Coffee, Pitch

Parisi's Pete Licata is a World Barista Championship semifinalist

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:39:00 -0500

The beans were ground. The grounds were packed.…

Oddly Correct and Hammerpress are collaborating on Heirloom Coffee Box Sets

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:58:43 -0500

The worlds of art and coffee will continue to blend at Oddly Correct this summer. Gregory Kolsto's Main Street coffee shop and roaster is once again collaborating with Hammerpress in the Crossroads.…

Roasterie's 20th Anniversary Platinum Blend debuts today

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:00:16 -0500

The Roasterie is hoping you'll raise a cup to its birthday with its new 20th Anniversary Platinum Blend that debuts in all three cafes (6223 Brookside Blvd., 1204 W. 27th St., and 4511 W. 119th St. in Leawood) today and in grocery stores this week. If you'd rather raise a pint, Coffee Ale, the collaboration between the Roasterie and Boulevard, can still be found on a few taps (Bier Station, Lew's) and liquor-store shelves around town.…

Benetti's Ben Helt wants to help you make the perfect cup of coffee

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:30:00 -0600

Ben Helt knows that there's a perfect cup of coffee out there. That's why the 38-year-old co-owner of Benetti's Coffee (6109 Blue Ridge Boulevard, Raytown) went to Panama in January (where he visited coffee farms and helped a friend's bed and breakfast with its barista program).…

Flywheel Coffee is hoping to take off in KCK

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:45:00 -0600

Jon Freeman is having a premonition. On a frigid Tuesday in February, the owner of two-month-old Flywheel Coffee, the tiny shop at 548 Central in Kansas City, Kansas, surveys the traffic speeding by.…

Oddly Correct makes Eater's 21 Hottest Coffee Shops Across the U.S.

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:06:49 -0600

Kansas City's coffee culture is starting to percolate on the national scene. In Eater's list of the "21 Hottest Coffee Shops in the U.S.," Oddly Correct Coffee Bar is right there at No. 11.…

Crossroads Coffeehouse robbed this morning

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:46:34 -0600

The Crossroads Coffeehouse was apparently robbed this morning. KMBC Channel 9 reports that police were called to the coffee shop at 310 Southwest Boulevard at 7 a.m.…

The battle of the baristas heats up this weekend

Charles Ferruzza — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:35:00 -0600

If you're passionate about all the facets of coffee preparation and drinking, this weekend's North and South Central Regional Barista Competition, presented by the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the Barista Guild, and hosted by PT's Coffee Roasting Co. of Topeka and St. Louis-based Kaldi's Coffee, will be searching for the best and most skilled barista in the North and South Central United States.

The events will be held at the Guild KC, 1621 Locust, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.…

In This Week's Pitch: The Roasterie Takes Flight

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:09:54 -0500

Underneath a plane,” Danny O’Neill says, “I feel closer to God.”

The Roasterie owner is gazing through a wall of windows, looking up at the underbelly of a 1943 Douglas DC-3. O’Neill last month installed the refurbished aircraft (minus its heavy engines) at the top of the company’s West Side coffee plant.…

Where to get free coffee for National Coffee Day

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:43:00 -0500

Whether you choose to celebrate National Coffee Day, National Coffee Day believes in you. And between now and the actual holiday, Saturday, September 29, you can get a serious caffeine buzz without taking out your billfold.…

Specialty Coffee Week means cheap, high-test coffee

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:00:40 -0500

The Goonies had the wet cave and tunnels beneath the old wishing well. Your time, bean freaks, is now.…

Caffeine Crawl kicks off Specialty Coffee Week in September

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:08:00 -0500

Coffee nerds have a lot more choices these days around the city. And you can benefit from their fanatical devotion to single-origin, pour-over brews when the Caffeine Crawl returns next month.…

Oddly Correct and Hammerpress come together in the icebox

Scott Wilson — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 11:11:00 -0500

They call it Hop!Toddy, one word, the exclamation point embedded where a calmer product name would allow a little room. It would be truer simply to call this cold-brewed, weekend-sold coffee!…

Roaster Brian Jurgens wheels CoffeeCakeKC to First Friday

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:30:36 -0500

The car slammed into the back of Brian Jurgens' trailer just outside Independence, sending the whole rig off the road - with Jurgens' future packed inside. The roaster that was going to launch Jurgens' coffee company came to rest in the median.…

Parisi Cafe to have free coffee tomorrow for National Coffee Day

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:30:40 -0500

Need a little perk-me-up?

