We have long felt that billionaire media tycoons should not run countries directly (or indirectly). Though we don't expect to have any impact whatsoever in the Italian general election, we endorse Walter Veltroni.

Posted by Alex at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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We were recently visited by Lisa Kivirist, her husband John Ivanko, son Liam, and Grandmother Sue. Aside from being wonderful people to eat lunch with, Lisa and John are the owners of a vegetarian bed and breakfast just South of Monroe, Wisconsin called Inn Serendipity. They also seem to have made writing about food, sustainability, ecology, and travel something of a family cottage industry. Lisa wrote a very nice post about Kavarna at eatdrinkbetter.com, which appears to be a blog worth reading.

Posted by Alex at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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We're fortunate in Green Bay to have a wide coalition of organizations and institutions who come together every year to present a full slate of Earth Week activities.

Here is the schedule:

• April 17th, 6 pm - 10 pm, Green Bay Green Drinks: Though not technically part of Earth Week, Green Drinks is one of the best ways to get involved in environmental activities in the region. It's an informal gathering of the local green community held at Kavarna on the third Thursday of every month. Kavarna Coffeehouse, 112 S. Broadway, Green Bay.
• April 19th, 9 am - noon, Fox River Clean-Up: St. Francis Park, Green Bay.
• April 19th, 1 - 4 pm, Great Lakes Compact Forum: A discussion of the crucial Great Lakes Compact featuring Peter Annin, author of The Great Lakes Water Wars. UWGB, Rose Hall Room 250.
• April 20th, 9 am - 11 pm, Take Back the Pavement: See Green Bay's streets transformed into artistic greenery displays, North Broadway Street, Green Bay.
• April 21st, 6 - 8 pm, What's the Woof About Wolves?: Featuring naturalist Cindy Mueller, Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.
• April 22nd, 10:30 - 11 am, Earth Day Storytime: Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.
• April 22nd, 5:30 - 7:30 pm, Earth Day Recycled Craft Projects: Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.
• April 24th, Leave Your Car at Home Day Challenge: A citywide challenge to leave your car at home.
• April 24th, 7 - 8 pm, Storytime at Barnes & Nobles: Storytime with ecological themes, Barnes & Nobles, 2498 S. Oneida St. Ashwaubenon (should be a challenge to get there without a car!)
• April 25th, 6 - 9 pm, The 11th Hour: Free screening of the documentary featuring actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.
• April 26th, 9 am - noon, Baird Creek and Willow Creek Clean-Ups: Pick a creek to clean up! The Baird Creek Clean-Up will start at Triangle Hill Pavilion, Beverly Rd. in Green Bay (we'll be providing some coffee & cookies to help get you started). The Willow Creek Clean-Up will begin at NEW Lutheran cul-de-sac at 1311 S. Robinson Avenue, Green Bay.
• April 26th, 1 - 3 pm, Hikes, Rain Barrel and Composting Demos: After the clean-up in Baird Creek there will be demonstrations of rain barrels and composting at the Triangle Hill Pavilion on Beverly Road in Green Bay. Rain Gardens will be demonstrated at Christa McAuliffe Park around this time.
• April 26th, 5:30 pm - midnight, EcoJam!: Featuring Burnt Toast & Jam and Kojo at the Holiday Inn City Center, 200 Main Street, Green Bay. $5.00 per person ($4.00 with the donation of a used cell phone).
• April 27th, noon - 4 pm, Izaak Walton League's Teddy Bear Hunt in Bellevue: Featuring food, fishing, and more, a family 'hunting license' costs $10. Osprey Point, HWY GV, 1 mile S. of 172.

Posted by Alex at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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This afternoon at 5:30, Mayor Jim Schmitt will be delivering his annual State of the City address (and presumably slide show) at the Meyer Theater. We always like to go if we can make it. If you can't, I'll be taking notes and will probably report back later!

Posted by Alex at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Oddly, I'm writing this at a local Starbuck's Coffee. While Linda and I will occasionally pop into one when traveling and no other option presents itself, we have never been regular Starbuck's customers. In Green Bay, Kavarna came first. Today I'm here because it's a little more comfortable than my car dealership's waiting room and it happens to be several hundred feet down the road.

Starbuck's has recently generated a lot of publicity for itself by attempting to regain the quality and sense of place that it once had (though if there was ever a 'Golden Age' of Starbuck's, I think I missed it). First, there was founder Howard Schultz's memo about how Starbuck's has lost its way, and then the three hour nationwide closure for retraining. It definitely seems like these are part of a marketing strategy to try to convince people that they are more than just the McDonald's of coffee. If anyone at Starbuck's upper management happens to be subscribed to this eNewsetter, I've compiled a list of what I believe that Starbuck's can learn from Kavarna:

• Use Lighter Roasts. The cup of coffee that I am drinking right now isn't terrible. But, what I am tasting are mostly the artifacts of roasting, and not the coffee itself. It's overdone, some might call it slightly burnt tasting. Starbucks' strategy appears to be to use overly-dark roasts to produce a strong flavor that covers up deficiencies in its coffee.
• Use Ceramic Mugs. Sure, it's a pain to wash dishes, but it's just not possible to curl up with a cardboard cup the way you can with a nice, thick diner mug.
• Use Loose Leaf Teas. The best quality tea is reserved to be sold loose leaf. Tea bags are generally filled with lower quality teas.
• Free Wi-Fi. I can't believe they continue to charge for this, wi-fi should be like air.
• Give Your Store Managers More Autonomy. Starbuck's is full of little touches that seem homey until you see that the location across town has the same little touches. If you gave your managers more autonomy, you could actually, you know, have homey little touches that were meaningful.

I could continue, but it's this last point that's most striking to me. Starbuck's is full of marketing materials that are designed to look like corkboards, fliers, and other trappings of actual, community-based coffeehouses. It's a shame that they do not have sufficient trust in their 'partners' to do more than simulate community.

Being in the coffee industry, it's hard not to think about Starbuck's frequently. But happily, they're not really in the same business that we are.

Posted by Alex at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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That's right, just like Starbucks ®. We thought it was time that we registered the Kavarna trademark, before someone else did...

Posted by Alex at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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It's been well over a year since our last Kavarna Ukulele Night, so I am elated to announce that the Third Kavarna Ukulele Night will take place on April 24th, 2008. It will feature Bosko & Honey, two talented performers from Australia, who will be traveling the world spreading uke-joy. They're best known for their fun ukulele love-in videos on YouTube, check them out.

I'm working on confirming other performers, so far Aaron Baer of Dr. Kickbutt's Orchestra of Death (and brother coffeehouse owner) is on board. Do you play the ukulele? Drop us a line!

Posted by Alex at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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