Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce Mixer

We had a great time hosting the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce at a mixer on Aug. 17.

These are candid photos taken during the event. Enjoy!

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What's Your Mom's Thing-To-Do?

This past week I was at Ginger Blossom, an amazing place just west of Richmond on Highway 173. The house is stuffed with items from around the world.

Momma Ship's Collection

We looked at reclaimed teak tables from Bali and furniture from Mexico’s Sierra Madre and never got to the rug room. I looked longingly at pottery from Mata Ortiz, fired in rude kilns in Northern Mexico. We have two lovely pieces of Mata Ortiz art.

Nearby on a shelf, something called softly to me. I passed by the pottery and picked up a Navajo folk art rooster.

In our house, we have pottery roosters and roosters on plates. Maybe a few other stray artistic roosters perch around the house here and there. Sometimes I think I hear them talking.

Does your mother have something special like that? Visit our Facebook page and let us know.

Remember your Mom this weekend: Buy her a cappuccino or one of our delicious new loose leaf teas.

Best,

Jack

Edge of the Surf

Vero Beach at Dawn, Kurt Kamholtz

Our latest guest at Conscious Cup, who may if wishes come true linger for a time, is Kurt Kamholtz and his paintings.

Kurt is a graduate of Crystal Lake Central, from a time before it was “Central,” and Illinois State University, where he studied art under Harold Gregor.

He admits that family and work diverted his attention for a while but lately has been resurrecting his painterly life. We display portions of his McHenry County on Canvas series and new works he calls Slack Tide. Vero Beach at Dawn, shown here is from the latter.

Slack Tide is a mind play; toe tag with the surf. Kurt describes the works as a progression, as Monet took from simple rural scenes to wall-sized water lily paintings. Slack Tide studies the interplay of color, light, texture and composition found at the water’s edge. Kurt captures the serenity, beauty, and relentless tug of the surf on sand.

Core Visions

Conscious Cup Coffee’s gallery is featuring dynamic contemporary acrylics by Andrew Sentamu. Andrew’s new series of large scale paintings is called “Core Visions.”

Andrew was born in Kampala, Uganda. Inspired by his sister at a young age to focus on his creative talents, he went on

to pursue art more seriously and received a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial and Commercial Arts from Nkumba University in 2001. In 2005, he moved to the US. His desire is to capture the,beauty of what God has created in a unique and interesting way.

Paintings are for sale. More about Andrew and his works can be found at www.andrewsentamu.com.

Janet Koukol Exhibit at Conscious Cup

“We all seem to be searching for meaningful lives and it’s great to discover that meaning is definitely not ‘out there’, but inside each of us – the untapped potential to do amazing things with our lives.”

Janet Koukol

New works by Janet Koukol are on exhibit at Conscious Cup.

The Journey Cafe H2O

Janet Koukol is a freelance illustrator and author, consultant and teacher. She has worked with Design Design, Wassup! Magazine, The Illinois Institute of Art and the American Marketing Association. She has taught at The Illinois Institute of Art, public and parochial schools and private companies and businesses. She currently teaches at Creative Artistry in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Janet is also the author of Now Into Wow! – a course designed to help women make the most of their lives and talents. Drawing on her background of personal transformation, marketing, branding, web design, and her ability to inspire and motivate, Janet developed a course that produces results in a month or less. It’s all free at nowintowow.com.

More about Janet at her on-line gallery, www.JanetKoukol.com. She can be reached also at janet@janetkoukol.com.

Chicago 2009

From the air or on land, Robin Pendergrast displays a keen eye. These photos are from a current exhibit at Conscious Cup, Chicago 2009. Drop in but be forewarned,

Going to the source for fresh crop coffee

Sustainable Coffee Initiatives

We expect soon that our boots will be muddy or dusty from a coffee farm. Our goal is to know firsthand where the fresh crop fine coffees we use and sell come from: Where is the farm? Who is the farmer? How was it picked and processed?

Until then we live a bit vicariously through Andrew Miller and his team at Café Imports in St. Paul. Café Imports was just featured in the following news clip:

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Kenya Tembo as bright as the African sunrise

Suitable to the potential of these great coffees, the best Kenyan coffees are not simply sold as Kenyan coffee, but rather are sold as specific auction lots to the highest bidder. We cup Kenyan over Kenyan to seek out and bid on those specific lots that excel. A decent Kenyan is still a great coffee, but with such high standards and potentials, time at the cupping table pays great dividends. We hope you enjoy the Kenya Tembo in your home much as we’ve been enjoying it at the café.

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Artisan Roast Fine Coffee

Get Fresh At CC!

Discover the delicious reasons why we received the Fox Valley Reader’s Choice Award for best coffee for two consecutive years – and we’ve just turned three years old.

Best of Fox 2008

We roast and serve only the highest quality, gourmet coffees. Coffees are roasted right in our cafe in small batches and served in our cafe or delivered to you from our on-line store at the peak of flavor.

Escape the oppression of stale, bitter and burnt-tasting coffee. Find out for yourself why your friends are recommending The Cup.

Our drinks are individually prepared. We don’t use big pots of steamed oversteamed milk but just enough freshly poured for your order. We grind espresso fresh for each order, too . Our espresso isn’t pumped out of a vending machine but hand drawn so we can monitor each pull of each shot to perfection. You’ll see this in the rich, lasting creama topping our espresso.

We take a few seconds longer but the taste is well worthwhile. We think the results are artful.