Coffee talk

You might not think there would be much of a connection between the best coffee house in Key West and the newest kayak company on the island, but you’d be wrong. Back in February of this year (08), Theo and Diane hosted a good friend of theirs from Charleston, S.C. His name was Country Lee and he loved Key West. He loved Key West so much that he wanted to live here for ever and start his own business. After looking all around the island and all the different kind of things you could do here, business-wise, Lee decided kayaking was to be his life calling. He loved it and could think of nothing better to do than spend his days on the water here in the Keys.

Fortunately for Lee, Theo knew Joe and Scott, who ownes Almost There charters at the Cow Key Marina on Stock Island and were looking for someone to operate a kayak tour concession. Thus was born the Key West Kayak Company. Research was done, kayaks were ordered and scheduled to be delivered June 1^st. Unfortunately, Country Lee changed his mind about his life calling and went back to Carolina on May 28^th.

So what did Theo do? He talked to his friends and regulars at The Coffee Plantation and enlisted their help. Jim, a former kayaking guide has come out of retirement to once again do an awesome nature tour. Gretchen jumped on board to also be guides. Ray, a former tour guide at the Hemingway Home and currently a tour guide for the Original Ghost Tours of Key West (and your humble author of this blog piece) thought it would be great fun to take people into the mangroves and tell stories. In addition, Theo, Joe and Scott have their own experiences to draw from when they give tours.

Powered by Coffee Plantation con leches and lattes, this group has been exploring the near shore waters and mangroves ever since. Our kayaks are very shallow draft, allowing us to get into places no other boats can go. Paddling quietly along, we are less likely to scare off wildlife. We see many different fish and birds and things up close and personal. You never know what you will see on any given trip, but we have seen several types of sharks, spotted rays, stingrays, starfish, grunt, grouper, yellowtail, lobsters and horseshoe crabs.

At only $35 per person, we are also very affordable. You can visit our Key West Kayaks website by clicking on this LINK

See you soon, on the water!

I told you I wanted decaf...

Family affair

For five years Diane's sister Loretta has been working very hard to make her dream to become a pastry chef a reality. After working a full time job as a secretary she went to Stratford University Culinary school in Virginia to become a pastry chef.
She graduated as the best student of her class and promptly got picked up by Wegman's stores where she baked all their pastries and fun foods.
Her heart however was more interested in becoming the baker at a small coffee shop.
She was dreaming of making brownies and cup cakes under the watch full eye of eager customers drooling on the fantastic smell that would come out of her oven.
Well...
Today is the day, as my friend Mel would say. The Coffee Plantation team stuck their heads together and we are proud and very happy to announce that we could make Loretta's dream come true.
Loretta quit here job and moved to Key West...and boy is she good.
Our regulars are already falling in love with her, Hummingbird cake, Brownies, yummy...
Come by the Coffee Plantation and check it out... you won't be disappointed.

A call for change

One of the most fantastic advantages of being the owner of a coffee shop here on our tropical island Key west, is that we get to talk to local people of all walks of life.
Everyone of our customers has their own idea how to make our town a better place.
I would like to start a conversation on our blog with fresh ideas without politics, because there is one thing that all of our loyal coffee drinkers have in common and that is that they all feel that our local government is out of touch with the needs of our community.
No, we don't need a water park, no, we don't need a 16 story hotel at the airport, and no, we sure don't need a 400 room resort on stock island under the assumption that it would be a hurricane shelter in times of need and this is just too name a few...

What if we had a clean slate, what if the people of Key West can design their own town?
What would it be like?
A old town Key West with electric cars only... no exceptions...
All power lines underground...
All old town streets paved in cobble stone...

I, for one, would love to kick off this project and make Key West a sample town for the rest of the country...

Is it...

While the whole world media is focusing on the great state of Arizona in search for any Sarah Palin sightings we here at the Coffee Plantation in sunny Key West are wondering who this lady is...
She is studying the whole day...
Besides sipping her iced Cafe Late and munching on a smoked fish salad with pita she is searching the internet for information.
Is it... could this be Sarah...




















Maybe because you can see Cuba from here....
You be the judge

Tough down...

No fear... just a waterspout.
In some parts of the world, waterspouts are a common sight. These twisting funnels of water are technically known as "convective vortices" and are similar to dust devils, which form over land. Most of the time, waterspouts occur on bodies of water with high surface temperatures, usually in tropical regions, larger forms include both tornadoes and hurricanes. The big spouts may generate vortexes of 100 mph or higher (160+ km/h). In the ocean around the Florida Keys, as many as 500 waterspouts form every summer, some of them of the larger variety.
This waterspout got very close to the Coffee Plantation, so close that all of our Coffee shop customers ran outside to see this incredible sight of nature.
How cool is that....