This post is geared to Fidalgo Bay Coffee Roasters’ wholesale coffee clients.
Many operators struggle with the old question of what to put on the food/pastry/baked goods menu. Following are menu items that our Fidalgo Bay Roastery Chef has in his repertoire. You could run one of these as a daily special to get a feel for what your customers respond to. Let us know if you would like to learn more.
Fresh Baked Scones with Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam
Slow cooked Oats with Chopped nuts, Dried fruit, Brown sugar and Honey
Grilled Belgium Chocolate Sandwich on Country White Bread
Savory Caramelized Onion and Oregonzola Quiche
Ham Sandwich with Grain Mustard Mayonnaise on Sour Dough Bread
Cheddar Cheese Sandwich with Chutney on Onion Bread
Cucumber Sandwich with Cream Cheese, Dill, and Chives on Light Rye Bread
Turkey Breast Sandwich with Horseradish Cream on Sour Dough Bread
Smoked Alaska King Salmon with Lemon Butter on Light Rye Bread
Chopped Egg Sandwich with Shallots and Watercress on Onion Bread
Solid Packed Line-Caught Albacore Tuna on Country White Bread
The Grind
For home coffee enthusiasts and professional baristas, mastering the grind is the most important part of the coffee making process. Grind particle size is the key to coffee extraction.
Home users: ditch the blade grinder in favor of a burr grinder. A blade grinder will not let you control the grind particle size. The blade grinder blends the beans resulting in random grinds that will range from dust to coarse.
Pro Baristas: Change your burrs often. Every six months as a rule of thumb. Sharp burrs will cut (grind) the coffee uniformly and will result in much more predictable shot times. This will result smoother espresso and is one of the secrets at top espresso bars. Also, remember to change your portafilter baskets and burrs at the same time. Old portafilter baskets are a hidden cause of poor shots. Burrs and baskets are easy to replace and the cost will be under $100 if you do it yourself.
Macinazione: The Grind
Miscela: The Blend/The Coffee
Macchina: The Machine
Mano: The Hand/The human
Buy direct right here on the Fidalgo Bay site. We operate a safe and secure state of the art web store. Free shipping with $30 minimum order on Fidalgo Bay’s on-line retail web store and/or over the phone.
Or call us on the phone. We are happy to take your call at 1-800-310-5540 7am-5:30pm pacific. Free shipping with $30 minimum order. We take Amex, Visa, MC, Debit card over the phone.
You are always welcome at the Roastery where we have free brewed coffee at 856 N. Hill Blvd, Burlington, WA 98233 7am-5:30pm pacific. Buy direct and fresh at the Roastery where we take Checks, Cash, Amex, Visa, MC, Debit card and Trade for Pizza.
Free shipping applies to continental USA.
We’ve had several trips to New Orleans for our coffee business. And one of the traditional drinks in the Big Easy is Iced Coffee. They add a little chicory to the cold brew giving it a hint of spice. We were able to get an authentic recipe from a popular bar on Bourbon Street. Here it is:
Makes 16 oz Serving
4 oz New Orleans Cold Brew (recipe below) *
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
Fill Glass 1/2 full with Ice
Fill the rest with milk
*Using Toddy Maker:
1 lb. Fidalgo Bay Cold Brew Blend
6 Tablespoons Frontier roasted and ground chicory (available in bulk section at PCC Natural Markets)
9 C. Cold water
Let stand at room temp for 12 hours, filter and drain into serving container.
by Darryl Miller, Vice President Sales & Marketing
It’s going to be a busy week for the team at Fidalgo Bay Coffee and you can be part of it!
Join us on Friday, July 15th for a unique and exciting event. From 10am to 12pm we will be cupping (tasting) four of our favorite blends while enjoying a Bass Recital at Mosaic Coffee House in Wallingford. The entire event is free and open to the public. Come meet the President of Fidalgo Bay Coffee, myself, and the musician made famous by the Seattle Times for his love of music and bicycling. [Learn more about John Teske by clicking here] We hope to see you there!
Saturday marks the return of a Fidalgo summer tradition, the annual summer picnic. This year we’re kicking it up a notch and throwing a Clam Bake.
If you’ve ever called the office to place an order, you’ve probably spoken to one of our long time team members, Hopie. Hopie reports that her 15 year old grandson Brendan McLeod has been tearing up the links and did well at the State golf tourney in Tacoma last month by taking first in his class. But, the order desk never rests… so when she’s not cheering him on, she’s busy getting an order ready for our coffee house client in Japan! Look for updates on that project in future newsletters.
