Gallery VCR Grand Opening Event

Here is the press release for our exciting new Gallery VCR located inside Village Coffe Roaster. Come check out some of Bills' great work and enjoy your favorite VCR drink!

For Immediate Release:
January 28, 2009

Who: Gallery VCR (New, inside Village Coffee Roaster)
What: Grand Opening Reception with Fine Art Photographer, Bill Tondreau
When: February 6, 2009, 5pm – 8-m
Where: 519 Central Ave. NW @ 6th St., Albuquerque, NM 87102

Gallery VCR, a “tasty” new art gallery, has opened at 519 Central Ave. NW, (6th St.) in Downtown Albuquerque. It’s located inside the Village Coffee Roaster (VCR), a gourmet coffee/espresso house fast becoming known for its delicious estate grown, micro roasts, French pastries, freshly made soups and deli-style sandwiches. Gallery VCR’s Grand Opening is being held in conjunction with the citywide Artscrawl on Friday, February 6th, from 5pm – 8pm. Gallery VCR joins a growing renaissance along Central Avenue’s “Gallery Row.” This downtown stretch of Route 66 is becoming an important art center.

The premier exhibit will feature the fine-art photography of Bill Tondreau. Bill’s unique images record Albuquerque landscapes in the classic tradition of panoramic photography. He seeks to allow New Mexico's special Encanto to shine through his images by presenting them as clearly as possible.

Each photograph is a composite of from 10 to several hundred individual exposures joined together to form a single, high-resolution image. In some cases various parts of the image are photographed at different times of day, compressing the daily narrative of a location into a single statement. The final result is a sprawling, richly detailed representation of a location that invokes the experience of being in the place. The viewer is invited to explore the multitude of objects and stories within the large-scale prints much as he would the original environment.

During the 60's and 70's Bill developed his photographic skills while working at the legendary design studio, The Office of Charles and Ray Eames. During his 10-year association with the Eames Office many of Bill's photographs were displayed in places such as the New York Metropolitan Museum, the Paris Louvre, and the British Museum.

Since 1978 Bill has been involved in the development of software, equipment, and techniques now widely used in feature films. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has honored him with three Academy Awards, most recently with an Oscar in 2004. The results of his film related work can be seen in hundreds of films ranging from the original "Star Wars" trilogy to the latest releases. Most recently Bill worked as a visual effects cameraman on the "Terminator Salvation" feature film shot here in Albuquerque.
Fine Art Photographer, Bill Tondreau, and Friend
Publicity contact: Rick Clemente 688-4148 or Debbie Clemente 688-4117

Kudos for all your support - Gary

The Perfect Cup

Buying Tips: When purchasing coffee, always ask when it was roasted. Many common misconceptions exist when it comes to judging the freshness and optimum time to experience a roasted coffee at its peak of perfection. Generally coffee is best if used a day or two after roasting, and if kept in an air-tight container, flavor should not diminish significantly until after seven to ten days. Old coffee beans may appear very oily, will have little or no aroma, or will take on a somewhat unpleasant aroma.

Grinding Tip: Never grind more coffee than you will use for immediate brewing. Once the beans are ground, the flavorful oils are exposed to the damaging air. As these oils dissipate, so will the flavor of your coffee. Once ground, coffee will begin to lose its flavor almost immediately. Different methods of brewing will require different grind consistencies. Typically, coffee used for drip brewing should be ground to a consistency similar to granulated sugar. The complete drip cycle should occur within four to six minutes. If the drip cycle is completed in less than four minutes, grind your coffee finer. If the cycle takes longer than six minutes, grind your coffee coarser. When using a French press, the coffee will need to be ground extremely coarse. Espresso requires an extremely fine grind...almost powder-like with a slight grittiness. The key to the proper espresso grind is the extraction time. After the proper dose and tamp, one ounce of espresso should be extracted in approximately 25 to 30 seconds. Like drip coffee, if the one ounce extraction occurs in less than 25 seconds, grind your coffee finer. If the extraction occurs in longer than 30 seconds, grind your coffee coarser. Talk to you local coffee professional at Village Coffee Roaster in Albuquerque for additional information.

How Much Do You Use: When making brewed coffee, allow 2 to 2 1/2 level tablespoons for each 6 ounces of water (3 tablespoons for 8 ounces). For espresso, allow 7 to 8 grams for a single shot, and 14 to 16 grams for a double shot. However, the perfect cup of coffee is entirely subjective. It is our opinion that you should play chemist and find the perfect amount for your palate.

Step by Step to the Perfect Cup
1. Always use fresh roasted coffee.
2. Always grind the coffee as needed for each use and be sure to use the proper grind setting.
3. Always use fresh drawn cold water.
4. Never guess amounts. As a rule of thumb, 2 tablespoons per 6 ounces of water.
5. Make sure the coffee maker is clean.
6. Remove grounds as soon as possible after the coffee is brewed.
7. Serve the coffee immediately after brewing.
8. If coffee must be kept warm, try to hold it at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Brewed coffee stays palatable for 20 minutes, drinkable for one hour maximum. The longer it is held, the less desirable.
9. Never reheat coffee. Never allow brew to boil, its flavor will turn bitter.

A Brief History of Coffee

The origin of coffee remains shrouded in myths of the Middle East. One legend tells of Kalidi, an Abyssinian (Ethiopian) goatherd who one day found his herd frolicking around a cluster of shiny, dark-leaved shrubs bearing red berries. When Kalidi tasted the berries himself, he realized what had prompted the goats’ uncharacteristic behavior. Kalidi shared his discovery with the inhabitants of a nearby monastery who developed a fondness fort he fruit and its seeds. By drinking the beverage that resulted from boiling the berries, the monks found they could stay awake through evening prayers.

Another legend attributes the discovery of coffee to Omar, an Arabian dervish (a Moslem mystic). Exiled by his enemies to the wilderness-where he faced certain starvation-Omar survived by making a broth from water and the berries plucked from coffee trees.

Characteristics of the Plant

Coffee grows in tropical and subtropical climates, predominately between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, at altitudes ranging from sea-level to 6,000feet. Although technically an evergreen shrub, the coffee plant is generally referred to as a tree because it grows more than 20 feet in height if not pruned.

The coffee tree carries white blossoms scented like Jasmine. The delicate blossoms last only about three days, and six to nine months later the tree’s fruit, called cherries, appears. The cherries begin as berries, which ripen from green to yellow to red.

Ripe cherries have several layers: the outer red skin, a sweet pulp, a membrane called parchment, a then membrane called silver skin, and two coffee seeds (beans) that have a round or oval shape and are flat on one side. Nature occasionally provides only one bean per cherry instead of two; this single bean, smaller and more rounded than a normal bean, is refereed to as a peaberry. With arabica coffee, peaberries normally occur about 10 percent of the time. The flavor of peaberry beans is not different from regular beans.

Harvesting

Provided a coffee seedling does not meet with climatic disturbances or disease, three to five years will pass before it begins to produce a crop. Generally, the growing area’s rainfall and temperature determine the number of annual harvests and the method of harvesting used.

Green Coffee Processing

Once the harvest concludes processing must take place to remove the coffee beans inside each cherry. Two processing methods exist: the wet (washed) method, used primarily for arabicas, and the dry (unwashed) method, used primarily for robustas. Although there are fine arabica coffees that are dry processed.

The processing method helps determine the ultimate flavor of the brewed coffee. For example, wet-processed coffees tend to have a cleaner flavor, while dry processed coffees often exhibit a heavier body.