DoubleShot Coffee Company

All good things must come to an end.

No, no. Good things come to those who wait.

Yeah, that’s the one. No idea who said that or if it’s even true. But I’ve never been good at sitting around, waiting. Though I do tend to play the long game.

Nonetheless, I have some good news and some not-so-good news. We are finally finished with the book. After many, many rounds of edits and a run-through with a professional proofreader, countless photo edits, a few re-writes and additions, layout and design modifications, we’re ready to let it be.

We’re well aware that you will find errors and typos, and that we’ll likely be disgusted with ourselves for messing something up. But realistically, this has evolved into a huge, compelling, and beautiful project. It’s the first thing people say when they flip through one of the early proofs we had printed and bound. “It’s beautiful.” That’s thanks to Mark.

The book is full of photographs going all the way back to 2004, and even earlier. Around four hundred in all. It’s over 160,000 words. You knew I was wordy, but no one would’ve predicted I could put together that much prose. I can only hope y’all still think it’s beautiful after you’ve read it.

As for the not-so-good news, we’re struggling with the printing process. While initially intending to print it in the U.S., prices are way too high. Canada isn’t much better. India was an option, but shipping and tariffs have taken that printer off our list. So as much as our president doesn’t want us to, we’re dealing with a printer in China. Normally tariffs on books are zero. But you know nothing is normal these days.

Through it all, we’re going to get there. It’s merely a handful of decisions about gsm, coated vs uncoated, dust jackets, and endpapers, and we’ll be at the finish line. As always, we appreciate your patience and hope to have the book in your hands by November. THIS November.

I posted a couple chapter layouts to tide you over at purist.coffee (click the link). And if you haven’t kept up with the latest press or coffee weirdness going on over at the purist site, be sure and check that out.

Brian Franklin, Roastmaster & author

A long time ago, Isaiah and I created a game that turned into an experiment and ultimately led me to realize I was watching a study in human behavior. It was such an eye-opener for me that I had to go home and sit down in the quiet to think about what was actually happening. It’s possible that you played this game during the brief period in which we conducted it. And if you were lucky enough or smart enough or psychic enough to figure it out, you might’ve even won.

In honor of the DoubleShot’s twentieth birthday, we’re bringing back the game, under different conditions. So you get another shot. All day on March 5, you can come in and pay a buck to play. Here’s how it works: You’ll examine a jar full of coffee beans and use all your skills and intuitions to figure out how many beans are in there. Play as many times as you want. At the end of the day, we’ll tally up all the entries and whoever is closest will win $100 gift card to use in the cafe.

I wrote a chapter in The Coffee Purist about the original game Isaiah and I created, and everything I learned watching people play. The book is currently available for pre-purchase. Read about it and follow the link at Purist.Coffee.

DoubleShot and High Gravity team up for birthday beer.

People say “beer” and it leaves us speechless. There are ale people and lager people. While not ones to judge, we’re definitely ale people. So it’s fitting that, for our 20th birthday smash, we’d serve an ale, one brewed especially for the event.

Dave and Desiree Knott of High Gravity Brewing Company have outdone themselves, creating a classic Belgian dubbel that hits all the right notes, in the spirit of some of our favorite ales—Westvleteren 8, Westmalle, New Belgium Dubbel, St. Bernardus Prio 8, Rochefort 6, the list goes on. We taste toffee and green apple, white grape and Rainier cherry. We taste … celebration.

For the party, we’ll serve our new DubbelShot ale in pint goblets, and sell it to go in four-packs of 16-ounce cans. It comes in a can but we recommend pouring it into a glass, maybe that Chimay tankard that’s gone idle for a while. Whatever vessel you choose, drink it at 50°F.

Ale, yeah.