click to enlarge

In Europe, coffee is an unknown beverage.

You can get what the European hotel keeper
thinks is coffee, but it resembles the real
thing as hypocrisy resembles holiness.

Mark Twain
a tramp abroad - 1880

coffee tasting - Cafe P11

Guatemala

Guatemala is a neighbor of Costa Rica

The soil is similar to Costa Rica,
rich in nitrogen due to its volcanic nature.

Outside the old capital of Guatemala City, the
coffee terraced landscape is breathtaking.
The region grows the highest grades in the
world, a strictly hard bean, indicating the
coffee was grown at altitudes of 4500 feet
or higher. It produces a full bodied, acidic
coffee with a soft mild fruity flavor.

click to enlarge

Not long ago, I made contact with another
blogger in Guatemala, who happens to
produce coffee for sale. I decided to try
a new roast he produced and have been
impressed with the flavor.

Although a milder coffee, the flavor
is indeed fruity and even a bit chocolaty,
smooth with no aftertaste.

He sent me the song, that I used
on the following video. Please excuse
how it turned out. It is my first time
using the software.

When you have a chance, do visit
and say hello to Luis on his blog.

I'm finding, although we have never
met, we have a lot more in common
than we both realize.

Cafe P11

THEME THURSDAY = KEY

There was a door

to which I found no key

There was the veil

through which I might not see.

Omar Khayyam

============================

PS: for those of you that have been waiting,
your coffee is being packaged and stamped
and will be in the snail mail service
later this week.

this is 4 U

if only link

Tate St. Coffee downtown

A tasty espresso and out of two
coffee places I've tried, I'll
gladly go 20 minutes to get there.

I finally made it to NC last sunday,
after a rather long detour through Ohio,
Tennessee & Kentucky. The storm that blew through
Ohio made driving slow and the highway was icy,
and quite a few areas you could not venture
off into another lane without sliding.
Hence the long detour.

I enjoyed seeing the latter states and trees
and windy roads. Only southern indy-anna
looks anything like that for the most part.

Next stop will be some Historical Sites,
once all the rain stops.

Hope ya'll are doing well!

Cheers!

The most expensive cans of coffee in the world?

Andy Warhol's "Martinson Coffee" sold at
auction for $3,824,000 in 2006.

The silkscreen depicts 18 cans of coffee.
That's $212,444 per can!
=================================
Sunday I will be leaving for a 617 mile drive to NC.

I hope to post shots of the area and any
worthy coffee stop and bakeries.
Er, not to mention any local historical
item that may catch my eye.

On my return, I will be finishing a
handmade box/coffee cd and
a mailart booklet to go with it.

In the spirit of mailart, there is no charge.
But, it's a limited amount. 10 may be it.

With that in mind, if anyone would like
a copy, I will take names through email,
and the next 0 (10 are accounted for)
will receive them sometime after my return.

If more than 10 reply, I will send the CD only.

Please leave your name and address in the email
and I will let you know where it all stands.

As always,
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers!

spring - sainkho namchylak

I never knew a sailor, in my life,

who would not prefer a pot of hot coffee or chocolate,

on a cold night, to all the rum afloat.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.
Two Years Before The Mast (1840)

Maroon Lake, Aspen, Colorado

Am venturing near Greensboro, NC
for about a month or two for some training.

I believe I'll have a half day of work on Fri's,
so I'll have some time to look around.

Any suggestions?

Coffee suggestions ( real roaster?) if you have any.
===================================
Although we haven't been in busy-ness since '03,
check this out:

metro espresso

I guess: it's the water? ; )

coffee break

(click to enlarge)

artist: norman quebedeau - 1983

chaen chan - 1993

The lithograph above was purchased from
the above artist who became a friend,
after meeting him at the Caffe Trieste.

He was at the time, an artist working on
the side. After many visits he invited me to his
house and studio. He studied in Europe in
his younger days and is very well known.

Last yr I wrote about my experience at
Starbucks, which can be read here.

It just so happened they opened a store 45 minutes
away from us, not long after we closed our
coffeehouse. Thinking it would be a good way
to get into management and be able to move
once again to a larger city, I hesitantly
applied. Although I was the only person who liked
and had coffee experience, it took me a yr to
become a shift manager.

I lasted 2 yrs and the rest is history.

It's with a bit of humor that I see McDonalds
getting ready to put espresso machines and
baristas in their stores. And with even more humor
that SB rehired Shultz to put it in order again.

After my experience and seeing that most people
who frequent SB go for the flavored, not real
coffee, I think McDs will effectively kick
SBs ass in their endeavor. There can
be no real difference in quality nor
appreciation of the coffee bean and
where it comes from.

Not the worker bee who makes the drink,
who doesn't know or care about coffee.

This coffee falls into your stomach,

and straightway there is a general commotion.

Ideas begin to move like the battalions of the

Grand Army of the battlefield, and the battle takes place.

Things remembered arrive at full gallop, ensuing to the wind.

The light cavalry of comparisons deliver a

magnificent deploying charge, the artillery of logic hurry

up with their train and ammunition,

the shafts which start up like sharpshooters.

