I LOVE to have breakfast at my fave Starbucks, and do so nearly every morning. And here’s the reason why: you just can’t beat the company! In my house you will only find, at the breakfast hour, me. And David if he isn’t in his office. And Jillian if she’s not already full-steam ahead in schoolwork. OK, and Melissa if she’s working with Jillian that day, and Laurie if she isn’t off working. And yes, sometimes Kylie if she’s home on break. So on second thought, my house is too busy at the breakfast hour! No wonder why I pile my Bible and notebook into my bag and head out the door!

And there is that company I mentioned.

Today was a prime example. I’ve been hanging out at the same Starbucks for quite some time by now (and yes, it’s a different one than my afternoon Starbucks, in case you are stalking me or missing me!). The cast of characters is beginning to feel familiar. My friend R.G. Ryan from Las Vegas would love this spot. Not only are the baristas entertaining, so are the customers.

• Brandon is my buddy from Christ Fellowship. I’ve watched him grow up, and now he’s the “cop on the beat” nearly every day. When he walks in I have to do a double take to realize that yes, he has a right to wear that uniform and he does get to drive the cool car parked directly in front of Starbucks.
• The Rabbi: he is probably at the store four days out of seven. He inspires me with his ability to multi-task and schedule. It appears to me that most of his counseling sessions in his official capacity as Rabbi take place over coffee. He gives some pretty good counsel, too. I’m not trying to overhear, but they usually sit in the set of chairs next to me. Most of the Rabbi’s people seem to struggle with fitting in, feeling like part of a community. He tells them to come to synagogue. And the coffee shop. And he always ends — inexplicably — by telling them to learn to play bridge and join his bridge group. I’m thinking of learning.
• The Old Guys: this particular Starbucks seems to have quite a few 60+ men hanging out escaping their wives. I overheard one conversation one day that kind of broke my heart. After listening to two guys discuss their business dealings extensively, one asks the other “Do you know anything about charitable giving and deducting charity donations?” The other answered that No, he certainly didn’t. First guy says, “I’m thinking of finding a charity to donate to. I think it will help on my taxes. I think you can just deduct it from your income.”
  I was amazed. These were two successful businessmen at the END of their careers, and they had never yet thought about donating to a charity. Ever. Wow.
• My morning Atheist: This morning I had a great conversation with an 85 year old Atheist gentleman who wanted to share my seating area. Since I rarely turn down gentlemen of any age if they are carrying chocolate (and he was!), I kindly “allowed” him to sit down. That started a long, long conversation that touched on religion (“If you need a crutch like that, I guess it’s ok…I see no evidence of the big guy, though. Do you?”), marriage (married 23 years to his first wife, who died, and 34 years to his second. A pro at marriage.), politics (“So what do you think about our president? You like him? You like his politics?”). All this before my first cup of coffee. He asked about my family, my church, why I read the Bible every morning, and what the unit mix of our apartments in Boston was (engineer who designed multi-family back in New York in the day). Bob sure knew how to keep me on my toes. When this 85 year old spit-fire finally decided he should head back home, I was exhausted!
• Mary: before I could relax, Mary, the partially deaf and over-enthusiastic sports fan, popped in to find out if anyone of her buddies was around. They weren’t, which was a little bit of a blessing today since Mary is a loud and exuberant talker.

See what I mean? How could you match such varied compnay for a morning outing?

On a serious note, I love the community. I love being out and about with people from all walks of life, Rabbi’s to Atheists. I love the opportunities to learn, meet, discuss and drink some good coffee along the way. Life in Starbucks is a fraternity of coffee lovers with little else in common except geography and love of the bean. But that’s enough.

Congratulations to our friend Rick Cone on his visit with Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks North America!!!

