Hippo 2012 “Best of” voting

Posted on February 22, 2012 by admin

I voted for The Hippo’s “Best of” issue and thought I’d share my 2012 picks with you.

  • Best live theater venue: Palace Theater, Manchester
  • Best Gym: YMCA, Nashua
  • Best Florist: Garden Party, Milford
  • Best restaurant overall: Black Forest, Amherst
  • Best Bakery: Dutch Epicure, Amherst
  • Best Beer Shop: The Beer Store, Nashua
  • Best Breakfast: Riverhouse Cafe, Milford
  • Best cup of coffee: A&E Coffee Roastery, Amherst
  • Best Bakery: Frederick’s Pastries, Amherst
  • Best espresso drinks: A&E Coffee Roastery, Amherst
  • Best Ice Cream: Jake’s, Amherst
  • Best Italian Restaurant: Giorgios, Merrimack
  • Best menu item: Almond Turtle Latte, A&E Coffee Roastery, Amherst
  • Best Neighborhood Market: Mill Town Market, Manchester
  • Best Vegetarian: Indian Palace, Nashua
  • Best local radio station: NHPR
  • Best local movie theater: Wilton Town Hall Theater, Wilton
  • Best place to take visitors: Budweiser plant, Merrimack
  • Best music hall: Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry
  • Best City Park: Keyes Park, Milford
  • Best sledding: Carnival Hill, Wilton
  • Best Massage Therapist: Pam Veiga, Hollis
  • Best thing about NH: geography
  • Thing they forgot: TEA

Have you voted yet? You can vote for your favorites at www.hippopress.com until midnight on February 28. If you think we’re the “best of,” we would be honored to have your vote.

Have you Voted?

 

Posted in Emeran's Brew, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Conquer a Cold with Conquer The Cold Tea

Posted on February 21, 2012 by admin

It seems particularly timely to tell you a bit about our Conquer The Cold tea. The name bears two meanings of course…you can conquer “the cold” by warming yourself with a cup of delicious hot tea. But this tea is special…it’s been specially created to help you battle “The Cold”…as in, the kind that stuffs you up with sniffles and coughs. (The kind that we know half of you are probably doing battle with right now! Sniff sniff….Cough cough…)

This tea is a delicious blend of eight wellness ingredients that help to prevent colds and alleviate symptoms, as well as speed up the healing process. This tea is action-packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, and botanicals to help you heal and keep you healthy.

It’s made of a proprietary blend of herbs and roots including Echinacea, Burdock Root, Feverfew, Lemon Peel, Licorice Root, Marshmallow Root and Mullein Flowers. Taken together, they create a wonderful tea that helps you get well when you’re feeling down.

Each ingredient is specially selected for its specific prevention or healing properties. Echinacea is herbal medicine’s first choice of treatment for colds and depressed immune systems. Licorice Root is most commonly used to treat coughs and colds. Licorice is especially useful for treating coughs with sticky phlegm, or for treating colds that accompany stomach upset. Marshmallow Root relieves irritation by coating inflamed surfaces. Its primary use in modern herbal medicine is to relieve sore throats. The soothing mucilages of Mullein Flowers coat sore throats and make coughing more productive.

This is an exclusive tea that we hand-blend just for you.

Care to read a bit more about the plants that bear these healing herbs? Explore them here.

Posted in Tea origins | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uganda’s Bugisu Sipi Falls

Posted on February 17, 2012 by admin

Do you love a rich and robust coffee with a smooth, yet full, body?  A darker roast, designed to bring out the best flavor? Let’s take a coffee trip to Uganda…

Uganda is the seventh largest coffee producer in the world. Though larger scale producers are emerging, the bulk of the coffee from this country is produced by small farms, whose average farm size is between 1.25 and 6 acres. The industry employs more than 3.5 million families through coffee-related activities and it is estimated that as much as 20 percent of Uganda’s population earns all or a large part of their income from coffee.

Since the decade-long civil war in Uganda, the country has been working to rebuild its economy and we’re happy to support these family farmers who grow our delicious Ugandan variety. Uganda’s coffee crop is made up of both Robusta and Arabica coffee. A&E Coffee is offering an Arabica variety called Uganda Bugisu Sipi Falls, which is grown on the Eastern part of the country, on the side of Mount Elgon, the oldest and largest solitary volcano in East Africa.

