Aldo Coffee Company

Zambia Munama Arriving Thursday

We haven't offered a coffee from Zambia in four years.  But Intelligentsia has been working with some farms that have produced something they like, so we're gonna roll with it for awhile. 

The coffee is called Munama.  The story is here.  It's not fully Direct Trade, but it's a ongoing project with promise to become a full Direct Trade partner.

It's a relatively low-grown coffee (1200-1300 meters above sea level) compared to most coffee we offer.  But the tasting notes are interesting: dried cherry, cardamom, tangerine, citric acidity, chewy mouthfeel with a tart, cinnamon finish.

Can't wait for our first cup of this new offering.  UPS arrives noon-ish.  We've only ordered six retail bags for this week, so first-come, first-served.  It'll be the AM special over the weekend.

Monday Steelers Blues

Unlike any other major city (which would exclude Green Bay), residents here seem to be neurologically connected to the performance of their football team. 

Going into our fifth fall season at the coffeehouse, it's hard to not notice the depressive mood of customers the morning following a Steelers loss.  And it's not just us.  Other businesses comment on it regularly.

Much as we try to make our coffeehouse an oasis of warmth and comfort, this phenomenon is beyond us to cure.

It's just sports, folks.  The world goes on and there are still many things to enjoy in town.  Your kids. Your dog. Your friends.  Good food.  Beautiful foliage.  Freshly made direct trade coffee.

It's a good day.

Yeah, we know Pitt, Penn State and the Pens also lost.  But we'd rather concentrate on the exciting finish to Sunday's Bucs game.  That was fun.

Cheer up!

Disclaimer:  Having grown up in a New York City suburb, the author of this post has been a Jets fan since 1968.  He 's not one of us and obviously doesn't understand.

Fair Trade: What Price for Good Coffee?

Fair Trade programs for coffee have been under scrutiny and heat lately.  This article from Time gives the basics.

As James Hoffman noted in a recent Tweet, "Fair Trade - the absolute minimum necessary to get people to stop questioning how you source, or pushing you to do better. It isn't enough."

This is why Direct Trade and relationship coffee models like are better.  Better coffee. Better sustainability. Better income for growers.

Pirates Unveil New Team

Outside PNC Park this morning.

Given the current 3-21 run of horrible baseball, perhaps these guys might do better.

Far away from the G-20 action, but making the world better anyway

Fair trade? Pfft.  Direct trade is where it's at, kids.

Direct trade pays higher than Fair Trade Certified and Intelligentsia Direct Trade ensures a quality coffee experience in your cup.

If you want to do your part help the world, every cup of Direct Trade coffee you buy puts money back into coffee farming communities, helping develop sustainable agriculture practices and building necessary infrastructure.

So yeah, Mt. Lebanon is doing its part.

Not too hard to find...

How long will it take you to find Rich in this "Where's Waldo" illustration on Sprudge?

If it takes longer than a nanosecond, you might want to think about glasses ;-)

For commuters in the South Hills looking for a place to work (or hide) during this week's G-20, we're almost as easy to find as Rich.  Aldo Coffee is a short walk from the Mt. Lebanon T stop.  Just up the stairs to Washington Rd, turn left, we're the 4th door after the parking garage.

Displaced by G20? Work from here!

If your office is affected by the G20 being in town, or if you just don't want be bothered with all the detours and security, we've got you covered.  Tables, chairs, wireless and great coffee. 

What more do you need from an office?

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

We always forget about Talk Like a Pirate Day until it's too late.  But it's September 19, so here it is already.

But rather than walk around muttering, "Arrrgh, matey," we're keeping it local.  So our talk like a Pirate sounds more like: "That was embarrassing.  You have to make the pitches when they count and it just wasn't there today. They hit everything. At some point you get tired of all the losing.  But if this group can put it all together for a few games, we could turn it around."

Stale On Purpose

What do you do when your espresso tastes best after resting a few days, but all you've got is coffee two days out of the roaster?

Well, you probably fire the guy who's doing the coffee ordering for not anticipating demand properly.

But since that's me, we go to Plan B:  Air it out.

A trick we learned a few years ago during competitions was to simply let "too fresh" beans sit out on some baking trays overnight.  So the espresso you'll have here tomorrow morning should perform like 4-5 day old coffee when in fact it won't even be three days off roast.

While fresh coffee is ideal for drip or press pot brewing, it's not ideal for espresso.  Our coffee is shipped in one way valve bags, allowing some of the gases from roasting to expel, but not at a fast enough rate for espresso. 

When coffee is "too fresh" and used for espresso, you end up with with "burping" during the extraction - large bubbles of trapped gas dropping out of the portafilter spout into your drink - a phenomenon that is not ideal when looking for shot-to-shot consistency.  

Many of our customers who make espresso at home already know to look for beans that aren't fresh off the roast.  We've had best success recently (flavor and mouthfeel) with beans anywhere from 8-13 days off roast.

The more you know...

Caught Off Guard on Coffee Order

We had ordered a case of each of the Kenyan Ndaroini and Gechathaini last week. We dutifully put them on the shelves with the understanding that the high price points for each would probably mean they might still be sitting there by the time this week's new coffees came in. 

It happened last year when the Ndaroini was only $15.95/bag.  We only sold half of what we ordered.  Now that the Ndaroini costs even more ($17.95), we couldn't help but wonder whether customers would share our enthusiasm beyond a single cup.