Aldo Coffee Company

More About "In Season" (and why we're almost out of single origins...)

OK, so you look at the retail coffee display this weekend and there's Black Cat, Aldo House, Kenya Thiriku and Organic French Roast... and nothing else.

"What's going on?" you ask yourself.  "You normally have three or four other coffees here. Is everything OK?"

Yeah, everything is perfectly fine.  What's happened is basically a "coffee perfect storm":  1) People really liked the recent single origins and snapped them up quicker than we could replace them (a record month for retail bean sales by a longshot). 2) Our supplier - Intelligentsia - is temporarily caught short on new single origins.

As we mentioned earlier this week, we were caught by surprise when a couple of coffees we were counting on this week were suddenly sold out and no longer available to us.  Usually we get a week or two of warning ahead of time.  Not so this week.

Even though we discussed some of this in an earlier post, we feel we should explain a bit further so everyone is on the same page.

We still have some Nicaragua Don Esteban in addition to the Thiriku for the brew bar so you can order a cup (hopefully enough to get us into Thursday).  But we won't be featuring either as a 'coffee of the day' this week as we simply don't have enough to do so.

This temporary shortage is a by-product of Intelligentsia's "In Season^TM" program - coffees are a crop and should be consumed when fresh (and all Intellgientsia coffees are roasted within 9 months of harvest). 

Each Monday we look at an active inventory list of what's available and pick what we want to order.  Single origins come and go, some remaining in inventory for as long as three months, others for as little as three weeks (or less). 

The beans we order are roasted and shipped on Tuesday and arrive here on Thursday.  This week the list is going to be very, very short.  Besides the two Kenyans, there's an organically grown Mexican coffee from Oaxaca that we're told is similar to the Perla la Oaxaca that we've carried in the past - chocolate sweetness coupled with a buttery mouthfeel.  We'll have both Kenyans and the Oaxacan in for Thursday. 

Between now an then we'll have to just rough it - we're not even letting staff make themselves Abids of the precious little stock of Don Esteban and Thiriku we have left.

The good news is that there is a bounty of new coffees on ships headed to port as we speak. 

In two weeks we'll have this season's crop of Ethiopia Kurimi (Yirgacheffe) and possibly a second coffee from  the Sidamo region.  By Thanksgiving we should also have Peru Cruz del Sur, Bolivia Anjilinaka and another new offering from Zambia.  Then in December we're really excited to learn Intelligentsia is once again offering a coffee from Papua New Guinea, our favorite island coffee origin.  Intelligentsia hasn't offered a PNG since early 2007.  Sometime before year-end we should also have the new Brazil Agua Preta.

In January we finish the East African season with new coffees from Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda (hopefully without the potato issues we had this year).  After that we'll be back into Centrals and will start the whole seasonal coffee rotation all over again.

We also expect to be augmenting our Intelligentsia supply with a new line of locally-roasted and ethically sourced (traceable to origin farm) coffees from a project Rich has been involved with for the past couple of months.  More news on that at a later date but it promises to be a very exciting year-end on the coffee front.

We ask that you bear with us for the few days this week when we're a little short on your favorites.  All will be remedied soon.  And now that you're learning more about "In Season" coffee, you can tell your friends you only drink the "fresh" stuff ;-)

Don Esteban Sold Out

That was a record - all six bags of one specific coffee sold in under 24 hours.  We thought we might get through the weekend with a bag or two of the Don Esteban, but if you didn't already buy your bag, you're out of luck until next year (assuming Intelligentsia will offer it again).  As we mentioned yesterday, this week was the last week for this wonderfully sweet and nutty coffee.

We still have several bags of Kenya Thiriku (Kenny T) along with the usual Black Cat, House Blend and Organic French Roast.  We also sold out of the remaining Kenny G and Zambia Munama.

Given we only have about a half kilo of Don Esteban left behind the bar, we will likely keep that only for Abids/oress pots and pull it out of rotation as the featured coffee of the day. In fact, it's looking like we might not even have a featured coffee of the day next week as we'll be running out of the Kenny T by end of day Sunday.  Single origins will be hand brewed on call.

Melanie, Rich and all our baristas would like to congratulate Mt. Lebanon on finally coming around to what we've been promoting for the past five years.  You are all to be commended on your fine taste!!!

