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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Full Service

Alot to discuss...

Carriage House Cafe is now completely full service! Breakast, Lunch, and Dinner.
You can check out the new Wine, Beer, and Coffee menu at
www.carriagehousecafe.com
We want to elevate the coffee to the same level as the Wine and Beer. All the employees participate in cuppings and training for pairings with all the menu items. What we wanted to do was offer three choices and a decaf. These three represent three flavor profiles ranging from light, medium, heavy. (eth/col/java) This gives the customer a choice depending on what dish they order...all the coffees are on tap. The Decaf is a departure from what we have been doing.
It is from a different roaster www.cafekubal.com my friend Matt. This Decaf is truely amazing...nothing like decaf. And it's Swiss Water...which I have usually scoffed at but tasting is believing. It is deep, nutty, no very complex but totally satisfying...and...most importantly for decaf as espresso (since we only do french and americano decaf) not offensive in anyway.
We are working on some Dossiers to give to customers who express interest.
As for not working exclusively with Gimme! let it be said up front...

1. Gimme! Coffee is incredible!...they have a great staff, great selection, and Kevin is pretty cool too. We use them with considerable local pride and quality preference.
2. There are other roasters on this coast that also produce quality. We do not want to educate people about a brand primarily...but rather quality coffee as it is in the hands of the wider quality focused coffee community.
3. A restaurant who offers wine will not offer wine from only one vineyard. That is not to say they won't stock multiple wines from that vineyard...but it is to say that the diversity in their offerings will show that they are out to find the "right" wine for their customers...not the wine that will simplify their ordering process.

  • On top of that we have just setup a third -SOS- grinder that will further educate the customerto a varietals potential.
  • We are hoping to source a COE to add to the French Press offerings.
Also, we have been offering "Seasonal Signature Drinks" ...in a rush to get this menu up we simply put two things on it....a Shaken Iced Rosemary Latte and a Coconut Afagatto.
For the Fall season we will still have an Afagatto whos ingredients are yet undetermined but we will also have...
  • Autunno...the pumkin drink I did from 04 USBC
  • the Star anise and Ganache drink I did at this years 05 USBC.
  • Carriage House Version of the Torino Fav. the Bicerin
  • A seceret Sig drink for next years USBC (for live testing)
  • and of course Cider (not espresso related but up here in NY it's awesome!)

The SO french presses will probably rotate then into a different three or four selections.

I am really excited to see how much of what is talked about as being progressive in coffee we can adopt onto the cafe floor along with high quality food. I see the culinary path as the way to take if we are ever going to get coffee to the level of respect we dream it can attain.

More later hopefully...theres the Seattle Coffee Fest to consider as wellas the East Coasts first Barista Jam! Thanks to Cresent Moon Coffee and Tea and Coffee Labs Roasters

Drink it in.

-cd