I love the #AROMA of it

Hello there my lovelies! 

It’s pretty hot here in Toronto, given the cold winter’s we’ve had I am very pleased. I love to accompany the (newly) hot Canadian climate with a nicely chilled cup of coffee. My favourite chilled blend at the moment is an Iced Aroma Light. 

The Iced Aroma Light is exclusively made at every Aroma Espresso Bar location. Aroma Espresso Bar is Mediterranean-inspired cafe, Founded in Jerusalem in 1994. Aroma Espresso Bar has expanded to more than 165 locations, in 6 countries, worldwide. Countries including Israel, Canada and the United States (yay!). 

Aroma’s coffee is the best that I’ve had for a very, very long time. The flavour is richly full of flavour. Aroma takes pride in their coffee and have created their own signature blends of cappuccino, espresso, filtered and decaf coffee, using coffee beans imported for South America, Asia and Africa. 

Aroma has a roasting facility in Israel’s Valley of Elah. The roasting facility was established with the cooperation of the Ballestra family from Naples, Italy; who has been roasting gourmet coffee beans for generations. 

Aroma, however, is not only known for there amazing coffee’s, they are also known for their incredibly diverse Mediterranean-inspired menu. Being a vegetarian, it is hard for me to find a café with healthy, vegetarian alternatives. I have consistently and genuinely found Aroma Espresso Bar to carry a sense of nutritional integrity with every meal and drink purchase. Aroma starts from scratch every morning in each of their locations, in every aspect of their ingredients. I have never known of a café that prepares every meal fresh and made-to-order. They even freshly bake loaves of bread and pastries, that are then served only the same day as they are prepared. 

Aroma Espresso Bar, literally raises the bar (pun intended), I have honestly never been to such a beautiful establishment. Aroma revives all of my senses, all of my senses become happy just by sitting in the café. Don’t just take my word for it, go and try it for yourselves! When you do, don’t forget to tell me how much you loved it! 

I would love to hear your feedback! Send me suggestions, jokes or even some caffeine at this email address: thebeanmovement@gmail.com

Stay Caffeinated.

xoxo, Amelia

source: www.aroma.ca

Let's Get Freekeh!

Hey there my sweets!

It's almost summer time! The birds are chirping, animals are having babies and the sweet aroma of freshly grown plants is in the air. Speaking about aromas, last week I had the honour of attending Aroma Espresso Bar's private event. What did I learn at this event you may ask? All about the new Aroma-tastic super-food-filled summer salad. The salad's name is the Freekeh Salad. The salad contains an ancient grain called "freekeh" hence the name Freekeh Salad. This grain is protein-filled, which is perfect for all of us veggie lovin’, tree huggin’, animal lovin’ freekehs. 

I learned a lot about Aroma's new summer salad, because at the Aroma event a nutritionist spoke all about the freekeh grain and all its health benefits. Freekeh is an ancient grain, and is the newest superfood on the block. The freekeh grain is very similar to quinoa, as they are both a grain filled with tons of proteins.

The main benefits of Freekeh:

1) It is high in fibre.

The nutritionist at the Aroma event was explaining how in Canada many of us are very low in fibre. It is very difficult at times to eat the recommended amount of fibre as we should (especially for those who are trying to eat a low carb diet). 

2) It is low in gluten.

The freak grain is harvested early, meaning the gluten in the grain hasn't fully developed making it easy to digest. For those of you who are sensitive to gluten you will not feel bloated, or uncomfortable after eating it. Sadly, it is not gluten free so if someone is celiac you can’t eat this.

3) It is a complex carbohydrate.  

Most carbs will spike your blood sugar, and in about 2 seconds you’ll have no energy again. With freekeh, since it is a complex carb your energy and blood sugars will be more stable. You won’t get the rise and drop like you would from eating rice or any other non complex carbohydrates.

4) It is a Resistance Starch.

Resistance starch is food that bypasses our digest system and goes right through our 

gastrointestinal track and acts like food for good bacteria which is something we call a prebiotic. A prebiotic is something that helps build probiotics.

5) It is high in protein. 

Like I mentioned before, Freekeh is high in protein which is great for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone trying to eat plant based proteins. 

6) IT IS ACTUALLY GOOD!

