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Best Coffee in Honolulu – The Curb Kaimuki

Aug 22
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Build-Outs Of Summer: Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters In Fayetteville, AR

By Arkansas, Arsaga's Coffee Roasters, Build-Outs Of Summer, Cafes, fayetteville, Jason Arsaga, North America, Places, Staff Picks, USA

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

Not to get all Guy Fieri on y’all, but we here at Sprudge love diner coffee, dive coffee, and of course, drive-in coffee. Or drive-thru coffee, as it stands in this case. And that’s exactly what Fayetteville, Arkansas’s Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters is delivery up.

After nearly 30 years in business, the family-run coffee company is opening their sixth cafe location, but their first drive-thru, one that used to be a former meatloaf drive-thru spot at that. But don’t let the homey past fool you, the newest Arsaga’s is fit out is about as modern as they come. A Modbar AV, PuqPress, and all manner of Mahlkönig grinder, this ain’t your granny’s drive-thru. So grab your sunglasses, bleach your hair, and hop in that ole 1967 Chevy Camaro SS Convertible, we’re heading to Flavor Town, which just so happens to be at Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The 2019 Build-Outs of Summer is presented by Pacific Barista Series, notNeutral, KeepCup, and Mill City Roasters.

As told to Sprudge by Jason Arsaga.

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

We’re a family owned and operated coffee roaster with five cafes all on the south side of Fayetteville, Arkansas. We opened in 1992. We delight in making great versions of things that people often take for granted or have a low opinion of.

We hope to create spaces that we’d like to be in and work in… alongside our friends and family.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Our new space is a drive thru coffee spot that our community has lovingly renamed “Carsaga’s.” This is our first and only drive thru. We made this spot for parents with cars full of kids that they can’t drag into a cafe and for the people who want good coffee but don’t want to put on pants or be social before coffee.

We built out this space to be efficient, ergonomic, and to reduce waste as much as possible.

The space was originally built to be a Rally’s sometime in the 80’s probably. At one point it was allegedly a drive thru meatloaf spot.

What’s your approach to coffee?

We make the coffee that we want to drink. We try not to chase fads but we also love the improvements that come from constant engagement and being aware of trends.

We tend to favor a medium to medium light roast for most coffees but we try to pay attention to what a particular coffee wants and to bring out what’s best in it… not too light and not too dark but the sweetest spot we can get it to.

We’re in an industry built on being the side hustle for artists. We try to harness and direct that powerful creative force. We’re on a ride with coffee and each other.

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

The drive thru gear features a two-group ModBar AV and Steam, Mahlkönig PEAK, Twin, and EK43 grinders, PuqPress, Curtis G4 batch brewers, Rhino pitcher rinsers, Acaia Pearl scales, Hario v60 scales, OCD V2 distributors, in counter milk ice bin, all cold coffees (flash brewed nitro and cold brew), and soda water on tap. We also have nice sounding Sonos speakers inside the building.

We built out the cafe so that we can add to it as we learn its limitations. The entire setup can be built again on the opposite side of the cafe if needed. So far this is our fastest and easiest to work bar.

For coffee we have a house espresso/batch brew blend named Daily Driver. As batch brew it’s a bold medium dark cup with tasting notes of chocolate and walnut with an apple acidity. As espresso it’s much sweeter and has tasting notes of chocolate, almond, and cherry.

We have a rotating single origin espresso and a decaf espresso. We have two cold brew options available at all times. One is nutty and mellow and the other is a wild card. We have two batch brew options available at all times. One is Daily Driver and the other is a rotating single origin.

How is your project considering sustainability?

This was a big concern for us going into such a disposable situation as a drive thru coffee spot. Our cups, lids, and straws are compostable. The city of Fayetteville is starting a restaurant food waste compost program very soon and we’re one of their first participants. We currently compost our food and coffee waste but it’s a big chore to keep up on.

