A passionate student of coffee

Chris Nachtrieb, owner of Chris' Coffee Service in Albany, N.Y., has weathered the changes that have battered the OCS industry since the early days of easy growth. Rising from a single-man operation he has required commitment to service, a willingness to learn new ideas, tireless focus on financial management, and a passion for coffee excellence. Nachtrieb has proven that coffee service still offers opportunity to entrepreneurs willing to dedicate themselves to mastering their trade.

Lately specialty coffee stores have raised demand for better quality coffee. Nachtrieb, having built his business in both the office and foodservice markets, has educated himself about all aspects of coffee, and uses this expertise as a tool for both selling and satisfying customers.

"He is obsessed with quality, service and delivering a quality product. His customers believe he's an expert on coffee, and he has earned their loyalty." - they say about him.

Nachtrieb quickly realized that OCS was a growing business, so he gave up the concrete step business to start his own OCS operation. He stored coffee in his parents' basement and made deliveries in a red 1975 El Camino SS with a cap on it so the coffee wouldn't get wet if it rained while he was inside making a delivery. The company grew largely by word-of-mouth in its first five years.

Nachtrieb continued to sell 2-ounce OCS packs. "I don't sell coffee," Nachtrieb explained. "I sell quality and service second to none. The supermarkets sell coffee."

When Bob Richter and Steve Dunefsky formed Empire Coffee in 1984, Nachtrieb was one of their first customers. He saw private label coffee as an important tool in selling on the basis of quality versus price.

Nachtrieb found that many restaurants were receptive to a provider who could offer good service.

Nachtrieb's historical information enables him to compare the long-term return on investment of different types of equipment. He learned early on that the lowest cost equipment isn't always the most profitable.

The investments in warehouse space and software were destined to pay off as the OCS business became more challenging in the early 1990s. The business was maturing, and new customers were becoming scarcer. Product and equipment suppliers were touting specialty coffee, but Albany was not quick to embrace it.

He offered discounted labor rates, travel time charges and faster response times to those restaurants that purchased all their coffee from him, not just espresso. If they did not purchase their drip coffee from him, he would still service their espresso machine, which his competition refused to do, but they would pay a higher price and wait longer.

While espresso opened some new doors, the growth was not fast, and the mid-1990s was a slow period for Chris' Coffee Service. Nachtrieb realized that he needed more salespeople to grow.

Generally speaking, efforts to educate customers about coffee service have begun to pay off big.

Nachtrieb's expertise in espresso proved especially helpful when he expanded into Internet sales, an area that has seen the fastest growth for his company in the last four years. Nachtrieb first launched a website in 1999 simply as a way to enhance credibility.

In the meantime, he began surfing the Internet to learn more about the coffee industry. He quickly discovered that the Internet provided various forums for coffee lovers to compare experiences on all aspects of coffee, and that all types of products were being sold online.

One day, a broker asked him if he would take a look at a new line of semicommercial espresso machines he was representing. Nachtrieb asked him how many he had, and purchased all 30 machines. Nachtrieb then posted photos and a description of the products on his website just to see what would happen.

Nachtrieb also wrote about his espresso machines on websites. When espresso lovers offered favorable testimonials about his espresso machines, he received orders. He realized that the homeowner espresso drinker was willing to pay for high-quality machines, and they were interested in buying products from people they felt they could trust. He sells homeowner units, grinders, coffee and accessories.

In the meantime, Nachtrieb sees continued growth in the foodservice segment as more restaurants become interested in espresso. He is in the process of installing a micro roaster to roast coffee for foodservice accounts. His new micro roaster may provide the means to produce coffee pods for the new manual pod brewers.

In the meantime, Chris' Coffee Service continues to expand in all of its business segments - offices, foodservice and Internet sales - due to the company's hard-earned reputation as an expert on all things related to coffee.

 (via : Coffee House Articles)

Caffeine Sharpens the Mind

Do you thrive in the morning and fall off as the day goes on? If so, a new study shows that a morning latte can jump start your mind all the way into the afternoon.

