ACP 070: Try This Hot Mojito?

TIME 1:00 Wine needs to air-e-ate? Mellow out? What’s that word!
Some interesting notes from Decanter.com:
Clément Robert MS, head sommelier and wine buyer at 28-50 wine bars, recommends giving a wine 60 minutes, on average, to aerate.
‘If you were, for example, in the presence of a fragile wine, like an old vintage bottle, then I would not risk aerating it too much. I would probably open it in advance and try to find the right type of glass.’
In the case of most white wines, Steven Spurrier says, ‘because they don’t have tannins, the need for aeration is rarely necessary.’
TIME 1:50 “I love my coffee at like 120 degrees”
TIME 2:00 “I’ve been in hot tubs hotter than that”
TIME 2:15 Temperature reveals a lot about the coffee, such as the extraction. At a ‘lower temperature’ (say, 120-140) different flavors will come through such as (1) sweetness, (2) clarity of fruit flavors, (3) perception of oil, (4) acidity.
TIME 2:40 “The closer a beverage is to your body temperature, the more you can taste of it”
TIME 3:20 “Milk based drinks that are hot have a texture to them, so enjoy them sooner" before the texture is gone
TIME 3:50 The anatomy of the espresso machine is beautiful
TIME 4:40 The “Perfect Manhattan” dilutes over time in a wonderful way. The boozy body will mellow and entertain your palate in a different way.
TIME 5:20 Rockford Roasting Coffee, hot cocktails on the espresso machine. A hot Mojito on the espresso machine? Nuts! Direct message me on Instagram for the recipe =] @Audio_Cafe
TIME 6:00 As cocktails get hot we found less booze/spirit was needed. Such as a Hot Mojito, there was no soda water to thin the spirit and the hot water added significant aroma of rum
TIME 6:30 Part of taste is smell and when its hot it will get into your nasal cavity faster
TIME 7:00 Hot Margarita with Miller High Life? Yes.
TIME 7:50 Drinks will cool down quicker than they will warm up…. Hot beverages will cool ‘faster’ because they don’t have a heating element assisting them. Cold cocktails usually have ice sitting and helping.
TIME 9:15 There isn’t a lot of holding drinks at hot temps in the cafe world. Coffee cup “MiiR” MiiR.com
TIME 10:00 Coffee served at 3 degrees difference. Obviously brewing temperature is a huge factor.

Note from our legal department: *No water was harmed during the boiling process of this intro and outro*

Also, can you believe this episode took me 3 hours to edit? Insanity, why do I do this to myself? Well, because of great people like Derrick Wessels (Instagram @Coffee_Derrick).

Fun forum about temperature:
https://forums.egullet.org/topic/111478-proper-chilled-cocktail-temperatures/

Derrick Wessels (Instagram @Coffee_Derrick) owner of Beagle Coffee in Colorado. This episode was recorded on a pullout couch the day before US Coffee Champs Denver, December 2018. “This is a podcast, we talk about coffee” why have I never used this before? Its so simple =]

TIME 1:00 how can you balance so many things like travel and work and roasting coffee?
1) Derrick uses 4 different calendars to manage his life
2) He pre-packs his daily needs in his car. Always plan to finish all your daily tasks before you return home again. Driving home to grab something you forgot kills your schedule.
3) He pre-plans meals “Meal prep” to allow him time to relax while between gigs, no need to run around for food. High protein meals is a must.
4) Just waiting in line for food can take a whole hour.
5) 2 jobs, roasting job, travel to compete in 4 types of competitions (latte art all over the USA, Coffee Fest presents both America’s Best Cold Brew & America’s Best Espresso, US Coffee Champs Barista Championships, plus regional events).
6) A lot of people don’t have the motivation pushing them to learn new things.
7) Balancing multiple jobs helps break up the work day. “It’s all a different flow” “the high energy doesn’t let you think about being tired.” Barista vs bartending shifts have different energy.

