FLIKR updates

flickr

Plaster is going up on the outside of the shop and work on the last building is underway. This building will be twice as tall than the other buildings and will have retail on the bottom and office space on the top floors. The website is still continuing to be updated and I will post a link on here soon so everyone can play around with it...and hopefully soon start ordering coffee!!

Charleston, SC

Over Labor Day weekend I had a chance to travel down to Charleston, SC to see some of my good friends from Wake Forest. It was a trip I had not planned on going on until just a couple of days ago when I got a call from my buddy Charlie telling me he was going to propose to his girlfriend, Katie...yeah girl. Congrats guys! I had a lot of fun. While down there I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and be a tourist for the day before traveling back to rainy NC. I knew there were several good coffee shops down there so I was going to try and visit a few. Everyone left early but Charlie and Katie joined me for some coffee and bagels at City Lights Coffee on Market Street. I wasn't a big fan of the setup but the coffee was really good. They actually serve Counter Culture Coffee, the same roaster used for Jubala, and business was steady during the time that we were there. Kate and Charlie left so I got out my camera and backpack and just started walking around the city. It was great! I managed to find a couple of interesting coffee shops while walking around. BAKED, which is located on East Bay St. near the Battery and Waterfront Park was the first place I visited. They served Stumptown Coffee, which I was surprised about because they are a west coast roaster...but after talking to some of the employees they reminded me that Stumptown had just opened up a new place in NYC. BAKED was first opened in 2001 in New York City by a couple of guys, a few ovens, some mixers, an espresso machine, and a lot of passion. Although the coffee was good, it was definitely more of a bakery place than coffeeshop but seemed to be busy the 30 minutes that I was there.
I found another place that I had actually heard a lot of good things about from several people. The place is called KUDU coffee and it is closer to the College of Charleston campus just off King St. I walked in and ended up walking out without ordering anything. The place was packed with students, which was the main reason why I left, but it was also 100% African themed which I thought was kind of strange.
I took a lot of other fun pictures too while walking around Charleston but they have nothing to do with coffee so I will not post them here. I will update progress on Jubala soon...it is still moving along...just very very slowly!

Coffee Tonight

7:30 at All Saints Chapel downtown featuring coffee from Nyeri, Kenya. Here is a little history about the new All Saints Chapel restored by Empire Properties in downtown Raleigh.

Click to make bigger

THUNGURI tonight

Coffee tonight at City Lights, in downtown Raleigh

working on website photos

ALOHA

Hello from Hawaii. I am sitting in beautiful Waikiki beach this morning at the Honolulu Coffee Company drinking a smooth cup of local Kona coffee. I updated the flickr page with the progress on Jubala before I left. I'll be back on Wednesday...in time to see the newest addition to the Cash clan, Samuel Bayne Cash....congrats Jeff and Brooke.

- Uncle Andrew

flickr page

Iced Coffee

Just a little heads up....I was in Wilson, NC today for a meeting and stopped in the Starbucks. I wasn't in the mood for anything hot so I just ordered a small iced coffee. The price kind of made me laugh...$2.03. If I would had ordered it hot instead of cold it would've cost $1.64. To me this is funny because it actually cost them less to make the iced coffee than to brew a hot cup. I asked them how they made their iced coffee. The lady told me they make it the same way they make their hot coffee except they just cool it over ice and put it in the refrigerator and use it the rest of the day. I smiled as she looked at me with this look as if I had just asekd a stupid question.
I smile because it doesn't make any sense to pay more for coffee that has been sitting in the refrigerator all morning, and then is poured over a half cup of ice, getting less coffee. In a lot of places they actually just put their left over coffee in pitchers and let them cool in the refrigerator. To me I should pay less when I am getting less. Just a point. From a business end I understand, they have a higher profit margin with their Iced Coffee, but come on, at least make it fresh!

We will be offering our Iced coffee fresh using a Chemex pourover.

it tastes like coffee

That is what I first thought of when I started drinking coffee. Coffee tastes like......coffee. It all tasted the same to me. So I would just add sugar and milk until I slowly acquired a taste for coffee. Then I started branching out, trying new things, visiting different places, and attending coffee cuppings. A coffee cupping is actually similar to what people do at wine tastings...put about 4 different coffee origins beside each other and based on the fragrance, aroma, brightness, flavor, body, and aftertaste, determine what you like best. Yes coffee can be and is that complex....at least if it is made properly. Here is a chart that people in the coffee industry use to determine different elements of coffee origins. A lot goes in to making a good cup!

flickr

I started a flickr page to post some photos. I have made some really good connections from this site and have discovered some really cool shops, but most of them are far away from NC....hopefully that can change soon....my friend, Matt Brogli, took some really cool pictures so I posted them on there too...I hope that was ok Matt!

Flickr: jubalavillagecoffee

plans

So the space has changed several times, here is the latest mock up with more to come soon. I have several versions of the space and I'm working on a really neat seating concept that I think people will enjoy, but in the meantime look at this space with no furniture




The top entrance will go into the perimeter parking lot and the bottom entrance will flow into the courtyard where more seating will be available under two lighted oak trees. I am working with Ron Cox, an architect in Raleigh, to design the main bar feature as a focal point of the shop. I'll put up another plan that will better explain it when I work out the details. Hopefully by the end of next week.