What is Coffea?

Just in case you haven't noticed, we're pretty excited about our new venture, Coffea Roasterie & Espresso Bar, but up until this point, we haven't quite explained the specifics. Here's a taste of what you can expect:

Beans
We just introduced our first Coffea offering, the Ethiopia Beloya Selection Nine, and the response has been overwhelming. In our fifteen years of operation, this is the best dry processed Ethiopian we've found. It truly is an incredible cup.

We're working with a number of new sources that have given us access to even better coffees, like the Beloya. Coffea will have a bean menu full of truly special, limited offerings available in a variety of price ranges. Don't get me wrong: the coffee we're selling at Great Plains is some of the best you'll find anywhere, but its about to get even better.

Drinks

When we sat down to decide what the Coffea drink menu would look like, we pondered an interesting idea. It seems like just about every shop in the area has the same general menu; some just prepare their drinks much better than others. We wondered what we could come up with if we allowed ourselves to deviate a bit from the traditional menu, and experiment with new ingredients and flavor combinations. We explored the possibilities and came up with an incredible menu with something for everyone.

Whether its our hazelnut latte made with an extract prepared in house from fresh roasted hazelnuts, or something completely new, like our Masala Spice Latte, we've done taste tests for every ingredient in every drink, and analyzed every step in the process to create the best flavor experience possible. Some of the new ingredients were hard to find, and the new methods are much more labor intensive, but the resulting drinks are well worth it.

Seating

We've never had more than three seats, so the thought of a large, comfortable seating area is wonderful. Coffea will have seating for about fifty, with everything from a bar by the roaster, to couches and chairs around a cozy fireplace. We want our customers to feel like they can linger and enjoy their drinks for as long as they would like to stay.

Roasterie

The Roasterie is one of the most exciting parts of our business, so we're very anxious to bring the espresso bar and roaster together under one roof. We want our customers to be able to see all of the things that make our coffee as good as it is. We'll have a cupping bar where customers can join us every morning when we taste our coffees for quality control, and we'll be roasting samples and production batches right at the counter.

We can't wait to answer questions and show our customers what goes on in the roasterie.

Drive Through

Last, but certainly not least, Coffea will have a drive through. We want our customers to be able to have great coffee any time it fits into their schedule. We'll be serving the same great drinks every day at our express drive up window, and the location is just perfect; You won't have to worry about an awkward left turn onto a busy road when you leave, Our drive through lane exits onto our own road with a traffic light on the intersection with Louise.

Coffea will be a big change from Great Plains, but we think our customers will love it. We've traveled to cafes all across the country to collect new ideas, and gathered lots of feedback from our local customers to create a concept that we hope excites all of you as much it excites us.

Coffea will be open in March '09. In the mean time, come visit us in the Empire Mall, and we'll fill you in on the progress.

-Jon