Waking Life Espresso takes a lesson from the beer world

By borrowing the flash-chilling process from beer brewers, Waking Life Espresso co-owners Jared Rutledge and Jacob Owens say they’ve perfected the art of iced-coffee. Now the two are making strides to get their product into more and more hands, by selling online, signing a larger scale distribution deal and scoping out a second location in East Asheville.

Faces in the crowd: WNC crowdfundi­ng campaigns

Crowdfunding platforms make it possible for individuals and organizations of any size to harness social networks and raise startup capital for projects that might otherwise fail due to lack of funding. This week: self-reliance through chickens, new adventures at Firestorm Books and a re-published Tarot classic.

Firestorm Café and Books finds a new West Asheville home

Firestorm Café and Books is coming back with a bang — revamped, refurbished — and in West Asheville. Soon to be located at 610 Haywood Road (formerly home to Pro Bikes), Firestorm Café and Books originally opened downtown in March 2008 in the Commerce Street space now occupied by the new Ethiopian restaurant Addissae. In April 2014, […]

Asheville: Brunch City, U.S.A.

Walking through the streets of downtown Asheville on a chilly Sunday morning, it’s hard not to be tempted by the smell of fresh-roasted coffee wafting from inside cracked doors. Outside, eye-catching rows of sandwich boards line the sidewalk. “Lobster omelette; local eggs,” reads one. “Fresh-squeezed pomegranate mimosa,” reads another, adorned with a colorful chalk-drawing of a tasty-looking […]

Single origin, double quality: Asheville gets Honduran coffee

Praline, caramel and buttery notes co-star in the latest small-batch brew available from City Bakery and Dynamite Roasting Co., and this is one buzz you won’t regret in the morning. Certified organic single-origin coffee from Honduras’ Finca La Esmeralda farm — expertly grown, carefully selected and recently transported — has made its way to Asheville, […]

Coffee journey

Great coffee is no different from any other art form: The quality of the final product depends both on material and process. “We can make really great green coffee taste terrible; we can make really great green coffee taste great. But we can’t make bad green coffee taste good: We can only work with what […]

Asheville hosts 120 hungry bloggers

Ashevilleans, more so than residents of many other cities, know where their food is raised, grown or picked and can often participate in the process with little effort. This reverence for cuisine afforded Asheville the honor of hosting Food Blog Forum’s 2014 conference, a three-day networking and educational event for 120 food bloggers from across the nation.

Whole Foods Market to set up mobile kitchen on Tunnel Road

Upscale grocer Whole Foods has planned a week of mobile kitchen feasts in anticipation of the grand opening at its 4 S. Tunnel Road location. The campaign kicks off with a “community giving day” on Aug. 18, at which nonprofit Brother Wolf Animal Rescue will be the sole beneficiary of all food sales.