Hello Summer.

This is it. The time of year that everyone waits for – shorts, flip-flops and trips to the river. The gray skies are gone (for the most part), it’s light out forever and for the first few weeks everyone has a healthy glow or possibly, a sunburn.
Every year we roll out the Cold Water Extract for summer. Iced coffee is one of those beverages that has an abundance of proponents and detractors – and from shop to shop the quality varies. We’re pretty happy with our method, but from year to year, we tweak the recipe to make it better.
This summer we upped the ante. A few months ago, we contacted Stumptown with a question about a custom blend. As more and more shops add iced coffee to their menu, the brewing methods and ratios involved become less of a secret. A proprietary blend allows us to retain our own little niche and we can specify the flavors and body balance to our taste. Since coffee is a regional crop that goes in and out of season, it also helps to lock down a consistent supply of beans for the CWE recipe.
Skip, Steve and Jim from Stumptown were totally on board with the blend idea. We talked about the flavor profile and the nuances of the cold brew method. Blends were composed and fiddled with. A few weeks later, we had a winner. The managers kicked around a couple of names and Rita nailed it with her first effort – Hello Summer. Our Hello Summer blend has notes of deep chocolate, a slight berry tinge and sweetness with a touch of citrus. It’s also chock full of caffeine. Seriously, we’re all pretty heavy coffee users and most of us can only handle one serving of this brew. Got a bunch of stuff to do this afternoon? Grab a glass of Hello Summer and off you go.
Also on the new things tip, we’re happy to get a nice new rotation of demitasse cups from our pals at Espresso Parts. We were a little sad to say goodbye to our celeste green ‘spro cups but time and use made the decision a little easier.

The new cups are more of a sliced kiwi hue, the manufacturer chose to switch up their glaze a bit. We’ve had a bunch of nice comments from our customers about them. It certainly helps to have one of Katie’s perfectly pulled ristretto shots resting inside.

Last but not least, our favorite pastry purveyor helped us out with a slick new case. It’s custom built for our counter and it does a fantastic job of showing off the tastiest scones in Portland.
Thanks Nuvrei!