We purchase milk from a local dairy named Ozark Mountain Creamery that uses glass bottle packaging. They sanitize and reuse the glass bottles. Their milk is very good too! Our loyalty card is a “bring your own cup” card. We give customers a discount for bringing a reusable cup and eventually they also get a free drink after purchasing 14 drinks. We offer a few of our food items in reusable glass jars that customers can return for a bottle deposit. We make our syrups and sauces in house under the name Queen Cadwallader’s, and source all our chocolate from a local chocolate company named Markham & Fitz. Besides increasing quality, sourcing ingredients this way also results in a less waste and shipping.

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We opened two weeks ago!

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

All of our carpentry and so much more is done by Marc Gunter and Al Kennet. Our signage was hand painted by Joe Alexander. Our metal menu boards were made by a local fabricator named Modus. Our flowers and trees were put in and are maintained by Rachel Lyons of Bee Well Gardens. David Lamont, Scott Manley, and Will Frith of La Marzocco/ModBar provided tons of help and ideas for this project.
Fiona Parson from Rhino made a lot of helpful gear recommendations. Ari Fasanella of Cafe Imports, Dean Kallivrousis of Ally, Jennifer Huber of Royal, and Mark Bray from Airship are green importers who all keep us informed about and supplied with great green coffees.

Thank you!

Thank you too!

arsagas coffee fayetteville arkansas

Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters is located at 1509 W. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Fayetteville. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters In Fayetteville, AR appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 21
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Coffee Makes You Smarterish

By Inc, Johns Hopkins University, National Institute of Aging, neuroscience, Okayama University, smart, Wire, World Journal of Surgical Oncology

Do you drink coffee because you are a smart (and also very attractive and funny and an all-around catch) or are you smart because you drink coffee? It’s a real chicken-and-the-egg situation we’ve got going on here, and new research has only further complicated the issue. According to Inc, studies into the cognitive effects of coffee show that consuming your favorite beverage—as well as tea and chocolate—does in fact make you smarter.

And it’s not just one study. Multiple explorations into the neuroscience of caffeine have found a variety of ways that coffee and caffeine brain health and resilience. One study, a joint effort between the National Institute of Aging and Johns Hopkins University, corroborates something we’ve reported previously here on Sprudge: caffeine shows signs of protecting the brain from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This is due to methylxanthines—a “class of chemical compound found in coffee”—that promotes “sustained cognitive performance and can protect neurons against dysfunction and death.” The study also found that xanthine metabolites, the chemicals produced when your brain processes caffeine, “may contribute to [coffee’s] beneficial effects.”

Adding to these findings, a meta-analysis of 11 previous studies published in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology found that coffee and tea reduce not only the risk of Alzheimer’s but of brain cancer as well.

Lastly, a study performed at Okayama University finds that coffee compounds Caffeic acid (CA) and chlorogenic acid (CGA) have antioxidative properties, specifically on the glial gland and “prevents rotenone-induced neurodegeneration in both the brain and myenteric plexus.” Inc breaks it down into layperson terms: “caffeine makes your brain more flexible and resilient.” But if you don’t believe them, just look at this happy little mouse from the actual Okayama University study.

So if you want to be S-M-R-T like me, make sure you are drinking lots of C-O-F-E.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

The post Coffee Makes You Smarterish appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 21
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There’s A Decaf-Only Micro-Roaster Boom Happening Right Now

By boston stoker, caffenation, Carol Blanchet, decaf, Dewired Coffee, Eric Blanchet, Industry, intelligentsia, Jamie Morganstern, Kait Brown, micro-roasters, Peter Andrews, Playground Roasters, Rob Berghmans, Sara Serino, Savorista Coffee, Staff Picks, Talking Crow Coffee Roasters

Are you a mod or a rocker? Eat lunch with the jocks or the burnouts? Team Edward or Team Jacob? Rest assured, one milieu in this modern era no longer demands that you choose socio-culturally defining sides: coffee. That is, whether you drink it with or without caffeine.

