Cafe Education Series-Part 5-On the Rocks

We’ve been over lattes, and cappuccinos, and even an Americano.  At this point, your coffee ordering experience is so much more well educated that you can survive the menu with out making the same mistakes I once also made.

But then there’s those pesky Iced drinks.  Is it an iced coffee?  Or a Frappuccino?  And what the heck is a Mocha Frappe Latte anyway??!!

This is part 5 in my Cafe Education series. A series set to get you informed on exactly what a coffee shop has to offer you, rather then ordering that safe vanilla latte you’re so used to getting.  Subscribe to my feed and join in on the fun!

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Fairy-Mermaid-Princess-Queen-Butterfly

Excuse me, I’m a day late. And probably a dollar short. Life with a three year old is not always easy. (can I get and AMEN?!)

And promoting shows is not always easy.

And cleaning my house is not always easy.

Making coffee? Always easy, but that’s beside the point.

Somewhere in the chaos, my sister and I took the Littles In The Scene out Trick or Treating. Don’t tell my mom or dad okay?  We grew up, definitely NOT trick or treating making this my sisters first time out on the streets herself. And my first time out since I was Waldo in third grade.–remember waldo?  red and white striped guy?  hey, at least it was better then my second sisters costume, she was Bozo the clown, that’s not even fair.

Hosanna played the roll of a fairy-mermaid-princess-queen-butterfly. Which turned out looking something like this;

And to go along with the theme, I pulled out a sweet tutu for Zuri–Tutu Tutorial from plumtickled–added some wings, and voila! Instant fairy-mermaid-princess-queen-butterfly.–I don’t question the desires, I just try to make it happen.

Snow exciting

I interrupt your caffeinated  programming to bring you…SNOW!!!

We live in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan. Go look at a map. See the mitten of michigan?  Now keep going up by the big body of water, see the land mass?  No, it didn’t just appear there.  That, my friend, is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  It’s not by Traverse City, and no, it’s not part of Canada.  But yes, it is north of Toronto, and most of Ontario…and it is cold.

Cold enough to snow?  An entire centimeter, maybe three below freezing.  Cold enough for Hosanna to be determined to sled.  That girl has been pee-my-pants excited since roughly September 1st, excited for winter.  She uses it as leverage, showing favor or not to her friends, i.e. “You’re not invited to winter anymore.”   And, on more then one occasion, has entered into heated theological debates on the existence on Santa Claus (she’s voting YES in 2008).
When she woke up seeing a layer of white on the ground, you can her excitement.  She maybe ate three bites of her breakfa imaginest before she was putting on her pink coat from last year, throwing her boots on–the wrong feet of course–and digging through our hats ready to head out side.

Me?  I figured what the heck, let’s make a day of it.  We made snow balls, mmmm okay, snow pellets, and sledded down our little hill a number of times.  Well, you call it sledding, I call it cross training.  I pulled the girls up the hill, and then pulled them a little faster down.

This lasted maybe 15 minutes.  Then Hosanna realized the truth–winter is cold. Thank God for that coffee shop.  With a demand of hot chocolate–not too hot, with an ice cube of course and chocolate on top, oh and whipped cream too.  I upped her one.
I named the day our Winter Welcome and pulled out the Christmas movies.
But I couldn’t leave well enough alone.  I’m just not that kind of mamma.  I pulled out my sugar cookie recipe, and dusted off the tree shaped cookie cutters, and we went to town on a batch of Christmas cookies.

Maybe it’s a new tradition.  Or maybe I over did it.  Probably.  Hopefully, I satisfied her three-year-old demand and demand and demand and demand and DEMAND of christmas.  Or I’ve just fed the monster, and this is only the beginning…probably the latter.

A Beany business

He who finds a good roaster finds a good thing. A coffee roaster, that is. Believe it or not, the coffee bean is a fragile thing. (I’m such a poet and I know it) any step along the road from seed to cup can effect the bean in either a positive or negative way. Making it imperative to choose a roaster that will deal delicately with the fragile little bean. This is why we chose Alliance World Coffees. *Note the thumbs up and cheesy grin.

I’ve mentioned a little bit about Alliance previously; they’re a business that runs from interns at a Missionary Alliance Church–and yes, that is where they got the name Alliance World Coffees, you’re so smart. The goals are mainly to give students an opportunity to get their hands involved in a quality business, teaching them skills that will help them to remain on their feet through college, as opposed to floundering around trying to figure out just how many ways you can cook Ramen. All the while, teaching the interns involved various biblical principles. Genius. College kids + extra classes = COFFEE. They can’t go wrong.

