About Us

The Art of Coffee Catering is an extension of Kairos Coffee and Tea which currently operates out of a high security facility in Northern Butler county, Pa. known as Iron Mountain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aou6c2MOmg). Since 2006 we have been building our reputation on serving the best coffee and tea we can get our hands on, by building lasting relationships with our customers and by serving them with professional courtesy and respect. .

The purpose of creating a catering service is to serve those who recognize the high cost, responsibility and liability of providing alcohol at your special event. Our goal is to help you create an unforgettable affair by providing  uniquely impressive beverages for all your guests.

What is art anyway?

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, food and drink. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.

The most common usage of the word “art”  is understood to denote skill used to produce an aesthetic result. Britannica defines it as “the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others.

Art means that a skill is being used to express the artist’s creativity, or to engage the audience’s aesthetic sensibilities, or to draw the audience towards consideration of the finer things. Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art. Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it will be considered commercial art instead of fine art. On the other hand, crafts and design are sometimes considered applied art. Some art followers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference. However, even fine art often has goals beyond pure creativity and self-expression. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically-, spiritually-, or philosophically-motivated art; to create a sense of  beauty, to explore the nature of perception; for pleasure; or to generate strong emotions. The purpose may also be seemingly nonexistent.

Notes on Tiger Hill Darjeeling Tea

Tiger Hill is the summit of Ghoom, the highest railway station on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. It is famous for spectacular sunrise show over the Himalayas. Leveling out at 8500 feet, Tiger Hill is the highest hill in the immediate surroundings, near the town of Darjeeling and can be reached through Chowrasta, Alubari (incidentally the oldest tea plantation in Darjeeling) Jore Bungla.

The first rays of the sun shoot ahead and shed light upon the twin peaks of Kanchenjunga painting it pink and then bathing it in a beautiful orange color. From Tiger Hill, Mount Everest is just visible, peeping out through two other peaks standing by its side. Makalu looks higher than Mt. Everest, owing to the curve in the horizon, as it is several miles closer than Everest. The distance in straight line from Tiger Hill to Everest is 107 miles.

On a clear day, Kurseong is visible to the south and in the distance, Teesta River, Mahanady River, Balasun River and Mechi River, meandering down to the south. Chumal Rhi mountain of Tibet, 84 miles away as the crow flies, looks like a great rounded mass over the snowy Chola Range. One comes face to face with this peak of superb beauty from Phari Jong which is 129 miles away from Darjeeling.

Notes on Lung Ching Dragonwell Green Tea

The country side of China boasts some of the most beautiful tea gardens in the world. The gardens often characterized by their small size and lack of processing facilities, most farmers transport their picked leaf across miles of unimproved roads using antiquated transportation. Daily pickings during the height of the production season require trips to offsite tea factories daily. Even without modern conveniences and updated processing, China continues to amaze the world with thousands of tons of tea each year.

Tea is cultivated in 18 of China’s 24 provinces ranging in altitude from 300 to 7000 feet above sea level with majority of the tea crop concentrated on the southeast province of Yunnan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Fujian, Sichuan and Guangdong.

The province of Zhejiang is leading producer for China with 21% of the total production for the country. This same province was responsible for 45% of the world’s green tea production in 1990.

China produces the greatest variety of tea; green, black, oolong, white, yellow and pu-erh are all produced in marketable quantities. In fact, China is the world’s largest producer of all types of tea except black tea.

Most of China’s tea production remained completely hand-processed until the Cultural Revolution of the 1970’s. This period is marked by building of large, mechanized tea factories and an increase in land dedicated to the gardens. China’s tea production jumped dramatically.

Between 1979 and 1989 tea production increased 93%. Today’s tea production is 10 times the quantity produced in 1970. Green tea China’s green tea production accounted for 73% of the world volume in that category.

Cupping Notes on Kairos House Blend Espresso

Smooth, heavy and lush in its sweetness, Kairos House Blend Espresso’s thick, flecked nutty crema coats the palate and finishes with a subtle acidity. The aftertaste is reminiscent of baker’s chocolate and walnuts with a lingering caramel finish.

The Lexicon

-A-
Antiventi
A person who rejects company size lingo and orders their beverage in small, medium and large.