TIME 6:45 Natural progression from barista to bartender, some of the differences are fairly obvious.
1) Bartenders will spend more time on each drink
2) Bartenders are known for more in depth customer service
3) Bartenders have a wide variety of ingredients and though they may not love making a Mojito they won’t shy away from it
4) No one is going to judge you for getting a sweet cocktail, but at a cafe it feels that way
5) Bartenders like to pre-prep their ingredients. They place items as efficiently-close as they can.
6) Proper bar design, aesthetic is nice, but focus on efficiency

TIME 8:00 HECK YEAH, “Iced Vanilla Lattes”
How can you expect to provide a good experience for a drink you’ve never even had?

TIME 9:35 the gateway mocha

TIME 10:00 Prep as much as you can ahead of time
From bar to barista, signature drinks… Make as much of your drink in front of a judge as you can. Prepare your station, be efficient. Extra little movements add to minutes of waiting time for customers in a long line

TIME 11:00 Bar design
Ambiance vs access
Immediate access fridge so the barista doesn’t have to even move their feet.

TIME 12:30 Do you taste your batches?
Smelling is 1 thing, but tasting and even swallowing is very important.

TIME 15:45 temperature
Time and temperature effect coffee
As milk drink beverages sit they change wildly, the texture leaves which is big.
“Educate through curiosity”

TIME 19:30 you must try the entire menu
You don’t have to finish it, but be a part of your customer’s world

TIME 21:00 How did you break your nose?

Music sample brought to you via FreeMusicArchive.org, artist: The Dirty Moogs, track: Julies An Android. Chosen for its fun vibes and for the lyric “She woke me up it was late on Saturday night..”

"Seasonal Flavors" From Barista Magazine Oct/Nov 2018 Issue

1: Barista Magazine October/November 2018 article, some additional fun flavor combinations that go with coffee specifically
2: Way easier (fast, cheap) to experiment with beverage, than to bake/create a new food item
3: Use the Flavor Bible if you want to combine ingredients
4: If you do work with a bakery, ask them what seasonal items will be coming out, or how to pair with their offerings. Maybe you can cross train people at the bakery? Maybe the chef will let you come work with them and develop new ideas? Or maybe they want to be inspired by what you are doing as well

Instagram handles: @BaristaMagazine & @Audio_Cafe

Inspired by the “Cooking With Syrups” article in May 2018 issue of Fresh Cup Magazine, this episode is really about leveraging ingredients to pair items together and sell a tasty treat along with that delicious beverage.

Links:
https://www.AudioCafePodcast.com/67
https://www.Twitter.com/Boyrista
https://www.Instagram.com/Audio_Cafe

Cafe mentioned:
https://www.Facebook.com/HurricaneCoffee

Magazine where full article is:
https://www.FreshCup.com

More info about Sequim Washington and Lavender Festival:
http://www.lavenderfestival.com/2018-sequim-lavender-festival/

Last weekend Lee Carter and his dog Zero drove over to my place in Madison, Wisconsin to chat for a bit. We saw some dive bars. We had some bar food. Then when we spent an hour relaxing and talking about beverages. Lee Carter is the co-founder of Five Watt and Big Watt Beverage Company in Minneapolis, MN. Enjoy the chat between 3 friends.

Recipe - The Year of the Chai: 2 oz Oregon Chai Extra Spicy Super Concentrate, 2 oz carrot juice, 6 oz Oatly Barista Edition, steam together, top with ground all spice.

For pictures of the mystery location, visit http://AudioCafePodcast.com/66 or @Audio_cafe on Instagram

Join myself and Andrew Gomez as we chat about a home barista party. Recorded suuuper late at night after many enjoyable alcoholic beverages.

At the intro I mention this cold brew cocktail: “The Cold Brew Rock-Slider” 0.5 oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Concentrate, 0.5 chocolate liqueur, 1 oz Baileys Almond Liqueur, 3 oz Oatly, ice.

