Aldo Coffee Company

Brunch Added, Lunch to Return

Please note - we've had to move our start date back a week. We need the space currently occupied by the roaster, which won't be removed until next week.

Starting next Sunday, August 21, Starting Sunday, August 28, we're going to start offering a regular brunch here. And next week we will begin to slowly bring back lunch offerings.

Brunch will be a la carte from a short menu, offered from 11am-2pm only. Both sweet and savory items will be offered.

You can even BYOB for Sunday brunch for a mere $1.00 corkage.

The brunch and lunch menus will be heavily influenced by cuisines from coffee-growing regions, particularly Latin America. It will change weekly according to what's available at farmer's markets, so no set menu will be posted at least in the beginning. 

Expanding on the success of our breakfast wraps and taking a page from YoRita!'s taco-themed menu, lunch will be primarily burritos, with some cold salads added. Again, everything will be dependent upon season and market availability. There will be both vegetarian and carnivore options.

Chili will also return after Labor Day.

The Dichotomy

An old friend stopped by the shop Saturday. Since we first began judging barista competitions together back in 2007, Bob Garver has since gone on to become one of only five people in the entire United States certified as a sensory judge for the World Barista Championship.

It was great catching up and also talking to him about coffee and business. We appreciate that he took a detour en route to Ohio just to visit us. And we appreciate the positive remarks Bob offered on both the Ardi espresso and the rosemary shakerato we served him. When coming from someone with Bob's credentials, it's good to hear we're still on our our game.

And he certainly impressed Alyse who was on bar with me at the time.

Alyse, who's been here all of two months and will be leaving for college in two weeks where she hopes to take what she's learned here and implement what she can at the campus coffeehouse she runs, summed it up appropriately:

"What's really interesting is that the industry people who come in here all want to seem to help you guys and each other. You'd expect other roasters and coffeeshops to be competitive, but they're not."

And that is true to a large extent with people who are involved with the top end of the specialty industry. We tend to help each other because we're on the same side in the war against bad coffee those who roast and sell it.

Angel and Lois

The LeMont is an institution. You can argue about whether they've kept up on food trends or whether the price is worth it.

But one thing they have in their favor - which is perhaps a bigger deal in Pittsburgh than anywhere - is continuity.

We mention this as we were there Saturday night doing espresso service for a wedding. Seems just about everyone on the LeMont service staff has been there a long time, many more than 10 years. We're sure that's very comforting to their long-time clientele and prime demographic.

Since I (Rich) moved here in 2002, I've eaten at the LeMont once. And that was the first year I was here. What made that evening memorable was not the food, not the view (although spectacular). It was our Maître D', Angel.

The Mermaid Is Busted

It's always fun when somebody does a bit of sleuthing and discovers that a "viral campaign" is total B.S. manipulation. Especially when it's from a big chain.

When we talk about transparency, we mean exactly that. Why we do what we do, what we buy, how we serve our product, our prices and even our marketing - everything - can stand up to your most intense scrutiny.

There is a clothing retailer in the Metro New York area called "Syms". I grew up with their commercials. Their tagline was - and still is, I believe - "An educated consumer is our best customer."

Rings true here as well.

Ardi

If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook you've heard us mention that we're now roasting Ethiopia Sidama Ardi in the shop. Our first roast was Friday. It was a hit at the Farmers@Firehouse market. Our whole bean customers should love this coffee as well.

So what's the big deal about this coffee?

Stuff We're Thinking About...

So the price increases we've been talking about (along with the rest of the coffee world) are finally up on the wall. No big whoop. And if you show up Monday with exact change for the same drink you had last Friday, we'll take it. Just bring the new amount next time.

Most increases were well under 10% (a lot less of an increase than the national chains). Biggest increases were on the larger milk drinks and a long-overdue adjustment on 16 ounce Americanos.

So now that that's done, what's next?

Over the past couple of weeks we've been mostly working with coffees from a couple of local roasters to supplement the little bit of coffee we've been able to roast ourselves. We've been impressed with some of the product - enough so to offer two local espressos on bar, both from 19 Coffee, the new venture from two former LaPrima staff (Dave D'Orio and John Patalano). These will take the place of Black Cat for the time being.

We're also offering drip from Commonplace Coffee. This past weekend was their 2009 Cup of Excellence Bolivia El Sambral. While it's a past crop, the green coffee was packaged in GrainPro bags and continues to cup well, with cherry notes and sweetness. We're also brewing 19 Coffee Costa Rica Cattleya Especial.

We'll be visiting 19 Coffee later this week to see their operation, taste some of their offerings and talk about some other possibilities of working together.

Where we're going with this is that where possible, we want to support local coffee, not just because it's local, but because it's both local and GOOD.  Wherever we can establish relationships with local roasters where we can be involved in specificing both the beans and the profiles we're looking for, we're interested in doing so.

We're still roasting our own, but there's a good chance we'll let go of our roaster in the near future. The model doesn't scale. We pay a $2.25 fee per pound to the roaster manufacturer in addition to the cost of the green beans. With an average 15% moisture loss, this leads to a base cost of $7-$9 per pound. Thus, not only is that too expensive to allow for wholesaling, it means our margins are far less than most of our local competition that serves up far cheaper (and not even specialty grade) coffee for prices not dissimilar from ours. Our own bar volume is only right at the cusp of where the model makes sense, and given the local economy, there's no upside. So while it's been fun and interesting roasting our own, it's not particularly smart business using this particular roasting model.

That said, the El Salvador Siberia we're roasting right now is off the hook. We were serving it up at the Farmers@Firehouse market on Saturday to rave reviews. It's only available via Clever drip at the shop, although we'll be also be offering it as a single origin espresso beginning on Tuesday.

