Aldo Coffee Company

Stuff Worth Sharing: Wine and Pizza

Sometimes you find something so good you just have to share.

Let us start with the easy one first:  Tonight we had a couple of T-bones with a bottle of Bodega Norton Privada 2004.  It's a Bordeaux-style red from Mendoza, Argentina, with Betty Grable legs.  Spicy, fruity, rich.  And only $12.99.  It's available at the Cochran Rd. state store.

Save some bottles for us.

(As an aside, we think it's a shame that the Pittsburgh media did not feel Jonathan Newman's resignation as LCB Chairman was worth in-depth coverage.  Philadelphia has been all over it from Day One. Perhaps that's because Philly has more to lose - more of an established restaurant scene, good and fair-priced wine right over the NJ border).  The socialist/communist nature of the state-run LCB is still a foreign concept to Rich - who's thought of running for Governor with that as his sole issue - but Mr. Newman did an outstanding job during his tenure.  And at only $65K salary while managing a $1.7 billion enterprise, he was definitely a bargain.)

The second thing we want to share is more directed at emigres from the Northeast - particularly those from from that corridor of extra-special pizza goodness between Northern Jersey and Boston.

Smaller Muffins

If you're a muffin-eater, you might notice that our muffins are smaller today.

And they cost less, too.

It's one more step in our "smaller food" philosophy that pretty much goes against the prevailing "Pittsburgh Pile on a Plate" tradition.

Filling does not always equal satisfying.  Quantity does not always equal good.  Volume does not always equal value.

It IS true that good things can come in small packages.  Including muffins.

It goes without saying that also applies to espresso drinks and coffee.

Why Are the Lights Still On?

For the next few weeks it might be quite common that you'll see our lights on for a few hours past our 6pm weekday and Sunday closing time. 

No, we didn't change our hours of operation.  We're not actually "open" although there is plenty of activity behind the bar.  What we're doing is training, both in-house training for the upcoming competitions and training for clients who want to improve their operations' bar skills.

It's not that this is anything new.  But due to a sudden surge in demand, we will be here later a lot more often in the next few weeks than we normally are.  Just so you know it's nothing personal when we don't let you in!

Backstage at the Intelligentsia Party

Saturday night's Coffee Fest party was hosted by our roaster, Intelligentsia.  Their roasting plant is out in an industrial district (and fortuitously right next door to Goose Island Brewery).  Heading over there at night in a sleet storm with no traffic on the streets added a spookiness as though we'd been dropped a Tim Burton movie set. 

But as we neared the roastery, we saw other cabs unloading in the dark and a single door opening to reveal a sliver of light and a crowd of people.

Stepping in from the bitter, wet wind and sleet, we were now in a veritable temple of coffee worship.

After scarfing down some hors d'ouevre and renewing our energy with a cup o' Goose Island's Honkers Ale, we followed our guide, Jay Cunningham, on a tour of the roasting works, including their amazing cupping room, barista testing room, warehouse (replete with live coffee plants), and of course, the three roasters.

Everyone from Intelly was there - we bumped into Doug Zell, ("Hello there Westerfields!", "Hello there Zell!"), and we spent some quality time with Geoff Watts talking about his trip to Ethiopia last week (and Geoff, we're going to hold you to that promise of taking us with you someday), Amber, Matt, Chris and Mike were there, fresh from competing in the Great Lakes Regionals.  And just about every top barista who was at Coffee Fest was in attendance, although we didn't have a chance to meet them all.

We did get to catch up with Matt Lee, who visited with us here in Pittsburgh in November.  He'd obviously spent considerable time at the Fulton St. facility as he provided us with detailed descriptions of how things work in the roastery.

Thankfully when it was time to go we only had to wait 20 minutes for a taxi - an charming Indian twenty-something who was a fierce Cubbies fan and one of the funniest cabbies we've had the priviledge to ride with in some time.  We'd been talking earlier that day how Chicago cabbies are simply the best anywhere.  And they didn't disappoint this trip.