You see, in the last few years there has been a burgeoning of specialty coffee micro-roasteries that specialize in decaf. They use green beans decaffeinated by natural methods, and as much as their caff counterparts, prioritize flavor while maintaining the same high standards in sourcing and processing. Although the bigwigs in third wave include decafs in their collections (Intelligentsia offers a whopping four online), for this newest generation of roasteries, decaf is a starting point rather than an afterthought. The result is delicious, complex, and varied coffee that could well disarm the death-before-decaf set and lift the Lenten gloom of those who abstain for medical reasons. Some of these roasters were once regular regular coffee drinkers themselves, still are, and/or simply do not dichotomize the joy of a cup’s contents into caff and non-caff camps.

This capacity for coexistence is patently encapsulated in a tagline on the Talking Crow Coffee Roasters website: “He drinks regular—she needs decaf.” Those pronouns’ antecedents are Eric and Carol Blanchet, who established their Sultan, Washington-based roastery in late 2018. Their “predominately decaf” business, as Carol describes it, ideally carries three regular roasts alongside seven decafs. “We roast both so that we can compare our decaf with the regular to be sure we are spot-on with our roast profiles.

“We have a large family (eight children) and we home educate, which makes for crazy-busy days,” Carol explains via email. “A few months after our last child was born, I suffered with extreme adrenal fatigue, which required, among other things, that I give up caffeine. That was really hard because I love coffee and really depended on it to function throughout the day.”

In similar want of salubrious substitution, Kait Brown last year founded Savorista Coffee in Dayton, Ohio. “I first fell in love with coffee as a teenage barista for Boston Stoker,” she recalls. But as an adult, a stressful period compounded by work pressures and her father’s cancer compelled Brown to quit caffeine because it was exacerbating sleeplessness. Eventually, she went seeking drinkable decaf.

“In Colombia, at a blind cupping of decaf and caffeinated coffees, I tasted an incredible coffee. It was one of my two favorites on the table, the flavor notes were really complex and it had a lot of brightness,” she relays by email. “I was shocked to learn that this coffee was a decaf! I realized incredible decaf was possible.”

That Colombian was Savorista’s first coffee. Nowadays, Brown is launching a remarkably berry-toned Ethiopian decaf and “actively looking for more coffees to add to our portfolio, but this has been very challenging,” she says. “I’m not looking for coffee that is ‘good for a decaf.’ I’m looking for coffee that is incredible, full stop, and just happens to be a decaf.”

Some decaf roasteries were born to fulfill not the founders’ desires, but rather their loved ones. Peter Andrews began Sydney’s Playground Roasters in 2016, “when my special lady gone and got herself pregnant, again,” he writes. “It occurred to me that no one was really putting a strong focus on decaf for the coffee enthusiasts amongst us.”

People who connect most with his decaf blend, which is available in cafes around the city, comprise “the growing world of healthy-lifers, the sugar-free movement,” Andrews finds, and “typical cafe-loving mums who so want to have a great coffee, but feel like they just have to go without until they ween the little one.” Though decaf is something he himself has only “occasionally in the afternoon or evening,” he admires the loyalists—included among them are his wife, presently expecting their third child.

“When a customer orders decaf, they are genuinely ordering a coffee for flavor alone—no buzz attached! You could put a case forward that the decaf drinker is the true coffee purist, searching for flavor and flavor alone, while the rest of us are just addicts needing a hit!” he says.

What is more, not all decaf projects are a response to doctor’s orders or an antidote to the jitters.

“We were visiting family in Maine and giving coffee we had roasted as a gift,” Jamie Morganstern recollects of a winter holiday in 2017, when he and his partner, Sara Serino, conceptualized Dewired Coffee. “The days are short in Maine that time of year so we were drinking a lot of decaf, especially when the sun went down. Everyone loved this ritual!”

Today their Berkeley, California-based business offers, on average, three types of decaf. They themselves drink it regularly, but when Morganstern blames buns in the oven, he is not referring to pregnancy. “Sara is always a huge baker, so we’ve pretty much gotten accustomed to having a cup [of decaf] in the evening with a plate of cookies or a slice of pie,” Morganstern says via email.

