Durham's Kaffeinate hopes community bonds over coffee

Photo c/o Kaffeinate

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH ...

By Dathan Kazsuk & Jennifer Primrose | February 28, 2018
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In this edition of Five Questions With ... we reached out to Diana Lee from Kaffeinate, a new coffee shop located in Durham, after meeting her and her brother at the Durham Media Mission in January. This family business is not new to small business. Diana's parents owned a few service-oriented businesses in North Raleigh and one restaurant in Chapel Hill. Her and her brother decided to enter the coffee business because of their mutual love of coffee. Diana's brother is a coffee guru who knows the technicalities of roasting and processing the bean from plant to product. While Diana loves anything that brings community together, and she believes coffee has become such an integral part of the way that people bond and converse in our society. Together, this duo hopes to bring superior coffee service - from product to atmosphere to education - to the Triangle.

Why did you select Durham as the city to startup your business? Durham and the Triangle is an ever-growing area and our coffee scene is pretty big in this area, correct?  Absolutely! The foodie scene in the Triangle has been explosive. From award winning restaurants, innovative combinations of food and service and retail, and more, we find the Triangle to be an exciting area for food and drink at this time. We also find that the residents here really know their coffee “stuff” and appreciate the history and science behind it. Durham in particular has such an entrepreneurial spirit that we wanted to get in on – and this extends beyond the traditional ways we see entrepreneurship. We find it to be a place we can continue innovate and create community.

Related Story: Media Mission Spotlights Durham businesses

Tell us a little bit about the coffee you serve. Where do you get your coffee beans from? How many different types of coffee/beans are available to customers? Do you do your own roasting? If so, what is the process?  We get our drip coffee from Dilworth Coffee, a local coffee roaster. We are really excited about being able to feature rotating local roasters for our espresso and pour over options and have so far partnered with Caballo Rojo, a Durham roaster. We have a house blend on drip that is always available, but we also feature single origins options on rotation like Guatemala, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Peru, Brazil, etc. 

Photo c/o Kaffeinate

Tell us about your coffee list and food menu. What can one expect when they come to visit? We heard you are featuring Belgian waffles. How did you come up with coffee and waffles being the perfect combo?  We offer the traditional espresso drink options such cappuccinos and lattes and have a range of flavors that we can add to those as well as alternative milks like soy and almond. We have monthly specialty drinks and anything can be iced. We have a deliciously smooth cold brew as well and many non-coffee options such as a matcha latte and house-brewed chai.

We do feature Belgian waffles! We want our community to feel at home in the shop, and we were thinking about the ideal weekend morning, being able to take your time sipping your coffee and munching on ...? Waffles, of course! We love the warmth and home-like feel of a waffle paired with your coffee – it’s familiar enough to be nostalgic but rare enough to be a luxury at the same time. Get your fluffy Belgian waffle topped with an assortment of fruits like blueberries, strawberries and bananas, and add extras like whipped cream, nutella, fudge sauce and more!

Related Story: Raleigh couple plans to bring first cat café to town

You are located in a great place, next to the Durham School of Arts, as well as other restaurants, etc. How has your business been since you opened (and what was your official open date)? Seems like it would be pretty consistent in that location and with the school nearby. We opened in mid-October and have had such a wonderful reception so far from the community. We love being by DSA and able to serve the hard working staff, faculty and students there, and we love being in the downtown area close to Duke and all the office buildings. We’re also fortunate enough to be right across the street from many West Village residents and just right around the corner from Brightleaf Square.

Photo c/o Kaffieinate

Baristas and Mixologists ... they both take the craft of making drinks to a new level. How passionate are baristas in making coffee drinks for customers? Do they strive to come up with new mixtures/ideas in the likes of cocktails? If so, what are some unique drinks someone can find in Kaffeinate? Our baristas are constantly working on taking our drinks to the next level and coming up with unique and delicious flavor combinations. These are usually featured as our monthly specials – for example, our February featured drinks are the pistachio rose latte and the lavender vanilla latte; for January, we had our Okinawan steamer made with purple sweet potato, maple syrup, and spices. We have friendly competition in the shop for who can create the best latte art, and we’re always studying coffee in our free time. For us, it’s all about quality, consistency, and community, and we hope you’ll come see that for yourselves!

