Musical trade

In my quest for my motorcycle I traded my Wine for this Captain Outrageous original, a beautifully painted Indiana acoustic guitar. Look at this beauty!

A artistic moment

Some days here at the Coffee Plantation there are those unique moments.
You see a few people together that make history in Key West.
Yesterday was one of those moments...
I noticed three classic Key West artist on our veranda enjoying there cup of coffee and sharing there artist horror stories.
I hope you have the pleasure someday to meet these three Key West living legends.
From left to right Captain Outrageous, Billy Selesnick and Joe Forte.

Poemer strikes again

We found a note in our tip jar this morning

A Coffee Plantation
Would be a place to behold.
The soil and the beans
The Sun warmth untold.

Imagine the aromas
spicing the air
The hillside the harvest
Coffee everywhere

Wouldn't you visit
A place of such love
Were Coffee is everything
Below and above.

The soil and the climate
the taste in the air
Well on Caroline St.
In Key West it is their

For a place exists
On that street you know
The Coffee Plantation
were happiness grows

Like the beans in the fields
the harvest untold
The Coffee Plantation
Your place to behold

Isn't that great...

Come Sail Away...

It's that time of the year, Race Week is in town. We are selling more skinny late's this week than any other time of the year.

Weather is great, looks like this is going to be a great event.

They sure drink enough Espresso to keep them on edge...

Once Upon A Bean

This morning when I got to work here at the Coffee Plantation things started out a kind of hectic.
I had this "must" make phone call to Bellsouth that totally ruined the start of my day.

A bunch of our regulars however changed my mood for the better, but a note somebody pinned on the front door of the Coffee Plantation made me aware that I'm in the right place.

One of our Coffee Plantation customers hand-wrote (and illustrated) this and clandestinely posted it on our frontdoor:

Once Upon A Bean

Their once was a coffee shop
On a street in Key West
Where Theo and Diane
Served those beans at their best.

We love this place
Where we jumpstart our day
The atmosphere beautiful
Coffee our way.

Reading the papers
Computing with ease
these are the things
that make live a breeze.

The story a fairytale?
Happily, it's not.
Because at 713 Caroline St
is the Coffee Plantation Shop.

Thank you, whoever created this and put it up today.

Now, how many Coffee shop owners get that kind of mail?

Motorcycle Madness

Captain Bill, a very regular at the Coffee Plantation and a great fan of our Costa Rica reserve house brew got himself the beemer bug. After showing him my love for the mid 70's BMW motorcycles he got him self one... On Ebay.... in California... which is on the other side of the country. She is just a beauty. He just gotta pick it up... Oh... forgot to mension that this is Capt. Bills first trip cross country on a motorcycle.

Read his story in his own words.

Well, I picked the bike up today in Santa Barbara and made it as far as Santa Monica, about 100 miles down the road. The bike was running great and strong and I really enjoyed the ride down PCH (Pacific Coast Highway for those of you who might be California challenged). It's a gorgeous winding road right on the beach most of the way. I was waiting at a light and when it turned green, I pulled the clutch to go and the clutch cable broke, right on the PCH--I was in the left-most of 3 lanes heading south, so I had to push it off the road across 2 lanes in heavy traffic. I thought I was going to be squashed like a bug, but everybody waited till I was clear!

I pushed it into the parking lot of a very swank hotel and the valet parking guys eyed me critically for a few seconds and then gladly gave me a spot to leave it overnight--they were very nice and helpful and we ended up in a discussion about BMWs--they loved the bike--and called a cab for me. Same thing happened at the gas station. Guys kept walking over to look and chat so my gas stop took about 25 minutes to pump 4.8 gallons. I'm in a very nice Best Western for the night, hoping all those seldom-used (and very sore) bike-riding muscles will recover enough to allow me to do it all again. Tomorrow I take a cab to Honda of Hollywood to get a replacement clutch cable--the show must go on!

OK---day 2--bike goes on trailer, towed to Mitch's Motorcycles--ride over--end of story.

Well, not quite.

After a little thought, I realized that trying to fix it myself under the circumstances was not a real good idea, so I called Tony the motorcycle towing guy. He was very helpful and friendly (and talkative!) so I learned a lot about old bikes on the half-hour ride to Mitche's. Mitch is a great guy with tons of experience with the classic airhead boxer (see--I'm even learning a new language) and he is going to replace the steering head bearings, steering damper, clutch, all cables, tires, handlebars, ect... (its that "etc..." part that really rings the register!) which will make the old gal ride like new once more (and definitely a lot safer). We spent an hour and a half deciding what needed to be done, and setting priorities, while Mitch thoroughly enjoyed himself finding more things wrong that needed repair or replacement. The result was a work order (yikes!!) that caused enough pain to distract me from the other pain in my left hand, legs, etc. from that ride down PCH yesterday. Anyway, I'm glad it's in such good hands.

To be continued!