so many choices

We visited a few trade shows this show and we have seen some really nice cups and saucers. While a cup is a cup, there are several considerations like:

• volume: we are intrigued to find that 12 oz means different things in North American and the UK, but the lack of standards to sizes. Hence we have a bit of difficulty settling on the correct size for a sit-in beverage, as we don’t have the normal 8, 10, 12 oz to pick from
• function: different beverages require different cups sizes, diameter, height. Eg a latte will require a wider diameter for latte art while brewed coffee can be taller without a saucer.
• colour: the easy option is to pick red but we are considering the aesthetics of the drink and in the end, we decided that white is still the most elegant
• Price: being cheap is not an option but neither is spending on exquisite china. thankfully, we are able to meet some suppliers who are able to provide quality at an affordable price. (Note to self: please try not to break any cups)
• Features: Cups that looks radical may not be user friendly; I for one, like to loop 2 fingers through the handle – form and user-friendliness are also areas we look at.

While Sching was agonizing over the cups, saucers, cutlery, and plates for the last 2 weeks, I am simply confused about our water situation over the last month. Here’s the situation – Stouffville has really hard water with lots of sediments in it; thanks to Steve from Social Coffee, the water here measures a hardness of 400ppm CaCO3 or 23gpg and 420ppm TDS(total dissolved solids). Essentially hard water does serious damage to the pipes and machines because of limescale, and with sensitive equipment like our espresso machines, this is a big no-no. We would also need to consider other things like chlorine and other unwanted particles that will impact the taste of coffee – we all know that 98% of coffee is made up of water and the kind of water that goes into our equipment has a direct impact on the quality of our beverages and food.

It is also not easy to find the right solution out there as there are myriad solutions and companies out there, all touting their greatest technologies out there. Thanks to folks like Steve and Dawson from COAG, I am able to settle on a solution that will give us the right profile of water. Phew!!  One more thing off the list.

The best that money can buy

But first, a quick little trip through our name and the various designs we went through. As highlighted earlier in our blog, we chose the colour RED to depict our passion for the business and the bulb to represent our continuous search for ideas and enhancements to improve our customer experience. We wanted to name our business the Red Bulb Cafe but subsequently, we believe Red Bulb Espresso Bar will describe our product offerings better, especially our emphasis on quality coffee and espresso-based drinks.

Several logo designs are created by Sching and a sample of those are displayed below:

The logo has to convey our business objectives and ties into our name and concept, and as you can see, it is not an easy task to choose. In the end, we decided on the following logo.

The Chosen One

In a nutshell, the logo summarizes our passion(the colour red) and love(the heart filament) for coffee(the coffee beans supporting the filament), and our continuous quest for new ideas to make us better – all the different elements that we want to convey in our message to our customers.

What do you think? Do you like any other logo better? Is there something we are missing out? Please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments.

It is pretty interesting … that Red Bulb’s first Cafe may end up being located in a Victorian Building circa 1886. We will be taking cues from this relationship for sure. I’m thinking reclaimed wood elements with industrial cast-iron black accents, modern red mosaics and … exposed light bulbs !

This will probably be the general colour palette with punches of red.