Ask The Pros Search (32)
Flavor Basics
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Flavored syrups are more than just sugar water; they can add a unique touch to your shop and serve as an easy add-on for a variety of drinks. Flavored syrups have become a staple and a must have on the coffee house scene with their ease of use and endless possibilities. Did you say Blood...
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Don't Get Left Out in the Cold: Tips for Ordering Sugar Free Syrups & Avoiding Out of Stocks this Winter
As a cafe owner, the changing of the seasons means a lot more than just a surge in hot beverage purchases. The cold and inclement weather also brings with it complications that can impact your supply chain logistics. We don't often delay shipments due to poor weather conditions, but there are definitely times when we have to, in order to give...
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Fruit Smoothies
Fruit Smoothies are: Fruit based or fruit flavored blended frozen drinks. Fruit Smoothies may or may not contain dairy products such as milk or ice cream. Fruit Smoothies may be made from scratch (and might include fruit juice, frozen fruit, frozen yogurt or ice cream and nutritional supplements). Fruit smoothies may also be made from powdered...
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Snowed in with Toddy
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Toddy, hot! Why? You have a commercial brewer and an espresso machine. You've got your hot coffee bases covered, right? Well, you also have that Toddy system that usually gets put away as the seasons change; why not make the most of it? Change the way you look at your Toddy, and don't let it...
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Eat, Drink, and Be Veggie
Long gone are the stereotypes of all vegetarians being aging hippies who eat nothing but lentils and enjoy tie-dye clothes with a near-religious zeal. Making sure that your business is catering to the needs of the US's estimated 7.3 million vegetarians (which include 1 million vegans) and the 22.8 million who follow a near-vegetarian diet makes...
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Going Organic
Coffee shops are leading the charge by meeting the demands of their conscience and customer requests by going organic. The organics industry is booming - here are some tips to get you started.
There's a movement sweeping the nation, the globe. What may have started as an idealistic approach to food and eating existing only in isolated...
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Fun With Frappes
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Blended iced coffees, frappes, frozen coffee, or whatever name you choose for those popular blended drinks are a natural product for the premium independent coffeehouse. Any drink on the menu that can be served hot, can also be served frozen and blended. If your customers love a certain hot...
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Making Your Own Whipped Cream
Why Make Your Own Whipped Cream?
In today's fast paced society it's hard to find time to stop and smell the roses, let alone make your own whipped cream! Consider, however, the final touch of authenticity and quality freshly made whipped cream can add to your drinks. With the effort and expense you put into filling your cups with the best...
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Do you cold brew?
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The secret ingredient.
Cold brewing is a process that replaces the heat of traditional hot brew methods with time. Instead of running steaming hot water quickly through coffee grounds, cold brewed coffee is made by steeping coffee grounds in cold water for approximately 12 hours. The result...
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Should You Serve Smoothies? What Are Your Options?
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It’s clear… Americans love smoothies. Lately, these sweet blended beverages have been especially popular, with an 80% increase over the past five years. With our population’s ongoing quest for great tasting, drinkable snacks plus a general interest in health, experts say...
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Get Sauced!
I broke from habit today. I ordered a 16 ounce pumpkin pie latte instead of my usual Americano. What sparked this change? Besides the prominently displayed poster featuring latte art in the shape of a pumpkin, was the barista's suggestion that I try this drink because "It's the bomb! We use pumpkin pie sauce and it's to die for". So, I had myself a...
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A Bit About Maté
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Serving Maté - In addition to being good for you, maté offers a high profitability margin, a unique way to diversify your menu, and is a great way to help the environment.
Legend has it that the Goddess of the Moon and the Goddess of the Cloud came to Earth and were threatened...
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Want to Make Your Own Chocolate Syrup?
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A unique mocha is a wonderful drink and, as the most popular flavored beverage served in a cafe, becomes something of a signature beverage.
For those do-it-yourself mocha makers, I would say that it's good to consider the following:
Consistency is the hallmark of any successful cafe, so...
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Mochas and More: Welcome the New Year (And Keep Chocoholics Happy!)
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In this era of calorie-consciousness and menu labeling, sometimes your customers desire a warm, creamy indulgence. Besides, for every trend there is a counter-trend. Just like smoothies have a healthy aura and shakes are a nostalgic comfort item, for every sugar free, non fat latte there is...
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Signature Drinks – Power Up Your Profits
While those in the know may think they have fully capitalized on creating signature drinks for their retail specialty coffee business, there are many ways to power up profits through signature drinks, and only a handful of savvy coffee retailers do it correctly.
In order to understand how signature drinks can add to your business, it’s...
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Chill Your Menu
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Iced beverages can deliver high profits and attract new customers, so they are an important part of a menu that most people overlook! As the season heats up, be sure you’re considering these menu musts.
Iced Beverages
Extend your day parts – iced beverages light, refreshing...
