15th Ave Coffee & Tea

In observance of the common pastime of sleeping in on Sunday mornings, we are making changes to our hours of operation beginning this Sunday, March 7th. Starting on Sunday we will begin opening our doors one hour later, at 7am.

Join us this Sunday, March 7th from 7am to 8am and receive one of our newly featured Mighty-O Donuts free with the purchase of a handcrafted coffee or tea beverage. This offer goes out only to the first 20 customers in the door so don’t sleep in too late!

- Amanda

*Offer valid only at 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea with the purchase of any handcrafted beverage. Limit one free Mighty-O Donut per customer. Offer valid until 8am or until donuts are gone, whichever comes first.

Hi all,

I’m pleased to inform you that we have done a bit of revising to our food menu and are proud to now serve both Mighty-O Donuts and Homegrown sandwiches. As of today, a variety of both products are served in our cafe. We hope you’ll come by and check them out!

-Amanda

Featured Mighty-O Donuts:

Good O’l Glazed:

Vanilla Cake Glazed: Classic, original, ready for love.

Lots O Chocolate:

Lots O Chocolate people, don’t drive heavy machinery after this one.

French Toast:

Mighty-O makes french toast donut,  leaves out egg, adds spice: cinnamon, cardamon, coriander, ginger, orange peel, & maple syrup, to  their original donut recipe and call it french toast.

About Mighty-O Donuts:
Mighty-O is a producer of premium donuts. Using an original recipe  developed from scratch. Mighty-O donuts are made locally out of Seattle. All ingredients are certified organic and guarantee a wholesome, delicious, all natural product. Mighty-O donuts contain absolutely no chemical preservatives, no hydrogenated oils, and no artificial flavors or colorings. A donut that everyone can enjoy!

*All information regarding Mighty-O products sourced from www.MightyO.com*

Featured Homegrown Sandwiches:

Turkey, Apple Butter & Herb Cream Cheese
with organic roma tomato and mixed greens.

Ham, Shallot Relish & Beecher’s Flagship
with sage aioli, organic roma tomato and mixed greens.

Hummus, Veggies & Herb Cream Cheese
with organic roma tomato and mixed greens.

About Homegrown Sandwiches:
Our goal at Homegrown is not only to create sandwiches out  of sustainable ingredients but also to make sandwich creation  sustainable itself. In addition to using fresh, sustainable ingredients in our gourmet sandwiches, salads and soups, Homegrown strives for sustainability as a local business through the green materials we print and serve on, to our rejection of bottled water, to our 100% compostable and recyclable product.

*All information regarding Homegrown sandwiches sourced from www.EatHomegrown.com*

Stop by the cafe this Sunday for a very special Valentines Day affair.

To the live jazz backdrop of the Michel Navedo Quartet, enjoy the festive pairing of either our Stonecap Syrah or Silver Cap Champagne with your choice between two elegant Essential Baking Company desserts for only $15 a couple.

Chocolate Syrah Seduction
a Chocolate cake enrobed in chocolate ganache and syrah reduction.

Cherry Jubilee
a dark chocolate mousse filled with cherries in a light mascarpone filling atop a chocolate-almond cake.

Lights will be low for a romantic setting in which to enjoy a serenade by our favorite Sunday jazz quartet.
No cover, open to all, looking forward to seeing you there!

Hey there! A new month brings a new menu of beers in the café. In addition to some of our classics, we’re proud to introduce several new local Washingtonian beers as well as some from Oregon and California. Stop by the café for our Sunday jazz matinee, or one of the many other events in store for us this month, and check out our new selection!

-Amanda

Hop Henge Experimental IPA, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR

A truly unique and unexpected beer.  A blend of crystal, pale and carastan malts creates an overall biscuity characteristic that is dense and muscular.

Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Brewery, Newport, OR

In the style of a German Maibock, using our proprietary Pacman ale yeast. Dead Guy Ale is deep honey in color with a malty aroma and a rich hearty flavor.

Steam Train Porter, Snoqualmie Falls Brewing Company, Snoqualmie, WA

This robust dark ale is brewed with chocolate, brown and crystal malts that give it chocolate and roasted coffee flavors.

Flagship Red, Maritime Brewing Company, Ballard, Seattle, WA

The first beer brewed at Maritime Pacific. Red amber in color, malty, nut-like flavor derived from a blend of malted barley, wheat and Yakima and European hops.

