KK’s leaving! DD’s Earth friendly. Also, we got new coffees
Hi there, Litsa here! I only have three thingies to talk to you about today, but they are all pretty heavy hitters.
TLDR:
Kristina's last day is Friday April 15nd 😭
We have new artist-inspired coffee blends
Earth Day efforts:
We've switched to eco-friendly coffee packaging
We part of the Trashless reusable cup program — give it a try!
Plus, we've got free community yoga, a free coffee cupping workshop, and other events on the calendar.
1. WE'LL MISS YOU, KRISTINA!
Come visit Kristina before she leaves for her exciting new job! Her last day is Earth Day, April 22nd. This send-off is bittersweet, for sure. As a customer, I'm sure you've chit chatted with this cheerful woman behind the counter. You may have noticed how efficiently she made your drink, or how easily she multitasked during a rush.
As a business owner, I am humbled by her social intelligence and knack for people leadership. She is able to walk that fine line of executing operational goals while taking the personal experiences of our team members into account. I'm sure they would agree when I say she has always had their backs.
I'm so pleased that Kristina's management experience acquianted her with her inner nerd, and now she's graduating off to the world of white collar work at a really cool solar company. It's wonderful to see someone get to know themselves and pursue a career that allows them to be even more of who they already are. I have no doubt she's on the right trajectory!
Please join us in congratulating her and sending her off with warm wishes. ♥
2. DD IS AN ARTIST-INSPIRED COFFEE ROASTER
Last October my old business partner, Josh established the coffee roasting arm of Dear Diary. We select and import beans, we roast them at a co-op with share with other little roasters, and we sell them online and in the shop. It seems very few people know this about us, though, which is a bummer because we produce some pretty stellar stuff. For example, I think we're the only roaster in Austin with a single origin roast from Rwanda right now. I must give credit to Josh for all of that.
Now that the torch has been passed to me, I really want to see our coffee roasting operation grow. There are a lot of fantastic micro-roasters in town, but I think we have something unique to offer, and that is our connection to Austin's illustrators.
New coffee philosophy Dear Diary loves art. The team and I feel genuinely enthusiastic about some of the super talented artists we meet, and I want our coffee roasts to reflect that. Any time we import new beans, we have an opportunity to design a blend that celebrates an artist we love. So that's what we're gonna do! Introducing:
Crisina Romero
Cristina is the artist behind the whimsical Howdy Ceramics pottery and sculpture in the shop right now. We ended up renaming Hammock Town after her because like her art, the blend is fairly light and fruity, with silky bitter dark chocolate, raspberry, and green apple notes.
Her landscapes are currently adorning our walls. We love exhibiting her colorful work! We renamed Porch Party after her because as a drip coffee, this darker blend is more smokey and woody, which is about as Texas as we can get. As a cold brew, however, the bright dark cherry flavors really come through, and the chocolate notes are almost syrupy.
Colleen Hippard
Colleen is our wonderful barista and the talented artist who did the mural in our bathroom! This blend is a new addition to our lineup. Colleen is probably the most zen person you'll ever meet, and this particular blend is much more mellow than the aforementioned two. It's also noticeably nuttier, which Colleen doesn't seem to be, but her artwork reveals her enormous imagination!
Previously we called our single origin du jour Single Track. It's super cool that we have an Rwandan import, though, so now the origin is front and center! Rwandan coffee is fantastic and funky. This Rwandan coffee has developed a small customer following! Pretty cool
Colombia San Lorenzo
Last but not least, our medium roasted Colombian. It's such a fantastic decaf. Y'all, I would never lead you astray on the decaf. Honestly, this is my personal favorite sipper because it has a milky, umami-like quality as a drip or pour-over. If you're more concerned with flavor than caffeine level, this roast won't let you down.
Free coffee cupping event
Are you in the mood for some real coffee nerdery? Join us for a free cupping of various coffees from around the world.
You'll be guided through the process of picking up and describing flavor notes, you'll learn a bit about the origins of the beans, and you'll get to experience a bit of the fascinating world of culinary product development.
3. EARTH DAY!
New easy way to keep cups out of landfills
We keep meaning to bring a reusable cups to coffee shops, but we always forget them at home! In honor of Earth Day do you think this can be the month we officially stop forgetting?
Dear Diary has partnered with Trashless to make this easier. This is how it works:
You pay a $3.00 deposit for the cup when you take a drink to go. When you're done with your drink, just be a lazy fool and leave that cup in your car! Your mom will hate it, but the enviornment will love it BECAUSE THEN you can just waltz back into any participating coffee shop with that dirty cup and swap it for a clean one when you order your next to-go drink. Never wash a cup again!
Moreover, we'll continue to honor our 10% discount when you bring any personal cup, including the Trashless one.
We've switched to environmentally friendly coffee packaging
Eco-friendly package size Pretty much every roaster on the East Side sells 12oz bags (3/4 lb) for about $18. That's $1.50/oz, on average. Our pricing is about on par with that, but we're filling 1lb bags now. More volume and less bags means less waste. The barista can also sell you coffee by the ounce now, which means you can fill a bag with up to 2lbs of coffee for even more tree-saving.
Eco-friendly package material Which brings me to our second improvement: plant-based packaging. We've switched to compostable paper bags lined with plant-based barrier material. Also, we're using unlaminated labels. Yay!
EVENTS
These events are at Dear Diary, free, and open to the public. Check the DD calendar for updates.
Sundays 4-7 Open Mic Every Sunday at 4pm Caroline Stradley hosts a really fun, very welcoming open mic for musicians. There is not open mic Easter Sunday, 4/17 though.
4/19 5:30 Community Cupping No, it's not suction cups on your back... I'd like to invite you to try various roasts with me — the components of our blends. Together, we can discuss the flavor notes we pick up. This is a great opportunity to learn a bit about coffee roasting and even influence the next blend.
4/23 11:30 - 2:30 Wundereggs! Crafty Counter will be giving out free samples of vegan hard boiled eggs. Neat!
4/24 Team Snacks Bake Sale Our dear cycling sisters over there at Team Snacks are doing a bake sale to raise funds for Hill Country Ride for Aids, a non-profit devoted to helping victims of the virus and LGBT+ folks dealing with trauma.
4/26 5:30 Community Yoga Bring your mat and enjoy an hour of Hatha. Everyone will be guided through gentle, meditative poses with suggested alternatives if you want to get more exercise out of the experience.
4/30 4-7 Drawing Nite Come doodle at Dear Diary. The Lady Geeks will be sitting at the community table, but everyone is welcome to come draw or get crafty at the shop that night.
Epilogue
Wow! Thanks for reading all the way to the end! As your reward, I shall tell you a secret:
Dear Diary is snagged in an interdimentional rift. A second reality in which nobody likes free beer has hemoraged its way into our slice of the universe, as evidenced by the fact that we STILL have so much beer to give away! I know this will feel really weird to you in our present quantum state, but I'd like you to do the following three things... FOR THE SAKE OF OUR UNIVERSE!
Go to Dear Diary
Enjoy a free beer
Give your left earbud a tap and look up
Cheers!
