Wunderbar Coffee House

Mocha Skinny Macchiato Iced Banana Mama?

Broose the Moose — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:17:09 +0000

If you’re new to specialty coffee, you know coffee speak sounds like a completely different language, and with so many coffee shops out there calling things differently, it makes it even worse. So, we would like to help clarify what means what so that you feel more comfortable when ordering your drink!

Let’s start with this graphic we found that pretty much sums it up

OK it kind of sums it up, but we will explain things in more detail below anyway.

Let’s start at the beginning

The classic specialty drinks usually take one or two shots of espresso, steamed milk, chocolate or caramel and flavored syrup.

What’s an espresso? An espresso (italian for express or quick, short) is strong black coffee made by forcing steam through ground coffee beans using an espresso machine. This is what all specialty coffee’s are made with, it’s the essence of every drink and difficult to get right. Most Baristas train very hard to “pull” the perfect shot as many variables come into play, mainly the quality and darkness of the bean, it’s grind coarseness, how compact it is within the portafilter, how much pressure is going through it, water temperature, etc. An espresso shot is 1oz and has about 75mg of caffeine, it takes about 300mg to give you the jitters.

Steamed milk is milk that has air injected in it via the steam wand on the espresso machine, when raised to a certain temperature, the sugars are released making it sweeter. The more air introduced into the milk, the more foam, which can be used in cappuccinos and to make latte art. We offer whole, skim and soy milk.

Chocolate, well, we all know what that is! We use Ghirardelli’s powedered but syrups or chocolate bars can also be used.

Syrups come in many many many flavors, we use Monin syrups which taste amazing and come as close as you can get to an all natural syrup. We also have sugar-free.

The classics

Espresso (1oz per shot)
Straight shot from the machine, nothing added. A double shot is also called a doppio. We recommend not going over three shots, four if you are a large person, as the caffeine levels will be really high in your body . Add sugar to the bottom before the extraction and it’s called a “Cubano”; or add whipped cream to the top and it’s called “Con Panna”.
Cappuccino (8 to 16oz)
One part espresso with equal parts foam and milk. We sprinkle powdered chocolate on top.
Latte (8 to 16oz)
One part espresso and three parts steamed milk, topped with foam. No foam makes it a “Flat White”. You can also get a Caramel Latte which is delicious, we recommend it to anyone that is new to specialty coffee’s, it has caramel syrup in it and thick caramel topping, whipped crem optional.
Mocha (8 to 16oz)
One part chocolate, one part espresso, one part steamed milk, one part whipped cream. We also sprinkle powdered chocolate on top.
Macchiato (1 to 16oz)
Macchiato is a really cool sounding name and it means “marked” in italian, so many drinks can be called a Macchiato. A latte macchiato will be steamed milk marked with a shot of espresso, an espresso macchiato is an espresso shot with a dollop of foam on top. If you’ve been to Starbucks, you’ve seen the Caramel Macchiato, which we assume is a latte macchiato with a pump of caramel syrup

And you can get any of these iced and/or decaf and/or with skim or soy milk!

The possibilities are endless

There are many ways to make coffee, and many many different ingredients. You can have any specialty coffee iced for example, what about blended? What if we add some lemon? and Pumpkin Spice flavor? Yummm!

With so many variables at play, there are millions of combinations, here are a couple of drinks we’ve come up with that ended up in our menu and some drinks our customers brought to our attention or drinks we found in recipe books.

The Wunderbar Mocha (16oz)
Espresso, Hazelnut, Cinnamon, Steamed Milk, Whipped Cream and Caramel syrup.
The Wunderbar Macchiato (12oz)
Amaretto, Steamed Milk, Espresso, Whipped Cream, Maraschino Cherry
The Wunderbar Viennese (8oz)
Espresso, Whipped Cream, Honey, Semi Sweet Chocolate
The Mocha Shake (8oz)
Vanilla Ice Cream, Espresso, Whipped Cream, Chocolate Syrup
The Submarine (12oz)
Steamed milk, semi-sweet chocolate bar.

Come up with your own and name it! We’re always up for a challenge

Size does matter

We believe that bigger is not always better, especially when it comes to coffee, caffeine is not like alcochol and is not to be messed with, it can really create problems if consumed in large amounts (in that respect it is just like alcohol) so we max our drink sizes at 16oz because a 16oz cup of regular coffee has 300+ milligrams of caffeine, the limit after which you get hit with the jitters. We could just add more milk, but then flavors get diluted and we prefer to give you more flavor in less quantity.

