That's right folks. Isaiah, Jason, and I are setting out on our own Corps of Discovery through the midwest with our eye on the great state of Minnesota. Minneapolis, home of the Mall of America.
Home of Caribou Coffee.
Home of the Dakota Sioux. Well, it WAS the home of the Dakota Sioux a long time ago.
Anyway, we're not going up to see indians or the mall or any type of antelope. We're going to attend the annual conference of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
We're traveling in style this year. Last year when I attended the conference in Long Beach (CA), I slept on the streets, homeless-style. This year, we're driving the Land Rover and camping in a bona fide campground. Looks like we may be camping in the rain, but luckily we're a tough bunch of coffee jerks.
Should be an interesting trip for all of us. Stay tuned.

In the mean time, I have bad news for you. The DoubleShot will be SHUT while we're away.
SHUT this Friday, May 2.
SHUT this Saturday, May 3.
SHUT as usual this Sunday.
SHUT this Monday, May 5.
OPEN again, regular hours (7a-5p) Tuesday, May 6.

Buy coffee beans before we go. Thanks for your patience and continued support.

This is very exciting. On the 4th birthday of the DoubleShot (March 5, 2008), I planted a couple coffee beans in soil. We've been watering it and watching it and today, we noticed the first growth of our little coffee tree.
I'm really excited. I wasn't convinced it would sprout. I hope the other one comes up too.

If all goes well, by the 8th DoubleShot birthday we should have a coffee bean producing tree.

(I'm not saying it's going to taste good, but it will be all ours.) :)

The new DoubleShot online store is up and running. It ain't perfect, but it's a good start. Something new you're going to have to get used to, and I guarantee the appearance of the cart will change a little now and then, but I think we're here to stay with this format. The backend of the cart is easier to use and it has a lot more useful features to help us serve you coffee better.

I'm excited to finally have something I feel like is mine. I hope you like it too and find it easier than ever to order your DoubleShot Coffee. Thanks for your patience in this transition. Order away!

The weather is nice. Really nice. I've been trying to get outside, away from the city on the weekends to enjoy the land and the climate. Took Christie to Woolaroc, which was a pretty cool place, and their museum was amazing. It's worth going just to walk through the museum. We also went to the Wichita Mountains and climbed up Mount Scott and Elk Mountain. I love that stuff- it's so beautiful out there. A couple weekends ago, we went to the Tall Grass Prairie. That's where this picture is from. The drive was nice, the prairie was relaxing and wide-open. We went for a short walk on the trails and stopped to take some photos of bison. Nice getaway. There's a lot to do around here if you're not averse to getting out and enjoying nature. And, like I said, the weather is amazing.

This afternoon, I'm planning to drive to Arkansas, camp overnight, and enjoy a run all day tomorrow on the trails through the Ozark Mountains. Should be an adventure.

It's been so long since I've been able to blog that I have a ton to write about.

We are kind of used to the students from University of Tulsa coming in here without shoes on, but this week we had Barefoot visitors from California. From Barefoot Coffee in Santa Clara. Tony and Monica were in town visiting Shades of Brown, who they sell to, and we had the pleasure of their company in the afternoons. We don't get enough opportunity to talk coffee with other people in the industry, so it was nice to spend a few moments hearing a different viewpoint.

There's a lot more I need to catch up on, but this is a good start.

I think Jason, Isaiah and I are going to the SCAA Conference in Minneapolis on May 2-5. More on that to come...

I haven't been able to post a blog... or a podcast... or send an email for a very long time now. Well over a month. It's ridiculous. I won't bore you with the details, but hopefully this won't happen again.

I'm currently installing a new shopping cart on a new secure server and a new life will be born of the DoubleShot Coffee web presence.

I hope.

Hold on for a minute. Hopefully everything will be rolling again right away.