Urban Coffee Company — Independent Coffee Shops, Birmingham

From our Church Street Emporium

On Friday 3rd February we have ‘Red Bird Sky’ performing live for your little ears!  They will be performing a selection of their music acoustically from 7-9pm.  Below is a little bit of information to help you get to know the delightful duo!

Why do you think our lovely coffee shop will be a good venue for your gig?

Urban Coffee Co will be perfect for our gig with its relaxed, friendly, sophisticated ambience, plus the acoustics are really good!

Who would be the worst famous person to be stuck in a lift with?

The famous person we would least like to get stuck in a lift with would be Mr Motormouth himself – Jeremy Clarkson!

What is your favourite muffin flavour in the whole world?

Bernie’s favourite Muffin would be a traditional yummy Blueberry – while Mike goes for chocolate, double choc, triple choc or any higher multiplication of choc that you can cram into a single Muffin!

If you could only listen to one artist’s music for the rest of eternity who would it be?

Only one artist for the rest of a lifetime! Bernie would opt for the majesty of Nina Simone – whereas Mike’s caught up in the intimate, human portraits woven by the Americana singer-songwriter, Mary Gauthier.

What can our coffee fanatics expect from your gig?

Red Bird Sky will be bringing their own unique sound to the Urban Coffee Co on 3rd of February – a wonderful melding of words and music with Bernie’s gorgeous vocals, Mike’s sublime guitar playing and songs of real depth, substance and beauty!

Find out more at www.redbirdskymusic.com

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From our Jewellery Qtr. Emporium

I’m so sorry this is late, but alas I have been slightly under the weather the last few days and so our little weekly update about the kitchen’s goings on has been delayed. But joy at last, here it is.

Our New Year’s resolution to keep fit as you will know by now has turned our thinking to crafting some exciting healthy options here in the JQ kitchen (we hope it might even steal your ravenous eye away from that delicious slab of cake but perhaps more realistically, you could have both!)

You may have already experienced the potentially life changing tropical fruit pots in our emporiums We’ve had them on since the beginning of January, but now I’m going to tell you all about just HOW good they are for you and why you’ll feel invincible even when it is 8am and you only staggered to bed 5 hours earlier after one too many bottles of red…!

Tropical fruits are high in antioxidants which help to neutralize the free radicals that form during the normal process of oxidation. Free radicals can damage healthy cells and have been shown to promote cancerous growths, asthma attacks, heart disease and joint pain. Our pots contain 6 free radical fighters including the kiwi, orange, melon, grape, pineapple and, a fruit that various studies have suggested can even rejuvenate those precious brains of yours, the amazing blueberry.

Some of these studies have shown that blueberries help alleviate the cognitive decline occurring in Alzheimer’s disease and even lower brain damage in stroke victims. They can also help with high blood pressure as anthocyanins, which are found in blueberries, cause blood vessels to relax and increase production of nitric oxide that helps in maintaining normal blood pressure (grat if you in one of those stresfull meetings). Perhaps most intriguing of all, a study soon to be published found supplementation of diets with wild blueberry juice enhanced memory and learning in older adults while also reducing symptoms of depression.

So when you’re taking a break from work, replace your blackberry with a blueberry and recharge yourself to 100% with the best coffee in town and a pot of colourful fruit that will do all it can to compensate for those indulgent evenings!

Lyndon, Latte 2 sugars.

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From our Jewellery Qtr. Emporium

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From our Jewellery Qtr. Emporium

This week we have had a great week in the Kitchen…. Talking to suppliers, planning menus for our first Supper and Film Night – yep, it’s all go here. However, don’t think we’ve taken our eye off our healthy menu goal of 2012. The French onion soup went down a storm! Remember all of those lovely health benefits of onions – and yes, we managed to make it vegetarian! We’ve also started our new freshly made Tropical Fruit Salads which are now available every day at both our emporiums.
From next Tuesday, there will be a new addition to our sandwich fridges. A lovely houmous, carrot and red pepper stuffed pitta. ‘Why?’, I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you all about it and why houmous is a star…
• Chickpeas,
o Very healthy, not containing any cholesterol or saturated fats.
o Rich in protein it’s a favourite among vegetarians.
o Also thought to be effective in preventing build up of cholesterol in the blood vessels and helping maintain correct blood sugar levels.
• Tahini
o Full of fat and calories but used sparingly in our houmous.
o Mostly contains unsaturated fat
o Great source of protein and calcium
• Olive oil,
o High monounsaturated fat content but low in saturated fat.
o Can help regulate cholesterol and help protect the heart from various diseases.
• Garlic and lemon juice
o Filled with antioxidants that reduce oxidative stress in the body.
o Also work to improve immune functions and fight off bacteria and viruses.

Well there’s that’s hummus for you and that’s not all it also contains plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids, which are great for improving intelligence and maintaining a healthy heart. On top of it all, is also has iron, vitamin B6, manganese, copper, folic acid, and amino acids. Tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine are the amino acids found in hummus that can promote good quality sleep and uplift one’s mood… WOW!

Now mix all those that goodness with carrot – which has been shown to help in the fight against cardio vascular disease – and the Red pepper – high in vitamin C – pop it all on a wholewheat pitta and I think you’ll agree you’ve got one healthy lunch!

Lyndon x – Latte, 2 sugars

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From our Urban Coffee HQ

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

The TEDx program is designed to give communities, organisations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

TEDxs are amazing events and its great news that finnally we are having one in Birmingham and Urban Coffee Company are proud to be sponsors of such an amazing event.

The event will take place on the 24th March 2012 and this years theme is The Next Revolution. More details can be found on the TEDxBrum website

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