‘King of the Hill’ barista event: tickets are $1, all the tickets go into a hat, 2 names are drawn, the winning pour is on ‘the hill’ as the current ‘King of the Hill,’ 2 new challengers come up and pour, if the King of the Hill gets 1 of the 3 votes from the judges then its still king, if a new pour wins then it becomes the king, this goes on till a set time (that is unknown to judges/competitors) has ended.

Great way to run through a large amount of people. The nature of the random names being drawn makes it fun, but also you will need to have better lead time in announcing the next 1-3 sets of people, so they can make their way to the front and be ready.

Special thanks to Juniper the corgi, for running around in the background and barking (photo -https://www.instagram.com/p/Be1BvgQhLES/?taken-by=audio_cafe)

Real time recording as my friends come over and create some fun coffee cocktails. This miiiiiiiight get silly.....

Cocktails we will create in this episode:
1) Bourbon and Cold Brew:
Just splash some DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate and water over your whiskey any way you take it
2) Lunchbox or ‘Cafe Disaronno’:
Inspired by "The Lunchbox" cocktail, using cold brew. The orange juice brings out the wonderful complimenting bakers chocolate specific to this cold brew concentrate. 0.5 oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate 1 oz Disaronno 4 oz orange juice Serve on ice with orange wedge garnish
3) Cafe Boulevardier:
0.25 oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate 1 oz bourbon 1 oz sweet vermouth 1 oz Campari Chill and stir with ice, serve 'up' with orange zest, cherry garnish optional
4) Cafe Cola:
Cynar Americano Cafe: 0.25 oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate 05 oz Cynar 4 oz cola
5) Cafe Sazerac:
0.125 (1/8th) oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate 2 oz Sazerac Rye 2 dashes Peychauds bitters Give glass an absinthe rinse, build cocktail in separate glass with ice, chill then strain into fresh glass. Garnish with lemon zest and peel.
6) Salty White Russian:
0.25 DaVinci Gourmet Hawaiian Salted Caramel 3 oz DaVinci Gourmet Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate (diluted) 1 oz Titos vodka 1 oz Baileys Served on ice, salted caramel treat on rim as garnish

Cold brew coffee cocktails! Obviously coffee goes great with bourbon, but what else? Listen in as Levi creates 6 cocktails with some of his closest friends.

TIME 2:20 - Who is the Kurt guy?
TIME 2:55 “Who drank all the Fernet? Who drank all the Baileys? ….Adam he makes my drinking look like childsplay”

TIME 4:35 This is where you drink the first cocktail, the first cocktail.

TIME 5:05 “We *slurrrrrr*…” “Did you eat all the ice cubes out?”

TIME 5:10 As you can tell by my inability to talk without slurring and recall what was actually in the cocktail, I was indeed smashed. That combo is something I will play with in the future - but for now - let’s meet my friend Danny the pilot….

TIME 5:45 “Check check, can you make more money if you turn the GAIN up?” Danny Blaha.

TIME 5:52 Danny and I drink together a lot, so naturally when he visited last weekend I had to make him this strange cocktail… also he brought a knife? No, that was just a butter knife.

TIME 6:00
Levi: What do you think of this cocktail? Danny, put down that knife.
Danny: The pain makes me know that life is real. Um, that’s a good way to start?
Levi: yeah, it lets people know you have nothing to say at all. What do you think of this cocktail?
Danny: When you decided that you wanted to make it, I was a little concerned when you took Disaronno, cold brew coffee and orange juice out of your refrigerator. Um, it scared me a little bit.
Levi: I didn’t have Disaronno in my refrigerator, but yes I understand your fear.
Danny: Yeah. *Indistinguishable grunt* Like I said three flavors you just don’t think would go together. But I do think it tastes like one of those orange chocolate balls that you have to hit on a table and it splits into pieces. Maybe that was only cool in the 1990’s but there you go. It tastes good and it goes together, orange and chocolate it good.
Levi: orange and chocolate are amazing together. Orange and coffee are okay together but certainly most places don’t put those together. This is cold brew of course. I think Disaronno goes really well with coffee. I’ve made a similar cocktail with Disaronno, Almond syrup, espresso, shaken with milk and ice.
Danny: you make a lot of cocktails that are really bitter, that’s kind of your go to. I like this one because its NOT bitter. You put a lot of bitters into cocktails, its very common for you, but this doesn’t have that. I like your cocktails that are higher in citrus.
Levi: Joey my coworker teases me because for like 6 months I put lime into everything I made.
Danny: Do you cook it for 6 months? Because when you cook…. you definitely take your time.
Levi: you make it sound like I cook completely stoned, but really I just like to take a few days.
Danny: is it done cooking? Oh is it charcoal black now? Mmmm tasty.
Levi: get out of my house….

