Counter Culture Coffee’s New York Regional Site
the 2010 Aurelia Competizione
The NY Training Center will be home to a WBC-spec Nuova Simonelli Aurelia for the next few weeks. Katie will be using it to sharpen up for the upcoming NERBC. If you’re interested, come by and check it out at a Friday Cupping.
We’ve never really posted anything about this before, but cuppings at CCC’s NY Training Center can be interpreted in ASL for the Deaf.
I’ve had a couple inquiries lately, so I wanted to make this information as accessible as possible. Tommy (me) is on hand at most every cupping and can interpret all the wonderful things you taste in our coffee.
Pinch-throat? Interested? Come by Fridays at noon!
Edible Manhattan’s Amber Benham attended Dean & Deluca’s first-ever intra-company Latte Art Throwdown last week and posted a recap on the EM site. She also produced a sweet slideshow of Counter Culture’s own Ms. Meister (Just Meister!) whipping up some perfectly steamed milk. (Btw, have you seen this?!?)
“If there’s one thing we learned,” noted Benham in her article,” it’s that latte art is a lot harder than baristas make it look.”
No doubt.
Thanks,
Nathan
Last Friday, when the world outside felt like a snow globe, the world inside the CCCNYCTC cupped three delicious coffees. Sales & CR manager Rich Futrell was stuck in NY so he joined us. He was there to tell us all about his travels to Valle Del Santuario, which was the first coffee on the table.
Valle Del Santuario, or VDS as I like to call it, had sweet aromas of brown sugar, clover honey and maple syrup, with undertones of some sugar browing action (graham cracker, wheat pancakes). The coffee tasted amazingly balanced. We loved the orange/tangerine- like brightness, fig and date flavors and toasty and warm body and aftertaste. This coffee was the favorite of 3 and I was personally pleased that everything I’ve been tasting in it as a single- origin espresso was present on the cupping table as well.
Next up was a Tambul, from Papua New Guinea (PNGT). None of us had ever tasted this coffee before so we didnt know what to expect. What we smelled was some deep sweetness (chocolate, fudge and cherries) along with some spice (grilled peppers, cedar wood). In tasting the coffee, the brightness was mellow, and coming off of VDS, this coffee tasted herbacious. We tasted flavors of chicken soup, carrots, and herb. Body was thick and dry. No favorites in our group but if you love low brightness, syrupy-boided coffees, this is sure to become your favorite this season.
Last up was Ndaroini from Kenya. This coffee smelled really sweet and really complex to our cuppers. We smelled things like fruit loops, lemon, aromatic wood, anise and violet. The overwhelming tasting note of this coffee was JUICY fruit (think Mtume, not Biggie) with notes of ripe mango, tropical fruit and lemon. The body was creamy considering everything else going on and the aftertaste was sweet. 2 favorites. Yum!
See you Friday at noon!
Let’s get coffee crazy in New Jersey this weekend, friends!
Come visit your favorite Counter Culture Coffee people at Coffee Fest at the beautiful
Meadowlands this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (3/5 - 3/7).
Like what you see? Then come visit us at booth #424-426 for some hand-crafted coffee!
Not only that — as if you needed more — but you can also watch CCC’s own Katie Carguilo compete out of region in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition on Friday, 3/5 at 12:19pm (she’s competitor #2). Go, Katie, go!
(Oh, right. I’m competing too, in the Millrock Latte Art Contest. But you don’t have to come watch me — I’m shy.)
BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE.
You can also visit CCC NYC HQ during our open house hours on Friday and Saturday, 3/5 and 3/6, from 11am-4pm. And on Friday, please be our guest at a noon cupping hosted by the singular Peter Giuliano! Wow, am I right? Where else are you going to get a deal like that??
Need more information? Click right here! We really hope to see you there.
The coffee community is amazing — not only in New York, but all over the country, nay, the world!
At least, if the triumphs of Rosettas for Relief are to be believed. Last night’s fund-raising latte-art competition saw some of the city’s best baristas take sponsorship donations and go head-to-head in an attempt to benefit a new foundation, REBATI (rebati.org) that aims to develop mental-health and trauma care in Haiti in the wake of the terrible earthquake.
All told, NYC’s contribution was more than $2k! Congratulations to the throwdown winners Will Gross, Kenya Bovey and Sasha King, all from RFR partner, sponsor and gracious host Joe (joetheartofcoffee.com). Special thanks to Everyman Espresso’s Sam Penix for stepping up to the plate and pulling this one off (mixed metaphor alert).
Seriously, way to go, everybody!
Tune your browsers to USBARISTACHAMPIONSHIP.ORG at 4pm tomorrow, February 19, 2010
to watch Counter Culture Coffee’s own Lem Butler in the
South Eastern Regional Barista Competition!
Watch! As Lem Butler wows the judges with his seamless performance.
Hear! The crowd go wild for Lem, and also his bumpin’ competition playlist.
Taste! (or at least wish you were tasting) Lem’s beautiful, elegant signature beverage.
Learn! About Lem’s coffee, and about the passion that drives him to win.
If you can’t come, give. If you can’t give, cheer someone on.
If you can’t cheer someone on, come here, I’ll give you a hug. You obviously need it.
Friends, Romans, chocolate and/or coffee lovers — lend this blog post your eyes.
Another exciting event is flying your way in the coming weeks, this time courtesy of Counter Culture Coffee and Le Parker Meridien Hotel. Executive chef Emile Castillo will be presenting a selection of incredible chocolaty desserts as paired with our own beautiful single-origin coffees and espresso.
I mean, just look at that place. Don’t you want to eat chocolate here??
Join the fun at the hotel’s swank coffee bar, Knave, by calling 212-708-7440 (mention “Zagat Presents”). The cost is $30 for admission, chocolate and coffee — and definitely stick around for a handcrafted cocktail at Knave’s bar, too.
When: Saturday, February 27, 2010; 2-4pm
Where: Knave at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 118 W 57th St between Sixth and Seventh Aves
What: A coffee and chocolate-dessert tasting as designed by Chef Emile Castillo and Counter Culture Coffee
How much: $30 (chocolate and coffee included)
Another Friday, another exciting cupping here at the CCC NYC Training Center! Wowza, awesome.
Let’s get into it: The first coffee up on the block today was the jammy, figgy, dark-chocolatey Valle del Santuario. Its apple-juicy acidity and silky, smooth body made this one Meister’s favorite, and the sweet and clean aftertaste made her just want to keep slurping and slurping and slurping…
Next up, the room’s favorite: Ndaroini! Holy blackberry and lime throughout — we loved the tartness and the peachy (almost peach-gummy) flavor. Finished up real clean and quick, and Katie loved the aftertaste on this one (I know because she drew a heart next to it) — savory and tomatoey and just doggone nice.
Last but not at all least, we were all excited about tasting coffee from Finca la Paz! A lot of aromatic wood notes (cedar, for instance), bakers’ chocolate, tobacco and peppers throughout. The cup tasted a little spicy and molassesy, with a lot of dry-toastlike flavors. Not much brightness to speak of, but this finished up nice and soft and chocolatey.
Okay thanks love you bye!!!
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