Though their nights sound traditionally more momcore than millennial-chic, Morganstern is 33 and Serino is 32. They substantiate industry claims that decaf is having a renaissance and young people are its patrons.

“Decaf coffee is also shedding its stigma of being a drink that only the older generation enjoys,” Andrea Piccolo, a senior brand manager at leading specialty decaffeination plant Swiss Water, tells Sprudge. “With millennials leading decaf consumption, the demand is surely to continue its upward growth.”

Still, others attribute decaf’s slow evolution thus far to the specialty scene’s relative infancy.

“Most caffeine-troubled people are not so young and outside of the interest span of these young baristas and roasters,” theorizes Rob Berghmans, who 16 years ago revolutionized Antwerp’s coffee scene with his espresso bar and roastery, Caffènation. “Me myself, I am not addicted,” he says with a laugh.

Yet even Berghmans, ever upfront about the nature of the psychotropic he peddles—his company’s slogan is “One drug, one nation, one Caffènation”—says they have “always been roasting decaf” and are lately enjoying the popularity of their new Caldono.

Another playing-both-sides perspective comes courtesy of long-time San Francisco Sprudge contributor Noah Sanders. In “Searching For The Dark Art Of Decaf,” Sanders reveals how during the early aughts he and fellow baristas sometimes punished “the very worst type of customers” by secretly serving them decaf.

Questioned in 2019 about his own relationship with the substance, he admits: “When I was a barista, I drank six cups of coffee a day until an acupuncturist told me it was undoubtedly the cause of the mildly crippling panic attacks I’d been experiencing. I drank some decaf after that.” These days, he notes: “I try—and fail—to give up caffeine every six months or so and decaf is the lifeline I then cling to, but then only paired with a large-ish amount of steamed milk.”

Now, disguise with dairy no more. At any time, sun up or sun down, you can have your coffee and drink it too. Thanks to these emergent micro-roasteries, contemporary decaf little resembles Grandpa’s Sanka (though what a cute corporate portmanteau that name turns out to be: from the French for sans caffeine). This is certainly NYMD (not your mother’s decaf). As specialty coffee grows up, the black-or-white big-gulp attitudes of yesterday are getting displaced by the nuanced fluidity of personal preference.

We say bring it on. Or more simply put, decaf gives us life.

Karina Hof is a Sprudge staff writer based in Amsterdam. Read more Karina Hof on Sprudge.

The post There’s A Decaf-Only Micro-Roaster Boom Happening Right Now appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 20
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“Molecular” Coffee Just Got $2.6M In Funding From Impossible Burger Investors

By atomo coffee, Burger King, Grub Street, Horizon Ventures, impossible burger, Impossible Foods, molecular coffee, Wire

Earlier this year, we reported on the existence of Atomo Coffee, a “molecular” coffee that has, inexplicably, no coffee in it. Back in the halcyon days that were February, before Atomo’s Kickstarter had lapped its $10,000 Kickstarter goal a few times over, the only worry you had about “where’s the coffee in my coffee?” was if you tripped and fell into the condiments bar. But things have quite literally gotten 1,000 times worse, as Atomo Coffee has just received a $2.6 million investment from Horizon Ventures, who just so happened to also be an early investor in Impossible Foods, makers of the Impossible Burger.

The Impossible Burger has been in the news as of late; the lab-grown “veggie” burger that actually bleeds has found a home at Burger King, taking this whole getting-too-close-to-Soylent-Green-for-my-taste experience to new levels. And now Horizon Ventures is getting into the “coffee” game. As reported by Grub Street, with this new round of funding, Atomo will be that much closer building their hot brown beverage “from the bottom up, using the building blocks that comprise it, including quinic acid, dimethyl disulfide, niacin, 2-ethylphenol, and a handful of other elements,” and doing it on a much, much larger scale.

According to the article, Atomo states they are not trying to “destroy the coffee industry,” but “offer a sustainable alternative,” which is a weird way to say “make it even harder for the already struggling farmers to sell their crops for a profit.”

