Archive for November, 2008
Branding Your Coffee Business with Coffee Cup Art
Yesterday, Someone asked me a couple of interesting questions via the comments on one of my photos on my Flickr photostream. The questions he had basically revolved around the importance of having coffee cup art vs. just having excellent coffee served in plain white cups and how important coffee cup art was to me? Since the importance of having coffee cup art (or logo'd cups) is something that I have always been interested in and thinking about blogging about for a while, I thought rather than simply answer the question on my Flickr page, I share my thoughts with the blogosphere and just write a more detailed blog post about it... so here goes... My answer to the posted questions were in a nutshell yes. Coffee cup art (logo) is an extremely important (and not just to me) to have if you do own a coffee shop because many a time it is that logo that makes someone (i.e. me) curious about the coffee shop, where it is and how good their coffee is. And yet, regardless of this, you, as the coffee shop owner must [...]
Café Dharwin, the Neighborhood Coffeehouse
Sometimes when I am on my way to the Eastlake/Wallingford/University District area I will take a certain back route that takes me right past Café Dharwin. This place, located at the Extreme North end of Capitol Hill, somewhat in the Roanoke neighborhood initially attracted my attention because of the name, Dharwin... and this being Seattle, that little city that know not God, I wondered if the owner was trying to make a statement about evolution or something to the effect. So I made it a point to drop by sometime for a latte and see if I could chat with them about the place. So my first impression of the place when I stepped in what that it was really tiny... but cozy. Since the windows face west and I was there in the afternoon, the place felt warm with lots of great lighting. Perfect for a place like Seattle... My latte was made for me by Dharmindra the owner. Dharmindra has been in the coffee business for at least seven years and has owned this cafe since 2004. He used to have a partner, I forget the [...]
The TASTE Café at SAAM
The Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) up on Capital Hill by Volunteer Park runs a little 'cafe' that includes a little espresso cart that reminds me of the days when I first got into the latte habit. It reminds me of the time some years back when my friend was a barista working also at an espresso cart and made me a free latte... and got me forever hooked! Thanks Penny! :) Oh and here's a little trivia for those of you into martial arts, you will recognize the name Volunteer Park as the place where the martial art legend Bruce Lee was buried. This little cafe, known as The TASTE Café straddles the North and South wings of the museum... and as one would expect, does have some interesting stone art pieces sitting on the shelves and one can admire while drinking their espresso and enjoying their treats. It has actually taken me quite a while to actually find myself at SAAM when the TASTE Café was open because they have really short operating hours, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Wednesday to Sunday. I often like [...]
Tony's Coffee at Madison Market
The first time I drank a latte that I knew had been brewed with Tony's Coffee beans, I was rather disappointed. I ordered the drink from a latte stand called Buzz Stop which is just down the street from Madison Market. The second time I ordered a latte with Tony's Coffee, again I was disappointed and I started thinking that Tony's Coffee must be not so great coffee. But the funny thing about this is that I actually all this time I have been drinking Tony's Coffee for quite a while... and really enjoying it... I just didn't know that I was drinking Tony's Coffee. Not until I started blogging about coffee on a regular basis, did I actually find out that Madison Market, a place that I enjoy getting a latte every so often, serves Tony's Coffee. The irony here being that the coffee stand that served me my bad latte is just down the hill from Madison Market. This experience, in addition to that I had in Victoria BC where I wasn't really happy with my latte that happened to have been made with Intelligentsia [...]
Coffee Options in the Corporate World
Sometimes when a consultant is at the client site, he (or she) may need their afternoon coffee fix. And since you don't want to take off looking for the nearest coffee shop, because your client is paying for you by the hour, you have no choice but to head on over to the kitchen area to forage for a cup of drip. If your client happens to be a big technology firm who shall remain anonymous for certain reasons, then you're in luck since they have some halfway decent machines that grind and brew your coffee as you wait. And they also have real milk, a bait, 2% but that's better than nothing. They also have plenty of latte options in the various cafeterias scattered across their various campuses and buildings. But if you have your ordinary everyday client, then you sort of cross your fingers when you come to the kitchen during the first day site tour. As the client 'proudly' shows you around the kitchen. There will usually be the coffee pot and some no name brand of coffee grounds... or even worse, instant [...]
Moka's Cafe, the Good Times Cafe
Every so often I will drive by Moka's Cafe on Fairview Avenue North in the South Lake Union area of Seattle. There are a couple of reasons why I have not tried the place till very recently. One thing that immediately stands out as you drive by is the huge and pretty cool looking sign with the round polka dot coffee mug. I have been wanting to take a picture of the sign but I just haven't been there at the right time with the right weather to take the kind of shot that I want too... but I digress... The main reason why I had not actually tried the place was because very time I passed by, the place always seemed like it was closed. for the longest time I actually thought that the place had closed down but the sign was still up. And why did I think the place was closed? It seemed to me that the place always looked rather dark inside so it was really hard to tell that indeed the place was open. And more often than not I would drive by the place on a Sunday and indeed, they are closed on Sundays. The other [...]
Ink Online Coffeehouse Experince
Ink Online Coffeehouse, is a tiny place on 1st Avenue that I have in the past, simply walked by without venturing in. This has been for no other reason than the place, which until recently was known as Caffe Lieto, just didn't seem to stand out as a coffee shop worth visiting. But all this changed Friday a week ago. I just happened to be driving by looking for a place to stop and get a quick latte before going to work and since I was in a hurry, I decided to pop into the place... especially after I found great parking just round the corner from the shop. The new owner Rena Poppell was behind the counter. She took my order and made my latte. She was great to chat with and didn't mind me taking a couple of pictures of her coffeehouse. She also gave me a bit of background on Ink Online Coffehouse and the cafe formerly known as Caffe Lieto. She has been in the coffee business for over seven years and decided to go into business for herself. She is currently re-branding and remodelling cafe Lieto into Ink [...]
As Stickman Coffee Comes To A Close
Just when I finally decide that I am going to check out Stickman coffee, which has a reputation for serving really excellent coffee, I find out that they are closing today. Bummer! I discovered Stickman Coffee a few months ago when I was in the Fremont area. I noticed their purple sandwich board sign pointing to an alley and even though I wasn't thirsty for a latte at that time, I wanted to check out the place and see if it was worth coming back to at a later day. I talked to the barista who was really friendly and invited me to come back for a great latte. This past Friday I discovered Ink Online Coffeehouse, the place that used to be called Caffe Leito before the current owner bought the place in April this year. It was because of this that I discovered the connection between Dismas Smith, the owner of Stickman Coffee and Borogove Coffee. It turns out that Dismas used to be the master roaster at Zoka Coffee. If you haven't tried their coffee, you don't know what you are missing! He left Zoka and joined [...]