Rick not only is a great Starbucks barista and manager (obviously!), but he also attended Christ Fellowship and hung out in general Saturday night “cool guys” area until he and his family moved to Nashville last year. Now managing one of my favorite stores in the Cool Springs/Franklin area, Rick has obviously continued to use his amazing people and leadership skills. Recently Cliff Burrows came to visit Ricks store and congratulate them on the amazing job they have been doing within the Starbucks company. Rick not only got to give Cliff a tour of his store, but he got to sit in on some leadership and planning meetings for the company.

Congratulations, Rick! Yeah, I know that on one level meeting the president of Starbucks is like meeting anyone else — only more caffeinated, I’d assume. But on another level completely, it showcases your heart and your mission. I know you are passionate about coffee, but that isn’t your only passion. And it is your leadership, your passion for people, and your heart to live out the kingdom in the community that was being recognized this week. And oh yes, that coffee thing didn’t hurt either!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvaXXFrg-E
I’m curious to hear what everyone is thinking about the new Starbucks Via packets. David and I have used them for quite some time, and won’t leave home without them anymore! Below you will find a list of my own posts about Via if you want to read about our experiences.

For those of you already sold, I just have to get this brewed coffee mug. It has slots around the base to hold the Via packets! Now if I could figure out the cream and sugar issues…

Life as a Coffee Addict

Starbucks Via: Perfect or Summer Travel

A Recipe for a Mocha Via…yummy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCzFScfj2Y

David and I tried a new coffee drink called O.N.E. Coffee Fruit drink. It is a juice based on the whole coffee fruit, as opposed to just the roasted coffee bean in coffee. We stumbled across it during a foraging visit to Whole Foods, and of course had to bring it home!

O.N.E. is a cold drink. It contains various fruits such as acerola (Amazon cherry) and strawberries, grape juice and the whole coffee fruit. The flavor is sweet…like a juice. I think the grape juice flavor is the dominant taste. But there is a coffee flavor permeating through it, too. The coffee flavor comes at the start of the flavor profile, and kind of drifts through your senses. Then the juices take over with a sweet finish. Best description I can give. Overall I really enjoyed the sensation. In addition, the makers tout these benefits:

• O.N.E. Coffee Fruit Drink is a high antioxidant, naturally caffeinated fresh juice.
• O.N.E. Coffee Fruit Drink has a similar level of caffeine as a cup of green tea, and offers a mild, unique taste, accented by the sweetness of strawberries.
• O.N.E. Coffee Fruit Drink is rich in antioxidants called phenolic acids.
• Phenolic acids may help: fight the build up of free radicals, promote healthy lipid levels, and protect against oxidative stress.

So I guess I’d call that a win/win drink!

And in other, highly anticipated (in this household) news, Starbucks announced that they are releasing the VIA instant coffee packets nationwide starting September 29. You can read my review of Via here. Now quite seriously, all you Starbucks fans need to have a box or two of VIA in your cupboards. It has saved us so many times on long flights (or short) where the coffee served doesn’t deserve the name. In one case, the flight attendant came to US for coffee! And we happily donated one of our packets of VIA to the cause of better coffee everywhere. September 29.

We are in the midst of packing up Kylie for college once again. The very items we so happily shoved to the back of our minds and closets we are now dragging out and packing up! This leaves little time for writing, so I’m going to share my secret to getting through the hot summer day and lots of pressing work: my iced coffee recipe. 

Marla’s Iced Coffee

Ingredients

2 Happy squirts of Agave Syrup (see below)

4 oz. espresso (or double strength coffee if you can’t make espresso at home)

Ice

Cream

Directions:

Fill your ultimate glass with ice. Don’t be shy…put in about as much as a Starbucks Grande would hold, just shy of the top. Make your espresso, and while still hot add two squirts of Agave Syrup. You can buy Agave at any grocery store. It’s flavor is identical to sugar, but it has roughly the nutritional equivalent to honey. It has the advantage of being liquid, so it will melt nicely along with the coffee. While the coffee is still hot, pour it over your ice. Add enough cream to lighten it to your preference. Use a straw!!!

Oh, I love facing the end of the day with a cool glass of coffee in my hand. 

