The Little Things In Life...: Cup o' Joe, and a plug

Quick post today: Over at the "Little Things in Life" blog, my fiance has recounted my initial forays into coffee roasting. I agree with her assessment that my first roasts where lackluster verging on disastrous! Yet, using the oven to roast coffee has turned out to be a wonderful step forward in producing quality joe. Please, stop over at The Little Things in Life, and read her insightful posts into coffee and teaching!

The Little Things In Life...: Cup o' Joe, and a plug: "My fiance has recently begun to roast his own coffee. He buys 'green' coffee beans (beans that have not been roasted yet), and either roasts..."

Starbucks, Laptops, and Seating (Or Lack Thereof)

Last Saturday, the Fiance and I strolled down Lee highway to the local Starbucks located in Lee Heights plaza. Desiring to grab a cup of coffee (me) and some tea (Fiance), we peered into the window finding that the meager amount of seats were filled. Some people typing on laptops and one large group chatting over caffeinated beverages. No seats open. Not wanting to merely order coffee and return to our apartment, we debated for a few minutes on our options. Thankfully, as we did this, the large group finished their chat, freeing up two tables!

Seeing our conundrum solved, we went inside along with a father and son to order our beverages. As we waited in line, a person who just finished ordering proceeded to take the two recently freed tables. Out of his magical bag appeared a laptop, books, papers, and a Rolodex. Yes, you read that right. A Rolodex! Who uses them anymore!

Upon the customer managing to make his physical foot print as large as possible, the barista mouthed a few words of contempt to himself. Now, neither the father and son or my fiance and I could sit down and have a conversation. I literally stared at this ignorant customer for a minute trying to get his attention. My passive aggressive methods of intimidation failed. Muttering to myself, we left Starbucks returning to the uninviting winter air.

Two Questions:
1. Why is there a shortage of seating at this Starbucks? Literally, it sits about 10 people. I will get photos later.
2. Is there seating policy at Starbucks that addresses this? 4 people wanting to sit down, 1 person with five trees worth of material and a Rolodex.

....Thanks I needed that.

Here is a Wall Street Journal article talking about the same issue.

What do you think? Am I being overly critical?

Man in the Beans

A Metro Espresso reader sent me this peculiar brain teaser. In the picture above, a man's head is located among the coffee beans. Apparently if you find him in less than 3 seconds, you have a highly developed, right-side brain. Less than a minute, normal. 1-3 minutes, well, let's say you may need to develop your noggin. With that said, there were no footnotes accompanying this assertion, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, don't worry. Its not one of those silly things that makes you stare at the screen, and then a scary/grotesque picture jumps out at you.

It took me about 30 seconds for me to find him.

Respect the Bean: A Poem

Metro Espresso has currently been busy with academia, as one could tell from the absence of new posts. Hopefully, I will be returning with a post or two a week. In the meantime, enjoy this finely crafted coffee poem to remind everyone that when you drink coffee; "To Respect the Bean."

Coffee
Coffee should be black and oily,
Sugar and cream do recoil me.
Respect the bean, is what I mean,
If you do so, I'll buy you espresso!