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Kaffeinate is located at 115A North Duke Street, Durham, NC 27701

Keep up with Kaffeinate by visiting their web page at www.kaffeinatenc.com or follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kaffeinatenc

If you or someone you know would like to be featured in a monthly Five Questions With, please send an email to trianglearoundtown@gmail.com

WINE: Open That Bottle Night is meant to be shared with Friends

By Dathan Kazsuk  | February 27, 2018
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It was a little over 18 years ago when Wall Street Journalist's Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher came up with a brilliant concept titled "Open that Bottle Night." The two wrote a column for WSJ called Tastings where they rated wine with a range that went from "yech" to "Delicious!". 

The whole idea of "Open that Bottle Night," which occurs on the last Saturday in February is aimed to motivate people to reconnect with friends over some open bottles of wine, and to open something in your wine cellar you've been dying to open for a special occasion, just haven't got around to it quite yet.

We thought to ourselves ... we're game! We took some time looking at all our wines, thinking which ones had a nice story behind them, and came up with two to uncork. Our first was a 2008 Robert Foley Charbono. Our second was a 2012 Caymus 40th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon. Why did we select these two wines? The Foley has been sitting in our cellar for over seven years. It was signed by Robert himself when he visited the area for the annual Triangle Wine Experience weekend. And for the Caymus ... well, it's an incredible wine and we've just been waiting for the right time to open up a bottle.

Related Story: Bottle Signing: A great way to meet and greet winemakers

We invited a couple friends of ours who are also huge wine enthusiasts, and they brought over a couple bottles of 2009 Turley Zinfandels. Looks like we were going to be drinking in style with this stellar lineup.

Sitting around the dining room table, we did some catching up since the last time the four of us were together while trying all the wines and pairing them with the chocolate and cheese spread we put together for the evening. Each of the reds paired well with the blue cheese we had, but we all agreed hands-down the best pairing was with the Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. The Habanero-Mango Cheddar went best with the subtle complexity of one of the Turley Zins. 

When we felt the Charbono decanted for long enough we each filled our glasses with this dark colored red wine. We were slightly scared that 10-years in the bottle could have been past its prime, but we were mistaken. Its ripe blackberry, slightly oaked and remnants of black licorice made this wine just a good as the other three.

We had a great time enjoying wine with friends over good conversation, as wine should be enjoyed.

Over a Pint: Lynnwood Brewing Concern

Lynnwood Brewing Concern's Bill Gerds has been head brewer since June of 2013.

By Dathan Kazsuk | Feb. 19, 2018

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Over a Pint is a new series where we’ll sit down with local North Carolina breweries and discuss informative intel over – you guessed it – a pint of beer. For our first installment, we sat down with Bill Gerds, head brewer at Raleigh’s Lynnwood Brewing Concern. Just like most brewers, Gerds got his start home brewing at a young age and eventually landed his first brewing job at Redwood Brewing Company in Flint, Michigan. Working there part time for 4 years, he learned a lot, which eventually led him to securing a job at Michigan’s Arbor Brewing Company.

This is how our interview began, over a couple IPAs. We discussed his past while he selected his favorite IPA of the moment, Hop Sauce. And I decided on one of LBC’s more recent releases, Hombre Enojado, a DIPA. Just two hop-heads talking about the past and what eventually brought him to North Carolina.

“I grew up in Southern California, plus my daughter turned 16 and lives in Michigan,” he says. “So I started looking to move somewhere warm.” Gerd’s then started applying for brewing jobs left and right. Resumés were slinging all over the Southeast, from North Carolina to Florida.

It was through a classified in ProBrewers that Gerds saw the job posting from Lynnwood’s owner Ted Dwyer and applied for the position. Gerds flew out to North Carolina, and just like that, he became the brewer of Lynnwood Brewing Concern. That was all the way back on June 2, 2013.

And it was there, at the original location, where the restaurant still stands, he started pushing out some of Lynnwood’s favorites such as Bad Leroy, Putin Tang, Czars & Stripes and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Amber Lager. But there is one beer that gets the Raleigh locals to head over to the taproom and that’s LBC’s Imperial IPA, Hubris. Gerds admits that this hopped up IPA is one of his favorite beers to brew, which only comes out once or twice a year. “It’s my favorite because I can slap a bunch of hops in there and [that] makes me happy,” he says.

