A caffinated give away
Monday, January 11, 2010 at 1:30AM I have to admit Twitter has changed the way I use the internet. I follow people I find interesting. The most interesting bunch (as far as I'm concerned) are Twin Cities based. Businesses, bloggers, writers, photographers, cooks, chefs, eaters.... It's really a pretty cool group of people. And if someone ends up not being so cool? Well, you can stop following them, or you can hope that they fall off the twitter train along with the other 95% of registered twitter users.
One of the twitter users I started following months ago is @pubcoffeehouse. They were present at the Northeast Farmers Market in Minneapolis all summer and are working on opening a unique coffee house on 33rd and Johnson in NE soon, not to mention they gave me advice on where to drink great coffee in NYC. Public Coffee House is being opened by a couple of baristas that want to focus on high quality beans and brewing methods. Shawn was kind enough to roast up some beans just for one of you. He chose a Costa Rican Helsar De Zarcero and it was roasted on December 22... That's a pretty recently compared to that the stuff you buy at the super market. Shawn is to coffee as I am to food; a passionate and knowledgeable uber nerd. The Helsar De Zarcero beans, he informs me, sell for a premium price because of the quality of the coffee cherry. It is 100% composed of a coffee varietal called Typica Villalobos and and was sealed in GrainPro in Costa Rica to preserve its freshness. Shawn also included an awesome one cup Hario dripper which a popular brand amongst coffee pros because of their focus on personal brew methods. I like the sound of that!
See what social networking can do for a person?
Okay, so in the spirit of warming your undercaffinated little hearts this morning, I'll be handing over these amazing coffee beans and personalized coffee maker to one lucky winner. Since one of my GOALS for the year (resolutions be damned) is to avoid corporate coffee chains, to enter you must comment below telling me your favorite locally owned coffee shop where ever it is that you live. Leave your email address in the space provided (I promise I won't send you unsolicited advice) and good luck! Comments will close on Friday, January 15 at 12pm CST and a winner will be chosen at random by Random Number Generator. If you blog, tweet or facebook about this give away you MUST repost a link to your shout out on this blog to enter a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time. If you do all four, four separate comments.
Reader Comments (30)
Ooh, that looks amazing! My favorite coffee shop in Madison is Bradbury's. They use whole milk from Sassy Cow Creamery in their drinks, which is amazing. Plus I love their lemon curd for their fresh-made crepes.
I love, love, love The Beat coffeehouse on 28th. As close to French coffee as I've come across. And super close to home.
i love nina's. it's sort of a hike from sw mpls, but i just love going there to people watch
I love White Rock, in St. Paul on Cleveland. Their coffee is always so smooth and well brewed.
My favorite is in Eau Claire...the Acoustic Cafe.
it's hard to narrow it down to just one local coffee shop.
Audobon is great when I just want to wander down the street or if I stop at Sarah Jane's across the street.
When I am meeting up with friends however, Wilde Roast always seems to be the winner.
not in my backyard, but when my wife and i visit Duluth, we always make a point of hitting Amazing Grace Bakery in Canal Park - good coffee and snacks, and a great place to relax after stuffing my face at Grandma's.
Although it's not in my backyard anymore, I love The Daily Grind in southern MN.
In my hometown, of Davenport, Iowa, I love Redband Coffee Co., even though there isn't any seating, so it isn't exactly a coffee-house.
And the best cup of coffee I've had in town lately was at the new Rustica / Bull Run Roasting combination.
We have a great shop in Framingham, MA - Panache Coffee! Locally owned, great atmosphere, and delicious coffee.
kopplin's! best coffee in town. looking forward to having a great new place in the neighborhood!
My favorite coffee shop is hard to pin down; but my favorite coffee DRINK? The Americano prepared by the morning guy (i sadly do not know his name) at One on One Bike shop + Cafe on Washington ave in Minneapolis. SO solid. Also, living within blocks of PubCoffeeHouse, I am eagerly awaiting their opening. When's it going down? ?
I love Kopplin's Coffee, even if it is a bit of a jaunt from where I live in the NW suburbs.
I pretty much never go to coffee shops, but I routinely get coffee while at the Mill City Farmers market from Cafe Palmira, really good coffee.
i have several favorite coffee shops in seattle where i go to school, but i'm living at home in the twin cities (NE suburb) right now and the best i can get is dunn bros. a chain, but locally owned nonetheless. great blog! thanks for the giveaway.
I like Urban Bean at 33rd and Bryant in Minneapolis, just a few blocks from my house.
White Rock in Highland Park, but Bull Run Roasting Co is quickly becoming a favorite.
Bull Run at the new Rustica! They have 4 different ways to make a cup...a crazy machine called the Clover, siphon, French press, or pour over. Pour over is a sentimental fave since it's like Blue Bottle in SF.
Bean Factory in St. Paul--nice selection of beans, too.
I like the Istria Cafe in Chicago.
Mountain Mudd's good and I like that they have granitas!
Ginko in the Midway. Lovely people, strong coffee, creaky floor. Perfect.
If I have to name a local coffee shop, it would have to be Valley Girl here in Apple Valley.
Typica Villalobos!?!?!?! I just got her latest English-language album from iTunes!
Favorite coffee shop? Wilde Roast, in NE. Not only is the coffee good, the atmosphere is excellent, the food is tasty, and the namesake wrote a really interesting novel called "The Picture of Dorian Gray," which I thoroughly enjoyed this summer.
Kopplin's Coffee. Bar none. I love to get my coffee geek on there. They get it. Can't wait to try Public Coffee House though!