[Worst meal at someone's home - Part 1]

Well, this wasn't a meal and it wasn't at somebody's house, but it was the worst thing I ever ingested. I was working at a Starbucks, and a co-worker decided to make a Tobasco shot. That's right. He poured Tobasco over the grounds in the portafilter and then pulled the shot. I can still taste it. The foulest thing I've ever experienced.....

[What Beers Did You Drink Today? Or Yesterday? (Part 1)]

Here's what I've been drinking from the basement brewery.

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Least Prestigious Ivy League School Brown Ale? With the crest? I'm rolling....

[Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 3)]

Kitchen Confidential is in the bathroom (I wash my hands before AND after reading).

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That's too much.....

[Jacksonville, FL]

Blue Buddha has great chesse, tho it is spendy. Wine Warehouse (three locations) prob. has the best prices in town, and a very good selection of wine. We are hella lucky to have Publix for groceries. About how many groc. stores can you say that you can actually eat and enjoy their bakery bread? Pastiche is supposed to be wonderful. Many people like Crush (tho I have heard they can be tyrants to workers and some customers, so I'm not going there soon. Ditto Bistro Aix). The farmer's market on Beaver St. downtown is supposed to be good.

Try JaxEats.com for true integrity in local restaurant reviews.

The landing is a tourist trap. Don't eat at the Italian place there. Don't eat at Giovanni's on the Beaches. As I come to know the city more (been here since Sept.) I will post again (fair warning!).

[Help Me ! I'm a Coffee Moron]

Well, best of luck. I have worked in five coffee/tea houses and am passionate about all things barista-ish....but don't have as much experience as maybe some others, so here are a couple of truly random observations:

I like Lavazza. Why? At my first coffeeshop I called them to ask about whole espresso bean prices for maybe switching our house espresso over to them. They took our address and said they would get back to us. Within a week this white van with "Lavazza" printed across the side in what I have come to think of as "Lavazza blue" pulled up out front and these two old Italian guys jumped out. (true story...) they came in, muttering in Italian to each other and in slightly broken English to us, tweaked our machine, set up an espresso grinder (we didn't have one at the time, were using our Ditting on the finest grind, if you can believe that) full of Lavazza beans, and proceeded to pull some of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen. They were tasty, too. Now that's service. THO, I don't know which of their blends is all-Arabica. This is too important, as Robusta beans are basically mass-market crap. The difference is the difference between Folger's and any good coffeehouse's coffee. Fiero vs. Ferrari.... Check on this.... Epilogue: My manager decided she didn't want to switch. Sigh. Oh, and I think Lavazza will give you all sorts of Lavazza cups, umbrellas, etc.

On the other hand, finding a local roaster may be an even better idea. I have no experience with this. Just taste, taste, taste their product. It does you no good if it's fresh but doesn't taste special at all. I know this is obvious and sorry if I seem like I'm being pedantic or something but many places I have worked don't seem to want to go that extra mile to find truly great products/ingredients.

Never call it "expresso" in front of a customer.

Use Torani/Monin/Sterling syrups. And don't be afraid to mix and match. My barista-buddy shane and I did a lot of taste-testing and one line's vanilla would be better than the other, but the other's hazelnut would be better, etc.

Ditto with your whole bean supplier (if you can't find a local roaster). We used I think three diff. suppliers. Just come up to their shipping minimum to get free shipping, if you can support the volume. And don't get suckered into buying their tea line, too. My instincts are that it would be a rare company that did a fantastic job with both, tho I could be wrong. (see below)

ALWAYS beat the competition on price, across the board, especially Starbucks. Because you will be in a museum/downtown you might begin to think people can afford to pay a lot, but people will notice if you beat 'em on price, and word will spread. That is, as long as your place doesn't seem ill-put-together/depressed (more on this in a sec.), and they think you are cheaper because you might have an inferior product. This especially applies if you are serving a capuccino in the classic 6-ounce up. For goodness' sake, don't charge $3.50 for the thing!

