Sunday, January 22, 2006

Roastin'

Laura and I checked out Gimme Coffee this morning with Laura and The Pig. The coffee itself was good, damned potent. I asked the lady if I could have a little milk and sugar in mine, but she referred me to the coffee and milk station. I hate that, I hate it so much. You have this wierd bottleneck when you're adding sugar and milk and it never leads to interesting interactions between people. You just have this wierd sensation as someone hovers next to you waiting for you to hurry up and garnish your coffee. I won't repeat that in my own (future) establishment.

My newest obsession is roasting. There is a shit-ton about coffee that I don't know and need to if I'm going to open a place of my own. It's a hell of a lot cheaper in the long term if I roast my own beans, and I can sell my own brand of coffee in the store and on the internet. The problem is that I haven't the foggiest about what goes into a good blend and roasting batch and a good roaster costs about as much as a used Kia Spectra. After the wedding Laura and I talked about going to Florida or Idaho (depending on the brand of roaster we'll buy) and take a three day coffee course.

In other news, Laura and I are training for a half-marathon. We ran 5.3 miles tonight, (our front door to Manhattan over the Billyburg and back). We did about 4.5 miles last Sunday and this week we kicked a hell of a lot more ass. Tomorrow's delivery should be pretty grim, looks like frozen rain/snow. I just got some new rain gear, lets see how she works.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I whole heartedly concur about the awkwardness at the milk station. Plus, I really hate dealing with milk that has been sitting out for who knows how long and dripped all over and been touched by everyone in the place. The fact that these details are uppermost in your mind means that your future establishment will be of a high quality indeed.

Anonymous said...

What is the sensible alternative to the creamer station? Can the bottleneck be avoided?

Frank Robbins, LEED AP said...

Hey Kevin,
The guy behind the counter puts it in. It can be done, I've done it at Bonsignor, they do it in bagel carts, delis etc. It slows down the line a bit but speeds people out the door. Starbucks, Gimme Coffee etc. just want you to buy their coffee then piss off and figure the rest out on your own. Individual people put milk and coffee in very, very slowly, barista's do it really quick.

Yeah, people like their coffee just so, and some people might want to do it themselves, but that's where service comes in. When you go into a place over and over, the people behind the counter should get to know what you want. There are people that I still only know as "small latte, extra shot" or "medium coffee, little milk, little sugar", hell, there was one guy who just made a freaking hand gesture, took his iced coffee, black with no ice and put down his four dollars and left us to put the change in the tip jar.