I take great pride in my business.  It’s my home away from home, and my employees are like family to me.  Owning the Royal Bean for me isn’t just about providing average products and services.  Since we’re locally owned and this is my dream business, then I make sure that we provide the highest quality products and services possible.  Earlier today I personally drove to our roaster, Stockton & Graham, to pick up our freshly roasted whole bean coffee and other supplies for the Royal Bean Coffee House.  I picked up our coffee today, which was also roasted today.  It was a mere 10 minute drive to our roaster.  This insures that our whole bean coffee is as fresh as is possible.  It’s very important that we help support our local businesses and our local economy.  Our coffee isn’t shipped to us.  It’s isn’t delivered days after it was roasted.  It doesn’t sit on our shelved for weeks.  We have it roasted fresh; pick it up the day it is roasted, and use that very coffee freshly ground to provide you with all of the coffee drinks we offer.  We have freshly brewed light or medium, and dark coffees rather than just providing one choice like a house coffee.  If while you’re at the Bean and you find something that doesn’t please you, feel free to email me at suggestions@royalbeancoffeehouse.com.  I personally check this email and will respond to you ASAP.  It’s very important for all of us at the Royal Bean to make our customers happy.  Please let us know what you think through this email or when you’re at the Royal Bean.  We’re always listening because we’re heavily invested in our small business.  You always are when it’s something you love and have a passion for.  This is a long blog post, but it was hard for me to make it even this short.  I had so much to convey.

-Taylor J. D.-Owner- 

The Royal Bean is a strong supporter for those who wear lumberjack shirts.  To show our appreciation for our loyal customers we’re going to offer a special on Wednesday, February the 1st 2012.  All you have to do is wear your red and black lumberjack plaid shirt when you come to the Royal Bean Coffee House.  Heck, wear a similar plaid shirt of any color to enjoy our special.  When you order a drink from us wearing your lumberjack shirt, then instead of getting one stamp on your Royal Bean loyalty card you’ll get two.  If you don’t have a loyalty card, then drop by and grab one.  You’ll still get two stamps.  This special will run from 6pm until 11pm on 02/01/12.  Join us for some fun!

The Royal Bean and the stores around us can easily be seen off of Hillsborough Street.  Hopefully this post will help you to find us easily.  It’s not that we’re hard to get to or necessary hidden, rather we’re just hard to see from the road.  Here are some pointers:

1.)    We’re located at the Royal Bakery building.  The Royal Bean Coffee House is situated in between the Brick House Bar & Grill and Ben & Jerry’s.

2.)    From I440 you take the Meredith college exit and take a left at the end of the exit ramp onto Hillsborough St.  You’ll be headed towards NCSU.  We’re about a 2 miles down the road on your right directly across from the front gates of Meredith College.

3.)    If you were to drive out of our parking lot to your right one block away is the Faircloth/Gorman intersection.  Take a left onto Faircloth St. and you’ll be headed towards Wade.  Go straight across Wade and you’ll be at Whole’s Foods.

4.)    We’re located in a large beige building.

5.)      We’re just down from the Fairgrounds and NC State University School of Veterinary Medicine headed towards NCSU.

I know you can look up our address on Google Maps, but I though some landmarks would give you a better idea of where we are located.  Look below for pictures  that show the perspective from the Royal Bean’s location.

The Royal Bean Coffee house

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This is the view from our parking lot of the Royal Bean Coffee House between Brick House and Ben & Jerry's

I’m running around the Royal Bean today working and thought that another good topic for today would be a quick discussion on the artistry of pulling a shot of espresso.  This isn’t a step by step guide on how to pull a shot, but a showcase of how we differentiate ourselves from some coffee shops that use semi-automatic of totally automatic methods to create that perfect shot of espresso.  Our well used “La Cimbali” espresso machine is fully manual.  My baristas have to be trained on how to properly grind the espresso (to prevent over or under extraction), steam the milk to the ideal temperature and frothiness, and pull a shot of espresso without a system that takes over and does it for them.  I believe allowing the machine to do the work for you can take away the artistry that a well trained and experienced barista can produce when given the chance to use their skills.  We constantly test and strive to improve our skills to make an exceptional shot of espresso for a latte or cappuccino.  Check out one of my baristas in action! 

