www.catalinacoffeeshop.com

Latte Art Throwdown @ Catalina Coffee
$20 to enter – winner takes all.
Baristas will have 7 minutes to make up to three lattes, choose one to present to three judges. Judging will be based on symmetry, contrast, and technical difficulty and complexity of the art. Free-pour only, no etching.

Now comes this from, fittingly, a Berkeley publisher:  What appears to be a fun new book in the super-macro-food-pics mold that is all the rage today, complete with a delectable line-up of deliciously done drinks.

The book is entitled, Coffee Drinks, by one Michael Turback, and, at 112 colorful caffeinated pages, is a bargain at under $15.

Visit our New location

Thanks for reading for the past year and a half!
Here’s to many more. May specialty coffee flourish in Texas.

Search the Internet Coffee Database

Visit the TX-Cofee.com Forums

This blog space was once found under the domain TX-COFFEE.  We have set up the blog on our private server under the same URL.

This allows us to do many things, one of which is to move the forums to the same URL, as well as to integrate them into the blog appearance platform. (to see what I mean, click the link above, and then go to the “Forums” link in the header.)

For those who have been tracking us via the wordpress.com URL for the last year and a half, we appreciate your patronage, and hope you’ll continue your readership via the TX-Coffee.com URL.

If you subscribed to the Feedblitz email feed, there is no need to do anything. You weekly compilation updates will continue to be delivered as usual.

There are an abundant ways to subscribe and share Texas Coffee People with your friends and family at the new blog space, so please update your feed readers as needed.

Another fun feature we’ve added is the Internet Coffee Database Search Engine created by yours truly, with a bank of over 160 independent blogs, forums, and websites from the progressive side of the specialty coffee industry, so when you have questions, you get only the best answers from around the net.

Thanks for a great year and a half thus far, and we look forward to seeing you on the Forums.  If you haven’t registered yet, there is no time like the present to do just that.

This “past” incarnation site will remain available, however, it will be much less active, if active at all.

As taken straight from the official Beatnix Myspace blog.

Beatnix Coffee House to Close Saturday

7/23/2008 / Waco, Texas

This Saturday, July 26th, will be the final day that Beatnix Coffee
House opens its doors to the public. A “Closing Bash” will be held,
featuring performances by local musicians.

Beatnix’s owner announced on Wednesday the closing of the coffee house
and cultural venue at 1826 Lake Shore Drive, due to poor economic
conditions and lack of capital for expansion.

Opened in 2005 by Penney Simpson, Todd Millerd, and Sandra Hapenney,
Beatnix quickly became known not only for its gourmet coffee and
sandwiches, but as a haven for poetry, art, and music.  It was awarded
the Music Association of Central Texas’ Groovy Award for Non-Club Venue
of the Year in both 2007 and 2008.

Simpson said “Beatnix has been my dream, and I had so many plans for it,
ways that it could be a gathering place and creative spark for Waco’s
culture.  But it had to move and grow in order to survive, and our
attempts to find investors or purchasers for the business have all
proved to be dead ends.”

Beatnix Coffee House will be open for normal business through Saturday.
On Saturday evening, it will hold a final “Closing Bash” at 6 pm, with
local musicians performing on stage for the last time.

Lack of capital for expansion?  Was the business failing, or has it just been stagnant too long?

In any case, nobody ever likes to hear of a shop closing.  As a coffee professional, I can’t help but be curious as to why it happens.  Each case is different, and it’s often, though not always, due to failing financially.  (or being marooned by the city *coughtpanthercitycough*)

What good is a Groovy Award if it can’t save your business?  It must be defective!

Thanks to Badger for the tip.

I received an email from Jonathan A. at White Rock Coffee letting us know about this place near the heart of Dallas.

Jonathan writes,

Just wanted to let you know about a new independent shop in the DFW area. Crooked Tree Coffeehouse opened about a month ago in Dallas’ uptown area, at 2414 Routh Street. It’s in a pretty “hip” area of town- a residential neighborhood rezoned for business. It’s nice to find a coffeeHOUSE in a big city. Cozy location, comfortable furniture, live music is very intimate but can get kind of crowded (no actual stage, just set up in the corner). The owners and baristas are VERY passionate about coffee. They make some great espresso drinks, and also serve your usual fare of teas, chai, smoothies and pastries. All of their coffee comes from a company in Colorado Springs called Bywell, and it’s all Fairtrade organic. You can find there website at crookedtreecoffeehouse.com.

Cool!  The last time I visited a House converted into a coffee retailer was at Common Grounds in Waco.

Has anyone else visited this place?

Thanks for the heads up, Jonathan.

Crooked Tree Coffee House has been added to our List of Retailers.

Pictures taken at the Jam can be viewed here.
(Thanks to Brittany Reed for bringing a camera!)

9am tomorrow morning at the Mosaic Cafe in Carrolton hosted by AAH! Coffee, and sponsored by Pallo (www.coffeetool.com).

it’s mostly cupping centered, and it will feature coffees from various roasters in Texas.

Don’t miss the customer interaction lecture given by Aaron Heil(AAH! Coffee), and stick around for the Culture of Excellence presentation headed up by Eldon Hooley(Javataza).

Enter the friendly competition(s) if they occur.

Expect it to run for most of the day.

I will not be in attendance.  Tomorrow is my birthday, and I intend to spend it leisurly with my significant other.  I hope everyone has a blast!

I received an email a few days ago from Lon Hart letting us know about their roasting operation in Austin.  Lon writes,

Please add me to the list of roaster on this site.  We are located in Cedar Park(austin).

We have been suppling Central Texas with fresh roasted coffee for over 5 years now.  We see the need to educate shops and barista’s on the basics of coffee and espresso in our area.  Too many time do we visit shops in the area and the barista’s have no clue on basic technics…which tells us their training was poor.  Our focus over the next couple years will be to offer free training since the shop owners dont seem to have the time or even care to show anyone how to pull an average shot.

thanks, Lonn Hart

Their website, admitedly, needs some work, but that never stopped anyone from roasting coffee to perfection.  I cannot speak for the quality, since I have never tried it, but 5 years is plenty of time for learning if one pays attention in earnest.

www.republicacoffeeroasters.com

Republica Coffee Roasters has been added to our List of Roasters.

9:00am

Mosaic Cafe
2435 Kinwest
Irving, TX, 75063
Map and Directions

Hosted By:

and

Click Here for more info.

• Cupping for quality and roasting analysis
• Connecting with the consumer market (customers)
• Creating a Culture of Excellence
• Espresso techniques and free time
• Latte Art Throw Down
• Networking

Sponsors
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www.coffeetool.com

Sponsorships Available! (Contact Us)

This project is a work in progress