Category: Travel

Specialty Coffee Steals the Show at Foundation Coffee Roasters in Fairfax

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When you want great coffee, you start with the foundations. In this case, start with Foundation Coffee Roasters. Fairfax, Virginia’s only roastery, Foundation Coffee Roasters, has it all — incredible specialty coffee, decadent pastries, and a unique spectator-friendly space that puts the baristas on display like a theater stage. Travel to Foundation Coffee; you won’t regret experiencing their high quality craft.

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Monday Melt: Inspiring Chocolate Poster [Holiday Edition, Halloween]

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French chocolate makers, the Menier family are known for building the first automated chocolate production facility for the industrial manufacture of chocolate, in France, 1825. Take a drone tour of the facility and read below ♥️

Chocolat Instantane, Francois-Meunier, Milano, Parigi, Italy, circa 1913

The Menier Hardware Company was founded in 1816 in Paris by Jean-Antoine Brutus Menier, the time when chocolate was mostly used for medicinal purposes: to coat pills in pharmacies.

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K’UL Chocolate from Minnesota is a Winner

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There’s something beautiful about autumn. It’s the death of the old and hibernation of thoughts. There’s time to decay and time to be reborn. It’s all done with grace and as a dance. Leaves float to the ground gently and create a blanket to hug the earth as the cold weather comes. Like a butterfly cocoon, the beauty of the process is hidden until it’s ready for soft, unfolding exposure.

Fall brings strong desire for hot chocolate and cozy blankets in front of a camp fire. Camp fires bring s’mores. What are s’mores without some delicious chocolate… Chocolate in the cold weather warms the soul.

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Raving About: Rise Up Coffee Roasters

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Rise Up Coffee Roastery, Easton, Maryland

There are a few well-known coffee roasters located just outside of Washington, DC, in the little state called Maryland and the coffee scene is dripping strong. One of the states’ coffee staples is Rise Up Coffee Roasters, a company that relishes in its Eastern Shore, Chesapeake Bay roots with the hashtag: #WeAreMarylandCoffee. Once you take a visit to Rise Up’s roastery, a renovated 1920’s gasoline station in Easton, it’s hard to argue with the company’s rich coffee culture.

Time Cupsoul’s first encounter with Rise Up Coffee Roasters was actually within Washington, DC, at a tiny pop-up cart right outside of Friendship Heights metro station. It was exciting to try a new iced drink from a small push cart decked out with coffee bags and a little umbrella. The iced coffee was delicious. This brief encounter with the company was positive.

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After some online sleuthing, it was quickly discovered that the company, started in 2005, roasts USDA Organic and Fair Trade coffee in small batches and was just a short drive from DC.

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‘Luck of the Irish’ – Bean and Goose Chocolate Bar

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It’s Saint Patrick’s Day today in the United States and what better a day to taste a handmade Irish chocolate bar!

Bean and Goose Chocolate is a sister-owned craft chocolate operation in Wexford, Ireland. Heeding a barista’s recommendation, the “Single Origin Irish Sea Salt and Cocoa Nibs, Cocoa 76%,” was purchased. Would pure chocolatier craftmanship and a touch of Irish luck make this bar a winner?

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The Bean and Goose bars’ packaging (seen also on other selections), is somewhat minimalist, with one washed color and bright white lettering (see picture above). The Irish Sea Salt and Cocoa Nibs bar has a grey paper package, and upon turning over, reveals a white sticker with further information regarding the brand: “We are Karen and Natalie Keane, sisters and premium chocolate makers based in the Wexford countryside… We create chocolate that reflects contemporary Ireland, its flavours, its colours and its people.” Never having traveled to Ireland, this concept seemed exciting. What flavors would reveal themselves?

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