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Meet The Staff |
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Austin Kiser
Austin started with us in December of 2007. He started as late night cleaner, helping to get the place ready each night for the next day's opening. Before long he was hanging out in his free time, learning the drinks and food preparation. Soon, he was working the long shifts.
Always ready with a smile and great energy, Austin has earned the respect of his fellows and appreciation from his customers.
In addition to finding him behind the bar, on Wednesdays you will often find him in front of the house during our Open Mic nights playing his guitar. He is a favorite of the crowd with his distinctive bluesy jazz style.
He took up the guitar ten years ago under the guidance of his older brother Aaron. (Aaron is also a Barista of Coffee Oasis.) Now he rarely very far away from his instrument. You many even catch him practicing during breaks at work.
Unfortunately, we are most likely going to lose Austin sometime this summer as he prepares to go off to college. He has not yet picked which school he will attend next fall but he does expect to continue playing music and studying graphic design.
So, before he gets away, come in and say, "Hi!" to Austin. You can always strike up a conversation about music.
By the way, he recommends our new lemonade and strawberry smoothie. He says it is his new favorite.
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| Meet a Regular |
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Aba Wielhorski
When you come into the shop, make a point of looking to your right. There, in the Arena, you will have a chance to watch a work of art in progress. That work is the creation of one of the longest term and most regular of our extraordinary customers, Aba Wielhorski.
Aba is a renowned artist who has exhibited in Warsaw, Guinea, and Paris on the world stage and in New York, Illinois, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas in the United States. We are more than proud that he has offered to share his talent with our little coffeehouse.
He was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1934. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Lodz and took his Master of Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. After graduation, in 1964, he traveled to Italy and France and in 1967 he emigrated to the United States.
In addition to practicing his art he has spent much of his life sharing his gift by teaching. Most recently he was on the faculty of Texas A&M in College Station.
Aba is a witty person with a old world charm and a playful sense of humor. He is as much fun to talk to because of his distinctive point of view as his generosity in sharing it. He has often shared his particular sensibilities and artistic vision with customers and staff alike when they are clever enough to take advantage of the opportunity.
His favorite drink is a double espresso. Come by and order your favorite and watch him work on this latest addition to your favorite coffeehouse.
Even better, join him and chat for a while. You will enjoy it and so will he.
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Coffee of the Month May |
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Jamaica Me Crazy
When it's time to take a break and relax or when you'd like to kick off your flip flops and head down the beach... Brew up a delicious pot of coffee where Kahlua, caramel and vanilla wind over this Mexican Altura coffee perfectly accented by an American roast to create this island blend.
Regularly:
$10.50 per pound
$5.45 per half pound
May Price: $9.75 per lb
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| Cooking with Coffee |
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Also known as Cafe Diable this is essentially a sort of mulled coffee
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1/2 cup brandy
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2 tablespoons of sugar, more or less to taste
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5 whole cloves
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4 six-inch strips of orange peel
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4 three-inch strips of lemon peel
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2 two-inch pieces of cinnamon sticks
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2 one-inch pieces of vanilla bean
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4 cups strong hot black coffee
Combine all the ingredients except for the coffee in a chafing dish or sauce pan. Warm gently and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Light the brandy and let it burn for about 30 seconds. (This not only makes for a spectacular drink but is a wonderful opportunity for showmanship.)
Ladle the resulting liquid. into 4 cups already 3/4 filled with the hot coffee. Garnish with a cinnamon stick draped with a strip of orange peel.
This makes four servings or just enough to share with three of your best friends.
Enjoy!! |
| Admission of Errors |
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No matter how many times we go over this, there are always a few errors we miss. Sometimes there are more than a few. Typos, missing words, and misspellings seem crop up like toadstools after a spring shower.
Sometimes we know a paragraph was perfect and a new error seems to generate spontaneously when we aren't looking. (I blame sun spots, global warming and the vast right wing conspiracy.)
In any case, our mistakes are your opportunities.
The first person to identify each unique error will get a free tall brewed coffee. Only one per customers (There are only so many errors and we have to give everyone a chance to win.)
Happy Hunting!!
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Greetings!
Wow! Time flies when you are having fun and a lot has happened since our last newsletter.
We have redone it from top to bottom and there are some great new features:
- A new Home Page with a picture of the shop in all its very active glory.
- A map -- Now I know all of you know how to get here ... but what about your friends? ... Are you sure??
- A menu which also makes it easy for you to email your order so we can have it ready for you when you arrive. Just perfect for those short lunch breaks.
- A listing of our specials of the day. This includes our daily brew list and our lunch specials. That way you won't miss your favorite treat.
- A description of all of our wonderful coffees.