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Staying Current & Keeping it Classic: A New Approach To Lemonade With Torani Real Fruit Lemonade Smoothie Mix
Is there a summertime drink more refreshing than an ice-cold lemonade?
How about a Peach Ginger flavored lemonade? Or maybe a Watermelon Rosemary flavored lemonade? Or what about the Frozen Roy G. Biv Lemonade pictured here?
While the classic lemonade drink continues to be a summertime menu staple, trendy flavored lemonades have been...
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Iced Coffee & Iced Tea
Iced Tea
We're always surprised at Barista Pro Shop that our customers don't sell more Iced Tea than they do. Why? We're not sure, but we're going to take some of the blame for this one. We haven't provided as much information and support in the past to help our customers sell more Iced Tea, but this article is a first step to changing that. Most...
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Water's Role in Great Beverages
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Water - it's everywhere: in the oceans, in the puddles, coming out of the skies as rain and snow. It comes out of our taps and plays a very important role in our beverages. But what is water?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines water as follows:
wa•ter (wôtr, wtr) The...
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Mocha to the Max - Sweet Ground Chocolate Powder vs. Sauce
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A large percentage of coffee consumption is now comprised of Mochas, Lattes and Cappuccinos. Considering that these specialty coffee drinks are made up of primarily milk and flavorings, its ironic that most café owners will take the time to choose a quality coffee, but will often not...
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A Clean Machine - The Secret to Coffee Excellence
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The essence of the coffee that we enjoy comes from natural oils that are largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavor. Just as we enjoy the elegant sophistication of this natural oil, if it is left to accumulate on coffee or espresso equipment, coffee oil will have a negative impact on...
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The Five Things You Need to Craft a Perfect Signature Drink
Tips, tricks and surefire ways to incorporate signature drinks into your menu that your baristas will enjoy making and your customers will order again and again!
Elaborate coffee orders still remind me of that scene from You’ve Got Mail. Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) observes that an indecisive person must make several choices to order a...
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Totally Instagrammable
How to Create and Capture Picture Perfect Specialty Beverages
As a millennial in my mid-thirties, I remember when Facebook was just an informal network for college students. At the time, “social media” was merely a place for Myspace musings and covert searches to find out more about a crush. However, jump forward to today, social...
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Serving Food in your Café
Should you serve food in your coffee house?
Most coffee house owners recognize that serving some food in their coffee house is beneficial to their bottom line. The question for most is "To what extent should we serve food?" We hope to help you answer that question with some observations we've made over the past 14 years of working with...
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Hot Tea
"The U.S. market for tea is expected to double in the next five years," states Fresh Cup magazine in their December 2007 issue. The tea trend is on the rise due in part to its profitability, health benefits, and diversity. Establishing a premium tea program now can put you on the cutting edge of this segment of the specialty beverage industry.
...
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Springing into Summer Tea!
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Let's talk tea, shall we? Did you know that tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water? And on any given day, over 127 million Americans are drinking tea. Interesting? Here's more:
From 1997 - 2007, tea sales grew from $1 billion to $7 billion
Of the $7 billion sold in...
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Flavors of the Season
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Everyone has their expectations when it comes to what flavors they want to enjoy during the holiday season. Pumpkin Pie Lattes, Peppermint Mochas & Egg Nog Lattes are what customers have come to expect as "standards" at any cafe throughout the holiday season.
I often hear people say...
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Raising the Bar - The Soda Bar: The Art of Handcrafted Sodas
Soda has been a staple of Western culture for three centuries, and a significant part of American life since the late 1800s. A huge portion of wholesome pop culture in the 1950s literally sits in the middle of soda fountains. However, over the last fifteen years, soda sales have trended downwards for several reasons, health being the most...
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Latte Art 101
The Origination of Latte Art:
Latte art first became popular in the late 80’s in American coffee shops. Many baristas pioneered and spentyears perfecting what we would consider a simple design today. After mastering foundational pours like the heart and rosetta, skilled baristas began combining them to create more complex designs. Once you...
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Refreshing Your Summer Sales with Lemonade!
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Summer has settled in to stay, and the long, hot days and nights have your customers craving something cool and refreshing. What better then to offer them a nice, cold lemonade drink? Perhaps a refreshing Arnie Palmer? Or maybe a sweet and tart Huckleberry Lemonade Cooler? Maybe something...
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Spicing Up Sales with Chai!
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From the silky froth of the steamed milk on top to the gently wafting aroma of the exotic spices, chai has become the de facto alternative to coffee and a great way to transport your customers on an exotic journey of flavor. Nothing spices up a coffee shop like chai tea and although chai has...
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What Do You Need? - Tips for Stocking a New Café
Opening a new coffee shop or café can be a daunting venture, you must first find an ideal location that’s within your budget, remodel the space to meet your needs, and then you’re faced with the overwhelming task of creating a checklist for stocking that new store. From the vast number of brands available to the breadth of...
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