I received a heads up text from Blake Batson at Common Grounds today that made my day of blogging so much more interesting.
During the holiday break, Common Grounds made a couple of upgrades that should make a big impact for Waco's most established coffeehouse. CG added cold brew on tap and replaced its pastry cabinet with a marble countertop, making the entry feel more open.
The cold brew is the thing that hit me the hardest. Right now, I'm sipping on probably the best cold coffee I've tasted. The reason it's the best is it's cool without being watery or a little too cold because of ice. It also has the texture of something that was made to be what it is.
Jake Patterson and Dylan Washington of Common Grounds described to me in detail the process employed by Cuvée to brew this product. The Cuvée cold brew is brewed with mostly the same process as beer, minus the steps that make beer have alcohol in it. Then it's put into kegs and sent out to coffeehouses like Common Grounds. Along with the keg, the contraption is hooked up to nitrogen to give it a frothier, smoother texture.
The end result is a cold coffee that looks like Guinness and goes down easy.
The CG tap also includes Holy Kombucha sangria (nonalcoholic). They allowed me to sample it and I dug it too. Fruity and refreshing, but that's not what I was really looking for on this overly brisk afternoon.
Another thing coming from Common Grounds will be a mobile coffee bar rolling out in a month or so. We'll give you a heads up when its up and running.
