Never mind what that groundhog had to say.

Don’t blink! Spring is just around the corner.  While we’re sitting here in the snow coffee is being harvested and processed in many parts of South America and Africa.  And in just a few months you’ll be able to enjoy some of the spectacular selections brought to Blue Ox from our roasters.

Currently we are offering coffees from Rwanda, Papua New Guinea, and Peru.  For those of you that are new to Blue Ox you’ll see that our coffees change about monthly to bring in new and exciting origins at their peak.  We’ve added a new drink to the menu that utilizes one of our Bingley’s teas.  The Blueberry Fluff Bomb is a blueberry and lavender syrup in steamed milk and topped with a natural vanilla marshmallow.  We’ll have it on the menu through the end of March.  Beginning March 1st we’ll have Cold Brew back on the menu.

Art has been rotating through the cafe over the last few months.  And our current rotation is a wonderful collection of photographs from election night at the MN United campaign offices.  Rebecca Lawrence captured emotional scenes as the election results came in.  Please see our facebook page for information on the reception to be held on February 24, 2013.

It’s late and it’s time to put Babe in the barn for the night.  We’ll be brewing early.

 

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They like us. They really do!

Hot Dish from City Pages put us #4 of the best local coffee shops. 

I’m happy that we made the top 10.  We’re in awesome company.

 

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Thank you for the great year.

The last 5 months have been an exciting time with meeting new customers, hosting a fundraiser for a local student, and having our 1st Annual Winter Craft Bazaar.  I hope you all enjoyed your visits to Blue Ox as much as we’ve enjoyed having you in.

Have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice this holiday season, and a spectacular New Year!

We’ll be closed on December 24th.

Closed December 25th

Open at 10am on December 26th

We’ll also be closing early on December 31st–6pm

Opening Jan 1st at 10am.

See you soon.

 

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And We’re OFF!

YES that means we are finally open.  We actually opened the doors at Noon on July 30th.  We won’t go into the mess that is dealing with contractors.

And what a great welcome we’ve received from our neighbors in the Powderhorn, Central, Bryant, and Bancroft neighborhoods. Everyone has been stopping in and getting their coffee (and tea) on.

The menu has had some tweaks and it’s been decided that sandwiches are much better when made fresh.  So, from now on they’ll be made when ordered.

Stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter for special items that we’re serving, too.

The menu will posted in the next few days.

 

Thank you, EVERYONE!

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How Time Flies

The process of opening this cafe’ seemed daunting at first because of all the code requirements and legalities I just didn’t know when it came to opening a restaurant in Minneapolis.  And then there were the naysayers that said I couldn’t do it without spending $200,000.  It took some effort and a lot of education on the go, but a coffee shop CAN be had for a hell of a lot less if you’re willing to do the grunt work and research.  A morsel of luck doesn’t hurt either.

I was fortunate that Mike Stebnitz, the owner/developer of the building is a restaurant man and  also well-versed in how to navigate the many city offices involved in the planning and licensing of a project like this.  And those city workers; you know, they get a lot of shit said about them, but they’re pretty damn good and knowledgeable people.  Not once was a call not returned or a question not answered in such a way that my path was made clear in a given situation.  Even my health inspector seemed to be a wealth of knowledge when my contractor had code questions.

It’s certainly been a long process, longer than I would have liked, but it has certainly come together.  We’re in week 6 of actual construction and only a few items are left to complete; plumbing fixture installation, touch-up painting, and gobs of cleaning.  The amount of sheet-rock dust is pretty astounding.

Final inspections are due any day now and Health has been scheduled for early next week.

Blue Ox is roaring to go.

 

 

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A Lucky Find

When I contemplated finally opening my own coffee shop I spent a tremendous amount of time looking for the right location.  I had a lot of time to consider whether I wanted Blue Ox to be in a high foot-traffic sort of environment or tucked into a neighborhood.  Personally, I’ve never enjoyed crowds and couldn’t imagine spending all my working hours in the throngs of mall crowds.  The decision to seek out a cozy neighborhood made itself known to me pretty quickly.  My son was barely six months old when he and I began the serious searching for that right spot.  We had a lot of adventures on the snowy Minneapolis streets on our quest for the perfect little storefront.

Minneapolis, and the Twin Cities in general, has some fantastic communities nestled back in it’s tangle of tree-lined streets, but the one I always came back to was an area that many people won’t visit because of it’s colorful history; Powderhorn.  Technically, Blue Ox is in the Central Neighborhood, but the intersection of East 38th & Chicago Ave. is keystone in that it joins The Powderhorn, Central, Bankcroft and Bryant neighborhoods.  And they are each unique and colorful in their own right.

Community activism is at the root of what makes neighborhoods great.  These neighborhoods are no exception.  I feel fortunate to have found such a great location on Chicago Ave.

Blue Ox is a couple weeks from opening and we’ve already had a tremendous response to the shop via our Facebook page.  It’s heartwarming to know something as simple as coffee can make people take notice.

We plan to be open before the end of July.

Follow us on Twitter @blueoxcoffeeco

or

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/blueoxcoffeeco

to keep up with the progress.

 

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