Time to try the Cafe Boulevardier. Which was actually the very first cocktail we built that day. When I am tasting I start with the more bitter and move to the sweeter. It’s hard for me to go from sweet to bitter, do you ever do tastings like this?

TIME 8:40
Cafe Boulevardier…
Levi: our first try, Kurt, wanna say what we got?
Kurt: We have ourselves the Negroni, Boulevardier, BREW-vardier? I don’t think that’s too bitter.
Levi: I’m not sure the coffee-note is the right note for this. Sweet enough. What is tough is all I taste is garlic from my lunch.
Kurt: I like the ending note, its all coffee.
Levi: We did 1 oz of sweet vermouth, 1 oz of Campari, 1 oz of bourbon, and then just a 1/4 oz of a cold brew super concentrate. Yeah right now this aftertaste is really great, should we do an orange zest or any herbal element like mint?
Kurt: I don’t think so, I think its done.
Levi: recipe #1 is done, its in the banks!
Kurt & Levi *CLAP*

TIME 13:30
Cafe Cola Cynar “big mistake”
Kurt: so its Cynar, cold brew,a nd Coke
Levi: the big mistake we had made?
Kurt: was adding white rum, then dark rum, all bad.
Levi: the big lesson here is to start simple, then layer in more flavors on top.
Kurt: yeah. So the recipe is 0.5 oz Cynar, 4 oz Coca-Cola, 0.25 oz cold brew.
Levi: on the nose its a lot of coffee, the Cynar and the Coke are balanced together. The cold brew again is the lingering aftertaste. BAM.

TIME 14:30
As I taste a drink I pay attention to the BIG categories in flavor: sweet/sour/bitter/umami/salt, then also very important is the “Exact-flavor.” There is ‘good’ verses ‘meeting the standard of identity.’ This Cafe Cola is such a simple recipe and I already knew about the idea of a “Cynar Cola,” its actually on the bottle of Cynar, so I used that recipe idea as a baseline. I also already knew I like Cold Brew and “Cola” SO we knew instantly this idea would work. Where we went wrong was trying to make it even more unique and adding rum…..
Also, I pay attention to temperature and texture of course.
Look, we saved you a painful step of experimentation! But if you do have a build on this, let me know what you found tasty.

TIME 16:15
Levi: I don’t know about you but between the note sleeping and closing down bars the last 2 nights, I’m pretty tired….
Kurt: we did a play on the Sazerac because we wanted to add some cold brew in to incorporate all the flavors. We have varying opinions on how much coffee to add at the moment, I think we are going to have to revisit this when we have the proper Sazerac Rye instead of Woodford Reserve Rye. We took down the Peychauds bitters from 4 drops to 2?
Levi: Let’s talk about this, we have been thinking about all these drinks, but we start from Googling a recipe to have a starting point. On this one specifically I thought the cocktail would be bitter enough and if we added a coffee flavor it would take it to a more bitter realm. Piece of advice - when you are making cocktails with friends always listen twice to their advice because there is usually a lot both said and ‘unsaid.’ If there is cold brew in a cocktail then it needs to be fairly apparent.
Kurt: We are like 2 hours into this session.
Levi: we started with brainstorming crazy ideas and wrote them all down. Then we did a grocery list. Then we talked through the brainstorming and groceries. I ate a bunch of garlic, then we did the grocery run,
Kurt:

19:05
Salty White Russian:
That moment when you realize you’ve been day drinking and are trying to explain things... This one was much harder to type up and talk about because, as mentioned, I had been day drinking allllll day. Then during production you can likely tell that I have been drinking along.

