Blue Horse Coffee

I think the caption says it all, but to be clear, we’ll be closed all day this Sunday, April 4th. We’ll open as usual Monday morning at 6:30 a.m.

Hoppy Easter! (I couldn’t resist )

As promised, our new single-origin espresso (SOE) has arrived, and is now being used as our house espresso. This SOE is from the remote jungles of northern Peru, high in the Andes and just a few miles south of the Ecuadorian border.

Our roaster recently visited this valley, touring the farms and meeting with the incredibly hard-working farmers. Here is a portion of the trip report:

“Farms in this valley are incredible – perched on the steep sides of the lush, jungled mountains – and have everything going for them: high altitude; cool, breezy weather with plenty of rain; fertile soil; and many of the heirloom coffee varieties we seek. The farmers are proud of their farms and of their skills in picking, processing, and drying their coffees (drying is a particularly formidable task in this misty climate), and as we toured we learned lots of the details of the coffee process here. These farmers are really passionate about producing incredible-quality organic coffees in harmony with the natural environment, and they are proud of the forest preserve that surrounds their little valley. So proud that, when we talked about what to name the coffee from the valley with no name, the farmers decided to call it Valle del Santuario, or Sanctuary Valley.”

This SOE is certified organic, shade-grown, and Counter Culture Direct Trade-Certified. This means that the farmers are fairly compensated for their hard work and excellent crop, and it means that this SOE satisfies the high quality component of Counter Culture’s Direct Trade certification.

Oh, how does it taste, you ask? This well-balanced espresso shines with pear, tropical fruit and graham cracker/cinnamon flavors, with underlying, subtle milk chocolate notes.

Make sure you home baristas get some beans, too. We’ll have the Valle del Santuario espresso for only a few months, so come in and enjoy this wonderful SOE.

We opened much later than we should have this morning, due to a scheduling mix-up. Things are back to normal, so you may now resume drinking Pittsburgh’s best coffee. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Yes, we’re sorry to say that the Shakisso 3-way is almost at an end. We’ve been lucky enough to have for you an Ethiopian cornucopia of coffee. Three lots from the town of Shakisso in the Sidamo region, processed and roasted differently, have been giving you a wonderfully satisfying experience of truly special coffee.

The Shakisso sun-dried brew coffee is down to the last few pounds. This coffee has delicate berrry flavor notes, a hint of chocolate, and red wine-ness throughout.

The Shakisso single-origin espresso will be gone probably by early next week. This bean was also sun-dried, and roasted a touch darker than the brew, in order to produce a unique shot of espresso that I liken to drinking red wine from a chocolate-rimmed glass.

The Shakisso brew coffee beans processed by washing will be around until about the end of this month. This coffee is a little more crisp, with distinctive citrus notes – kind of like an Earl Grey tea.

Ethiopia is home to many of the world’s great coffees, and for the next few days, you can still experience three great examples of what makes Ethiopian coffees so great.

Saturday the 13th is the 6th anniversary of Blue Horse Coffee. It’s going to be a special day, so please be sure to stop in.

At 11 a.m., the art students of Mainstay Life Services will be working on their current painting in Blue Horse. Mainstay provides housing and other important services to developmentally disabled adults. These wonderful artists have been in before, and watching them work is a lot of fun. Prints of their works will be for sale for $10 each; all proceeds benefit Mainstay. The artists will be at Blue Horse until 2 or so.

At 1 p.m., local massage therapist Martha McCarthy will be in. She’ll be giving you neckrubs (we all need it after shoveling so much snow, that’s for sure), $1 per minute. Marty has generously offered to donate every dollar she brings in to Mainstay. Marty will be at Blue Horse until 3 p.m.

Don’t forget that late Saturday afternoon is also Mt. Lebanon’s first-ever Winter Fest.  Get a map at Blue Horse Coffee for a scavenger hunt for charms that kids can then assemble in the municipal building beginning at 2:30.

We’ll have a thing or two for you throughout the day, so please come on in. The weather will be cold, but not much snow. It’ll be a perfect winter day to relax, get some great coffee, and help out a very worthy organization.

See you Saturday!

It’s Thursday morning, we’re open, and we have lots of great, hot coffee to help you deal with the day. See you soon!

It looks like the worst is behind us. We’re just allowing a little extra time for icy roads in the morning. We’ll see you then. We should be back to our regular closing and opening times after Thursday morning.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Annette and I started out for the shop to open today. The roads are very bad, and really, nobody should be out in this. We have returned home, and we don’t have a new target opening time today. We plan to post updates for you, but you should call the shop before trying to head out, because if we lose electricity, we won’t be able to post updates. Really, don’t go out unless you have to.

It’s too icy still to get out of our neighborhoods, so we’re planning to open at 9:30 this morning. Call us to check.

If the weather and roads are okay, we’ll open at 8:30. Be careful out there, and thanks for your understanding.