Why is mine so small? Your first cup of espresso will do that to you. Many times we’ve had customers come in and request an espresso, just to find that it’s a teeny little cup full of bittersweetness, both in the cup, and in their hearts. Some men feel exposed and tricked from their usual me-big-coffee-urgh but those that like full flavors will find that a good shot of espresso compared to a regular cup of coffee is similar to comparing a nice strong beer like a double hop IPA to a puny light beer, there are many subtleties and universes colliding into this one little ounce of coffee.

Despair not, espresso is not for the weak and will grow hair in the chest of many a manly moose.

What about the calories? And the caffeine?

Well, these drinks tend to have a lot of calories, but you can reduce the amount of calories by asking for skim milk and sugar free syrup, skip the whipped cream and the chocolate. To reduce the caffeine intake you can ask that your drink be prepared with decaf. Or just have something decaf like an herbal tea, hot apple cider or hot chocolate.

Fear not my dear

It’s OK if you don’t know your drinks when you enter a coffee shop, no one will judge you, at least not at Wunderbar, we are learning too and want to share our knowledge with you, so come in a try something new, come up with your own, we’re there with you for the ride. Don’t forget, it’s just coffee, what’s important is that you’re trying something new and every new thing you try opens a whole new world of possibilities.

A lot can happen in six months

Broose the Moose — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 12:46:50 +0000

So far so good folks! We have now passed our 6 month marker, and it’s all thanks to you. You make it happen and we are humbled by your support, you should give yourself a big ol’ bear hug, we would give you one if it wasn’t so dang awkward… and if we could somehow pop out of the screen. Wouldn’t that be scary?! Boo!

You’ve proven the saying “it takes two to tango”, with you doing the drinkin’ and us doin’ the preparin’ we both now belong to the happy people club, please see the following detailed chart on how “happy people” come to be:

Eyes + Smiles = Happy People, and that’s a good thing!

In the past six months, we’ve added some things and taken some out and feel like it’s all good and headed in the right direction. Recently we conquered a pretty big hurdle, Ice Cream! Yay! It sure took us a while to find a freezer that was up to par but we finally got one and now it actually even has some ice cream in it! Now that we have it we’ll start adding ice cream based beverages to the menu. A while back we also started serving smoothies and iced coffees and rest assured there are many other things coming, we’re working on bringing in some merch like T-Shirts, Mugs and other goodies for the shopper maniacs. Also in the horizon is bulk coffee and eventually the golden dream, our everest, our goal IN LIFE (ok getting carried away now) which are sandwiches and wraps, we literally dream about it daily and can’t wait to make it happen, then we’ll just have to close because we’ll be eating all of our profits.

But it’s not all been good around here… wait a minute… actually it has been, we can’t think of one bad thing, ahem, not one! Ok, so themed nights didn’t work as well as we expected, but that’s just because we were too busy to promote it, don’t worry, they’ll be back! Ok and that soda fridge, but we all agreed that it was too big, bulky and corporatey (?) and it had to go, we still have sodas in the fridge tho.

We even had a couple of catering adventures, both in The Center and out, the big one was the MS bike ride where we had coffee available for more than 1500 riders, naturally not every one of them drank some but still, it was pretty scary! It turned out great, and we hope to do it again next year.

Time travelers Chad and Cori visit the shop before they change into more modern clothes.

People are what make Wunderbar so… well, wunderbar! We’ve had some amazing people stop by the shop, like the Type Rider who was riding her bike for 40 days (because she turned 40) from Amherst, Massachusetts to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (where the typewriter was invented) while pulling a cart carrying her light-blue 60′s Remington typewriter with which she’s writing a book about the trip… honest! And Elmer, our cococho coffee farmer who was excited to see his beans reach the public after it’s long trip from seed to cup; and some friendly time travelers who dressed in period clothes just for fun. Lot’s of kids come and play with the typewriters and watch the train (oh did we mention we finished laying the train tracks?) go all the way around. Several musicians have played from Gaelic music to Blues and have come from as far as Ireland and some even come every month like “Los Amigos” who are here every last Tuesday and the great folks from the Spanish group that meets here monthly.

So much fun! At Wunderbar there’s always something going on and we hope that some of the things that you’ve experienced here will stay with you for a very long time. We will continue to add new things and improve the ones we have so you can have a great time, meet new people while enjoying an amazing cup of coffee or tea.