With the popularity of Hubris here in Raleigh and the popularity of IPAs in tall-boy cans, the obvious question was about to come out of my mouth before he beat me to the punch. Hubris will soon be packaged in 16-ounce cans sold in 4-packs. How that made my day.

When I first ordered my beer when I walked into LBC, it wasn’t hard to notice all the hardware hanging on the wall above all the taps. Gerds and his crew have been fortunate enough to win many medals, including a gold and silver award from the Great American Beer Festival last year. Hung with pride, Gerds confesses that these awards mean a lot to him. “They do. I love to compete,” he says. “It’s really one of the only ways we have to quantify what we’re doing … well, other than people buying and drinking our beer.”

And keeping with his competitive nature, Gerds mentions that LBC usually enters beers in the National IPA Challenge (NIPAC). He recently entered the beer in my hand, Hombre Enojado, in the next installment of this bracket-style competition pitting IPAs against one another. The competition starts out with 128 IPAs and widdles in half after each round until a champion is crowned. “Hubris lost in the championship 3 years ago, and Hop Sauce lost in the championship last year,” Gerds says. Maybe this is the year, and the angry man will win it all.

When you look up at the wall of beers at LBC you’ll find a wide array of great beers, from Hefeweizens to stouts – but the one thing you’ll see a lot of is IPAs. With Gerds being a hop head, it’s to be expected. But one thing you don’t see a lot of is the latest craze – New England India Pale Ale, or NEIPA. “We don’t make a whole of of them. We’ll make a few hazy IPAs but nothing that we’d come out and characterize as a New England IPA,” he says.

But even though he doesn’t make a lot of that hoppy nectar, he’ll be the first to admit that this craze isn’t going away anytime soon. “I think they’re here to stay. The only problem I see is the shelf life in packaging those beers. They don’t have a great shelf life, but if consumed fresh, they’re very tasty.” As we’re almost done with our beers, I decided to bring up a question that’s been bugging me with the freshness of canned IPAs … and that is ‘When is a fresh IPA no longer fresh?’. In Gerds opinion, anything under three months would still be considered fresh to him. “When I’m buying them, I’d personally like to see them under a month old,” he says. “But I won’t turn down a two or three month old IPA, but anything older I’ll probably start thinking about looking elsewhere.”

With us on our last few drops of beer left in our tulips, it was time to conclude the interview. But right before I stop the recorder on my phone, I had to find out what’s in store for us in 2018. And what I found out is that LBC has an assortment of beers to be released through its cellar program as well as a series of single-barrel releases. “We’re going to go straight out of a barrel and into a bottle,” Gerds says. “The series is based on whatever barrels we really like back there.” And with Gerds being a hop-head at heart, we’re pretty such guaranteed some more hoppy beers. “I don’t know what it’s going to be yet, but I always love pushing new hoppy beers.”

2018 NC Fine Wines Competition Awards Results

By Kimberly Williams
Weddings by the Vine and guest Triangle Around Town blogger
Website | www.weddingsbythevine.com

Kimberly Williams is the creator/owner of Weddings by the Vine based in Cary, NC. Weddings by the Vine is a boutique wedding planning service specializing in vineyard weddings here in North Carolina. 

I definitely had no idea what to expect last night and how the evening would unfold. With that being said, my excitement grew for the vineyards and for the industry as a whole. I’ve been promoting the North Carolina wine industry for a number of years, and it was very exciting to attend the Fine Wines competition this year.

The event was capped at 250 guests and quickly sold out at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem. As soon as we entered the grand lobby, glasses of 2017 Shelton Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc lined the bar and amuse-bouche was passed out – lobster vols au vents with fennel leek relish, corn pudding and chives. This paired very nicely with the Sauvignon Blanc, and I was already happy with my decision to join the celebration.