At least 75% of people over the age of 65 say they are "morning" people, according to researchers at the University of Arizona. But their research shows that a cup of java -- don't hold the caffeine -- may be able to turn you into an afternoon, person too.

In older people, memory is best early in the morning and then declines during the late afternoons.

The researchers looked at 40 people over 65 and tested their memory in the morning and again in the afternoon a few days later. Each time, they drank a 12 oz. cup of coffee before going through a series of memory tests. Some drank decaffeinated coffee and some had the real thing but were not told which one they were getting.

Those who had caffeine were able to recall more items on a delayed memory test. That is, after a 20-minute delay and distraction with other tasks, those in the caffeine group were much better at recalling words presented to them.

The study appears in Psychological Science.

In fact, those who drank decaffeinated coffee showed a significant decline in memory performance from morning to afternoon. Those who drank the caffeine had no fall in their memory test scores.

The authors suggest that the fall in mental sharpness experienced by many people over 65 may be due to changes in alertness -- which is improved with caffeine.

However, the researcher and her colleagues aren't endorsing caffeine particularly. They say that other stimulants would likely produce a similar effect. 

 

(via:  www.cofei.com)

I’m A Coffee Snob

I gently pour my coffee from my french press coffee maker into one of my favorite coffee cups. I let it cool for a few minutes and let the air permeate with the smell of freshly made coffee. I lift the cup to my lips and take a small sip to minimize burning my tongue if the coffee is still too hot. It's not and the hot liquid easily slides past my taste buds and down my throat. Getting the full taste of today's brew, I make a small grimace as the sound "Eh..." pops out my mouth. It's then that I finally admit to myself - I'm a coffee snob.

From Humble Beginnings

That's right, I admit it, I'm a bit of a coffee snob. I suppose it was always this way in some form or another. When I was younger and began drinking coffee, only Community Coffee would do. The difference between then and now is that back then (and still to this day), Community Coffee is considered the State coffee of Louisiana. It's served everywhere and is a staple of the coffee diet in the deep south. So I really wasn't being a snob per se, I was just going with the natural order of things.

Then came the coffee house boom of the 90's, where Starbucks began popping up on every corner along with mom-and-pop shops and alternative chains. All of a sudden it seemed you weren't cool if you didn't frequent a store that specialized in coffee. Naturally, I stopped into near by Perks, since Starbucks hadn't made it to Baton Rouge. It was there that I was introduced to such coffee drinks as Cappuccinos and Espressos. There was a whole world out there that I had yet to experience, so I sampled everything they had to offer.

Getting Back To Basics

At that time, I was still into putting lots of cream and sugar in my regular coffee, but as became more and more fond of Espresso, I began to wean myself away from cream. I realized that it was just standing in the way of that rich coffee flavor. A few years later I went on the Sugar Busters diet and that meant having to omit sugar from my coffee. I went cold turkey, but it took a few months before I could truly enjoy a good cup of coffee without sugar.

My next challenge was to learn to drink espresso without sugar. While on my honeymoon in Italy, I sipped my first espresso without sugar. I felt like I had been punched in the mouth. You see in Italy they make their espresso with about half of the water that we use, which makes for a stronger cup of coffee to say the least. When I had been in Portugal several years previous, staying with a local family, I noticed that girlfriend of the boy I was staying with would always ask for an "espresso Italiane", she claimed that this is how they make them in Italy. I didn't realize the full reality of her statement until I tried it first hand.

Coming back to the States, I was off sugar for good when it came to coffee and I've never looked back. Today, if I'm not brewing at home, I'll order a double espresso and a large dark roast coffee. I find that most coffee is served way to hot for my tastes, so I allow the coffee to cool a bit while I enjoy the espresso. It's the coffee equivalent of a "shot with a beer back", but I really enjoy it.