(apologies on some of the photos - used the Q w/o flash, not the Canon.  And that coffee plant photo is saved vertically, not sure why it's displaying horizontally - will fix later)

Greetings from Windy City

revised post, now with photo goodness!

And Chicago is really living up to its nickname tonight.  Among things you never expect to worry about hurting you are chunks of ice falling from skyscrapers.  But we've been ducking them tonight as they slam into the streets and sidewalks.

If you were really looking forward to any panini other than a North Beach today... we screwed up and forgot to tell anyone else to make lunch in Rich's absence (Sonia did a fine job of covering yesterday).  At least we got the soup organized.

We arrived at Coffee Fest late afternoon Friday.  After checking out the very cool traveling Rancilio museum, we bumped into Matt from LaPrima early who was with a pair of LaPrima's service folks.  We know Bill Swoope Jr of Coffee Tree has been around and was looking for us but we haven't been able to hook up.  But nobody else from Pittsburgh we're aware of here, which is a bit unfortunate. 

A fun part of any CoffeeFest event is the regional barista competition which happens at every one of these shows.  It's interesting coming to another coffee competition, this being the third we've seen.  The competitors for both the regionals and the latte art competitions seem to be getting stronger and stronger.  We watched our new friend Les Stoneham start off today's preliminaries with a solid performance featuring a layered drink with an infusion of serrano pepper (have a photo, but forgot the usb cord, so we'll add it when we get home). 

Alas, Les didn't make the finals.  We also saw Matt Riddle's performance - as strong as one would expect from the defending USBC Champion (and Matt drew the biggest crowd of spectators).  Matt did make the finals, as did three of his co-workers from Intelligentsia:  Chris Kornman, Mike Phillips and last year's third place USBC finalist, Amber Sather.  Joining that fab four are Steve Fritzen of CoffeeHound and Kristin Marks of Metropolis.

At the Millrock, we saw Chris Baca's rosette with heart make the finals (kinda looks like the mosaic on Vivace's floor).  That would be our pick, but there were also some exceptional rosettes among the 10 finalists.

UPDATE:  The Great Lakes Region was won by Matt Riddle, with Amber finishing second and Steve third.  And Chris Baca did win the Millrock.  Maybe we could start a new sideline creating betting lines on these competitions...

MORE PHOTOS:  Steve Wang posted a ton of much better photos from the competition on his Flickr page (thanx to Mike Paras for the link).

We finally got to meet Anastasia Chovin, who will be here April 10 for a demonstration of the amazing Clover.  And we got to taste some of Intelligentsia's latest micro lots off the Clover they've got in their booth, including the Tres Santos La Planada and the Anjilanaka Organic Fair Trade Bolivia.  Both we're clean, and the Clover accentuated the brightness in the Tres Santos and the brown sugar in the Anjilanaka.

We're headed over to a party at Intelligentsia's roaster works tonight and will hit a session tomorrow morning before heading back - unless the weather is poor (there is talk of a possible ice storm or at least freezing rain in the morning).  If we can't make it back Sunday, we'll be sure to contact somebody about making lunch for Monday.

We love Chicago (especially the food - add Park Grille in Millenium Park to your must-visit list), but we do miss our boy, who's now with Cara after spending a couple of nights at Fuzzy Paws, where we could watch him on their petcam.

Flor Azul Video - Working at Origin

Following our recent post on "Relationship Coffee", we were pointed to a video from Intelligentsia's bean buyer Geoff Watts at origin in Nicaragua, talking about the Flor Azul project.

Direct Trade Flor Azul Project (8:30)

While we were on YouTube we found a couple of shorter vids of Geoff also from the Jinotega region.
Jinotega Project Part 1 (0:39)
Jinotega Project Part 2 (1:30)

Thanks JimmyO for the link.

The kicker is we don't have any Flor Azul at the moment.  We do have Los Delirios Organic Nicaraguan, a nearby farm in Pueblo Nuevo that Geoff visits regularly.

