Don Senneville and Jim White
We are still recovering from Rodeo Days and Bike Week. Wow, Coffee Row took on a new look for a while! We are not sure about coffee consumption.
However, consumption in general was way up. Navigating the 4-way stop became extra challenging. If there are 8 bikes together, do they all get to go, or just one at a time, or…? Most were Hell’s Angels, so we acquiesced. The Rodeo was also a fun challenge. After navigating our way out there, we located the Stockman’s Club. A perfect perch to view the bucking broncos and eat good food with friends. We tried to enter that rather exclusive establishment using our Press Passes, but were denied. We even dropped Tom’s and Melissa’s names, but the Hell’s Angels were security. Anyway, we didn’t have the wardrobe for Bike Week or the Rodeo, so we retreated back to Carefree. We love our towns.
Later, sitting on the enchanting Grotto patio, we got into a discussion about where the coffee we drink comes from, i.e., from what countries do we get our coffee. Information from the website Statistica (summarized by AI, so who knows?) is interesting. Most of our coffee comes from Brazil and Columbia, with Brazil slightly in the lead over Columbia. In third place is Switzerland. Switzerland? For a minute we imagined jungles with fields of green coffee beans ready to be harvested and shipped over. But no. What coffee people in Switzerland do to get us our coffee starts with a supply chain involving producers (from Vietnam, Honduras, and maybe even Brazil); then there are processors, and specialized importers. The US importer clears the coffee and the sale is final. And there it is: Nespresso pods in your Swiss-designed machine in Cleveland. The EU and S. Korea also import a serious amount of coffee from Switzerland. Something about Swiss MIss? The price of coffee is going up, too, regardless of where it comes from. The price of Roc2’s coffee door coffee just jumped 50%! Weather changes might be the cause of the problem. Coffee crops aren’t producing as much as they were. Remember a cup of coffee used to cost a dime! Don is looking into growing coffee beans in the desert.
Enough of the global economic issues of the day. Just look out the door and revel in the beauty of our rapidly turning yellow desert. What a great March and new April. Yes, Spring has sprung us into a good time for the coffee shops’ business and a great time for us to enjoy being together with our families and friends. The Creperie has bridged the generation gap by serving the grandkids delicious crepes with artistically designed toppings that put a smile and whipped cream on their faces. What’s better than sipping a perfect cappuccino while watching your grandkids devour their artwork? Thank you Marina, you truly are the Queen of Crepes.
Our coffee buddy, Ron, has left us with another image that kind of sums up the springing of our Spring. Enjoy…
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