Talking about Coffee...

Speaking of coffee, this is one of those posts that I have been slow to getting around to. At the 3 State 3 Moutain Challenge, I had a nice visit with Kevin Price of Blue Smoke Coffee who was giving the coffee away at the Greenlife tent. I was there at 6:00am helping to check riders in and I NEEDED MY COFFEE

So I was a frequent visitor to the tent and ended up having a great conversation with Kevin. I had met him before at Greenlife when he was stocking the shelf with his wares. (That is one of the things I like about Greenlife, you often actually run into the people behind the products. Hope that doesn't change as it morphs into Whole Foods)

     There is something about bikes and coffee-a natural affinity of sorts. Blue Smoke Rostery is Chattanooga local but thinks globally with a sustainable and very generous spirit. He uses fair trade,organic, shade grown coffee that he roasts in a carbon neutral roaster using green renewable energy. And if that isn't enough to have credentials as a responsible, caring business, he gives 5% of sales to environmental and humanitarian causes. And of course, most interesting for this blog's topic, he makes his local and post office deliveries by bike.

    I have been drinking his coffee since I ran into him around Christmas. About that time the the source of my morning coffee, the Deli next door to my studio closed and I have had to start making my own. While nothing can beat having ole man Joe hand deliver my coffee to me every morning, that smell of fresh brewed Blue Smoke Coffee has given my mornings such a wonderful perk that I am glad for the opportunity to get back into my own brewed coffee.

    If you are interested in great coffee, check  out Blue Smoke Coffee.   You can get it in Chattanooga at Greenlife or order it directly.  Kevin will bike to the post office himself to send it on its way to you.

Ride to St. Elmo

     It was a beautiful day and closing in Easter weekend, cancellations were coming in fast. Suddenly I had an afternoon free. What to do? Hop on the bike of course.

    So out to St Elmo I go to check out the Collective Clothing, a fellow sponsor of the Collective Commute, Chic Cycling in Chattanooga Show. Got me a new outfit and Cameron was on hand to photograph it. Wow! I am on his The Chattanoogan fashion blog.  I am not sure I truly make it to his fashion standard, but it is to put out another notice about the Bike Fashion Show.

    And now I am enjoying an iced latte at Pasha Coffee shop.

    The ride out here is an official bike route which turns into actual bike lanes in St. Elmo. On the route the bikes are taken over railroad tracks. It is hard to go anywhere in Chattanooga without going over tracks. Just getting to St. Elmo from my studio I crossed railroad tracks about a half dozen times.

    The most treacherous ones were always the one on the street that runs parallel to South Broad. These were wicked, wicked and I have been severely jarred and almost thrown many times over those tracks.

But look! They have been fixed and all set for smooth sailing. Ahh! It takes a cyclist to fully appreciate what wonders that smooth asphalt can render.

Stone Cup Visit

Yesterday morning Q and I had breakfast at Stone Cup. Q goes out for breakfast as his regular thing but during the week I rarely do so. I like the coziness of my own home for my morning oatmeal. but circumstances led me to go out with Q on this morning.




Stone Cup was doing a bustling business. It was closes for a while and it is good that business seems to have bounced back. Maybe even better then before. Chattanooga has had,in recent history, great coffee shops with several that do their own roastering (I read once that Chattanooga has more roasters per capita then Seattle. Who knew?) But at one time there seemed to be a trend for these coffee shops to develop ownership/management problems. It was like a virus that fell over our most favorite coffee shops. It was getting hard to go and find a spot to enjoy a good cup of coffee.



But it seems Stone Cup is back. and is better then ever. The new owner has brought in fresh ideas. He has brought more of a reading room atmosphere to the place with lamps were positioned next to the couches and chairs-I never understood why many coffee shops are kept so dark that reading at night is very difficult. Pictures of banned authors have been placed on the wall plus the banned books are for sell.



But of course, a coffee house is about the coffee. The coffee is still being roasted by Jennifer Stone and her gang so that is the same as always. But Q, as much as he loves coffee, judges his morning coffee house visits by the oatmeal being served. While Stone Cup was going through its woes, their oatmeal got very inconsistent. Q, patience finally running out, quit going. There is nothing that can set a negative outlook to life then stiff, lumpy oatmeal.



I am pleased to say Stone Cup has gotten its game back and has been producing consistently good oatmeal. Q believes you can judge the state of the management by the oatmeal and I agree with him. As these coffee shops started going through their woes, the first sign was a decline in oatmeal quality. Don't know why, but that is what we have found in our experience.



Of course, Stone Cup's location provides unique amenities. The view out the garage doors is the one of the best views of the bridge. The doors are raised on nice days to open out to the patio.

And the bike parking is covered! The breeze way next to the shop serves as the ideal bike parking place. On rainy days, I feel bad if I am in the cozy dry while my bike is left out in the rain. And then there is the coming back to a rain logged seat. Invariably I left something in my panniers uncovered. So covered bike parking is the best.



As to be expected for a coffee shop on Frazier Ave, there are plenty of bike riding patrons. The only business that I can think of in town that regularly have more bikes parked outside their door is Greenlife. So Stone Cup is definitely part of the laid back biking lifestyle.

It is so good to have Stone Cup back!