This is our life, This is your coffee shop

M. Phillips: Digging my car out of 3 feet of snow at 4:30 AM so I can have the shop open on time.

T. Chmielecki: 6 AM... Having Joel's medium coffee with splenda with 1" of room for cream ready before he even opens his car door.

S. Wilson-Jones: Double checking each filter of ground coffee to make sure the brew is perfect.

All: Driving 12 hours round trip to see Latte Art in Chicago.

S. Wilson-Jones: Shaking hands with 3rd generation Kenyan coffee farmer Njenga Kabaki.

M. Phillips: Pretending that this is Tom Slick's first performance of his song and dance.

All: Sweeping cigarette butts off the patio.

M. Phillips: Being genuinely sad when we run out of your favorite chocolate donut right before you arrive.

All: Exasperation! Rosetta lattes are much more difficult to pour than the video makes it look.

T. Chmielecki: Sore hands from stretching new red naugahyde around old tired cafe chairs that really needed the new look.

Phillips & Chmielecki: Seeing Jeff Ratka run across Lee Road in a purple cape to earn his place on the Phoenix Team.

M. Phillips: Hearing about the new play Park is writing and imagining the possibilities.

T. Chmielecki: Listening to Jim place his order for a small latte and naked cinnamon raisin bagel even though its unnecessary... I've been preparing this same order for him for years. But he likes to say it out loud nonetheless. I think it's the naked part that makes the order fun to say.

All: Triumph. Understanding the difference between acidity and body.

M. Phillips: Sadness. Ethel's cat died. And Ethel is sad. So we are sad.

T. Chmielecki: Listening to F. as he teaches us all about his new Emergency Medical Technician training.

S. Wilson-Jones: Trying a new method of espresso shot dosing in order to make a better shot.

T. Chmielecki: Bringing Clay's grilled sandwich over to him at the Colony since he has a line of customers and is too busy to come get it.

M. Phillips: Explaining to you that espresso blend coffee beans also make great regular coffee.

S. Wilson-Jones and D. Skitski: Solving the mystery of the shrinking crema. Why? Because great, long lasting crema, is an essential ingredient to sealing in aroma and flavor in the perfect shot of espresso.

S. Wilson-Jones: Our warehouse full of rough burlap bags full of smooth green coffee beans, waiting to be roasted and ground and brewed and poured into your cup.