a late one

WE ARE NOW SERVING ALE-8s!!!!

Come by and enjoy a little piece of KY.

Barista of the Month: jEnNa

Over the past few years we have picked up some new faces around the shop, serving you our coffee, making your drinks, smiling back at you or even having conversation. Our 'Barista of the Month' blogs are just a name with a face, giving you, our customers, a little insight to our madness- our Baristas- they contribute to making this place so great, individually and collectively we are Coffee Times. We are the hands that are roasting, serving, brewing, and bagging the freshest coffee in town and we love what we do.   

Jenna Stone is the youngster on staff, having been here a little over a year, she is quite a hand full and we are happy to have her here. Jenna grew up in Lexington, with an older brother and 2 younger sisters. She graduated from Lexington Catholic High School where she excelled in sassiness and spunk. Jenna enjoys to swim, camping, and hiking but ultimately she would love to be in the woods with her man on a porch swing.

tIdBiTs aBoUt jEnNa:

Jenna ...

         *likes black coffee with a little skim to cool it down (morning and night), but does prefer iced tea in the afternoons

 *is a Gemini

*favorite Disney character? Simba

*loves her Ariat cowboy boots

*is goofy

*loves late summer to early fall

*her favorite coffees are Tanzania Peaberry and Lexington's Finest- from a BUNN, because there isn't anything as good :)

*her favorite childhood toy was an orange, stuffed cat that purred from its voice box

*She loves her some Gossip Girl, Madmen, and Dexter

*favorite CT memory? when a customer slept on our couch from 730 am till 9 pm

*and if she was going to be attacked by bees or bears, she would prefer the bear

*her pet peeves are gum chompers and inconsiderate drivers

*she dips her chicken nuggets in honey

*her aura color is NURTURING TAN

*she also has an alter ego who is a bad ass with sleeves, one hoop lip piercing, tongue piercing, leopard pants and a leather jacket, and she does whatever she wants

  

      

cHiLL oUt!!!

Is coffee too hot for your summer taste buds? Fortunately, there are lots of ways you can incorporate coffee into something cold to chill your hot summer days. We've gathered some great recipes for you, some yummy treats and some great coffee/espresso drinks too. 

A good ice cream soda never goes out of fashion ...

Old Fashion Coffee Soda:  

3 cups chilled brewed coffee (preferably made from a mild coffee like Colombian or Guatemalan)

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

3 cups (1 1/2 pints) coffee ice cream (either homemade or good quality purchase)

1 cup of soda water

4 teaspoons of Kahlua or other coffee liqueur (optional)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Shaved dark chocolate (optional)

Directions:

Pour coffee into a 4-cup or larger glass measuring cup with a spout. Stir in sugar. Place two large scoops of ice cream into each of 4 tall glasses. Pour 3/4 sweetened coffee into each glass, then add 1/4 cup soda water to each. If desired, add 1 teaspoon Kahlua to each serving. Top sodas with some whipped cream (ours at Coffee Times is the BEST!!) and sprinkle dark chocolate shavings on top. Delicious!

Gelato Affagato:

2 scoops of ice cream of your choice, such as vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, or espresso

2 shots of hot espresso

1/3 cup lightly sweetened softly whipped cream

2 chocolate-coated espresso beans for garnish

Directions:

Put the ice cream in an old fashion glass.

Pour hot espresso over ice cream, and top with the whipped cream and garnish with espresso beans.

Espresso Ice Cream:

3 cups half-n-half

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons finely ground espresso beans (some people have come in and bought our Medaglia D'Oro instant espresso.)

Directions:

In a double boiler over simmering water, add the half-n-half. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the half-n-half. Cook until small bubbles appear around the edges of the pan.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until smooth and blended, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Gradually drizzle 1/2 cup of the hot half-n-half mixture in the pan. Cook over simmer water, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens, about 10 minutes. To check for doneness, draw your fingers through the custard on the back of the spoon; it should leave a trail. Remove from heat, and cool at room temperature.

Strain the custard through a fine-meshed sieve, stir in the ground espresso, cover, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. Stir the mixture, then pour it into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

ENJOY, enjoy your coffee hot or cold!! Happy summertime.

fortune telling in the grounds ...

    Fortune telling and predicting the future through coffee grounds is an ancient practice, and is considered an art form that is more commonly known as Tasseography. Tasseography is along the same lines of other forms of predicting the future or past like pyschic readings or palm reading, but coffee readings are a difficult talent to learn and can also be done through tea leave patterns and wine sedament, usually for reading from coffee it needs to be Turkish coffee to read the sedament.

    Tasseography requires sensitivity and the ability to act as a medium between us and a higher power. It is hard to teach someone to be senstive and open to interpreting grounds, and acting as a medium is a spiritual openess that some people cannot grasp. Almost the same way children see clouds in the sky is how coffee readings are done. One child sees a bird, one sees a boat, one sees absolutely nothing, but the reader sees nothing more than what we do in the visual sense but they see solely through her inner eye and not everyone has the ability to act as a medium. To see things through the grounds the reader must attain a combination of deep relaxation and euphoria- creating a feeling of remoteness and solitude- some people refer to it as slipping in and out of the boundries between body and soul. Its not until they have totally achieved this that they can use the eye to see anything in the grounds, they have to be detatched from the what they see. Usually they see a shape and say the first shape that they see, not questioning themselves whether or not they see a bird, a boat, or the Effifel Tower- without understanding and trying not to think about it until they have said what they see and whether it is good or bad.

