Latte Season
Inside Friday Night Flight Night at Daisy Jane’s
Evan Cureton plays indie folk and worship songs for a group outside Daisy Jane’s Coffee House. Photo submitted by Carlee Cureton.
Daisy Janes Baristas Carlee Cureton (left) and Ashleigh Tilk (right) showcase a seasonal flight for customers at Friday Night Flight Night. Photo by Matt Morey.
The four new lattes for the month from Daisy Jane’s Coffee House were the Black Cat, Sweater Weather, Old Cider Mill and Great Pumpkin. The barista, Ashleigh Tilk worked tirelessly to pour syrup, milk and whipped cream in shot-glass sized mason-jars on a wooden plank, flight after flight for a couple dozen who paired it with the acoustic music of Evan Cureton.
Tilk’s four new lattes combine flavors like apple cider, maple syrup, caramel, hazelnut, and pumpkin – two with homemade ingredients.
Black Cat is sweet and vanilla. Sweater Weather is rather mild, Old Cider Mill tastes like caramel and apple cider. Great Pumpkin. Great Pumpkin is cold. It takes the straw to find the right spot, then to stir, if you use it properly.
These are just some of the flavors at Friday Night Coffee Flight from Daisy Jane’s, which the owners Jan and Dave Vangorder plan to make monthly.
Outside the small building, Cureton plays worship and indie-folk songs for a group of 12 on the lawn.
“We’re just planning to dream up different things to do, surrounding the coffee shop,” Jan says, against the music. Some of her ideas are to have bingo, art club, book clubs, trivia and open mic nights. “I’d like to have a place for students to come a little bit later,” she says, for the after school crowd.
Cureton plays a new song he wrote a few weeks ago. His voice is like soft sand, or the waves upon it. It hits you then recedes in falsetto. In one song, the chorus is disturbed by a car alarm honking its own time signature. It is unclear if he hears it. “Goodness,” he eventually says. “Trying to give a man a heart attack.” The song continues.
Inside, the music cuts out, replaced by the murmur of conversation in the dining area, and a line of young men who razz each other for drinking too fast, and women waiting for their flights (it’s usually the flight). The barista Carlee Cureton, Evan’s sister, says there should be a speaker to project the singer indoors.
In the back room, newly opened this week, there’s a yellow wall and a dark turquoise wall with a ring of basket weaves circling a mirror. This is something from the previous owner they decided to keep, but will probably paint the turquoise wall yellow.
“If we have an event, we have more space for folks,” Dave says about the room, and the new giant wooden table he assembled from out of a basement.
A glance at the flights will measure show how much the individual drinker prefers each one: #1 is somewhat sipped, Sweater Weather is near the top. Which ones are homemade? Well, Sweater Weather remains a mystery but The Great Pumpkin is nearly empty.
Great Pumpkin is customer Abigail’s favorite. “I don’t know, I just like it,” she says. It has a huskier, more subtle flavor than the other options. It’s dark, and moody, as autumn tends to be.
