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Coffee Art Paintings Using Coffee for Ink
Last week, our blog post featured Cheeming Boey, an artist who draws amazing artwork on foam cups with a sharpie. We came across an article this week about Dirceu Veiga, a Brazillian designer who creates art using coffee for ink. Click here to see Dirceu’s Web page featuring his coffee art. Posted in In the News. February 6, 2010 By Ken
Amazing Coffee Cup Art
I recently came across a collection of amazing coffee cup art. Cheeming Boey draws on foam coffee cups with a sharpie. I thought this was just too good to not share. Check out the collection of photos on Flickr. Click here to view the images. Here’s the background story on Boey. Posted in In the News. January 27, 2010 By Ken
I’m sure you’ve seen it, at the bottom of some packages of coffee or on directions of coffee makers… “Use cold water when brewing your coffee”. But, why would it matter if you use warm or cold water when brewing, if the water will get hot anyway? When you see the disclaimer advising you to use cold water, it’s under the assumption that you are using tap water, from the sink – and if you use tap water, then you should use the cold water side of the tap. The reason is, cold water from the tap is fresh. Water from the hot side of the tap has likely been sitting around in your water heater for hours (or even days!) and is probably not fresh. Hot water heaters can have minerals and scale at the bottom of the tank that negatively impact the final taste of your coffee (and often the scale from the tank can greatly accelerate the buildup of limescale in your drip-brew coffee maker). To make great-tasting coffee, you have to use fresh water… so don’t use hot water from the tap! What about filtered water from a pitcher, or bottled water? This water does not need to be cold to brew… so no need to use cold bottles of water or keep your pitcher in the refrigerator. This water is perfectly fine to use at room temperature. As a side note, I have noticed an improvement in taste when using cold (not room temperature) water while brewing in a drip-brew coffee maker. Although I’m more of a french press, AeroPress or cone dripper kind of guy, occasionally I will break out our regular old drip-brewer to brew some coffee for family and friends. When using cold bottled water (as opposed to room temperature bottled water), the brewing time seems to be extended a good 45-60 seconds… which may not sound like much, but when brewing coffee, it can make a big difference as one drawback with drip-brewing is the length of time the coffee grinds steep with hot water being cut short. If you use a drip-brewer, try using very cold water the next time you make coffee and see if you notice a difference. Please leave a comment below to continue the discussion and share this post with someone who enjoys good coffee. Ken Posted in Coffee 101. January 18, 2010 By Ken
2009 proved to be a growing year for us… we started out using vacuum sealed bags and mid-year changed over to packing our coffee with heat-sealed kraft bags. We also upgraded our roasting and packing equipment as well as introduced our new logo and branding during the summer. This past fall, we launched an updated Web site, allowing our customers to create accounts and track their shipments / view their previous order history. We also added more coffee subscription options (we kept the 3, 6 or 12 month options but in addition to our two bags every two weeks option, created ‘light’ versions – 1 bag every two weeks). We also expanded our business last year by branching out into the wholesale segment, offering fresh roasted coffee to coffee shops, restaurants and small businesses. Growing years aren’t bad. In business, it’s important to implement the right systems to put yourself in a position to scale and expand. I’m really excited about what’s in store for Weekly Roast in 2010. Every week more customers try us out and experience the taste of fresh roasted coffee. Word of mouth was crazy for us in 2009. So many people tried us out on the recommendation of their friends. It’s always fun getting an email from new customers trying our coffee and telling us how they found out about us. We continue to meet and connect with interesting people on Twitter and Facebook. On a personal level, my son turned 1 in October. He just started walking during Christmas, and each day since he has been taking more steps than before. He’s been saying ‘dada’ for quite a while now, but has just recently added ‘mama’, ‘hi’, ‘cheese’ and ‘ho ho ho’ (our favorite during Christmas) to his repertoire. In May, I (Ken) graduated with my MBA from UCF. In December, my wife, Melissa, also graduated from UCF, with her Masters in Accounting (good thing, she’s our accountant!). This last year of study, especially juggling priorities and with a baby, really stretched us. We’re so glad to be done! You know, I really love what I do at Weekly Roast. I think that’s important to win in business… to be successful, you have to be passionate about what you do day in and day out, otherwise you probably won’t last too long. I hope my passion for coffee has come through in my blog posts and tweets during the past year, here’s to many more in 2010. Lastly, a big THANK YOU for all of our retail and wholesale customers. We love reading your emails, blog posts and tweets about our coffee. While we’re excited about our continued growth, we’re so proud that about 75% of our business is repeat business. That tells me you enjoy our carefully selected coffees and appreciate what we stand for… thank you for your business and for allowing us to share our passion for coffee with you. May God bless you in 2010! Ken @ Weekly Roast Posted in Running the Business. January 9, 2010 By Ken
This morning, as I made myself a french press of Guatemala Antigua coffee, roasted 3 days ago, I thought I would take a picture of the french press as it brewed. This picture is taken about 30 seconds after pouring near-boiling water on top of coffee, ground just seconds before. From the picture, you can see that this mini, 3-cup french press has a very tall crust! You can see 3 layers here, a bottom layer of mostly liquid, a middle layer of water steeping with coffee grounds and a top layer of foam, bubbling as carbon dioxide is released from mixing with hot water. If you use stale coffee grounds, or even fresh coffee that hasn’t been properly stored or preground a while before brewing, you’ll likely just see the bottom and middle layers. When you see the top layer, you’ll know you’re getting the best tasting coffee possible. The carbon dioxide plays a huge role in transporting essential coffee oils (what makes coffee taste good) into your cup. Right click on the image above, left click on ‘view image’ then click again to zoom in and take a look at the crust. This is what you want to go for when making french press coffee. P.S. The mini 3-cup french press costs $2.99 at Ross (yes, the ‘dress for less’ place). Posted in Coffee 101. November 21, 2009 By Ken |
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