Went from Chestnut to a ZP6 - as I mostly brew pour overs.

First cup was nice - can feel the extra clarity. Not that my Timemore was bad - but I feel that there was some “cloudiness” to the cup that is now gone.

Now to tuning the brews with it

Also, big shoutout to Rogue Coffee roasters… package came with 2 small bags of coffee (they are super fresh - 2 weeks roasted) and a bag of coffee to “season” the burrs. And even though they say it’s not the greatest cup to drink (but drinkable) they do seem pretty ok to me! Super happy with their service

I thought I wanted to open a pastry shop, but now I'm not sure sure that what I actually want to do is open a small, standing room only, coffee shop, with a great pastry selection.

I live in a city with a metro of around 100k, where, unfortunately, there’s no really good bakery. There is one speciality coffee shop, and it seems to do ok. A lot of folks here make decent money, and the cost of living is low, but the number one complaint is about needing to drive to nearby cities just to find good food. I think a high-end croissant shop could do really well here.

Here's where I'm at: I’m a home cook/baker who (probably) has more money than sense and I'm in the dangerous position to be able to afford to start a bakery (on a budget). I’ve got big ideas for the concept, recipes, and marketing, and I’m prepared to cover the initial costs. But there’s a catch—I only have about 5-6 hours a day to dedicate to this. Ideally, I'd find a partner to take a significant share of the profit and handle the early morning baking, and maybe even the actual process of making the laminating the dough, etc, and making the fillings. I think ideally that I would be the person who handles the business, marketing, menu, etc, while also working in the kitchen during afternoons to come up with the flavors of the week, making fillings, etc. I don't need need to maximize personal profit, so I could actually afford to pay an employee a very good wage -- I'm more in this for the long-term growth, so I would be happy to pay them very well (though I wouldn't want to give up much, if any, equity).

Of course, I'd need an espresso machine to offer coffee too. But is the only way to go about this to go big? I’d prefer to keep it small—have a streamlined menu with just a few items each week: 2 filled croissants, 2 filled cruffins, a plain croissant, pain au chocolat, and maybe a Danish now and then. Maybe a savory pastry. I’m not looking to run a full-scale bakery with bread or dozens of items.

Another idea I had was to make all the items in one location and maybe open a few small coffee stands around the city, so more people could get the pastries without the need for a large, single-location bakery. I don't really want to deal with running around and cleaning tables, but that may be an expectation in this area, I don't know.

Would love your thoughts. Is it feasible to keep it small and focused? Or is there a way to balance profitability without going all in on a big space with lots of seating? Any advice on what could work (or what to avoid) would be great! Am I delulu?

Hi all, we are taking over a cafe and the owner let us in to check the income for two weeks. What should we watch out for, especially the small things? Thank you for your help in advance

Went to my local cafe and got these two beauties 🩵 it’s blue lotus 🪷 tastes almost like an energy drink!

made a blueberry lavender matcha! and also just ran out of my 100g matcha tin 🥲😭

made on my brevile