The Impossible Burger comparison is low-hanging fruit, because Impossible are the investors here, and because we’re talking about a lab grown thing replacing a real world thing, but that’s pretty much where the comparisons end. I’m fine with a meatless burger made to taste like meat; people need to stop eating so much meat, like, yesterday, both for health reasons and to try and temporarily slow the all-knowing global fuck that is our coming climate change apocalypse. (The bleeding, though, is still extremely weird.  If you’re eating a burger, meated or otherwise, for the blood, then you’re a monster.)

But coffee replacement tech like Atomo reeks of global techno imperialism. It looks at today’s global coffee crisis—further exasperated by yes, more climate change—and says, “Gosh, you know what would be great? Let’s just cut out that pesky farmer from the equation.” There’s nothing left to feel bad about! What could be better?

Lab engineered coffee means nothing good for the environment or humanity, least of all for the farmers upon whose livelihood the coffee trade depends. It means only more money for western tech dorks with Mike Judge Silicon Valley sounding start-up names, and less delicious product in the cup.

There’s a future in which a GenMod Impossible Clone Cow (Bovine Engineering Scientific SYstem, or B*E*S*S*Y*) gets a full dose of Atomo in a freak lab accident, gains cognitive sentience, organizes the rest of the cloned cows, and leads a GenMod ungulate army in a war against humanity. We are hurtling towards that future now and these Atomo chuds are lining their pockets along the way. Whose side will you choose?

Drink real coffee instead.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

The post “Molecular” Coffee Just Got $2.6M In Funding From Impossible Burger Investors appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 20
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Build-Outs Of Summer: Lucky’s Coffee Roasters In Upland, CA

By Build-Outs Of Summer, Cafes, california, Compak E-8, Lucky's Coffee Roasters, North America, Places, Sanremo Cafe Racer, SCA, Staff Picks, Tyler Smith, Upland, USA, wilbur curtis, Wilbur Curtis Seraphim

luckys coffee upland california

The thrill of the builds keeps on all summer long, and we are in the 100+° heat of it now. Today we are checking in on Lucky’s Coffee Roasters, a brand new outfit in Upland, California. The brainchild of Tyler Smith, who has previously spent time in marketing and e-commerce for Wilbur Curtis and the Specialty Coffee Association, respectively, Lucky’s is a labor of love set in Smith’s hometown.

So hop on the I-10 east out of Los Angeles, we’re headed to Uplands, California for a look at the all new Lucky’s Coffee Roasters.

The 2019 Build-Outs of Summer is presented by Pacific Barista Series, notNeutral, KeepCup, and Mill City Roasters.

As told to Sprudge by Tyler Smith.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

We are a local coffee shop and roaster in Upland, CA. We specialize in single origin sourcing and profiling to portray the best of each coffee we offer. Local is a huge part of our market so we source local honey and herbs for our in-house-made simple syrups. Our baker is a local neighbor and grows most of her ingredients used in our pastries and baked daily, delivered every morning. With our community being so close and tight we try our best to sponsor or collaborate with local events or other businesses for increase sales in our area.

luckys coffee upland california

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

It took us about two years to be able to find our current home. As a life long resident of Upland, CA I have strived to bring the world of coffee I have experienced during my time with Wilbur Curtis and SCA closer to home. The building we acquired and now call our home was build in the 1940s and is apart of the original historic downtown Upland area. The building was originally built in the 1940s as an office space for citrus growers for the Sunkist corporation. As time progressed it continued as an office space but once we came in with our ideas our landlords (the original family to own this building) were up for our creativity. We had a full brick exterior, two large original windows one each side and our main entrance doorway in the middle. We took out the large windows and installed garage doors. In front of each garage door is an outdoor patio space with seating. Inside, we took down six walls, cut two in half, tore up two layers of tile, and one layer of carpet to expose our concrete floors and the history they hold.

What’s your approach to coffee?