It’s all about the coffee

Broose the Moose — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:28:55 +0000

Mmm, the sweet aroma, the flavor, the flexibility, the elixir. Some say coffee is the combination of the worlds most popular drink: water, and the world’s most traded commodity, oil. It was arguably discovered around the 500s in Ethiopia by some dude named Kaldi who after seeing his goats eat the leaves and red berries of a strange plant and start dancing decided he was gonna give it a whirl, well, he was filled with a never ending jolt of energy and soon the word got around. The plant got kind of popular after that.

“A coffee tree can continue blooming for 50 years but the best crops come between five and fifteen years”

Arabica Coffee Plant, ain't she pretty?

Since then, it’s been called many many things, java, black mamba, blackout, cuppa, joe, liquid lightning, coffee (ha that’s a ridiculous name), paint remover, hot shtuff, etc. but according to the all knowing Wikipedia “The first reference to ‘coffee’ in the English language is in the form chaoua and dates to 1598. In English and other European languages, coffee derives from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, via the Italian caffè.” But you can call it whatever you want!

There are two main species of the plant grown, the higher quality Arabica and the lower quality Robusta. Mr Robusta has more caffeine, is sort of bitter and has less flavor but is hardier and has more body, while pretty Ms. Arabica, well, let’s just say she takes the cake. The top producer in the world is by far Brazil and because it can only survive in certain climates, coffee is grown in what’s known as the “Bean Belt”, mainly between the Tropics. The US is the largest consumer, but there’s a rumor that China is catching up.

Andy Warhol's "Martinson Coffee" sold at auction for $3,824,000

According to a Turkish proverb “Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love”. (the beginning was kind of scary but we love happy endings) – Fortunately, this wonderful drink can be prepared in many different ways and customized to the drinkers preference. It can be prepared hot, cold, with a lot of milk, a little, concentrated, diluted, cold, sweetened, mixed with syrups, pretty much any way you can think of.

As far as health effects go it doesn’t cure cancer, but it does have high antioxidants and MODERATE CONSUMPTION improves attention (we’ve yet to see this), memory performance, decreases risk of heart disease and increases physical performance and muscular recovery. There’s some bad stuff but hey who wants to hear that!

We could probably go on and on about coffee but now that we got you all excited with all this nifty information let us not keep you from coming in and grabbin a fantastic cup of coffee while taking some time to wind down and relax.

Three months

Broose the Moose — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:35:01 +0000

So, we recently hit the three month marker and just wanted to share some things that we’ve learned so far:

Evening coffee’s tend to take place after the sun has gone down.
There is less caffeine in a 12oz latte than a 12oz cup of regular coffee.
A drink prepared with skim milk is called a “Skinny”.
A smile and kindness can do a lot for someone who’s having a rough day, and that works both ways
Ants love syrup.
High fat content in milk makes it taste a lot better but harder to make foam with.
1000 cups seems like a lot, but before you know it. they’re gone!
Never underestimate Hot Chocolate.
Raspberry syrup will curdle milk unless you add vanilla syrup.

One step at a time

Broose the Moose — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:16:30 +0000

Wunderbar started as an idea, a miniscule thought that sparked when Beecher’s burned down (no pun intended) in Zelienople a couple years ago. We thought “Oh, they’ll rebuild for sure” as it seemed they were doing well, or at least it appeared that way; but after a couple of years nothing happened and many folks in town and visitors would say, “this town needs a nice little coffee shop”, so did we, and again we thought “Oh, someone will open soon for sure” and again, a long time went by and nothing… as the economy put fear into everyone’s mind all ideas were shelved, uncertainty moved in and hogged the couch, emptied the fridge and closed the curtains like a 30 year old living with his parents.

Not all was lost. The spark turned into a little flame and the flame into a fire and here we are, with open doors, serving coffee, figuring things out every day. The support of our community has been immense, even when we opened in the evenings, people still came out despite not wanting to have caffeine at night, that showed us the commitment, that there is a need, and our efforts aren’t for nothing and we are and will always be very thankful for that. In return, we deal with local businesses, from the hard working dairy to the diligent printer. We’re in this together and that just feels true.

So, what’s the plan, Stan? Well, basically work hard and continue building this up. Though the ideal situation is to have everything right off the bat, we chose to (and to a certain extent were forced to) start small, to take it one step at a time, growing with the business, letting the community participate in this growth, adding items as we go and as they are requested, trying to keep the overhead low and to be frugal, and so far things are moving well, with a lot of positive feedback.

