Tag Archive for 'Why 21st Street Coffee and Tea?'

How to Waste Less?

Published
by
Luke
on June 3, 2008
in Coffee
. 1 Comment

We’re always looking at ways to cut down on our waste- whether it be coffee (brewing fresh by the cup), milk (steaming only what is needed for one drink), paper (why don’t you have that drink in a mug?), or otherwise.  Generally I drink my coffee or espresso drinks out of ceramic or glass- it just tastes better, retains the heat, and it seems wasteful for me to use a cup when I know I’m going to finish the drink quickly.

On my recent trip to Seattle, I don’t think I touched a single paper cup… but I was in the mood to hang out at all the great coffee bars and take in the atmosphere.  Many of our customers don’t have that luxury and they want something good but they need to take it to go.  With our coffee, we also sell quite a lot of paper every day, so we got to thinking… how can we cut down on paper waste without making everyone late for work?

We switched from our old preprinted paper sleeves a while back, opting for the “Eco Sleeve” you see today.  We chose them for many reasons:

  • Eco Sleeves insulate better than paper sleeves
  • Eco Sleeves are 100% recyclable
  • They are 100% biodegradeable
  • They are lighter and cost less to ship
  • They cost LESS than paper

That’s a WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN, but what if your drink didn’t really need a sleeve?  We steam our milk drinks to the 140-145F range.  Your drink is nice and hot but you can drink it right away and enjoy it while it’s fresh.   We’ve been putting sleeves on cups for two years with drinks that didn’t require it- because we wanted to get our brand on the cups and get our name out there.

Enter the stamp…

we started stamping our hot cups in the Strip District this week and when you order a milk drink you’ll get a stamped cup without a sleeve.  It has our logo, the drink tastes the same, and you just wasted a little less paper.  Our initial research has also shown that the stamped cup increases our “punk-rock-ness” quotient in the ever important “coffee community”.  You can’t underestimate the power of community ’round these parts.

Seriously though, by finding ways to save on our costs we’re able to offset increases in the cost of just about everything else- the cost of the cups, milk, coffee (that’s how direct trade is supposed to work so we’re ok with that one), fuel, etc has all gone up while our prices have remained fixed for the past year.

Another example of being responsible with the cup issue- we put out a pitcher of ice water and “for here” glasses for customers that want water, so we don’t have to use a plastic cup if you just want a quick drink after your espresso.  We always have bottled water if you want something “to-go”.

If you read through all of this and you still want a sleeve for your latte we’ll give you one, but you’ll feel bad about it later I guarantee you.

The Post Gazette visits 21st Street

Published
by
Luke
on April 6, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

We’re in today’s Sunday Post Gazette giving our thoughts on Starbucks’ buyout of the Coffee Equipment Company- makers of the Clover 1s coffee brewer. Quite a few people came in today for the first time, mentioned the article, and teased me about my dark roast comments.

A lot of folks have come into the shop lately and asked us about our feelings on the issue, and I think this article sums it up nicely. What we want to make clear is that to make great brewed coffee you have to have great (and fresh) beans. It really depends on what you put into your brewer, and then everything that happens next depends on your gear and your preparation. Just as you can ruin great coffee by brewing it incorrectly or by using a machine that doesn’t get the water hot enough, you can’t get a great cup on the best equipment with the best trained baristas if you’re starting with stale, defect ridden, over-roasted coffee.

At our shop, we try to bring all of these elements together- the best and freshest beans, a high level of training, and top end equipment that gives us a greater degree of control and accuracy in the brewing process.

To give an example, we have a great espresso machine that gives us control over the brew water temperature to within half a degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday we finished off one espresso blend (Kid-O) and put the new batch (Black Cat) in the hopper. To get the new coffee (also a more recent roast date) ready to go we needed to adjust our grind as well as drop the temperature down about 5 degrees (as the coffee was almost “too fresh”). We then made finer grind adjustments until the coffee tasted the way we wanted it to- good fruit, but balanced acidity, chocolaty finish, syrupy body. The reason I go into all of this is because even with great coffee and great equipment, you still need a trained palate to taste these coffees throughout the day and have baristas that care enough to make the adjustments necessary to bring out the best in those beans.

We care, and we try to improve our game incrementally each day. I’ve been playing around with my Chemex a lot lately because it’s just a great way to make coffee- if you prepare it carefully. The Clover makes a lot of sense for us because it allows us to deliver great quality repeatably and quickly. We believe in the saying “put your money where your mouth is”. We have never been about doing things purely for show (the wow factor as I alluded in the article)- and that’s why we’re happy with our Clover and will continue to tweak it and learn more about what we’re brewing.

