Natural Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
Can you believe that it will be May on Sunday? April is our anniversary month, and I can’t let it end without mentioning that we have been in business for 34 years. In 1982 Caroline Fike opened Caroline’s Honey Spice and Everything Nice on Neal St. It was a natural food store that also sold bee keeping supplies. We moved to the current location in 1984, and added a coffee roaster and a cafe. The rest, as they say, is history.
Here’s one from the archives
We have changed so much over the years that it is truly fun to look back at the many iterations of our business. Thirty years ago we carried honey and spices and sold our own soup mixes. We roasted on a Diedrich IR12.
Twenty years ago we had an ice cream freezer, and a vintage milkshake machine, and we blended the most delicious coffee milk shakes. We also sold pies baked on the premises, and our cinnamon rolls were a favorite treat.
Ten years ago we had two locations and I was coming to work with a baby in tow. We roasted on a Diedrich IR24, and Caroline had not yet retired.
In this decade, we’ve expanded our seating area, discontinued our gourmet food and mug lines, and increased the single origin coffees that we sell. We started a blog and redesigned our website. We are committed to continuing to improve–so expect more changes in the future.
This week we are featuring our Natural Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. If you love a dry-processed coffee, this is the bean for you. Dry, or natural, processing means that the coffee is dried with the fruit still intact, and it imparts strong berry tones to the bean. These beans are beautifully processed, evenly green and all similar sized. It’s a grade 1 coffee. When we opened the burlap sack, there was an overwhelming aroma of blueberries, and you can taste them in the finished cup.
The blueberry taste comes from the processing. We roasted the bean light, and it fills your mouth with a delightful taste of fruit and sweet melon. You can try a cup on us this week with the code natural process*. And if you’re looking for a reason to come downtown, tomorrow is the Downtown Car Show from 10 am – 3 pm. It’s always a fun family event, and the weather is supposed to be perfect. Enjoy!
–Holly Fike