All posts by Colin Mansfield

About Colin Mansfield

I'm a college student born in Boise, Idaho who loves coffee. BoiseCoffee.org was birthed out of a desire to share my passion for coffee with others through reviews and tips. It has since evolved into a discussion of like-minded individuals. We all seek to make the world a better place through our unique talents and goals. Coffee can help.

Summer Coffee: Tips, Tricks, and Drink Ideas

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There are few things I enjoy more than sleeping in on a summer day, brewing a cup of my favorite coffee, and reading a book or the news while the sun warms the air. For me, coffee has always been more than a stimulant: it’s a selah for me, a pause that allows me to appreciate whatever it is I’m doing while sipping.

While there may be a temptation to think of coffee as a “cold weather drink” – something to be enjoyed when the rain is pouring or the snow is falling – I’ve found it can be equally as enjoyable, or sometimes more enjoyable on a hot summer day. Here’s a list of some summer coffee tips, tricks, and drink ideas.

  • Go big or go home. Iced coffee from cafes is usually about half beverage and half ice. Don’t feel bad about getting a bigger size – you’re actually only drinking about half that.
  • Try shots over ice. Two or three espresso shots on ice in a 12 oz cup can give your day a quick jolt without making you sweat on a hot day.
  • Make a milkshake. A twitter follower of mine, Tandy Sinclair, says she loves making a coffee milkshake with her own ice cream on a hot day.
  • Give cold brew a try. The first time I had cold brew I was blown away. It tends to be less acidic and more flavor-intensive when it comes to extracting the hidden notes in coffee. Here’s one method.
  • Keep an eye out. Coffee shops will often release new drinks, have summer specials, and even “happy hour” type discounts. For instance, Caribou Coffee just launched a new selection of teas for the summer.

Have your own summer coffee tips? Leave them in the comments!

The Coffee Guy

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Spyhouse Coffee Review

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The best coffee shops that I have experienced have been focused and unflinching in their drive to make the best cup of coffee possible. They realize that a great cup of Joe is more than simply the sum of its parts: every aspect works together in a creative and powerful way. Making concessions and compromising on one aspect can break the whole process. One barista that isn’t committed to his or her craft can negatively influence the atmosphere of an entire coffee shop, for instance.

Spyhouse Coffee is one coffee shop that knows their trade, and knows it well. On their website they lay out their mission:

Since the inception of The Spyhouse in 2000, our primary goals have been to ensure quality, sustainability, education, and a commitment to producing the finest coffee and espresso drinks while sourcing from the most artisanal micro-roasters, both locally and nationally. Our daily operations consist of working with local distributors and extensive barista training to produce high-quality drinks that are ultimately served with professionalism to you, the customer.

Spyhouse Coffee doesn’t roast their own coffee, but they source from some of the highest quality roasters in the country: Verve Coffee Roasters, Ritual Coffee Roasters, Coava Coffee Roasters, and Tea Source. They’ve done their research, each and every one of these roasters is time-tested and well known throughout the coffee industry.

One of my favorite things about Spyhouse Coffee is that they offer several brewing methods in-house. This is a trend that’s starting to pick up among cafes and coffee shops, and I love it. Not only do they offer staple methods like drip and French Press, but in addition they provide Hario V60 Pour-Over and Cafe Solo methods.

While I haven’t had the chance to visit either of the Spyhouse Coffee shop locations (they’re in downtown Minneapolis), they were gracious enough to send me two coffees to review. They sent me the “Streetlevel Espresso” from Verve and a Light/Medium roast originating from Honduras from Coava. I found both to be delightful coffees, each great in their own rite.

Verve’s Streetlevel Espresso is a blend of three coffees of Guatemalan origins. While I haven’t had the chance to run it through an espresso machine yet, I’ve found that my Aeropress does a fine job of testing out Espresso coffee when I adjust the water to coffee ratio properly. I found this coffee to have a delicious start and finish with earthy notes between each. The coffee was quite sweet actually – making for great espresso to be sure. The taste in between the start and finish is difficult to place, but reminds me of some sort of secret, secluded area in a forest. As if this coffee demands mysteriousness. Bold, yet sweet. Earthy, yet delicious.

