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Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/178110
CAFÉ CROSSROADS Q: Continued from page 24 What was the inspiration for 10 Speed's newest location in Calabasas? A: [Robbie Schaeffer and Tim Rettele], the two guys I partnered with [for Pedalers Fork], come up here to Hood River to mountain bike a lot. I've known them as customers for quite some time. Originally they wanted to use our coffee for Pedalers Fork, and the more we talked about it and things evolved, they decided they wanted to open a 10 Speed coffee bar adjacent to Pedalers Fork. You're starting to see some coffee action in L.A. as far as Intelligentsia and Stumptown moving in there, but out in the hills where Calabasas is, there's nothing besides drive-thrus and Starbucks. And it's a fairly high-end market, so they figured it would do pretty well. Q: Is it strange to you that 10 Speed has a remote branch? A: It is strange, but I make it down there quite a bit and we actually sent one of our managers down there to run it because Robbie and Tim are mostly restaurant guys and not necessarily coffee guys. We actually sent our old 5-kilo Probat down there. We're sending green [coffee] and doing some on-site roasting as far as our single origins go, but we're still doing most of the production roasting up here as far as espresso. Q: What is the cycling culture like in Hood River? A: Hood River is a big cycling hub. You've got worldclass road riding and obviously tons of mountain biking of all styles, from free ride stuff to cross-country and everything in between. In Calabasas, where [Schaeffer and Rettele] chose to locate, it's also a big cycling hub, and that's sort of why they initially wanted to include 10 Speed. They've got access to great mountain biking a mile from their door and also fantastic road biking, so they host a lot of shop rides and things out of there. 26 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com