BLACKBIRD COFFEEHOUSE

2009-04-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

THIS WEBSITE IS NO LONGER UP-TO-DATE!!!

PLEASE VISIT OUR NEW UPDATED WEBSITE:

www.blackbirdcoffeehouse.com

New Merchandise

2009-03-31T08:26:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Handmade Mugs provided by

De La Tierra

by Kathryn Byrd

And New Greeting Cards & Magnets from Borealis Press!

We're on the news!

2009-03-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Knoxville's WBIR stopped by our shop yesterday,

and we are a bit embarrassed to say that you can see it here.

They made Craig sing.

New Extended Hours!

2009-03-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Beginning Monday, March 23rd, we will remain open until 7PM all weekdays.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Our favorite coffee scene EVER:

Here at Blackbird, we stick with the traditional Small/Medium/Large. :)

Support Small Business!

2009-02-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were mentioned in this week's Metro Pulse by The Gourmet Nose. You can read the article here.

As the article makes abundantly clear- now, more than ever, is such a crucial time to make conscious consumer choices. Please support your local and small businesses!

We would like to acknowledge our wonderful suppliers who operate their small businesses with a great deal of heart & soul:

Hot Bagel (Oak Ridge, TN)

Cities Cupcakes (Knoxville, TN)

Mattie's Mountain Mud (New Castle, VA)

Bongo Java (Nashville, TN)

Beth Meadows (Knoxville, TN)

Sarah Musgrave (Knoxville, TN)

Bell's Candles (Knoxville, TN)

Love Is All Around

2009-02-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Starting Monday, February 9th:

Get your sweetie a Valentine Gift Basket from Blackbird!

Includes 1/2 pound of coffee, white rose tea, valentine brownies, and some special chocolate treats. :)

Introducing Happy Hour...

2009-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Attention coffee lovers!

It is my pleasure to announce our new HAPPY HOUR!

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays: 4-5pm*

1/2 Price Drinks!

*hours subject to change

Happy New Year!

2008-12-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

*Auld Lang Syne in 2009*

In celebration of the new year, we will close early on Wednesday at 5pm, and will be closed on Thursday, New Year's Day.

Effective Friday, January 2, 2009, our new hours will be:

Monday-Friday: 7am-6pm

Saturday: 8am-5pm

Sunday: Closed

We want to thank all of our customers for a wonderful first five months of business. We cannot express how much we appreciate you.

Give the gift of Blackbird!

2008-12-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Holiday Season is upon us! We now have GIFT CERTIFICATES available in any denomination for you to give to your favorite coffee lovers. Stop by and pick one up today!

Frosted.

2008-11-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to remind you of the upcoming holiday schedule changes. We will be closed on the following days:

Thursday, November 27th - Sunday, November 30th

Thursday, December 25th - Sunday, December 28th

Thursday, January 1, 2009

And, do please drop by and try some of our outstanding Frosted Mint Hot Chocolate!

The Holidays Are Coming!

2008-11-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

*NEW* Delicious GINGERBREAD Lattes & Steamers are here!

Come by for some pre-holiday cheer. :)

Also, congratulations to Sarah Musgrave for a wildly successful art show this past Friday! Her beautiful work will remain on the Blackbird walls until the new year.

Art Exhibit This Friday!

2008-11-03T05:37:00.000-08:00

THE LEAVES FALL TO FEED THE GROUND
Art by Sarah Musgrave
Friday, November 7, 2008
7-9 PM
Blackbird Coffeehouse

Milk Cartons & Mugs

2008-10-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Have you seen me?

Whew. Now that THAT is out of the way...

We have Blackbird Mugs! Come and get your very own today for only $3.99!

Early bird gets the Java!

2008-10-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

This month, we are featuring a french-roasted coffee from the island of Java in Indonesia. I mean, when it comes from a place that is synonymous with "coffee", it must be out-of-this-world delicious, right?

We will brew limited quantities each day, so get here early to try this amazing brew!

Moondance

2008-10-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

Craig's Masterful Work.
Originally uploaded by blackbirdcoffeehouse

"Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance/ with the stars up above in your eyes/ a fantabulous night to make romance/ 'neath the cover of october skies..."

Ah, let us count the ways we love fall:

Pumpkin Spice Lattes
Beautiful Colors
Hot Caramel Apple Cider
Scarf Weather
Garden Vegetable Soup
Van Morrison

So many reasons to love this time of year. We hope you feel the same.

Upcoming Events!

2008-10-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

2008-10-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

Blackbird is mentioned on HGTV's "Front Door" Website!

2008-09-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Click here to read it!

The Leaves Are Starting To Turn...

2008-09-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Drink Feature of the Day: Good Ol' Chai Latte (the perfect autumn drink)

COMING IN OCTOBER: Hot Apple Cider, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and Soups!

Bike Rack!

2008-09-18T07:09:00.001-07:00

Bike Rack!
Originally uploaded by blackbirdcoffeehouse

Thanks to our good friends at THE BIKE ZOO for our new bike rack! You can now park your two-wheeler in style. :)

Mochas & Happiness

2008-09-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

I love mochas. Especially iced. LOVE them. I do not use this word lightly. This is why I take great pride in serving you the most delicious mocha possible. In the next few days, I will be refining our recipe even further, so that it is quite possibly the best mocha you have ever had.

