• Login / Register

  Username:

  Password:

  Remember me

• Int. Coffee Database

  Search the Internet Coffee Database

• Events!

  No dates present

• Google Friends

• Archives

  Select Month February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 September 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007

• Most Recent Posts

  • SCRBC 2012 Update: Registration Now Open
  • SCRBC 2012 News
  • Barista Throwdown League – West Texas

• TX-Coffee Flickr Group

  

Reminder: DFW Jam, TOMORROW!

Don’t forget!

9am tomorrow morning at the Mosaic Cafe in Carrolton hosted by AAH! Coffee, and sponsored by Pallo (www.coffeetool.com).

it’s mostly cupping centered, and it will feature coffees from various roasters in Texas.

Don’t miss the customer interaction lecture given by Aaron Heil(AAH! Coffee), and stick around for the Culture of Excellence presentation headed up by Eldon Hooley(Javataza).

Enter the friendly competition(s) if they occur.

Expect it to run for most of the day.

I will not be in attendance. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I intend to spend it leisurly with my significant other. I hope everyone has a blast!

Republica Coffee Roasters: Austin, TX

WWW.REPUBLICACOFFEEROASTERS.COM

I received an email a few days ago from Lon Hart letting us know about their roasting operation in Austin. Lon writes,

Please add me to the list of roaster on this site. We are located in Cedar Park(austin).

We have been suppling Central Texas with fresh roasted coffee for over 5 years now. We see the need to educate shops and barista’s on the basics of coffee and espresso in our area. Too many time do we visit shops in the area and the barista’s have no clue on basic technics…which tells us their training was poor. Our focus over the next couple years will be to offer free training since the shop owners dont seem to have the time or even care to show anyone how to pull an average shot.

thanks, Lonn Hart

Their website, admitedly, needs some work, but that never stopped anyone from roasting coffee to perfection. I cannot speak for the quality, since I have never tried it, but 5 years is plenty of time for learning if one pays attention in earnest.

www.republicacoffeeroasters.com

Republica Coffee Roasters has been added to our List of Roasters.

DFW Jam 2008! July 19th, Mosaic Cafe.

July 19th, 2008

9:00am

Mosaic Cafe
2435 Kinwest
Irving, TX, 75063
Map and Directions

Hosted By:

and

Click Here for more info.

• Cupping for quality and roasting analysis
• Connecting with the consumer market (customers)
• Creating a Culture of Excellence
• Espresso techniques and free time
• Latte Art Throw Down
• Networking

Sponsors
___________________________________________________________

www.coffeetool.com

Sponsorships Available! (Contact Us)

This project is a work in progress

Saxby’s Coffee: McKinney, TX

I received an email a few days ago from Ornit Golan regarding this shop in McKinney. Golan writes,

We are located at 2741 Virginia Pkwy. Suite 100
McKinney Texas.
We offer FREE WiFi, wonderful pastries, and exceptional drinks in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.
Open weekdays 5:30am-10pm
Sat. 6am-10pm
Sun. 7am-7pm

Included was a web address. http://www.saxbyscoffee.com

I’d give more information, but I’m pretty sure most people are familiar with the fact that Saxby’s is a national chain in expansion mode. The website promises much, but I have yet to hear of the quality of the products delivered.

Saxby’s McKinney has been added to the list of Retailers.

(note: A blog friend named Bill has reviewed a location in PA, however, each location is independently owned as a part of a franchise, so take it with a healthy dose of salt. Click for PA Saxby’s Review. )

The Third Grinder (or The Case for Single Origin and Guest Espresso)

My SO (not Single Origin) and I dropped into our local gem of a shop: Sugar Brown’s Coffee to grab a cup, play some cards, enjoy the live music and atmosphere, and to just have a good time.

Being past students of mine, they are always excited to tell me of news going on. There is much to tell about their journey, but this is not about their shop, so much as of their latest step forward.

They acquired a third espresso grinder.

Most shops are content with a Decaf grinder and a Non-Decaf grinder for their espresso bar. That’s all you really need, they say, and they are right. You don’t need more than that to run a successful retail store.

Let’s back up a bit, and remember why we got into this whole coffee business to begin with.

It’s About The Coffee

I can’t speak for everyone, but there are many people who started into the coffee business because they love coffee. Sure, there is profit to be made, and yes, we love our customers. But before those factors were a reality, the coffee was there, and we learned to love it.

If, as retailers, our roll is to represent the coffee in such a way as to “let it speak for itself”, and if our love for coffee included the excitement of the exploration of flavors and new taste experiences, shouldn’t we offer these experiences to our customers?

Enter the case for the Third Grinder.

Having a third espresso grinder opens up possibilities for short-run single origin espresso offerings, and room for a limited time guest espresso from one of your favorite roasters.

Keeping things like these on a regular schedule can give your regular customers something to look forward to. Just like in the blog world, regular scheduled updates does more for harboring visits than anything else. (that, and high quality content.. or high quality products, in this case)

Is it expensive? It can be. But so is your espresso machine, and so are your other two grinders. Would you say you get your money’s worth out of your decaf grinder? I bet most would answer “no” or “barely” if they were to crunch the numbers of average decaf sales matched to the purchase price of their decaf grinder when it was new. So why do it? It’s a service to your customers.