Related Story: And the winner is ... North Carolina Fine Wines Society to host awards ceremony

I was able to chat with a few of the vineyard owners that I haven’t seen in a while and make a few new friends. What’s also exciting about this event is that the winners are announced to both the industry and public at the same time. Vineyard owners were anxious to hear the competition results but dinner was next, so they would have to wait a little longer.

As a planner, I was thrilled when right on schedule the doors to the Millennium Grand Ballroom were opened. We were seated at table No. 24 with three other couples who love wine and support the NC wine industry through wine clubs and visits. To our surprise, we were all members of two wine clubs and laughed when they were the same two for all the couples. We vowed to branch out more and share the love! 

Related Story: Wedding planner with a passion for wine helps make dreams come true

Winners from the 2017 NC Fine Wines case were invited to submit their wines and Chef Patrick Rafferty designed the menu specifically to complement those wines. I’m not a foodie and am actually a picky eater, but the pairings were lovely – both in taste and presentation.  Chef Rafferty did an amazing job!

The amuse-bouche was a great pairing with the Sauvignon Blanc, so I was anxious to taste what was next. The second course was winter squash salad with butternut-acorn, red kuri, goat cheese mousse, white wine poached pear, confit chestnut, honey poached cranberries and young mache – paired with Cellar 4201's Chardonnay (Oaked).

The third course included sous vide duck breast with red wine poached cherries, parsnip puree, salsify, baby carrot and cherry vincotto demi-glace – paired with the 2013 Grove Nebbiolo. This pairing was definitely the highlight for the majority at our table.

Fourth course – eye of bison ribeye with truffled fondant potatoes, bone marrow custard, white asparagus, cavolo nero, cipollini onion with sauce perigourdine – paired with the 2014 Jones von Drehle Petit Verdot.  

Last and definitely worth it, was a dark chocolate torte with blood orange sorbet, pomegranate gelèe, piment d’Espelette and vanilla powder for dessert – this was paired with the 2015 Raffaldini Montepulciano Riserva. Another favorite of our group!

There were over 100 wines submitted for the competition including wines from six new wineries. There were several category types, and the wines were judged by advanced Sommeliers. This is the toughest state specific competition in the country as North Carolina continues to make great progress.  

It was finally announcement time, and it was quick. They had been waiting long enough and the top twelve were announced altogether and gathered on stage – it was hard to keep up but all the details are below.

The top award, Best in Show went to Sanctuary Vineyards for its Double Barrel 2015. Beach trip is on the agenda now, as they are located at the Outer Banks. 

The other award winners are:

• Best Red Vinifera – Sanctuary Vineyards 2015 Double Barrel red blend
• Best White Vinifera –  Point Lookout Vineyards (Riesling 2016)
• Best Dessert Wine – Surry Cellars (Iced Petit Manseng 2013)
• Best Hybrid – JOLO Winery & Vineyards (Crimson Creek 2016)
• Best Sparkling – Surry Cellars (Blue Ridge Bubbles 2016)
• Best Rosé – Jones von Drehle Vineyards (Rosa Dia 2016)

NC Fine Wine Case Winners:

• Laurel Gray Vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 2014)
• Jones von Drehle Vineyards (Petit Verdot Estate 2014)
• Parker-Binns Vineyard (Cabernet Franc 2015)
• Raffaldini Vineyards (Vermentino Superiore 2016)
• Jones von Drehle Vineyards (Petit Verdot Reserve 2012)
• Midnight Magdalena (Merlot NV)

We managed to take a few more photos and then it was time to leave. Riedel wine glasses were given as we made our way out.  So much excitement – it was definitely worth it – to be a part of the celebration! I’ll be scheduling a few trips to some of the winning vineyards this year that I haven’t already visited, and I hope that this blog may encourage you to plan some trips of your own.

Is it just a coincidence that today is #NationalDrinkWineDay? Enjoy yours!

*The North Carolina Fine Wines Society was established as a nonprofit with two goals. The first goal is to promote the quality of North Carolina Fine Wines (Vinifera & Hybrids). The second goal is to fund a scholarship for NC students, attending NC Colleges or Universities, pursuing careers in Enology, Viticulture, and wine related Hospitality and Agritourism programs.

