Aldo Coffee Company

Pittsburgh Magazine: Best Baristas = Aldo Coffee!

Pittsburgh Magazine's editors have named our staff the city's "Best Baristas" in their annual "Best of" issue, which hit newsstands yesterday.

It's nice to be recognized by professionals who's job is to look for the different and the excellent.  We think our staff deserves the honor and we've been delighted that our customers agree and have congratulated our staff repeatedly this week.

Congrats also to our Washington Road neighbors Planet Art Gallery (Best Out-of-This-World Art Gallery) and Enotera at Il Pizzaiolo (Best Wine Bar) as well as the French Tart Bakery (Best Fruit Tarts) on Cochran.  Mt. Lebanon represents baby!

Free Book Offer for Thursday Morning Customers - "Advantage-Makers: How Exceptional Leaders Win By Creating Opportunities Others Don't"

Always ones to gleefully experiment with online/social networking promos, we're happy to announce Aldo Coffee is one of a select number of wired shops nationwide who will be offering advance copies of new book, The Advantage-Makers: How Exceptional Leaders Win By Creating Opportunities Others Don't.

Did we mention these books are free?

From the publisher's press release:

THE ADVANTAGES OF GETTING TO ALDO COFFEE CO. BY 8:30 A.M.

(August 29, 2007) The early bird gets the worm is a classic example of advantage-making.  In similar fashion, Financial Times Press has teamed up with Aldo Coffee Co. on 675 Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, PA to offer complimentary, advance copies of THE ADVANTAGE-MAKERS: How Exceptional Leaders Win by Creating Opportunities Others Don’t.

The new business book will be on sale in stores on Saturday September 1, 2007 but will be offered free to Aldo customers buying coffee between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 30. 

Giving away a book to jumpstart sales?  Who’s making money here?  What’s the angle?

“It’s simple,” says author Dr. Steven Feinberg.  “I wanted to market the book as a living example of the principles I’ve described.  When they look at or hear the title, people go ‘yeah, that’s right!’  Rich and Melanie, the owners of Aldo Coffee Co., are clearly Advantage-Makers.  Look at how they’re running their business and you can see how well they leverage their assets and create opportunities.  If you don’t live in Pittsburgh, you can tell just from reading their blog. Good business and good living are the result of taking advantage of the best opportunities available and creating opportunities where none seem to exist. What better metaphor for that exists than roasting some aromatic beans, adding steamed milk and calling it coffee?”

“Surprises like this promotions are just one of the advantages of getting to Aldo Coffee early,” says store owner Rich Westerfield. “The others are conversation, camaraderie, and brilliant service from baristas that Pittsburgh Magazine just proclaimed the City’s Best.  We’ve only got 30 copies of THE ADVANTAGE-MAKERS book to give away on Thursday, but the advantages don’t end then.  Come by anytime.”

For more information about THE ADVANTAGE-MAKERS or the book promotion, please contact Judy Safern at LeadingThinkers PR Judy@LeadingThinkers.com or call (972) 392-5175.

Remember, we'll only have 30 copies, and when they're gone, they're gone.  See you tomorrow 8-ish.

Free Coffee With Every Car Rental

No, we didn't add a car rental service to our business.

Saw this sign at the Budget rental counter at LaGuardia last week. Free coffee with a car rental.  It's an odd offer.

What does one do with two pounds of coffee in your car?  Most people rent cars because they're on vacation or a business trip.  In neither case (unless you own a coffeehouse or are a fanatic) are you going to have a coffee grinder and a decent coffeemaker with you.  Never mind filters. 

So what do you do with two pounds of coffee?  Just stick in your luggage for a few days until you get home (while the coffee grows ever more stale)? 

Maybe having coffee beans in your car will make sense when every car is equipped with a Mr. Fusion.

The three of us (Rich, Melanie, Aldo) drove back home Sunday afternoon.  We figured as we were passing Williamsport and it was only the second inning of the Little League World Series, we might try to get in a couple of innings.

As luck would have it, we got a great parking space.  But we learned that dogs aren't allowed anywhere on any property that has a view of the field.  This photo was as close as we could get - and even then we were told we were too close.

Anyway, congrats to all the kids - it was an exciting game.  Even if we had to listen on radio while driving away from Williamsport.

Mom Drank Maxwell House Decaf

I have no idea how to do this without seeming maudlin or tacky, but I (Rich) am in Connecticut and Melanie is joining me on Friday in order to bury my Mom on Saturday in Stamford.  She was 84 and had all sorts of health issues, so not a big shock.  She'd had a full life. 

Unfortunately I hadn't traveled to Connecticut since returning from Italy.  So I never did get to personally deliver the rosary beads I'd picked up at the Vatican.  Now she'll be buried with them.

If you're in CT and follow this blog and I haven't already emailed you, there are no viewing hours.  There will be a service at Cognetta's on Myrtle Ave. 11am on Saturday.

