Grand Opening

Bringing a truly unique coffee experience to Greensburg and Decatur County, Michael and Donna Layne will be hosting a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting at their new business, MDL Coffee & Tea Co. The celebration will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010.
MDL Coffee & Tea Co. is located at 211 N. Broadway St., in downtown Greensburg. The Coffee Stall shares the same building as Love Your Heart Catering & Carry-Out.
The grand opening celebration will include drawings for prizes and opportunities to “cup” the fresh roasted coffees from around the world. “We are excited about this opportunity to showcase the coffees and teas that our store has,” Michael Layne said. “We believe customers will truly enjoy the flavors and the experience that we have brought to this area.”
The celebration will continue on Friday, Jan. 29, as Chef Lemley will be at the storefront demonstrating the many ways to enjoy Gourmet Marshmallows. Chef Lemley is from the Columbus, IN area.
Also, customers will be able to experience National Hot Tea Month and the tea flavor for January is Vanilla Nut Creme.
MDL Coffee & Tea Co. appreciates customers bringing in a non-perishable food item for the Human Services Pantry. In doing so, customers will receive a discount on any food item at Love Your Heart Catering & Carry-Out or on any bulk coffee purchase at the Coffee Stall.
The public is invited to the grand opening celebration. Store hours are 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday.

Tea Time

When we think of tea many of us think of the British and “just a spot of tea.” I must admit that I had spent a lot of time researching coffee but found out quickly there’s more to tea than what we find on the grocery store shelves.

I have learned that many of the consumer brand teas will incorporate the dust of tea leaves in the bag. In a quality tea, such as what you will find at the MDL Coffee Stall, is the tea leaf with no dust.

Let’s look at a couple of things about tea that is important to know. 1. Types of Tea and, 2. Grades of Tea.

Types of Tea
All tea leaves come from the same plant, the Camellia Sinenis, but what makes the difference is how they are processed. We carry four types:
Black- The most popular type of tea, black is more heavily processed and fully oxidized, but still packs a huge punch with antioxidants and high caffeine levels.
Green- Green tea is simply black tea but less processed, which means it retains more of its nutrients. Green tea is not oxidized and has a very fresh, herbal taste.
Oolong- This is the most difficult to process and comes somewhere between green and black tea. It is partially oxidized.
White – These leaves have been subjected to even less processing than green tea leaves, which mean the leaves have less caffeine. White tea has a very mild flavor and somewhat grassy.

Grades of Tea
Much like coffee, tea is graded by the quality of the leaf.
Whole leaf.
TGFOP Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – This grade represents some of the most precious tea in the world. After brewing, it is not uncommon to see whole leaves in their original state.
FOP –Flowering Orange Pekoe- A leaf which is as long as or longer than on Orange Pekoe but not as tightly rolled. The cup tends to lighter than broken grades.
Broken leaf.
BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe- The smallest of leaf grades. The liquor usually has a good color with strength in the cup is very useful in many blends.

When it comes to brewing your cup of tea it is important to not allow the water to boil for more than a couple of minutes so as to not loose the oxygen in the water. Allowing the tea, whether a tea bag or using an infuser, up to four minutes is recommended.

I hope the above information helps and if you have any questions just ask. There is an opportunity to leave your comments at the end of this commentary. Many thanks.

Michael Layne
www.thecoffeestall.com

The Decaffeination process

Coffee College.

Our decaffeination process:
Decaffeination is done with green unroasted coffee beans. The most commonly used methods immerse the beans in warm to hot water wich raises their moisture content and causes the caffeine to bond with a solvent, after which the beans are rinsed and dried. To be considered decaf 97% of the caffeine has to be removed. Unfortunately both processes rob the coffee of some of its original flavors.

The two methods used for the decaffeination process are:
1. DIRECT METHYLENE CHLORIDE METHOD. In this direct method the beans are first steamed for 30 minutes and then repeatedly rinsed with Methylene Chloride for 10 hours. This solvent removes the caffeine. The beans are exposed to steam again for another 8-10 hours to allow any remaining solvent to evaporate.
2. 2. SWISS WATER PROCESS. This method is accepted as the most matural process. It is 100% chemical free. The only sovent in this process is a natural one—WATER. The solution runs through activated charcoal filters to remove the caffeine.

MDL Coffee & Tea Company offers the Swiss Water Processed decaf coffee whenever possible. It is slightly more expensive but we are sure you agree that it is well worth it.

Caffeine content. A 5 oz. cup of regular coffee equals 60-180 mg. of caffeine.
In a 5 oz cup of decaf coffee there is 2 to 5 mg of caffeine. In a 5 oz cup of tea there is 20-90 mg. of caffeine and in a 12 oz cola there is 38-46 mg of caffeine.

WELCOME

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Can you believe it? 2010 is here already!! We have started out the year with our new store in Greensburg, Indiana. We share the store with Love Your Heart Catering which offers a wonderful tasty menu of healthy foods available to eat in or take out.
Our goal here is to provide information about coffee, tea and cocoa. Explaining the difference in coffee beans and why specialty coffee is different from consumer brand coffee.
We will be exploring the wonderful world of Coffee, Tea and Cocoa on this blog site. We hope you will enjoy and participate in our blogs as we will discover how coffee is grown, harvested, roasted and made available to the consumer.

At The Coffee Stall "We know beans about coffee." Feel free to ask questions and we will gladly answer them. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit our on-line store at www.thecoffeestall.com
When in the area of Greensburg, Indiana be sure to stop by 211 N. Broadway Street for the best cup of coffee in town and you can even take some home with you to brew up later.