Lee: “Nov. 29.” Me: “Yeah?” Lee: “The last time you wrote a blog post.” Me: “2. That’s the number of stores Quills has opened since that date.” I’m sitting in the second of those two stores right now, a disarmingly beautiful space that is at once both cozy and comfortable. We opened this space on… [Read more…]
October 5, 2011
I’m sort of jumping the gun on writing this, but, considering the long hours and seemingly endless days of test-roasting and taste-testing, I think can be forgiven if I let spill a small portion of the proverbial beans. Besides, Michael John Butterworth requested more than one blog post a month, and I’m not about to… [Read more…]
January 15, 2011
Earlier this week, while Nathan and Philip and I were brainstorming and hoping that little red roaster wouldn’t get hurt in the bed of the truck, I mentioned the idea of printing out little postcard-sized handouts with helpful hints on how to taste coffee. At the time, we were thinking of ways to set ourselves… [Read more…]
January 12, 2011
I’m not a mean guy, really. Okay, sure, there was that time I laughed when I ran over Pablo’s ankle… with my car… but that really was funny, I promise! Maybe that’s a bad example. It’s just that I have a hard time not having a knee-jerk response in my mind every time I hear… [Read more…]
December 19, 2010
So, after thinking about it a bit last night and this morning, I decided I could have pulled that blend at a slightly higher temp, maybe 200° or 201°, which might have helped to take the edge off the brightness a bit and bring out more of the middle and lower-toned notes in the coffees.… [Read more…]
October 29, 2010
My first job out of high school was working at a grocery store. At that time, Safeway, Inc. was feeling the squeeze being put on them and others by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. My orientation and training at Safeway centered upon two little words: customer service. The head honchos seemed well-aware that there was no way… [Read more…]
January 18, 2012
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