Later this week we'll be picking up a bag of Ethiopia Ardi. It's a bit of a departure for us as the Ardi is a natural process - which often leads to wildness and inconsistency from cup to cup as with most Harrars. However this natural is from Sidamo and the quality control is exceptional. It does have berry notes, but in a much more refined, complex and ultimately balanced way than a Harrar. We're not big Harrar lovers here, but the Ardi has won us over and we expect this coffee to find a pretty big audience.

Last but not least, it's been a lot of fun bringing Alise on board. As our lone summer hire, she's had a trial under fire with both Sam and Clara out the past couple of weeks. Probably the fastest learner we've had in awhile. In just three weeks, she's putting out drinks on par with anyone here. She'll be putting what she's learned here to work back at her college coffeehouse once she returns to school in September.

Just a Reminder, We Have Cold Stuff, Too

Yeah, it's hot. And many folks wouldn't think of leaving their air conditioned office to step outside when it's as hot and humid as Panama outside.

But for those who do, there is a reward. We have a lot of delicious cold drinks on the menu:

- Cold-brewed ice coffee. Brewed overnight using ice water, the result is a less acidic coffee, smoother and milder than 'standard' iced coffee.

- Iced tea. Pick any of the 20 teas we offer and we'll brew it up for you. Your tea will be made fresh and doesn't cost a penny more. Takes 2-3 minutes and well worth the wait.

- Fruit smoothies. Strawberry, Four Berry and Peach/Pear. Made with 100% fruit puree.

- Blended Frappes. Espresso mixed with mocha, vanilla or caramel, blended up with milk and ice. An adult milkshake.

- Iced anything. Lattes, mochas, americanos, chai, etc. etc. If we can make it, you can get it over ice*.

All iced drinks are made to-go in a 16 ounce cup.

 

*Except for straight espresso and cappuccino. Those don't translate to standalone iced drinks and they'll taste awful compared to their hot versions. Please don't ask for either.

Problems With First Friday?

We don't know what was going on, but it was extremely apparent last night that First Friday was a bust on the upper end of Washington Road.  Apparently the lower end did just fine.

There was no music or entertainment up on our end. Foot traffic was much lighter than usual. Restaurants on the lower half were packed. Restaurants on the upper half had plenty of seats available despite it being a gorgeous, comfortable evening.

And what foot traffic there was was bottlenecked by a political party that essentially choked off the sidewalk right next to our shop (not to mention using our outdoor tables repeatedly without our permission). Nobody was around to do anything about that.

First Fridays are typically a booming night for us. It's not surprising to have lines 10-15 deep waiting for coffee for much of the night. Last night it was maybe 15 total people. And we were staffed to handle many more. A lot of money lost there. We would've made more had we closed at our usual 6pm.

We hope the powers that be fix this because it's unacceptable.

Btw, the way the shop looked this morning (Saturday) like it normally looks on a First Friday evening - humming, crowded, happy. Thanks to our weekend folks who've made us a habit. Jess in particular was delighted to be busy after last night's tumbleweeds.

Aldo Coffee: So Fresh It Scares Dogs

Got this email today from a Pittsburgh ex-pat:

Dear Rich and Friends,

This coffee you guys are roasting? It's like.. fresh. Like.. dangerously fresh. I put it in a jar and two weeks later, when I open it the gas still sends the lid bouncing off the ceiling and the *pop* scares the dog to death. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO US?

But seriously, this was the first chance I've had to stop in and grab a bag, and it's delicious. Luckily for me I'm moving back to the area this month!

Thanks :)

No dogs were scared during this post.

French Roast Outed

Among the blog articles currently being discussed ad infinitum in specialty coffee circles is this post from retired coffee buyer Kevin Knox.

In the post he rails against high-priced microlots and implies that direct trade/relationship coffees are a waste of time and resources as container loads of "equally good coffee" are in warehouses just waiting to be bought.

He seems to suggest that the big brands buy better coffee because they have more experience buying it and better tools to analyze it. And because they buy in larger quantities, they're able to provide consistency, even as the inherent flavors in those containers of coffee wane over time.

We can't argue that Starbucks, Peets, Green Mountain, et. al. have more access. We can't even argue that they don't know how to roast to bring out the best in those coffees because they seem to have a lot of smart coffee people and more resources for sample roasting and analysis than anyone else in the industry.

But we can argue that they don't care about roasting coffee so that the roast brings out the best flavor that that particular coffee is capable of producing. And that flavor is not "roastiness".  (it's always worth reminding everyone that ISO 9000 quality standards means quality as consistency, not quality as in 'mmm mmm delicious!')

To be quite honest, Kevin doesn't miss on all his points. One of the reasons we got away from using only Intelligentsia was because of the limitations of offerings and what we felt (and tasted) was a specific "Intelligentsia profile" that was becoming noticeable in coffees from every origin where they purchased. We also think they've gotten better at highlighting the nuances of each origin over the past couple of years so it's no longer a significant issue.

Anyway, in the middle of Knox's diatribe is this nugget, which we'd like to share with those remaining few who are hardcore devotees of French Roast.

Absent a costly frozen green coffee storage system gradual fading of one’s raw coffee inventory is an inevitability, and is dealt with by gradually darkening the roast for awhile, then blending out the coffee (initially into espresso blends and ultimately into  French Roast).

So there you go. Someone who's worked for years in the coffee trade and is an advocate for the old ways telling you specifically that your French Roast is basically the last resort for a roaster to make a buck on what is otherwise dead, tasteless coffee.

Don't say we didn't try to warn you about that.