The third grinder is a service to not only your customers, but to the coffee itself, and those who grow it. It increases awareness of the diversity and journey of coffee into your customers’ cups. This increased awareness focuses demand, which, in turn, helps to promote the quality driven people in this fine industry, from baristas, to roasters, to green coffee buyers, to processing mill workers, to those who grow and harvest the coffee. The end result is a higher standard across the board.

All this from buying a third grinder? Not exactly, but it is another way to help work towards these goals.

I understand that there are folks out there who consider single origin espresso to be a non-worthwhile endeavor. While I disagree, this is a discussion for another post.

Kudos to Sugar Brown’s Coffee for another step in the right direction. Kudos to others who have done the same. And Kudos to those of you who now have plans to implement such a program into your retail plan.

Murray Street Coffee Shop: Dallas, TX

Michael Popovici (Forums member name: tricky ) requested that Murray Street Coffee Shop be added to our list of Retailers. I had a poke around their website a bit and discovered some things about them.

They are located in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. This leaves them with much opportunity to host music acts such as Calexico, who have performed there before.

The space is out of this world. They advertise a “Scandinavia meets Mid-Century Modern interior”, and I’d say they deliver pretty well.

(click to view larger images)

I was a little disappointed to discover that they are pulling shots of Illy espresso. Don’t get me wrong, the Illy family has done massive amounts of work and have taught us much about the science of our beloved coffee. However, I hesitate to consider that coffee roasted more than 2 weeks ago, much less months ago, to be of a quality I would personally be comfortable serving. Then again, they do have a lot of fans as one of, if not the largest coffee company on the globe.

It seems worth visiting just to see the space or to catch a live music performance.

www.murraystreetcoffee.com

Mawker Coffee: Grapevine, TX

I received a very brief email mentioning this coffee company in the DFW area.

It simply said,

specialty coffee roaster, wholesale and retail, Australian to zimbabwe. roastinf for 10 yrs, fair trade, all organic, equal exchange.

Well, I guess that about sums it up!

I did find this little tidbit on their website that I found to be of interest.

We are based in Tx, and offer the finest beans to be had anywhere in the world. All of our products are Certified Organically Grown, purchased only from Fair Trade Growers, and hand selected to insure only the highest grades make it into to your cup.

Mawker Coffee
www.mawkercoffee.com
600 S. Main St.
Grapevine, TX 76051
Ph: 469-569-6718

Mawker Coffee has been added to the lists of Roasters and Retailers.

DFW Jam: Help plan it, and attend (Summer, 2008)

Eldon of JavaTaza suggested that we get a jam of some sort going for the DFW area.

A fine idea, I say.

It’s still in the planning stages, and there is no date set, and it seems people are hesitant to pick a date if someone else is unable to make it.

So if YOU would be interested in a DFW jam, JOIN THE DISCUSSION!

Dallas / Ft. Worth NEEDS something like this. There is a lot of coffee, but very little community. Help fix this, and push coffee forward, and raise the quality standard in the Metroplex.

Houston Coffee Geek meetup: Sunday, May 25 3pm

TXCP forums member petunia clued me in to this meeting.

See the original thread on CoffeeGeek.com

I’d been following the progress of its planning for awhile, but I missed the finalization.

Catalina Coffee
3pm
Sunday, May 25th

Be there, or be square.

Catalina Coffee
2201 Washington Avenue
Houston, TX
77007

Coffee N Cream: McKinney, TX

I received an email from John Ennen, who owns a shop in McKinney called Coffee N Cream.

Coffee N Cream sent one of their baristas to compete in the 2007 SCAA South Central Regional Barista Competition, which might be something worth mentioning. Usually shops don’t sponsor such things unless they care a bit about quality.

They serve coffee and ice cream as well. (in case you couldn’t tell by the logo)
The combination seems to be a growing concept. Slowly, but surely, I see more popping up here and there.

John has this to say,

We are an upscale coffee shop, with 2 locations in Collin County…one in McKinney, in historic Downtown McKinney, and the other in Allen. We are opening a third shop in Allen this fall, and have plans for two more in Dallas in ’09.

We feature some of the finest TX roasted coffee that can be found. We serve it with exacting standards and engaged baristas. Our menu of food items is unparalleled in the industry, with food sales more than twice the national average as a percentage of sales.

We cater to those who wish to “get away”, not “drive thru”. Those who want a place to come to, “N”-joy, relax and “N”-dulge themselves.

Come visit us sometime soon. Thanks!!

It is not known which roaster they source their coffee from. Has anyone been there, or tried it out?

http://www.mycoffeencream.com/

« Previous Page — Next Page »

• TX-Coffee Sponsors

  -
  

• Get Social

  
  

  
  

  TX-Coffee.com on Facebook

  
  

• Advertisement

  
  

  

• TX-Coffee Rulez

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Texas Coffee People

  Top coffee blogs