Aldo Coffee Company

Party On

Quite possibly the greatest dog photo of all time to cheer y'all up on a miserable, rainy Monday morning.

 
Photo credit unknown from #chatrealm and is apparently called "High Pie Dog".

Going Back to 4pm Close on Sunday

Football season is over. So we're putting those extra two hours back on the menu starting this Sunday.

Make an Offer

If you enjoy french roasted coffee, we have a deal for you, tomorrow afternoon only (1pm-6pm).  Talk to Rich and make an offer.

 

 

Barista Competition Season Opens

The first regional barista competition of 2011 (Northwest Region last weekend) is now behind us. Really impressive stuff. And with the new Brewer's Cup competition alongside the Barista comp, both drip and espresso are sharing equal billing.

We came into this year fairly ambivalent about competitions. We're the only shop in town that's competed in every Mid-Atlantic regional. We wondered if there was anything more to be gained from yet another one.  Our technicals are already good and training is more than sound enough to meet the demands of our local market. We're no longer the kind of shop that's going to experiment with a bunch of different espressos (not much market for it) and we're operating much tighter than in past years (only seven of us on staff vs. the nine or ten in past years). So why go?

There was only one reason to compete this year. To see if our own in-house roasted espresso could win over the judges. But we didn't have an espresso we felt competition worthy. Until last week.

More On the Future Price Increases of Green Coffee

This from Mercanta, a merchant that specializes in top shelf coffee.

Sorry guys, you’re probably all sick of me saying this, but the news is not that the commodity market is $2.50/lb but that the average price of fine coffee in small lots (Cup of Excellence) is now over $8/lb!! The problem is that specialty coffee has been simply too cheap. This is a mantra that the staff here at Coffeehunter HQ is truly tired of hearing. The issue now is not so much the outright price of coffee, but rather the speed of change in the price of coffee. Some specialty estates that we have dealt with for years have prices that are higher by 50% or more this year compared to last. The full force of this change is yet to be seen in the market.

Possible Delay on Intelligentsia Shipment

Just got a notice from Intelligentsia that they can't (more accurately UPS can't) guarantee deliveries due to the weather mess out in Chicago.

If for some reason we don't get our order in this week, we will use our own coffee for espresso. The Ethiopia Shakiso is wonderful as a straight shot and when blended with the Sulawesi and El Salvador, terrific in a cappuccino or latte.

We haven't seen our tracking #s for this week's shipment. All we can tell you is that if you're running out of Black Cat, there might not be any here to sell you until Monday.

UPDATE: Monday it is. Figuring on this we roasted extra coffee Wednesday night. We have enough Black Cat to get us through at least Saturday. We'll have our own espresso blend ready to go Sunday.