A lot has been happening behind the scenes here at Disco, and a lot of projects are moving on, so it’s time for some general updatery. Here’s what’s up.

Carrot Mob, which was grand, raised 3000$. Holy smokes, you guys. That’s rad. Now it’s just a matter of deciding how best to use that money. Right now, there are a couple ideas floating around. We’re talking to the city to figure out if (and how) we can improve our bike parking so we can encourage more pedal power in the neighborhood, trying to come up with a way to improve, decrease and recycle our paper cups (evil, evil paper cups). We’re also looking at ways to make the cafes more energy efficient. So we’re busy working, and we’ll be trying to keep y’all updated as things progress.

Six pallets of coffee came in the other day. That means Aaron and Serge spent two hours in the morning heaving like sailors to get the coffee inside before it rained, and they ended up moving 5.5 metric tons of coffee in an effort to organize the roastery and make homes for all that new bean. Basically, we have every bean ever in our basement. This means this winter is going to be one of delicious coffee, unlike last year, when the weather closed roads and made getting out coffee from the mainland a little bit tricky.

We’re partnering with The Open Door this year. In the first week of December, for every pound of coffee we sell, we’ll donate a pound of coffee to the Open Door. The economy is gloomy, and it’s unfortunate but true that when times get hard, need increases and help is harder to come by. Our goal is to help the Open Door help keep the coffee on. Even if you can’t make it down to get (and give) a pound of coffee, the Open Door can accept your donations from afar.

That’s all the big news for now. Further bulletins as events warrant!

I was going to do a photopost of cafe pics, but, well, you guys all know the shops, the baristas and the record collection, that’s all so last year. So we in the roastery thought it would be fun to post some pics of the parts of the cafe that most folks never see. Here then is the first installment of pics of the cafe you never see.

Roasting is messy business. Here’s our intrepid Gergamonster (yep, that is his official title) Serge putting paid to the day’s coffee chaff. (Incidentally, this stuff makes grand compost. And it’s free if you want it, just pop in and ask one of the baristas.)

More photos coming up. And if there’s a part of the cafe you never see and you’ve always been curious about, post in the comments and I’ll try to sneak in and get you photos when no one is looking.

Discovery Coffee Supports Movember

Movember is the month formerly known as November where men start clean shaven and commit to growing a Moustache. That’s right, we are bringing back the Moustache this November to raise funds and awareness for men’s health – specifically prostate cancer.

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia. The guys behind it joked about 80s fashion and decided it was time to bring the moustache back. In order to justify their Mos (Australian slang for moustache), they used their new looks to raise money for prostate cancer research… never dreaming that facial hair would ultimately lead to a global movement that would get men talking about a taboo subject – their health.

It’s amazing, the power of facial hair.

Friday, October 30, 2009, 7PM at Discovery Coffee House (across from Paul’s Motor Inn), 664 Discovery St.

Spoken Word at Discovery Coffee is proud to present author, punk-a-billy bassist and playwright, Cliff Syringe. Syringe is the author of “Burning Planet” and will be our featured reader after the open mic session.

The spoken word jam is open to all levels of writers regardless of genre; Newjacks and established authors alike. Come down and sign up for the open session at 7pm, enjoy a cup of locally roasted coffee and relax.

Today, for those of you hunting for a nice, welcome to Kenyans sort of Kenya, we’ve got the Kenya Nguvu on tap this morning.

Expect caramel and nut notes with delicate citrus acidity. That big Kenya tell-tale grapefruit note is muted, sweetened and chilled right out.  If you find Kenyas a little too much in the morning, or if you’re looking for a Kenya that’s not going to punch you in the face with citrus and yell I’m a Kenya! this is it, baby.

Phew. Wow. Thanks to everyone who showed up at Disco on Disco for the Carrot Mob event, and thanks to those who couldn’t make it but came to hang out with us at the nature booth in Centennial Square. We had a rockin good time, made lots of coffee, listened to a lot of Zep and generally had a grand ole time.

If you missed the fun, one of the mobsters has some great photos of the event  here.

We need your help!

For not a little while, we at Discovery have been thinking it would be nice to have a professional environmental assessment of our roastery and cafe, and then be able to implement the changes the assessor suggests. Well, now we have the chance to do just that, but we need your help!

CarrotMob is a group that selects a company to, erm, mob. A certain percentage of the money the company raises during the mob goes to make the company more eco-friendly. Perfect!

We’re going to donate 100% of the money raised in the mob, but we need to get selected first. If you want to help us out, click here to go to the carrot mob blog and vote for us!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED! We won the selection and the Carrot Mob is coming to get us on Saturday! Eeeeeek!

We are open for all your pre and post turkey needs on thanksgiving (in both locations!) from 8:00 to 3:00.

Discovery Coffee Oak Bay Grand Opening Shindig

Saturday 11:00 to 11:00

Coffee! Face painting!

Led Zeppelin!

1964 Oak Bay Ave

Phone: 250 590 7717

We got the COE coffees a few weeks ago, and a surprising and delectable Indonesian along with them. And, for the last few weeks the pressure’s been on in the roastery as we try to do justice to these tremendous coffees and the farmers who produced them.

Well, we think we’ve nailed the Takengon, so next time you’re in the store, you’ll probably see a little sign board and some bean set aside underneath it. If you want to have a little taste of the Takengon, you can get a french press of it to mull over.

As for the COEs, well, they’ve been a bit harder. We think we’re near to having the COE El Salvador “Lotte Laguna” just about a sweet and juicy as we can get it. You can get it on the Clover right now, if you want to have a taste of what we’ve been doing behind the scenes. As for the beans, well, they’re not coming up for sale yet. Not yet. But soon. I promise.

The fact is, we love to tinker. So we take our time with it. It’ll be worth the wait in the end. Promise.