Congrats to those that got engaged over the holidays!  We’re excited for you. We just wanted to take a second to let all of you know that we will have coffee bars at the Savvy Bridal Fair on Saturday, February 14th!  Quickly, here are the show vitals:

• Date: Saturday, February 14th, 2012

• Time: 11:00a - 3:00p

• Location: Oklahoma Christian University’s Garvey Center (2501 E Memorial Road, Edmond)

• Official Website: The Savvy Bridal Fair

We will have free coffee samples for all and also discounts for those that come and book at the show!  What’s better than that?  Not only can you get the rest of your wedding day planned in one rush, but you can drink a perfect latte for free from Cafe Evoke Catering!  

We hope you will make plans to bring your crew out to Oklahoma Christian for the bridal show.  If you are not engaged, then tell your friends that are!

We look forward to seeing you there.

This time of year means tons of things: 4th Quarter, Holiday Season, Fall/Winter, etc…  To us, it means that prime coffee drinking time is finally upon us!  Don’t get us wrong, every day is a coffee day, but there is something extra sweet about sipping coffee with a cool breeze, changing leaves and cooler temps that this time of year brings us.

We wanted to talk a bit about some of our favorite types of events people have invited us to over the years during the Fall/Winter months.  It feels somewhat odd, we guess, to be talking about events that are holiday related but things are already booking up so we thought we’d mention a few in case you have something planned!

• Black Friday:

You, know, the day after Thanksgiving that you wake up super duper early to shop? We know, this is more for those that own retail business, work in retail business or know people that do!  The past few years, we have gotten to spend this busy shopping day sipping coffee in a few boutiques while shopping started their Holiday buying.  

We still have coffee bars available on this day so if you are interested in having specialty coffee available for your guests (shoppers) to enjoy, give us a call!

• Tree Decorating

We actually have never heard of these types of things until last year but they are awesome! Families getting together to sip, eat and decorate everything in site.  We had the chance to be a part of several of these last season with families all across the state.  We’d love to hang with yours this year! 

• Halloween Party

We know it is last minute - very last minute!  But, if you call this by this afternoon, we do have 1 coffee bar left for tonight!  What better thing to have available for your party than coffee?  It’s a perfect accompaniment while you wait for the little ones to knock on the door.

• Family Reunion / Christmas Party

It’s the time of year that people get together.  Get together over coffee!  As you begin to plan that family reunion, be sure to give us a call and make it all sweeter with specialty coffee

• Holiday Open Houses

You’ve spent the entire year working your tail off and now 4th quarter is upon us.  What better way to say thank you to your staff, customers and your business neighbors than throwing an open house? We have had the opportunity to be a part of many corporate open houses over the years and it is great to see everyone unwind for a few hours and have a great time!  We know how hard business has been this year and we think it is worth celebrating!

• Winter Weddings

Don’t forget to book your coffee bar for your winter wedding!  With hot chocolate, apple cider and all sorts of fun specialty coffee on the menu, your guests will love having something warm to sip on while celebrating your big day.

These are just a few fun ideas of how coffee can be a part of your holiday season. We have tons of other fun options in our heads so give us a call. We’d love to help plan your upcoming event and get coffee going for you and your guests.  We would love to work with your bartenders as well to create custom signature drinks based on coffee.  There are so many great options when it comes to coffee cocktails - give us a call and we can talk to you about it!

Have a great holiday season and we look forward to a chance to sip with you and your guests.

The Chick-fil-A Leadertour made it’s first stop yesterday in Oklahoma City. We where happy to have the opportunity to be the coffee provide for this great event.  Here is a bit about what the event was all about:

Chick-fil-A® Leadertour pulls into your hometown with a message of hope. We’re excited to set up shop in your backyard and join with your community on September 20 to do something great. We believe that a new day of leadership is here and that it starts with you. From you it spills into your organization, your community and the nation.

Specialty Coffee at large conferences like this one is something we have always thought was a great idea. Yesterday, we featured two full espresso bars and a pour over bar.  It gave us a chance to showcase several different coffees from a couple of different roasters from across the country.  