    To read a coffee grounds the reader will most commonly use a saucer and put it ontop of the cup and turn it upside down, this stirs up all the sedament for a reading. in Turkish tradition, coffee-readers often interpret the cup as being divided into horizontal halves; the symbols appearing on the bottom half are typically messages regarding the past, and the symbols on the top are messages from the future. When they are read as vertical halves they are read to determine the answer to a "yes" or "no" question. But I read that a situation or event cannot be predicted further than 40 days.

   All so interesting, and if we served Turkish coffee I would want to have a reader here to tell us all about what our cups have to say. :) 

global warming, arabica beans, and YOU!

Over the course of history, at different times, we have been in danger (or thought to be in danger) of running out of certain resources and commodities like coal, wheat, oil, and gas. Do we need to add specialty coffee to the list? We sure hope not! The World Coffee Research, an organization set up through Texas A&M University has done extensive research on the issues of coffee sustainability. Not to say all coffee is almost endangered but farmers sure are experiencing a decrease in harvest seasons and the climate isn't helping, and in fact has a lot to do with this specific situation too.

Arabica coffee bean plant is the best of the best when it comes to coffee, but along with being the best you also have a very sensitive, hard to grow plant. Arabica beans have specific growing conditions; it requires warm days and cool nights, heavy rain alternating with dry spells, and has to be grown 5,400 feet or more in elevation. Also it is processed all by hand; picked, washed, separated- is all by hand. All of these requirements play a role in the quality, taste, aroma, color ... everything that gives each bean its characteristics and flavor, but also it leaves high-quality Arabica production vulnerable to climate variation. The quality of coffee depends on subtle flavor interaction that can be disrupted by change in the growing conditions, even the outcome of the crop itself. When the temperature rises the metabolism of the plant also increases, the little coffee cherry fills up faster too, which reduces that ability for the plant to assemble all the storage compounds to the best to yeild the best flavor characteristics. Farmers are experiencing the change whether they are in Africa or South America- Arabica beans are becoming harder to grow because of climate. When the climate gets warmer farmers are forced to retreat to the mountaintops- until they run out of room and disruption in the rain also causes the plant to grow fungus and coffee rust ... the land where we grow Arabica beans is running out and whether or not the contriversial topic of global warming contributes to this or not, the production of Arabica beans is growing harder each year for farmers. Researchers are trying to develop ideas of new heat tolerant and climate resistant coffee varieties to aid the current issue. Arabica beans are the only beans we roast at Coffee Times and knowing what I now know about Arabica beans makes me a little more concious of my environment and how I, as a human, can help decrease some energy I use and be aware of my wastefulness.

meet aLyCiA.

Alycia has been a part of our team at
Coffee Times for 2 ½ years, aren’t we so lucky. Her bright smile
and witty personality keeps us on our toes, she’s quick like a
ninja, makes an amazing espresso drink, can keep you entertained, and
she’s a Pisces too so brilliance is in her design. She was born in
Lexington, KY where she is studying Sociology and Social Work at the
University of Kentucky. She hopes to someday work in Federal law
enforcement or own her own business, but working on a deep sea
fishing boat or being really famous aren’t abandoned aspirations
either. Alycia is an assistant soccer coach at Lafayette High School
and she is a talented artist as well. She is sharing some of her
unique style at Coffee Times, so come check that out as well as her
bomb espresso drinks. Barsita of the Month: Alyica Sullivan the
fiercest ginger that was! :)

Questions for Alycia:

What is your favorite drink at Coffee Times?

A blended Vanilla latte or On the Waterfront tea with lemon.
Why be a barista?

Because everyone should work in food service at some point. It’s also a great way to get to know people and grow as a person.
Favorite brewing mechanism?
Capresso CM200

Memory of Coffee Times?

The ‘Percolate’ Art show and the Christmas parties.
Weird Talents?

Being weird isn’t a talent, it’s a lifestyle.
General things to share?

I collect analog clocks and my favorite food is pizza.
If you had a super power what would it be?
INVISIBILITY! Duh! Or make money appear out of thin air.
Favorite Disney character?
Lumiere, from Beauty and the Beast. (he’s the candlestick)
Favorite place to shop and hang out in town?

It would be a three way tie between Third Street Stuff, Black Market, and Sqecial Media. Gratz Park is my favorite place in town.
Favorite books?

Once flew over the Cuckoo Nest and All the President’s Men
Roller skating or Ice skating?
Neither, renting skates terrifies me.
Sports?

Soccer is my favorite sport to play, UK Basketball is my favorite sport to watch. CATS!CATS!CATS!
Favorite animal and why?
Elephants, because my first stuffed animal was a miniature Babar.

Sugar Sugar, ooooh Honey Honey...

We're all about some honey this month... Spring is here.  The bees are beginning to buzz and all we can think about is the sweet, luscious taste honey brings to a drink.  So needless to say, our drink of the month for April is a delightful iced concoction of tea and honey.  We took our beloved Burrough's Brew tea (a black tea with coconut), added some honey (of course!), threw in some milk to make it creamy and iced it down to quench your thirst on these hotter than normal Spring days.  And the result:  a SUGAR HONEY- topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of honey.  It's sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.