Just as the Kia-Ora is to Kenya, the Uganda Bugisu Sipi Falls is currently the only certified organic coffee from Uganda. The project of developing this variety and training workers to produce it has not only strengthened the individuals and families farming it, but their local communities as well.

If you have an interest in trying this coffee, make sure to come in order online, as quantities are limited.

Posted in coffee origins | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A 2011 Coffee and Cancer Study Roundup!

Posted on February 15, 2012 by admin

This article gives a nice overview of some of the most significant “coffee’s health benefits” articles of 2011. Certain types of endometrial, prostate, skin and breast cancer seem to respond in a good way to relatively high amounts of coffee consumption.

Endometrial cancer is cancer of the uterine lining – so this one’s for the ladies. This study’s scope was fairly broad, with 67,470 study subjects being followed over the course of 26 years. Tea was also included for consideration in this study and the tea drinkers did not enjoy the same reduced risk that the coffee drinkers did. Caffeine is apparently not the do-gooder, but they haven’t identified which other chemical is doing the work.

Interestingly, the study on prostate cancer showed that both drinkers of both regular and of decaf received the same cancer protection benefit. Again, apparently caffeine was not the magical chemical doing the good work. These scientists did find, however, that the coffee was not beneficial in combating all types of prostate cancer.

We posted previously, of course, about the study citing coffee as beneficial in reducing the occurrence of a certain type of skin cancer: basal cell carcinomas. This is a less deadly type of skin cancer, but it is the most common of all forms.

And finally, ER-negative breast cancer was another form of cancer, shown to have some kind of healthful relationship with coffee. The results of that study definitely point to a need for further research – they aren’t sure which chemical in the coffee is “the one,” and since not all coffee is exactly the same, they can’t yet say for sure which one would be best to drink.

These are all items to keep an eye on for further updates. In the meantime…drink up!

Posted in Health benefits of coffee/tea | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Only at A & E: Kenyan Kia-Ora

Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

Ah, Kia-Ora. This coffee is very special – we are the only roaster in New England serving it. And that is not its only unique facet…it is the first certified-organic Kenyan coffee.

Despite Kenya’s long history of coffee-cultivation, certified organic coffee is only a recent addition to its repertoire. Due to a variety of challenges, certified organic comprises only 10 percent of Kenya’s annual coffee exports. More than 60 percent of Kenyan coffee is produced by farmers who have less than two acres of farmland. Since the country is made up of small farmers and co-ops and there are no large co-ops producing coffee, the three-year certification process was either too costly or burdensome for the small producers. No longer, though: Kia-Ora is here.

Located in Thika, Kenya, about 30 miles north of Nairobi, Kia-Ora Farm recognizes the need for environmentally-friendly farming techniques and encourages the inter-cropping of macadamia and coffee. The macadamia canopy acts as a carbon dioxide filter and provides greater bio-diversity as a bird habitat. The shade-grown coffee takes longer to grow and, as a result, has a richer flavor.

With its notes of both chocolate and wine, and a citrusy and bright flavor, we’re roasting it with a light hand to highlight the buttery, wine-like flavors.

Quantities of this unique coffee are limited – we only have about a bag and a half left! – don’t miss your chance to enjoy such a rare treasure.

Posted in coffee origins | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Manual brew competition

Posted on February 8, 2012 by admin

Amber and I are heading down to New York at the end of February for the Northeast Regional Barista Competition and Brewers Cup. The barista competition has been going on for quite a few years, but the Brewers Cup is new as of last year. It is a competition that celebrates brewed coffee and service. The goal is to manually brew the best cup of coffee you can.

The five variables are brew method, water temperature, grind level, coffee to water ratio, and extraction time. The brew methods must be manual and usually include the Clever, Chemex, AeroPress, French press, or a manual drip. Manual brew methods are becoming an important category in cafes, as it melds the skill and coffee knowledge of the barista with an excellent coffee.

We are featuring a monthly pour-over method in the cafe. This month we are featuring the Clever Coffee Dripper. We love the Clever because it offers two manual brew methods in one. You can set it on your mug and do a straight manual drip; controlling the extraction/steep time by the rate of pour. OR, you can set it on the counter and let it steep like a press. In the cafe, we are letting it steep for a set amount of time. The Clever is a great value, retailing at only $14.99!

The Clever Coffee Dripper - featured in the cafe in February!

