Aroma Lab

I did Aroma Lab on Friday 19th of June. In advance, hand painted the poster, planned how I was going to shred  tender basil leaves to prove that Sumatra really smells of basil and other herbs. Offered one of the best coffees we have right know - Tanzania, seasonal coffee, available only limited period of time, which is unbeatable crowd-pleaser - elegant, medium bodied, with refreshing citrus-y notes.

The effectiveness of the poster was rather low and didn't generate any extra customer flow, but I still managed to have few meaningful conversations and profound tastings. Especially, I was thrilled to meet a couple from Colombia, people, who know a lot about coffee and share my passion. They have been to the coffee farms many times and the gentleman even worked there. It was very nice to find a like-minded person. This is what I like most - Conversation with the fellow human beings, something worth cherishing and savouring.

The photographs are courtesy of Irina, dear friend of mine, who did very well catching me with one of the most unexpected guests.

Fernandez and Wells

On Thursday as a part of Regional Coffee Meeting we went to check out our competitors. To be honest, when I saw agenda I thought that we would go to Costa or Nero or maybe Pret, because they are our competition. But we went to the indie coffee shops.
In my opinion, indie coffee shops we can't really compete with them. And them with us. Because obviously the volume of the business is very different , the feel, the products etc. However, the visit was great. Our group went to Fernandez and Wells on Beak street. I have read about this coffee shop before on thisisnaive.com , a lovely blog on lifestyle and beautiful things. I was very curious and was going to visit it anyway. It was a nice surprise that Charlotte took us there.
I loved the casual, easy feel of the place. Simple painted white wooden panels, rustic furniture, squeaky wooden floors. There are few places like this in Soho and plenty in Berlin. It appears "cheap", as if knocked out from the junk that was gathering dust in the Dad's loft, different mugs, vases with flowers, old-fashioned chairs... But I just know for sure, this is very well thought through strategy, million tiny design decisions resulting in you, consumer, nostalgia-ing about your granny's cottage and tea with scones and jam. Coming back to your roots. To nature. To simple unpretentious living. And you want to bring your girlfriend there. Ideally, sporting a pretty dress with daisies all over it. Sigh. It is just so GREAT.
Anyway, the beans they are using are a bit dodgy. I drunk my espresso, forcing myself. It was a bit harsh, very sour and our collective opinion is that they put some robusta in it. Our coffee is def better, but they have their washed-out white walls, and have time to steam the milk properly.

   

Paris, je t'aime!

The other day, as early as three o'clock in the morning, I woke up and in fifth time tried to upload my freshly edited video about our trip to Paris and and succeeded, I was just ecstatic!  Amount of time I spent, trying and failing to comprehend all the abbreviations, numbers and extensions of video exporting, is just unjustifiable!

But with the help of a very good friend Alex, I eventually managed and feel AWFULLY proud of myself!

In Paris from Jeanna Mortimer on Vimeo.

Run for Kids

What possibly would bait you out of the bed on early (and I mean early, like, 6 in the morning) on Sunday after a    long week at work? Let's face it - there are not many things in life that can compete with weekend lay-in. However, one of them definitely can. Contribution. Doing something that can be useful and important to people.
This is how District Coffee Masters of Central Region decided to spend their Sunday morning, taking part in Run for Kids in Battersea Park. This event was organized by Great Ormond Street Hospital and we got involved through Gavin, one of the District Managers, who has a long relationship with the Hospital, having helped them to organize their Christmas parties for the patients. Few weeks ago, during Regional Coffee Meeting, he suggested to take part in the event, maybe, not to run, but to promote it with our customers and on the day, to have tent put up and to serve coffee and tea to the participants and spectators.
We thought it was great idea and today went very well. It was fun and relaxing day, Battersea Park is just amazing, very green, with boating lake, sports pitches and zoo. We had lots of laughs and raised quite a lot of cash. Our reputation of rather expensive establishment helped - people came to the tent with some notes or change ready, but since we did refreshments for free, some of this money went straight into the collection box. Within an hour, we had to force coinage into the box, it was dead full. All and all, I really enjoyed it and filmed, of course. Micromovie comes to this blog later. Watch this space!

Some people just walked...

Aiste promoting VIA

Our gazebo was quite popular with the folks!

Coffee with cardamom

It is such a glorious summer morning outside, and I am off work and this kind of morning just calls for wasting one's time laying on the grass in the park and listening to the birds, melting into the grass, reading some profound book which just doesn't make any sense but is still pleasant to read thanks to enchanting combination of vowels and consonants and mesmerising rhythms.
Well, for a start, I just brewed myself a cup of coffee. How original! However, it is not your usual coffee I did. It is brew with the twist, with the nod to ancient cultures of Middle East and West Asia. (Cardamom grows pretty much in the same conditions that coffee trees require; sometimes it provides some additional income for coffee farmers, however, demand for this spice is relatively low and can't alone sustain the whole family or coop. It was just the matter of time, that folks would start mixing these two. Some people also get kicks adding cardamom into chocolate. Bless them!)
So, Coffee with cardamom! I have to say, I did it wrong! Checking the cyberspace for some info AFTER preparing the coffee was a bit short-sighted. I brewed coffee with far too many cardamom pods (about 8 for a cup!), which I didn't ground - just whacked them in the caffetier. But still it tasted WOW! It tasted new. Exciting! With very strong cardamom flavour, to be fair my concoction should be called Cardamom with coffee, not the other way round.
They also say cardamom is very powerful aphrodisiac. Spicy!
Try it for yourself - couple of ground pods for a cup would be enough to add some fragrance and flavour without overpowering coffee itself. Have a happy tasting!