Monday, November 30, 2009

Hanson


Isaac and Taylor... possibly composing a song about DoubleShot Coffee?


posted by Brian at 6:32 PM 0 comments delicious digg

Friday, November 27, 2009

Colombia


THIS IS A POST I BEGAN WRITING THE DAY AFTER I GOT BACK FROM COLOMBIA.

I am back from Colombia.  This morning I got up early and roasted
 coffee, including a batch of dry-processed El Boton.  The coffee we roasted before I left on the trip was a really big bean and this one is smaller.  In the sorting process in the dry mill, they use screens to separate coffee of different sizes.  The coffee varietal we're working with is called a Maragogipe, which produces an extra-large bean.  The normal bean size is 17, 18, and 19 screen (a screen is measured in 64th's of an inch).  The coffee I roasted today is 14, 15, and 16 screen, so it's noticeably smaller.  It's delicious, also.  So far (and it's only been out of the roaster for a couple hours), it tastes a lot like the coffee beans smell before I roast them- like the pulp of the coffee cherry.  I like it.  I also brought back a 55 pound bag of the larger bean, so we'll have a bit more of the famed El Boton Natural for Christmas.  DIRECT FROM COLOMBIA!
The trip was good.  As always, I learned things and experienced things I couldn't have expected.  Cristina Garces is doing an amazing thing in Colombia.  I hope someday soon she receives the accolades she deserves.  Colombia, for the most part, is a country without specialty coffee.  The Colombian Coffee Federation has done a great job of standardizing coffee production.  They have created a system that educates farmers on the processing methods they require.  They only distribute seeds for new coffee trees of the Colombian varietal.  They have simplified the acceptable cup profile down to "balanced" and "not fermented."  They have made it where farmers and coffee buyers know the process required to sell the coffee to an exporter without disturbing the status quo. 
Thank goodness Cristina had vision.
And Ariel had curiosity and patience.
(note: the first batch I roasted of smaller bean El Boton natural has since sold out)

While I was in Medellin I tasted another coffee that I thought was really good.  It's from a farm called La Alondra and it's owned by an older gentleman named Octavio Restrepo.  Octavio and his brother and son work La Alondra by themselves.  I went out and met them and was really encouraged by their good nature.  They reminded me a bit of my grandfather.  The La Alondra isn't here yet, but it should be here around the beginning of next month.  I think you're going to like it.  It has a nice, velvety body with tastes of raisins and chocolate and cinnamon.  Keep an eye out for it.
The El Boton natural coffee was picked from one of the highest places on Ariel's farm, called El Concilio, which produces the best coffee on the farm.  What a sweet deal!  While I was in Colombia, I also bought (in addition to the natural) some coffee from those same trees that will be washed.  A wet processed coffee.  The same coffee process he usually uses when he mills the coffee.  The El Boton coffee is a good coffee in it's own right, and I thought it would be interesting for us to have coffee from the same trees, processed in two different methods.  So you will be able to taste the differences for yourself.  That will be exciting.
We also might have an opportunity to buy another natural processed coffee from another farm called Las Animas.  The farmers names are Gabriel and Orfilia Escobar.  This coffee would be different from the El Boton, even though it would be processed with the same method, because it is from a different area (around Concordia) and it is from a different varietal of coffee trees, called Caturro.  I hope it works out.

I posted pictures from the trip.  Please take the time to look them over:  http://www.doubleshotcoffee.com/Origin/Colombia_09-2.html
We're also planning a get-together to discuss the trip, but you'll have to get involved in the Coffee Illuminati to attend.

posted by Brian at 7:30 AM 0 comments delicious digg

Saturday, November 21, 2009

From Colombia

I am trying to keep updating you on this trip to Colombia via iPod touch, which I'm not great at. So a blog seems a little out of reach. I'm posting all the latest on my twitter page. See here: www.twitter.com/thedoubleshot

posted by Brian at 5:01 AM 0 comments delicious digg

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Thanksgiving Hours

Normal hours up to Thanksgiving day.
11/26 Thursday  SHUT
11/27 Friday  8a-3p
11/28 Saturday  8a-3p
(Resume normal hours)

posted by Brian at 5:09 PM 0 comments delicious digg

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Sponsorship

I don't normally post stuff like this.  Heck, I don't even usually watch stuff like this.  But I subscribe to an email newsletter from BrandChannel and it caught my attention.  I'm starting to wonder if I should re-name this blog "DoubleShot Coffee & Things That Make Me Laugh."
Watch the video of some comedian making fun of some other bozos.

Here's something else that makes me laugh.
We're having a pull-up competition on Thursday at 230p here at the DoubleShot.
Roasters vs Baristas!
Ok, so we're all baristas, but we've been talking for a long time about having a team competition between Isaiah and Garth vs Jason and me.  This Thursday (that's tomorrow), if everyone shows up, it's going down.  Come watch.  
And if you think your coffee shop is tough, we challenge you to a shop pull-up-off.  Or whatever.  I'm pretty sure we're the strongest coffee shop in the U.S.  Maybe the world!  
There, James Hoffman(n).  I said it.

And if you're a podcast listener... I'm working on it!  Trying to rope Jason into recording a podcast this week.  That makes me laugh too.

posted by Brian at 5:51 AM 0 comments delicious digg

Monday, November 02, 2009

Longer Hours...

Starting TODAY the DoubleShot will be open until 530p M-F.  Saturday hours have been extended by one hour in the morning, now opening at 8a.  We're still SHUT on Sundays.  Hopefully these changes will accommodate your coffee-drinking habits and allow you to get here more often.  Come by after work for an afternoon pick-me-up (we don't have decaf).  Or if you can't seem to get here during the day to buy coffee beans, this is a good opportunity to drop by on your way home.
So the new hours are as follows:

Monday- Friday  7a-530p
Saturday  8a-3p
Sunday  SHUT

posted by Brian at 6:48 AM 1 comments delicious digg