We source our coffee either from personal contacts or trusted importers and profile each coffee to the roast level that showcases its true flavors. We try our best to know the background of our sources and repeatedly purchase from them to ensure a successful business practice.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We have a Sanremo Cafe Racer three-group Renegade, two Compak E-8s, and a twin Wilbur Curtis Seraphim.

luckys coffee upland california

How is your project considering sustainability?

We try our best to use recyclable paper goods or reusable dishware. We source local for all food ingredients in our offerings.

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

We officially opened June 13th at 5pm.

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

Most of the internal demo and rebuild was done by myself but the external construction was handled by Linde Construction Company.

Thank you!

Thank you for being you and always supporting the coffee industry!

luckys coffee upland california

Lucky’s Coffee Roasters is located at 387 N 2nd Ave, Upland. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Lucky’s Coffee Roasters In Upland, CA appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 19
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With Starbucks Imminent, The Mormon Church Gives Tips On How To Avoid Coffee

By brigham young university, byu, caffeine, latter day saints, mormon church, provo, starbucks, THE GUARDIAN, utah, Wire

Space may be the depths for which the phrase was coined, but for the coffee world, a cafe space at Brigham Young University may be the actual final frontier. The Provo, Utah private college is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—also known as the Mormon Church—who have pretty strict rules about caffeine consumption: in short, you can’t. So when Starbucks announced plans to open a stand-alone coffee shop near BYU, the LDS responded by putting out a guide on tips to avoid getting sucked into coffee’s dark orbit.

Starbucks’ rapid expansion has long been the stuff of lols, but this reaches new level of thirst. Provo is a city where, as of a 2010 census, 89% of the population aren’t allowed to consume the company’s main offering. This is uncharted territory, and in response, according to The Guardian, the church has issued “official guidance” on how to navigate any coffee-adjacent situations the youths may find themselves in. Released as part of the August issue of a magazine directed at the LDS youth, the church offers some (frankly good) advice that “the word coffee isn’t always in the name of coffee drinks” and that “drinks with names that include cafe or caffe, mocha, latte, espresso, or anything ending in -ccino usually have coffee in them.”

So, before you try what you think is just some new milkshake flavor, here are a couple of rules of thumb: one, if you’re in a coffee shop (or any other shop that’s well-known for its coffee), the drink you’re ordering probably has coffee in it, so either never buy drinks at coffee shops or always ask if there’s coffee in it.

Now, I may not agree with the Mormon Church’s stance on coffee (and about a million other things), but if they are the moral compass you’ve chosen to direct your life, then good on you. I wouldn’t want you to inadvertently do something against your guiding principles, so I’m all for these tips. I mean, how the heck is anyone supposed to know that there is coffee in something called a “pour-over” or a “macchiato”?

But the magazine’s guidance may be more than just some friendly tips. As The Guardian notes, “a 2016 survey found that four in 10 active church members under age 51 had drunk coffee during the previous six months.” The guidance may be more of a “we see what you are doing, you rebellious youths.”

Despite efforts to modernize some of the church’s rules, coffee remains off the table. (Hey, at least there may be a little cannabis in your future.) And for what it’s worth, if you’re a coffee-curious BYU student looking to experiment, Salt Lake City’s excellent indie coffee scene is just an hour away.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

The post With Starbucks Imminent, The Mormon Church Gives Tips On How To Avoid Coffee appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 19
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Build-Outs Of Summer: Pilot Coffee Roasters In Toronto, ON

By Build-Outs Of Summer, Cafes, Canada, Featured, mahlkonig peak, Manulife Centre, marco, modbar, North America, ontario, Pilot Coffee Roasters, puqpress, toronto, Trevor Walsh, Williamson Williamson Inc.

pilot coffee roasters toronto canada

In Toronto, Pilot Coffee Roasters is building themselves quite a coffee empire. We’ve featured Pilot previously in the Build-Outs of Summer, all the way back in August 2017. Two years ago, they were hard at working opening their fifth cafe, an impressive number no doubt. That is, until you fast forward to today and Pilot is getting ready to premiere their seventh (if you count the seasonal pop-up).

