Hurley – The intense smell of roasting coffee beans and the loud buzz of the machine Louis Baum is operating fill the air at A.I.R. Coffee Company.
“You can smell the stuff all the way down the street,” says his friend David when he drops by. He claims he could smell it two blocks away, down by the town hall.
<img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/aircoffee.jpg align=left vspace=2 hspace=2 border=2>After touring the JW Art Gallery in Hurley, the A.I.R. Coffee Company in Bayard, just 4 miles up the road, is a good place to stop for a cup of coffee or tea with biscotti in different flavors or a blueberry-lemon loaf.
The coffee roasting company doubles as a coffee shop. Rows of burlap bags full of coffee from Ethiopia, Ecuador, Kenya and India line the walls on either side of a room with tables and chairs and paintings on the walls, and there’s a front porch with chairs.
Baum roasts about 150 lbs. per week, 7 or 8 lbs. at a time, and sells most of it over the internet. He roasts coffee while we talk. Every so often he holds a light up over the roasting beans to check their color. Smoke wafts through the air.
The names of the coffee bring exotic breezes from foreign places. There’s Yergacheffe, Harrar and Sidano from Ethiopia, and Monsoon Malabar from India. “They dry coffee in monsoon winds,” says Baum. He’s just developed a new blend he calls Gazelle, a combination of the Jaguar blend and a Peruvian decaf that’s full-bodied but low in caffeine.
Baum started the café in October after buying the business from a woman who had it since 1993. The acronym A.I.R. stands for “artist in residence,” because she was an artist and slept in the roastery.
For their current show, a reception for artists is being planned for January 13th from 5:00-6:00pm. On exhibit are Linda Talbott’s shamanistic multi-media works, oil and watercolor paintings by Libby Beck and Sandra Ho, and the paintings and sculptures of Teresa Ali-Olivas. Baum himself is an artist with paintings and sculptures at several galleries in Silver City.
“My wife and I talked about having a coffee house for many, many years,” says Baum. He now makes coffee for Bear Mountain Lodge in Pinos Altos and Dos Baristas in Silver City and delivers coffee in his own car to T or C.
By Marjorie Lilly - Steppin’ Out Southwest Region Rep
© 2006 Marjorie Lilly - Permission To Reprint Granted
Hurley – The intense smell of roasting coffee beans and the loud buzz of the machine Louis Baum is operating fill the air at A.I.R. Coffee Company.
“You can smell the stuff all the way down the street,” says his friend David when he drops by. He claims he could smell it two blocks away, down by the town hall.
<img src=http://sonewmex.com/images/aircoffee.jpg align=left vspace=2 hspace=2 border=2>After touring the JW Art Gallery in Hurley, the A.I.R. Coffee Company in Bayard, just 4 miles up the road, is a good place to stop for a cup of coffee or tea with biscotti in different flavors or a blueberry-lemon loaf.
The coffee roasting company doubles as a coffee shop. Rows of burlap bags full of coffee from Ethiopia, Ecuador, Kenya and India line the walls on either side of a room with tables and chairs and paintings on the walls, and there’s a front porch with chairs.
Baum roasts about 150 lbs. per week, 7 or 8 lbs. at a time, and sells most of it over the internet. He roasts coffee while we talk. Every so often he holds a light up over the roasting beans to check their color. Smoke wafts through the air.
The names of the coffee bring exotic breezes from foreign places. There’s Yergacheffe, Harrar and Sidano from Ethiopia, and Monsoon Malabar from India. “They dry coffee in monsoon winds,” says Baum. He’s just developed a new blend he calls Gazelle, a combination of the Jaguar blend and a Peruvian decaf that’s full-bodied but low in caffeine.
Baum started the café in October after buying the business from a woman who had it since 1993. The acronym A.I.R. stands for “artist in residence,” because she was an artist and slept in the roastery.
For their current show, a reception for artists is being planned for January 13th from 5:00-6:00pm. On exhibit are Linda Talbott’s shamanistic multi-media works, oil and watercolor paintings by Libby Beck and Sandra Ho, and the paintings and sculptures of Teresa Ali-Olivas. Baum himself is an artist with paintings and sculptures at several galleries in Silver City.
“My wife and I talked about having a coffee house for many, many years,” says Baum. He now makes coffee for Bear Mountain Lodge in Pinos Altos and Dos Baristas in Silver City and delivers coffee in his own car to T or C.
208 Central Ave.
Mon. 7-5, Tue Thu Fri 7-12, Wed 7-3.
Website: www.aircoffee.biz (http://www.aircoffee.biz/)
Email: roastmaster@aircoffee.biz
Phone: (505) 537-3967