karl fisher
husband :: dad :: Christ follower :: musician :: coffee bar owner
Posts
Great article from Serious Eats on tasting your coffee with and without milk & sugar.
We’re proud to introduce our Alabaster Coffee Subscriptions into the wild!
Beginning the first week of January 2012, subscribers will receive two different bags of whole bean coffee, each in a 12oz bag. These coffees will be selected by our roast master and reflect the very best if what Alabaster has to offer. Roasted & mailed to your home or office in the first week of each month, subscriptions will also include a variety of perks not available otherwise.
Subscriptions are available for 3 months (6 bags of coffee + shipping + extras = $90) or 6 months (12 bags of coffee + shipping + extras = $180).
We don’t have our new online store up & running yet, so stop in to Alabaster or drop us a note at info@alabastercoffee.com for a subscription!
Hours
We’ll be open on Christmas Eve for our normal business hours, until 5pm or until things slow down. We’ll be closed Christmas Day, as well as the day after (Mon. 12/26).
Coffee Subscriptions
If you’re still looking for that perfect gift for your coffee lover, consider a Roaster’s Choice Coffee Subscription. Available in 3 or 6 month varieties, you’ll receive two 12 oz bags of coffee selected by our roaster & mailed to you the first week week of each month.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Alabaster!
Here’s a link to a list of 12 great tips for preparing a great cup of coffee at home - one for each of your 12 days of Christmas!
Just a reminder that Alabaster will be closing at 1PM on Saturday, December 17 for a private event. So remember:
1) Come in early for your morning drink, beans for the weekend, or gift for a friend/loved one/lover
2) Why yes, you CAN rent Alabaster to make your next event even better!
What you want to know for December 2011
Coffee
New coffees are all over the place! Farm Direct El Salvador, Papua New Guinea, Brazil decaf, Guatemala Pacamara, Winter Solstice v.2 - all available as 12oz whole bean bags & rotating on the brew bar.
We are also soon debuting for 2012 our Roaster’s Choice Coffee Subscriptions - receive two 12oz. bags of coffee selected by our roast master each month for either 3 or 6 months.
Brewing Equipment
Beehouse Drippers that we use on our pourover bar, french presses, EkoBrew reusable Keurig filters, Aeropress travel brewers, and Hario Ceramic Burr Coffee Mills…everything you need to bring Alabaster coffee into the comfort of your own home without hiring our staff.
Mugs
Hot off the press, we now have our B&W Alabaster Diner Mugs for sale! It also looks great under a Beehouse Dripper…
Bags
Hand made totes, purses, and messenger bags sewn from our 60kg. jute coffee bags.
Office Catering
Alabaster is proud to announce our office catering service. Designed to serve 8-10 people, we show up with coffee, fresh breakfast pastries, and all the extras delivered to your office or business. All we need is the number of folks we’re service & 48hr. notice.
Coffee is a lot like wine in the sense that they share a very wide range & complexity of flavors. This year, think about adding excellent coffee to your Thanksgiving menu. The following is our current lineup of coffees, what we taste in them, and suggested pairings for your meal.
Ethiopia Nigusie Lemma :: East Africa, sourced from a 100% farm.
We Taste :: notes of blueberry & peach, huge fruity aroma
Pair With :: salads w/ fruit, lamb, or cobblers
Tanzania Mbeya Isende :: East Africa.
We Taste :: medium-full body, notes of lemon
Pair With :: sweet potatoes, fruit tarts, lemon desserts
Colombia Excelso La Victoria :: South America
We Taste :: clean, balanced, sweet, milk chocolate
Pair With :: pre-dinner coffee, fruit salad, cheese, milk chocolate, desserts
Sumatra Mandheling :: Indonesia, sourced organic.
We Taste :: full body, earthy notes, tobacco
Pair With :: beef
Winter Solstice :: hand crafted 3 region blend
We Taste :: full body, notes of nut, slightly sweet
Pair With :: beef, pork, hearty breads, after-dinner coffee
El Salvador Malacara ‘B’ :: central America, Farm Direct/Relationship coffee
We Taste :: crisp, butterscotch, orange, caramel
Pair With :: fruit salad, poultry, cheese
Today we’re debuting our first Farm Direct / Relationship coffee, El Salvador Malacara ‘B’ from producer Roberto Dumont. This article touches on a number of great reasons that we are pursuing more relationships with coffee farms around the world.