21st Street Coffee and Tea Video- Now with Celebrity Endorsements

Published
by
Luke
on February 14, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Need another reason to come visit the Strip District? Check out this new video from Pop City Media featuring the Strip. We’re featured alongside Enrico Biscotti, Jimmy & Nino’s, Klavon’s, Pamela’s Diner, and some other well known Strip businesses.

Highlights from the video include:

  • Several shots of our pastry case- featuring some of the wonderful muffins and cupcakes we get every day from Priory Fine Pastries.
  • A couple of words from me, about why you should visit the Strip and 21st Street Coffee and Tea in particular.
  • Close up of a pretty nice latte pour in progress, although you don’t get to see the finished product (Please visit the flickr page)
  • Cameo by our very own Mary Packett, who chimes in with her two cents on the Strip.
  • Celebrity endorsement by none other than Kevin Smith, who happened to be in the shop the day they were filming and was responsible for one of the funniest moments in our history.

pop2.JPGKevin also mentioned some sweet-ass pancakes that he had next door at Pamela’s P&G Diner- and we’d have to agree. Love the Pamela’s crepe pancakes- with whipped cream, bananas, and syrup. He said some other things that were quite humorous but not really fit for mass consumption. I’m hoping to get my hands on the unrated version.

All in all a very cool video. Thanks to Pop City for including us! Also thanks to all our new friends from “Zack and Miri Make a Porno“. Everybody’s been really cool and we also appreciate all the business you bring our way.

CHOW Chimes in on the Clover

Published
by
Luke
on January 8, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

clover_rev.jpg Long time between posts- holidays have been good… and busy!

Anyway, I found a really neat Clover article on CHOW.com today. Anyone that’s visited our Strip District shop has probably seen the Clover in action, but this writeup does as good a job I’ve seen explaining the brewing process.  Definitely check it out.

My quick description of the Clover brewing process typically begins with- have you ever had a French Press? (customer says yes) Ok, so basically we’re going to use a finer grind, higher dose, accurately control time and temperature, and “plunge” the coffee from the bottom to create a vaccum and wring as much coffee goodness as possible from the “cake”- in about a minute. This is not the Nespresso you got Mom for Christmas.

Puzzled look? French huh? Well, then you get the long description, but the essence of “press pot” brewing is that the coffee and water are in contact with one another for the entire brewing cycle (total immersion brewing), much like how you would steep a tea. When the coffee has finished brewing, you have to get all the grounds out of the solution, so you push a filter, piston-style, through the coffee/water “soup” to strain the coffee/push the grounds to the bottom of the pot. Then you can pour your wonderful coffee into your favorite mug.

The issue for most folks (what I hear from customers) with the press is that it is “difficult to clean”. After you’ve finished your coffee you have a pot with a pile of soggy coffee grounds in the bottom. You also have a filter screen that requires cleaning. For those that don’t mind the extra cleaning, what prevents them from achieving a great cup from a press pot is lack of control over their coffee variables. It’s like a science experiment. These variables include- how much coffee you use (the dose), the size of the coffee particles (grind), coffee to water ratio, water temperature, brewing time, do I stir it, what do I do with the coffee after brewing to store it… etc.

Anyway this is where the Clover comes into play. The Clover very accurately controls three key variables- TIME, TEMPERATURE, and VOLUME (of water). We can fine tune, to the second, degree, and ounce the length of time the water and coffee will remain in contact with one another, the temperature of that water, and how much water is used. Two other key variables are controlled by the barista- GRIND and DOSE. We weigh out the coffee for each cup on a digital gram scale- accurate to 0.1 grams (each coffee bean weighs around that much) to get the correct dose. We then select the correct grind for that coffee on our coffee grinder, and grind up the coffee seconds before brewing.  Oh, and the coffee we use is FRESH- we only use coffee within about a week of the roast date (none of this “best before 8/08 stuff” I saw at the grocery store today).  Did I mention that we use great direct trade coffee from Intelligentsia?

insets2_rev.jpg

The fact that the Clover is fast (most coffees are brewed in under 1 minute) and easy to clean (people like to watch the squeegie) makes it feasible for a commercial environment like ours. We can accurately brew excellent coffee quickly- repeatably, assuming you care about the coffee and know how to control the variables. The Clover is a great tool- one that provides the barista the controls to fine tune each and every cup. Use poor quality (or stale) coffee, or dial it in improperly, and it can make bad coffee as well. The same could be said of any espresso bar running top equipment but pumping out sour or bitter espresso or scalded milk drinks.  We like what Clover’s been doing for our coffee.

Read the entire CHOW article here.