We ♥ Cabbagetown + Classic Coffee

Today kept two of three Cafe Novo peeps very busy.

Noon saw Sadie + Elizabeth at the restaurant in Cabbagetown, meeting with our wonderful espresso machine rep from Zuccarini (Hi Mike!) to go over flow of the space, and machine placement.

Here was our concern - see this bar? It's where the espresso machine, cash register and pastry display will be:

Now it's hard to see the full length of it - it's

just over 6 feet at the widest part. But just behind where you see the tap now, is where the machine will go. To the right of that, grinders, and then cash register will be around where that Coke bottle is. There will be alot more space once we get our paws on the place, but Mike agreed it's doable, which is what we needed to hear.

Here are a couple more pictures I snapped while we were there this morning.

Lovely little fireplace - so nice and warm!

This is when you walk in, straigt ahead up to the upstairs.

Gorgeous open exposed beam ceilings, upstairs. Disco balls + speakers will be gone.

From the front wall of the upstairs, looking back into the bar area, stairs to the right going back downstairs. The bar will be a reading area.

From near the bar, looking into the large room upstairs. To the left, you can kind of see the nook - this is going to be The Spot to sit - amazing people watching potential.

Now imagine all those drapes gone, the trim painted white, and the tables we talked about in the last post. The chairs will be painted white, and reupholstered with (if we can get enough from our suppliers) used burlap coffee bags. If we can't, then we'll hit second hand stores for a tough canvas like material.

The second part of our day, we met with another coffee supplier that we've heard amazing things about - and were they ever right. This place blew our minds, and the shots they pulled for us in their tasting lab - wow. As in "I can't speak this is so good" wow. Their quality control is mind-boggling, and they have invented a new roasting system that is approximately 90% more energy and waste efficient than the standard in North America. We'll be heading back there for more taste - testing, and working out which of their coffees we'll be carrying, but we're sold on their organic fair-trade espresso, we can tell you with with absolute certainty.

In location updates - we got the signed back offer from the sellers agent last night. A couple of conditions altered, one or two we don't want to compromise on, and the price higher than we want to pay.

We're reviewing it now, to be scribbled on and signed back to them via email scan tomorrow morning. We like the spot, but are willing to walk away if the vendor won't budge on a few points, one being the price.

In the meantime, I'm back to drawing logo ideas so we can get some signage ordered, as well as business cards, and get the website going. So much to do!

Tis the season however, so we're not pushing too hard this week, everyone is in holiday mode and we respect that not everyone else in the universe feels the same sense of urgency we do in regards to the cafe.

We're getting there though folks!

We'll update again once we hear back on our counter-offer, hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season, warm drinks and tasty treats included!

xo