A few weeks back I spent a day at the Coffee Equipment Company (the place that makes the Clover) in Seattle. That’s Clover HQ over on the right. Need proof I was there? Check out the reflection of that spiffy blue Chrysler Sebring convertible -my rental car from Budget. Finally got to meet Zander and Randy (founders), catch up with David and Anastasia, and learn a lot about our little machine from Deli our instructor extraordinaire. Great people all around and I wish them a lot of continued success in their new venture.
Before I go off on a tangent, I wanted to mention that if you are one of those nervous Clover owners and were worried about service/support/etc. fear no more…
wait for it… waaaaiiit…
I’m now a certified Clover Technician!
Mainly I’m going to take care of our machine, but if Starbucks calls in the middle of the night with a jammed piston or something and they need some help I’ll make time in my busy schedule and help out a fellow business (for an exorbitant fee).
I. LIKE. ICED. TEA.
In the Strip we’ll be rotating through three different feature teas this summer- Tropicalia (a black tea with hints of passion fruit and raspberry), Moroccan Mint (a mint green tea with a hint of lemon), and our herbal/decaf option King Crimson (best described as an unsweetened berry Kool-Aid- you have to try it). Downtown we’ll stick with the Tropicalia as the pre-brewed tea (no rotation, sorry).
In addition to the above choices that we’ll have pre-brewed each day, you can also try any tea off of the menu brewed fresh and poured over ice, as long as you’re willing to wait about 5 minutes or so.
And no… we don’t do the “sweet tea” thing, but if you want it sweetened let us know and we can melt up some honey or sugar in the bottom of your cup before we pour it.
It’s that time of year again- the weather’s warming up and you what you really want is an iced coffee. If you’re in the Strip District, stop in for a freshly brewed cup of iced coffee. We make it to order on the Clover by brewing the usual amount of coffee with less water to create a concentrate. The hot concentrated coffee is poured over a full cup of ice so that when it reaches drinking temperature it’s melted just enough ice to have the same full flavor you’d get from your hot coffee. I generally like my coffee hot better than iced, but I brewed up some Zirikana (Rwanda) on the rocks and it was delicious- no cream or sugar necessary.
Our Frick Building/Downtown customers have indicated that they would like a choice of coffees made fresh to order like our Clover Brew Bar menu in the Strip. No Clovers downtown, but beginning tomorrow 5/8/08 we’ll offer press pot (french press) coffee made to order at the Frick Building Coffee Bar. Here are the ground rules:
-Coffees take approximately 5 minutes to prepare (4 minute brewing time plus prep time)
-We are using one size (16oz) press for simplicity and repeatability
-The price will be the same as our current medium (16oz) coffee of the day price - $2.05
At some point in the future, we may offer a smaller size and the price per coffee type may vary based upon the recipes we develop. Initially we’ll be using the same amount of coffee for each press, regardless of which coffee we use.
Congratulations to Kyle Glanville of Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea - Los Angeles, this years U.S. Barista Champion. Kyle is one of the people in the coffee business that we admire for the way that he represents himself, his company, and the wonderful coffees they source and deliver to us every week.