Some things are staying the same from the previous build, specifically a plethora of cold coffee options and Pilot’s continued work with Toronto architects Williamson Williamson Inc. But for this new location, Pilot is dropping the box-type espresso machine and going instead for the undercounter Modbar AV. The new location is soon to open, so let’s grab a little sneaky peaky before the rest of the world, shall we?

The 2019 Build-Outs of Summer is presented by Pacific Barista Series, notNeutral, KeepCup, and Mill City Roasters.

As told to Sprudge by Trevor Walsh.

For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Pilot Coffee Roasters is a full-service roastery, cold brewery, training provider, and cafe operator with six permanent locations across Toronto, a seasonal shipping container cafe, and wholesale accounts from coast to coast. Our passion for great coffee and commitment to quality remains at the heart of everything we do.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Pilot Coffee Roasters is opening their first uptown location in Toronto’s luxurious Yorkville neighborhood this summer. Located in the Manulife Centre (which is undergoing a massive $100 million redevelopment), our seventh permanent cafe will be a full-service retail location offering whole beans of our house blends and seasonally rotating single origins, brewing equipment, accessories, and merchandise. Behind the bar will be a range of espresso and brewed coffee options, Pilot Cold Brew, a rotating seasonal coffee cocktail (non-alcoholic), and other non-caffeinated beverages. The coffee program will be supported with a full menu of freshly baked goods, healthy snacks, sandwiches, and salads delivered daily from our east Toronto kitchen.

Signature Pilot Coffee design elements will highlight the Modbar Undercounter Espresso system, including oak cabinetry, metal detailing, and high top bar with seating. Unique stadium seating will be on either side of the cafe for customers who aren’t on-the-go to sit and enjoy their coffee.

What’s your approach to coffee?

The perfect roast is only possible if it begins with the perfect green bean.

The first step to realizing our mission is finding the most amazing green beans this world has to offer. Beans that have the depth of flavor that tells the story of where they come from. We track down and source exceptional coffee by working closely with our trusted partners on the ground and traveling to the coffee’s origin. The truth is, we would be nowhere without the skilled effort of the farmers and the workers producing high quality specialty coffees to share through the roastery. To honor this indispensable effort, we are always expanding our Direct Trade model. This involves regular trips to origin, building strong relationships with producers, touring their farms, and purchasing coffees directly from the growers as often as possible. Through Direct Trade, we can be sure that the premium prices we pay go straight into the hands of our producer partners.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

Three-group Modbar Espresso AV, Mahlkönig PEAK grinders, Puqpress precision coffee tampers, Marco Jet Brewer, Mix 3 Marco Hot Water Tower and Dispenser.

How is your project considering sustainability?

Bring your own mug incentive (save 25 cents), fully compostable packaging for our avocado toast and salad menu items, paper straws, bio cutlery, and milk waste audits performed by managers on a monthly basis.

pilot coffee roasters toronto canada

What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?

September 2019

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?

Toronto-based architecture and design studio Williamson Williamson Inc.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Pilot Coffee Roasters is located at 50 Wagstaff Drive, Toronto. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub.

Disclosure: Pilot Coffee Roasters is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network.

The post Build-Outs Of Summer: Pilot Coffee Roasters In Toronto, ON appeared first on Sprudge.


Source: Coffee News

Aug 16
Love0

James Hoffmann Wants You To Microwave Your Coffee

By james hoffmann, microwave, square mile coffee roasters, videos, Weird Coffee Science, Wire

James Hoffmann is the 2007 World Barista Champion and co-founder of London’s Square Mile Coffee Roasters. He is also the owner of a rather popular coffee-based YouTube channel (he’s closing in on 90,000 subscribers), where he offers tips, tricks, and reviews for those looking to increase their coffee knowledge. Hoffmann is a big name in the industry, and when he says you should be doing something to improve your brew, people listen. But in his latest video, Hoffmann suggests you microwave your coffee beans, and we’re like whaaaaaaaaaaat?

But as odd as it may sound, there may be something to it.