Coffee weather at last! Changes abound.

The first hint of Fall graced our fine city this evening. A swift sprinkling of rain rolled over The Hub as the sun fell closer and closer toward the horizon. Ahhhh. Sighs of relief and comfort; it was a wonderful change from the relentless Nevada heat, if you ask me. A calming cool fell over the coffee shop on this particularly slow Saturday evening, renewing my spirits and motivating me to take the lull in business as an opportunity to fine-tune the many things in the shop that require an occasional fine-tuning. I couldn't have asked for a more peaceful evening.

With perfect coffee weather just around the corner, we have equally exciting changes constantly taking place in the shop. As many of you may know, the list of goodies being offered at The Hub are growing: new seasonal scones from Dish Café; tasty croissants, muffins, and maple-bacon scones from Walden's Coffeehouse; not to mention the many amazing teas we now have from The Tao of Tea.


On the espresso front, there has been a slight change in the house blend, The Boss, that you all know and love. Rest assured, it is still the same tasty, quality-roasted blend of coffees from Barefoot Coffee Roasters, but the seasonality of coffee calls for slight changes in blends offered by any roaster as they run out of certain harvests throughout the year. New harvest East African coffees have finally made their way into Barefoot hands. And just in time for the new harvest Ethiopian Sidamo Amaro Gayo (which we have been serving up both as french press and single-origin espresso!) to replace the waning harvest of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Dominion that was previously being used in The Boss. Same complex, sweet, tantalizing espresso, with a slight tweak of flavor specifics. Ask us about it, and we'll talk you through the tasting experience upon your next visit!

We've also been playing around with our top-of-the-line La Marzocco GB-5 espresso machine's temperature stability capabilities. A mouth full, I know. Generally, espresso ''should'' be pulled using water at a temperature between 198-202 degrees Fahrenheit. However, as is quite typical of us third-wave coffee pioneers, we're not afraid to break custom, playing around with temperatures as high as 204/205 degrees Fahrenheit when pulling our espressos.

There are various reasons for playing around with brew temperature. One example: certain characteristics of the espresso, notably brightness/sweetness and body/texture, tend to change inversely with temperature differences. A higher temperature, in general, yields a brighter/sweeter, perhaps more complex, espresso. A lower temperature, in general, yields a rich, syrupy body/texture, but a more mellow, perhaps smoother, flavor. To all of our avid espresso drinkers, see if you notice a difference, see if you can pinpoint that difference, the next time you order an espresso from The Hub. And speak up! Baristas are there to talk to you about what you're drinking!

We're super excited to keep improving, constantly stepping up our game, for all the coffee drinkers of Reno. See you at The Hub!

Butter Capps and Baple Macon Scones

Updates two days in a row! (I think this is a new record for me.) Quite necessary though, and here is why...

Yesterday divulged a little secret about our goodies at The Hub. Walden's Coffeehouse is taking good care of the people of Reno, providing freshly-baked pastries from scratch both at The Hub and at Walden's. We raised the bar one notch higher today with some baple macon scones! (Maple bacon, actually... but that's not as fun to say.) And yes, it sounds crazy. Because it is. It is crazy good! I hope everyone has a chance to come in and try a baple macon scone over the coming weeks. By that, I mean I hope everyone has the desire to wake up a little earlier than usual so they can beat everyone else with similar intentions to The Hub to try a baple macon scone!

And it was a beautiful day in espresso land today. The Ethiopian Sidamo Amaro Gayo single-origin espresso (what a mouthful...) was finally gaining the recognition it deserves. Left and right, we were brewing single-origin espresso straight up, for cappuccinos, for lattés, and, best of all... drumroll please... for some tasty Butter Capps! Like butter cup, but it's a cappuccino! Get it?! HA! Anyhow, it really is quite the tasty little cappuccino.

"What is in a Butter Capp?" one might say. Well, let me break it down for you: single-origin Amaro Gayo espresso, shining through all silky and sweet with flavors of orange marmelade, blueberry, and spice; add a pinch of maple pumpkin butter, a beautiful partner for the spice and marmelade of the espresso; and top it off with a cappuccino's worth of delicately-textured organic whole milk. Hubadub. The final product is an extremely well-balanced, smooth, sweet, and creamy cappuccino that tastes like something between pumpkin pie filling and creme brulee, with a hint of sweet blueberry coming through in the finish. Delightful.

If you're not as enthusiastic about it all as I am right now, well... go back and read it all over again because I think you missed something!

Teas and Goodies

Fancy shmancy at The Hub!

Moving right along. Had a wonderful day at The Hub! Fresh new goodies and a fancy new tea selection have made their presence known. Our sister coffeehouse, Walden's Coffeehouse, located at Mayberry and McCarran in Reno, has stepped their game up a notch (stay tuned for more on the Walden's front). Being the good sibling coffee shop that we are, The Hub gets a little kick-down of home-made goodies to tempt our wonderful customers: fresh from scratch, home-made croissants, warm and flaky goodness; not to mention sweet and crunchy yogurt parfaits, made with a Walden's house blend granola.

And teas! We gave in to the many requests from all those beloved fans that may not be as coffee crazy as we are and started brewing up some fancy teas! Fancy teas at two dollars a cup. Or a cute little tea pot's worth for three dollars. Now, we've always had teas to offer our customers, but we've gone soft and we've now made it an obvious choice. Look for the teas beneath our beautifully hand-crafted pastry case just as you step into the garage!