this is coffee

You never know what you think you know

bbabcock — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:12:08 +0000

You’ve been patting yourself on the back for making progress with your cleaning regimen for your roaster. You’ve been watching bits of old dried creosote flake off the insides of the roaster and disappear into the shopvac. You just know you’ve been paying closer attention to the details. There’s not as much chaff and fuzz, the squirrel cage isn’t as gunked up when you tear the roaster down. You can feel the improved airflow during the roast. You can call yourself a professional coffee roaster.

Then you go and find an eager young apprentice to give you much needed help with the roasting. He makes a few ‘initiation’ mistakes (I won’t divulge the embarrassing details . . . yet . . . since I’ve also made them), but dang this guy catches on quick. And, dare I vocalize, he has initiative. A roaster’s dream for a new roaster. Things are great.

And then your buddy Russ, who supposedly has your best interests and well being constantly in mind, sends you devastating photos of said apprentice and the cleaning he has done on his own.

I hate you both. I love you both. I am humbled. I can’t wait to have some coffee from our cleaner than clean roaster. Vojta Rocks!

Posted via email from Nova Roast

Seedling Update

bbabcock — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:00:10 +0000

For those of you not hooked in through the Nova Roast Facebook page, here’s a couple of shots of my seedlings. Just a week since my last post and I’ve got 13 seedlings and dare I call it foliage?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Nova Roast

Newport Fest

bbabcock — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:58:00 +0000

Newport Fest 11 is just around the corner. Music starts at 4pm the 4th of September. Nova Roast and the Easy Chair will be there with our mobile espresso gig and cafe slinging coffee drinks and Sinking Creek Mudd into the wee hours and Sunday morning for your morning cuppa. Lola Mullen will be performing at the cafe Sunday morning.

-- Brian K. Babcock Owner, Nova Roast 540-239-2459 www.novaroast.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Nova Roast

Zombie Farewell to Cohen

bbabcock — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:52:48 +0000

My youngest son Cohen has spent his summer logging in some long hours at the Easy Chair. He heads back to Kansas and High School on Saturday. We’re having an impromptu farewell party for him at the coffee shop Friday evening if you would like to stop by and say goodbye.

To make it memorable for Cohen, we’re having a Zombie Party. My boys and I have been kicking around an idea for the past couple of years of making a zombie movie at the coffee shop. Enough talk, let’s shoot one of our zombie scenes! If you show up Friday evening at 8pm dressed as zombies, Nova Roast will not only buy you a coffee, we’ll cast you in the video. Good at zombie makeup? Bring some makeup and help us dress up. Have old torn up clothes and props fit for a zombie? Bring ‘em. Details to follow through www.easychaircoffeeshop.com and novaroast.com and I’ll set up an event page.

Rev

-- Brian K. Babcock Owner, Nova Roast 540-239-2459 www.novaroast.com

Posted via email from Nova Roast

Coffee Seedlings

bbabcock — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:34:51 +0000

It’s been about 7 weeks since I planted my Brazil Bob-o-Link coffee seeds. About two weeks ago the first sprout finally poked up. Made the coffee geek inside me very happy. As the picture shows, I’ve now got six seedlings and another two poking their heads through the soil. Not knowing if I’d even get one when I started, eight plants exceeds my expectations. I planted closer to 20, so who knows, I might even have some more coming along.

I’m getting some pretty cool photos and will continue to update photos on the Nova Roast facebook page as my seeds turn into trees. I may even remember to make a post or two along the way.

Cheers,

Rev

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Nova Roast

What Office Coffee Should Be

bbabcock — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:56:03 +0000

Just thought I’d show my little office coffee set up. Pretty small footprint and beats the heck out of driving all of the way to Blacksburg from Salem every morning to find a good cup of coffee. Good thing I know a good roaster to keep me in beans

Rev

Posted via email from Nova Roast

novaroast.com updates

bbabcock — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:01:08 +0000

I’ve made a few small changes to the website as I learn how to update and maintain a website. Agonizingly slow learning process by the way, though it would probably help to have adequate photo editing software and the attention span to keep to one task at a time. Anyway, I’ve added the Bob-O-Link coffee to our offerings and updated pricing. Next up: re-vamping shipping rules and posting some trip photos.

Brian

Posted via email from Nova Roast

Coffee Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

bbabcock — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:47:08 +0000

We are in the process of editing and uploading the photos from our Brazil trip. As soon as the full gallery of images is finished we will post a link here. We are also planning a Blacksburg area event complete with slideshow and videos, cachaca, caipirinha and, of course, coffee from the FAF region.

Posted via email from bobolinks

Testing Technology

bbabcock — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:50:59 +0000

Couldn’t get the few blogs I did on the Brazil trip to link so I’m taking the time to try it again. Look for the bobolinks blog at posterous.com for a few blogs from the coffee trip.

Posted via email from Nova Roast

The Coffee

bbabcock — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:47:51 +0000

Who are these people and why do they call their coffee Bob-O-Link? Find out here:

http://www.brasccoffeeimporters.com/bob-o-link/

Posted via email from bobolinks