Primavera Coffee Roasters

Borgia

In modern American café parlance, a Borgia is typically some sort of orange and chocolate flavoured espresso beverage. Our particular incarnation is a ten ounce, orange essence infused version of our Mocha. As nearly as our extensive internet researching can discover, the name must come from that illustrious Spanish-Italian family whose infamy dates back to the Renaissance. The sound of the name Borgia does have a bit of Italian flair, as seems to be prerequisite for any espresso culture vernacular. Also, the family originated from Valencia, the region of Spain now famous for its excellent orange trees, thus connoting the orange part of the drink. As with any etymology whose bibliography is exclusively drawn from the pages of Wikipedia, this is not guaranteed to be completely accurate. It is our best guess and we are sticking to it (for now).

To make the drink we start by grating to order orange zest which is then placed in the organic milk that will be used for the drink. While this begins infusing, we pull our normal double ristretto shot into an old fashioned glass. Next we mix dark chocolate syrup into the expresso and garnish with sprinkles of Dagoba chocolate powder. We then steam the orange zest milk, which really brings out the aromatic orange oils into the milk, before straining out the orange zest. Finally we pour the exquisitely textured milk into the dark chocolate expresso mixture.

Our Borgias were available for a limited time at the price of $4.00. The response was so good that we decided to make the Borgia the first in a series of seasonal special drinks. If you missed out on the Borgia this time around, fret not, it will be back next year (or really the end of this year). We are currently finishing up the details of a new special drink to complement the beautiful warming weather so look for that soon!

Cupping a few Ethiopia Beloya micro-lots. Fantastic!

New Years Day

To whom it may concern: we will be open all day New Years Eve but closed on New Years Day, reopening Friday.

• Wed. 31 Dec: 6:30 AM - 6:00 PM
• Thur. 1 Jan: closed
• Fri. 2 Jan: 6:30 AM - 6:00 PM

Holiday Notes

• Open: We will be open for our normal hours on Christmas Eve. So stock up on last minute gifts and fresh coffee to brew for guests from 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM on 24 December.

• Closed: We will be closed Christmas day and the 2 days following; 25 December - 27 December. We will resume our normal hours on Monday 29 December at 6:30 AM.

• Gifts: In addition to our spectrum of fine coffees (currently 15 different origins and 3 blends, not that we’re counting), we have an assortment of loose leaf Rishi teas and herbal tisanes, brewing devices for coffee and tea, organic Dagoba chocolate bars and cocoa powders, and other items great for gifting.

• We recently received new shipments of teas and chocolates, including Jasmine Pearl Green Tea. This is an exquisite traditional Chinese tea which has green tea leaves hand rolled around jasmine flower buds to fashion beautiful small pearls. Also restocked is the amazing and spicy Xocolatl hot chocolate powder (pronounced Choco-la’tl), a traditional Aztec chocolate drink that includes ground chiles and cinnamon.

• For presentation we have Mayan gift bags that perfectly wrap a pound of our coffee. These colorful bags were designed for specifically for us and individually crafted from hand loomed fabric by Mayan people in the highlands of Guatemala. The bags are 3.50 each but if you buy 5 or more pounds of coffee, you get a free gift bag for each pound of coffee. We can also gift box pounds of coffee or any other items for a small charge.

• We also still have a few Circa Ceramic mugs remaining, and as always we offer Gift Certificates in any amount.

Handcrafted Mugs

Circa Ceramics is a studio located in Chicago which fashions all manner of vibrantly colored ceramic objects, each ornamented with gocco line art decals. Among their assortment of hand made goods are beautifully functional twelve ounce coffee mugs; in addition to looking fantastic, the mugs have a wonderful shape and heft that both feels perfect in the hand and helps to retain the heat of the hot beverage contained therein.

The mugs are formed by hand on a wheel using porcelain clay, then glazed, and next decorated with overglaze decals. The mugs are fired after the decals are applied which means that the design physically becomes part of the mug and will thus never come off. Every step of the previous process takes place in the Circa Ceramics studio. The resulting mugs, while handcrafted, are still microwave and dishwasher safe.

For a limited time we will be offering a selection of these mugs for purchase in the shop. We currently have a plethora of differing colors and line art designs, including turntables, small animals, bicycles, and moka pots. The mugs sell for $30.00 each. Expensive, yes, but also simultaneously sustainable, ethical, beautiful, and functional.

Bama Cross

Cyclocross is a style of bicycling that originated with early 20th century French road racers training in the off seasons of fall and winter. Perhaps best described as a cycling steeplechase, cyclocross courses involve portions both on and off road with steep hills, stairs, and other obstacles. Due to the racing seasons and the off road portion of courses, cyclocross is strongly associated with cold weather and mud. On most courses it is common for a few obstacles to force riders to dismount and carry the bicycle for a short distance. The courses are similar to those for criterium races in that they are a shorter loop, usually around a mile in length, over which many laps are ridden during a fixed time period, often simply an hour. This makes the sport much more enjoyable for spectators than traditional road races.

Bama Cross is the cyclocross race series for Alabama. Its first season was in 2006, so it is still very much up and coming. We are proud to be one of the two presenting sponsors for the 2008 season, which features seven races, each in a different location around the state. It is exciting for us to be helping grow such a classic and yet independent and somewhat fringe sport here in our state. The fact that it is ridiculously fun helps too! We are out at each race with a table serving up samples of our deliciously hot coffee, and if that isn’t enough, some races occasion a barista or two getting muddy out on the course.

Check the Bama Cross website for more information and pictures from some of the previous races. The Tuscaloosa race will be held this Sunday 2 November at Sokol Park with racing from 10 AM to 2 PM. The week after, on Sunday 9 November, the Birmingham race is out at Heardmont Park with racing from 9 AM to 2 PM. The full season schedule is among the information on the Bama Cross website.