Cold Brew coffee used was a brand new launch from DaVinci Gourmet. To learn more visit DaVinciGourmet.com.

Music by “The Dirty Moogs” title - “Im Alright Instrumental”

INTRO: Part 2 of interviewing Bryan Reynolds from Anthem Coffee and Tea in Tacoma Washington. Last episode we talked about how you personally need to cast a vision for your employees to learn and model back to your customers. We also left off with a quote from a visual artist who worked with Bryan, talking about the great ambiance in the cafe, here is Bryan’s response to that quote.

TIME 0:50
Levi: how did you build this culture?
Bryan: it stems from his parents modeling this to him growing up, there was never a stranger to his parents, everyone was a guest. I wanted to make a cafe that had a different focus on customer service because my own first experience in coffee as a customer was an uncomfortable one. You can walk someone through the ordering process in a loving way, giving undivided attention and serve them well. Make the product worth coming back.

TIME 3:05
Levi: “We wont be held accountable for how much we have done, but for how much we have done of what he asks us to do” the take away from that in a cafe would be if we want to make something cool like a fancy wall, how is that really going to improve the customer and employee experience? Do you have a lesson to share?
Bryan: the first time we adopted a virtual punch-card system to ‘bring people back’ but it ultimately it created an entitled customer for a number of reasons. We learned from that and changed it to a pre-load punch-card which has worked even better. We have had many other things that we wanted to do but never even launched. But as long as we learn from this and ‘fail forward’ then we are being made stronger. Its far more of a risk to not try than it is to take a risk.

TIME 8:15
Levi: “I know God will not give me anything I cannot handle, I just with He didn’t trust me so much” your first big fear must have been starting Anthem, but what is the next biggest fear that is around the corner for Anthem?
Bryan: success can lead to failure just as much as remaining dormant can, what scares me is if we coast if we let off the gas pedal. I’m constantly keeping myself tethered to the core values helps from becoming distracted. There’s 60 of us on this team, there’s a lot of moving parts. Which is why we focus on “Better before bigger.” And it leads to ‘how do we make little things like waiting in line better?’ that question led to them creating a Anthem Coffee IOS app. A [customer] line is a good sign because it means there’s something worth waiting for, but finding a way to skip the line ads value to some customers.

TIME 13:05
Levi: what is your 85/10/5 rule?
Bryan: in the book Leading on Empty, the author unpacks this idea, there is 85% of what other people should be doing for you, 10% that you can train leaders to do, and 5% that only you can do. If you don’t take care of you then you can’t take care of others. I love conflict because what’s on the other side of it, which is unity. From the book “Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing You Passion, by Wayne Cordeiro.

TIME 17:40
Levi: who introduced you to coffee?
Bryan: I was saving money for an engagement ring, so I started working at Cutters Point. I used to drink sweet sweet beverages (Black and White Hot Chocolate with Toasted Marshmallow) then a barista accidentally threw some shots into the drink (turning it into a mocha) and it was game-over, I loved the way it balanced the flavor and I was hooked from then on.

TIME 19:05
Levi: the White Chocolate Mocha is the ‘Gateway Mocha.’ What did you think of that first sip?
Bryan: I don’t drink sweet drinks as much, but I love an Espresso Macchiato, its like a mini-vacation for me. I love tasting different black coffees.

TIME 19:50
Levi: decaf or tea?
Bryan: I would go decaf. There’s something about the smell of coffee, it takes you away. My wife will brew a pot of coffee just for the smell in the house.

