Espresso Catering

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Eric Andersen

Ever Dream of Having Your Own Barista?

Yeah – we did to. Now we’re in this coffee biz and we get to do the barista thing all the time! If you have a big event coming up and would like to add a little something special, FreshGround Roasting can provide espresso and coffee catering. We’re available for:

Weddings
Corporate events
Family Reunions
Extra Special Dinner Parties (black tie included at no extra charge!)
Birthday Parties
School or Church Events
Just about anything else (use your imagination!)
We’re very self-contained. We bring all of our own equipment, water, coffee, espresso machine, cups and everything else. All we need from you is an electrical outlet and we’re ready to go.

Just fill out the form below and submit it and we’ll get back to you with all the details:

Understanding The Language of Coffee – Part One

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Eric Andersen

We’re complete coffee geeks around here. We’re not apologizing for that…..

The SCAA Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel

We just want to make sure we’re all talking the same language. We understand that we can get a little…. let’s just say…. passionate…. about what we do. Sometimes we start talking a bunch of gibberish and it’s not at all helpful to you.

To fix that problem, we thought we’d mention a few coffee terms we tend to use a lot. No sense in us jabbering and you not understanding, right? Continue reading →

Is this what it’s like to work in an Espresso Machine Factory?

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Eric Andersen

I am SO changing jobs….

It’s a Busy Coffee Weekend! Here’s where you can catch us

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Eric Andersen

We love to teach about coffee and this weekend we’ll be all over the area doing just that! A couple of quick notes on where you can meet up with us and find out more about coffee….

Learn How to Brew Awesome Coffee at Home – Chemex, French Press, Cold Brew, Siphon and more – Free and open to the Public – Friday, May 3rd, 7-8:30PM – Culture Stock, 43 E Galena Blvd, Aurora

Coffee-Con – The Consumer Coffee Evant – 9AM-5PM, IBEW, Warrenville, IL - Anything coffee in the Chicagoland area is going to be here. There will be lots of teaching events, Eric will be doing demos on how to brew with a siphon pot. We’ll also be teaching you how to pull a great shot of espresso in our booth. This is a fantastic way to start your Saturday morning!

#CoffeeChat Twitter Chat – Monday is time to cool down, use all that knowledge you gained this weekend, brew a great cup of coffee, sit down at your computer and join us online for #CoffeeChat. 7-8PM. You can find out all the details. If you’ve never joined a Twitter Chat now is a great time to do it!

Hope to see you this weekend!

Join us for #CoffeeChat

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Eric Andersen

On Monday, May 6th at 7:00 PM Central Time, we will be hosting a Twitter #CoffeeChat.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of joining a Twitter Chat, it’s really easy. The conversation is all about coffee and can run the gamut – from the very basics (how to store coffee, how to brew coffee) to the more complex (espresso, equipment, latte art, cupping and more)

How it works

Join us on Twitter from 7-8PM Central time on Monday, May 6th
Follow the hashtag #CoffeeChat here or at Twubs.com
Tweet your questions to @FGRoast using the hashtag #CoffeeChat

Need more help? Here’s a quick video how-to:

An Interesting Pour-over Brewing Method

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Eric Andersen

A customer turned me on to this coffee brewing method the other day. I found it quite interesting. It’s a disposable paper coffee-dripper. It’s extremely easy to use and, I’m sure, makes great coffee.

Looking around a prices, it looks like it would come down to about 33¢ per filter. For every-day use, that seems kinda high to me.

On the other hand, I think this would be a fantastic filter to travel with. If you’re like me and can’t stand hotel coffee, having a package of these and a Hario Skerton grinder in my bag would be perfect.

What are your thoughts?

Kalita Kantan Drip

4 Reasons Baratza Coffee Grinders are Worth the Money

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Eric Andersen

I’ve told people over and over that if you’re going to buy coffee gear, the first thing you should get is a good grinder. Some of the best all-purpose coffee grinders out there are Baratza grinders.

They’re a little more expensive. You can certainly find a cheaper grinder on the market pretty easily. Here are 4 quick reasons why we recommend Baratza:

1) 4 Years. Nothing lasts 4 years. Most small housewares last 2-3 years (planned obsolescence).

2) Baratza parts are available online for all of their grinders. Find parts for that Cuisinart. I dare you.

3) Parts are customer replaceable by anyone who can use a screwdriver. There are PDFs/videos/instructions available several places online. Everything you need to fix your grinder (except the screwdriver). If you don’t feel like it, you can send your grinder in to Baratza for repair for a very reasonable price.

4) Absolutely stellar support. Four years after I purchased my Baratza Virtuoso the motor died. It’s an electronic part. These things happen. I called Baratza. A real person answered the phone. That person knew what he was doing. That person has the authority to make decisions without passing it on to fifty other people who are going to charge you the cost of a new grinder just for the parts. He shipped me the new motor without running me through seven other departments.

Bottom line – My Baratza Virtuoso grinder is working better than ever. I’m 100% sure it will be working for at least the next 4 years. All of that is worth the couple of extra bucks for a Baratza grinder.

Office Coffee

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Eric Andersen

Photo courtesy Sami Keinänen http://www.flickr.com/photos/sami73/

OK – i get that businesses everywhere are trimming costs – health care, expenses, taxes, etc. It’s draining small businesses at an alarming rate. 401K matches are being cut or are gone. Employees are being asked to cover more (if not all) medical insurance. Some people haven’t seen raises in years. I’ve felt it myself.

If you are a small business owner – ask yourself – is stocking your office with really cheap coffee really moving the needle? If it costs you $20 a month more, or $50 a month more to get have GOOD coffee in your office, is that worth it?

And if you have a Keurig or another single-cup brewing system in your office, you could actually save money.

Call it a “Perk” (ha – see what I did there?)

Here’s an interesting article with some thoughts about coffee in the workplace. Give it some thought.

Monday Mo-Joe

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Eric Andersen

It’s done! Monday Mo-Joe #1 is delivered and the folks at Dickens, Mason and Kissel, DDS in St. Charles is enjoying some fantastic coffee this morning.

We’re excited to get to know more local businesses. Stay tuned for another Monday Mo-Joe next month and nominate your favorite business!

Delivering coffee to Dickens, Mason and Kissel DDS in St. Charles, IL

What’s that on your wall?

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Eric Andersen

Caffeine Molecule

We get a TON of comments about the artwork on our wall at the roastery. It’s awesome. It’s a caffeine molecule. Krista gave it to me as a gift one year for my home office. Since then, it’s migrated to the more logical location at the roastery.

The best part is – for all you chemistry geeks out there – it’s molecular-ly (?) correct. Double bonds and everything.

Click the more link to meet the artist.
Continue reading →