More memories of coffee...



Here are a couple more entries for our coffee memories contest, shared by patrons:

Back in the early nineties in Sydney, Nova Scotia, there was not a lot to do after 10:00 at night. You could hang out at a friend's, go to the show, drive around, or go for coffee. After shooting the drag for an hour or so, we would inevitably end up at Jasper's--the only 24 hour restaurant in town. We'd slide into the padded vinyl seats of a big booth, order appetizers, maybe dessert, and the coffee was bottomless. Sarah was liberal with the sugar: white streams of it in each refill. The waitresses were quick to spot an emptying cup, materializing with the round glass pot to replenish the black steaming brew: "Can I top you up, dear?" At the end of our night we'd have gone through at least a full pot, half the sugar, a shift of waitresses, and several rounds of truckers, taxi drivers, and recent bar patrons looking to sober up enough to get home It all made for good entertainment.

Jasper's is closed and gone now. There's nowhere quite the same to loiter over coffee into the wee hours of tomorrow, but I can always get together with friends and remember the good times, chatting over a cup of coffee or five.

-Submitted by Margaret Mattheis

Here's another from Anna Gladue, from our own town of Hope:

This goes back over 30 years. I couldn't have been more than four or five years old. It was always so much fun to stay at my Buby and Zaida's house (my grandparents), I got to have dinner in front of the television, breakfast in bed, treats, outing, name it! But the best part was coffee with breakfast.

They would put one or two tablespoons of their brewed coffee into a coffee cup (HAD to be a coffee cup) and fill it with milk. Must be why I drink two pots a day now. :)

Thanks for sharing folks! We will be announcing our winners soon! Makes me curious about what the nostalgic coffee-related memories will be of today's generation of young people...

Everyone's got a story...

My earliest memories of coffee go back much further than when I decided to start drinking it myself. Coffee, more accurately coffee time,was a part of daily life since as far back as I can remember. Coffee was the thing I had to wait for my parents to finish before they could attend to my pressing needs--a ride to the local pool, or help navigating MS DOS to play computer games. There were always endless cups of coffee to be finished. Now that I'm older I appreciate that my parents have made a habit of sitting down together to pause the frenzy of daily life, to enjoy the simple pleasures of conversation and coffee (and usually cookies).

If you haven't heard yet, we are currently hosting a little contest at the Blue Moose in an effort to collect some stories about early memories of coffee. We're trying to capture the experience of coffee, reaching back to the time before there was a Starbucks on every corner. The coffee itself may not have been anything special, but that's not really what this is about.

To get you thinking about your own stories, here's our first entry, sent to us from Drew:
 

It was the summer of 1990. I was 18, my brother was 20, and he had a 1979 Honda Civic. We drove to the Rockies to climb mountains and quickly ran out of money. We had to get back to Vancouver as quickly as possible to conserve funds. On the way home we came through the Okanagan on a beautiful August evening. We had scrambled to the true summit of Mt Norquay above Banff that morning and were dead tired. We stopped at an A&W in Kelowna for dinner and with our burgers had giant cups of coffee – a first for me as I had never drunk it beyond a sip before. Black, crappy coffee served up almost boiling hot from a glass carafe. Heading out of Kelowna as the sun set we were listening to old 1930’s radio serial dramas on the car AM radio until the station faded somewhere on the Connector. We came into Hope around midnight and everything was closed. The caffeine buzz faded out west of Hope along the 1 and we ended up sleeping for two hours,  our seats tilted back as far as they would go, with the car pulled off on a dead-end side road near Herrling Island. Next morning the next coffees went down easier in Chilliwack and we made it home by 8 AM, ahead of the morning rush hour and me with $2.69 in mixed change left in my wallet.

Nothing so memorable as that first cup of scalding, crappy coffee. Thanks Drew! If you want to enter our contest (you could win a $50 Blue Moose giftcard!) send your entries of 250-ish words to Wes at info@bluemoosecafe.com.

The Best Part of Being a Barista...

The thing about being a barista is, most of us love coffee. I will admit, this is not my ultimate career destination. But having a fun job that sparks my interest in the mean time makes me pretty lucky.

And what better match to being a barista than customers that love coffee just as much as I do? Us coffee lovers gotta stick together. So lets talk about some of the things we (because I think I speak for all of us) love to hear from our customers!

• "Surprise me!" --Looking to mix it up a little? Feeling adventurous? I loving getting this request because I get to share my favorite or introduce you to something you had never heard of.
• "What's your favorite?" --Me? You're asking me? Well funny you should ask... -It's always nice to know customers value my opinion.
• "Help! This is my first time in a place like this." --Not to fear. There is a first for everything. I love to share my knowledge about all things 'bean' related if you ask.
• "I want something ________, but I'm not sure what to order." A lot of us are able to customize drinks according to your taste. Want a latte, but nothing too sweet? Honey cinnamon latte. Need a serious caffeine fix? How about an americano with an extra shot. Looking to spice things up? Try an aztec hot chocolate. Can't have caffeine but still need some energy? We have rooibos espresso.
• The Guessing Game. Ok, maybe this is weird (we all have our quirks). But sometimes, I play this mental game: When a customer walks in the door, I try and guess what they're going to order. I'm not talking regular, predictable customers (Although, you are just as important). I mean people I've never seen before. I might think, "This looks like a no-nonsense brewed coffee kinda guy," or "these girls are probably going to get pumpkin lattes or something along those lines." Sometimes I'm totally wrong, because, let's face it, you can never really tell.

So don't be shy. Talk to your barista!

Zen and the Art of Lattes

 

For readers who may be unfamiliar with exactly what latte art is, the picture says most of it. It’s a design created by pouring perfectly foamed milk in just the right rhythm and pattern, so that as the foam separates from the milk, it rises to the surface of the espresso creating a design. Common designs are hearts, rosettas (a fern-like flower), or, if you are me, something resembling an amorphous blob or an alien fetus. Sigh.

One of the fun things about training new baristas at the Blue Moose is watching them attempt to pour latte art. Now you might think that this has a whiff of cruelty about it…me, the sadistic veteran barista somehow enjoying the sight of a frustrated rookie chasing that perfect pour. But I assure you, with heartfelt sincerity, that’s not what this is about (um, not entirely). The truth is, there is just nothing quite like the first time you manage to create something that looks more like a rosetta, and less like an alien fetus. And seeing other people have this experience is pretty fun too.

Here are a few of the key components to successfully creating latte art:

·         The espresso: latte art requires a good layer of crema, which is the rich brown layer of emulsified oils that will result from a properly extracted shot of espresso

·         The foam: micro-foam has teeny tiny bubbles, so small that the milk has a  gorgeous,  glossy, velvety texture (the reason that I die a little inside everytime someone orders a no foam latte)

·         The pour: as the steamed milk is poured into the cup, the barista has to keep in mind timing (the foam separates from the milk as it’s poured) while at the same time wiggling the pitcher in just the right way

If it all works out, the very best part is seeing the customer go: “wow!” Like a well plated entrée in a restaurant, latte art lets our customers know that we take pride in our work…even if sometimes it looks more like a funny-shaped cloud that a flower.