Best of Metromix

The Metromix has selected us as a nominee for Metromix’s Best of 2012 feature in the category of Best Coffee Shop. We'd be really grateful if everyone would head on over there and cast a vote for us. You are allowed one vote per 24 hours in each category during the voting period, so vote early and vote often!

Voting started on Monday, January 16, and closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, January 29. We urge you to rally your friends, family and fans to visit the site and vote for us to take the title.

You can vote here

Kaleb Alexander Jan 27th

On the 27th of this month we will be welcoming Kaleb Alexander, a local musician to our Forest Park shop. His performance starts at 7 and we hope you will come out and see it!

Find out more about him at http://www.facebook.com/kalebalexandermusic

You can keep track of all our events on our Calendar page.

January Artwork

Two posts in less than a week. I'm on a roll!

This month we are pleased to show David Gerhard's artwork on the long golden wall through the month of January. He works with a variety of media, from screen printing to sketch pencil and he's got the full fifty feet of space full of stuff to look at. Come by and check it out when you get the chance.

SERBC 2012

You might already know Evan from the Forest Park shop. He works the evening shift usually and has a particularly good grasp of what it takes to represent Coffee & Crema. Please, come by and give him your support as he prepares to compete in the 2012 Southeast Regional Barista Competition. His capps and espresso are spot on and his signature drink is starting to take shape but you'll have to ask him about it if you want to know more. Most importantly, he possesses a professionalism I encourage others to emulate.

The final Thursday of the month, the day usually devoted to Latte Art Hoedowns and Odd Cup Out competitions, will this month be Evan's competition run through. This will be your chance to see his performance in its entirety and give him feedback before the judges in the competition have their way with him. Expect him to get started around 6 p.m. Come by and encourage him.

And Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Hours

Coffee & Crema will be closing early this Wednesday so our employees can jet off to Paris or the Bahamas or wherever else they go for the holidays. You'll be able to enjoy all the conviviality and jocund antics until 6 p.m. and then you'll have to wait all the way until Friday before you can do it again.

The Mall location will open at 3 a.m. Friday morning so if you find yourself really bad off - or in the Mall anyway for an early morning special - we'll be there for you.

The Forest Park shop will go back to normal hours on Friday.

We are getting in a boatload of whole bean coffee for the weekend so if you need a little to share with friends on Thanksgiving we will have in stock:

Honduras, Los Cipreses
Colombia, La Golondrina
Papua New Guinea, Baroida
El Salvador, Finca Kilimanjaro
El Salvador, Finca Mauritania
Ethiopia, Idido
Espresso Toscano
Decaf Espresso Rustico

Happy Thanksgiving!

Siphon Brewing Workshop

Saturday, November the 19th, we will be holding a workshop at our Forest Park location. It is intended for anyone interested in learning the fundamental techniques for brewing siphon coffee. We will be training employees in all aspects of siphon brewing, including dosage, timing and technique. Customers and enthusiasts are invited to come by and watch, learn and participate in this practicum.

Coffee brewed by the employees during this training session will be free to the attendees. For those would like to brew their own siphon coffee we will happily walk through the process with you, charging standard siphon pricing for the coffees on hand plus a $5 surcharge for any 'ohmygodyoujustbrokethesiphon" accidents that might happen.

So, if you were thinking of buying a siphon for a loved one this holiday now would be a good opportunity to come by and get some firsthand experience with the device.

This workshop starts at 10 in the morning.

New Artist for July

Happy 4th of July!

There was not enough of a response to our photography project to do enlargements for July as we had hoped. Instead we have Tesha Zimmerman Dickey showing for the month. Her exhibit was inspired by kaleidoscopes. In her own words:

When you turn the dial of a kaleidoscope, there is always something new going on, a new pattern with all new colors. I wanted to capture the pattern of the gems, the light flooding through them, the brilliant colors. The last couple of years, I've been working with adding texture to my art to activate the picture plane more, create depth, and value. I used colored paper to work within the pieces in harmony with the paint for a more interesting subject. Moving on to integrating mat board in as well created the effect I was looking for with the original kaleidoscope idea.

Come by and check her work out. It will be up for the month of July. You can find her contact info on our Events page.

National Photography Month

Not many people pick up and use their 35mm cameras anymore. Everyone talks about the camera they learned on or the one they have buried in the closet somewhere but they rarely take it out and use it anymore. Now's the chance.This month we'd like to invite everyone with a 35mm camera to come by the shop, grab a roll of film and take part in National Photography Month. Yes, there really is a month dedicated to photography. Here's how it will work:

Come by the shop and grab a roll of film. It's a roll of 12 exposures and will only set you back $1.50. Inside you'll find a color assignment. Journey into the world and find that color wherever you can. Shoot. Take the best shots you can. Subject matter isn't important. Taking a great photo is. Bring in the 4x6 prints you want to stick on the wall. You can post up to twelve photos for consideration.

The first week of June we'll tape the photos on the wall and everyone will get a month to vote on their favorites. The ten highest will be enlarged and put up for the month of July. The photographer will get first option to buy their piece and after that it's available to everyone else. The cost will only be what it cost us to produce it.

We're in talks with a local photo developing company to get a discount on the processing but we'll let you know more about that and any other details here at the shop.

Also, we do have one 35mm camera for people to use if they don't have one of their own. Bring a deposit for that though!

Imbibe's 100 Best

Imbibe Magazine, one of the best magazines around for all things potable, has voted Coffee & Crema one of the best places to get a drink in the south in its March/April issue! I'd tell you to seek out an issue at one of the local bookstores but we bought all the copies could find. You CAN get them here at the shop, since we agreed to sell this month's issue.

If you are unfamiliar with Imbibe, check them out here.

Congratulations to the Community Tap for getting mentioned as well!

PS: Don't forget that the Odd Cup Out is next Thursday.

No More Cappuccino

Yesterday morning it was Christmas. Now it's March. Jeez ...

We just put up a new menu at the Forest Park location. It is a minimalist black & white design but otherwise laid out the same. There aren't too many changes other than pricing (the cafe au lait is an off menu item now, the pourover and press pot and espresso are now on the daily menu, the hot chocolate got pasted up there) and are mostly a matter convenience or aesthetics. There is only one drink that made any substantial change on this menu and that's the 12/16 ounce cappuccino. We got rid of it. It was a holdover from the Mall days when we took over that shop six years ago. It was on the menu then and was on every other menu of the time so we went along. We've had the 'traditional cappuccino' for years but it was always an off menu item. From now on our cappuccino is a five ounce drink. There is no 'traditional' cappuccino. There is just cappuccino.

We also have something hanging on the wall now behind the bar. They are photos taken by Sean Clawson and you should come by and check them out. It really looks much better.