Lagunitas IPA, Lagunitas Brewery, Petaluma, CA

43 different hops.  65 different malts.  This classic India Pale Ale turns the hoppiness up to 11.

Stella Artois, InBev Belgium, Leuven, Belgium

Full characteristic flavor and high quality assured through a superior brewing process and the use of the finest ingredients available.

Strongbow Cider, Bulmer’s Cider, Hereford, England

A brand of cider manufactured in England by Bulmers, Strongbow is the UK’s most popular cider, accounting for more than half of the cider sold in Britain.

We live for new coffee.  While we have a fairly consistent lineup of favorites that we can offer year-round, single origin and single varietal coffees that are seasonally relevant and have limited availability intrigue our senses in different and exciting ways.  So without further ado, I present…

Organic Timor-Leste

• Description: roasted figs, balsamic vinegar, dark chocolate
• Processing Type: Washed
• Elevation: 4593-5249 feet (1400-1600 meters)
• Coffee Variety: Hybrido de Timor

CCT’S WASHED BEANS (LEFT) VS. ROUGH FARMER-PROCESSED PARCHMENT

The Organic Timor-Leste is produced by Cooperativa Cafe Timor (CCT), which is one of the largest Fair Trade Certified cooperatives in the world.  CCT formed in 1995, and has been directly responsible for a tremendous increase in the quality of coffee produced within Timor-Leste.  For centuries, Timorese farmers had utilized rudimentary processing equipment, resulting in over-fermented, poorly washed and under-dried parchment.  CCT centralized milling factories and drying processes, leading to a higher quality product that better represented the unique Hybrido de Timor bean.

CCT BUYERS INSPECT, WEIGH AND PAY FARMERS

AT ROADSIDE THE SAME DAY THEY HARVEST

While organic agricultural products have received steadily increasing attention over the past two decades, CCT was a leader in their field when they began offering organic coffee in 1995.  In it’s first season, CCT, then called theNational Cooperative Business Association, purchased raw cherry from 800 farm families with cash payment on the spot, at prices five times higher than they used to receive for their far more labor-intensive parchment.  Sam Filiaci (the director of CCT) also found a silver lining in the centuries of benign neglect of the Timorese coffee fields: The overgrown shade canopy and lack of funds for agrochemicals produced a naturally organic bean, just as that label was becoming hip in Western cafes.

NCBA AND CCT DIRECTOR SAM FILIACI

Since that initial purchase in 1995/1996, Starbucks has continued to buy half or more of CCT’s production.  The market support that Starbucks provided fueled expansion that included four wet processing mills serving some 20,000 families.  In addition, donations of medical supplies and grants provided through Starbucks C.A.F.E. practices program (a program that measures the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of farms and coops) have helped improve quality of life thousands of people living in East Timor.

- Jesse, January 9th

***All the information and pictures in this post about CCT and the NCBA came from a piece written by Jonathan B. Levine titled “Coffee in the Crossfire” ***

Hello Everyone!

The last week I have been starting to get busy with the details for Roy Street.  You might have guessed something was up based on the sudden lack of blogging! 

The good news is that I just got my long awaited relief pitcher, Jesse Kahn who will be managing 15th Street so I can move on.  He will be posting soon so that you can get acquainted and so you can continue to have insight into what is going on in our world, while I run from meeting to meeting trying to get all the last minute details put together.

When we are ready to open the doors I will start posting again and give you insight into all the well kept secrets of what Roy will look like, taste like and sound like.  Stay tuned, there are some awesome details to come!  Thanks for all the support so far, I can’t wait to surprise you with the great things on the way!

Jacob

10/27 Synergy 8-10.  Jazz Trio not to be missed!

10/28  Washington Middle School 7p-9p.  Welcome!  We are very excited to hear you and give you a great place to play!

10/30 Tamara Lewis- 8-10.

Returning Favorite Tamara Lewis.  If you have not seen her yet you are missing out!  We are so proud to bring her soulful singer/songwriter performance to our store.  You will be inspired as you listen to her perform.

http://www.tlewismusic.com/

10/31  C3 7-9.  Back for an encore performance!  A blend of folk, rock & pop music that becomes all their own.