- B -
barista — The guy who makes the coffee. Italian for bartender, more or less, but in English exclusively means a coffeehouse bar operator. In this country barista is an occupation considered only slightly higher than burger flipper; in Italy it’s a job with some respect. Of course, in Italy, almost all baristas are men, too…
Botulidm
Discomfort associated with a barista pressing a dirty thumb on the lid’s sipping-hole while affixing it to your cup.
breve — Indicates that the drink is made with half-and-half (as in dairy, not halfcaf coffee) instead of milk.

- C -
café — The proper French spelling for coffee.
Café Au Lait — A drink consisting of half milk, half coffee. More or less the same thing as the Caffe Misto and far more common; despite similarity of construction, this is not the same thing as a Caffe Latte. Not even close. At least not the way I learned it. YMMV and I’ll drink ‘em both.
caffè — The proper Italian spelling for coffee. Note the grave accent on the è.
Caffè Americano — More or less a cup of coffee the long way around; consists of espresso and hot water. I imagine this term dates to the American occupation of Italy during WWII; I picture a GI ordering a “caffè” in a coffee bar somewhere and getting an espresso, then having it watered down to make it palatable. I’d appreciate a bit of corroboration on this…
Caffè Corretto — An Italian term referring to coffee with a shot of liquor; literally means “corrected coffee”, if you must know. Loosely related to the notorious Irish Coffee (coffee with whiskey and cream). Known in Spanish as El Carajillo and you really don’t want to know what that means if you don’t already.
Caffè Cubano — A heavily sweetened shot of espresso. I make them at work by adding brown sugar directly to the portafilter, but that’s not the canonical way of doing it; a good Cuban cookbook will give you the correct technique. Carries a considerable head of crema.
Caffè Latte — A drink made by pulling a shot of espresso into a cup and filling it up with steamed milk, topping it off with foam. The quintessential product of an American coffee bar; Italians tend to prefer cappucinos and straight espresso.
Caffè Medici — A doppio poured over chocolate syrup and orange peel, with whipped cream on top. Created at the Last Exit, a former espresso bar in Seattle, and apparently not well known outside.
Caffè Misto — A drink made with half drip coffee, half steamed milk. The resulting drink is a slightly Italianized Café Au Lait. As far as I know, Starbucks may be the only place (at least in the United States) that uses this term in preference to the better known au lait; feel free to correct me on this.
Caffè Mocha — Essentially a latte with chocolate syrup and often whipped cream. Often comes with whipped cream; Starbucks makes a rather nauseating variant called a Mocha Valencia that involves orange syrup and extra espresso to make it drinkable. Occasionally also referred to as a Mocha Latte.
cap — (slang) Cappuccino. Ubiquitous.
Cappuccino — A coffee drink consisting of roughly equal parts of espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam. Can also be made dry or wet; a true cappuccino rarely has flavoring and almost never has whipped cream, cinnamon, or a cherry on top. Just get this through your head: there is no such thing as cappuccino-flavored coffee.
Caramel Macchiato — One of Starbucks’ most famous drinks, the Caramel Macchiato is one of those drinks that everyone wants to duplicate. Made hot and cold. Look here for a recipe.
Chai — An Indian beverage (known more formally as chai masala) that is essentially spiced black tea in milk. Has become quite popular in recent years, and Starbucks sells Tazo’s chai (mainly because we own them), which is quite good if a bit heavy on the black pepper; Oregon Chai is another common brand. Madhur Jaffrey (the Indian cookbook author) has at least one book with a recipe from scratch. If you want to make your own, common spices include coriander, ginger, star anise, and black pepper; steep with your favorite black or green tea and add steamed milk and honey.
Chainchronicity
When you can stand in one Starbucks and see another, such as at Astor Place.
coffee — Nectar of the gods? Addictive stimulant drug? Public utility up there with light, water and sewer? People who really like the stuff will say all of the above. What you need to know is that almost everybody doesn’t use enough of it when brewing; the proper measure is two tablespoons/10g per six-ounce cup. Too much, you get excessively strong coffee; too little, you get caffeinated turpentine. And no, I’m not saying this to get you to go buy more coffee.
Personally, I never drank a lot of coffee until I became a barista; these days, though, I can never quite tell whether I’m tired or not…
Coffotomy
Removal of unwanted beverage by pouring it into the trash, usually to make room for milk.
Coffusion
When two or more customers reach for the same beverage, unsure of its ownership.
Cowboy Coffee – Seldom seen in coffee bars, this is coffee the old school way, boiled up similar to Turkish coffee on a campfire, with a crushed eggshell used to settle out the grounds.
crema – When a shot of espresso is made, it comes out in three layers. The bottom of the shot is referred to as the heart, and that’s where most of the sediment is. The bulk of the shot is the body. However, on top there is usually a thin layer of golden-brown foam; this part, which is what usually tempers the bitterness of a fresh shot of espresso, is known as the crema. Interestingly, when Achille Gaggia invented the first piston-based espresso maker, a lot of people considered the crema an impurity and didn’t want anything to do with it.

