Ah, the memories... by Mat Lasater

Making memories.

As we prepare to open a franchised location in Cleveland, TN (facebook.com/Lasaters.Cleveland) I go about my day with planning, scheduling and forecasting for the coming weeks.  I take a quick break to look through the Lasaters pages of Facebook and I am reminded how many challenges we've had as a company, from the beginning, and the successes that we've had this far.  I wanted to share just a few pictures with you and hopefully blog about them all some day. There are many, many more to come, but here are just a few... 

Bumper stickers.

We took a poll to find out who like what bumper sticker that we had designed a couple of years ago.  While we never went forward with bumper stickers (yet) we did find out that most people liked this design the most:

Buttons.

A few years back some of the staff started wearing buttons of their favorite seasonal drink.  Fun!  Do you remember these?

The Great Flood of 2010.

Who could forget this?  Well, if you weren't here in Tennessee, you probably heard about it on the news.  Tennessee, specifically Clarksville and Nashville, were hit with a massive flood that ended many businesses and brought our regional economy to a near standstill.  Our original Lasaters Coffee & Tea Store on Riverside Drive (facebook.com/lasaters.riverside) made it through this tough time though.  Thank you to the owners, Ricky and Nicole Edwards, for putting in tireless efforts to get their store up and running again.  

Gift Cards.

This was the first gift card that Lasaters ever had - notice the original logo? :)

Trip to Finca La Perla, Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala.

Lots to tell here.  We were driving through a village to meet with a lower-elevation farmer when we passed these children.  They were playing on a small concrete coffee-drying bed.  When we showed them the picture that we took of them playing they were all-smiles!  The above picture is the one we snapped next. :)  Lots to share about this wonderful trip... one day. :)

Our first coffee roaster.

This awesome drum roaster was the beginning of REAL coffee for us! We've since upgraded to a much larger, fluid-bed roaster that is more efficient and won't leave the coffee tasting like smoke. :)

2008(?) SCAA World Barista Championship.

A couple of us have gone to a few Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) trade shows.  The above picture is of a shot of espresso by one of the top contenders of the World Barista Competition.  GOOD ESPRESSO!  Some baristas are unbelievably awesome at their craft.

2008 World Tea Expo.

This is Anando Chatterjee and his wife (her name escapes me right now, but she is very pleasant).  He is our contact in Kolkata India for all of our teas from the region of Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri. 

Even snowmen like coffee.

Franchise owner Nicole Edwards and Katherine Rowe put up a snowman when Clarksville got a bit of snow.  It makes it fun to enjoy working with good people!

Fluid bed coffee roasting.

This is a picture of our new coffee roaster at our old warehouse.  We can now roast 38 pounds of coffee in 8 minutes. This thing is awesome!  Anyone for a tour of our new roasting facility? :)

Ok, that's it for right now.  I'd love to share more photos and stories in the future.  We've got thousands of pictures that we've taken throughout the years and many, many memories.  Thanks for being a part of Lasaters Coffee & Tea.  We love you all!

-Mat Lasater

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, but Coffee Does!

My name is Kevin Miller. I do a variety of things for the Lasaters Corporation. I run our Facebook page; Twitter account; I design posters, promo ads, gift cards, coffee bags, and lots of other things; I receive, pack, and ship online orders; I make coffee at least 2 or 3 times per day for Mat & myself; I'm learning to roast and blend coffee; I also provide (minor) competition for Mat in ping pong; and I do a bunch of other miscellaneous things around the warehouse and offices. Oh, I also blog now. It's been great so far and I really enjoy working for the Lasaters Corporation and with Mat Lasater.


Anyway, let's get to the important stuff: COFFEE...




Coffee is a man's best friend. 

I know they say that about dogs, but I'd disagree - dogs are a lot of work. Coffee is pure reward...at least that's what I used to think before I began working at Lasaters.

I would still agree that coffee is rewarding.

It can also be a lot friendlier than a dog, but that's just my personal opinion.

The part that I've realized I was wrong on is the "pure reward" part - there's lots of work that goes into making coffee ready to drink!

Money doesn't grow on trees, but coffee does. It may not look like what you'd think though. In fact, if you ever took a walk through Guatemala, or some other place where coffee trees grow, you might unknowingly walk right past a coffee tree!


Before I began working for Lasaters Corporation, I had never thought the whole process through. From harvesting the coffee cherries to cleaning, and eventually roasting the green coffee beans at specific temperatures, it takes a lot of work to get those beans just right before grinding them up and delivering a hot cup of coffee to your empty coffee mug (and inevitably a smile to your face). You can see some of the process for yourself on our YouTube channel. Mat Lasater and Zack Gates (up-and-coming Lasaters Franchisee) took a trip recently to Guatemala and filmed some of behind-the-scenes of coffee harvesting. I think you'll enjoy it.


We work hard to bring you a great cup of coffee. We enjoy coffee and we want you to also. Thanks to all of our loyal customers and our fantastic staff! We look forward to what 2010 holds as we open up Clarksville's 4th Lasaters franchise and work with many others from across the nation. Find out more about franchising on our website!


Now get off the computer and grab a hot cup of Lasaters coffee!