Make it Exotico Tequila competition crowns Raleigh semi-finalist

By Jennifer Primrose | Feb. 13, 2018

Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | 

Instagram: trianglearoundtown | Pinterest: TriangleAT

The United States Bartenders' Guild's "Make It Exotico" Cocktail Competition recently visited Raleigh as part of its series to find the best mixologist from across the U.S. making their best cocktail using Exotico Blanco or Reposado Tequila as the base spirit.

On February 2 inside Watts & Ward cocktail bar, a total of 9 regional mixologists came to win. The winner of this semifinal event will win an all-expense paid trip to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleands to compete for the grand prize – an all-expense paid trip to Jalisco, Mexico, to visit Exotico tequila's distillery.

Mixologists from Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Charleston and as far as New Jersey came to compete. They had 7 minutes to make 4 drinks for the judges who used the following criteria to crown a winner: appearance, aroma, creativity, taste and overall impression. The judges were Kasey Liebes, manager at Counting House in 21c Durham; Gina Stephens, publisher of Raleigh Magazine; Dathan Kazsuk, design editor of Triangle Business Journal; and Kyle Erkes of C. Grace on Glenwood Avenue.

Kevin Barrett of Dram & Draught won the Raleigh regional competition                                      c/o Make it Exotico

Every drink was well done, but at the end of the night, it was Kevin Barrett of Raleigh's Dram & Draught who won with his Samba in the Rain (Bottom right photo in the graphic above). 

Recipe:
• 1-ounce Aperol
• 1.5-ounces Exotico Blanco  
• 3/4-ounce lemon juice
• 1/2-ounce agave syrup
• 3-ounces soda water
• 4 dashes Sombra Mezcal
Add all ingredients except Mezcal in shaker with ice. Shake and strain over ice into Collins glass. Top with soda water. Add dashed or spritz of Mezcal. Garnish and serve.

Other stops to find a finalist include Miami (Jan. 23), San Diego (Feb. 27), Austin (March 6), Indianapolis (March 20), Denver (April 17) and Detroit (May 1).

In the Kitchen: Chicken, Cupcakes & NC Wine for Valentine's Day

In this Valentine's Day edition of In the Kitchen we decided to "Keep It Simple, Stupid" or KISS ... probably something you want to spend more time doing on Valentine's Day then cooking a meal, right? 

Since we do like to support our local wineries here in the state, we decided to pull out a couple NC wines to pair with dinner and dessert. For dinner with went with a wine from Sanctuary Vineyards in Jarvisburg. We selected the 2016 Handcrafted Viognier Vin Orange and pair that with Rosemary Orange Roasted Chicken. The wine, a late harvest Viognier was fermented in French oak barrels – and the orange color comes from the skins being in contact with the wine during fermentation. The tropical fruit and pineapple on the nose and finish made this the ideal wine for our chicken.

Making the chicken is pretty straight forward. We had an assortment of bone-in chicken thighs and legs. For the marinade, combine 1/4 cup EVOO with the leaves of 5 springs of rosemary, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Combine that and pour it on the chicken. Thoroughly spread the mixture on all the chicken. Then take an orange and slice it to equal the amount of chicken your making and gently insert one slice under the skin of the chicken pieces. Preheat your oven to 450. Now pan fry your chicken in batches, around 3 minutes per side and return to a clean roasting pan. Bake the chicken for 20-25 minutes. 

We paired our chicken up with a four-cheese risotto and a slice of a blood orange. You can also make white rice or quinoa – or steamed broccoli or asparagus.

Now for dessert ...

Keeping with the KISS method, we decided on cupcakes for dessert. But not just any cupcakes, we decided on Rosé cupcakes using Piccione Vineyards 2016 Rosato made with Montepulciano. This Rosé wine, with a nose of raspberry and lime leading to a palate of strawberry, cherry and lemon zest, added just the right flavor to both the cupcake and the frosting. 

That’s right, we added Rosé wine to both the cupcake batter and the homemade frosting, topped with a raspberry garnish. But what made this dessert so incredible, was pairing it with the wine itself. The Rosato cut down the sweetness of the frosting perfectly and made for an amazing end to a fantastic, simple, Valentine’s Day dinner.

Related Story: In The Kitchen: Carolina Traminette and Spicy Chicken Teriyaki Bowls