Moko Coffee

Coffee Drinks Illustrated

I was reading Specialty-Coffee.com this morning over a cup of coffee and came across a cool link to to a blog with illustrations of traditional coffee drinks. The name of the author/illustrator is Lokesh Dhakar and thats the name of his blog too.

The illustration on the left is a traditional cappuccino, this is the original espresso drink you might find in Europe that the American coffeehouse Cappuccino is based on. You can clearly see the 3 equal parts that make up a traditional capp - espresso, steamed milk and milk foam.

When you order a "trad cap" at Moko we build it just like the illustration. First the barista crafts a 1.75 oz. double shot of Black Cat directly into our Intelligentsia winged demitasse like this one. Then he steams and froths the milk pouring 1.75 oz.'s of milk and foam into the cup. Does that come up to 4.75oz.? Let's see 1.75oz. X 3, Well it might be a little more than what the cup holds but if everything comes together just right the foam will mound up above the rim of the cup in what is called a monkshead and that little bit more should get us up to the total amount we want. Anyways the trad capp sure stays truer to the rule of thirds than our American capps that can be about 2oz's of espresso to 10 or more oz's of milk and froth.

Take a look at Lokesh's blog if you get a chance. I think its pretty cool and we need to tweek his idea some and use it in the coffee bar, what do you think?   

      

New Logo For Moko Coffee & Tea

I've been working on a new logo with the help of my little sister. Here is the newest design we've come up, what do you think?

I bet you think that this is something I should have come up with months ago but it's just not going to work that way. Moko is a work in progress. We're never going to be as slick as a corporate store or even a single operator who has worked out all the details months or even years in advance. Sometimes I wish I had worked out all the details but I don't have the time - it's a compromise. One thing I have refused to compromise is the quality of the coffee and the food. What would be the point?

A little background on the logo. When I look at it now it reminds me of a logo that I vaguely remember from one of the modern art museums somewhere, but I didn't think of that till now. The original concept developed when I was in Starbucks and I was looking at the cup and the cup clutch ( the cardboard that slips over the cup) and of course the mermaid logo is on it. For some reason that got me to thinking about what Bruce Milletto said at CoffeeFest in Chicago this Winter. He said that when you design your logo try to make it look like the opposite  of your competitors. Without getting into if I'm ever going to be competition to Starbucks that was the inspiration, if you will.  Bruce gave some examples and one of them was that John Deere made green tractors so Allis Chalmers tractors are painted red.

The Starbucks logo is green and round and the Moko logo is red and square. Pretty simple really and I think it looks good. 

   

Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves

Moko is the goal we set for ourselves three years ago. We wanted to assemble a team of servers with experience as well as a passion for coffee. We enjoyed coffee at many of Greater Cleveland’s great coffee houses. We cracked the books to stay current with coffee production, availability and quality. Then we looked for the perfect location to present you with what we believe is the finest cup of coffee in town.

Ah, location, location, location! What could be better than Playhouse Square?

Playhouse Square is Cleveland’s Great Intersection, with theater, restaurants, WCPN/WVIZ, hotels, offices and it’s just down the street from Cleveland State University.

If it sounds as if we’re proud, we are, but we need one more part to a wonderful puzzle: You.

Allow me to extend to you a warm welcome to Moko.

--- Mike Donnelly, Proprietor

GuitarMania In Cleveland

GuitarMania in Cleveland. August is the last month for Guitarmania, so be sure and check them out. This is the third Summer that the 10 foot stratocasters are rocking the streets of Cleveland. There are 70 guitars scattered around, mostly around the rock hall, the mall, and E.9th St., you can go to the guitarmania site for a map and more info. The one I'm playing in the picture is the only strat that found its way into the Theater District. It's "City Places, City Faces" by James Longs and sponsored by U.S. Bank. You would think more guitars would be in the Theater District. Maybe the next go around when the Euclid Ave. construction is complete we'll get our fair share.