If you are in the grips of a bad "case of the mondays", take some time to think about something that you love as passionately as I love mochas. Enjoy this lovely weather that Knoxville has so graciously received, and HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

~Ali

Are you a card-carrying member yet?

2008-09-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

We officially have Coffee Club Cards, so come on over and start gathering stamps toward your first free drink!

In other news, there is a gas shortage here in Knoxville, and we're paying the price for it. Literally. $4.59 a gallon and upwards. If you live here in Sequoyah, what better way to save on mileage than walk over to your neighborhood coffee shop for your daily caffeine fix?

See you soon!

Wake Up

2008-09-10T08:07:00.001-07:00

DSCF0974
Originally uploaded by tweedle_duh

...and smell the espresso!

Come in and treat yourself to a fresh blueberry scone and a double americano. Life is far too short and precious to drink mediocre coffee.

divine

2008-09-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Drink of the Day:

Vanilla Snow Creme Slush

"I think it's what they drink in heaven!"

I'm not kidding, that's what one of our customers said about this cold, refreshing drink.

Just sayin'. :)

Happy Tuesday!

2008-09-02T08:28:00.001-07:00

It's good to be back. We hope you had a truly wonderful long weekend.

First on the agenda, I am proud to say that BROWNIES ARE BACK! I've had quite a few requests for them this past week, so come and get 'em while they're hot!

Today's drink special is an Iced Dirty Chai. That's an iced chai with a shot of espresso. Sure to bring out the wild child in anyone.

The hot, muggy weather is definitely back... but boy oh boy do we have a good way for you to cool off! We have all kinds of fresh fruit smoothies - raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry - you can combine any of the above. Let your imagination run wild. And don't deprive yourself of our delicious whipped cream. :)

P.S. Please notice the change in our Tuesday hours. Effective next Tuesday, Sept. 9th, we will be open from 7am to 2pm on Tuesdays. All other business hours will remain the same. Thanks to everyone for being so cooperative and supportive in these first weeks. We are here to keep you happy!

Reminder...

2008-08-30T10:18:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

Just a reminder to let you know that we are closing today at 3pm, and we will reopen Tuesday morning at 7am. If you can't make it through the weekend without our delicious coffee *wink*wink*, we have 1 lb. and 1/2 lb bags of beans for sale. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend, and see you next week!

Espresso/Coffee 101

2008-08-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is great article on the difference between some of the basic coffee/espresso bar menu items:

Here is a link to the video also.

Most menus offer espresso and brewed coffee based beverages, but many people do not know the difference between the two.

NY1's Jill Scott stopped by Ninth Street Espresso in Chelsea Market for a little coffee talk with owner Kenneth Nye.

"Espresso is prepared and brewed under pressure, so these espresso machines push water through a small amount of coffee at high pressure, and so you are actually extracting all of the oils and essentials out of that coffee under pressure," said Nye. "Whereas brewing coffee, like you would do at home in a drip or French press, you are letting gravity do its job."

Most of the drinks you see at a coffee bar are made with espresso – except for a café au lait, which is just half brewed or French pressed coffee and half steamed milk. A café au lait is often confused with a café latte, which is two ounces of espresso and as much as 10 ounces of steamed, textured milk.

The big difference between all the espresso drinks really has to do with the amount and texture of the milk.

"A cappuccino is an espresso-based drink, so the ratio would be roughly an ounce-and-a-half to two ounces of espresso, and about four to five ounces of steamed textured milk," said Nye. "So it's a smaller drink."

The word macchiato means marked, so it's a shot of espresso that's marked with a little milk.

Mocha is similar to a latte, but has liquid chocolate.

If you like the flavor of espresso, but enjoy that larger cup of coffee – you may want an Americano, which is water added to espresso.

When looking for a pick-me-up, most people think a shot of espresso will do the trick. But the truth is there's actually a lot more caffeine in a regular cup of coffee than in that espresso.

"One of the main reasons why is that extracting espresso takes about 25-30 seconds, while drip coffee takes about four minutes," said Nye. "So you are spending four minutes extracting everything that's in that coffee, which includes caffeine, and you are doing it for a far longer period of time."

As for taste, the strength may be determined by the flavor of the beans and not always how much coffee is used. So to find out what you like, you may want to give a few different blends a shot.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-08-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up to all of our customers- we are going to be closed this coming Sunday 8/31/08 & Monday 9/1/08 in observance of Labor Day. We'll open bright and early at 7am on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd!

The Sunsphere Is Not a Wig Shop - Review

2008-08-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the always charming Beth Meadows for her lovely review of our little shop! You can check it out on the site that is quickly becoming my new obsession:

The Sunsphere Is Not a Wig Shop

Welcome to Our New Website!

2008-08-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

So. It has officially been 5 glorious weeks since we opened the doors here at blackbird, and we are so pleased with the support from the community! As you can see, we have a new website, and I will be updating this as frequently as I possibly can. If you miss hearing "Blackbird" playing in the background as you peruse the site, you can always visit the old site at www.myspace.com/blackbirdcoffeehouse.

Sometime in the near future, we hope to host a few shindigs for the community. We've been talking with our neighbors here about doing an open house one weekend. Also, we're planning on staying open late one Friday night for an art opening. As these ideas come to fruition, we will definitely keep you posted.

In the meantime, we will keep working hard to make you that perfect cappuccino, mocha, or whatever delicious concoction it is that you crave.