By the way, my laptop has gone mute. No audio whatsoever. My MacBook Air has been a faithful travel companion, but it needs to be able to speak to me! So away it has gone on trip without me. I am bereft. I am also reduced to bumming a laptop or writing in the middle of the hubbub of my family room. I’m just saying. I shall soldier on.

So many blogs to write…so little time!

I saw this an ad in Natural Home magazine by Peace Coffee. They are a sustainable, socially conscious, fair-trade coffee company. Go to their website and check them out. Peace Coffee offers these tips on what to do with leftover coffee grounds, which is something we have an abundant supply of in this house!

1. Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering for slow-release nitrogen.
2. Add to compost piles to increase the nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.
3. To make a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer, dilute a half pound of wet coffee grounds with five gallons of water.
4. Mix into soil for household plants or vegetables.
5. Encircle the base of plants with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.
6. If you are into vermiposting, feed a little bit to your worms.

Thank you, Peace Coffee, for reminding us that there is a nutritive value to the grounds we through out. Pop them in the garden, instead! Wouldn’t life be wonderful if our gardens smelled like coffee??? Yes, I know it doesn’t actually work that way…the smell disipates quickly. But I can dream, can’t I? And in the spirit of true confessions, in our active homeschooling years, we did keep a worm composting farm. It was fun. Honest. For awhile. haven’t seen too many worms aroun d here lately, for which I’m grateful!

Jeremy and David before a coffee cupping!

Today the inevitable happened. We walked into our favorite Starbucks and Jeremy wasn’t there. He’s been there, in one way or another, for the last year and a half. But today was the first day our little band of coffee lovers had to realize Jeremy really is moving. Or trying to, as he and Maria are in the throes of packing madness. After commiserating and chatting for awhile, I grew philosophical as I realized all that Jeremy has taught us over the past year. And taught you, too, since most of the time what I learn sitting on my seat at the bar gets written in the electronic pages of Coffee Shop Journal.

Thank you, Jeremy, for teaching us…

• Have passion. I don’t know anyone as passionate as Jeremy is. But he isn’t passionate about everything, just the things that really matter to him: Jesus, Maria (his wife!), coffee and people. I will never forget the night Jeremy and Maria came over to the house to eat shortly following the last Starbucks convention in New Orleans. He reminded me of a teenager hopped up on sugar, he was so high with the outreach, learning and fellowship. In those days, or any days, you couldn’t meet Jeremy without knowing his passion.
• Coffee is complex. After hanging with Jeremy this year, I’ve realized that coffee deserves a capital C: Coffee. It is complex, filled with social justice issues. It brings people together and divides us into drinkers and non-drinkers. There are flavors for everyone, brewing methods galore, pairings and even a few disasters. Surely that’s the mark of a special person, if they can enlarge your view of the world just by being part of it.
• People come first. Over and over I’ve seen how Jeremy treated his staff, his customers and especially his family. Even the coffee takes a back seat to the relationships.
• Leadership is a byproduct. Jeremy illustrates this principle so clearly. He is a leader, but his leadership is a byproduct of his life and relationship. His staff is anxious to make his life easier, to do what he needs, to grow and make the store prosper. But they do it because they know Jeremy wants to do all those things for them, too. It is a relationship.
• Kingdom comes first. Jeremy is moving because Maria got a job working in the church they feel most connected to, in Tampa. She’s going to be guiding and pouring into countless children’s lives as a result of her opportunity. In spite of having just gotten settled, even though Jeremy liked his job here, the kingdom comes first. They move. Great example.
• Life consists of details. Over the years I have noticed that in the service industry, it is the manager who notices the details who does the best job. Jeremy is skilled at noticing and accomplishing the details. Scheduled lobby clean ups (often skipped by sloppy managers at other stores) are always done in his store. The cream is filled. The staff follows the recipes. It works. I’ve been inspired to work on the details of my life many times, just from watching his gang hit the mark over and over.

