Saturday, December 17, 2011

Mmmmmm Cookies! in an Ugly Doll Cookie Jar!

Another great gift idea, but it is going fast as we only have one more left in the store! Ugly Doll Cookie Jars!

Friday, December 16, 2011

You put your coffee in it!

Check out a great selection of coffee mugs for that last minute Christmas gift!


It's COMING!!!!




We do really love this book. I hope they do it justice. So far so good looking at the casting and the posters etc.

Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans Back in Stock!!

We just received a fresh batch of roasted coffee beans from the Las Chicas Del Cafe!! We are also proud to annouce that their coffee has been feature on Coffee Review Check out what they had to say about the coffee below!

We also have some of the Las Chicas Del Cafe Christmas Jars (227 grams) in stock. The Christmas blend is a heavy bodied coffee with smoky notes. The Christmas blend is only available in the Christmas Jars.

Nicaragua Bourbon City Roast
Roast: Medium
Rated: 93%
AROMA: 8 - ACIDITY: 9 - BODY: 9 - FLAVOUR: 9 - AFTERTASTE: 8

Soft, round, balanced. Quiet aroma: almond, apricot. In the cup complicates and deepens: honey, ripe lemon, cocoaish chocolate, continued almond and apricot. Crisp, juicy acidity; syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor carries persuasively into a sweet-toned finish.

El Patron Nicaragua Espresso
Roast: Medium-Dark
Rated: 94%
AROMA: 9 - BODY: 8 - FLAVOUR: 9 - AFTERTASTE: 9 - WITH MILK: 9

Evaluated as espresso. Great depth and range of sensation. Between Ken (94) and co-taster Sean Kohmescher (94) about a dozen aroma/flavor descriptors surfaced, most circling around fruit (stone fruit, wine grape, berry) and nut-toned dark chocolate. Medium to full body; silky/syrupy mouthfeel; crisply dry, flavor-saturated finish. Balanced, chocolaty and berryish in two parts milk.

Don Rey's Natural Prep Bourbon
Roast: Medium-Dark
Rated: 89%
AROMA: 8 - ACIDITY: 7 - BODY: 8 - FLAVOUR: 8 - AFTERTASTE: 8

Deep-toned, rich coffee with distinct dark chocolate and raisiny aromatic wood notes in aroma, cup and finish. Roast-muted acidity, fullish mouthfeel, dark-chocolaty finish. The cup simplifies a bit as it cools.

Don Rey's Private Reserve Bourbon, City Roast
Roast: Medium
Rated: 89%
AROMA: 7 - ACIDITY: 7 - BODY: 8 - FLAVOUR: 8 - AFTERTASTE: 8

Enthusiastic co-cupper Andy Newbom (89) found this deep, chocolate-leaning coffee luxurious ("sweet and heavy lidded aroma"), balanced ("all-over tongue-hugger"), and complex ("smooth and sultry dark chocolate ... with a hint of lemon/orange and a dash of florals)." Ken (88) noted a pungent fruit that definitely suggested a nut- and peach-toned dark chocolate, but found a bit less complexity than did Andy.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Shakespeare & Company losses it owner George Whitman

Very sad news I just read this on Shelf Awareness. We have lost another great bookstore owner, George Whitman, the longtime owner of Shakespeare & Company in Paris has passed away. I first read of George Whiteman and his amazing store in "Time was Soft there" by Jeremy Mercer. Since then I have always wanted to travel to Paris to visit his store. I hope it is still there when I actually get the chance to visit, though I image it will not be the same without George.

George Whitman, the longtime owner of Shakespeare & Company in Paris, died yesterday in his apartment above the store. He was 98 and had suffered a stroke two months ago, according to his daughter, Sylvia.

Founded in 1951, Shakespeare & Company has been a legendary bookstore, what in a long tribute, the New York Times called "an offbeat mix of open house and literary commune." Whitman was famous for providing room and board in the store to writers and booklovers, some 40,000 over the years, he estimated. He asked his guests to help out in the store, and was known at times to be erratic and dramatic. Still, he was a patron of writers and readers. He commented: "I wanted a bookstore because the book business is the business of life."

After World War II, Whitman moved to Paris and began selling English-language books at a kiosk, then opened a store called Le Mistral. In 1964, the store took the name Shakespeare & Company, to commemorate the bard's 400th birthday and to honor Sylvia Beach, who owned the famous Shakespeare & Company in the 1920s and '30s.