bluehouse Weblog

If you’ve been to the cafe lately you’ve probably seen some new things going on behind the counter. Groups of our cafe and showroom staff clustered behind the espresso machine, pulling shot after shot and fiddling with the grinders. Our old Bunn brewer sitting unused on a chair while a new Fetco brewer sits in the old equipment’s place. Small stainless steel carafes replacing the battered and well used airpots. Baristas sipping endless cups of coffee and muttering about body and mouth feel, citrus notes, floral notes, nutiness and more. What is going on?

Well, a big change was in the works for the cafe and we’re thrilled that everything is finally in place. We are proud to announce that we have changed roasters and are now partnering with Counter Culture Coffee. We first became aware of Counter Culture right after we opened in December 2005, and we kept hearing about them again and again, particularly after we hired someone who had worked with their coffee before. This winter we spent a few months learning about their business approach, sampled a bunch of their coffee, met the Regional Sales Rep. and finally decided to take the plunge and bring them on board as our roaster.

We’ve always thought we serve excellent coffee, but wanted to keep pushing the quality of what we offer our customers. What we love about Counter Culture is how involved they are with their coffee, from finding the best beans, properly roasting them, and then educating the public so people are excited about drinking really good coffee. They are dedicated not just to the final coffee product but to creating sustainable, beneficial relationships all the way from the farmers who grow the beans to the baristas who make your morning cup of coffee to the lucky person who gets to drink the coffee.

Counter Culture Coffee is able to offer an incredible amount of support to us including further education and training so that we can make sure we’re serving you the best coffee and espresso possible. You don’t have to work at bluehouse to tap into this information, though. Counter Culture has resources open to the public, such as espresso labs and history classes, and free Friday morning cuppings (the closest to bluehouse is at their D.C. training facility).

We could put tons of information about Counter Culture in this post but the best ways to learn about them are to ask us (we are more than happy to talk about coffee!) or check out their website, which is very thorough explaining everything from their business model to the history of their coffees : Counter Culture Coffee ~ Coffee Driven People, People Driven Coffee. Let us know what you think of the changes, and feel free to ask us about our favorite coffee selections, recommendations for whole bean coffee to take home, or even for a sample .

~Amy Laperle

Yesterday the Washington Post ran the story “Non-Toxic Tots”, discussing how families often make green and healthy buying choices a priority when shopping for their littlest family members.

If you’re interested in checking out some of the items they mention, try giving us a call. Painting a nursery? We carry Bioshield products, including Kinder Paints which have: no acrylic copolymer, no anti-microbial agents, no preservative, no ethylene glycol and no VOC. Let your baby get a good night’s sleep on Sleeptek’s Natural Rubber or Organic Wool Innerspring crib mattresses, which have no chemicals, dyes, polymers or toxins. They also make crib pads, barrier cloths and moisture pad protectos. Sleeptek’s mattresses grow with your family, coming in twin, full, queen and king sizes, and we also offer SavvyRest natural latex mattresses in the same sizes. Several models are in our showroom so feel free to come in and try them out. It’s a common bluehouse site to walk through the showroom and find a shopper blissfully sprawled out a bed, though no one’s fallen asleep on one (yet!).

We’ve also reserved a section of the store for children’s items; you can view the Baby & Child section of our website to see a portion of what’s currently in stock including recycled and all natural stuffed toys, organic Take Me Home sets and gentle bath products.

Thanks to Lynn at Organic Mania, where we first heard about the article