Posted in Emeran's Brew, North East Regional Barista Competition | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Family Craftsmanship

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

Talent runs in my family. My grandmother went to college on a trumpet scholarship. My brother and father are both talented artists and architects. My mother has amazing landscape design skills. I grew up with an appreciation for quality and fine works of craftsmanship, along with the time it takes to do things well.

When something is handmade, especially by a family member, it has special meaning. There are two handmade pieces of furniture in the cafe that are made by family members. Both are custom designed and made in less-than-optimal locations…my basement.

The coffe bin Emeran's brothr built for the cafe

The coffee cabinet that stores our coffee bins was made by my brother when we moved to our current location. It works amazingly well for being made with a skill saw and a power drill. That piece is critical to our cafe and I love it.

The other piece is the new sitting area bar counter. My dad made that over Christmas. Again it was custom made just for that spot. I asked him about “throwing something together” for that space, thinking it would be a slab of wood and some legs. The end result is so much better than what was mulling around in my head. It has some of my dad’s signature design elements, and I think of him every time I see it.

 

The new bar table in the cafe lounge, built by Emeran's dad.

 

Posted in Emeran's Brew | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Coffee Prevent Type 2 Diabetes?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by admin

Some potentially very good news here for the major coffee consumers out there. According to one recent study, coffee not only appears to have the ability to lower your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, but scientists identified two compounds in the coffee which actually seem to block one of the processes that causes the disease. USA Today’s report on this same study gives a little more information too.

The implication here, according to a 2009 study which provided foundational material for this current one, is that those who drink at least four cups of coffee per day may have a 50 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. According to their theory, every additional cup of coffee after that would add another 7 percent of decrease in risk.

Interestingly, these studies aren’t the only ones citing the benefits of coffee in relation to Type 2 diabetes – it appears to be a growing body of research. Another article, from 2010, demonstrates a beneficial effect on diabetes in mice – and yet more articles exist in the world of scientific and medical journals.

Though we have no hard data on which roast, blend or variety of coffee may be the most beneficial, health-wise, we invite you to explore that topic with us. We can certainly give you any of the information or tips you may require in that journey – in fact you can browse this blog for more posts about our various coffees and posts on the health benefits of coffee. Conduct your own study! And let us know which one seems to have the most “beneficial effect” for you in the comments section below.

Posted in Emeran's Brew, Health benefits of coffee/tea | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brazil – Coopfam

Posted on January 30, 2012 by admin

This is the first in an occasional series on the origins of the coffees we carry at A&E.

The life of Coopfam beans begins at 3900 feet in Brazil. Coopfam is a Brazilian Fair Trade Producer group of small farmers. The ICO’s Coffee Club website is an interesting source of more information about coffee producers – and it shares that Coopfam helps its participants to improve their lives and communities in a variety of ways. Home improvements, health care, sustainable agriculture, and education projects have all felt the impact of this beneficial collaboration. At A&E you can participate in the process by enjoying a cup of their coffee.

Though the origins of Arabica beans lie on the Arabian Peninsula and in northern and western Africa, they have found a home in South America as well – coffee is an international language after all.

This bean flourishes on small, Catuai plants, petite, but full of flavor. A taste of dark chocolate defines this roast and words like rich robust, smoky, and long tell you it is a drink made to be savored.

What would you pair with a coffee bearing such a distinctly chocolatey flavor? More chocolate, for a decadent treat, or something else entirely?

Coopfam coffee is Fair Trade

Posted in coffee origins | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Art in the Cafe: Amy Lluna Borlaug

Posted on January 27, 2012 by admin

I’m thrilled to be showing the jewelry of Amy Llunna Borlaug in the café this month. Amy is not only an artist, but also our sales representative, helping us to find new places to sell and serve A&E coffee and tea.

Amy is a fascinating person. She definitely is magnetic. She draws people in. She’s really true – you can sense that there’s an honesty and a purity about her. She’s also definitely a fan of natural objects.

Amy B and the jewelry on display in the cafe

Amy is an interfaith minister and priestess to the Goddess. Her love for Earth and all things natural is present in her art, including the jewelry we’re displaying this month. Her love for stones and feathers are represented in the jewelry, which is made of natural feathers and stones with silver accents.

Amy has so many interests and she actually pursues them. The jewelry is an extension of who she is and her interest in natural life.

You can follow Amy on Facebook.

Posted in Art in the Cafe | Tagged , , | Leave a comment