Home Brewing Goes Up A Notch

At home, I was using a nice Krups AromaMaster with a thermal carafe. I used to use just your standard Mr. Coffee style coffee maker, but as my tastes for coffee improved, so did my brewing habits. Allowing the coffee to "cook" on a burner just wasn't going to work. I had to have a thermal carafe so that my coffee could stay properly heated without becoming bitter. I thought that was the pinnacle of coffee brewing until I opted to try a French Press coffee maker.
Thinking I had damaged my carafe one day, I tried a Bodum French Press coffee maker and was astounded at the taste. Turning my friend Mike Rohde onto it, he summed it up best when he said "It tastes like coffee smells". All the oils and what not are typically captured by the filter in a drip style coffee maker. With the French Press, all that goodness is left in. Of course all the cholesterol is too, but that's another matter. So these days, I'd have to say that 80% of my coffee drinking is done with a French Press and it's a truly awesome treat.

However, I didn't stop there. Now that I had a new way of brewing coffee, a method that allowed for a much "closer" experience with the coffee bean, I needed to upgrade my coffee. I was still enjoying Community Coffee, although I had now moved to the New Orleans Blend that contains chicory, but that wasn't good enough. I began buying whole beans locally and grinding them right before brewing. As Emeril would say, this just "kicked it up another notch!" It just kept getting better and better each step of the way. From Mr. Coffee, to Krups Thermal, to French Press and from Supermarket, to boutique blends to whole bean - each step furthered my enjoyment of coffee. Surly THIS was as good as it could get. I was wrong.

Enter Peet's

During the 2004 Tour de France, I kept hearing how Lance had to have his cup of Peet's coffee first thing in the morning. What stuck me was the fact that he didn't say he had to have just any cup of coffee, it had to be Peet's. Then I began hearing the word "Peet's" used elsewhere, on TV and in magazines, which lead me to wonder what all the fuss was about.

In September, me and my buddies were discussing what to get our friend Ken Harelson for his birthday. The four of us typically all go in to buy each other a gift for our birthdays. This keeps our cost to about $25 - $30, but it allows us to get a $75 - $90 gift. Three of us all go in on the gift and the fourth receives a nice present on their birthday. It's worked pretty well and become a bit of a staple now. Anyway, Ken Duffy and I were contemplating what to get Harelson and I suggested a Coffee Tour from Peet's. Ken owns a very expensive coffee maker, so it seemed like a good fit. Not only that, but I in no subtle manner what-so-ever, suggested that this would make a great gift for me next month for my birthday. Little did I know what I was asking for.

On October 18, 2004, the day of my birthday, a box arrived containing a fresh roasted bag of whole bean coffee from Peet's. My guys had come through for me! I could finally see what all the fuss was about. The only way I can sum it up without resorting to lyric poetry, is that the coffee is so unbelievably fresh and roasted to perfection that the taste is out of this world. They roast the coffee in small batches, only what's needed for that day's shipment, and then mail it to you with a vacuum seal. The end result is that you end up with a bag of coffee that is perfectly roasted and incredibly fresh.

Cue audience: How fresh is it?

The best example that I can give is that when you first make up a French Pot of coffee, you have to pour a small amount of water over the grounds in order to let the coffee "bloom". Gases escape as the grounds expand and rise in the pot. If I had to guess, they just about double in size. After about two minutes, you can then pour the rest of the water to fill the pot. Wait 4 minutes, then stir, press and pour. All of the details of hour to make a perfect pot of French Press coffee can be found at this link. For those of you that are beer drinkers, Peet's is the Guinness of coffee and as such demands a certain amount of respect.

The thing is, now that I've tried Peet's it's hard to try anything else. The coffee is just so damn good that other roasts just don't compare. It's not that I don't enjoy other types of coffee, it's just that when presented with the option, I'll take Peet's any day. This is most evident in the fact that I now tend to brew my own coffee instead of just picking up a Starbucks when I'm out visiting clients. I actually prefer the taste of making it at home than purchasing it at a coffee house.

