What's in a Mug???

"What's in a mug? That which we call coffee 

By any other name would smell as delectable." 

The taste of coffee is important, yes. Yet, what we drink is a high priority. There is a difference between paper and a travel mug. Quality, ease of use, and design are contributing factors to how useful a coffee cup is to a devout coffee consumer! 

Here are several designs and ideas to use with travel mugs. 

Original 

Great idea for iced coffee, tea or juice. 

Espresso maker for anywhere you go!

Personalize: notes, reminders, phrases.
Make your cup look like what you want. 

Wedding or Party gift ideas. 

Literal recharge of "battery". 

One of the many unique travel mugs available. 

Caribou Coffee

Dunkin Donuts

Starbucks

Inventive
Turns white when holds hot coffee!

Friend to Friend, Coffee to Heart

Coffee: the Social Drink of the Year!! (besides alcohol)

This fact results in many friends meeting over a cup of coffee at coffee shops. We have many who come in routinely or weekly to meet and catch up. When I first started working at Latte Donatte relationships between the customers were evident, but then even those friendships were shared with my fellow employees. After 2 years of working there and serving these people coffee what has come about? Friendships. 

Coffee is more then a comfort food.

 It's the basis for many new friends

 I get to see on a regular basis! 

When going to work I get to look forward to at least 3 friends/groups coming in every time... without fail!

The first group to normally come in is a duo of 2 ladies who... though they are best friends they never come in at the same time. Both ladies get the same drink, Large Caramel Beze Chiller (with no whip!). It's a triangle friendship!Lisa is the first to show up. With her we normally talk about the prank of the day to play on Tracey. This either includes lying about Lisa's new hair color, which is "Tracey... Lisa's hair turned out awful!" (words from Lisa herself), or when Tracey calls in me or Karen (fellow barista) lie and say that Lisa got that last of the chiller base that we have in stock... Never fails to get Tracey every time!! These 2 ladies are a joy to talk to! Yet, like I said before, they rarely ever come in at the same time!

While the pranks against Tracey are evolving I have The Guys showing up. These guys are one of my favorite parts of working in a coffee shop. They are the classic older guys who meet every morning for the coffee, talk about politics, sports, go on with their day and come back the next morning! It's great! The group normally ranges from 4-10+ guys, plus few of their wives and girlfriends of course! Yet, they know all of us girls and are worried if we miss a day that we normally work. I have seen many groups of guys at restaurants but had never thought about the relationship they would have with the employees. Till now... I get a hug, wishes, advice, jokes, a "good luck in school" every day from them!

Who could complain about that?

Grandpa Karl
My third friend at Latte Donatte, is the "Grandpa of Latte". He's the man who lives by coffee. But I guess having 4 cups a day will do that to you! His visits are not an hour long, 15 minutes if he isn't buzzing around town. Yet, the visits can brighten a day. I repeatedly say to my family that if my grandpa was still alive they would get along great! He worries about us girls when we are down, worried that we may be thinking of leaving for another job. Say we have a boy interested and he'll remind us that we are taken! (because he is the only man us girls need) He's another grandpa to several of us. 

Customers can be the greatest part of a job.
 I get to serve some incredible people. When out in town I can see some of them and carry on conversations, more then just coffee. Many lessons have been learned, jokes shared, ideas shared with my customers. They are more then just incoming money, but friends I look forward to seeing and serving. 

Advice of today:

Strike up a conversation with your customer or barista, you never know they are the friend you'll see every coffee break!

Words from Experience

Working at a coffee shop and any work place you get to meet some unique people! At Latte Donatte we have 8-10 employees, all ranging from experienced in life to learning algebra 3 in high school.  One employee especially has gone through many things in the realm of a coffee shop, and no this is not my boss. Karen Vogel, an employee who I am very privileged to work with multiple days in the week.


 Her bright spirit with employees and knowledge of coffee is very pleasurable and easy to work with.


I had the opportunity to sit down with her and ask several questions regarding life in a coffee shop and thought sharing her story would be beneficial. She has gone through the customer, barista, and owner stages of a coffee shop enjoying parts of each step. Knowing she had her own coffee shop we began there.

How did you get involved with coffee shops?
 (Her reply was inspiring considering I would also like to start my own coffee shop one day.)
    
Would you believe that her answer was based on 7 years of vacation down in Florida? Her husband, her and couple would go down to Florida every winter and daily they would go to a coffee shop that opened her view to the environment of the coffee shop. She used words to explain the environment such as "friendly, calming, the sway of the palm trees, it just had a feeling that was welcoming."
   
 Karen's inspiration to me: the spark for a dream can start from something simple as... the experience a coffee shop.


What happened with the inspiration?

From there she started the journey that would end with a coffee shop in the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall with 2 other partners. They were in establishment 1998-2004. Daily serving Alterra Coffee and local artists works  to daily shoppers was Karen's now dream come true.


Karen as a Barista
   -Saw big change in location. She commented on the change in customers. "At a mall you have your regular shoppers who meet their girlfriend or family, drink coffee then go shop. In a small town you traffic, you have "the guys" (as we call them at Latte Donatte) who come in every morning and we know who each other are by our first name.

                                     

 It is fun to see the interaction between the barista's and customers.

 Going from work to school. I get several "good luck at 

school Katie" in morning as I rush to class. 

                         

   - Karen stated some things that get her excited about work. Her favorite thing being the other person she gets to work with on that day. Several observations were noted about customer approach to ordering when certain people work. She really noted the dislike of "turnover employees" and how regular customers like seeing familiar faces versus several different ones who they do not know.


   - Ever think maybe work is boring? Not for Karen. The running joke is that she gets all the exciting stories while working. She told me numerous items that make working at a coffee shop not a monotonous job.
          
 Take for instance... Police coming in for a questioning about a customer that had bought coffee from you earlier that morning.


Those lovely customers we all that that just push our patience to the limit. Her favorites are those who are chatty about some very random things. What do barista's get to do at those times? Smile and continue the conversation... somehow!

Latte Art [Rosetta] from Tyler

         - Having a new customer and hearing their excitement about  
            the place!
         - Making a drink that is definitely worth the money! And just
            because it looks pretty!


Working with talented and open people is a benefit I get daily at a coffee shop. We are a family, of customers and employees. Grateful to Karen for the knowledge she has passed onto me and I hope to you too!