Things we host

Tuesdays, 6:30am

Run Club

It started because three of us wanted an excuse to run before work and nobody wanted to be the one who bailed. Now there are usually twenty of us on the corner at 6:30, and the group has gotten fast enough that we had to split it in two.

There is a five kilometre loop and an eight, both flat, both ending back at the door. Nobody gets left behind on either. We open early for it and the first coffee is on us, which is the actual reason most people come and we have made our peace with that.

You do not need to be fast and you do not need gear. Show up in whatever you own.

First Sunday of the month, 2pm

Painting Days

We push the tables together, cover them in paper, and put out more brushes than anyone needs. Someone brings a speaker. It runs from two until we get tired of it, usually around five.

There is no instructor and no finished thing you are supposed to produce. Half the room paints something real and the other half makes shapes, and both are correct. We have had eight year olds and seventy year olds at the same table on the same afternoon.

Materials are free, coffee is not. Come at the start if you want a good seat by the window.

Last Friday of the month, 4pm

The Cupping Table

When a new lot lands we taste it properly before deciding whether to buy it, and there is no reason to do that alone. So the last Friday of the month we set out the bowls and anyone who wants to can taste along.

You get a spoon and about six coffees, and you slurp them loudly, which is not us being eccentric, it is genuinely how you taste the whole thing at once. We will tell you what we notice and then shut up so you can decide what you notice.

Your opinion counts. Two of the coffees currently on the shelf are here because the room outvoted us.

Quarterly, check the board

Latte Art Throwdown

Four times a year we clear the bar after close, put a bracket on the wall, and let people compete at pouring. Baristas from other shops come, regulars come, and every so often a regular beats a professional and we talk about it for months.

Entry is free and there is a small prize that is mostly a bag of coffee and a lot of bragging. We pour milk for anyone who wants to practise beforehand, which is most people.

If you have never poured anything you should still come and watch. It is loud, it runs late, and it is the best night we do.

Demo Run club and painting days use your supplied photos, ungraded. The cupping table and the throwdown are invented, and all four write-ups are sample content.