"Coffee Caterer Blends Beliefs into Every Cup" by John Williams

Several months ago I got a call from a reporter with The Oklahoman asking me about Organics, Fair Trade Coffee and what we were doing to "be green" with our business. We talked for a bit and a week or so ago, my grandfather called to say that he saw the article. Here is a scanned image of the article: I tried to find the link to the online version but it appears that this article was not on their website. The article also featured my friend Melody from Coffee Slingers in OKC. I thought John did a nice job with the story but I did have one correction: I was quoted talking about a way to monitor that farmers are getting paid fairly but the article seems to reference back to organic certification and not Certified Fair Trade for that portion of the talk. While most certified Fair Trade coffee and tea is also certified Organic - the Organic certification has little to do with fair pricing or trading practices. Overall, we were happy to be a part of this discussion. ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, The Oklahoman Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

Oklahoma WineFest 2008v

On Saturday, November 15, 10 am - 8 pm, a great event will be taking place at 50 Penn Place in Oklahoma City. The first annual Oklahoma WineFest will be featuring wines from 25 wineries from across the state and is sure to end up being a huge community hit! Not only are we at Cafe Evoke Catering - Oklahoma's premier specialty coffee catering company - excited about a great community event like this, we are excited to bring the best in specialty coffee to the festival as well! Yes, we will have a coffee bar set up all day long for you to enjoy. So, even if you are not a wine drinker, I assure you that there will be plenty of stuff going on other than sampling wine. Live music will be included from artists Scott Keeton & the Deviants, Heartland Express, Dolce and Annie Ellicott and all the stores in the chic 50 Penn Place will be open to all. The Festival is also featuring several workshops ranging from Wine Tastings and Food Pairings to collecting and growing. Here is a bit about the event from their website: Come rain or shine! Workshops begin at 9:00 am, shops open at 10:00, and tasting begins at 11:00. Sample wines from 25 wineries, take in a workshop, or have a bite to eat while enjoying live music on two stages, like OKC’s popular Scott Keeton & the Deviants. Get a great start on your holiday shopping with an eclectic collection of 50 Penn Place shops and galleries, vendor booths, wine accessories, jewelry, wine cellar systems, and more. And if you prefer a faster pace, Jeff Gordon’s 2002 season Daytona and Talladega NASCAR will be at WineFest and will be auctioned off on eBay in conjunction with the festival. Come Celebrate Oklahoma Wines! Come Celebrate Oklahoma! Are we a Grape State or What? Wine workshops are 45 minutes each, and will be offered more than once on Saturday, beginning at 9am * Wine Tasting – with 2nd level sommelier, Ian Clarke, of the cutting edge, Red PrimeSteak Restaurant. * Amateur Wine Making – with David Martin of Deer Creek Vineyard, and vice president of OklahomaWines.org * How to Build a Wine Cellar – with Jonathan Kuhlman, Wine Cellar Innovations * Food and Wine Pairing – with Kurt Fleischfresser of The Coach House * Wine Collecting – with Scott Duncan of Covenant Financial Services * How to Grow Grapes in Oklahoma – with Andrew Snyder of Sand Hill Vineyard, Chapel Creek Winery, Redlands Community College, and President of OklahomaWines.org. This is going to be a great event that you will not want to miss. For more information, please visit OklahomaWines.org. You can also purchase tickets to the VIP Party, the Festival or the Workshops online here. We look forward to seeing you at 50 Penn place on Saturday! ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, Oklahoma WineFest Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

South Central Regional Barista Competition Results!

I finally got to see the score card from the recent South Central Regional Barista Competition and it looked like a great turnout! Here are the results that Nick Cho posted on Barista Exchange: There were two people that I was hoping would get on the leader board - Isiah from DoubleShot Coffee in Tulsa and Jason Heagar from EspressoTrainer.com in Lubbock, Texas. While Jason did not get to the finals this time around, Isiah - in his first competition - came in at 4th place over all. Great work! This is great for Oklahoma coffee as this is the first time that anyone has competed in anything like this. This means that coffee in Oklahoma IS worth trying and worth thinking about. Great work to everyone that was involved. I have heard great things about the event and look forward to the future of it. Who knows, maybe sometime soon you will be reading about a barista from Evoke getting their hands dirty! ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, South Central Regional Barista Competition Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

Election Day 2008

Did you? Be sure to get out and vote - no matter who you are voting for, your voice is important! Don't know where to vote? Check out the Vote411 Website and you can find out where to go. It is in our hands now. ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, election day 2008 Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

