Aldo Coffee Company

Super Bowl Hours - Closing Early, Opening Late

The next 36 hours or so are basically a Pittsburgh holiday.  In celebration of such, we're closing at 4pm on Sunday so the staff can get to whatever parties they're going to. 

We're also opening an hour late on Monday (7:30am).  Back in 2005, nobody but nobody showed up for the first couple of hours, so we're expecting the same.

Amazingly, we got a call on Friday for a last-minute catering gig up in Wexford for early Monday morning.  Nobody else would take the job, apparently.  It's a financial seminar.  We suppose those analysts aren't partiers.

FWIW, we like our numbers in the store pool.  Rich even pulled a 7-7.  Poor Cara.  Her five boxes include 9-9 AND 5-5 among other unlikely combinations.

Almost nine hours of web site darkness on Saturday... that was uncomfortable.  In nine years of using this ISP for Aldo and prior business ventures, they've never intentionally blacked out that long for maintenance.  So apologies for the inconvenience.  We were told of the "interruption" back on the 26th, but didn't think to post about the possibility of going dark for an extended period.

Maybe it's because my background is copywriting, but I wouldn't have used the phrase, "you will experience an interruption" if I meant to say, "your site will be down all day".

Dear Valued Hosting Customer:

This e-mail is to notify you of scheduled maintenance activities planned for the date listed below. You will experience an interruption of your hosting services during this period.

Saturday January 31, 2008 from 12 A.M. to 11:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

This scheduled maintenance window is part of a continued series of enhancements to the Host Depot service that will bring extended value to your current hosting solution and will take place on a monthly basis.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We thank you for your continued patronage and look forward to serving your hosting needs.

We value your feedback, please feel free to reply to this email with your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,
Host Depot Operations

If you've been following on Twitter, you already know going to our site is fruitless.  Hopefully this gets out to those who get our RSS feed, just to let you know we're still here even if the interwebs suggest otherwise.

Btw, we're closing at 4pm Sunday and opening an hour later on Monday (7:30am).  We're assuming we'll be back live in a few hours, but if not, Go Steelers!

Are You Ready for Some Espresso?

 Food section of today's P-G features an in-depth preview of next weekend's MidAtlantic Barista Competition, to be held next weekend at the Marriott Cranberry, Feb 6-8.

Lots going on up there.  The region's best baristas, coffee, baked goods, education.  And most of it is free.

Our competitors will be poised for their last full juried run-through on Monday night.  Michelle is pretty much ready to go now.  Lauren is editing her speech.  Rich threw out his signature drink (twice), but believes he has the coffee right.  And Frank is getting nightly training from the current MidAtlantic champion - who happens to be his wife, Belle.

It'll be fun.  More fun for us than actually competing will be visiting with barista buddies from other regions who will be making the trip here to compete in the Northeast Region, volunteer, judge or just hang out at our house.  We're happy it's local.  It should be a good show for Pittsburgh and Western PA.

Rocky Roca?  Really, there's somebody older than Rich in this thing?

Steelers Merchandising: Everybody's Doing It

Went down to 21st Street yesterday to replace some Black Cat we borrowed from Luke & Alexis last week when we were running short.

There, on the sidewalk, was Alexis with a couple of tables of Steelers shirts and stuff.  And doing a brisk business, despite the fact there seemed to be 75 other stands with Steelers stuff between Penn and Smallman.

And here we thought everybody already owned their fill of Steeler merchandise.  We suppose this is the one brand in the entire world that breaks every known economic theory on supply/demand and price elasticity.

Most Amusing Steeler Story of the Week

From the St. Petersburg Times: Where Are the Cardinals Fans?

If you haven't dropped by the store in the past 48 hours, we have a new blend we're carrying for the next two weeks.  We call it "Super 43".  We're serving it this weekend and next instead of the usual house blend.  And you can take home a 12oz bag for $12.95

Why We Compete

Jaime of Barismo pretty much says it all.

This is why we're going with four "rookies" this year at the upcoming MidAtlantic Barista Competition in Cranberry next month.  When everyone on staff gets to experience what the competitions and community are about, it's only then that they understand the bigger picture beyond a potential trophy.

Even I (Rich), after judging at four regional basrista competitions and the USBC don't fully get it from the barista's viewpoint.  Which is why this old fart is one of the four, along with Michelle, Frank and Lauren. 

Maybe one of these years we'll get Lois to do it  ;-)

It's not only about winning, although it was nice for our shop to win last year.  It's about showing up, being honest about your capabilities and knowledge, taking your best shot, being open to criticism and learning from your industry colleagues.  No pain, no gain.

Thanks Jaime for putting our thoughts into words so eloquently.

Chef's Notes

Chef Sousa stopped by Wednesday to do some serious coffee tasting with us and experiment with different brew methods.  He's in the process of opening a new restaurant and to his credit, wants the coffees he serves to be as good and memorable as the food.  And we know the food will be outstanding.

We happened to have a couple of dozen coffees around (long story as we usually only stock seven or eight).  And many of them were not even coffees we currently sell.  But if we're going to work with discerning chefs in developing coffee service concepts, it defeats the purpose if we limited our advice to only what's available from one roaster.  There are simply too many flavor profiles out there for one roaster to cover them all.

We picked nine coffees to represent a decent breadth of what's out there.  They were also nine of the top ten from Saturday's tasting of 20 different coffees (we ran out of the 10th, Intelligentsia's Rwanda Zirikana).

The coffees:
Colombia Santuario Heliconias (Intelligentsia)
Colombia La Piramide (Stumptown)
Guatemala Finca El Injerto Pacamara (Stumptown)
Guatemala Huehuetenango (Counter Culture)
Costa Rica Herbazu (Stumptown)
Ethiopia Wondo (Stumptown)
Kenya Gaturiri (Stumptown)
Sumatra Lake Tawar (Intelligentsia)
Papua New Guinea Kuta (Counter Culture)

As with Saturday's tasting, we brewed everything up on Chemexes, figuring this would be the most likely way his customers would experience the coffees.

It was interesting to experience Kevin's thought process as he worked his way through the coffees.  This is a man who's tasted just about everything there is to taste and a highly trained palate.  Analytically, he'd compare what he was tasting to the notes provided by the roaster for each coffee.  Yet, his selection process wasn't limited to taste.  He was also connecting emotionally to some of the cups.  Which coffees would make a statement in line with his philosophy for the restaurant?

Of the nine, he favored the Pacamara most.  But in doing so, noted that he enjoyed the "masculinity" of the Lake Tawar.  Other coffees he found interesting.  Cleaner, more balanced coffees like the Colombians were, "Not for me."

We then took the Pacamara and tried it as a pourover and in the Cafe Solo so he could see the preparation involved and experience what each method did to the coffee.  There are many factors to consider in restaurant preparation - staff training, theater of preparation, dishwashing, breakage, etc. so it's not necessarily as simple as taste.

While there's a chance he may do pourovers, at the moment the murkier, thicker body of the Cafe Solo held his interest. 

We suppose we should order more of them...

Today's Cupping 101 Full

Lauren filled up her Cupping 101 class for today.  Our next free public cupping will be on Valentine's Day, February 14.  That will be an advanced cupping tentatively featuring three different varietals from a single region.

New Colombians Arriving Today from Santuario Project

Intelligentsia has a new Direct Trade project - Colombia Santuario.  The first coffees from this project were released on Jan 9.  They're arriving here today with this week's coffee order.

We haven't tasted these yet, but there are two released coffees from the project:
Colombia Santuario El Mirador: (Typica varietal) Intelligentsia's tasting notes talk of a syrupy body, dried fruit and vanilla notes with a Tootsie Roll/brown sugar finish.
Colombia Santuario Heliconias: (Bourbon varietal) Totally different from the above with cherry and apple notes, higher acidity and a caramel/butter finish. 

We're looking forward to tasting these ourselves this afternoon.  The Heliconias will be one of the coffees included in Saturday's free public cupping (along with Kenya Ndaroini and Sumatra Lake Tawar). 

We'll be featuring the Heliconias as our origin drip coffee most of the week and will have both Heliconias and El Mirador as retail 12oz bags.  Additionally Colombians as well as the Sumatra and Kenya as press pot/pourover single cup offerings as long as they're in stock.

Seems like ages since we've had non-decaf Colombia here.  While the Guatemala Itznama and Rwanda Zirikana have been great coffees for morning customers looking for something other than the House Blend/French Roast, those two have been on bar for what seems like forever.  Happy New Coffee Year!

Washington Road Construction Coming... and Staying Awhile

This just showed up in our inbox.  We're assuming we'll lose parking in front of the store for a bit, but don't know when that will happen.

Equitable Gas Project Will Disrupt Washington Road Traffic Pattern

For the next six months, traffic in Mt. Lebanon¹s Washington Road business district will be disrupted by a two-phased Equitable Gas project that will replace the gas line between Shady Drive and Lebanon Avenue.

Work will take place mainly from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays beginning Wednesday, January 14, and will continue into June 2009.

³This project poses inconveniences for our residents and business owners,² says Mt. Lebanon Municipal Manager Steve Feller, ³but it is necessary for the safety of the community. We have been working with the gas company to ensure that the project will proceed with as little disruption as possible, and we hope that our residents will respond with patience and cooperation.²

Phase one will start in front of the municipal building, 710 Washington Road, and move south to Lebanon Avenue. Traffic will be limited to one lane in each direction on the northbound side of the road. Work will take place in the two southbound lanes in sections that will move on a daily basis as weather permits.  Within the construction zones, there will be no left turns from the northbound lanes and only limited access to businesses from the southbound lanes. Parking opposite the work area will be prohibited to allow the smooth flow of traffic.

At some point, the crosswalk at Washington School will be closed and taped off with ³police tape² for at least two days. During this part of the project, there will be no stopping, standing or parking in front of the school. The crossing guard will move to the crosswalk at Washington Road and Lebanon Avenue and Roselawn Ave. parents should drop off children either on in Central Square or on Florida Avenue, where they can walk up Lebanon Avenue to the crosswalk.

Sidewalks in the business district should not be affected by construction, but pedestrians are advised to use caution and to remember to push the call button when crossing at intersections.

When Phase One concludes, Phase Two will start at Shady Drive and continue south to Alfred Street.  The same limitations will be implemented.

Police officers and traffic control devices will be used to facilitate the flow of traffic in the constructions zones.

Questions may be directed to the Mt. Lebanon Police Department, Traffic Services Unit, 412-343-4086.

Six months of traffic tieups, dirt and noise.  This should be interesting.