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10 Cool Indie Coffee Shops from Coast to Coast

Sawada coffee
Photo via Sawada

It’s an exciting time to be a coffee addict. Across the country, independent coffee shops are changing the coffee game. As much as people enjoy the convenience and predictability of some major chains, indie coffee shops can provide a more creative approach to coffee.

Some indie shops roast their own beans onsite, or buy their beans from small local businesses that work directly with coffee farms in a sustainable supply chain. With increased room for flexibility, they can offer more single origin coffees, change up their menu and experiment with different brewing processes.

Road tripping season is upon us. Here are 10 indie shops to check out from coast to coast.

Read the full article at Paste.

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Portola Coffee Lab

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Image courtesy Portola

Voted 2015 Micro Roaster of the Year by Roast magazine, Portola Coffee Lab is an Orange County, California, coffee pioneer. Since opening their first retail location five years ago in Costa Mesa, Christa and Jeff Duggan have continued to expand across the county.

Portola has coffee shops in Orange, Tustin and Santa Ana, with locations opening soon in Huntington Beach and Mission Viejo. The flagship Costa Mesa shop includes the roastery and the coffee concept bar, Theorem. We talked with founder Christa Duggan about creativity and cocktail-inspired coffee.

Read the full article at Paste.

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Coffee & Vinyl in Portland, ME

Five Questions about Coffee with Tandem Coffee

espresso dripTandem Coffee Roaster’s first shop in Portland, Maine, was opened in 2012. The charming space includes a roastery and just enough tables to give it a cozy feel. Two years later, Tandem opened a bakery and coffee shop across town. With their freshly-roasted beans, expertly-prepared espresso drinks and malted iced coffee, Tandem has made a name for itself in a small city where coffee is big.

Read the full article at Paste.

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5 Questions About Coffee: Revelator Coffee

The first Revelator Coffee opened in Birmingham, AL, in 2014. Next came shops in Chattanooga, New Orleans, Nashville and Atlanta. Just last year, the company opened its 15,000 sq. ft. roastery in Birmingham.

In this interview with Paste, Meredith Singer, Executive Director of Marketing, and Sarah Kluth, Executive Director of Coffee, discuss sourcing specialty coffee and Revelator’s special brand of Southern hospitality.

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photo by Mountainside Photo Co.

Paste: What issues matter to you when sourcing beans for Revelator?

Sarah: Number one, I want the relationship to be mutually beneficial. For some of our coffee growers, what’s most valuable to them is knowing that I’m available to talk about experiments they’re doing on their farm. They get to brainstorm with me because I’ve been on their farm and I see what they want to accomplish and we can work together towards that.

The second thing is looking for high quality coffee. No one who knows agriculture can tell you that you can achieve quality without sustainability. What the soil requires; what the trees require; what the fruit requires — to produce truly beautiful quality, you cannot achieve that without sustainability; you cannot achieve that without loving the Earth and loving the process because if you don’t you’re not going to get good quality.

Then, whatever country we’re sourcing from, we look at the history, and we look at the context and we look at the sense of place. Every place is individual with the soil, with the types of coffee trees, with the types of processing and that all will be expressed in the cup.

Read the full article at Paste. 

 

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May Writing Workshops

Create Space for Creative Writing in Your Busy Life

writer with exploding headHave you always wanted to try creative writing but find the idea scary?
Or, did you once love to write but think you have forgotten how to do it?

Do you find it impossible to squeeze time for creative writing into your hectic life? No more excuses. It’s time to start writing!

Learn how to make time and space for creative writing in your life. In this workshop, we will explore the elements of creative writing and work through exercises designed to help you develop the habits of a successful writer. You will learn how to establish writing goals and meet them–even if you only have 20 minutes to write a day. You will walk away with new writing, new goals and a new commitment to your creative life.

Date: Saturday, May 21, 2016
Time: 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Location: cove – 1817 M Street Northwest, Washington, DC
Register here.

 

Increase Revenue with Creative Content (Training)

Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Time: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Location: Cove 7th Street – 829 7th Street Northwest
Register here.

content meetingCreative content has become a critical part of doing business. How well are you telling your organization’s story?

Everyone wants to hear a good story. Whether your goal is to engage donors, secure grant funding or engage new customers, the best way to do it by developing content about your products, programs and services. If you’re not telling stories, you’re leaving money on the table.

In this training, you will learn how to:

  • Develop content that showcases your products, programs and services.
  • Implement a content culture across your organization.
  • Create an editorial calendar and production schedule to plan for upcoming news and events.
  • Interview clients, customers and supporters.
  • Track and evaluate how well your content is performing.

This training is for business owners, communications and development professionals and anyone who wants to learn how to use content to increase revenue.

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5 Questions About Coffee: Bellwether

Bellwether is a specialty coffee shop, whiskey club, men’s boutique and a members-only co-working space for creative entrepreneurs in Denver. For all the things Bellwether offers, slow-brewed, quality coffee tops the list. The shop works with local roasters (including Boxcar, Corvus Coffee Co, Method Coffee and MiddleState) to create the perfect cup of coffee.

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image courtesy Bellwether

Here’s a Q & A with Bellwether co-owner, Rustin Coburn, who talks about what makes Bellwether a special place for specialty coffee.

Read the article at Paste magazine.

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Inspired by David Bowie

David Bowie knitDavid Bowie’s style broke the laws of our universe. Colors were more brilliant; more dazzling on him. Searing orange. Lightning bolt yellow. Blood red. Bowie was patterns on patterns. And the textures! He brought cohesion to chaos. A silk kimono, a vinyl suit, a velvet jumper. He could pull it off.

Looking for some inspiration? Be bold. Be brave. Be Bowie.

Here’s some tips for integrating the colors and textures of Bowie into your favorite spaces.

Continue reading “Inspired by David Bowie”

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Reykjavik Roasters

Reyk Roasters Torfi_crop
Torfi works the Giesen roaster at the Kárastígur shop

Reykjavík Roasters’ new café on Brautarholt has a much edgier feel than the original shop –– a cozy little quaint place on Kárastígur, which since its launch in 2008 has been city favorite.

The new location is a neighborhood just 10 minutes up from the bustling downtown area of 101 Reykjavík, but it has a totally different vibe.

“This neighborhood is kind of raw, but it’s also kind of trendy, and up-and-coming,” says co-owner Ingibjörg (Imma) Jóna Sigurðardóttir. The café’s design matches that industrial aesthetic.

Reykjavík Roasters is a major player in Iceland’s small but mighty coffee scene. Their retail business includes in-store and online sales, and they do wholesale sales to cafés, restaurants, and a few other accounts.

Continue reading “Reykjavik Roasters”