Espresso Bar
Why Coffee?
Richard and Liz Rominger decided to open up the business in 2007 for a few reasons. With the birth of their son, Cody James, they wanted a way to spend as much time as possible with him. Liz has a passion for coffee, and both enjoy outdoor sports (especially fly-fishing for Richard!). Damascus seemed to be the perfect place to launch the business.
They wanted to incorporate the espresso bar into the shop to promote the shop as a gathering place – for people to get together and discuss their latest triumphs on the trail, or to find out where the best fishing can be found.
Where Our Coffee Comes From:
Trails Crossing beans come from Conrad’s Coffee Company, a coffee shop and roaster, located in Boone, NC. Conrad’s is a family-run business that has been around since 2001. Conrad developed relationships with coffee plantation owners while he was traveling to numerous countries for Samaritan’s Purse. His wife, at the time pregnant with their forth child, had developed a serious craving for good coffee. Conrad found that the coffee growers were more than eager to talk with him, and develop a business with him.
All Trails Crossing beans are roasted usually within a day to a week of being served to our customer. Because of this locality, we are able to serve a great cup of coffee. We have access to coffee beans that are grown all over the world. Do you have a special request? Just ask! We are more than willing to get it for you, to serve at the shop or sell to you whole bean.
You will also notice that we carry organic, fair trade beans, meaning that the farmer is paid a predetermined set price that guarantees the sustainability of their farms. All our decaffeinated coffee is naturally decaffeinated using a Swiss water process, introducing no chemicals to the beans.
Brief Coffee History:
It was in Venice that coffee appeared for the first time in Europe in1615. Up until the 17th century, it was no more than a curiosity reserved for the suites of the rare travelers who brought it back from the East. It was also found amongst the remedies of apothecaries. In 1644, a ship from Alexandria unloaded its cargo in Marseille where – ten years later – the first public café opened. About 1669, through the intermediary of the Ambassador of the Ottoman Empire in Paris, Soleiman Aga, the beverage conquered Parisian high society. History tells us that Louis XIV preferred chocolate.
Today, Coffee has become a major economic stake. With 15 thousand million dollars exchanged every year, it is the top agricultural product and the second raw material (in value) traded in the world, a long way behind oil but ahead of wheat, steel, sugar and cocoa. Every day, 1.5 thousand million cups of coffee are drunk. Two thirds of the world’s inhabitants are coffee-drinkers, the great majority of whom are in Europe and especially in Northern Europe. As a general rule, the colder the weather, the more coffee is drunk and the closer one comes to the Equator, the less coffee is drunk. This is why – with the exception of Brazil, where 50 % of the production is for the domestic market – producer countries send nearly all their production abroad.
The Health of a Bean:
Caffeine acts as a vasoconstrictor on the circulatory system within the brain. It lengthens the duration of vigilance, delays the appearance of symptoms of tiredness, especially during intellectual or repetitive tasks. It prevents migraine, reduces the intensity of migraine headaches and increases the analgesic effect of aspirin. It therefore has a beneficial action. Caffeine has a broncho-dilatory action which helps prevent asthma attacks. Coffee also contains an acid – chlorogenic acide – which is a powerful, natural antioxidant and which therefore postpones the fixing of atheroma plaques on arteries and delays the development of cardio-vascular diseases.