We'll be open regular hours.

Today until 5p

Friday 7a-3p

Saturday 9a-3p

Support your independent coffee shop.

We discovered things we didn't know, like the tree tomato, which tasted like a tomato with apple-type sweetness.  We did things we've never done, like riding fiery show-horses.  We met people we've never met, like Cristina's boyfriend Ariel, who has agreed to help us learn even more about coffee.  Ariel is doing some experiments for us.  He is going to separate one lot of coffee during this fly crop harvest and process parts of the lot in different ways- no fermentation, 20 or so hours of fermentation, pulp natural, and fully natural.  So, in theory, we'll get to taste the same coffee processed in these four different methods, so the resulting differences should be the difference in processing only.  That's exciting.  And what if one method is far superior to the others?  Time will tell.  

We were fortunate to spend a good deal of time with Alfredo and his wife.  They are fantastic people, and I like them a lot.  We took some coffee with us from last Monday's roast and we brewed Alfredo's coffee, San Rafael, for him to drink.  He drank six cups of it.  They don't normally drink their own coffee in producing countries.  They only drink domestic consumption coffee (which is the worst coffee) or instant coffee (I don't have to say anything about that).  So he was excited to drink this top-tier coffee that he produced, and unlike normal, he didn't put any sugar in it.  

There isn't a lot of coffee being harvested right now, and it rained every day we were there.  This time of year is a second summer for Colombia and they have what is called a "fly crop."  Their main harvest is October-January.  This harvest is much smaller.  Last harvest, remember, they had so much rain that production was way down.  The talk this year is that the weather has been cooler, but not the heavy rain they had last year.  So it looks like they're going to have a good harvest, and it will be more of a slow-and-steady ripening of coffee.  Which is better.  Some years, the majority of coffee ripens at the same time, and they have to hurry to get it all picked and processed and dried.  When it ripens slower and more spread out, they have time to pick and process more carefully and produce better coffee.

I brought a few samples back with me, so I'll be cupping some fresh Colombians this week.  We cupped with Natalia (Cristina's cupper in Concordia) every day, and one coffee we tasted while we were there that was really good was one from Octavio Restrepo.  His farm is called La Alondra.  Hopefully soon we'll get a sample of that and maybe eventually have some for sale.  

I know that the history of Colombian coffee has given most of us a negative slant on it.  We talked about that while we were there.  The mark "100% Colombian" isn't something to brag about; it's something you see on a can of Folgers.  The Colombian Coffee Federation hasn't helped.  With the creation of Juan Valdez and the standards they enforce, the Federation strives to maintain one standard for Colombian Coffee.  They want all Colombian coffee to taste the same, which is ridiculous when you consider that no two lots from one farmer tastes the same.  And there are 15 different coffee producing regions in Colombia with innumerable micro-climates.  And at least seven different varietals of coffee tree.  So I hope you will forget everything you know about Colombian coffee and join us in tasting the diversity of flavors, aromas, acidity, and mouthfeel in Colombian coffee.  We're not buying "Colombia Supremo," we're buying coffee grown on Alfredo Correa's farm, Finca San Rafael, which is from Caturra trees grown around 6500 feet in the Andes Mountains near Concordia.  They were picked, sorted, depulped in his small mill, fermented, washed, stored in clean water for 5 days, and dried in a static dryer that is heated with coal.  Alfredo works the land with his hands, and incidentally he's a great guy to be around, with grand visions of buying more land, growing more coffee, and hiring more people to work so the community will be better and people can afford to feed their families.  As I explained to him when we brewed his coffee, the best I can hope to do when I get his coffee is to not screw it up.  I do my best to preserve the coffee flavors that he and the land created.  And when we drink Alfredo's coffee, we experience all his hard work and vision in that cup.  

In Colombia, there is a heavy emphasis on family and community.  I miss that already.  I hope to institute that more in my own life here in the states.  

By the way, thank you Cristina Garces.  A big thank you.

I want to write more soon about a community project that has been proposed in Concordia.  Maybe it's something we can help with.

Sorry to ramble.

You can see my photos from the Colombia trip here:  http://www.doubleshotcoffee.com/Origin/Colombia_09.html

The DoubleShot will be open regular hours while we're away.  The dynamic duo, Jason and Garth, will be holding down the fort.  Thank your baristas.

Shelley won the Women's Pro race on Saturday and Sunday.  She was first overall for the weekend.  

I know she's fast and I know she's a great racer.  But I also know that I made her a latte on Saturday and Sunday.  YEAH!

Congratulations to Shelley and her teammates, Rachel Neylan and Cari Higgins.

This Saturday is a very special day at the DoubleShot because our own Shelley Olds will be here from San Francisco.  She's a pro cyclist and will be racing in the criterium races this weekend.  She has volunteered to come to the DoubleShot on Saturday at 1p to meet our customers and talk a little about pro cycling and Tulsa Tough.  She can't stick around too long though because she races at 4 o'clock in the Brady District.  And you can be sure we'll head that way to cheer for Shelley as she out-sprints the field for another victory.  