We look forward to being open for many years to come, offering quality products, a unique experience and above all to give each and every one of our customers something more to take with them than just a good cup of coffee, be it knowing that they are supporting a local business owned by folks just like them or just having a place to call their own where they can meet with people with similar interests during our themed nights and learn from each other. We want our customers to walk out feeling like they are part of this, maybe with a surprising little historical fact, a quaint idea, or maybe something as simple as a smile. We want their experience to be fulfilling, with every cup.

So there it is and here we are, growing every day, with our community, hand in hand, one step at a time.

Dennis Leise makes magic

Broose the Moose — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:24:36 +0000

Dennis Leise, a Portersville, PA native who spent the last 15 years living in and around the city of Chicago. As a self-taught finger-style guitarist, he has drawn from the rich musical landscape that the Windy City provides, including a rich repertoire of musical styles that include Prewar Country Blues, Ragtime, Vintage Jazz, Honky Tonk, Western Swing and Novelty songs. He is a co-founder of the Chicago music powerhouse, The Possum Hollow Boys and is an entertaining and formidable solo artist in his own right!

What the future holds

Broose the Moose — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:00:23 +0000

It has been a great month, we’ve met many new amazing people, hosted live music, had a day without hardly any breaks where we served over 150 people. So much has happened already in just two weeks, it feels like we’ve been here years! Our community has really come out to support us, from new residents, young and old to long time story tellers and local leaders, to all of you, please know that we are very thankful and hope you will continue to stop by to see us, your ideas and support are invaluable.

Speaking of ideas, we keep getting them by the hundreds and will be implementing as many of them as possible in the coming months. But for right now, we are trying to focus on the big requests, the things that everyone asks for. One of them is “morning hours”, this one is number one on our list and we can tell you that it’s coming, what we don’t know for sure yet is when, all we can tell you is, soon! Our objective is March so keep your fingers crossed, no not your eyes! your fingers! Sheesh. The second most popular is (say it like a zombie) “Foooooood” we have been trying multiple light snacks like scones, a German Chocolate Cake that didn’t last very long, delicious biscotti from Enrico’s and pastries, but none of them seem to be enough… the request is for something “meatier” like sandwiches and wraps, at a decent, lunchtime price. So that’s number two and we’re looking into the required equipment and providers that will help us make that happen. Third and last is that “it’s a bit chilly in here”, that is because the building is very old and has no cold air returns so the furnace can’t circulate hot air, so we will be putting those in within the next couple of weeks! (Thanks St Meeder!) Regardless, we have been able to make it much much warmer so no biggie.

There are many more requests and we also have our own list of things we want to do, among them, “Live Music Tuesdays”, as you know we’re usually closed on Tuesdays but we want to be open, we just want to offer something special those nights, so artists are being contacted and offered multi million dollar contracts to come and play, bands like U3 and The Peatles, all legit, honest – Silliness aside, we are kicking it off with Dan Possumato and friends who will warm us up for St Patricks Day on February 21st (bring a lot of green, especially if it’s paper) and we are in talks with at least three more artists who are offering their eyes and limbs to the russian mafia just to be able to come and play at our exclusive shop.

Lastly, “Themed Nights”, we’ve been blabbing about this one forever and it’s still in our plans, small groups are being formed in secret rooms as we speak, their Machiavellian little gray matters just teeming with inspired schemes to overthrow boredom from it’s celestial throne. Wow, we really need to ease on the coffee! That’s why we are now adding more no-caffeine items to our menu, like Steamers along with our very popular Hot Chocolate yumm.

Anyhooo, we just wanted to keep you posted on what’s coming and what’s cooking, just so you can’t say we didn’t tell you. If you have any questions or ideas, stop by and tell us!

Cheers

Broose

That was fun!

Broose the Moose — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:02:17 +0000

Wow. It’s our response when anyone asks us “so how did the grand opening go?”. The Center of Harmony held many events that day and there were some really nice booths selling all sorts of products, this combined with Hot Chocolate and a community that knows the meaning of “supporting your neighbors”, seems to be a winning combination. To our estimates, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. we had over 150 people come by the coffee shop, it was like a big party full of friends. We just can’t find the right words that can carry the emotion to express our gratitude, but we would still like to say Thank You! To every single person that came by, to everyone that supported our efforts from afar both in heart and spirit.

