The Tale of A Beer Brewer

I have to mention here at the outset, we not only run an espresso bar but we also roast our own beans. As a student of coffee it is always my desire to know more and more about the coffee roasting process and how to get more and more flavor out of our beans. That being said, you will understand fully the rest of my short blog.

Like most people in the coffee industry, our café struggles after 4pm when people's tastes change from caffeine to well something other than caffeine. The problem that most of the people in the coffee culture are trying to answer is how to continue to operate our businesses profitably after 4pm.

Industry wide there is a movement to add food, alcoholic drinks and the like the to our menus to offer people in the afternoon hours. We have been exploring this too.

We contacted a local beer brewer in our area and started talks. Alex stopped by and checked out our bar to see if something like this could even physically be feasible. We talked for a bit and then he invited me to stop by His place if I had a chance. Being a craft beer lover, I jumped at the chance of touring his place. I would not be disappointed.

The brewery was probably not unlike other brew houses around the world. They had vats full of bubbling and simmering hops, mash and the like. Carbon gases flowing, the smell of fermenting starches in the air. The place was a beer drinkers paradise.

Alex would spend the next half hour walking me through the cycle of life of beer. Something was happening though throughout the whole experience. You see I was so captivated by the depth of knowledge I was getting from Alex. I mean this guy is a master brewer. That it made me want to get back to my own roaster and get intimately involved with her. (Sheila our coffee roaster)

My love for coffee and how complex and varied its dimensions were heightened as a result of a chance tour of a beer brewery. My desire to produce that perfect cup of java was thrust back into the front my conscious mind after not just tasting a few samples of dark ale (boy was that good stuff) but because coffee is incredibly complex in itself and deserves as much attention as any other drink.

With every step that I took in Alex’s brewery, my interest and passion for my chosen field became all that more important and deserving of attention. Finding connections doesn't require proper planning or manipulation. It may just require us to get out of our comfort zone and experience something new.

Watch Your Words, You Never Know...

Pretty busy day today, so we weren't able to do our usual roundup of happenings in the world of coffee and tea. There have been some great things going on though I assure you. The most pressing thing that I have noticed is the proliferation of coffee people stopping by our shop.

What does that mean? Well it means that they are probably stopping by all of the shops around the valley and just never saying anything. In our case, the only indication that a competing company was in the house was when they told us as they were about to leave.

Why is that so important? Well, one of the former managers of Starbucks has been into our shop as of late and one of the things that he said to me, "Never bad mouth your competition, you never know if they are in the room?" Those are words to live by and ones that I am going to adhere to from now on. Sometimes it is too easy to jump on the bandwagon and down the other guy.

In the past few months our business has had many of the major coffee roasters and representatives stop in to sample our coffee. Why? Because we roast coffee and they just want to know what and how we are doing. It has been a real shot in the arm to hear, from their own lips, that we passed their test. It even makes us more proud to know that there are roasters out there in the valley who are doing the same kind of excellent job of producing great coffees just like us.

In the Las Vegas valley there are a few dedicated roasters and coffee shops that really bend over backwards to put out a quality cup of coffee. To them and to all of the people who are able to make it by their shops, BRAVO. So let's not ruin our great work by backbiting and calling names. Since there are only a handful of us, let's encourage and work together to serve our customers and community.

Sherman Ray is co-owner of Avery's Coffee Roasters, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. He and his wife Linda keep up with the world of coffee via Twitter and Facebook.  Follow the Las Vegas Coffee Culture Magazine on Twitter.