Introducing the EkoBrew!
Alabaster is proud to be offer the Ekobrew, a reusable filter for Keurig single cup brewers. While Keurig brewers are convenient machines for many, they have some major failings in our opinion -
1) the amount of trash generated from every single use cup
2) using only Keurig branded coffee, which can have varying quality & freshness
Those two reasons are two among many on why we are carrying the Ekobrew. Now everyone with a Keurig machine can keep the convenience of their brewer, while eliminating the trash AND using fresh, locally roasted coffee.
Barrel 135 Presents a Night with Alabaster!
Wednesday, Nov. 9th @ 6pm.
Tickets are $45, reservations are suggested.
A five course meal featuring Alabaster Coffee as a primary ingredient in each as well as a coffee service to cap the evening. There will only be one seating and space is limited. We’re excited to partner with Barrel 135 for this unique event!
First Friday is upon us once again. While our typical melange of outdoor artists & street vonders retreat to inside over the winter months, a large number of downtown businesses continue to celebrate First Friday with great live music & featured artists.
Tonight Alabaster will be open until 9pm. We’re welcoming the band Birds Over Arkansas, a fantastic trio from CT, and featuring artist Camille Brady. Come join us on Pine Street tonight!
In the coming days Alabaster will be welcoming our very first Direct Trade/Relationship Coffee! What does Direct Trade/Relationship mean?
A Direct Trade or Relationship Coffee, at its simplest, is a coffee that is contracted directly with a coffee farm. This limits the number of hands a coffee passes through, and ultimately would lead to both more dollars in the hands of the farmer, but also the building of a relationship between producer and roaster. It is our hope at Alabaster Coffee that we would be able to form lasting relationships with not only our local customers that walk through our door every day, but also the farmers who grow the very coffee that we roast & brew here in Williamsport, PA. From Day 1 we have made it a priority to source coffee that is sustainably grown and sold for a fair wage - and this is the next step in our journey.
With the help of our friend Andy Newborn of Finca Coffees, we were able to begin a relationship with Roberto Dumont of Finca (Farm) Malacara “B” in El Salvador. In the coming days we’ll unfold the story of Roberto, his three generation family farm, the coffee (microlot Tablon Cinco), and what a relationship between coffee producer & coffee roaster can look like.
This is going to be fun.
Jason Dominy is a colleague in the coffee industry, throws down in GA, and is a friend we’ve yet to meet face to face. He’s put together a fantastic primer about Manual Brewing, which is how we make all of our brewed cups of coffee at Alabaster. Check it out!
One year ago Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Co. opened its doors for First Friday. We’re so thankful for so much - being welcomed as we have been into downtown, the opportunity to educate, roast & prepare some of the finest coffees from around the world, but most of all the community that we’ve become a part of. The support and kindess shown to us means more than we could have expected, and we look forward to being here with you for many more years!
Please celebrate with us throughout today as we debut new coffees, pastries, art and music until 9pm tonight!
:: The Alabaster Crew ::
Karl, Bethany, Sabra, Josh, Lindsay, Casey, and all of our alumni
We’d like to welcome some new friends to the team who are now carrying Alabaster Coffee throughout our city!
:: 33 East ::
join your meal or dessert up with a freshly brewed cup from a rotating selection of our Single Origin & Origin Blend coffees.
:: The Bullfrog Brewery ::
featuring the Bullfrog Blend on the brunch menu, as well as our Columbia Magdalena in the Somnus Viduata (now on tap). previous beer collaborations also include the Double Coffee Stout, Double Coffee Stout (barrel aged), and the Ala-Blaster (barrel aged).
:: Williamsport Cinema Center ::
pair big screen entertainment with a cup of our big flavor Cold Brew Java Jampit Estate (single origin).
Now available on bar & in 12oz whole bean bags, Summer Solstice v.1 is our take on a seasonal summer blend of specialty grade coffees.
7:30PM - live music by Quincy Newton & his Ukelele
Featured July Artists:
July 01 - 15 :: Ahmar Zaman
July 16 - 31 :: Sarah Duvall
New drinks & good times will be had all day long, 8AM - 9PM!
* We will be Closed on Monday, July 4 for Independence Day. Plan ahead for your long weekend’s coffee needs!