Don't use the mediocre mass-market tea brands that everybody else uses, e.g. Tazo, etc. Republic of Tea is alright (even tho they are a bit mass-market, but tasty!). I would go the extra mile and use Harney and Sons www.harney.com. They are cream of the crop in the U.S.; they supply a ridiculous list of top hotels in the U.S., and yet one of the sons (I forget which) spent about 30 min. on the phone with me once answering technical questions. Righteous!

Have real ceramic (or whatever) espresso and cappucino cups and saucers, as well as to-go cups, especially if you will have chairs and tables (or booths!). Many people will really appreciate this. Especially in a possibly high-tone downtown museum environment, I think.... Keep 'em on top of the espresso machine to keep them hot, as they do in Italy. Andy they look GOod up there. So buy an espresso machine that has a flat top so you can do this. And maybe get those cute little spoons for stirring in their sugar might be nice.

Not everybody likes dark-roasted coffee. (Esp. in hot areas?) Give your people a range of choice.

If you are gonna sell whole beans and are not sure how much you are gonna sell, you might buy them from the roasters in 1 lb. bags, instead of 5 lb. bags, a la' Starbucks. This will save on display space (you won't need all those poly display bins and associated costs of buying all those bins, not to say cleaning em!), and your stuff will sell fresher. Tho you will pay the roaster more, maybe....

Clean your espresso machine/steam wand with Urnex every night (that is, the portafilter [the thing with a handle you put the ground espresso in] and group head [the part of the espresso machine you stick the portafilter in], and the steam wand). Also do not let people stick the steam wand in a cup of water to soften up the dried milk (below). As the wand cools, it will draw scummy water back up into the line and maybe into the boiler. BAD news! Only do this at the end of the night with a cup full of Urnex water, as per the Urnex directions. Keep a damp towel on the machine or next to it in a sani-bucket around each steam wand and have your people /wipe/ the damned thing /every/ time they use it. Even during a rush. Nothing grosser than an icky steam wand. For crusted up milk, keep a green srubbie on had.

Never take a brillo anywhere near an espresso machine. Embarassing story: When I was very green, but eager, I scrubbed out the inside of a portafilter with a brillo to get the old accumulated espresso off--had never heard of Urnex (below). Well I scrubbed off the nickel plating too. Right down to the brass. And don't you know those shots tasted like pure brass. Luckily we had other portafilters, and my boss didn't yell at me; she just dropped the 80$ for a new one.....

Portafilters (below) with two spouts are not /necessarily/ for double shots and single spouts for singles. What determines how many shots you should pull from a particular portafilter is which interchangable brew basket is inside it. The double spouted ones are usually for pulling into two diff cups at once.

You could always be environmental and use unbleached, or better yet metal coffee filters (if they make 'em for store machines), recycled napkins and cups, etc. Good karma....

Keep a few glass gradiated shot glasses around for pulling shots into, esp. for measuring output. I think the ideal shot is b.w 1 - 1 1/2 oz in 17-21 secs. It is probably better to pull shots directly into the cup you are serving in, but with tall cups this is impractical. Don't pull into metal.

If you sell thermos cups, IMHO the ones that are all-metal make the coffee taste like metal. Maybe you could find enamelled-inside ones or something?

Even if it is a super-small operation, don't brew coffee into glass carafes on a heating unit. Coffee stays fresh about 20 minutes in those things. I like best the big clunky Bunn (or other) rectangular metal carafe-thingies. Food for thought: Starbucks throws out their brewed coffee every four hours, and starts over. That's about how long it is supposed to stay fresh, anyways. For this and for brewing tea, french presses, etc. have several cheap digital timers on hand.

To measure out how much coffee to brew, have a digital scale. I think the brewer manufacturer can help you w. how many ounces of coffee to brew, and you can experiment with the grind... just put the beans on the filter on the scale, then grind them back into the filter. Presto. This is prob. /very/ bad advice re: freshness, but when anticipating a rush, you can make a few of these filter in advance and store them in a tupperware.