Elton Kauffman | 1932-2008

A bit of a personal note for today... SELINSGROVE - Elton Roosevelt Kauffman, 75, of 5 Park Ave., went home to be with his Lord and Savior at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, at his home. He was born Nov. 9, 1932, on 11th Avenue, Shamokin Dam, a son of the late Raymond and Florence (Bailey) Kauffman. He was born on Election Day and was named after President Roosevelt. On Jan. 4, 1954, he married the former Delores E.R. Blazer, who survives. He was a 1950 graduate of Selinsgrove High School and served four years in the Air Force during the Korean conflict. Early in his life, he had been employed at Champ Hats and Tioga Feed Mills, both in Sunbury. He retired in 1997 after 30 years with Weis Markets. He was a member of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Selinsgrove, where he served as the children's coordinator for 30 years, the Bible school director for 17 years and was the past president of the administrative council. He taught Sunday school, sang in the choir and participated in numerous other church activities. He was a life member of the Hummels Wharf Fire Company and served on the Hummels Wharf and Selinsgrove Sewer Authority for 25 years. Elton was an avid hunter and fisherman. He had played baseball for Sampson Air Force Base and for the Shamokin Dam Blue Jays, as well as slow-pitch softball for the Selinsgrove Moose and Plaza House teams. He enjoyed traveling and had visited all 50 states and Japan. In addition to his wife of 54 years, he is survived by two daughters, Cindy Inch and husband, Jerry, with whom he had a special bond, of Selinsgrove, and Patti John of Bozeman, Mont.; four grandchildren, Tammy Leitzel and husband Jeff of Richfield, Kyley Hoffman and husband Nathan of Mount Pleasant Mills, Jennifer Duncan and husband Jason of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Justin John of Bozeman, Mont.; five great-grandchildren, Trevor, Stefan, Nathaniel and Evan Leitzel, all of Richfield, and Natalie Grace Hoffman of Mount Pleasant Mills; and one sister, Freda Pauline Zerbe of Selinsgrove. He was preceded in death by one sister, Geraldine Baker. Visitors may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday and 10 to 11 a.m. Monday, followed by the funeral at 11, at Christ Community United Methodist Church, Fisher and Park roads, Selinsgrove, with the Rev. Barry C. Robison officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Shreiner's Cemetery, Selinsgrove. Contributions may be made in Elton's memory to SUN Home Hospice, 61 Duke St., Northumberland, PA 17857, or to Child Evangelism Fellowship, 318 Cedar St., Middleburg, PA 17842. Arrangements are by the V.L. Seebold Funeral Home, 601 N. High St., Selinsgrove. Published in The Daily Item on 10/31/2008 I did not know him long - 5 short years - but it was easy to feel part of the family from day one. ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

Fair Trade Month 2008 || Norman Style

We still have a few days left in this great month of October - Fair Trade Month. I was online looking for events and things going on in our great state of Oklahoma dealing with Fair Trade. During the search, I came across a great group of people in Norman, Oklahoma, just a few minutes from Oklahoma City. The group is called Norman Fair Trade and they help track all sorts Fair Trade related things. The group was formed this year in hopes to help Norman become a Fair Trade City. The group has been busy this during Fair Trade Month hosting everything from a video screening of Black Gold, Fair Trade tastings, Reverse Trick or Treating and much more. They are also currently working on getting a petition to President Boren at The University of Oklahoma to get OU to serve only fairly traded coffees on campus. The Norman Transcript wrote a great article about the group with interviews with some of the founding members. We are excited to see that this group is working hard for Fair Trade and we look forward to seeing what else they have going on in the future. Be sure to stop by their blog for a look at their "where to buy Fair Trade" map and to sign up for their mailing list. This is the last part of the Norman Transcript article: "By making Norman a Fair Trade City," Bhand said. "We can strengthen our commitment towards fairness, social responsibility and environmental sustainability." Want to know more about how a city becomes a Fair Trade City? You can head on over to the Fair Trade Towns USA and read all about it. In short, this is what they look for to make a town a fair trade town (this information comes from their "about" section): A local Fair Trade steering committee is formed that meets on a regular basis. The aim of the committee is to increase awareness of and demand for Fair Trade products through education, outreach and events. A range of Fair Trade products are available in local stores, cafes and other venues. These include Fair Trade Certified products and products sold by retailers that are members of the Fair Trade Federation. Fair Trade products are used by a number of local organizations, such as places of worship, schools, hospitals and offices. The local campaign attracts media attention and visible public support, including press and radio. The town or city council passes a resolution supporting Fair Trade and the local campaign. We will continue to track the progress of Norman Fair Trade and hopefully you will see an event hosted by Cafe Evoke Catering and Norman Fair Trade in the near future! ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, norman fair trade Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!

What is that Taste?

Taste is key. Not just in coffee but in everything. Think about it....there are so many things we do that revolved around taste. At Cafe Evoke Catering, we have been thinking a lot about this and trying to figure out what we can do to not only help us understand the "taste" of the coffee and espresso we are serving to our clients but also to have something to talk to our clients about! Nothing is more fun than having that first cup with a client and talking about what type of coffee or espresso we are serving and why it is better with certain flavored syrups and sauces or with certain milk or, better yet, by itself. That is all well and good but what does it all really mean and how can we learn even more about why things taste the way they do? In perfect timing, our friend Scott at Batdorf and Bronson wrote an awesome article that was featured in this months trade journal, Fresh Cup. There is an endless supply of substances you can use for palate stimulation during training. You can create your own cuppings using chocolates, spices, breakfast cereals, nuts, teas, Kool-Aid, rum—whatever. Just remember to keep it all in context. You’re looking to expand the range of taste sensations you recognize and can verbalize. The best cuppers don’t just throw around descriptions of exotic fruits or fancy chocolates; they can identify subtle characteristics in coffees that compare with the components they recognize from these other items. It is from this process that the cupper hones skills and reinforces past lessons. It is all about training your palate. It doesn't even need to be as technical and in depth as even this excerpt talks. Being able to pick out tastes in coffee is a great thing and - if nothing else - you will be able to understand the coffee you are drinking and tell the difference between different single origins and blends. We hope to be able to provide these types of "cuppings" in the future for our friends and clients in Oklahoma City. We will not only cup some great coffees but also cheeses, olives, nuts, fruits and other things. This will be a fun thing and we will be sure to keep you up to date on the tastings and when/where you can expect to be a part of it. For more information, you can head on over to the Dancing Goats Blog for the story in pdf form. ...be bold Tagged: cafe evoke catering, Oklahoma City, coffee catering, dancing goats Add us on Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter!