Hi Beanbuffs. Every Saturday I send you updates about building a tiny espresso bar and interesting things about third wave coffee culture.
These are the last few days when we enjoy iced coffees and cold brews. Which do you prefer more?
If you like my newsletter, please forward it your friends and families. Also, shoot me a mail with tips and ideas. I will work on them.
Shack Coffee Co. WIP
Are you aware of cute little cafe syndrome? Small cafes are the most difficult to become profitable. Yet, people including your truly dream of opening one. Eight out of then new cafes shut down within two years of opening.
Michael Idov is a novelist. He opened a cute little cafe in 2005. Within six months he had to shut down. Long working hours, low margins, low footfalls and high costs made it difficult. I do not want to meet the same fate.
To avoid the failure one has to be ready to bear the losses for more than a year. Two, right location is important, as without walk-ins there wouldn’t be a business. Three, lower expectations , unlike Michael’s romantic view of the cafe there would be long hours, dirty machines and harsh feedback.
Shahpurjat sits in the middle. It does not have the high walk-ins. But, it is accessible to invite the community for small tasting sessions. Yes, I am hinting towards a menu. I am working on a small menu, unlike a typical cafe menu. I aim to keep it small. I will focus on one or two food items such as sandwich. If someone treks to Shahpurjat, they should not just leave after a cup of coffee. Ino Cafe & Wine Bar has been one of my inspirations.
Less is more
Ino Cafe & Wine Bar gets the credit for modern wine bars. It paired Italian food made with local ingredients, with wines. In 2013 it closed after operating for fifteen years.
It signified less is more. It was a tiny cafe, the shape of a shoe box. Its kitchen was even smaller, the size of a DJ booth. Yet, there was nothing like it in New York of 2000s. Its small menu paired fresh sandwiches with Italian wines. Its food was simple and affordable. Customers had to wait to get inside the cafe. It made sourcing fresher ingredients and creativity in food trendy.
As per CBS Local: In addition to the wines, the menu is short, simple – and to die for. It’s all about the bread – which is fresh and an ideal combination of crusty and chewy. The majority of the menu comes in sandwiches in the form of bruschetta, panini, and tramezzini, and the folks behind the counter really know how to stack a sandwich
Owners Jason and Jeniffer started it in 1998 after a trip to Italy. They fell in love with the sandwiches. They also published a book: Simple Italian Sandwiches. The book breaks down the ‘build’ of each sandwich. Sandwiches go equally well with capuccinos and lattes.
P.S. I will serve them at Shacoco’s espresso bar
Cold vs iced
Coffee is about ganging up in one or other camp. Cold brew camp has been growing exponentially. Though, coffee geeks cite the superiority of iced coffee. One can not compare the both, as both have different brewing styles.
Mark Prince is the founder of popular coffee publication CoffeeGeek. He has been a pioneer in the third wave coffee culture. He is certified judge and consults with coffee brands. His reviews and articles about machines and brewing are detailed and backed with facts and research.
He wrote in Coffee Geek: At different temperatures for the brewing water, different taste-contributing elements in the ground coffee are extracted at different levels. In addition, temperatures can cause (or mute, or not cause) chemical reactions in the complex genome that is roasted coffee.
Cold brews takes 8–12 hours. It results in three things. One, low acidity or mellow coffee. Two, you can store it up to three days. Three, longer brewing time works magic on body rich coffees ( darker blends). Though, light roast coffees bring out the fruit notes.
Iced coffee or quickly cooling coffee with ice does three things to the coffee. When one is brewing hot coffees, one is able to bring out more balance involving sweetness, bitterness and acidity. It also maintains the terroir (uniqueness of coffee because of the soil it grows in).
Marc Prince shared his favorite iced coffee brewing methods:
P.S. Try ShaCoCo Blend for cold brews and iced coffees. Taste chocolate and spices.
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Next Issue:
Shacoco: WIP
I brewed Delhi’s first iced coffees