I had the pleasure of testing out a new coffee at work yesterday. A roaster who used to work for Zoka recently left to go work for Herkimer Coffee. He contacted my dad and sent us samples to try out.
The espresso was pretty good. It was nice and thick, but I wish it was a tad sweeter. In a cappuccino, it had a buttery taste, which is not something I'm used to but good nonetheless.
Unfortunately, I didn't know there was a certain temperature our espresso machine needed to be set to (so that the coffee is at its full potential) that the roaster recommended to my dad. Of course, he had to mention it to me after I had used it all up. Maybe there will be more in the future. All in all, I'm glad I got a chance to use it.
But one last thing: I'm so not a fan of their logo/label.
As you may know, my family owns a coffee house in Santa Clara. We serve coffees from Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Company from Seattle as well as Verve Coffee Roasters located in Santa Cruz. This past week, my sister and I wanted to get away and decided to pay the guys at Verve a visit. We told them not to deliver our coffee and that we would pick it up instead.
It was such a beautiful day in Santa Cruz, I was tempted to go to the beach right then and there. Verve is located at the end of 41st St. (next to Pink Godzilla and near Pleasure Pizza). They have only been open for a little over a year but already have a good rep; they supply their coffee to tons of cafes in Santa Cruz, and to a well known coffee shop all the way in New York, and even to Google! Oh yeah, and to us of course!
The owners and many of Verve's baristas have coffee experience else where - from Pacific Bay, Barefoot, Groundwork, The Naked Lounge - these guys know their stuff! At the 2009 Western Regional Barista Competition, two finalists reppin' Verve are going on to the United States Barista Competition coming up in March: Verve's very own Jared Truby got 5th place and The Abbey's Sara Peterson just made it into the 6th slot. (The Abbey uses Verve's Coffee). Good luck to them both!
At Verve, my sister ordered a macchiato* and our barista, Matt, showed his excitement with a "YES!" I would be silly not to get an espresso after his comment. He pulled us a Single Origin Guatemalan coffee, and they were both delish: a trip well worth the drive! If you're ever in Santa Cruz/Capitola, this place is a must!
*By macchiato, I dont mean a Starbuck's "Macchiato" which is a caramel latte; they butchered the name macchiato! It is really espresso with just a tad bit of milk.
This is my blog about coffee, and in just in case I can't meet the three post minimum for class, shoes. I have so many things lined up that I am excited to share with you, but first, a little bit about me:
It seems like it was just yesterday that parents opened up Bellano Coffee - two and a half years goes by fast - and I've been working with coffee ever since. I started in my garage and went on to train at Zoka in Seattle. Since then, I have worked at Broken Door Espresso in downtown San Jose and was a guest barista at Barefoot Coffee Roasters in Santa Clara. There's my credibility for you, although I'm far from perfect; I still have SO much to learn, because coffee is without limits.
I hope this blog enlightens you about how coffee is so much more than just a morning beverage: it is an art, a skill that takes heavy, intensive training, a way to bring people together, an exceptionally good reason to skip out on your morning class (kidding!), but most of all, it's an entire community.
Enjoy!
Nowadays, anyone can become an author through blogs. In a few simple steps, people are able to express their thoughts, views, opinions, art, pictures, and whatever else you can think of. Finally, anyone has the opportunity to reach thousands of people through the Internet and with this comes many opportunities.
Blogs are a way for people to promote themselves: artists can promote their art and writers can promote their work. But most of all, blogs are a community. In a specific blog, readers are able to keep up with posts and comment to react to it. It becomes a ritual, and that blogger can get feedback and, more importantly, knows that he or she is being heard.
However, with great power comes great responsibility ...or something like that! A blogger must be persistent: they can't just leave their readers hanging and waiting for the next post! There are also ethical issues involved for the blogger as well as the reader. It is the blogger's responsibility to be honest and in cases where they give their opinion, to let their readers know it is their opinion. Since anyone can write a blog, it can become hazy where the truth is. As blog readers, it is their responsibility to understand that a blog is someone's opinions and is not always reliable for information.
I had the pleasure of testing out a new coffee at work yesterday. A roaster who used to work for Zoka recently left to go work for Herkimer Coffee. He contacted my dad and sent us samples to try out.
