As 2008 winds down, I have been resting, at least from the shop.  I made a decision to close Transcend from Christmas Day until the 2nd of January, as I felt that all of our staff needed a good rest.  In all honesty, the decision was a hard one this year as I know that we are not only foregoing a fair bit of needed revenue, but we are creating inconvenience for many of our customers.  I have been at the shop a few times this holiday, and each time that I am there I see people drive up, look forlornly into the empty windows, quickly glance at our holiday hours notice and drive away.

This has given me pause, and has had me thinking about our business as a whole during the last year.  2008 has seen a tremendous amount of change at Transcend.  The shop has grown from this small little ma & pop shop with a few baristas, to a legitimate roastery and espresso bar, with ten employees including a full-time roaster.  I have been relegated to the loft, where I spend most of my time planning, writing, administering the business.  My role has changed dramatically this year, and there are aspects of this which I am enjoying and to be honest, some of which I lament.  Nonetheless, the company has and continues to experience continued growth, and in areas that I didn't foresee.  For example, our retail bean sales have really taken off, and is a significant component to our overall revenue.  The wholesale aspect of our business continues to limp along, partially due to our existing coffee culture in Edmonton, and largely due to our own stringent expectations of new wholesale customers...

But back to my original question.  I actually think that closing this holiday has been good for a number of reasons, despite the lost revenue.  The staff, including me, have needed some time just to hang, and recover after a busy Christmas season.  Additionally, I think that our customer base needs to be reminded that our product is not something which can always be taken for granted.  I think that we would all be better off, if the things we enjoy, were not always available to us at our beckon call.  Coffee, at least the way we pursue it, is something that should be enjoyed, and not taken for granted.  When I first started Transcend, I thought that consistancy was the most important factor in business.  Now I value quality and diversity, more than I do consistancy.  This is not to say that we don't work hard at following our own profiles to provide a consistant roast, or that we don't enforce our exacting standards so that the customer gets a consistantly made espresso or traditional capp.  What it does mean is that in the future, people won't always get what they want.  If you love a certain origin, in the future it might not always be available all the time, or it might even get dropped from our line-up.  I think that the specialty coffee industry should be more in line in their offerings with the seasonal availability of coffee around the world.  So when the Ethiopians are fresh, we serve a beautiful Amaro Gayo, but when the crop begins to age, we move onto something else.

So to wrap up this rambling post, I think there is tremendous benefit in resting, and learning to rest.  I think in the midst of our ever busying culture, it is important to be confronted with opportunities to rest.  Whether this is via the form of holiday, or via situations where our own wants and demands are not instantly met.  Rest does us all good.  I know that our staff will benefit from the rest, and will be more effective in their jobs.  James Hoffman recently blogged that we would all do well to get in cue at our own shops to see what our customers are experiencing as they wait to be served.  I know for sure that when my staff are stressed and burnt out that they don't do a great job of creating an environment where the customer feels comfortable waiting in line for one of our drinks.  I am trusting that with a week of rest, both the team at Transcend and the customers which we so value will all have a better start to the new year.

I read James Hoffman's blog, and then look at our blog and feel inadequate.  It just seems that there are not enough hours in the day.  I guess I will see how riveting James' blog is when he has a five-year old son running around.  Seriously, I know the blog has been a bit thin lately and I apologize.  I have been running like the chickens I used to cut heads off of when I was 12, albeit with a bit more purpose.  There is so much going on right now.

Oh by the way, we are now on twitter.  You can follow my every move at http://twitter.com/transcendcoffee

We received our analysis results back, and were delighted to know that the nitro-flushing was giving us residual O2 levels of less than 2%.  This is great, as it has been a bit of a pain given the trials of our loaner machine.  We now love it, and love the fact that when we roast coffees like Esmeralda (which is tasting mighty fine), we can sit on it for a week or so without the fear of it going stale.  We are packaging all of our Christmas coffee this way, to ensure that the presents under the tree don't stale before being opened.  Having said that, remember that as soon as that bag is opened you are back to the good old 5 day rule.

Oh, and by the way, I got a hair cut today; first one in 4 months.  Can you spell, too busy!

Just a quick note on our Christmas hours.  We will be open on the 24th until mid afternoon, joking, carousing, sipping single malt, etc.  Then we will close our doors for Christmas day, and remain closed until the 2nd of January.  So for those of you used to coming in to get your coffee, know that you might need to stock up on a little of that nitro-flushed coffee to keep you going over the holidays.  It is the one time of year that we exercise our "small business" perk of closing for an extended time.  All of our staff are working really hard and deserve a break over Christmas; as do I.

Chad has been in Portland all weekend (surprise birthday trip arranged by his lovely wife) and enjoying warm weather and lots of good coffee.  He has been hangin with the folks at Albina Press and Stumptown, I am totally jealous.  So the short of it is that I will be at the roaster today, so will Josh, I think, filling in for the Chad who is slumming in the US.  I will be roasting some fresh Esmeralda today, and likely some more COE El Salvador #30, plus our usual fair.  We will be nitrogen flushing the Esmeralda and COE coffees to ensure stability over the Christmas period.  This is a new thing for us, and we are planning to nitro flus all of our high end coffees, as well as all of the coffee going out in the mail in the new year.  For those of you new to nitrogen, it is an enert gas which displaces the oxygen in the bag.  As we all know, O2 is the enemy of any fresh food, including roasted coffee.  Moving to nitrogen will help us sleep a bit better knowing that the coffees purchased and destined for a spot under the Christmas tree, will still be fresh when they are opened Christmas day.

You may or may not know that Transcend has an upstairs.  We largely use this space for hosting outside meetings and for overflow seating on busy days like Saturday.  On the walls we normally host the work of local artists, and tonight at 7:30 pm until 9:30, Selena will be launching her exhibition.  There will be live music via the Elphida Trio and coffee of course.  Drop by tonight or anytime for that matter, to view, and better yet purchase one of Selena's pieces.