We will be closing at 1pm on this Saturday, June 25 for an off site event.
In related news - we’re available to provide specialty coffee service for your next off site event!
Somnus Viduata is a collaborative effort between the Bullfrog Brewery & Alabaster coffee. This classic saison brewed with a variety of specialty malts and 9lbs of our house roasted Colombia Magdalena coffee. Stop in to the Bullfrog to give it a try!
Audio
Updates
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This makes me feel old: 10 Things Our Kids Will Never Worry About http://t.co/cnBrImst
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Photo: It all makes so much sense… http://t.co/4Gy20mtQ
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@jonathanbonchak can you convince her there was a lineup change & it's made all the difference?
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@HandsomeForty I can hardly keep up with all these coffees. Dang. Not that I'm complaining... #wager2012
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January? Snow? I don't care, I'm still grilling steaks outside tonight.
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@AlabasterCoffee will be having a pop-up coffee bar somewhere around Williamsport this Friday evening. Where will it be?
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Video: That’s my girl. http://t.co/A4tc6EM6
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Video: And thus the perfect children’s book has been made even more perfect. http://t.co/c6L9qtiq
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@veggietales thanks for making movies I don't mind watching 2-3x in a row. Because that's what usually happens in my house.
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Video: Planking is so 2011. http://t.co/TdIY18bc
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“@bluthquotes: It's so watery. And yet there's a smack of ham to it.” // I kind of want this to be a coffee description...
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@joelwsnyder Thanks for stopping in today! Sorry I missed you - I was busy pumping my body full of OJ & airborne.
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A pregnancy Pilates party started in my house. I'm now walking down the street.
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"As Christians sent into our respective cities, we are called to be the very best citizens of that city...." http://t.co/XzVls6b1
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@jasondominy looks promising. It's refreshing to see folks besides just technivorm stepping up their game. How's the bonavita?
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@squareonecoffee happy birthday, friend!
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I've had Thai 3 out of my last 4 meals, and I feel 0% bad about it.
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@jonathanbonchak doesn't realize we shared a birthday! Have a good one bro!
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@matthewcase I'm pretty sure you need this in your life http://t.co/XVJ8ppmH
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@jason_ostrander yes!
Posts
As Christians sent into our respective cities, we are called to be the very best citizens of that city. We are to work for the peace, safety, security, vibrancy, and future of our city, plus the common good of all of our neighbors. A gospel-centered church is one that takes this mission seriously. We want to demonstrate the resources the Christian faith has for hope in the future.
The last time I had tequila was 15 years ago. I woke up naked in a bed between two wiener dogs. It wasn’t pretty.
And that’s a true story.
If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.
But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.
Dear UPS,
I’m not sure what ‘MET CUSTOMER MAN’ means or how it’s a delivery location, but it sounds like a sentence my 2yr old would say. Maybe you could work on that?
Karl
‘Cause like, you’re only the best damn coffee shop in the world.
This might be on repeat for the entirety of our open hours at the shop tomorrow…
Yes.
Bon Iver // I Can’t Make You Love Me
I re-blog this everytime it strolls through my dashboard. Painfully beautiful.
Capping off Turkey Day with coffee & a pumpkin gingerbread trifle (Taken with instagram)
Single people need to stop making a list of what they want in a spouse & start making a list of what they want to be for a spouse.
Thanks to Spence for my TEDxWilliamsport glamor shot. It was very cool to have TED reach into our community. Here’s hoping its done again in the future.
My wife just received a text from a number we don’t recognize that read “my no new tina”.
I desperately wanted to repsond with “that’s awesome - if it made sese & I knew who you were”.
Sadly, my vision was rejected. So I’m writing it here instead. You’re welcome.
I made a decision a while ago that if I were to rate a restaurant on Yelp for less than 3 stars out of five, I just wouldn’t do it. Might my review be helpful to someone down the line? Maybe. But I also realize as a business owner that we all have off days, and the internet can have a haunting permanence.
That said, we stopped at a cafe we found on the way home my in-laws today that had to be two of the worst coffees I’ve ever had, no hyperbole added. The atmosphere, while not really developed extremely well, was unique. The coffee? It was bad. Really bad. Bad in a ‘I’d rather get coffee from the gas station’ bad.
The smell did, however, definitely keep me awake for the return trip home. It’s always about finding the positive, right?
