Meritage blend

Thunderbird uses Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company's Meritage blend. Here's the breakdown:

50% Brazil Ipanema Dulce Pulped Natural
20% Ethiopian Sidamo Special Prep Natural
10% Brazil Moreninha Formosa Pulped Natural
10% El Salvador Cerro Las Ranas Pulped Natural
10% El Salvador Matalapa Washed

I friggin' love it.

Holy cappuccino!

My favorite drink--at Thunderbird or any other coffee joint--is a traditional cappuccino. What is a cappuccino? What makes it different from a latte? These are reasonable questions for the average coffee drinker. Luckily for us, there are answers.

We've been trained by most American coffee retailers that a cappuccino is an espresso with a whole bunch of foamy milk, and a latte is espresso with a little bit of foamy milk. You can certainly order these drinks this way, and you very well may enjoy them. But the Specialty Coffee Association of America, judges of the US Barista Championship, and other specialty coffee aficionados see espresso-and-milk beverages in terms of their coffee-to-milk ratio rather than how the milk is steamed. In fact, the experts say that milk should be steamed exactly the same way in a macchiato, a cappuccino, and a latte.

What ratio of milk, foam, and espresso is appropriate for a traditional cappuccino? The Italians (and all the other folks I referred to in the previous paragraph) define a cappuccino--by law, no less--as one-third espresso and two-thirds textured milk. By contrast, lattes have more textured milk than a cappuccino, and macchiatos have about a one-to-one ratio of espresso to textured milk.

Why steam the milk the same way? In short, because it tastes better. A great barista will steam the milk with small, tight bubbles which creates a smooth, velvety texture which releases milk proteins in the most tasty way possible and highlights the taste of the espresso. It's also the ideal milk texture for creating latte art!

For me the most important thing is that the 8 oz. cappuccino at Thunderbird highlights the delicious flavor of our Meritage blend espresso. (As an aside, the blend breakdown of the Meritage espresso is here.) It's the perfect combination of coffee and milk.

So what about those who have gotten used to their drinks in a different way? Here's some terminology that might help:

- Dry: This is a beverage (usually a latte) that has milk steamed with more foam.
- Wet: This is a beverage (usually a latte) that has milk steamed with very little to no foam.

For example, if you want espresso, steamed milk, and a lot of foam, you might order a 12-oz latte, dry.

This is all important to you, the brilliant and attractive Thunderbird customer, because--technically speaking--Thunderbird only serves a cappuccino in our traditional 8-oz. size. If you order a 12-oz or 16-oz cappuccino, the barista will more than likely inquire as to whether you like your cappuccinos dry or wet, or suggest an 8-oz size.

So now you know! Feel free to discuss this and many other relevant and interesting questions with our baristas next time you're in the shop!

[For discussions of this topic in the zeitgeist, click here and here.]

Ryan Hall's latte art is featured on Austin Details. Check it out!

Dudetown, USA

Art opening tomorrow night!

Team Photo Magic presents:

Dudetown, USA
New photography by:

Matt Conant
Jen Hellow
Sean Klinger
Matt Taylor-Goss

NYT + Coffee

A pretty cool blog post about coffee from New York Times blogger Christopher Niemann is here.

Breakfest Club Crew performing at Clementine and Thunderbird

Suggestions

A lot of places have suggestion boxes, but do you ever know what happens to your suggestion? Does anyone read them? Does anyone care?

Here are a few suggestions we've collected recently (in bold); our response follows.

Vegan goodies! Gluten-free? Soy milk @ condiment stand!

We carry vegan treats from Celeste's Best! We'll soon be carrying some gluten-free chocolates, and we do indeed now have soy milk at the condiment stand. Thanks!

Carry the Daily Texan.

We looked into this, because we love The Texan. It turns out that we're not quite on the delivery route, so it looks like we won't be able to carry it for now. Look for it at our sister store, Clementine Coffee Bar.

Whole-grain bread!

Your sandwiches are awesome, but will you assuage my dietary guilt with some whole grain (high fiber) bread?

We've had several suggestions for whole-grain bread. We'd love to carry it, but one factor preventing us from using it in our paninis is that the bread is almost always too thin to work with the panini grill. The vegan sourdough bread that we currently use is nice and thick and allows the sandwich to be pressed without smooshing the ingredients. If anyone has any suggestions on "sturdy" whole-grain bread, please let us know!

Nice place! Stay open later

Stay open later.

Can you stay open later during finals?

As of last May, we now close at 11:00 p.m. nightly instead of 10:00 p.m. We hope this helps!

MySpace bulletins and live music on a certain day each week!

We now have live music on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays outside on our patio. We also have movie night every Tuesday!

Topo Chico

We now serve Topo Chico!

Can you provide simple syrup for the iced drinks?

We can! During the colder months it's available by request, but we always have it available during the rest of the year.

Bigger tables

A few months ago we got bigger tables that offer more than enough room for you, your coffee, your laptop, and perhaps a game of Twister.

Please keep your suggestions coming! We really appreciate the input.