Nathan works in roasting, cupping, sourcing, and fulfillment. He was wearing a pair of boots that looked like they cost a year’s salary—but he said that he bought them at a vintage shop on Capital Hill called Crossroads. Nathan just roasted the last of our limited offering of Café Aldea from Nicaragua. I cupped this coffee a couple of weeks ago. It reminded me of circa 1990 Colombia Supremo with that fatty round taste. It also gave me a nice white wine aftertaste and some sugar cane. We just sent some of this coffee to Ken Davids Coffee Review for their upcoming story on Nicaraguan coffees. He is also excited about the purchase of some new India Mysore coffee that is a nice in-season washed Arabica along with a Ugandan natural. These coffees will find their way into our recipes in keeping with Fidalgo Bay’s Dual-Hemisphere Sourcing program.
Speaking of Nicaragua , company President David Evans was just there on a coffee trip with some other small roasters. David’s brother Derek runs the back-of-the-house operations. He fabricated a new blending packaging machine for our new Nature’s Crest Tropical Harvest and Nature’s Crest Misty Mountain Black Iced Tea. He was also working on an improved 2-pound packaging machine that will pack Fidalgo Bay beans gently into the bag without breaking the beans. Our dress code might be laid back, but we are obsessed with a beautiful well-kept look when it comes to the beans.
Pat Burt has recreated his job description at Fidalgo Bay Coffee from Lead Service Tech to an important role at the packaging station. He says his new job title is Exterior Environmental Barrier Technician. Reminding us that the enemies of fresh roasted coffee are air, light and humidity.
Veteran Sales man, Rich Pratt is still basking in the glow of his 4th of July weekend, topped off by a trip to Safeco Field and a Mariners win! Rich along with his wife Linda, daughter Carrie and friend Joe, from Boston, went to Bahama Breeze after the game for coconut prawns and BBQ ribs.
We congratulate Peggy Finstein on her purchase of Polly’s Coffee in Bow. Rich is telling us that this is a great stop on Chuckanut Drive. And speaking of Chuckanut Drive—you cannot beat the Rhododendron Cafe for terrific chef work. And we thank Navtgs Singh for signing up to serve Fidalgo Bay Coffee at the Pita Pit on the corner of Holly & Railroad Ave.
Have a great summer!
We won an award in the Ghirardelli Mocha challenge!
Mandarin Orange Iced Spiced Mocha - Darryl Miller, Fidalgo Bay Coffee
In a mixing cup add mandarin orange zest, cinnamon sugar, Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and espresso Stir well. Fill a 16oz cup with ice. Pour sugar, chocolate & espresso mixture into cup. Fill the remainder of the cup with cold milk and serve.
Cinnamon Sugar Recipe – in a sealed airtight container mix 2 cups unrefined sugar with 4 level tablespoons of ground cinnamon.
For additional information about Ghirardelli products please visitwww.ghirardelli.com/foodservice.
The recipe will serve 8-12 people with refills.
1-pint Organic Valley heavy Cream
1/4 cup Wholesome Sweeteners Powdered Sugar
1 cup Jameson Irish Whiskey
1/2 pound of Fidalgo Bay’s Organic French Roast ground coarse from French Press
Chill mixing bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes
Pour heavy cream into frozen mixing bowl
Add powdered sugar
Whisk by hand until cream becomes slightly thick, then start adding the Jameson. Keep whipping while pouring in more and more and more Irish whiskey.
French Press: We recommend an 8-cup Bodem Pot made with 1/3-measuring cup of ground coffee and filled about 1-inch from the top with 205° water, stir well, put the top on, steep 4-minutes and press. Each pot yields about 4 regular mugs with room for Irish Cream topping.
Serve: Pour coffee in the mug leaving room to top with a dollop or two of Irish Cream.
If you haven’t already, expect to see some changes in the Fidalgo Bay Coffee cups soon, both in the cups themselves and to the design. First, let’s talk about the cups. We are switching from Solo to a product from International Paper (IP). Virtually identical in structure, size and technical specification, the difference is in the lids and sip design. We love the traveler lid from IP and have noticed that Starbucks has been successful with it as well. The good news is, both manufacturers’ cups and lids are interchangeable.
The bigger, more noticeable change is to the design. A serious departure from our current black and tan cup, the redesign incorporates our new logo as well as a unique branding opportunity for individual clients. The new Fidalgo Bay design features a solid white background, inspirational quotes, and our logo in chocolate brown ink. More prone to showing smudges and stains, yes, but also creating a space for baristas to write drink orders and customer names. For the first time, cafe managers and owners also have a chance to put their mark on the cup as well. As part of our transition to the new design, Fidalgo Bay Coffee will provide a customized ink hand-stamp on request. We hope it conveys Fidalgo Bay’s small-coffee, independent look and feel, and celebrates the individuality of our wholesale clients.
We offer this service as a value added program to our cherished clients.
Consider it a blank canvas for your own inspiration. 