We also took care of drip coffee service in the VIP room and also the volunteer room.  There are several ways that a specialty coffee bar can work at your conference or trade show.  From a bar in your booth to service for the entire show - your attendees will not only be excited for a cup of coffee that tastes great, it will also bring a sophistication and upscale option for the look and feel of your event.

We have conference rates available if you are interested in finding out more about having specialty coffee at your upcoming event.  Give us a call and we can talk you through the in’s and out’s of how it all works, what to expect and how specialty coffee can keep your guests going throughout the day!

Thanks again to everyone that helped make the Chick-fil-A event yesterday a huge success! We were happy to be a part of it.

…you save money!

Ok, we will admit. We are pretty huge Oklahoma City Thunder fans.  When we are not serving coffee, there isn’t much better way to spend time than with friends watching games. After yesterday’s HUGE Game 7 victory at the OKC Arena, we got to thinking. We should do something to celebrate each victory.

So, we decided that when the Thunder win, you win!  Now, each time the OKC Thunder win a game, the next business days is 10% off all coffee bars day! Here are the details you need to know:

1. Our Phone Number: (405) 606-2200 or (918) 399-1028

2. Our Email Address: You can use the contact form at www.CafeEvoke.com

3. Discount will be given on full priced coffee bars and is not valid with other offers (except Keep It Local card holders!)

4. Discount is also valid for all 1708 space rentals (not valid with any other offers)

So, plug our number in to your phone or put us on speed dial.  Heck, you could invite us to your next Thunder watch party!

We look forward to sipping with you soon and…  Go Thunder!

One of the first things we tell our clients when then walk through the doors of 1708 to talk about having a coffee bar at their event (after hooking them up with their favorite coffee drink of course!) is that if they are expecting a service that can handle serving 100 drinks in 30 minutes, we probably are not a great fit for their event.

Is it because we do not want to serve them or have them as customers? Heck no!  We want to serve everyone!  We just like for our clients to know that when Cafe Evoke Catering is at their wedding or office party that they are going to be served only the best prepared coffee beverages they have ever had!  

We also give them an example they may be more familiar with.  There are at least two options they have when it come to going out for a steak:  

1. You can go to one of those “super buffets” that offer steak by the hand full, each one prepared in bulk and ready when you are with no wait.

2. You can go to a place like, say our friends over at RED Prime Steak, and order a custom steak, cooked perfectly and plated in a way that not only is going to taste great but also looks fantastic!

Your coffee should be more like option two.  Trust us. You will agree if you ever have a chance to sip one from each option side by side.

There is a lot going on when your barista is preparing your drink.  We are looking at the following:

1. Espresso Extraction: We don’t want to over or under extract the coffee portion of your latte, mocha or cappuccino. When this happens, your coffee will taste either bitter or sour.  Each coffee is very different but our staff will have profiled the featured espresso before getting there to know how to get the best out of it.  We are watching for color, volume and time along with that perfect “dialed in” taste. Sometimes we have to toss the shot - it just happens.
2. Milk:  We steam milk in little pitchers and only enough for one 8oz drink. This allows us to really focus on that silky, velvety micro foam you have grown to love.  Milk is a cool product because it actually gets sweeter as it gets warmer before it goes the other direction.  You will never get a drink from us that is two hot to drink - if so, we did something wrong.  We will steam the milk to the temperature that makes it the sweetest and before it turns sour and clumpy.

Here’s the deal. We are not the fastest.  It’s that simple.  If folks at your event want coffee, they will stand in a line.  That being said, we work as fast as we can while making sure that we put out the best drinks possible.

We have been hired to create an experience and to take care of your guests the way they deserve to be taken care of.  We want them to smile when they are done with their first sip, plain and simple.  While we may have to throw away a drink here and there due to not so perfect espresso, the perfect sip is worth it.

Slow down for a bit and enjoy that coffee drink.  Coffee is a slow food (before the SLOW FOODS folks start blowing up this post, we are talking about the actual SPEED of how coffee should be enjoyed!)

This will be your finished product: Sip. Relax. Enjoy - Our motto.