Today's Bitches Brew

So imagine my conundrum this morning when I went to make my coffee. There was only one scoop left of my Peet's Major Dickason's Blend® in the container. :o Looking at the last of my Alterra Blue Heeler that I purchased when visiting Mike in Milwaukee, I able to eek out two more scoops. This left one scoop and I was forced to use my old favorite Community Coffee.

I felt so dirty.

I ground the whole beans, added the pre-ground coffee to the mix and heated up the water. There was no bloom to speak of and the flavor was all over the map. I've definitely had worse, but then again I've definitely had much better. As much as I turn my nose up to this wild concoction, I'm savoring it because there's 5 more days until my next shipment arrives from Peet's - oh the humanity!

www.mashby.com

New Coffee Houses in Cuzco

Cappuccino, La Perla

By David Knowlton
Coffee houses have exploded around the world, with the model of good coffee and  a place to sit and stay for a while.  But in Cuzco such coffee houses are still a rarity.   Instead the city has cafes that sell coffee and pastries, but also attempt to include on their menu more substantial fare.   This is no different than coffee houses elsewhere.  What is distinctive is the lack of couches, the invitation to sit and stay a spell.
Over the last few months several coffee houses of the Cuzco style have opened.  Three of them are La Bondiet (Plateros 363), La Perla Plazoleta Santa Catalina 207), and Lechuzos (Av. El Sol 761).
More of a fine pastry shop that also serves coffee, drinks, and food besides pastries, La Bondiet has two locations in Cuzco.  While it has been on Heladeros Street for more than a half decade, only recently did it open on the popular Plateros Street near Cuzco’s Main Square.
As a result, it provides an important space in a street filled with barkers offering their restaurant specials that after awhile seem just more of the same.  Sure there are good restaurants here, such as the new Tayta Inti, but for decades Plateros has been an Alley of the ordinary.

La Bondiet

With blood wood, good design, and sepia tinted photos of local culture on the wall, La Bondiet is a relief.  It forms an enchanting place to step out of the tourist glare, and into a place that offers a variety of well-prepared pastries, other deserts, as well as sandwiches, juices and coffee.
Though there are no couches, one can sit for hours sipping a coffee and watching the world pass by on Plateros.

Cafe au Lait, La Bondiet

La Perla, on the Plazoleta (Little Square) of Santo Domingo also is a recent addition to another heart of tourist life.  It is across from the Museum and Convent of Santo Domingo with its important collection of colonial art from the Cuzco School, and just a block away from the main square.
Like La Bondiet, La Perla also has an older sister.  In this case it is in a very different part of town, on San Andres, in the shopping and market are of town frequented by locals rather than tourists.
La Perla roasts its own coffee beans, which they obtain from the nearby Tropics, Quillabamba, where the coffee is famous for its amazing fragrance.  While the San Andres site is small and intimate, with its dark wood and just a few tables, the new cafe claims an elegance with its light and dark, and its changing well-crafted paintings on the wall.

Coffee Roaster, La Perla

It coffee is good, if not as fragrant as many from Quillabamba.  It may be that the roast reduces some of the airy and attractive qualities of Quillabamba beans.
La Perla also offers juices and displays fresh fruit on the wall at the same time it has an array of local, Cuzco-style sandwiches with local sauces (Mayonnaise, catchup, mustard, and hot sauce).   And, it has a full bar, set back in a separate room that gleams out from a doorway of faux inca stone.
One can sit in La Perla sipping a hot cup of joe to break the chill that often is in the air even when a bright sun shines outside.  But these seats are not designed to be comfortable for a long time.  They are short term.  Time to eat, drink, converse, check your guide book, and return to the important and serious tasks of tourism.