- An Event Calendar. All the exciting activities are listed here so you won't miss a thing. The music, the readings, the public meetings, etc.
- A Meeting Room Calendar for the Enterprise Room. Check this when you are planning your group's next meeting to see when space is available.
- A link to Rusty's corner and past issues of this newsletter.
- A page introducing our staff members.
In addition, there is a Coffee Oasis Poll which we will change frequently and allow you to express your opinions. This month you can vote for your favorite Barista and the winner will get a prize.
Finally, there is option to join our mailing list. Now, if you received this you are already on our list but you may still want to use this option to join our Birthday Club.
Birthday Club members get a special greeting in the month of their birthday and a free treat (your choice of a drink, a pastry, or a dessert) on your special day. There is no fear that joining will duplicate your mail as the system only allows each email address to be used once for a mailing.
You can also use the "Join Our Mailing List" button to add your friends to our growing list of contacts who enjoy this newsletter.
Cafe au Vin
We have also added a new option at the Oasis. Our adult friends and Oasis family members are invited to bring along a bottle of wine to enjoy while they are here for a small corking fee. To go along with this, we have developed a new menu of nosh, light snacks, intended to complement your wine choice and add just the right touch to a perfect evening.
With this issue we are going to restore a tradition from the first newsletter. Every customer who comes in during the week of May 16th and mentions the topic of the last article will receive a free tall coffee. (Sorry, only one free coffee per customer.)
Thanks for being part of the Coffee Oasis family. See you at the Oasis.
Rusty |
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Literature for a Family
On the first Monday of each month we host the Coffee Oasis Reading Series. Normally this is event best enjoyed by adults with a featured poet or author followed by an Open Mic.
However, on June 1 we will have a special event, a multigenerational literary delight. We will have two featured readers: Lois Lay Castiglioni, a Sol Magazine Poet Laureate and her granddaughter, Kathryn Brook O'Pella, a third grader at The Branch School and a three year PBS Rainbow Reading Contest finalist.
The reading will start at 7:00 PM and we encourage you to come and bring your children and grand children. As usual, the featured readings will be followed by and open mic and both you and the young ones are invited to listen and, if you wish, share. If all goes well we will be enriched my the sound of many voices of many ages.
Saturday Night Special
This Saturday, May 16, Cody Garrett, the pianists for the Alpha 5 Trio will treat us to a solo performance. Cody is a remarkably talented jazz and classical musician and simply fun to watch. Don't miss this special evening evening at 7:00 PM.
Bring a bottle of wine and enjoy some snacks from our new nosh menu, settle in and have a delightful night
Hope to see you there.
To see what else is going on at the Oasis, check out our calendar or look over the weekly events listings on the table tops |
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Brewing it Up |
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The Napier Vacuum Technique
In 1840 a Scottish engineer, Robert Napier, invented a new way to brew coffee using glass equipment and a very clever application of a vacuum process.
 This method is highly prized for the fine tasting coffee it produces but largely unused because the equipment can be ungainly and fragile.
Again, we recommend that you use plenty of coffee, at least 2 level tablespoons per 5-6 oz cup. The coffee should be ground to a medium to course grind depending on the mesh of the screen between the two chambers in the device.
The coffee is placed in the upper glass chamber. Cold water is placed in the lower chamber which is sealed and connected to the upper chamber through a glass tube.
As the water is heated to a boil, the steam pressure forces the liquid through the tube to the upper chamber where it steeped with the coffee. After a few minutes, the heat is removed, a vacuum is formed in the lower chamber as the steam condenses and the coffee is drawn through the a screen into the lower chamber which detaches for pouring.
As I said, this device is rarely used these days but it has certain advantages. For one, the process automatically insures that the water will be hot but never too hot. For another, the coffee has very little to no contact with metal. The principle disadvantages are the the equipment can be somewhat complicated to use and easily broken.
The example shown above uses an alcohol lamp as its heat source. There are also electric and stove top designs available on the market.
If you see one you might just want to try it out. Since it is usually a table top brewing method, there is a certain theatric quality as the water moves from chamber to chamber right before your eyes. It is great way to start an after dinner conversation.
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In the Beginning ... |
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Coffeehouse Newspapers
Sometime between 1652 and 1654 the first coffee business in all of Christendom was opened by the Greek servant of a young English merchant who had acquired a taste for coffee during his travels in Smyrna. While Pasqua Rosee's establishment was the first coffeehouse in London, it was soon one of many as the beverage and the coffeehouse culture caught on faster anyone had imagined.
An Early Coffeehouse Newspaper
By 1663 there were seven coffeehouses listed in London and many more soon followed.