That’s probably enough. If Jeremy reads this, knowing him, he’s going to be embarassed. But sometimes we wait until someone leaves our life before we reveal how they impacted our thinking. Once in awhile I believe it’s good to encourage each other, to see the purpose in a friendship and a season of life. Jeremy and Maria have been a relatively short season of time in my life, but the Kingdom has been at the center of our relationship. I believe there has been — and will be — a purpose in our shared time in the coffee shop. And maybe that’s why I keep coming back to write about community and companionship in the third places of life, in the coffee shops and bookstores and malls and restaurants. There is a purpose greater than we can imagine, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.

Safe travels and God’s blessings on you and Maria, Jeremy. May he guide you to the next phase of your unique ministry, giving you enough glimpses of the purpose along the way to keep you energized, but hiding enough surprises to delight you each morning with unimagined life. David and I pray blessings over you and Maria and your family — present and future — knowing that He has a great plan for you. Find the people in Tampa who are waiting for the knowledge that people like you exist. Keep inspirng, keep leading, keep dropping on your face before the King. And next time we see you we’ll sit down over a French Press of some good African coffee and marvel over the twists and turns.

photo by joshc: see link in text body!

Check out the 15th Ave Coffee and Tea on Capitol Hill in Seattle. The coffee shop opened on July 24th, and represents a new wave of concept in coffee shops, a concept that readers of Coffee Shop Journal will recognize immediately: local coffee shops built around community. The only surprising thing? 15th Ave is actually a Starbucks store. 

Normally, if  it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we assume it is a duck. In this case, there’s not a whole lot “duck like” about the new concept. It doesn’t look much like a Starbucks, except in that family-resemblance kind of way when your great Aunt tells you all the cousins look alike. There is a great flickr photo slideshow here that gives some detailing in the new store.

So what makes makes 15th Ave different? Here’s what I’ve seen so far:

• The concept of “local” resonates with all of us right now. We want to now and be known, and Starbucks is working to understand that concept.
• 15th Ave can offer smaller batch coffees, different brewing methods and new selections without alienating the Starbucks audience.
• 15th Ave can offer local pastries without worrying about the “keep in consistent” cry from customers. They can offer new choices at will. They can experiment with offerings that Starbucks can’t touch, such as beer or wine sales.
• Local musicians and groups will be more likely to play in and patronize local shops.

All of this, of course, does not go down easily with the skeptical coffee-drinking public. Some naysayers refuse to consider 15th Ave a local shop if it is “inspired by Starbucks” (which is what its signage says). There is some question as to how Starbucks can translate the local concept into other local venues. And of course, there is that family resemblance that people will notice.

In the meantime, I guess it’s back to Seattle I go again!

My brother-in-law Clint shares a French Press with us!

One of my Twitter friends, @givelovecoffee,  commented about the great Third Space at Willow Creek Church this morning. Her less-than-140 character assesment was “Life happens over coffee.”

I couldn’t agree more!

I am just finishing the longest blogging break I’ve had since I started Coffee Shop Journal. David and I are in Portland, Oregon, for the wedding of my first cousin’s daughter. I hate that description, because it doesn’t truly represent the role these people play in our lives. My cousin, Brian, is as close to me as a brother, especially now that my own brothers are gone. His daughter, Brittney, lived with us one very fun summer, and we’ve all been bonded ever since. In fact, all of Brian’s kids are like our own nieces and nephews, and the opportunity to spend this week celebrating marriage was amazing. We put digital life on hold to celebrate family life over coffee.

And my Twitter friend really did capture something real. Looking around at the reception, meeting at Starbucks here and there, hanging in Brian’s living room, socializing on the back deck of another cousin’s country home after making home made doughnuts (oh yeah!): real connections are made with a cup of coffee or tea in hand and time to spend with our feet up relaxing. They can happen in small bites or large extended amounts of time, but they are rarely made during a program, service, or artificial environment. They are made living life.

Can’t think of a better way to capture the essence of Coffee Shop Journal.

Life happens over coffee.