No Day of Dead Brunch This Year, But Will Have Chilaquiles Sunday

A few people have asked if we were going to do another Day of the Dead Mexican brunch this year (and/or making/selling loaves of the festive sweet bread), regretfully the answer is no. 

With Rich now working part time roasting coffee up north, there's simply not enough time to prepare everything we'd need to put together in advance. 

However, we will do the dish that's always a hit - and was perhaps the favorite of most of the folks who came to last year's brunch - chilaquiles.  If you don't eat 'em, we certainly will.

So you'll have two choices for breakfast this Sunday, quiche or chilaquiles.  Both $4.95.

Central Season Appears to Be Officially Over

Got this email from Intelligentsia today:

As of today, Don Esteban Pacamara Peaberry, Nicaragua is now out and we cannot accept any more orders for this coffee. Tomorrow is also the last day to order Los Inmortales, El Salvador: Finca Matalapa.

Friday will happily mark the release of a new offering from Mexico. Smooth with a balanced acidity and a pleasant cocoa finish, it is a drinkable and approachable coffee.

We have no idea yet what this Mexico coffee is.  Intelli hasn't offered a Mexican in a couple of years.  Their inventory page simply says "Mexico".

We're bummed about the Don Esteban.  It was delicious.  Lots of customers were asking for it over the weekend and we ran out on Monday.  We're getting more in Thursday, but had we known it was going to be discontinued we would've tried to order more.

As much as we want to be behind "in season" coffee, when favorites get pulled from inventory without notice, it's annoying.  At the peak of Central American season we could choose from up to eight different coffees.  Now the only remaining Central American is the El Salvador El Borbollon - which you folks didn't take to when we first carried it this summer.

So we'll have the Don Esteban for a few days after tomorrow's shipment arrives.  It'll likely be gone by Sunday.  We have the two Kenyans - Gitchathaini and Thiriku.  And that's pretty much it.  Guess we'll be ordering some Mexican next week.

The good news is that South American season will be here soon.  In the coming weeks we're expecting coffees from Colombia Santuario, Peru Cruz del Sur and Brazil Agua Preta.  Plus Ethiopia Kurimi.  Those should take us into the holidays, along with (we hope) Bolivia Anjilinaka and maybe another Brazil (Cachoeira perhaps?).

So while your favorite Central coffees may no longer be available, it's only because our roaster wants to ensure that the coffee you're buying is fresh.  And they'll be back next year.

Last Day for Summer Menu

Local (and good-tasting) tomatoes are finished for the season.  All our basil has been picked (or died).  So it's onto the winter menu.

We're happy to learn we can finally bring back prosciutto.  Market District is now selling locally-cured Parma products at prices similar to those in the Strip.  We'll be doing a prosciutto panini, a salami panini, a new vegetarian panini and keeping the chicken wrap.

For a preview of the new menu, which goes into effect on Monday, click here.

The Morning We Dread Is Upon Us...

Most of us who work the morning shift at Aldo Coffee have no problems getting up early.  In fact, we'll tell you it's quite relaxing having the store to ourselves in the pre-dawn hours, getting things ready for the day's business.  Once everything's in place, we open the doors and things gradually build up to a busy morning.  We're cheery, you're cheery, everything is copacetic.

Except for one day of the year.

Mole Day.

Apparently not everyone celebrates Mole Day.  But Mt. Lebanon's students celebrate it with a vengeance.

We usually get in between 5:45 and 6:00am to get things going before opening the doors at 6:30am.

That doesn't work on Mole Day.  By 6:02am (the official start of the holiday) there are already dozens of students out front milling about waiting for the doors to open.  By the time 6:30am comes, their numbers have doubled. 

This year we're opening the doors earlier and putting extra staff on.  Yet no matter how many we put on, it still won't be enough. 

It's pure mayhem.  Being high school students, very few drink just coffee.  It's all frappes and smoothies and chais.  Orders come in rapid-fire.  Staff scrambles to keep up while reaching into every bin of every ingredient in the shop to fill orders during the onslaught.  Both blenders are going constantly.  Baristas are bumping into each other.  It's the only time (besides Light Up Night) where we have to ask for names and write them on the cups in order to keep things straight.