And these college kids? Shiite coffee drinkers. I was surprised to not find them jittery during our training session we had a week ago. It’s impressive at the information they are able to spit out. The perfect timing of the roaster. The perfect latte art. And here you thought I was a coffee snob–HA!

Alliance has two big sides to the coffee side of the business: the roasting of the bean and the training of the Barista (here’s where I’m getting to your question Kristen and Sarah!) Both facets they take seriously. Sending out interns to coffee expo’s. Competing in Barista contests. You know, all the uber nerdy things. For coffee shops/houses/kiosks/what-have-you, they offer training free of charge (mind you, you are purchasing your beans from AWC.) For the new entrepreneur or possibly home Barista–that’s you Kristen!–they offer a “school” called The Coffee Institute. This is an “as much as six days” school offering super in-depth training in everything from the business of coffee to the actual Barista training. It can be a little pricey, but the information is definitely worth it. *Again, note thumbs up and cheesy grin.

AWC also offers “cuppings” (fancy pants word for coffee tasting…like a wine tasting, you follow?) Cuppings are really fun to attend. When you’re taught how to try different coffees and what the different regions of the world offer…it’s like caffeinated love…and you come out looking like a genius, literally a genius. For those Hoosiers–what the heck is a Hoosier?–out there, I believe AWC offers cuppings every Thursday. By the way, a Hoosier is the proper nickname of someone from Indiana, and no, not even they know what the word means. I bet there’s a lot of other roasters out there that offer cuppings as well, so if you’re not from Indiana, don’t despair. Just go ask at that little shop that you’ve been going to. And if we’re going with the cafe education theme, you’re going to look so smart I bet the Barista falls over in awe of your coffee knowledge.

If you are EVER in Indiana for ANY reason, and you claim to love coffee, stop at Alliance. First, you’ll feel like complete scum for even thinking about pressing the “cappuccino” button at the gas station. Then you’ll get over it. And you’ll think you’re in heaven because of the glorious smell coming from that wood stove shaped machine in the corner. Take the opportunity to explore the shop a little. Ask questions. Smell the freshly roasted beans coming out of the roaster. And YES, if you’re nice, they might just make you a cup.

Oh, and one last little thing. I do know that you can order awc coffee online. Even better, I happen to know that they roast the beans to order, and ship them the same day they roast them. Fresh beans to your door….mmmm nothing like it. *One last thumbs up and cheesy grin for good measure.

…And Music?!

As big as coffee is in my life, the music side of He-Brews Coffee & Music is continually growing.

It started with a couple of shows here and there, and grew into the weekly venue it now is. Did the music stop there? Oh no, no. No siree. It keeps growing. With the “Tribe of Judah”vision–another story for another day– Josh and I find ourselves all over the UP of Michigan assisting in shows (that’s what those kids are calling concerts these days) and getting our hands into everything musical we can. Why yes, we are crazy, thanks for asking. Continue reading »

Cafe Education Series-Part 4-Sweet as Chai

This is part 4 in our Cafe Education Series. Giving insight into the specialty coffee/drink world. If you like it, please subscribe! It’s so much more fun when everyone is playing along!

Mmmmmm Chai Lattes, the warming drink for the artsy (make mine a soy chai), those who live their lives caffiene free, and the want-to-be coffee drinkers. I’ll admit it, I formerly was the latter. After my red-eye fiasco during my first journey into the coffee house world, I quickly learned the secret. Drinking chai makes you look like you’re a pro in the coffee shop. Besides, they really are delicious. Continue reading »

I’m drinking a killer cup of coffee…right….now

This past Wednesday, I got the opportunity to sit under the wise instruction of our roaster and their own in-house coffee trainer to, quote-unquote, refine my style

This was a big excursion. We had to drive from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan all the way down to Muncie, Indiana. Throw in the fact that my husband started out this trip “on tour” with a band, stopping off at JPUSA, in Chicago, add in a 3-day conference for good measure, and to top off this beautiful situation, my crazy brain actually attempted creating an 8-page newsletter.  Perhaps you didn’t hear me right,  I said an 8 STINKIN’ PAGE newsletter.  And I had to make sure the websites were at least close to up-to-date for anyone interested in what He-Brews Coffee and Music might be offering these days.  That just about sums up the craziness I drank this last week.  I tried my hardest to remember to tweet about it, but someone really needs to inform rural Indiana that cell phone reception is a must these days.  Hey, if Michigan can do it, there are no excuses, not even for Indiana.

I could go into great detail about the joys, the drama, the excitement of this trip, perhaps later, but lets talk coffee instead, shall we?

