I’ve long wanted to own a coffee shop. The past few days I’ve been wrapping my head around a “curated coffee house” (apparently a few already exist). Meaning, I don’t have one specific roaster to supply beans, but a number of high-quality roasters to offer my patrons a selection. I’m terrible with remembering everything I think of on a whim’s notice, so I’m going to start my business plan (term used loosely) here.

I chose the name CurrentBlend for the possibility of this type of shop, so we’ll stick with it.

After you read this, let me know if you want to invest. I’m dead serious. I want to do this. Just need to figure out where…

DECOR
Charcoal grey walls – almost black. Wood, high-standing tables, standing mostly with a few spots to sit. Small patio out front with a few chairs. We’re going for a European vibe, so I want a small space. I’m not interested in having patrons stick around for hours. Frankly, I’m going to continue my consulting practice and will use this to compliment the business. I view it more as a place to stop in for a quick beverage, read the paper, have a chat and go. Speaking of reading the paper, there will be the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and others, tons of magazines and other periodicals I find to leave out. Much of the look will be rustic with re-purposed items used throughout. Tables of reclaimed wood, jars as coffee cups, copper piping as magazine racks (bathroom?), pink, grey and black accents. Travel cups are going to be pink (maybe grey or black).

ROASTERS + MACHINES
Curated by CurrentBlend, we’d select the different roasts we want to serve and price accordingly. Similarly, we would have a line up of machines to make both coffee and espresso in anyway a patron would want. Possible roasters to feature include: Stumptown, Ugly Mug, Intelligentista, Blue Bottle, Dunkin Donuts, Cafe Bustelo, Chock full of Nuts, Gimme!, Cafe Du Monde. We can offer regions, specials, etc.

I would love to be able to offer coffee from different machines. Drip coffee, chemex, handpresso, perkalator, french press to name a few. And, same with espresso. Can you imagine a whole lineup of espresso machines and you say “Stumptown roast, hand pulled espresso, two shots”. Oh dear I’m getting excited. Too much to think about and link to right now. Check out my delicious feed and my tags (coffee and espresso) for more.

MENU
Espresso or coffee. Short or big cup. Stay or go. Sugar (rock candy!) and milk available. Warm or cold milk. No steaming, No frothing. No mocha. No whipped cream. Coffee, like it should be served. Maybe a cappuccino if you’re nice. Debating on having a pot of steamed milk available that way you can order espresso or coffee and do the rest your self.

One thought I’ve kicked around for a while is the $1 coffee. I think the model works and here’s how I’d recommend. A constant pot of coffee brewed in the shop off to the side. Cups, sugar, milk setting there with a Square or honor system jar. Customers who are in a rush and/or want a quick cup to go can serve themselves for $1 and be on their way. Nothing fancy, just a quick cup.

Other thoughts: cold brewed coffee with real coffee ice cubes, irish coffee, coffee to go, featured recipes (affogatos, shakerato and cowboy coffee for example), complimentary mint with your coffee, and figure out a way to make these little dudes.

There’s a ton more, but that should give you the gist. I think the idea fits the name, CurrentBlend! Let me know if you think it could work or you want to help!

I love the idea of curated maps. The New York Times is pretty close to what I want to see with its Coffee Bar map. Foursquare is close to what I want. But this is at a closer level of what I’m after. Soon enough we’ll see the curated map down to a level of demographics (for lack of a better word) where I can go to places that similar-minded people have curated and recommended previously. I hope to have something built with that for men soon. Essentially, I’m after a city guide that has been curated by a group of similar-minded individuals.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d have stayed in the finance world. I miss it. It was extremely fascinating to me (and still is). I’d opt for more of an investment route versus the audit role I had. Regardless, I still enjoy reading about investing, finance and other money matters, especially if it’s written by Liar’s Poker author Michael Lewis as this article on Dr. Mike Burry is. Note that Burry is featured in Lewis’ The Big Short.

Burry seems to be the sort of investor I like to read about: a value investor (read: like Warren Buffett). By betting against the banks lending practices, he’s been one of the success stories through the investment troubles widely publicized. Combine that with the fact that Burry is a one-man business, prefers writing letters to human interaction and has made most of his investment decisions based on 10K’s and public information and he’s my sort of guy. I wish I could find his old website letters – some are on the Scion Capital site. I’ve selected a few blurbs from the article that further explain why I’m fascinated with Burry.

By his late 20s he thought of himself as the sort of person who didn’t have friends. He’d gone through Santa Teresa High School, in San Jose, U.C.L.A., and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and created not a single lasting bond. What friendships he did have were formed and nurtured in writing, by email; the two people he considered to be true friends he had known for a combined 20 years but had met in person a grand total of eight times. “My nature is not to have friends,” he said. “I’m happy in my own head.”

…

Buffett had had trouble with people, too, in his youth. He’d used a Dale Carnegie course to learn how to interact more profitably with his fellow human beings. Mike Burry came of age in a different money culture. The Internet had displaced Dale Carnegie. He didn’t need to meet people. He could explain himself online and wait for investors to find him. He could write up his elaborate thoughts and wait for people to read them and wire him their money to handle. “Buffett was too popular for me,” said Burry. “I won’t ever be a kindly grandfather figure.”

…

“I hated discussing ideas with investors,” he said, “because I then become a Defender of the Idea, and that influences your thought process.” Once you became an idea’s defender, you had a harder time changing your mind about it.”

Edward Tufte will be joining President Obama’s staff and will be bringing his infographic expertise to the mix. This is exciting news as I believe we’ll better (visually) understand some of the data we constantly hear from the White House. Combine this with how well designed Obama’s campaign was and we’re beginning to see how important branding and design are.

Digital shops can bring not only the expertise of management consultants, but also the tech chops to execute, he said. “Our model is more powerful because not only can we come up with these ideas, but we can build them,” he said. “A lot of great ideas would fail if they’re not well designed.”

Well said (oh yea, hi!).