Have generic empty squeeze-bottles full of simple syup (sugar-water) on your cream and sugar station. Iced-drink people will REally appreciate this. Trying to use crystallized sugar to sweeten an iced drink is a true exercise in frustration.

When somebody orders iced coffee, for the love of God don't fill a cup with ice and then dispense hot coffee over it. Brew a few different flavors (or just one, pref. unflavored) double-strength, and keep it in a big tupperware with a spigot, or a big pitcher, in the fridge.

This is an obvious one, sorry, but use real whipped cream. The best texture comes from a stand mixer. Failing that you could buy a nitrous-driven reusable cream whipper (the ones that look like a can o whipped cream with the NO2 [?] capsule sticking off the side). Don't know if that is cheaper than buying the cans. But avoid guar gum, etc.; buy the real, unadulterated stuff.

Ditting grinders have been in every place I have worked. They seem really solid. It is highly advisable, tho not life-and-death to have one for flavored coffee, and one for unflavored. THo I just read in K. Davids (below) that if you use a burr grinder for a flavored coffee, the grinder will taste of that flavor for the next few batches. He recommends blade grinders. Not sure what to say about that.... Talk to Ditting (below) or other grinder maker.

Following this have two espresso grinders, one for decaf beans.

When it comes to selling flavored coffees, try to find ones with natural flavoring s in. We had a pecan coffee from either First Colony or Superior, I forget, that had big chunks of pecans in. The pecan oil that resulted in the ground coffee lent incredible body and texture to the brewed stuff. You could always experiment with blending your own flavored coffees, haven't tried that, tho I know many dedicated coffeeshops do it with some success.

The best chocolate I have used so far for mochas is powdered Ghiradelli. Don't know why but the powder seems to lend a better texture to a mocha than any syrup. Then you put a big sign up: "We use Ghiradelli!" or something "American made!" .

If you sell whole beans, keep a few French presses around (Bodum; avoid Bon Jour) for people who will want to try something that is not the coffee of the day. Esp. if you have Jamaican Blue Mountain or Kona or something--sell it by the press, just for a special treat.... Or just for those people who prefer press coffee. And don't charge an arm and a leg for cafe' presse', as one place I worked for did. Goodness' sake! They're actually a snap to clean, once you get used to it.

Read, read, read! Try: Coffee, a guide to buying, brewing, and enjoying, by Kenneth Davids. I don't like his writing style but he has some good info. Example: Also the Republic of Tea book on Tea is a good starting point. And Start and Run a Coffee Bar by Tom Matzen, Marybeth Harrison, which is pretty good. Also there is How to Open a Financially Successful Coffee, Espresso & Tea Shop by Elizabeth Godsmark, Lora Arduser, Douglas R. Brown, which I haven't read, and ESPRESSO! Starting and Running Your Own Specialty Coffee Business by Joe Monaghan, which I haven't read either. I got a supscription to Fresh Cup for Christmas, but the writing is not what I had hoped for. You might also try Specialty Coffee Retailer magazine.... I guess they are good for supplier's 800 numbers and new product ideas. I also found this, and I am sure there is much better stuff on the web....

On your knockbox (the thing you bang the portafilter on to get out the spent espresso grounds) make sure the bar had a rubber tube around it. One place I worked didn't, and the brew baskets on our portafilters were all bent up.

If you sell pastries, please don't get the crap from Sysco, etc. Find a pastry store in town, taste their stuff, and work out a deal with them. Even Toaster Strudels are better than that Sysco stuff and most of the junk they serve at Starbucks, etc.