The day was filled with smiles, people said they had come from over an hour away just to see the shop, local business owners, old friends, new friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, everyone was there just having a good time and good coffee, amazing hot chocolate (our best selling item) and hey, someone even said our Americano was the best they ever had

From 6-8 we had live Irish music by Dan Possumato and friends, who did an amazing job and performed flawlessly, transforming Wunderbar into an even cozier space. Kids were running around, teenagers were hanging out, no matter what the age was, everyone seemed to be having a great time. That is what Wunderbar is all about. Our space aims to become a matchmaker of minds, a place of gathering of the hearts where everyone can just be themselves.

And so it begins! Our hours (for now) will be in the evenings, Wed-Sat 5-9pm and Sundays from 10-2pm. We serve some pretty good hot chocolate, espresso shots, cappuccinos, lattes, loose leaf teas and other delights. Coming soon are themed nights for hobbyists of all sorts and live music.

Stop by, we’d love to meet you!

Grand Opening

Broose the Moose — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:41:57 +0000

Hi folks! The last details are getting finalized and we are ~~shooting for~~ having our Grand Opening shindig on January 14th from 9am to 9pm together with the other great shops at The Center of Harmony. Stop by for some good coffee, snacks, yoga, healthy living tips and live music!

We will be serving specialty coffees like Cappuccinos, Lattes, Mochas and other goodies, for the kids we’ll have Hot Chocolate and for those of you that are not into coffee, we will have delicious loose leaf teas and spiced apple cider. Hungry? pastries, brownies, cookies and other goodies will be available all day.

Our shop is a locally owned, owner operated business and our products are purchased from other locally owned businesses, we try to use as many environmentally friendly and socially conscious products as possible. We’re looking forward on meeting you and getting your feedback, it will take time to get things perfected but we’re sure you’ll be patient with us as we learn and grow together.

~~Though not confirmed yet~~, we will have Dan Possumato and friends come and play some amazing Irish music on the melodeon and button accordion. Check his website to listen to some of his music.

Stay tuned as there are a lot of things planned for the next couple of months. Initially we will only be open evenings but will continue to add hours as we get better at our new craft, moving on to morning hours within the next couple of months. Coming soon are “meeting of the minds themed nights”, we want to connect people that have similar interests, get them all in a room and ready to rumble, be it teachers, artists, train collectors, book clubs, anything! Want us to host your book club or church group? Stop by and talk to us so we can start planning and making sure we have everything you need.

Are you a musician? Want to practice playing for a small crowd before you sign that record label deal? Get in touch with us! We would love to have you play at our shop.

We look forward to becoming a place for thinkers, dreamers and entrepreneurs just like you, where everyone can just come in and relax accompanied by the people they love to get into heated discussions with, and solving all of the worlds problems.

Let us know you’re coming through our event post in Facebook! See you on the 14th!

Wunderbar (Kiss me Kate)

Broose the Moose — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:54:53 +0000

Kiss Me Kate is the 1953 MGM film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name.

Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, it tells the tale of musical theater actors, Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, who were once married and are now performing opposite each other in the roles of Petruchio and Katherine in a Broadway-bound musical version of William Shakespeare’s play.

Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the production’s success. The only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters, who have come to collect a gambling debt from the show’s Lucentio, Bill Calhoun. In classic musical comedy fashion, slapstick madness ensues before everything is resolved.

Dorothy Kingsley’s screenplay, which was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award, was adapted from the musical’s book by Samuel and Bella Spewack. The songs were by Cole Porter, with musical underscoring by Saul Chaplin and Andre Previn, who were nominated for an Academy Award. Hermes Pan choreographed the dance routines.

The movie was filmed in 3-D using the most advanced methods of that technique then available. Devotees of the stereoscopic 3-D medium usually cite this film as one of the best examples of a Hollywood release in polarized 3D.

Here are the lyrics for this song:

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
There’s our favorite star above
What a bright, shining star
Like our love it’s wunderbar!

Gazing down on the Jungfrau
From our secret chalet for two
Let us drink, Liebchen mein in the moonlight benign
To the joy of our dream come true

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
What a perfect night for love
Here am I, here you are
Why it’s truly wunderbar

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
We’re alone and hand in glove
Not a cloud near or far
Why, it’s more than wunderbar!

Say you care, dear
For you madly
Say you long, dear
For your kiss

Do you swear, dear?
Darling, gladly
Life’s divine, dear!
And you’re mine, dear!

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
There’s our favorite star above
What a bright, shining star
Like our love it’s wunderbar!

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
What a perfect night for love
Here am I, here you are
Why it’s truly wunderbar!

Wunderbar, wunderbar!
There’s our favorite star above
What a bright, shining star
Like our love it’s wunderbar!