Coffee Blends Poll

[eldub]

I had a salesman stop by the shop yesterday and today. yesterday I brewed him some dark roast after he told me that was his favorite. Today I brewed him some Ethiopian Sidamo roasted a bit lighter and blew his mind. A little education goes a long way, ime.

 

[TroyCo]

cocoa and kopi luwak!

 

[eldub]

So, you like to cut your cat poop coffee with cocoa? Wouldn't that sort of be like mixing a gran cru bordeaux with cassis?

 

[CanadianBrian]

Hello Eldub
Hows the opening coming? Still on for Monday?
Brian

 

[eldub]

Hey, Brian. Good question.

We passed the health inspection and received our food processing license on Thursday and then passed the fire marshall's inspection on friday. However...... The city can't find the building permit our plumber obtained before installing the venting and gas for the roaster. So we are now waiting for an inspection to take place that won't be conducted until our plumber can prove he has a permit or gets another one. Hopefully that will all happen on Monday but I'm not holding my breath. In the mean time, I'll be roasting beans tomorrow and visiting potential wholesale clients starting Monday come hell or high water, even if the front door is locked.

We are also registered with the local on-line food coop and began taking orders through them as soon as our DIA license was issued on Thursday.

lw

 

[CanadianBrian]

Congrats. All will work out. This is why a "soft" opening is so important.
Glad to hear you are working on getting other streams of income.
Brian

 

[eldub]

Thanks for the encouragement, Brian.

I started making cold calls by phone on friday to set up appointments with the local health food stores and coffee shops. My calls were pretty well received.

As far as other income streams go, our website should be fully functional sometime next week. We are also carrying a nice selection of organic tea and coffee/tea brewing paraphernalia as well as stoneware mugs and teeshirts with our logo. We plan on offering the coffee/tea brewing equipment at a slightly lower price than the big box stores in the area carrying the same products.

We will also be attending 3-4 farmer's markets each week beginning next spring. Local craft shows are also on the agenda for the upcoming holiday season.

The wife set up a facebook page the other day and after my sister and a couple of friends added links we have received a substantial number of "likes" and friends.

I'm a bit nervous about having to roast beans without having a customer base developed due to the short lifespan of freshly roasted coffee, but I guess that's all part of the cost of doing business.

scott

 

[CanadianBrian]

Why don't you post the facebook on the site so we can "like" it. Always willing to help out other genuine coffee fanatics.
Brian

 

[eldub]

Hey, Brian... probably a good idea.

However I know this might sound goofy, but I don't come around here to sell product or get recognition for our business. And I get turned-off by all of the folks who only come around for that purpose. This place has been a god-send for me as a resource for learning the ropes of the coffee industry. But I'll think about it.

Thanks for everything.

scott

 

[eldub]

Speaking of blends.....

This morning we played around with a half-caf. blend of Guatemalan Quiche and Honduran Marcala mountain water process decaf. that had an excellent flavor profile. The guat. filled in the tiny thin spot on the center of the palate the decaf was missing and really made for an enjoyable offering.

We also came up with nicely complex blends to be named Amnesia and Afronesia, Central American/Sumatran and African/Sumatran.) Both were well received by the cuppers involved. I made up an experimental batch of the Afronesia for my father-in-law awhile back and it turned out to be his favorite blend. And he was none too happy to learn that I had yet to make it an official offering. So we revisited the Afronesia this morning and I liked it so well that I experimented with the Amnesia recipe. it turns out that I really like what the Sumatra brings to the table as a blending component.

lw

 

[ppkgan]

I love Kona, I love other blends but this is my favorite for sure!