Category: Coffee

Culture Espresso Serves Up Some Tasty Cold Brew

Posted on Posted in Coffee, Cold Brew, New York City, New York Panda, TehCoffeeTagged , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Culture Espresso Front

Since moving to New York City I have realized how spoiled I was in the PNW! I’m not saying there isn’t good coffee here ‘cause there’s hecka good coffee all over the place it’s just that in most you gotta take your order to go. Real estate is a hot commodity and cafe sizes reflect that truth. Wifi and outlets are super hard to come by too.

Culture Espresso located in the Garment District of NYC and just a stones throw away from Bryant Park & The New York Public Library (the one that was in Ghostbusters) has Wifi (sometimes spotty) and I’ve always been able to find a seat even though there are few to choose from. Make sure that laptop is fully charged because there are no outlets. They serve espresso from a snazzy La Marzocco Strada and also serve house made cold brew, Kyoto style cold drip, and even nitro. All the traditional drink choices are available too.

I’ve been on a cold brew kick lately so when I saw that they made theirs with Heart Coffee Roasters I couldn’t pass. Heart is a roaster of of Portland Oregon and I ❤ them. Anyway, to the coffee! The sweet nectar comes straight out of a keg all cold and tasty. My iced coffee was brown sugar sweet up front with no bitterness. On top of all that goodness it was really strong. Iced coffee is disappointing when it tastes like watered down coffee and in my experience that’s what I get served. Plus 100 cool points for filling the cafe with awesome tunes!

Go to Culture Espresso!

~Originally published on tehcoffee.com

Dark Matter Bleeds Black

Posted on Posted in Coffee, lifeTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

IMG_7933

Never judge a book by its cover or a coffee by the bag. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about Dark Matter Coffee. I was torn because I thought that with bags so embellished they were trying to make up for what was inside and at the same time really enjoyed the artwork. Well, I can’t tell you how happy I am to report that the coffee quality is equal to the art! I received four bags of coffee from Dark Matter (I get to order the coffee at EP) but have only tried two. I’m actually writing this today because the second coffee I had was so good that I couldn’t help but post about it. It’s the Black Blood blend which has since sold out… It’s a collaboration between the band Mastodon and Dark Matter. The beans were aged in Basil Hayden’s Bourbon Whiskey barrels which contributed an amazing boozy flavor to this coffee. The whiskey def came out in the cup but it wasn’t overwhelming it actually had some nice peanut butter cup to it. As it cooled the whiskey flavor really shined! I’m thinking this would make a great iced coffee too. Black Blood is the second coffee that I’ve tried that was aged in whiskey barrels and I have to say that it was my favorite. Go order some Dark Matter now!!!

http://www.darkmattercoffee.com/

National Coffee Day Round 2

Posted on Posted in Coffee, lifeTagged , , , , Leave a comment

Round two! Stop #3 Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. where I enjoyed a single origin espresso. The Costa Rica Llano Bonito Natural espresso tasted like Sugar Smacks. It was well balanced, sweet, and had a caramel/molasses finish. I really like the ambiance of this shop. The music was pretty dope too. I know it’s super hipster but Bon Iver’s Woods was playing and it’s kinda perfect for a grey rainy day.
The final shop for today was Sizizis. Usually I don’t say anything if my coffee experience was bad…not today. I ordered a macchiato and was served a bad cappuccino. This was not by accident because the barista called out macchiato. The drink was not good. I’m sure it not always this bad. I’m simply reviewing my one experience on this day.
So that’s it!! I hope you have a wonderfully caffeinated National Coffee Day.

20130929-133422.jpg

20130929-133437.jpg

National Coffee Day

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , Leave a comment

It’s been a while since my last post. Hopefully you’re all still there. In an effort to get my butt off the couch I’ve decided to contribute more of my time to this blog. So here you go.
It’s national coffee day! I’ve spent most of my weekend on my couch so I decided to force myself out of the apartment to celebrate. My fist stop was Batdorf & Bronson. I enjoyed a nice macchiato and Mighty O donut. A barista from B&B joined me on for my next stop Bar Francis. I’ve been here many times. It’s my favorite place in town to get coffee.
We had a Shrub and espresso. If you’re not familiar with Shrub drinks check wiki. It’s a vinegar based drink that’s to die for. Our shrub had grapefruit and it paired well with the Four Barrel Friendo Blendo espresso. Now I’m off to Oly Coffee!
20130929-095206.jpg

20130929-105308.jpg

The Northwest Coffee Festival 2012.

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’m so very excited to be heading to The Northwest Coffee Festival today. This has become one of my favorite events to work. The festival is a consumer based coffee and food event. A ton of great roasteries and cafes from the area get together for two days to hold talks on the current state of the industry to customer service and serve awesome coffee.

 

TEDx Peachtree Time-lapse!

Posted on Posted in Coffee, lifeTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I had the great pleasure to work at TEDx Peachtree this Friday in Atlanta. Here’s a little time-lapse thingy I made. I’ll be posting a more detailed blog later this week.

_Panda

Brewing at Buckhead

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Today is the day we get to make coffee for the TEDx Peachtree masses. We’ve been brewing our butts off since eight this morning! It’s been so much fun working with people from Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri and Washington. I’ve had the pleasure of brewing Batdorf  &  Bronson’s Nicaragua Finca San Jose JavaNica with a siphon. Super chocolaty and lots of caramel. The attendees have been loving the coffee and they are asking a lot of great questions. Well I need to get back and prep for the next wave.

 

The Dirty South

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’m so stoked to be back in the South after many years! When i was a child I spent ten years in Tennessee and I was actually born in Georgia. My good friend Jason Dominy invited me to be a part of a TEDx event so I accepted ..DUH! I’ll fill you in with all the details later. Now I must sleep. iloveyou

 

 

_Panda

Don’t let bad beans go to waste! ***UPDATE***

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The good ol’ mason jar has been working perfectly for storing old beans. The one thing I somehow managed to overlook is the lid to the mason jar. I was so stoked about the paint job and forgot about the gas the beans give off. The other day I went to unscrew the lid and it popped off and made a loud noise. DUH!!!  There was a bunch of gas built up behind the lid because it had no where else to go. My friend Marcus Young recommended cutting out the one way valve from a bag of coffee!!!!! IT WORKED! Have fun!

Don’t let bad beans go to waste!

Posted on Posted in Coffee, lifeTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I currently live in Olympia, WA and I’m originally from the south which means I’m inclined to re-purposing mason jars. I have a Baratza Maestro plus at home and when I need to dial in the grind for a certain brewing device I don’t waste new coffee I use old coffee. To keep the beans from getting too gross I keep them in an opaque jar covered in ColorTex by Design Master. It’s a spray adhesive that has bits of multi colored plastic in it. After I’ve covered the jar with the ColorTex I let it dry overnight. I noticed that the jar smelled of spray paint afterward so I covered it in two coats of Mod Podge. This helped cover the smell and give the jar a more glossy look. I really love how the jar looks!