During most of the 17th century newspaper publishing was very heavily regulated. All printing offices in England were under the control of the Surveyor of the Imprimery. Roger L'Estrange held the position in the middle of the century and had the sole privilege of writing, printing and publishing newspapers, being involved in the "Intelligencer", "The News", the "City Mercury" and the "Observator". His monopoly was broken in 1665 with the creation of the "Oxford Gazette", renamed the "London Gazette" when it removed there after 23 issues in Oxford.
With the arrival of William of Orange in 1689 came a reduction of state control over the press. This new-found freedom gave the independent press a real impetus. At the same time, the coffeehouse as a meeting place for exchanging merchandise and ideas had come into its own.
Readers' interests widened. As newspapers provided stimulus for conversations, gossip and entertainment became accepted and then demanded. Politics and religion were no longer the only subjects of interest.
During this period, when journalism was in its infancy and the postal system was unorganized and irregular, the coffee-house provided a center of communication for news and information. The London coffeehouses provided a gathering place where any man who was reasonably dressed could smoke his long, clay pipe, sip his coffee, read the newsletters of the day, or enter into conversation with other patrons.
Since coffeehouses were often frequented by the leading business and political figures of the day, they served both as a source and market for the information in the newspapers. "Reporters" mixed with the patrons to gather news, printers printed that news along with other information. Runners returned with papers to the coffeehouses which functioned as reading rooms and the circle was complete.
It should also be recalled that literacy was far from universal in those times. Because of this fact, there grew a particularly symbiotic relationship between the newspaper publishers and the coffeehouse proprietors. The quality of the news available in a particular coffeehouse was often a key to its competitive position. To facilitate the communication, the proprietors would often have the newspapers read aloud as soon as they arrived each day for the benefit of their patrons. In this way, the newspapers added value to the coffeehouse while at the same time the coffeehouses expanded the reach and readership of the paper for the benefit of both the publishers and their advertisers.
In addition to these early newspapers, bulletins announcing sales, sailings, and auctions covered the walls of the establishments, providing valuable information to the businessman who conducted much of his business from a table at his favorite coffee house. When you consider the volume of reading material, bulletin board postings, and Internet access made available in the modern coffeehouse today, it is clear that in this respect, the more things change the more they have remained the same.
We have remained true to our roots.
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Rusty's Corner |
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The Violinist in the Metro Station
(With thanks to my sister for sharing this story with me.)
A man sat at a metro station in Washington, DC, and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3-year-old boy. His mother tugged him along as she hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best reputed musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston, and the seats averaged $100 each.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The questions were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible challenges from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the best music ever written and performed on an exceptional instrument, how many other things are we missing?
Our mothers used to remind us to take time to stop and smell the roses ... or to listen to the music all around us. Have we forgotten?
When I first heard this story, I thought of the Joni Mitchell song, "Real Good for Free" about a street musician largely ignored as people passed him by and the contrast with her own fame and good fortune. But I also thought about the music program a your favorite coffeehouse.
We have been blessed with a plethora of outstanding musicians. Whitnee Ramos, one of our newest Baristias and our Music Booking Manager, has done an outstanding job of lining up some fine performers for your enjoyment.
She has booked talents like the Alpha 5 Trio, three young local jazz performers of remarkable range and skill. This Friday we will be treated to a performance by Chris Gould, a second generation artist and the son of the renowned Professor Blues. This fall Donna Frost will be returning form Nashville and treat us to her special talent honed by thirty-five years of performing all across the nation. Every week there are wonderful performances.
Whitnee is also hosting the Open Mic program on Wednesday evenings. This is our forum for emerging talent from around the Bay Area. You will be surprised by what you'll find here.
Thursdays are Celtic night at the Oasis. We are graced with a group of world class musicians who form a traditional Celtic song circle, singing and playing for the shear joy of the music and their friendship.
All of these performers come to the Oasis and play real good for free in a smoke free venue with comfy chairs.
To make it even more attractive, we have begun to allow you to bring in your favorite bottle of wine for a small corking charge. We have also add a menu of Nosh, light snacks selected to complement that wine and add just right touch to a delightful evening.
Come by for coffee, dessert, and some of finest entertainment you will find anywhere. Don't let the fact that you don't need to purchase tickets cause you to pass up this opportunity.
Keep checking our Events Calendar and see what you don't want to miss. Skip the re-runs and spend your evening at your Oasis.
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We hope you enjoy this newsletter almost as much as you enjoy your favorite treat at Coffee Oasis. Let us know what you think. Feel encouraged to tell us of any topics or features you would like to see in future issues.
See you soon at the Oasis.
Sincerely,
Rusty Cates
Coffee Oasis | |
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Coffee House News
