Archives for February 2008

Today my friend Kathy sent me an email saying, “Hey Amy. Did you see this article?” I usually don’t get very far past – “did you see the article” because I am always nervous about what the article has to say about Tazza D’Oro. See article at Pitt News. I usually have to call Amelia or Rachel and have them read it first.

You would think after almost 8 years and over many, many great articles/write-ups/mentions I would be used to this. But I’m not and maybe never will be. It’s a strange experience to have many people over the years write and critique Tazza D’Oro without the slightest idea of it happening. Every person we serve in the course of our day may be in to write an article about us.

So, once again, thank you to the staff of Tazza D’Oro: P, Tone, Emily, Braden, Josh, Jodi, Anthony the Kid, Zach and Belloma for giving it your best everyday and serving each customer as if they were writing an article about us. I appreciate and applaud your unbelievable skills and commitment because we all know how hard it is to make great coffee, espresso and food everyday.

Dan from the Pitt News – thank you for such great words and appreciating our craft. Please introduce yourself next time you are in. Bet you would love to test drive our new La Marzocco espresso machine.

BTW, a traditional cappuccino –

In our last post we showed this picture of Scott Merle visiting Pluma Hidalgo, Oaxaca.

In Oxaca, there are three villages that make up La Trinidad – Lagunilla, Xanica and Los Naranjos. These villages comprise a coop of 300 coffee farmers. Our featured coffee is Mexico La Trinidad Peaberry. A peaberry is when one seed, rather than two seeds forms within the coffee cherry. Peaberries generally have more intense flavor than the regular flat coffee seed. See coffee report here.

We are serving the Mexico Peaberry made in a French Press. So, you could buy a press or 12 oz cup. The coffee has delicious notes of milk chocolate and cinnamon.

Batdorf and Bronson has a long relationship with La Trinidad and was offered this limited edition coffee. We will continue to carry this coffee over the next couple of weeks. You can also purchase the Mexico Peaberry as whole bean too.

Today there was an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette by China Millman – Consumers told to eat local meat – see article here. Over the past few days I have been reading about the record recall of 143 million pounds of beef produced by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. YIKES! News reports are now saying there is little risk for us humans who may consume the beef. However, I am amazed and shocked at the cost of what we do in our culture to feed our unsustainable consumption – see article here.

We would like to acknowledge our partners who help Tazza D’Oro stay connected to our food and coffee sources. We strongly believe in supporting local businesses and supporting businesses who produce, raise or grow the food/coffee that we serve you. We feel the connection to these sources are important to upholding quality and upholding the responsibility to each other.

Even though coffee sources cannot be grown locally, we chose a roaster who practices sustainability and believes in developing strong relationships with growers and coffeehouses. Pictured above is Scott Merle, Green Coffee Buyer and Roastmaster at Batdorf and Bronson – see sustainability practices. This particular picture is of Scott visiting the La Trinidad Farm in Mexico. Scott travels to as many coffee growing farms as possible; forging strong relationships with the growers and his company in order to produce remarkably high quality coffees while ensuring sustainable business practices.

Our milk and cream are supplied by Turner Dairy. Turner Dairy uses only local farms and requires their farming partners to sign agreements stating their cows will NOT be treated with hormones and any cow being treated with an antibiotic will not be used as a milk source. BTW, they were named the 2007 as the “The Best Milk” in the US at the World Dairy Expo.

Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance is another one of our partners. Penn’s Corner is an Coop of local farms who supplies Tazza D’Oro with locally raised beef, pork and poultry. Along with eggs, honey along with seasonal fruits and veggies. You can also join their CSA (community supported agriculture) to get local grown or raised food for your home.

Then there’s my family’s bakery in Jeannette – Enrico’s Bakery. My brother Rob is a 3rd generation baker who makes all of the bread for Tazza D’Oro. Our bread is hand made and does not contain any preservatives or fillers. The pastries they make for us are baked by the same standards. Maybe someday Enrico’s Bakery will have a web site too!

We wanted to remind you that CCW is fast approaching and we need a RSVP by the end of the day on Monday the 18th. We hope to see you on Thursday the 21st. The topic is the Blessings of Friendship.

Around 4:40 pm this afternoon all 2008 MARBC competitors were called to the front stage to collect their award certificates and t-shirts. Next Heather Perry announced the 6 Finalists who will compete for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place tomorrow.

Tazza D’Oro would like to congratulate Sonja, Belle and John from Aldo Coffee, Anne Boatner and Randy Kimble for murky coffee and Jeremy Stermer from Cafe Pronto in Maryland. Braden and Emily will find out where they placed tomorrow when they meet with the judges. We would also like to congratulate Mike and Katy from Blue Horse.

Pittsburgh showcased 7 of the 25 barista competitors! Out of the 7, four of them were 1st timers to the competition (Braden, Emily, Mike and Katy) and they did extremely well. We had some interesting feedback about our baristas and I will be proud to share the info with you once they meet with the judges tomorrow.

Go Pittsburgh! See more photos – click here

Day 2 of the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Competition (MARBC) will begin in about an hour. We have one more Pittsburgh Barista to cheer for today. Mike from Blue Horse Coffee is up this afternoon. Katy from Blue Horse competed yesterday but I didn’t have the opportunity to finish watching her performance. But other Pittsburgh spectators say she finished strong. Annette and Melissa you would have been proud.

Congrats to Belle, Sonja and John from Aldo Coffee. One of the really great things that came out of all the crazy, consuming preparation for the competition was the chance for Emily and Braden to work with other Pittsburgh Baristas. Watching their collective support of each other in the pre-competition prep area was Pittsburgh at its best. John, Belle and Sonja, you guys were great.

I think Rich told me yesterday he was posting some photos from the competition. Check out his site – click here. And check out some of our pictures – click here. Hopefully more to come from Heather (Batdorf and Bronson).