I did a fun activity with my kids this morning. Being that my daughter is least is nearly of Kindergarten age, it’s time for her to learn some REALLY important things, like where yummy coffee comes from. So we walked down to the Co-op and bought a handful of beans from as many different geographic regions as we could find. Then, we came home and placed the beans on a map of the world. They all looked pretty similar, except for the huge fat ones from Sumatra (good for espresso, bad for press-pot!). It was fun though, and when we were done I made them vanilla steamers.

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »
Omie at the Daily News wrote a story before the recent contest.
You can find it here.
Filed under: Uncategorized on August 27th, 2009 | No Comments »
Here are some pics from the Latte Art Throwdown at One World Cafe last night.
I had to put the kids to bed and couldn’t stick around to see who won. I’ll figure that out soon. It was fun and I snagged a free drink from a contestant too!

Here are a couple of the contestants practicing. The guy with the mustache is Andrew, the organizer of the competition.

This practice round didn’t turn out so well. Someone said it looked like a tree with arms. The lady who made it laughed and joked that it looked like a uterus, though the fallopian tubes are backwards. Oh my. Oops.

It cost $5 to enter. Winner took home the pot.

The other prizes looked better: Gift certificates to Nectar, Mikey’s, Sangria, and other yummy places.

The judges deliberated for quite a bit after each round.

They also had a camera set up on a tripod to take shots of each drink.

From what I could tell, there were only about 8 contestants. I’ll post the results here when I find them out.
Filed under: One World Cafe on August 24th, 2009 | No Comments »
One World Cafe is hosting a “Latte Art Throwdown” this Sunday, August 23 at 7:00 PM.
From the flyer:
Rosetta vs. Heart
$5 buy in, winner takes all
Lots of prizes from local businesses for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place.
I spoke with one of the Baristas there and he said some friends of his from Seattle were coming over to lay the smackdown on us locals.

Anyway, it should be fun. I’m going to go and try to get a picture or two.
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Filed under: Uncategorized on August 20th, 2009 | No Comments »
Whoa! Anyone know where to get one of these?

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Filed under: Uncategorized on May 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
I realized recently that Sister’s Brew doesn’t have drip coffee. So no refills on your drink. But wait, they have something even better: One free “refill” on your Americano if you get it to stay.
So pay $1.75 for an americano. Sit down, drink it. Then take it back to the counter for two more shots free. Excellent deal!
(Getting your drink in a paper cup will negate this offer.)
Filed under: Deals, Sister's Brew on March 15th, 2009 | No Comments »
For those of you looking for coffee early in the morning, you can now hit One World Cafe at 6:30 AM. For years, none of the mainstreet shops have been open before 7:00, so this is a welcome schedule change.
Also, during the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Bucer’s often picks a couple of nights to stay open really late with extra music. That’s Thursday and Friday of this week. Come in until 1:00 AM. Don’t have one of those special passes for mingling with the artists after the dome concert gets over? This is a good alternative.

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Filed under: Bucer's Coffeehouse Pub, Music, One World Cafe on February 25th, 2009 | No Comments »
For much of autumn and into winter, Bucer’s has been serving up Sumatran coffee in their drip carrafe. I can’t say that has been very exciting. I usually pass. Recently though, they’ve aquired some good Ethiopian beans with a very strong blue berry flavour. Really! You don’t have to be a coffee snob to notice it right up front, especially if it’s a fresh pot. So if you see the Ethiopian placard out over the carrafe, you may want to give it a shot. It’s VERY different than what is usually in there.

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Filed under: Bucer's Coffeehouse Pub on February 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

Pay no heed if you spot one of these…
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Filed under: Lore on January 4th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Today I interviewed Tim Rich, co-owner of Sister’s Brew. I’ll have the interesting parts up here in the next few days.
Filed under: Announcements on December 18th, 2008 | No Comments »