Similes arise, the paper is covered with ink;

for the struggle commences and is concluded

with torrents of black water, just as a battle with powder.

Honore de Balzac, "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee"

This is how we start our day.
A simple double espresso.
Most days two doubles.
Sometimes with a dollop of whipped cream,
which is called a "con pana."

Despite the rumor, the caffeine content
in espresso is less than drip coffee. Really!

Other days other ways, such as an
"americano" which is a couple shots of espresso
with some water, and perhaps a small amount
of flavor (Torani), perhaps hazelnut, almond, vanilla.

Other days a latte or cap with soy milk,
and even a mocha, but we use Guittards
chocolate, which we used at the store also.
Makes more a European style, rich mocha.
Not overly sweet like you get in most places.

Last but not least, when we like to try and enjoy
varietal coffees, we make a French Press.
The only way to savor the flavor from
coffee from around the world.

When we closed our coffeehouse we wanted to
keep our little Cimbali machine, but it needed
to be plumbed. We have moved and decided
since we couldn't take the chance of having to leave
a machine, we bought a Jura Capresso, automatic.

Once you are able to make a very good espresso,
you are spoiled and can't accept anything less.

Click here to read Balzac on Coffee.

coffee, yesterday, today & tomorrow

Another view

One of my dear friends in Ca sent this our way.

(click to enlarge any photo)

One of many views of how we would change
our windows to attract attention. For awhile, that
poster on the left would go on the other window,
and many people would ask what it meant.
What could you say?

Where you see the yellow fabric.
We put benches near the window, in hopes
people would actually sit there. In the end,
only a few people actually used them.

We couldn't figure that one out.

For those new here, we had a coffeehouse,
circa Oct 31, 1999 - March 2003.

I received this from my friend Greg
@ Group 362 and it was hanging behind
our cash register.

When we searched to find equipment for
our store, Lisa found what looked like a
great deal in Nyak, NY. We talked to the
owner who had a store and closed it.

The owner of the storefront we were going to
rent, knew someone in Nyak who could look
at everything for us and at least let us
know how it all looked. Included in the sale
was a 2 group head Cimbali espresso machine,
marble tables, chairs, frig, pastry case, etc, etc.

It just so happened, the couple in NY, not only went
and looked for us, but they used to go into that
coffeehouse themselves. We did purchase the equipment
and it turned out the Cimbali was a great find. Once
it was cleaned out and tuned up, well, I won't bore
you with the details. For the price, we saved lots of
money and had a nice looking store to boot.

This is the note we received from Mark,
that looked at the equipment for us.
He later came out with his wife and we had
a very nice dinner with them.

These are only a couple of the articles
that showed a photo of the inside of
our place. Sorry about the quality of
the scan. The papers aren't exactly
printed on archival paper.

You get a sense of what it looked like though.

Notice the beautiful sign that Lisa printed?
We had a special, hence low price initially to
entice people who didn't know about
specialty coffee to try it. We started to notice
a few people only came in on that particular day.
We then changed it from day to day, and those
people then only came a few times after that.

Although you can't tell from these articles,
the floor was marble, as were the walls part
way up. We had to take out a rug that had
been on the floor for over 20 yrs. Paneling
was on the walls and we took that out
to expose the marble. Tin ceiling tiles,
which we had to replace a few of, and wood
was around the windows which also was
covered by the paneling.

Colleen is a Christian writer and we were
told she had written about us in her new
book at the time. Here are a couple of pages,
and the cover. My name was Steven, 'cause she
already had a Michael, darn. ; (

That's a small glimpse of our foray into the
business owner world. It's surprising just how many
things happened to us even before we opened.

We were to open in May, '99. As mentioned, we
weren't able to open until 10-31-'99.

But that's a whole nother story.

dear diary: travel

click to enlarge photos

Whenever you are sincerely pleased,

you are nourished.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

While in Ann Arbor, before dropping the quilts
off in the burbs of Detroit, we stopped and had
a coffee for the road at a place called "Beaners."
I'm afraid I forgot to get this young ladys name,
not only was the coffee better than expected, she
without question tossed in a 3rd shot of espresso,
'cause we forgot to mention to cut down on the milk.

In our travels so far, no one beats Vivace in Seattle.

For quality and extra great service, I'd give this shop
a 4 out of 5. Coffee was smooth and not bitter, and when
you have a choice of this or SB, well, we were grateful
for this, to be sure! Thanks again, if you're looking in!

We also went to a deli called Zingermans.
It was overwhelming, thus no pictures.
Everything, I mean everything was hearty and tasty,
although a bit overpriced, but my guess is they
may pay the kids who work there well, and may
be part of it. Everyone in every line was nice and
I'm only sorry I neglected and forgot to purchase
some Olive Oil from Spain. The sample we had was
simply delicious. By the way, they mail order,
and if you enjoy quality food, they are
well worth a visit and or purchase!

If word is correct, my nephew is now on the road

in Scotts Valley, Ca.

Be careful ya'll if you're in the immediate area!