Lechuzos' Coffee with Liquor

Another coffee house opened recently on the broad Avenida El Sol, the Sun Avenue, which is the main entrance into the old town from the airport, and other transport stations.  This is also a street on which development has been happening.
Not too many years ago, a walk down the Sun Avenue to the Temple of the Sun, the Qoricancha, felt like going to another world.  Now there are elite hotels and good restaurants, and handicraft markets on the street or nearby, especially at its entrance where the waters of the hidden rivers surge up in a fountain to mark what is called the Puma’s Tail.
As a result, this new coffee house called Lechuzos, after an owl, is a long and narrow space against stone walls that is also inviting and comfortable.  It serves good juice and decent coffee.  But most of all, it is a nice relief from the brightness of the sun that claims this avenue as its own while one walks it from Plaza to beginning, and from the hustle and bustle of touring.
These are but three of the new offerings in Cuzco.  Each different but worth visiting if you need a break from the day and a cup of coffee, or maybe something stiffer.

 (via: http://www.cuzcoeats.com)

Jazz Talk and Play at the CCP International Jazz Festival

THE story of Jazz music will roll out as some of the best jazz music artists come marching into the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the 1st International Jazz Festival on August 23-28, 2011. All kinds of jazz music will be played and talked about in lectures and performances by local and foreign jazz musicians in various venues of the CCP.
World renowned royal hartigan and blood drum spirit is slated to do a lecture series on the evolution of jazz music. Percussionist and pianist royal hartigan and group have performed all over the world, exploring the great music traditions of the world through live jazz performances. The group will kick off their gig at the CCP on August 23 with a talk on the Roots of Jazz at 1 PM at the CCP MKP Hall and a performance entitled African American Music: History of Jazz from its African Origins to the Future at 8 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo.
When black slaves streamed out of the rural South and travelled up the Mississippi to spread out to the industrial North in search of work, they brought their music with them as well. New Orleans jazzmen found themselves in Chicago and there the Chicago blues was born. According to www.hypermusic.ca, the blues are described as a highly expressive, predominantly vocal tradition, expressing the stories and emotions of African-Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. Blues singers often accompanied themselves with the harmonica, guitar and piano while blues performed on the trumpet and saxophone often imitated the growl and rasp of the blues singer. The story of the how the blues became the blues is taken up by Joric Maglanque on August 24 1 PM at the CCP MKP and by Japanese jazz guitarist Shun Kikuta who will talk about the blues in the modern setting at 3:30PM. The Blues are going to brew in performances by Faith Gospel Singers on August 23, 5 PM at the CCP MKP Hall and Cooky Chua and Bluesviminda on August 27, 8 PM at the CCP Silangan Hall. American jazz guitarist Michael Bourne will collaborate with the young Filipino jazz trio Bleu Rascals while Japanese jazz guitarist Shun Kikuta with perform the famous local jazz group the Blue Rats in Blues Night on August 24, 7:30 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Batute.
The 1940s saw the birth of Be Bop, a style of jazz that emerged in juxtaposition to Big Band typified by the sound of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Be Bop, whose name is derived from nonsense syllables used in scat singing, came to be what we now know as modern jazz. Royal hartigan and blood drum spirit will discuss the beginning of be bop on August 25 at 1 PM at the CCP MKP after which they will perform Be bop, Hard Bop and Modal Jazz in a concert at 5 PM at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage wherein the audience will be on stage to witness the performance. Emy Munji and Majam also perform Be bop on August 25, 8 PM at the Silangan Hall.
Joey Valenciano will talk about the influence of Indian Music on jazz on August 25, 3: 30 PM at the CCP MKP. Royal hartigan and blood drum spirit will lead a discussion on Free Jazz on August 26, 5 PM at the CCP MKP Hall. Free Jazz is a style of jazz borne from the infusion of new sounds from the great musical traditions of India, China, Africa and the Middle East. Free Jazz, a new direction explored by jazz musician in the 1960s in the spirit of experimentation, is distinctive for its dissonance.
Neris Gonzalez and Lowcal will do Brazilian jazz on August 26, first in a lecture at 3 PM at the CCP MKP and then a performance at 5 PM at the CCP Tanghalang Batute. The Brazilian beat, or the Bossa nova musical style, has contributed much to the standard jazz repertoire, the most iconic of which is the 1964 Getz/Gilberto recording of The Girl from Ipanema.
Royal hartigan, who has done extensive research on West African traditional drumming, dance and song and culture, will lecture on African jazz on August 27 1 PM at the MKP to be followed by an African Jazz Concert at 5 PM at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage.
Pinoy Jazz is the subject of the video documentary by Richie Quirino and Collis Davis Jr. to be shown free of charge on August 28, 3 PM at the Dream Theater. Based on Richie Quirino’s book, Pinoy Jazz Traditions, which won the 2004 National Book Award in the music category (Philippines), Pinoy Jazz: The Story of Jazz in the Philippines is a 58-minute video documentary that provides the first-ever documentation of the development of jazz in the Philippines, from its infancy in 1898, when Filipinos were first exposed to Black music performed by African-American soldiers, to its present-day maturity in which musicians are turning to indigenous sources for inspiration. Incorporating historical still photography, turn-of-the century film footage, maps, old recordings, present-day performances and interviews with veteran and contemporary musicians, the video presents an eye-opening view into an almost-forgotten history of the art of jazz as it developed in the Philippines over the last century.
The 1st CCP International Jazz Festival, said Menchi Mantaring, head of the CCP Music Division, will not only see the largest gathering of local and foreign jazz artists at the CCP for the first time. "It will also be a time for these foreign and local artists to bond together and collaborate, in this enjoyable language of musical expression."
Tickets prices to the events at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) are P800, P600, P400 and P200. Ticket price to all concerts at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute and the Silangan Hall are at P300. Tickets to the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo stage performances are at P300. All lectures and workshops at the MKP Multi-Purpose Hall are at P100. The standard 50% discount for students and 20% for senior citizens apply.

