Muertos Coffee

The holiday season is generally pretty crazy for me, so I have been on a bit of a break from blogging. I'm still roasting and trying to build my brand, but for now, I just need the extra time. I will be back to blogging after the new year. Until then, I hope you had a merry Christmas and have a happy New Year.

I took the day off work to spend the day with my wife on her birthday. We started the day off with breakfast at Kneaders, which is awesome by the way. (Side note: they serve LaVazza coffee, so the drip's not bad either.) Then we were off to the Children's Museum in downtown. We played for a good long time and once my daughter was utterly exhausted we called it a day. I noticed Street Coffee would be on our way home and was able to talk my daughter (who was the crabby one) into stopping.

*Before I start discussing how my first venture into coffee sales went, and go on and on about something that most people take for granted, I want to point out that I am able to pursue my dreams because of great men and women who fought and died to make America free. One thing I want to keep perspective of while I work towards my goal is that this was all made possible by our Veteran's sacrifice. Thank you all for your service. I opened the figurative doors and started selling coffee to deliver on Dia de los Muertos. This is how it went...

I have been wanting to try Cabin Coffee for quite a while now. Our trip up to the pumpkin patch was a perfect opportunity.

In preparation for my first deliveries, I thought it would be good to release my official Hashtag. That way, when everyone raves about how awesome my coffee is and feels that insatiable need to share its awesomeness with the world, they will have that road paved for them. (That is me envisioning success...and crossing my fingers...and praying daily...but also envisioning.) #LifeFueledByMuertos That's it folks. So when you have your first cup of coffee and want to share it with the world, please include this with all of your posts. The reason behind this tag line is not really a fun airy topic, but it is a huge driver for me. I came up with this because...

It has been a long time coming, but I have finally decided to launch my whole bean sales!

I got back last week from a wonderful trip to St. Lucia, a little island in the Caribbean. I had a few coffee experiences and a few other "adult beverage" experiences. Since I want my coffee shop to be more than just coffee, I am always looking for drink ideas.

I am going to take a little break from posting. I'm hoping to try some new shops and have some cool stories to share when I start back up.

Nothing says, "you are committed now" like spending $500 on green coffee beans. It isn't just a blog talking about coffee anymore. Now, I'm taking real steps to being a real coffee company. Here's how it all went down...

I stumbled across this place looking for a new place my artist friend and I could meet up. I wasn't sure if he would have an issue with meeting at a Christian book store, but if he did, he never said anything. So we have met here a couple of times now and I think I like it.

I have mentioned before that I vacation at a particular little beach town in near San Diego, CA. Encinitas is my absolute favorite place to be. It has grown quite a bit, but has maintained its small town feel. Over the last two years, the little town has had an explosion of great coffee. They went from none to four, real quick. I have tried all of them. My most recent was Buzz.

It has been quite a long time since I have posted. My day job has basically made it impossible for me to do or think about anything else...and not in a good way. I have some huge updates to post too.  One thing that I have not stopped doing (despite the abyss of my cubicle) is drinking coffee. One of the shops I visited was Elevate Coffee ( elevatecoffee.com ).

I have been wanting to stop into this coffee shop since The Newton was in concept. I loved the shared space idea. Multiple businesses working together to be mutually successful is how it should be. I loved the concept, but wasn't sure how it would work in reality. It was free comic book day, so we were out and about in the area. We had had our coffee that morning, but figured, what the heck, and stopped for another.

I apologize for not blogging for a while. The personal and work life has been pretty busy lately and I just haven’t been able to find time to write. So, here is my update: I finally got my affidavit, so I have my final piece to be official. Now I can open a bank account…which isn’t going to happen for a while. Now my next steps:

I was cruising through my back log of Coffee News emails and spotted this article that caught my eye: The Barista Capsule. I had to know what it was. I have been working on coffee cart plans for a while but could never really figure it out. It was always to big or too heavy, or we couldn’t figure out how to power everything. I realize I was most likely making it far too complicated, but these guys looked like they figured it out.

V60 brewing is not a secret. There is a lot of nuance though. I find that fancier you get the more people focus on nuance. I would really like to go to a brewing competition to see how nuts they go. So, I figured I would lay out my method, which is most likely not nuanced enough to win a competition, but I do feel I can brew a damn fine cup .

When I first started, I experimented with pan roasting, concluding that it is not a good way to roast. Next, I moved to the air popper. I actually love roasting with the air popper. I have achieved some really good cups with an air popper. The problem is the volume. I can’t roast more than ¼ of a cup at a time. So I usually spend like 3-4 hours, using 2 poppers, to roast enough for home and work. The next step in the evolution of my roasting experience is a drum roaster.

Since St. Patty’s Day is coming up, I figured I would do a little piece on it. I have not actually tried it. I have had Oaxaca coffee when I was in Cancun, and the server called it “Sexy Coffee.” I don’t actually know if it is an actual cocktail or not. I am looking forward to trying my first Irish coffee.                                      So, instead I have posted a quick history and a link for how to make.

My day job has been beating up on me. I haven't even had a lunch break all week. (The joys of being salaried!) I am going camping this weekend though, so hopefully I will get a good post on camping coffee.

A while ago, my friend and I were discussing food with the owner of Village Coffee. We thought good was a loss leader, one of these things you have to have but doesn’t make any money. She argued that her food actually helped her business and was profitable. I found that interesting, because anyone who has worked in a coffee shop and has had to clear out the expired pastries knows that a lot of it goes in the garbage. So I ask, how important is food in a coffee shop?

No, this is not some existential confession. It means I finally got approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission. I’m finally a company! Now, for the next steps.

So with all the sciency stuff going on like discovering gravitational waves in the space time continuum, I figured I circulate some science myself. No, I am not a scientist. I have stated in previous posts, that I am value based (if it adds value, great; if it doesn’t, dump it). So this is how I classify science in coffee:

We made a trip up to Sedona, Az for to hike the West Fork Trail (#LifefueldbyMuertos). Because we were all driving up in separate cars, the group decided to meet up for coffee then go to the trail in one vehicle. Theia’s (http://theiascafe.com/) was the best looking coffee shop on the way to the trail.

I want to thank Ovente for graciously offering one of their stylish French Presses to one lucky subscriber. My lucky Subscriber is Kristen. Please send me an email with your mailing information. I will verify the email address and let you know when your new brewer is on its way! Next week I plan to get back to my normal blogs.

I have been given the opportunity to team with Ovente to give away a French Press to one of my blog followers. Here are the details:

I have been torn lately on how to purchase my coffee for roasting. I don’t have a lot of expendable cash and I just can’t bring myself to put my family at risk. So the biggest issue with starting is the upfront cost. I know I have talked about Kickstarter before, but after researching, it really doesn’t work unless you have an established base of followers/supporters. So the biggest expense right now is my green coffee.

I know a lot of people aren’t fans of New Year resolutions, but I am. It’s a good time to reflect and set yourself up for success. Now at risk of sounding like a self-help guru, I want to lay out my resolution for 2016. It’s pretty simple: Sell coffee to someone. This is how I plan to do it.