OUTRO
Glad you listened to these 2 episodes, some topics we covered that I enjoyed learning were: giving employees light responsibilities to free your time up teaching them lower risk tasks and testing to see where they’re sweet spot is. The small tasks is really part of setting up the “85/10/5% rule” and finding others to help handle 95% of that your workload. Do you remember that story of a customer loyalty program that had outstanding usage but went bust?

Well its time to say goodbye, I’ll let Bryan send us off with this inspiration and challenge “Better before bigger.”

Music in this episode by The Dirty Moogs, via https://starfrosch.com/hot-100/artist/the+dirty+moogs

Hello welcome - I have been talking to a few industry-pros about working IN and not ON your business. To help deep dive a bit let’s spend some time hearing about how Anthem Coffee and Tea went from having an over-worked owner to a healthy and expanding cafe.
Some topics we will cover that I enjoyed learning were: giving employees light responsibilities to free your time up, what is the 85/10/5% rule and finding others to help handle 95% of that your workload, a story of a customer loyalty program that had outstanding usage but went bust, and throughout the 2 part interview you will hear Bryan refer back to his clear vision and mission statement for his cafe which has clearly helped him stay focused while showing his employees how to win at customer service.
 

TIME 1:05
ANTHEM INTRO

TIME 2:45


Levi: Asking about the guiding principals….
Bryan explains how he wants his team to show ‘heroic hospitality’ which brings people back. Also talks a little about his exact role as the owner which is to be a role model, help grow sales, and that people are being served well.

TIME 7:35


Levi: Anthem is a good example of a cafe that has co-workers who appear to be friends
. Bryan explains: the line between customer and employee is blurred because the heroic hospitality is contagious and spreads to the customer base. Having this is a clear vision is a foundation.

TIME 8:50


Levi: when Anthem started did you think you would have an employee stay with you for 10 years?
 Bryan explains: finding the right employee who resonates well with your culture and core values will allow you to invest in that employee and grow them. “You have to identify people who have similar strengths and abilities and them replicate yourself in them so that you don’t stay a prisoner to the J.O.B. you created. I want to create jobs, I want to create opportunities for people, I don’t want to be the ceiling.”
Bryan also shares a warning if you get too hands off the business too soon, before you have modeled the culture that you want, then it will likely fade away into its own culture (good or bad) and not the vision you had.

TIME 12:20


Levi: “Solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul, isolation is what you crave when you neglect the first” how did you get to that first point where you were able to step away for an hour/day/week and what do you wish you had don better?
 Bryan explains: he personally experienced burn-out at year 5. Then inserted a ‘pattern interruption’ in his life to help him gain clarity. Why are we afraid to leave our cafe? Is it because we fear to lose control? In order for our employees to win in the cafe requires that we show them exactly what winning looks like. Once we have trained our team correctly we can trust that we can take a step back.

TIME 17:55


Levi: “I drove hard on all cylinders, not realizing that being an entrepreneur means that everything you initiate by default you must ad to your maintenance list” What was the first task that you handed off first, how can a cafe manager test with small things first before handing off too much?
 Bryan explains: 16personalities.com is the starting point, beware of weaknesses so we know where to put people. Involvement equals ownership, getting people involved helps them become more responsible and the best thing is when they see a current process we use at the cafe they know of even better ways to streamline it.

TIME 22:20


Levi: Where did your shirt design “Let is happen naturally” come from? 
Bryan explains: it was a way to recognize when things were starting to bubble up or perhaps getting harder. It was a phrase we used as a team so we made it into a shirt. Also at that time we were using a lot of pour-over coffee brewing and were excited by that.

TIME 24:45


Levi: quoting Carlo “One thing that impressed me was Bryan’s desire to build a hub for the community……….”


OUTRO


Next episode Bryan will talk a little about his parents modeling customer service and a loyalty card that was supposed to ‘bring customers back’ but created an entitled customer. Sound good to you?

Music by The Dirty Moogs, via https://starfrosch.com/hot-100/artist/the+dirty+moogs