to take home all the day-old pastries that didn't sell that day. We had a LOT last night, so I took most of them home because I hate seeing them thrown away. Apparently my kitten REALLY likes bagels and he chewed one up through the bag. I'll add a picture later, it's pretty awesome.

And with that, I'm going to go eat a lemon poppy seed muffin. (I almost wrote Lemon POOPY seed. Hah.)

Added by Amanda Lanyon-LeSage on February 12, 2008 at 8:00am — 1 Comment

Today’s Corporate Embrace: Starbucks Jumps into the Waiting Wi-Fi Arms of AT&T

Dallas Business Journal is reporting that Starbucks has made a deal with AT&T to offer free Wi-Fi at their stores to all AT&T broadband, U-verse and remote access service business Internet customers. In addition, Starbucks card holders can get two hours of free Wi-Fi per day at participating locations beginning this spring.



Meanwhile, the poor saps who decline a Starbucks card and exercise their consumer choice by using a provider other than AT&T will have to pay… Continue

Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 11, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Coffee in Art--Literally

Oliver Jeffers has some incredible illustrations using coffee rings up on his web site. Both my husband and I have doodled in and around coffee stains, so this really brightened up my day.



Go to Jeffers’ site and find them under his Illustration section. (via Drawn!)



Post originally published by Milwaukee… Continue

Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 11, 2008 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

the MWRBC winners are...

1st place - Pete Licata

2nd place - Alex McCracken

3rd place - Robin Seitz

Added by Aaron Meza on February 10, 2008 at 8:38pm — No Comments

Vancouver B.C. Road Trip - Part 2

ok .. so if I don't finish my blog about our trip it will never happen! :) I think I left off having just had a great espresso at Elysian Room after chatting with Alistair.



Right as we are leaving Mark Price calls and invites us over. It's now about noon and we both need a break from touring cafes. We found our way over to Mark's and hang out with him and Beata for a while, catching up and Mark and I talk about industry news and stuff, and what our favorite games for the Wii are ...… Continue

Added by Matt Milletto on February 10, 2008 at 11:32am — 1 Comment

Dining For Darfur

Has anyone heard about Dining For Darfur? It will be hosted this year by Seattle and Portand area restaurants, coffee houses, and brew pubs and benefits Mercy Corps efforts in Darfur.Check it out http://www.chowfoods.com/darfur/ Please show your support by participating in this event either as a consumer or a coffee house!

Added by Ginger Gerhart on February 10, 2008 at 10:19am — 2 Comments

and the MWRBC finalists are...

Alex McCracken, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Co.
Robin Seitz, PT's Coffee Co.
Mike Marquard, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Co.
Pete Licata, PT's Coffee Co.
Clint Newlan, The Roasterie
Caitlin Corcoran, Latteland Espresso & Tea

Added by Aaron Meza on February 9, 2008 at 6:24pm — 5 Comments

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