The Light/Medium roast from Coava originates from Honduras. As is typical of light coffees, this was packed with a caffeine punch not to be trifled with. With notes of caramel, this coffee was exceedingly bright in every aspect. It was acidic, to be sure, but in the best possible way. Light and fun, this coffee was the perfect start to my day when I enjoyed it in the morning. Unlike the Streetlevel Espresso, this coffee was constant throughout, starting and finishing on the same strong bright note.

Spyhouse Coffee has an amazing website full of information about all things coffee, and more. In their Coffee and Brewing Methods section they discuss their roasters and offer brief descriptions of their various available brewing methods. Their photo gallery has some great images showing shots being pulled, coffee art, and some pictures of their locations. Perhaps most intriguing of all is their Staff Statistics page which has a fascinating infographic about their baristas.

Another aspect of their website is incredibly revealing about Spyhouse Coffee’s values. On their About page they talk about “Our Community.” They discuss what it looks like to help out and give back to their community by doing small things like recycling and riding a bike to work.

Spyhouse Coffee sees the big picture. They realize that to make great coffee you need great people. They see that part of being a part of a community is giving back to that community. And they understand that the ends of a great cup of coffee do not justify the means. Spyhouse Coffee earns high marks in my book, and I strongly recommend hitting up one of their two locations next time you’re in Minneapolis. In addition, their social media links are below.

The Coffee Guy

Spyhouse: Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr

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5 Things that make good coffee shops great

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The sound of milk frothing, shots being pulled, and friends laughing. The smell of fresh roasted beans. The site of people reading, writing, and discussing. The tangible, palpable feeling in the air that only a community of people can bring.

There’s something unique about coffee shops. Something special; while it’s hard to put my finger on precisely what it is, there is this undeniable feeling that coffee shops aren’t like other stores.

I’m participating in a blog series. I, along with several other coffee bloggers, are answering the question “What do you look for when you review a coffee shop?”
(see below for links to the other posts).

This is a harder question to answer than one might first suppose, mostly because 90% of what I “look” for isn’t sought after at all – it falls into that intangible category that I can’t quite explain. After all, isn’t a coffee shop more than just coffee, tables, chairs, and a room? I’ve always been a firm believer that the people are what make a coffee shop or cafe so special. Given the choice between spending a day engaging in a discussion with a friend over a cup of Starbucks, or sitting alone by myself at my favorite local shop, I will chose the former every single time (although I will, of course, suggest we carry our discussion over to someplace with great coffee – best of both worlds, right?).

I’ve narrowed my list down to five things that I look for when I review a coffee shop. To put it another way: if these five criteria are met, I will have a great experience at that coffee shop and will have no choice but to give it a great review.

This isn’t a hard-and-fast list by any stretch of the imagination, but if a coffee shop lacks these five things, there’s probably something missing in their formula. In other words, I better really like the friend that I’m meeting there.

  • Fresh roasted, fresh ground, high quality coffee. I’m always willing to try new varieties and new drinks – what’s really important to me is that the coffee shop either roasts the beans themselves regularly, or gets them from a roaster nearby who can.
  • Friendly baristas that excel at their craft. I love getting drink suggestions from the barista and chatting it up with while he/she makes my drink. You can always tell when someone loves their job, and the attitude of the barista(s) can make or break my experience at that coffee shop. (Also, nobody likes a coffee snob).
  • An environment that encourages creation and consumption. Sometimes I go to a coffee shop to get work done, school done, or to process through a new idea. Other times I go simply to read, listen to music, and absorb. A great coffee shop should encourage the development of both of these. Overly loud music, dirty floors/tables, and even a bad paint job can serve as distractions to creation and consumption.
  • Integration with the community. This is one of the most important aspects of a coffee shop that I look at. The best coffee shops I’ve been to have local art on display, play music from local artists, and serve bread from a local bakery. If the coffee shop suddenly vanished, would the people in the community care? If the answer is yes, then we have a winner.
  • A way to follow up. This may seem as menial to some, but I’ve found being able to communicate with a coffee shop after my visit is almost as important as going there in the first place. If a coffee shop has a Facebook page, Twitter profile, or a classy website, it gives me an instant way to share my experience with friends. Also, it allows me to find out more information about a coffee shop which can be vital to writing a quality review.

I’ve found coffee shops that contain these five elements in all parts of the world.

Are there other elements that you find essential? Let me know in the comments, or drop me a line on the BoiseCoffee Facebook page!

The Coffee Guy

Posts from fellow coffee bloggers answering “What do you look for when your review a coffee shop?”

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