- D -
doppio — Italian for double. Out of context, almost always refers to a double shot of espresso served as a drink. Compare solo.
double — Two shots of espresso in a drink. And there’s also triple and quad; the overwhelming majority of people, though, will never order more than four shots in any one drink thank God almighty in heaven above. There are FAA regulations against that…
dry — Containing less milk than is typical; a dry cappuccino is essentially just espresso and foam.

- E -
Espresso — An extremely strong method of brewing coffee that involves forcing high-pressure hot water through finely ground, dark-roasted coffee. The resulting shot actually has less caffeine than the typical cup of regular drip coffee, despite what you may have heard.
Espresso Romano — Espresso with a twist of lemon. This, despite the name, seems to be a purely American affectation. It certainly isn’t done in Italy.

- F -
flavored coffee — Avoid it at all costs. You can do much better just getting a nice blend of Latin American beans (straight Colombian, Starbucks House Blend, Peet’s Blend 101, and related coffees; I like to think of these as “tofu coffees” that just scream to be kicked up a notch) and adding flavored syrups or extracts. Lots of places do sell these, it’s true, but if they’re using bad coffee they’re covering something up and if they’re using good coffee they’re wasting it. Starbucks doesn’t touch the stuff.
frappe – A drink made with ice cream and milk (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise ). Also, strongly deprecated Starbucks slang for a Frappucino (though in that sense usually spelled frap); also also refers to a popular Greek beverage (properly, frappé) made from instant coffee, milk, ice and sugar that is probably a precursor to the Frappucino and similar drinks.
A quick explanation of the above wisecrack; in Massachusetts, we call what everyone else calls a milkshake a frappe. That’s milk, ice cream, and syrup, blended. A milkshake is just milk and flavoring. I figure since we Massholes have about the best ice cream in the country…
Frappucino — A Starbucks trademark for a blender drink that combines ice, extra-strength dark roast coffee, and a mixture of milk, cocoa, and sugar. The general idea (usually, however, in soft-serve or slush form) has also popped up as Dunkin Donuts’ Coffee Coolatta, among other variations, and is generally quite popular.
Incidentally, I’m proud to say that the Frappucino, or at least the name, is a Boston invention; the basic idea was inherited by Starbucks when they bought out The Coffee Connection in the process of moving into the Boston area. The Coffee Connection is deeply missed, but Starbucks has gone to great lengths to accommodated their customers, who were generally accustomed to a lighter roast than Starbucks’. If you want a taste of the old days, next time you hit a Starbucks in the Boston area try the Lightnote or Starbucks Breakfast Blends. I’m not overfond of them, but they do seem to carry on the tradition.
French press — Also known as a press pot and a plunger pot as well as a Melior, the company that first invented them (now part of a Danish manufacture called Bodum). May be a trademark. This device consists of a glass or plastic pot and a filter attached to a plunger; the coffee, coarsely ground, is put into the bottom of the pot (2 tablespoons/10g per serving; no cheating), adding hot water at the rate of about six ounces per serving, stirring to mix the grounds in, and then allowing to steep for a period of time (standard is about four minutes). At the end of that time, the filter-plunger is pushed down, separating the grounds from the coffee liquid. The official party line at Starbucks is that this gets the best flavor from the bean; I suspect gold filters do a very good job of this as well, but this is the way coffee tasters do it. Pressed coffee can occasionally be rather gritty (and very strong), and cleaning the pot can be difficult (especially glass pots, which can be quite breakable, not to mention expensive). If you’re sampling a new coffee, though, this is the way to do it.
French Roast — At Starbucks, at least, French Roast indicates a coffee roast so dark that it destroys a good amount of the coffee’s natural flavor. The end result is an ashy, smoky flavor in the pot and coffee grounds that look like model railroad coal dust.
I am personally not fond of French Roast coffee due to its burnt-out flavor profile, but it appears to be fairly popular around the Boston area. If I’m not mistaken, Trader Joe’s (the bicostal semisupermarket with a reasonably good specialty coffee selection) may go even darker with their ultradark Bay Blend Ultraroast.