Then head over to Parisi Cafe tomorrow between 7 and 10 a.m. for a free cup of coffee to celebrate National Coffee Day.…

The Roasterie's Summer Jam on Wednesday celebrates new iced-coffee blend

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:00:46 -0500

You probably have no desire to have your inside mirror your outside right now, so hot coffee might just have taken a backseat to Diet Coke or some other method of caffeine injection this summer.

If so, you're missing out on one of life's great joys -- iced coffee.…

No, Muddy's is not going to reopen in midtown

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:59:16 -0500

A Fat City reader wrote to ask: "I read, in the Kansas City Star, that Muddy's at 318 E. 51st Street was going to be purchased by a couple of employees. But I've looked in the window, and everything in the space is gone.…

Muddy's Coffeehouse will have new ownership

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 17 May 2011 09:30:32 -0500

Muddy's Coffeehouse (318 E. 51st St.) is getting a new owner, but if you're a regular, odds are that you'll recognize the new ownership group.

Joyce Smith of The Kansas City Star reports that Muddy's owner, Oliver Burnette, will be selling his coffee shop after 16 years to two longtime employees.…

You get to open your own restaurant -- what are you serving?

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 17 May 2011 08:30:28 -0500

Let's say you come into that Marcus Allen money or, better yet, that Jared Allen money. And after your family is secure and you purchase a pink Cadillac with horns, you can get to what really matters: opening your own restaurant.…

QuikTrip taking on Starbucks?

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:30:55 -0500

The coffee world used to make sense. You had your independent roasters and coffee shops, your large chains like Starbucks and then your convenience-store and fast-food cup of last resort.…

Hazel's Gourmet Coffee & Tea is worth a pit stop in St. Joseph

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:00:41 -0600

If you've never been to a particular coffee shop, there are often a few clues in plain sight that can let you know what to expect. Odds are, you're in the right place if you see mismatched furniture, there's a board game seemingly left mid-game on a table and, perhaps most importantly, the smell of roasting coffee wafts out when you open the door.…

Hot Coffee documentary about infamous McDonald's case now playing at Sundance

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:15:29 -0600

You probably don't remember Stella Liebeck, but you might remember her lap. It was her lap, or more specifically the hot coffee from McDonald's that scalded her lap, that led to Liebeck being the plaintiff in a 1994 lawsuit against the fast-food franchise.…

You can now use your iPhone or Blackberry to pay at Starbucks

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:34:20 -0600

Before you yell at the guy in front of you at Starbucks who won't stop texting, take a minute to make sure he's not actually paying.

Wired writes that the coffee chain has rolled out an application that allows iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry owners to purchase an order with their phones or touch-screen devices. The payment system is now in place nationwide at freestanding Starbucks and more than 1,000 locations inside of Target stores.…

Starbucks' new Trenta size big enough for a Sasquatch

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:45:32 -0600

You've probably walked into Starbucks dozens of times over the past few years and thought, this 20 oz. Venti is just about 11 ounces short of satisfying my thirst.…

Parisi Artisan Coffee to open shop in Union Station

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:15:18 -0600

Paris Brothers Inc. is hoping you'll follow the smell of roasting coffee straight to Union Station.

As reported in The Kansas City Star, Parisi Artisan Coffee is opening its first retail location in the city at the downtown train station (30 West Pershing Road).…