And then by the time 7:30am rolls around, it's over.  The kids are on their way to school, hopefully to learn how to apply Avogardo's Number to something more practical than getting a smoothie at the crack of dawn.

How will you be celebrating?

Coffee With Mt. Lebo's Town Manager Tonight, 7-8:30p

We'll be re-opening at 7pm tonight for this event. 

Have your questions, concerns and issues ready to present. Municipal Manager Steve Feller is using this opportunity to speak directly and candidly to Mt. Lebo residents in a casual forum.  Members of the Community Board will also be present.

Hey, Nobody Said There Would Be Math!

For almost five years we've talked about coffee as an artisanal endeavor, much like other culinary arts.

But behind the curtain of great coffee shops, there are instruments.  Charts and graphs.  Time, temperature and extraction readings correlating to taste.  Procedures and devices more at home in a laboratory than behind a coffee counter.  The Other Black Stuff talks about the current state of measurement devices in an excellent post from this past weekend.

This testing is necessary for us to continue to brew the best coffee we're capable of brewing. 

Admittedly, we haven't done as much testing as we think we should, nor have we taught everyone how to do their own analysis (although we do teach why).   We aim to meet Golden Cup standards for our airpot brews   (although we've never submitted ours for the "award").  We have a TDS meter.  To date nobody's used it but Rich.  The past couple of years we've been overrelying  on what others have been doing regarding extraction instead of doing our own bench work.  We're hoping for an Extract Mojo for Christmas (actually Rich is hoping he can convince his other employer to buy one that he can borrow...)

That changed with the Abid brewer.  We're on our own with the equations we've come up with (although our brew methodology is close to others we've seen published).  The results have been very encouraging with most customers who've tried an Abid brew switching to Abids for future cups because the coffee tastes better than from an airpot.  Some customers have even told us their cups were as good or better than the same coffee brewed on more expensive equipment.  That doesn't happen without testing on our end.

So kids, the moral here is that even if you think you're never going to use algebra or calculus in your career, study it anyway, because you might need it for that part time job you're taking while you're in college ;-)

8 Steps to Develop Your Coffee Palate (from a World Barista Champion)

From James Hoffman, 2007 World Barista Champion.

The complete post is here, along with a recommendation to watch Thompson Owen's (of Sweet Marias) video on Drinking vs. Tasting.

Here is the condensed version, with some of our thoughts:

1) Buy two very different coffees (an African vs. a Central, a Colombian vs a Sumatran, etc.)

2) Get a manual brewer (not a Mr. Coffee)

3) Brew two cups.

4) Let the coffee cool a bit.

5) Alternately taste each coffee.

6) Focus on textures first.

7) Don't read the labels as you taste.

8) Don't worry about flavors.

Couple of things.  Jim recommends a small press pot for brewing.  Press pots are certainly a classic (and easy) way to brew coffee, but you could use a Melitta single cup brewer, an Abid, or pretty much any other single cup hand brewer.  The important thing is the temperature of the water, which should be around 200F when you first pour it onto your grounds (Aeropress excepted).

We know a lot of you will take exception to #4 ("But, but, but I have to have my coffee steaming hot!!!!").  Trust Jim, trust us - coffee flavors develop as the cup cools.  Our experience shows the best temperature for tasting is in the 140-150F range (about the same temp as a well-made cappuccino).  You can even taste cooler than that, although you'll usually find more chocolate/nut notes and fewer fruity notes as the cup drops from 120F to room temperature.

There is no secret to being a taster.  Professional coffee cuppers/tasters do not have more taste receptors on their tongues.  They start out just like you or us.  It's simply attention to detail and lots and lots of practice at trying to discern different flavors. 

New Weekly Menus

Those of you who commented last week on how you always wanted to say something about that ratty duct-taped "specials" blackboard that kept falling off the column, we agree it should've been replaced ages ago.

If you weren't in last week, please note that we've replaced that beat-up old thing with a fancy corkboard on which you'll find pinned a menu of soup/quiche and coffee specials for the entire week.  Now you can see in advance when your favorite soups are being served.

Daily specials will still be in the Twitter box to the right.

Of course you can always get any coffee in the store brewed on an Abid, press pot or Chemex at any time of day.  We only mention the daily coffee special for those who don't have 90 seconds to spare.