- G -
gold filter — A filter made with a fine metal (almost always gold-plated) mesh and a plastic frame. Designed to replace paper filters, since it’s thought that metal interferes less with coffee flavor than paper. It’s traditional to grind coffee slightly coarser for a metal filter than a paper one; no one really knows whether there’s any real benefit to this.
granita — A relative of the Frappucino, this term in an American coffee house usually refers to a sort of latte slush. Often served out of big swirling machines that resemble juice dispensers.

- H -
half-caf – half-caffeinated, half-decaf. Synonyms include half-and-half and split shot.
harmless — Seattle for decaf. Not so much heard around Boston, though.
Hot Chocolate — Mentioned only so far as to say that the usual coffeehouse recipe for hot chocolate is chocolate syrup and milk, usually with whipped cream on top. This tends to make a particularly sweet sort of beverage that likes a generous stirring up before drinking.

- I -
instant coffee — Caffeinated beverage made by freeze-drying the life (and flavor) out of a pot of brewed coffee. Tends to be rather sour and unpleasant to those trained on coffeehouse coffee. IMHO its only real use is in the odd dessert recipe; even then I’d say go with a shot of espresso and adjust liquids appropriately. (I once tried to brew a shot of espresso with Folger’s Crystals to see what happened. This is an extremely bad idea; the end result rather resembled driveway sealant.)

- L -
latte — Italian for milk; also shorthand for a Caffè Latte. You will occasionally see an accent over the e; this is a mispeling. If you order this in Italy you will recieve merely a glass of milk.
lungo — In this context, Italian for extended or large. Refers to either a long or watered-down (hopefully the latter) shot of espresso.

- M -
macchiato — /makija’to/ Italian for “marked”. Unqualified, refers more or less to a shot of espresso with a topping of foam, sort of a minimalist dry cappucino. A latte macchiato is steamed milk with a ristretto shot poured through the foam (at least at Starbucks); Starbucks also makes a caramel macchiato, which is essentially an upside down vanilla latte with caramel syrup over the top. Also, the most frequently mispronounced word on any coffeehouse menu.
Melior — See French Press.
Melitta — A company named for the first name of the German housewife (Melitta Bentz) who invented the drip coffeemaker; also a slangish term (trademarked) for a manual drip coffeemaker consisting of a funnel, a filter, and a coffeepot. Operates by pouring hot water through the grounds in the funnel; the end result is basic drip-brewed coffee, pretty much the same as an automatic drip with maybe a bit more work.
Middle Eastern Coffee — see Turkish/Greek Coffee.
misto — Italian for mixed; shorthand for a Caffe Misto.
mocha — Commonly refers to a mixture of coffee and chocolate; in a coffee house, it’s usually used in the slightly restricted sense of a Caffè Mocha. Also refers to a specific type of Arabian or Ethiopian (where it’s spelled Moka or Mocca) coffee with a pronounced acidic, fruity flavor (incidentally, Yemen Mocha Sanani is exceptionally good iced); this is often combined with smoother, heavier-bodied coffees from Java (in Indonesia) to create the well-known Mocha Java blend. To compound the confusion, a stovetop espresso pot (works on more or less the same principle as the percolator, but without reboiling the coffee) is also known in Italian as a moka (originally, I’m told, a brand name). The connection between coffee/chocolate and the former port of Al-Mukha in Yemen seems to have something to do with flavor similarities between coffee and chocolate.
Mochaccino — Cappucino with chocolate syrup. The problem is that most people who come into Starbucks are thinking “mocha Frappucino”; this term should be considered obsolete.

- P -
panna — Italian for whipped cream, sometimes unsweetened. “Con Panna” indicates a drink with whipped cream added. Incidentally, at one time unsweetened whipped cream was the common practice at Starbucks; I don’t know how common that is, and we now flavor it with vanilla syrup anyway.
percolator — A room-freshening device designed to use coffee grounds as the scent agent. Produces a spectacularly lovely smell in the room by reboiling water through the coffee grounds, but the brown liquid produced as a byproduct of this process should not be confused with brewed coffee; it is considered unfit for human consumption.
portafilter — An espresso machine operates somewhat like a drip machine with a lot more pressure. The grounds, instead of being held in a basket, go into a small container with an insulated handle called a portafilter, which contains an insert with a grid of tiny holes in it. The coffee (ground almost to a powder) is put in the insert and tamped down, and the portafilter is inserted into a holding bracket and turned to a locking position. The water is blasted under pressure into the portafilter and through the coffee grounds, draining through the holes in the insert. The end result is a shot (or two) of espresso. The insert is usually securely locked into the filter with a spring, allowing the barista to empty it by whacking it against a bar that stretches across the top of something called a knock box instead of having to gouge out the hot grounds with a spoon or finger.

