When you’re out and about, get your hands on the Shepherd Express.  In the dining out section, you’ll find a very nice article (accompanied by a few photos) written about Roast.  We’re proud of what we do and it’s good to see other people see that too.

You can also check out the article here if you don’t have a Shepherd handy.

Thanks, Jeff Beutner, for the kind words.  Your next cup of coffee is on us!

The Roast street team is rockin’ in full effect! Keep an eye out on campus for the Roast ladies as they pass out BUY ONE, GET ONE drink coupons! They will be passing out the coupons through out the day so hopefully you’ll cross paths with at least one of them. It’s only tomorrow, Tuesday September 15th, so be on the lookout.

And, as always, support your local coffee shop!

Now, anytime after 3pm, our 16oz lattes are $3.00. Whether your studying late or need a pick-me-up after work, you can get your fix for less. Some might say this is happy hour for coffee…We say it’s a way of sharing some great coffee with great people!

Enjoy your $3.00 latte!

Roast takes it coffee and espresso preparation pretty seriously.  We are always looking for ways to tweak our methods and/or techniques to get the best flavor out of our coffee.  There are a lot of details that one can control in order to extract the best flavor out of coffee.  It all takes knowledge, time, and (most times) money.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has developed a Gold Cup Standard for brewing coffee.  There are a lot of parameters that are outlined that need to be measured in order brewing the perfect cup.  We won’t get into specifics on everything that needs to be measured.  However, one of the many criteria is Total Dissolved Solids (or TDS). We recently tested our coffee and compared it to the brewing control chart.  Once two variables are known, the third can be found.

We’re happy to report that with some minor adjustments on our grinder, we are within the optimal extraction range.  What does this mean to you?  We are doing everything in our power to insure that you are getting the best quality cup of coffee in the city.  And we can back up our findings with facts, and not just subjective tasting.  That’s the Roast difference.

On the espresso side, we have done several modifications to our La Marzocco espresso machine to control temperature, flow rates, and brew strength.  But that’s only half of it.  We were controlling several variables that lead us to believe that our espresso blend wasn’t performing like we’d want it to.  So we met with our roasting partner to develop a signature espresso blend for Roast. There were three employees from Roast along with the owner, head roaster, and head barista from Anodyne. We set up a controlled environment and tasted every offering Anodyne had.  From that point, we started blending and created a blend that really worked well with the parameters we had set up on our machine.  What really makes us smile is that there is a small coffee company in Chicago that is using the same components that we have in our blend.

It coffee, which means it’s forever changing.  Our parameters might change next week, next month, or six months from now.  But we want you to know we are keeping our eye on the ball in an attempt to better serve to our neighbors and friends.  We hope you can taste the Roast difference.

Brett Boy Wonder does it again…this time against Ypsilanti, Michigan! Alterra hosted the second City Vs. City Latte Art Throwdown this past Thursday. Boy Wonder threw down a wonderful rosetta that earned him 3rd place in points to carry him to the semi final round. In the semi finals, his steady hand poured another beautiful rosetta to securely lock himself a second place finish for Milwaukee!

Milwaukee walked home with the championship by almost a hundred-point victory. Final score: Milwaukee 507; Ypsilanti 410.5 Milwaukee is now 2-0! Next city…maybe San Francisco. Or Seattle. Or Portland. I don’t know, but Milwaukee has a group of sick baristas that can definitely throw!

Here are all the pics of the event on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roastcoffee/sets/72157622110867706/

Way to go Brett! Your drinks are awesome and your latte art’s even better! Keep serving those Roasties!

We know you love your coffee and wouldn’t mind saving a little money now and again. Here are a few ways that you can save money at Roast:

• Punch cards! If you’re standing at the register, you may notice a green wall of cards with names, drawings, stickers, rare Greek numbering systems, etc. Those are Roast Punch Cards. Every customer that fills one up gets to put it on the wall. Get yourself a punch card and keep it. Buy 12 drinks and lucky number 13 is on us. (And yes, it can be used on any drink you want!)
• Double punch Wednesdays! Every Wednesday, we punch your card twice for every one drink you buy. Fill up your punch card twice as fast.
• Bring in your own mug! We always charge for the small drink price when you bring in your own travel mug. It’s a great way to go green too!
• Or better yet, buy yourself a Roast travel mug and your first drink is on us! That’s right, any time you buy a travel mug, we’ll fill it with a beverage of your choice for free. And the fact that we charge for the smaller dink price every time you use it, your new travel mug virtually pays for itself in the first month of use.
• Come in on your birthday! If it’s your birthday, lets celebrate…Your drink is on us.

If you are a UW-M student, look for our street team walking around campus handing out coupons. They’ll be handing out ‘tall for a small’ drink cards that will help you save some money. That means a 16oz drink for the price of a 12oz.

If there are any other ways to save money at Roast, let us know by leaving a comment.

Cheers!

Thanks for everyone who came to the art opening this past Friday. The most memorable moment for me: cashing a ¼ barrel of Riverwest Stein in 32 minutes. We have some drinkers on our team! Luckily for us, there is a liquor store down the street.

Congratulations to Kevin and Jeremy for selling a few pieces!

Our roasting partner, Anodyne, is doing some pretty amazing things with our coffee lately.  They just recieved two new coffees that we’d like to share with you.

Brazil Beija Flor -Aroma – Peppery, floral. Flavors – Orange blossom, nutty, subtle sweetness, hints of dark dried fruits i.e. raisins, dates. Finish -creamy, smooth, some brightness, little waxy on pallet.
*berry notes seem to surface when cooling

Mexican Terruno Nayarita – Aroma – Cocoa, beans. Flavor – Bready, nuts, notes of citrus, mild smokiness, subtle caramelized sugar sweetness, cocoa. Finish – Smooth, effervescence quality, mild brightness.

Hope you enjoy the new coffees as much as we do!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, at Roast Coffee Company, there is an ArT oPeNiNg! Four very talented students from UW-M’s Architecture program are welcoming you and your friends to come, hang out, and drink wine. Starts at 7pm and will go until we close.

Come one, come all. Hope to see you there.

It’s exciting to see progression in coffee excellence. It’s even more exciting when it’s a former employee. James Fairbrass has accepted a position in New York at Stumptown Coffee Roaster’s new café in the Ace Hotel, a boutique hotel chain with locations in Seattle, Portland, and Palm Springs. This is a big deal because Stumptown is a very progressive coffee company that is super respected within the coffee industry. His new position will be one of the lead baristas at this new location. Congratulations to James for this huge opportunity. We know it’ll be a perfect fit. Now send us some coffee already!

Love 4 Eva,

Roast Coffee Company