11/1  WoodnBrass  4-6.  Special Matinee Performance!

http://www.myspace.com/woodnbrass  Wood and Brass are Ben Obee and Michel Navedo. Ben grew up on Whidbey Island Washington where he played bass and sang lead vocals in punk and rock bands while studying jazz and classical theory composition and orchestration. Ben later attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston where continued to study and expand his musical knowledge. Based on his knowledge of jazz and classical music he began composing and conducting his own compositions with small ensembles at the school. Today he lives in Seattle where he still plays and records in rock bands as well as jazz and folk ensembles. Michel Navedo has been playing trumpet for thirty years. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New Orleans, Michel has a formal education in Jazz and Classical Performance and Music Composition. He has played and studied music around the world in groups performing Salsa, Flamenco, Samba, and a wide variety of other world music; as well as, Symphonic, Big Band, Hip Hop, Psychedelic Rock, Fusion, and his own original laptop/electronic music. Michel performs regularly, and composes and teaches music out of his home studio in Shoreline, WA.

Friday Oct. 23 @ 8pm

Stephen Ashbrook-

“Stephen Ashbrook is a Portland, Oregon-based singer songwriter. Ashbrook rose to fame in the mid-1990’s in his home state of Arizona, riding the wave of the Tempe music scene while performing with his band Satellite. Many bands, including the Gin Blossoms, The Refreshments and Dead Hot Workshop found success with this guitar-driven rock music. Ashbrook has toured with the Peacemakers, among others.” – Wikipedia

www.stephenashbrook.com

Saturday Oct. 24th @8pm

Returning favorite Ed Zincavage @ 15th Ave.  His music is Finger picking, Folk, Blues, with Slide Guitar and Harmonica.

http://www.edwardzincavage.com/home

Jason Chen is one of our tea suppliers and tea guru.  He just returned from China where he spent 7 days in the fields and 7 days working with the suppliers of our tea serveware.  His depth of knowledge has been indespensible in helping us source the best teas I have ever tried.

On his return from China he brought several Ti-Kwan-Yins for us to try.  The above photo is of two of the three teas.  The one on the left is $200 a pound and the one on the right is $400 a pound.

If you notice the one on the left is lighter than the other.  The reason is that the finishing step for the two create the two distinct styles of Ti-Kwan-Yin in China.  The one on the left is fired on a charcoal fire for around two hours leaving bright floral notes of orchid or rose and an aguave like sweetness.  The one on the right is put on the charcoal fire for up to six hours to deepen it’s flavor and bring out honey notes and stone fruit flavors. 

I was very impressed with the quality of these teas, but it also helped reinforce in my mind how great our teas are.  The house Ti-Kwan-Yin stood up very nicely with the others, even though they were of exceptional quality.

After our tasting, Jason showed us the pictures that he took on his trip.  He is as talented at photography as he is with sourcing great tea.  The pictures of the workers picking and processing and of the markets where the tea was sold, took us on a journey to places that are hard to describe with just words.  Pickers smiled as they had their very first photograph taken, excited but shy of the process.

Please come in and take that journey for yourself when you can.  Thanks Jason for all your help! 

Click this link for more information on Ti-Kwan-Yin.  http://www.streetlevelcoffee.com/2009/09/17/iron-goddess-of-mercy/

So Fall is in full swing!  Every time I sweep in front of the store I am reminded of that.  It’s my favorite time of year, that’s why I live in Seattle.  We usually have 3 months of Summer and 9 months of Fall!

As we enjoy our creature comforts and get ready to hibernate, I was trying to figure out the perfect coffee for enjoying in front of my fireplace.  Hands down it has to be Sumatra.  The deep warming flavor and woodsy aroma make it perfect for me. 

Last season must have been the perfect year for coffee in Sumatra because what we are drinking right now is truly great.  The mushrooms and earth that are usually predominant are set off by an intense herbal quality that balances out the velvety mouth feel.

Like any grape growing region, coffee regions vary every year based on the weather, rainfall, soil balance, and cultivation just to name a few factors.  Sometimes different coffees from the same region are blended to balance these changes and make them less noticeable year over year.  Other times amazing qualities show themselves as coffees are roasted, and this year Sumatra is a true Jewel.

The Sumatra that I put in the Clover this morning was roasted five days ago.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

So find a piece of pumpkin cheese cake, put a few more sticks of oak on the fire, and brew up a french press of Sumatra.  Snuggle up with the tiger and practice your hibernation.  After all, that’s what you worked so hard all summer for!

For more on Sumatra, click this link and select the island on the right.  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/businesstechnology/coffee.html