Our roaster, Alliance World Coffees, in Muncie, Indiana pretty much rules the world of coffee one small roasted batch at a time.  These folks define the term “coffee snob,” keeping afore mentioned “Brown hot” far from their presence.  They work hard at bringing as many folks into their coffee cult as possible.

Hello, my name is Grace, and as you should know, I happily admit that yes, I am a part of that cult; and this time around, I brought friends.  A group of about 10 of us huddled around that beloved whirring espresso machine, watching and practicing each step along the way.

Much of our group had never had the door of intense coffee snobbery opened to them in the past…this was a totally new experience.  So, in our training we got to cover everything from the bean grind, to pulling the shots, to tips such as, “keep the frothing pitcher in the fridge.”

Are you catching on that this is my excuse for not posting?  Because it is.  If we are all going to learn to order coffee drinks because we are smart from a coffee shop/bar/house/kiosk/what-have-you, someone has got to learn it somewhere, and it might as well be me–okay, okay, I happily take on that task.

You just get yourself ready for some great tips coming your way, as we continue on our cafe education series.  Yeah baby, it’s still coming…better then ever.  But for now, this mamma’s got a diaper to change.

Cafe Education-Part 3-Proud to be an Americano

No no no, I’m not using racial slurs.  I’m still talking coffee. Today, I reflect on the Americano. This baby is the darkest, boldest “basic” coffee sure to make you throw your “brown hot” far far away from your coffee distinguished lips.

What’s that you say?  You are unfamiliar with “brown hot”?  Actually, you are probably very familiar with “brown hot.”  Brown hot is what it says it is….it’s the color brown, and it’s hot. That is all. Other nicknames for nasty-bad coffee include:  The Bland Brown Nightmare, Dirt Water Blend, Cafe Cacca, and Mudwell House.   Some brown hot companies you are probably familar with include, but are not exclusive to:  Folgers, Maxwell House, and yes McCafe also counts here….we already know what their burgers are made of, put two and two together here friends!

If you are a lover of the Bland Brown Nightmare, an Americano will blow it out of the water.  A traditional Americano takes either one or two shots of espresso and mixes it with hot water, making a bold, dark “basic” cup of coffee.

With the help today from Grandpapa in the scene (that would be my father, Hosanna’s grandpapa) I have yet another, poor quality, shaky stab at a real Americano.

In my little instructional video, I need to clear one thing up. What we make at our shop is actually called a lungo.  But I’m trying to teach the general public about the difference between a latte and a cappuccino…I don’t want to overly confuse anyone.

Cafe Education Series-Part 2-A Cup A’ Cappuccino

This is part 2 of my cafe education series. If you’re joining just now, I’ve been discussing the differences between each staple “Cafe” drink. Make sure to subscribe to make sure you get the full cafe education series! (mmmhhmmmm yes, I did shamelessly plug myself, a mamma’s gotta do what a mamma’s gotta do)

I think one of the biggest misconceptions of coffee drinks, is the cappuccino. It’s not the cappuccino’s fault. Personally, I blame gas stations everywhere. They are the ones who used the marketing trick, using a fancy name to draw attention to something less than stellar, fooling us all into believing that the drink we consumed was something close to a fancy cafe drink.

Perhaps those gas stations weren’t prepared for the phenomenon that has become the chic and slick 21st century coffee industry.

Now, if you are like me, it’s quite upsetting to go into a coffee shop thinking you’re going to get a deliciously sugar intensive drink…and instead get a cup full of foam.  But like I said previously, it’s not the cappuccino’s fault. A cappuccino, in it’s purest form, is a delicious coffee drink with amazing texture, perfect as a warm blanket on a cold day.

With that said; daddy in the scene and I have prepared yet another thrilling clip;

Okay!  Let’s recap, shall we class???

• a cappuccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, 1/3 foam
• the cup is smaller, 6oz
• It’s possible to look really cool in a shop by ordering your cappuccino “dry” or “wet”

I understand if you’re not ready to jump into the commitment of a flat drink (that would be a drink minus the sweetner), I suggest requesting a little flavor shot.  Right now, I’m loving pumpkin spice with the autumn upon us. Whichever your choice, please go try a real cappuccino; it’ll make your day.

Don’t forget now, subscribe, and stay tuned for the next part in this series…

Things worth pausing for

There’s times when things like coffee instruction need a pause..

such as Baby in the scene walking!

highlights for this little clip of a video:

• daddy in the scene blogging away
• the awesome rug beneath Zuri
• the stellar music in the background
• also, you can avoid my silly sing songy voice