The biggest complaint most people have when eating healthy is that healthy food doesn’t taste good. That is not the case with freekeh! Not only is it tasty but there are so many ways to enjoy it! You can make it into a soup, salad and even use it as stuffing! 

Ingredients for the Aroma Freekeh Salad: 

1) Freekeh

2) Chopped cucumbers, carrots, and tomates

3) Sliced red onion

4) Kale

5) Chopped dill pickle

6) One scoop of platene cheese

7) Light Dressing: Lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper

8) Parsley

9) Za’atar spice

The newest addition to the already amazing Aroma menu is out to every Canadian Aroma Espresso Bar, so get off your computer and go to the nearest Aroma near you! Let me know what you think, I know you will not be disappointed. 

And as always, remember to: stay caffeinated. 

Aroma Espresso Bar!

Hello my little caffeinated readers!

Didya notice the new look? If you didn't I changed the look of my blog! I hope you like it. I realized although birds are cute, they didn't suit the whole coffee-blog persona. Let me know what you think!

This week I gave an espresso bar a little visit and had a taste of their medium double double. What's the espresso bar called? Aroma Espresso Bar.

Aroma is one of the locations many people have been emailing me to try for weeks, and let me tell you; I am extremely happy that I listened to those requests.

I went to the Aroma located inside of the Promenade Mall food court. In the food court was an area marked up that was sole property of Aroma. There were beautiful wooden railings surrounding the area in a rectangle and inside the rectangle, there was an espresso bar (which was made out of wood, it looked like they had just split a tree in half and made a bar out of it) along with their "patio". The patio was beautifully located and organized. (1 Bean Point)


The patio had beautiful modern red chairs and dark brown tables. On the bar there was a glass box that held muffins. On the bar, there was an extremely large container of water with lemon that Aroma offers their customers free of cost. I noticed that they were also hand-made loafs of bread on a shelf, which is definitely not seen very often these days. The colour layout was dark brown and red, which resembled their logo colours. The ambiance was beautiful. (1 Bean Point)

When it was my turn to order the woman at the cash greeted me nicely as I ordered my medium double double coffee. Once I ordered my coffee, the lady at the cash asked me for my name and wrote it on the cup, she then told me that I could make myself comfortable at the bar while I waited for my coffee to be finished. As I waited for my drink, I prepared myself with some lemon water. The lemon water was such a sweet touch Aroma gives their customers and I think other coffee shops should join in on that movement. Beside me there were other customers getting their drinks, one of them bought 8 drinks for his co-workers (very sweet, I know) and I noticed that the coffee tray holder was completely different from the other places I have every gone too! Aroma's tray had 4 cup holders, which were in a box-shaped container with a hand on the top. The best way I could describe to you readers what it resembled was a beer container. It was so cool! The Aroma employee then went on a microphone and called out my name (so cool), gave me my drink and handed me a chocolate and said that it was a complementary chocolate from Aroma to the customer as a way of saying "Thank you" for buying coffee from them. That was extremely unexpected and such a cleaver and sweet sentiment Aroma gives out, so thank you.  ( 1 Bean Point)


The flavour you ask? AMAZING! Literally the best coffee I have ever tasted before in my entire existence. (1 Bean Point)



The price of the coffee? $2.35. The price of the coffee in reflection to the ambiance, location, flavour and customer service was fair. (1 Bean Point)




Now it's time for the run-down:

Flavour: 1 bean point

Price: 1 bean point

Ambiance: 1 bean point

Drive-Thru: 1 bean point

Customer Service: 1 bean point

Total Score: 5/5 total bean points!

Aroma, you left me without words. You were beyond my expectations and raise the bar higher then any other. I was beyond happy with the service, flavour, ambiance, price and the patio. I will be coming back, many MANY more times. You are now my go-to spot! If you haven't yet tried the Aroma experience yet, you are truly missing out.



What do you think? What do you like about Aroma Espresso Bar? Leave a comment, I want to hear from you!

Next week's location........ McCafè! See you next week!

Reminder:
Faema Caffè's score: 3.5 Bean Points
Second Cup's score: 1/5 Bean Points
Illy Caffè's score: 4.5/5 Bean Points
Starbucks' score: 3/5 Bean Points
Tim Hortons' score: 2.5/5 Bean Points



Until next week! xoxo

Stay Caffeinated.




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