Barista Competition Season Is Heating Up

Was at LaPrima yesterday to bring Matt some info on the new Portafilter 2007 (PF2007) event that's running concurrently with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition (MARBC).  A customer at one of the standup tables inquired about the event and after listening to our elevator speech about PF2007, shook his head and asked, "So it's a barista Olympics.  Why?"

Many reasons, but here's our short take on it.

Because a barista (bartender) in Italy can make a nice career out of the profession and buy their own shop because over there (in my best Russell Crowe as Jim Braddock voice) "make no mistake, it IS a profession", while most baristas stateside settle for a couple of bucks above minimum wage plus whatever tips they can garner.

And because we're trying to change that.

Barista competitions and more informal "jams" (in the case of PF2007, "barista olympics" might actually be apropos) are wonderful ways to get to know the top dogs in coffee and to improve skills and technique.  There are expected to be 50 competitors in Macungie, PA for this year's combined MARBC/NERBC (Northeast).  Some of them may be from other parts of the country here to do some practicing in front of live judges, but the main thing with the Mid-Atlantic competition is to try to build barista competency at the regional level by celebrating those at the top of their craft.  At least that's how we see it.  Other shop owners and baristas may be much more philosophical in their explanations.

Anyway, we're going to be in and out a lot in the next couple of months.  This weekend we expect to be in Chicago for CoffeeFest to talk to potential sponsors about an event we're planning for this Fall.

Next week our three competitors plus Matt will be here to go over the particulars of competing.  Belle's done this twice and Melanie's watched two, but it's brand new to Sonia and Matt.  There's a lot of territory to cover.  In addition to practicing shots and capps, we need to coordinate and fine tune the signature drinks that are part of the competition, as well as being sure each barista has everything they need for their competition "kit" - glassware, silverware, containers, linens, etc.

Have a Safe Trip Chris, Les and Larry

We had some new/old acquaintances stop by this evening.  Chris DeFerio was in town from Ithaca, with pals Les Stoneham and Larry Bourgeois from Cincinnati.  They were attending a local convention and came by to talk with Belle and Frank about some non-coffee stuff.

As Mt. Lebanon is sort of located in the middle of nowhere coffee-wise, it's always a pleasure when people from outside our region who are recognized for achievement in coffee take the time to visit our shop.  Even if it's not to talk coffee.  In fact in some ways it's more enjoyable to not talk coffee. And it's never enough time, especially with a threesome as likeable as Chris, Les and Larry. 

Melanie and I were talking earlier how just about all the folks we've met who've earned some acclaim in the coffee industry seem to be deep, substantive people with incredible stories and experiences well beyond only coffee - lives connected with the world that somehow led them to coffee. 

That said, it can be a little nerve-wracking pouring doppios and double capps for people who really know their stuff.  But whether the drinks were dead-on or not, we're pretty certain Chris, Les and Larry would be gracious enough to offer a complement.

We'll be seeing the three of again in a few weeks in the Poconos for the MidAtlantics.  Hopefully we'll have a chance to spend a bit more time together.

Btw, Les - if you're reading this, that is one awesome coffeehouse website, not to mention your store's goals (how did we not know about your shop before??).

Most importantly, we hope you all got home safely!

(To the young couple from Grove City who had gone to dinner at Mitchell's earlier and came to visit us specifically for dessert because of what they'd heard from others:   Happy belated Valentine's Day to the two of you... and hope you got home safely as well!!!)

Customer Engagement: Where Is the Line Between Education and "Attitude"?

We've been reading Hugh McLeod's Gaping Void for a long time (it was Hugh responsible for our Stormhoek night last year).  On Rich's marketing blog he's cited Hugh quite often.  And while every marketer can benefit from reading Hugh daily, today's post has a special message for coffeehouses on "customer engagement". It's simply disguised as a post to winesellers.

If you ever have an interaction with us where you think we've come across as snobby, let us know.  We aim to educate, but never to bludgeon or cop an attitude. 

 

Bloggle is Back Online

Sometime last August one of our favorite coffee blogs just disappeared. Then last week it reappeared. Yippee, Bloggle is back. It's quality writing, useful coffee information for home baristas and some unexpected bonuses now and then.