- R -
Raktajino — Not actually a coffeehouse term, and only a diehard Trekker barista will understand it, but according to Marc Okrand, who invented the Klingon language for Star Trek III and ought to know about these things a raktajino (a portmanteau of two Klingon words meaning “warrior’s knife” and the word cappucino) is sort of a cappucino or latte spiked with Klingon bloodwine and served appropriately hot. I suspect brandy or red wine might be an appropriate substitute; YMMV and don’t try to get me to drink the damn thing.
Redeye — (slang) A regular drip coffee with a shot of espresso. Meant strictly for those who need the caffeine boost. Other terms for the same drink include Shot In The Dark (possibly an Alaskanism), Scrap Iron, Speedball, Depth Charge, Bellman, Boilerhouse, and Caffè MF. Seems mostly to be favored by the blue-collar and high-tech crowd; I used to joke that some people who ordered redeyes didn’t have enough paint on their clothes to qualify for one. Dunkin’ Donuts began in 2006 to market this as a “Turbo Hot”.
regular – Means absolutely nothing. In New England, it’s cream and sugar; elsewhere I’ve been led to believe that it implies strictly black. When you ask for a regular, you get what the locals think is a regular. Do yourself a favor and say exactly what you want. For what it’s worth, now that Starbucks does mild roast, regular implies dark.
ristretto — Italian for restricted or restrained; refers to an incomplete espresso shot used (for example, in latte macchiatos) when the espresso flavor must be especially intense.

- S -
skinny — West Coast for nonfat/skim milk based drinks. Not so much heard on the East Coast, but not so rare that it shouldn’t be learned.
solo — Italian for, well, solo (or single). Refers, depending on context, to either a single shot of espresso served as a drink or a space pirate played by Harrison Ford.
split shot — West Coast for a half-caf espresso shot.
sweet — This is a tricky definition; coffee isn’t generally sweet in the usual sense since most of the sugars in the bean would be caramelized out of existence in the roasting process. When talking coffee, sweetness refers to tempering of its natural bitterness. A sweet shot of espresso will have bitterness similar to a fine beer; a bitter one will be more like the smell of permanent marker or turpentine. It won’t kill you like the petroleum products will, but you won’t enjoy it either. The moral of the story: always order your espressos “for here”. You’ll enjoy it a lot more if it doesn’t make it beyond the bar.

- T -
Turkish/Greek Coffee — A not-entirely-unpleasant preparation made from powdered light-roast coffee beans, Turkish/Greek Coffee (compromise names include Middle Eastern and Balkan Coffee; best to sit on the fence if you don’t know your audience) is prepared by putting a couple of teaspoons of powdered coffee, a teaspoon or two of sugar, and a demitasse-full of water into a small pot called a jezve or ibrik. The coffee is brought to a slight boil two or three times until it foams and is then served, grounds and all. Try not to drink the grounds; they’re not that good. (Incidentally, it’s not worth spending big bucks on coffee beans for this. Most of the flavor is burnt off in the process, leaving a drink with a flavor vaguely remniscent of a coffee caramel.) Most American coffee houses don’t serve this; it’s a decent drink, but IMHO it’s not really worth the trouble. If you’re going to do this, though, it’s worth noting that Turks prefer Brazilian coffees, while the Greeks like Ethiopian (unless they’re drinking instant-based frappes).
- V -
Vietnamese coffee – The tradition in Vietnam, where they grow Robusta that’s actually drinkable, is to serve coffee with sweetened condensed milk instead of regular milk. It’s quite nice, though it can be startlingly sweet.

- W -
wet — Containing more milk than is usual. This generally only applies to cappuccinos, but can also apply to drinks such as a caffe misto/cafe au lait; best to avoid the extended usage, though, as it can be confusing.
Why Bother — Any of a series of closely related and supposedly rather pointless lattes revolving around the decaf skim theme. IMHO the ultimate would be a decaf triple venti skim latte or something along that line, but you get the general idea; a decaf double tall skim latte is the canonical form. The term “gutless wonder” has been observed on the television show Frasier (set, of course, in Seattle).

Brazilian Estate