FINALLY Open....WhooHooo!!

Hey ya'll...

We finally opened our doors on October 15th. Yay. Sorry for the slow post here, but way way too busy. Everything has gone pretty well so far. Lots of people have come by, enjoyed coffee and baked goods (and tea), and a lot of kids have played with the toys we have here (and spinny chairs). Overall, quite a smooth first week.

We had a fairly steady trickle of people throughout the week, and finally got busy on Saturday and Sunday. Jacob and Andrew had the pleasure of the first big rush of people and handled it well. In fact all of our Baristas have been doing a great job. Thanks everyone.

Benjamin and I have kept on roasting, barely keeping up with the coffee drinkers. But at least we're staying one or two steps ahead. My favorite coffees thus far have been the heavy chocolatey and fruity (blueberry, apricot??) Ethiopian Likempte (Fair Trade Organic and we have two big bags!) and the Brazilian Poco Fundo (also FTO), which has a lot of body and fruit as well, almost reminicent of an Ethiopian. Our Mexican "elephant bean" was great roasted dark also.

Up next is our Yemen Mokha Matari....should be ready in a day or two! Pix coming soon...but still running around....

Cheers!

-Nimbus

As usual, getting closer

just testing

trying to get the comments button working again...

First Roasts!!

Hey ya'll...did some roasting last week as we inch along towards opening....daily progress here also, on boring stuff like wood putty for all the nail holes in the trim, sanding, and touch up painting. Finished installing shelves in the new storage rooms also (which were drywalled, mudded and painted last week). Etc, etc....everything takes forever, but a final to-do list is written and all the little things are going to be crossed off soon.

As for the roasts, I did a couple ten pound batches of old columbian beans, one organic, one not. I roasted one about 40 seconds into second crack, and the other was stopped just prior to second crack. We're talking about 12 minute roasts here, so very consistent with my anticipated times. They both came out VERY GOOD, especially considering the age of the beans and that they were my first two roasts on the glorious Probat. Smooth sailing operation-wise.

My friend Harry from Green Coffee Buying Club and his family were visiting from California and joined me for the second roast which was fun. I put the kids to work right away. I served the coffee later in the day at a Code Pink Louisville get-together at Tyler Park, and it was well received (well, they drank it ALL up, which is all the evidence I need).

Here's some pix...Peace! - Nimbus


































Whew...enough pix??

Hmmmm...So what is shade grown coffee

I came across this discussion of Shade Grown Coffee....quite informative: http://intelligentsiacoffee.com/watts/07-05-2007

With all the labels and classifications on coffee these days, the more solid information you have the better. So a thanks to Geoff and the folks at Intelli for helping educate the coffee community (as usual).

Getting Closer!!

Hey, here's one picture to give anyone reading a sneak preview of the lower level of the coffee shop....it has looked a lot better than this (when cleaned prior to getting messy again), but this shows some of the progress (I think it is 2-3 weeks ago).

Still a ways to go...but pouring shots now, and the roasting should start anyday now. We've got a couple more weeks of "construction" type stuff - trim, painting, etc... railing for the stairs, finishing the track lights, lots of little stuff that takes forever. But the end is in sight. I have month by month progress photos (tons) that I'll post links to shortly.

Code Pink Louisville has a new site!

Hey ya'll...

Jody and I are putting together a new blog site for Code Pink. I put up a link on the left, or you can go to it at Code Pink Louisville ( the address is www.codepinklouisville.blogspot.com )...We'll be posting pix of all of our actions and updates on current events and activities. Cheers...

Chicago coffee fest and slow progress...

Slow progress on the coffee shop front, but we're still moving along. Got to protest dubya twice on friday here in Louisville, and just over the river in New Albany, Indiana. Then karate with Leone, and a little playing in the park. Construction pix forthcoming



Party at Intelli after the fest saturday


Me (nimbus couzin) hangin' with the roasters (the machines not the people)




david from Zoka playing with a Clover


Dogs dogs and more dogs


Code Pink showing of The Ground Truth - I was the audio-visual guy (more work than ya think)








Louisville demo


More Louisville




Dubya in Indiana


Police Captain


Proud Repub




Coppers


Me

Soooooo busy

Progress progress...

Floors are mostly in, and we're just keeping busy. I'm holding off on posting pix for a bit, but eventually they'll be up.

I've been working with the new Code Pink chapter here in town. I was inspired to seek them out from working with them in Camp Casey. Here are some pictures from our first table (at a Julia Butterfly-Hill talk) and our first action (giving Rep. Anne Northup a pink slip).

http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h309/nimbusbeer/

Leone makes a great peace activist.

Working at the coffee shop...few pix..

We have literally 10,000 books (or more), so that is the order of the day. Gotta clear everything so the new floors can go down!


Leone really loves to box up books. He's quite fast.



Of course, we always leave a little time for fun and games!! Here are some of his creations.