We'll be back in Pittsburgh late Sunday.

Meantime, Melanie called me to say that half the store was without power on Thursday afternoon.  We could make espresso and the refrigerators worked, but no lights and no blenders.  As of 9pm tonight that was fixed.  Also, the AC by the TV is kaput and we won't be able to get to a new one until Sunday at the earliest, so it might be a bit steamy inside.  We're leaving the other AC on full time until we get a replacement.  Sorry!

"Shade Grown" Criteria Need More Transparency

Solid post from Bloggle about the murkiness of "Shade Grown" coffee claims.

Bloggle's author, deCadmus, also gives props to Intelligentsia's green bean buyer Geoff Watts, who visits each of Intelligentsia's Direct Trade relationships at origin each year.  deCadmus explains clearly why Geoff - and many others - are skeptical of some coffee certifications.  Lots of great links for further investigation if you're so inclined.

Frank's Campfire Singalongs

So we're at a party last night and sometime between the points where Sonja rounded up everyone for the Hokey Pokey and Lauren did the same for Chick-a-Boom, Frank convinced everyone in our little circle to do a singalong of Little Cabin in the Woods.

We can't do Frank's version justice.  We're hoping to get this on video at a later date and put in on YouTube.  But if he's working a shift some night and there aren't many others around... you might try asking him to perform it. Just be sure to swallow your coffee first.

Phil Has a Blog.

Phil Johnson, roaster at LaPrima, has a blog.  He just started it this month.  So far he's taken on single origin espresso, socially responsible farming and the lack of coffee culture and community here a la Portland or Seattle.  Phil's blog is a good read if you like a shot of philosophy with your cappuccino. 

John, Rich and Belle were experimenting with Phil's Tanzanian Peaberry as both a single origin and as an off-the-menu Shakerato (two shots plus a tsp of 10x sugar - delicious!) that we were offering to visiting baristas (hello Phoenix!) and CoffeeGeeks through the weekend. 

We're shopping for a third grinder and a one-group brewer so we can do more single origin experimentation with Phil and with other roasters nationwide.

2nd Annual Aldo Coffee Latte Art Contest Voting Begins... Now!

First, we'd like to thank the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Transportation Authority for returning Lauren to us without any noticeable damage.  Now that we've got her photos on the big board, we're ready to start.

There is no online voting.  Because we all know about that "clearing cookies" thing by now ;-)

You have to come in to vote.  But, you were going to do that anyway, right?  And, this year, three lucky voters will be selected at random to receive a $10 Aldo Coffee Gift Card.  So that's pretty good incentive to get out of the pool and over here.

You'll be asked to pick one photo from each of three categories of latte art:  hearts, rosettes and freeform (barista's choice of design, which they've named).  You may only vote once.

The baristas will be judged partly on customer votes, partly by their peers, and partly by a top secret judging panel of folks who are self-proclaimed experts in this sort of thing (no, not PriceWaterhouseCoopers).

In addition to the three winning customers, our competing baristas will be eligible for several prizes:  top overall votes across all categories will win a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant.  The 2nd place overall and each of the individual category winners will receive $25 gift certificates.  The 3rd place overall winner will receive a $15 gift certificate. 

And anyone who doesn't win has to work Saturday night.

Btw, if you were at PodCamp this morning and were in my session, the following phrase is just for you:  who has the best espresso and best cappuccino in pittsburgh?

Heh... you already know ;-)

Voting will run from now through close of business August 31.  The winners will be announced on Labor Day. 

chocolate zucchini muffins

We picked another ginormous zucchini a couple of days ago, but instead of bread, this week we made muffins.  Not only is there chocolate, there's also the slightest hint of chili.  Try one this weekend!

We're also using the cukes we picked for soup and for a cucumber/olive salad.

Btw, if you're going to PodCamp, Rich will be speaking on a panel at 10:45 Saturday morning. Or maybe not, since we just checked the latest schedule and didn't see our name... until we added it (gotta love wikis).

Has Anyone Seen This Woman?

This woman is the only thing holding up the commencement of our 2nd Annual Latte Art Contest voting.  Rumor has it Boston has enjoyed her company so much the city refuses to let her go...

The ballots have been printed.  The board with the entries is ready to be hung... except for the three holes where our missing artist's entries will be placed.

So if you see her tonight wandering around Logan, either give her your seat for a flight to Pittsburgh or at the very least, give her directions and cab fare to Santarpio's.

Anyway, sorry for the delay in getting underway with the contest, Larry and everyone else who's been asking.

Rules, prizes, etc. etc. will be announced when we're actually ready to start.

UPDATE: Lauren was packaged up and shipped back to Pittsburgh this morning. She'll be in tonight. So look for the official contest announcement on Sunday. Voting will commence tomorrow morning!