If you are going to sell Chai, taste around. There is a lot of gross stuff out there (Big Train). Ditto with frozen blended drinks (Big Train) . And for the latter, get a blender with a noise-dampening hood (like Vita-Mix blenders have). You could brew your own Chai fresh.... H & Sons has a whole leaf spiced Chai, but I thought it was a little strange (my one disappointment from them, tho maybe it was truly authentic and that was how it is supossed to taste).

If you are going to sell tea, insted of teabags you could do as Tealuxe (bleh) does and buy little filter bags that you put loose tea in and then wedge the top flap of the bag between the lid of the cup and the cup. And you could have teapots with the inserts for sit-down people.....

Speaking of tasting around, 90% at least of companies will send you boucoups free samples of their stuff to taste, before you commit to buy/sell a product. Take advantage of this....

You will probably not be selling smallwares in a museum location, but if you sell teapots, include the classic "brown betty" teapot in your stable.

The first place I worked at had a La Pavoni machine that insted of being push-button, had a little lever that you pulled down to start the extraction and then you pushed it up to stop. It was 100% more satisfying to work with than push-button kinds, kind of like the diff. b/w driving on an automatic transmission and a manual. Or b/w chopping your own garlic or using a garlic press? You were def. more connected to the process, and you had to pay attention and stop the shot when it was time to stop it, instead of just hoping that the grind/humidity/etc. was all in line and that the machine was set for the appropriate time. That said the machine was mostly run by people who didn't care so much about the coffee, and they seemed to have no prob. managing it. Don't be sold by suppliers who tell you you need a fully automatic idiot-proof machine. I assume you won't be hiring idiots, anyway....

RE: your espresso grinder. As the ambient humidity, etc. changes through the day, you will need to adjust the grind on your espresso grinder to keep getting good shots in your ideal 17-22 second window. Therefore buy a grinder where you can adjust the grind easily. And don't grind a full hopper's worth of beans all at once, b/c when the conditions change you will want to get to the new grind-stuff right away. And don't be a crazy manager like one I had and only insist that the head barista adjust the grind. Teach your people why and how to do it. It will give them more of a sense of ownership in the process and lead to more careful and better shots.

Following this: since you are a self-professed coffee moron, hire people who know what they're doing or are willing to learn with you and be listen to them....be flexible....

I read somewhere once that the most pop. flavors are hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate, and I think almond and irish cream. And prob. cinnamon....

IMHO, If you have a chocolate-flavored coffee featured at Valentine's Day, DOn't call it "Valentine's Day Blend". After Valentine's Day, what on earth are you going to do with it all? Call it maybe "Lover's Blend" or something

Most importantly: find true (experienced or potential) coffee enthusiasts to run your place. Just like you wouldn't hire somebody who didn't give a damn about food to be a line cook, if you were smart, there /are/ people out there who do actually have a deep passion for coffee/tea. They are the ones who will make sure every mocha that goes out will be a revelation to the person who drinks it. Put out many ads, maybe? They /are/ out there. And please pay/treat them well. And if they won't mop a floor or wash a dish without making a face, you got the wrong person. That said, the best managers I've had got their hands dirty twice as often as I did, and I consider myself real a dish dog, or something.

Well, I'm sorry if I have been lecture-ish at all, please excuse the spelling mistakes, etc. Any questions feel free to email me or post 'em and I will reply to my best. I would /love/ to hear from you.

[Required Reading]

Wow, I can't believe nobody has mentioned this one so far, so get ready to have your minds blown by:

The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth by Roy Andries (Andreis?) de Groot. My favorite book on any subject. Also, don't miss Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray. And the Time-Life Foods of the World series (69-72) is considered a classic, and I can definately vouch for the book on China.

I must also agree that Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine is cream of the crop. That woman has inTEGrity! And M.F.K. fisher is equally good. As well as The Art of Eating, try As They Were.

[Jacksonville Restaurants]

check out www.jaxeats.com

They have Pastiche down as one of the best in town. Many people I know like Crush a lot, but I have also heard they can be tyrants to staff and some customers.... Makes me not inclined to support them.