The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is YET ANOTHER coffee shop to come to South Austin; it is in the original Waterloo Records store, next to the new condominiums that ALREADY has “The Lift” coffee shop in it, and right across the street from the Schlotsky’s on South Lamar. When I first heard the name “The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf“, I have got to admit, I thought something along the lines of: “That is the dumbest name I have ever heard.” I still kind of think so! I mean, SERIOUSLY, people! How many people were on the committee to think that name up? It’s generic….AND twee! To my mind it seems to have “Ye Olde” in front of it, sort of IMPLIED! Ye Olde Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf!

But then they sent me a can of free green tea, and the tea was……TOTALLY AWESOME! THe tea is called “Lung Ching Dragonwell” and is tastes fantastic, comes in charming silken bags, and has so much caffiene in it it makes you feel like you are fixing to have an acid trip! Seriously, I L*O*V*E IT!

So that made me feel more charitable about their name and presence.

Tonight they had a little bash to invite folks like me (and I suppose their friends and colleagues) to see what they are going to do. It was packed! They were having tastes of all the stuff they are going to have, and they have wrangled some local companies to make stuff for them, such as Mary Louise Butters Brownies (that I think are Very Good) and some local cookies and Austin Nuts and some other people, all good vendors, and all local.

They provide LOTS of different powders to put in your coffee

But somehow, it didn’t feel local. It felt, to be honest, like “local-washing”, to coin a term. The store just looked like they had perfected their concept elsewhere. I asked around and it is true: they are from California or something. (Don’t you love how fact-checking and accurate I am on my Blog Posts?)

They had a really good jazz band playing, music I actually rather enjoyed, and I had an iced tea (for FREE!) and sampled their wares. The place is fine, what they are doing is fine; the coffee and tea are excellent, and they do other things, like make fancy coffee slushees that taste great, and yogurt and granola bowls to have with your coffee so that you actually eat breakfast. If I were travelling in a god-forsaken place like the Panhandle and I came across The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, I would be THRILLED.

Mary Louise Butter's Brownies

But here in Austin, the competition is so fierce, I am not certain that they have enough to differentiate them from other, somewhat corporate coffee shops. Well, maybe they don’t NEED to be different, maybe there are enough condo-dwelling well-to-do fancy coffee swilling bozos to keep everyone smiling and profitable. We shall see, I suppose. I hope so, because I wish them well, and they gave me some free tea.

And perhaps the excellence of their teas will set them apart. Because that DRAGONWELL, it is really something. They offer it iced, possibly all the time.

Many Sorts of Coffee

Raspberry Yogurt and Granola Bowl. It was Good.

Cold Brewed Coffee

Cold-Brewed Coffee and Garden Tomatoes

I have read about the superiority of cold-brewed coffee before, but when I noticed that my favorite coffee shop, Fair Bean Coffee, was advertising that they are serving cold-brewed iced coffee, I gave the stories I had read more credence. I mean, if a coffee guru like Andres is behind cold-brewed as a method, it MUST be a great way to make iced coffee.

In Texas right now (the beginning of June) it is getting up to a hunnerd degrees right about now, AND, tonight, overnight it will only get down to 82˚.  Even first thing in the morning, here in Austin, it is too hot to want hot coffee.

I tried cold brewed coffee, and, it totally rules! It is a great way to make iced coffee. Normally, when I make Thai or Vietnamese-style iced coffee, the heat of the coffee melts the ice and makes it watery. With Cold-brewed, that’s not a problem.

Also, if you  like your coffee to have a creamy, toffee-like flavor, and less acid, cold-brewed will deliver that. Cold-brewing extracts 90% of the flavor components of coffee, but only 15% of the acids.

How to make Cold-brewed Coffee:

Coffee Grounds and Water in Old Jar

1) Grind up some coffee.

2) Get a jar out. A pint jar is too small; a quart jar is good. I use this old tomato jar, it is not quite a quart but it is the biggest jar I could find.

3) Place ground coffee in the jar. How much? I like my coffee strong, like fake espresso, so I used four gigantic spoonfuls. About a third of a cup of grounds, I would estimate.

4) Fill the jar up with water. Use filtered or spring if it is handy.

5) Put the lid on the jar. Let it sit out somewhere in the kitchen for 24 hours.

6) Strain it through a fine mesh strainer.

7) Then, let it drip through a coffee filter back into the jar.

To make Vietnamese style, stir in a few spoonfuls of sweetened condensed milk.

9) This makes enough coffee for me for three or four days!

Strainer and filter set-up. I have strained the coffee into the pink glass, then I filter it back into the original jar.

Iconic Iced Coffee

Cissi’s Market Swag Bag

As a respected member of the BLOGITARIAT, a person whose most casual observations serve as trend directives to the seething masses of humanity, I am occasionally given FREE STUFF in hopes that I will like it, and recommend it to to others. As in the Music Industry, this free stuff is referred to as SWAG.

Many critics of various types get quite satiated with swag and even decline to accept it; not I. I am still quite enthusiastic about a nice swag bag. I feel humble and appreciative. I even mistake the Swag Bag for a gift, and feel as though I am well-liked by others, popular and important!

This  very clever and distinquished SWAG BAG was given to me by Cissi’s Market. Well, not to ME. To Virginia  Wood, who passed it along to me because she is super-nice, and she remembered that I wrote a rave review of CISSI’S MARKET house blend Coffee in the Austin Chronicle.      

I quote myself:

“Cissi’s Kohana House Blend, which they use for their house drip coffee, is extraordinary. The coffee beans used to make it are entirely organic and grown in Hawaii, where the volcanic soil is ideal for coffee cultivation. All of the beans come from the plantation of John Alvarez, a former Longhorn, who sells exclusively to Cissi’s. The Kohana blend is gorgeous, made up of both light and dark roasted beans; it looks like an arresting mixture of creamy milk chocolate and dark-chocolate pellets. The aroma is divine before the coffee is even ground.

The flavor of the Kohana House Blend is rich and smooth, full-bodied, and utterly lacking any trace of bitterness. Cissi’s brews it fresh every hour, and a 12-ounce cup is only $1.35; 16 ounces, $1.70. “I have worked in dozens of coffee places all over town,” laughs coffee-bar manager Rico Peña, “and this is the best-quality coffee I have ever served and the least expensive.”

As you can see, this charming cardboard suitcase contained:

1) A piece of blue crepe paper I can use later to wrap a present in

2) A pound of Kohana Slow-Roasted Coffee

3) A little bag of Kohana “Rockin’ Like Austin” Dark roast Coffee

4) A Fancy Chocolate Bar:

5) A seashell

6) A Puka Shell Nacklace

7) A coffee mug that I will give away to the very first person who requests it in comments (I have too many. I am but a single man, people! I must have 30 coffee cups in my cabinet as I type this)

A Biscotti in a cellophane wrapper

9) A CD of a Hawaiian hippie chick’s music. Her name is ANUHEA and her music has “signature guitar rhythms and song writing that weaves soul, R&B, jazz and reggae to achieve a seductive pop sound”.

Overall, an excellent Swag Bag and compliments to whoever put it together! Thank You Cissi’s Market and I hope everybody drops in and tries your Kohana House Blend because it really IS a superior coffee.