A little bit of advice

• stop thinking about those who keep discouraging you. start thinking about those who will pet you on the back at the end and say “i knew u can do it”.

• don’t give up just because you are slower than others in a race,. cause if you stop you will neva get to the finish line. :) keep hope! Have faith.

• Sometimes, No matter how hard you try to ignore those haters they will just neva gonna leave you alone. it’s okay to get hurt, because when it hurt you learn. 

• Stop wishing that there will going to be a better day, or you will eva gonna be a better person. The thing is, stay true to yourself, do what you like to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody you are doing great. 

• I know you screwed up, everyone does, but it’s okay, it’s not too late to correct those mistakes, try not to walk at the same path again. go straight to the right direction this time.

• Be grateful to people, not only to those that are good to you, but also those who are bad to you. Because not everything is about revenge. it doesn’t give anybody any good. Karma does exist. Forgiveness is a good start to live a better life.

• Don’t be jealous of those who are more fortunate than you, Life has neva been fair, not before, not now and probably not eva. ain’t nobody gonna change it. Somehow you have got to learn to deal with it. Appreciate what you have and work for what you haven’t had.

Jordan Knight

Music Seen: After 25 Years In The Business, Jordan Knight Is Still A Heartthrob [PHOTOS]

Celebrities who emerge as teen idols rarely stay that way. It’s one of the immutable laws of celebrity nature. They get older, their fans get older, and generally, everyone eventually moves on.
That, however, has not been the case for Jordan Knight, who began his run as a heartthrob way back in 1986 and is showing no signs of slowing down. Whether performing as part of the New Kids On The Block, NKOTBSB, or as a solo artist, Jordan Knight remains culturally relevant to this day not just because he’s a handsome devil or because his falsetto instantly causes listeners’ knees to weaken, but because he continues to record songs that resonate with audiences of all ages.
Jordan popped by our offices here in Times Square not too long ago while on a publicity tour for his new solo album, Unfinished. We asked him to be the latest artist to participate in our ongoing Music Seen feature, and he kindly obliged. Enjoy!—Mark Graham
















[Photo Credits: Jen Marigliano/VH1]

Via: http://blog.vh1.com