Aldo Coffee Company

Getting Creative at the Marathon

Rich and Ruthie are up in Bellevue working the early hours of the 24 Hour Creative Marathon.  There hasn't been a lot of call for espresso drinks yet (thanks again Todd-Michael of EDM for the Oscar loaner), so Rich decided to do some painting, since that's what the event is about.

With rumors that the Denis Theatre may be back online by Spring, adding a place like the Creative Treehouse on top of a rejuvenated art film house in Mt. Lebanon would really bring back the "cool" to Uptown.

Btw, if you're not doing anything Saturday night, why not come up to the Creative Treehouse to see (and maybe buy) the art that's being produced between tonight and tomorrow.  You can even buy Rich's painting. 

Or maybe he'll pay you to take it away.

A Taste of Ft. Worth - Luke Brawner On Stage Tonight

We welcome Luke Brawner, who's been on hiatus from his Fort Worth-based band Poor Rich Folk since early September in order to do a 14-state solo tour which takes him through Pittsburgh tonight.

It's a free, all ages show, 8:00-9:45pm.  As always, if you enjoy the music, tip generously (and don't forget your baristas).

Luke will be playing many of the songs from "Love Is a Bullet", the latest album from Poor Rich Folk (check out the song samples on the band's MySpace page).

Due to scheduling conflicts, some of us will be up at the Creative Treehouse, setting up the espresso equipment for the 24 Hour Creative Marathon that also begins at 8pm tonight.  Don't forget, there's a gallery show at the Creative Treehouse tomorrow night from 8pm-? with live music and all the art that was created between tonight and tomorrow, all for just $2.

Heartwarming Story Involving a Much-Maligned Multinational

Much as we really don't care for the type of company Starbucks has become over the past decade, you can't help but acknowledge and celebrate what they're doing with the Union Project up in Highland Park.

If more multinationals and foodservice chains contributed to worthwhile local community projects, a lot more positive things could happen around Pittsburgh.

Anyway, good job Starbucks and best of luck to the folks at the Urban Fusion Cafe.

Toronto Notebook

We're a bit late revisiting all that went on last week up in Toronto, especially at the Canadian Barista Championship after-party, which was hosted by barista extraordinaire Matt Lee at his new shop in downtown T.O., Manic Coffee.

We've posted photos over at Flickr.  But those alone don't do the experience justice.

Here's why it's great to get together with fellow baristas:

1. Because it's great to get together with fellow baristas.  'Nuff said.
2. You get to see what these talented folks are really like when they're not behind the counter or on stage.  And they're quite normal.  Well, most of them.
3. You learn new art pours and other techniques.
4. You put faces to names.  Or is it names to faces?
5. You usually get to play with new toys - especially the case this time as Matt had all the toys: Clover, Synesso 2 group, Linea 4 group, Ambex grinders, a Swift, even a Matcha tea setup.  He's primed for some major volume.
6. You get to taste some of the world's best coffees brewed by some of the world's best baristas - in the case, including the reigning World Champion Barista.
7. You usually get good food.  We had 12 varieties of pizza and a whole pit-roasted pig.
8. You make new friends.
9. You get introduced to people you've only "met" prior in the comments section of your blog.  (And she - previously known only as "SEAsian" - informed me I was standing but 10 minutes from a durian - but I'd already had a beer and durian doesn't go with beer... or so she told me.  Which begs the question, what does go with durian?)
10.  There is always beer.  Good beer.  And lots of it.
11.  You get involved with stupid barista challenges.  For $10 a pop.

John didn't win the latte art throwdown (pot got to $320!).  But at least he entered.  I was too chicken after pouring some weak cheese on the Synesso a few minutes before the throwdown started.  There's always a next time.

Others took photos too.  From James Hoffmann (including Jay and Arthur sharing a pig head).  From Liz Clayton (lots of photos of great pours).

Creative Marathon Next Week - Still Time to Sign Up

If you're an artist and aren't doing anything in particular next Friday and Saturday... how about creating some art!

The 24 Hour Creative Marathon works like this:

1. Friday, September 28:  Get started creating your art.  You can start at 8pm and go for the next 24 hours.  Artists will be working at the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue.  If you can't make it up there and would like to work in our shop instead, let us know.  Somebody will keep you company and keep the espresso going.

2. Saturday, September 29:  There's a gallery show beginning at 8pm showcasing everything that was created in the previous 24 hours.  The gallery show is at the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue.

It's that simple.  As a co-sponsor, we're going to be up in Bellevue ourselves with an espresso machine and some Black Cat the entire evening.  Rumor has it that an ex-barista of ours will even be working the graveyard shift.  Bellevue's own Affogato will be supplying the drip coffee, so the caffeine is at the ready.

We'd love to get involved with a similar organic community artistic event down here, but there's nothing like this type of event in the South Hills. 

El Cubano Is Coming

 It's been awhile since we've added a new panino to the menu.  But we've been working on a new one we think will be very popular:

El Cubano.

Ours is a variation on the traditional Ybor City Cuban sandwich - roast pork marinated in mojo, ham (Isaly's, of course), Genoa salame (the difference between Tampa and Miami versions), swiss cheese, pickle and mustard on ciabattina.

We'll begin serving El Cubanos on Saturday. 

Unfortunately, something has to give, so we'll be retiring the prosciutto and mozzarella as of Monday.

UPDATE:  Seems we've broken a few hearts with this decision, so we're going to compromise:  Cubanos on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays.  Prosciutto on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  At least through October.

A NYers View of the Pittsburgh Coffee Scene

Our visitors from last weekend, Anne and Neil, finally got around to posting about their visit here.  Many nice things to say. And we only covered a fraction of what we could've coffee-wise.

If you'd like to follow their cross-country espresso quest on their "Road to Epiphany" blog, we've now got a link right under our calendar at right.

Adventurous? Why Not Trek to the Birthplace of Coffee?

Budget Travel has a list of the "10 Best Destinations Nobody's Heard Of".  But now they have.

Geoff Watts, coffee buyer for our roaster, Intellgentsia, was interviewed for the article and offered up Yirgalem, Ethiopia.

It's just beautifully wet, and the soil's really rich," says Watts. "You can tell the coffee enjoys being there." It's also ideal for hiking, horseback riding, cycling, and taking a dip in the hot and cold springs.

Thanks to Kevin Cash of Crema Cafe for the tip.

Free Drink If You Bring In a Parrot - Today Only.

It's September 19, which means only one thing.

Can't believe this isn't a bigger deal here in Pittsburgh.  Maybe it would have to be "Talk Like a Penguin Day" to catch on around here.

Anyway, if you bring in a parrot, we'll give you a free drink of your choice.

A live parrot of course, not a stuffed animal or an ex-parrot.

Coffee and Donuts Canadian Style

There's going to be another post later (after a nap), but, since we didn't leave Manic until about 11:30pm and drove straight through, arriving at Aldo at 5:30am, we figured why not get a few things done.  So John dialed in the coveted Epic espresso and Rich decided to do the panini thing five hours early.  Then, gathering momentum, Rich volunteered to do the first half of Melanie's morning shift.

And now it's time to crash.

But we learned there are two things that keep Canadians running:

<< This...

<< and This.

Anyway, if John looks a little bleary eyed for his noon shift this afternoon, he's got a good reason.