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I’m sitting here in my coffee shop just past noon.  It’s 49 degrees outside and I’m thinking about espresso.  So for this blog topic I’ll go over the espresso blend we use to create our masterpieces of coffee drinks.  Our espresso comes from a local roaster(Stockton &  Graham) that is located about 10 minutes from the Royal Bean.  I pick up our espresso and whole bean coffee the day it is roasted.  Our espresso blend is a combination of Indonesian and East African coffees with our roaster’s “proprietary roasting creativity”.  This blend’s purpose is to harness the better flavor characteristics of these two coffee growing regions.  The deep chocolate and earthy tones from the Indonesian coffee help balance the milder, wine-like acidity and dark berries found in the East African coffees.  Ou

We’ve been working hard to create a YouTube channel to help promote the Royal Bean.  Check out our YouTube for some of the live music we’ve recorded.  Albeit not of the highest quality you’ll still get a very good idea of what we have to offer.  I plan on adding more soon!  Follow this link here: http://www.youtube.com/royalbeancoffee .  You can also click on our YouTube button on the bottom right.  Thanks!  We love ya!

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post to the Royal Bean Coffee House blog.  I’ve been so busy with the operational aspect of owning a small business that it’s hard for me to find the time.  Today I’m making a post about what the Royal Bean means to me as the manager and owner.  My coffee house and the employees that work for me are two things that are closest to my heart.  Owning this business is hardly about making a living.  I’ve always wanted to start a small business and starting a coffee house is the best decision I’ve ever made.  It has been life changing for me, which is a good feeling I try to share with my employees and customers.  I go all-out to make sure our products and services are of the highest level of quality possible.  I purchase our coffee and bakery items locally to ensure their quality and freshness.  Our coffee beans are roasted locally in Raleigh just minutes from the Bean.  We don’t simply have an
in-house coffee blend.  Rather we offer light and dark single origin coffees.  Based on supply we offer freshly roasted coffee: Ethiopian Harar, Ethiopian Sidamo, Sumatra, among other.  We rotate amoung these varieties based on supply.  We could purchase coffee in bulk and let in sit on the shelf as is commonly done.  However, we have our coffee freshly roasted each week to maximize the flavor of our coffee and coffee drinks.  In addition to having our whole bean coffee roasted locally we also have our bakery goods baked and prepared the day they are delivered by Manhattan bakery located in Raleigh.  Thank you all for your support, business, and most of all for your friendship to the Royal Bean Coffee House in Raleigh.  We do not take for grated how much support we need from our local community -Taylor

We’re always looking for new ways to make the Royal Bean an enjoyable place to visit.  Yeah, we’ve got your hot apple cider, peppermint mocha a seasonal favorite, or just a cup of coffee, but we want to add to our fun repertoire too.  I just grabbed a bunch of games for a new “game night” that we’re going to start hosting at the Royal Bean.  We’ve got Cranium, Bannagrams, Scrabble, and Catch Phrase!!!  With trivial and games throughout the night you’re guaranteed to have a fantaboulous time!  Bring a group of friends or join a group and make new friends at the Royal Bean.  It’s a casual and fun way to meet people and hang out at the ‘best bean of the scene’.  Come on!  It’s going to be fun!  We’ll have a prize for the winning teams!  Check out our new group for details.  Join it so that you can be notified when the game nights begin.  http://www.facebook.com/groups/royalbean/

I’m grateful for the Royal Bean Coffee House, my wonderful employees, and our customers.  I hope that all of you have a great Thanksgiving!  We’re taking some time off to observe Thanksgiving and for my employees to enjoy their time with family and friends.  We’ll re-open this Saturday.  We’re looking forward to serving you and seeing all of you back in our coffee house.

Happy Cornhuskin Meredith College! We’re right across the street from your front gates, so come by and visit!