Aldo Coffee Company

Life's a Bicerin. Or Why We'll Never Be On Martha Stewart

So the P-G sends a photographer over to take some shots of a bicerin for an upcoming article on chocolate.

For two days Rich and John have been perfecting the consistency and proportion of the heavy cream top layer so we'd be ready to do this and get a great photograph worthy of a true food stylist.  Maybe that's cheating, but at least we weren't adding marbles to soup.

Problem is, the lighting behind the bar isn't that great.  Photog wants to shoot the drink near a front window.

New Year's Hours

No change except for a late opening New Year's Day.

Wed. 12/31 New Year's Eve: 6:30am-6:00pm
Thurs. 1/1 New Year's Day: 8:00am-6:00pm
Fri. 1/2: 6:30am-6:00pm

We'll also have our legendary hangover soup cooking on Thursday.  It's become a New Year's Day tradition and you don't need a hangover to enjoy it.  It's our house recipe spicy groundnut stew, featuring chicken, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, eggplant, peanuts, cashews, okra and lots and lots of little red peppers.  Guaranteed to make you forget your headache ;-)

And if you're headed to a New Year's Eve party tonight and need something to bring - the answer is cannoli.

Please note, with the holidays being midweek, our coffee ordering schedule has been screwy.  And we messed up this week.  We're sitting with our lowest inventory ever - there are only 22lbs of coffee in the entire store.  If you're looking to take coffee to a party tonight - or want to make sure you've got plenty on hand for the morning - here's what we've got in stock right now:
Celebration Blend: 11 bags (all bags are 12oz). Last chance to buy it as we won't be ordering more.
Ethiopia Kurimi: 1 bag
Rwanda Zirikana: 2 bags (plus 5 lbs. bar which we can bag for you)
Black Cat: 2 bags (plus 8 lbs. bar which we can bag for you)
Esmeralda (Jake's Java): 2 bags
Mexico Chiapas (Jake's Java): 2 bags
Decaf: out - we need the rest for the bar tomorrow and Friday morning
House Blend: out completely
French Roast: out completely

The next coffee shipment will be here early Friday afternoon. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Blog-Lebo Meet & Greet Friday Jan 2, 10am-Noon

If you didn' t get a chance to air your grievances during Festivus last week, you've got another shot.  At least as far as Mt. Lebanon goes.

This Friday from 10am-noon, Professor Mike Madison and Joe Polk of Blog-Lebo will be at the big round table for a meet-and-greet with Mt. Lebanon neighbors. 

For those who don't yet follow Blog-Lebo, it has become Mt. Lebanon's defacto voice on community issues big and small - from traffic to school administrations to parks and usage of tax revenue - Mike and Joe explain it all, then sit back while citizens add their own comments to the blog.

If there's something you want to see brought up on Blog-Lebo, or if you'd like to better understand some of the issues that are the talk of the town, stop by Friday morning and share a cup of coffee with Mike and Joe.

Four Years

December 30, 2004. 

We didn't have a sign.

We didn't have a working espresso machine.

We didn't have a manual grinder.

But we opened anyway. 

It got better.

Lee Robinson & Tom Reilly This Afternoon 2-4pm

Today's Steelers game is pretty meaningless, so why not join us for some great music this afternoon with Lee (horns) and Tom (guitar and vocals).  Free show, all ages.

The Birds Are Confused...

Sitting on the back patio with a press pot of Stumptown Costa Rica Herbazu (a gift from Peter Droste and possibly the sweetest coffee we've ever tasted) listening to the birds who decided not to make the trip south.  We can make out about a half dozen different calls.  They're all excited about something.  Hopefully they realize Spring isn't really here yet, even with the 67F temperatures.

Btw, even though the herb planters are bare (except for some thyme and a few sprigs of hardy parsley), it's a beautiful day to be sitting out back with a cup of coffee.

Homecoming Week

One of the best things about Christmas is seeing old friends. Ruthie is back from her semester in Ireland and visited yesterday.  This morning Jennie stopped by, in town direct from the Big Apple. 

Having a cafe where our ex-baristas feel is home when they're in town is perhaps one of the things we're most proud of.  Kind of like having your kids visit.  But without having to do their laundry ;-)

Also visiting from NYC this morning was Peter Droste and friend, who are spending the holiday nearby in Ohio (and who gifted us with some Stumptown from 9th Street Espresso.)  We first met Peter last winter when he competed in both the NE regional and the USBC with a performance that involved wildly agitating two cocktail shakers for a handmade "gin fizz" merengue.  And now he's got a couple of Hario TCA-2s to play with.

And it's great that so many customers make a point to just stop in and wish us a great holiday even if the stop wasn't on their way or they really didn't want a coffee.  They just wanted to say hi.

It's been a terrific cafe scene the last few days.  Everyone is just a little bit more cheerful.  The buzz is a constant, pleasurable din.  No signs of gloom and doom here.  Leave that for some other suburb.

And for all of you who gave our staff presents, your kindness is greatly appreciated.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or whatever you're celebrating.

Christmas Week Hours

Santa's coming.

Here's our schedule for the rest of the week:
December 24 (Christmas Eve): 6:30am-3:00pm
December 25 (Christmas): Closed
December 26 (Kwanzaa/Boxing Day/Slovenia Independence Day/Wren Day): 8:00am-6:00pm
December 27: (St. Stephen's Day/Lemmy's Birthday): 7:30am-6:00pm
December 28: (Abel/Feast of the Holy Innocents/Sienna Miller's Birthday): 8:30am-6:00pm

Enjoy your holiday with a classic Arthur Wynne espresso-laced eggnog.

It's Cold Out There But Warm In Here.

Not that you weren't already aware how frigid it is.

But it's nice and toasty in the shop. 

As whole bean coffee sales were through the roof last week we did a special order that will arrive today around noon so we could restock for last-minute shopping.  There will be plenty of coffees to choose from to enjoy with your holiday meals or to sip with wrapping or opening presents.

Can't Wait to Get Home

It's snowing like mad here in Stamford, CT.  So much so, that at the moment I can't even try to get "home" to my brother's house, which happens to sit at one of the highest points in town.  There are simply too many drivers out there who don't know what they're doing to make an effort.  Better to wait it out (at a Cosi) so the DoPW's plows can do their thing.

This place feels/looks like the SUV capital of the world.  It seems 2 of 3 vehicles on the road are SUVs of some sort.  Not surprisingly, our garden variety 13-year old Volvo has passed many of them on the slick roads. The Swedes knew a thing or two about designing a car to handle snow.

But that's neither here nor there, other than to explain why I'm sitting in a Cosi instead of some great independent cafe.  What I really wanted to say was that I'd really like a decent cup of coffee right about now.