Lest you think Shelley is just some girl who rides a bike, she was the only female from the U.S. to be invited to the World Track Championships this year in the Netherlands.  She's won numerous races and excelled in a short amount of time on the bike.  And her next big thing is that she's been invited to race in this year's Giro d'Italia.  To be honest I don't follow bike racing other than Shelley, but she tells me this is the toughest stage race in the world.  The women's race is July 3-12.  The mens' race is going on right now.

Shelley races for a team called Proman.  She has a minor sponsorship from the DoubleShot, so she'll be warming up under our new tent.  And her fiance, Rob Evans, will be racing in the DoubleShot jersey!  

Ok, details one more time.  

Come meet Shelley Olds 

this Saturday 5/30 

at the DoubleShot

at 1p

Tell your friends.

Partly I've been thinking about it because of the bike company I started, called Native Bikes.  We don't build frames, but we take bike frames and build bikes specifically for one person.  It's cool because when you get on a bike that was built just for you, it feels right.  What's the difference between a stock bicycle and a custom bike I might produce?  A lot.  Stock bikes 

come with pretty much

whatever parts the bike company could get the best deal on at the time and the frames are mass-produced.  Stock bikes are like one-size-fits-all tshirts.  They don't fit anyone.  That's not necessarily true about bikes, but there are things about a bike that are important to riders but not to bike companies.  Their job is to sell bikes.  You say you want a blue frame?  No problem.  The bike that Chad Shanks and I put together for Joel Collins was the color and size that Joel wanted with all the specific parts he needs to ride solid for a long time.  And it's a hot bike.  Guaranteed people stopped in the parking lot at Keystone on Sunday and started asking questions.  Ya damn right!

You want a vintage cruiser?  Of course you do.  Dr. Caren Eichor got hers.  My dad and I took a 1950's cruiser bi

ke and painted it milk chocolate brown and Guinness cream, stenciled her name on the chainguard, doggie prints on the rack and flowers on the tank, and rebuilt this beauty with white-walled balloon tires and polished chrome fenders.  The first bike we started working on isn't finished yet.  I'll tell you about it later.  But check out this custom head badge!

The point is, custom products are sweet.  Jason and I were talking about how cool it would be to have a tailor make us custom suits.  I was just reading this article in Esquire Magazine about custom suits and it got my interest up.  So many things you wouldn't know about suit quality unless a professional told you about them.  

And that's how it is.

  That's the beauty of buying something quality from a small, custom- producer.  I've been thinking about cars a bit.  How cool it would be to buy, not a car from one of the huge automakers, but a car custom-built by a small car company.  Someone who does quality work and makes cool cars to suit their clients.  You'd never stop at a stoplight and have someone in the exact same car drive up and stop next to you.  In the good old days it wasn't so uncommon to find custom producers.  A few years back my dad bought an old, beat-up roadster that had once graced the floor of the St. Louis Museum of Transportation.  He restored it to its original condition, which was beautiful.  Along the way we found out that it was called a Falcon 

Knight and was custom-made for Jim Howe, the man who invented Tums.

Imagine living in a house built just for you.  Maybe you're like me and you have a problem putting away your clothes and you just need drawers to throw stuff in and a shelf to put all your jeans.  And maybe your architect could design that into your house.  I cook whenever I can and would love to have a bigger kitchen- and one of those big center islands with a butcher block maybe.  And in the bathroom it would be cool to have a big shower that is open, like the one I used in Costa Rica.  People like Joel Collins (of earlier custom bike fame) design these types of houses, and if you can afford it, why would you buy mass-produced floor plans off the internet?  That doesn't make sense.

You've all probably seen the tv show about the dudes who build motorcycles.  I think it's called American Chopper.  They use their creative skills and expertise to build custom choppers for their clients.

And that's the thing about custom.  You don't go to the Orange County Choppers guy and say, "I want you to build me this bike" and then tell him every little detail.  And you don't ask him to build you a Harley Davidson.  He's an artist.  And a scientist.  He knows what works best, visually and technically.  You give him the gist and then give him the reigns. 

My mom once told me not to go around asking just anyone for advice.  She told me when I need advice I should find out who knows what they're talking about in whatever area I need advice, find someone whose opinion I trust.  Ask that person for advice.  And take it.  Because it's rude to ask for advice and not take it.  

I think THAT is good advice.  Leave it to the experts.  You don't have to know everything, just know people who do.

But wouldn't it be great to have everything custom made?  I wish I could.  But I guess we do what we can.

Maybe you can kind of think of your coffee here at DoubleShot like a custom suit.  Certainly you don't understand coffee the way we do because we have our hands in it all day.  But you don't necessarily have to understand.  Just figure out what you want and leave the rest to us.  It'll suit you like a fixie in Bartlett Square.

(By the way, if you're looking for a custom bike, I'm your man:  brian@doubleshotcoffee.com)

He was also featured on the blog Tasha Does Tulsa this week, which you can see here.

Never a man to shy from publicity, he's also in the Urban Tulsa this week, at the bottom of the art section, and he'll be on Good Day Tulsa tomorrow morning on Channel 8.

Stop by and chat with Marty tomorrow evening.  I'll be open and selling coffee during the opening.  Marty's daughter Chelsea will be here singing and strumming her guitar.