November 2009

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Passion For the Coffee-Cover

It’s time to talk about something old and new, all at once. Recipes and a passion for coffee. Those two things go hand in hand. The ‘new and innovative’ in the pairing of recipes and coffee, is Via. On the Starbucks website you can even find a web page dedicated to recipes using Via in them.  But going back 15 years in time, Starbucks put out an amazing book called, “A Passion For the Coffee”.  It has a 1994 publication date and the book walks the reader through a little bit about coffee history, Starbucks sourcing and roasting, and even has a page with the 1994 whole bean coffee menu. Personally, I’m incredibly sentimental about whole bean menus, because I think that as a coffee house it is imperative that the whole bean offerings be obvious and central to the theme of the store. And the whole bean 1994 menu (pictured below) takes me back in time: I remember Yirgacheffe being a regular coffee offering, and this was the era of coffee scooped out of bins (pre-flavorlock bags), and stores densely rich in the smell of coffee.  For those customers who are craving a cup of Starbucks Yirgacheffe coffee, look for it as a periodic offering through the Starbucks Clover stores.

Since the book dates from 1994, it also is reflective of the Starbucks of that era. Notice that on the page describing sizes and the offerings of espresso beverages, there is no “Venti” size. The book is from the era when the menu was “short”, “tall”, and “grande” and pre-dates the Frappuccino.

So the theme of this post is coffee and recipes, old and new.  Please feel free to comment. I’ve uploaded a handful of pages from the 1994 book which was the inspiration for this blog post.  Many thank yous to Larry Aldrich of Seattle Custom Framing for taking the pics.

[[Edit 11-30: After reading this blog entry, if you're in the mood to look at more recipes, I'd refer you to a favorite blog called "Savory Sweet Life".  A number of the recipe entries in that blog look Starbucks inspired!]]

Table of Contents

Pg 24 Roasting beans

Hazelnut Raspberry Muffins

Sizes & Espresso Menu

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Pg 4 Passion For Coffee

Pg 4-5 Passion For Coffee

Pg 16-17 Passion For the Coffee

Pg 26-27 Whole bean menu

Pg 36-37 PassionForTheCoffee

Pg 66-67-RaisinGingerbread

Pg70-71-Passion-ChocolateFudgeSquares