Art comes in many forms, is felt by many different walks of life but there is always one common thread connecting it all, how it touches the soul. While our business is coffee, there are multiple forms of art that constantly inspire us on a daily basis. Music is one of those, which seems obvious with our many themed releases over the years. Dusty Groove is a indie record store that shares these same passion and dedication to constantly bringing their customers unearthed and and classic gems of jazz, soul, funk and world music, to name just a few genres.

Dusty Groove is more than a record store, it is an institution when it comes to rare and collectable records. Starting as an online only store in 1996, the business kept expanding, from a converted apartment once used by a prostitute, it now holds down a sublime building in the heart of Wicker Park. Their catalog and offerings have also expanded, providing cds, vinyl and accessories from bargain prices to the highly valuable collector pieces. Rated as the #3 record store in the US by Rolling Stone, the shop has also received numerous accolades from Time Magazine, Wall Street Journey among many, many others. 

Dark Matter Coffee is proud to collaborate with Dusty Groove, a honored partner and gate keeper of all things funky. The collaboration blend, Everyone Loves Sunshine, is a tip-of-the-hat to the 1970's Soul Jazz era. Featuring coffees from Mexico's El Eden and Guatemala's Finca San Jeronimo Miramar, this blend is smooth, funky and delicious! Grab a bag today from their retail store or online at www.dustygroove.com 

Fernet, a blend of booze and botanicals, is the liquid equivalent of a sucker punch; a hit of bitter you don't see coming until your mouth is puckering and you're cursing the bartender who slid the glass across the rail. But once the sting goes away, you start to taste what's under the bitter: layers of black licorice, tobacco and saffron, with a hint of sweet before a menthol finish. And you realize: This stuff is good.

Upgrade that to great with the launch of Fernet-Dogma, a Midwestern twist on the traditionally Italian spirit. Bartenders Alex Renshaw, Clint Rogers and Brian Sturgulewski of The Dogma Group, the team behind the bar menus at spots like Presidio, Bordel and The Dawson, partnered with CH Distillery to create their own version, now on sale by the bottle ($38) and pour ($9) at CH (564 W. Randolph St., 312-707-8780).

"Most fernets on the market are similar, so we thought it would be cool to start with some of the traditional elements — lemon peel, chamomile, eucalyptus, saffron — but go a little different," Renshaw says. Inspired by the Italian custom of pairing fernet with espresso, "we ended up with a coffee fernet, using Dark Matter coffee and botanicals from Rare Tea Cellar in Ravenswood. It's all local."

To help the coffee flavor pop, they rested the spirit in Four Roses bourbon barrels for a month before bottling.

"Dark Matter works really well because their coffee has this chocolatey quality, which is a nice back note to that initial bitterness of the fernet," Sturgulewski says. "The master distiller at CH worked really hard on it to make sure it was balanced; that you don't taste it and say, 'Wow, this is incredibly bitter!' and there's nothing else going on. It's complex."

Drink Fernet-Dogma straight, or add it to cocktails; Bordel (1721 W. Division St., 773-227-8600) has a drink on the menu using pisco, coconut liqueur, lime juice and "a little bit of the fernet," Renshaw says.

"It's seductive," Sturgulewski adds.

*This article originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune, July 20, 2015 written by Marissa Conrad

mconrad@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @marissa_conrad

"To get back to the warning that I received. You may take it with however many grains of salt that you wish. That the brown acid that is circulating around us isn't too good. It is suggested that you stay away from that. Of course it's your own trip. So be my guest, but please be advised that there is a warning on that one, ok?" Woodstock 1969 

When the famous words were echoed from the microphone to the crowd at Woodstock, the legend of Brown Acid was born. While the folklore of this drug and many others during this time of enchantment, it was hard to pin-down if the acid was actually good or bad. According to one very experienced attendee, the acid was so pure, people mistakenly took more than one hit. A fair number of these people where novices, inadvertently labeling their experience as a "bad trip", instead of just a very intense one. The resemblance between Brown Acid then and our version now shares a similar characteristic when it comes to purity.  

Released once, four years ago, Brown Acid is our answer to the common approach to third wave espresso: bright, clean and vibrant, blending similar cultivars, from the same country, but three different farms.

These three farms share similar care in farming and a beautiful mill where they process and dry. The largest factor in their differences are their degrees of fermentation: washed, semi washed and natural. Each coffee was strategically placed in this blend to bring out the best in each bean. 

We begin with sparkling washed beans from Santa Elena, an established farm in El Salvador, which commonly places in the Cup of Excellence, among other awards. With its particular style of processing, the semi washed bourbon from Las Nubes, contributes body and sweetness. Santa Josefita, on the conservative side of dry-processing, is a natural processed that brings juicy fruit and acidity to the blend. 

A quick update regarding the Dark Lord Day 2017 Merchandise. 

As of Monday, May 22, 2017 at 9:30 am CST, both of the Blood Lord mug and Snifters are SOLD OUT! 

The remaining bags of Blood Lord coffee will be available at our stores and online while supplies last. Please with sugar on top, don't call and ask for any bags to be held, as these are on a first come, first serve basis. 

For those of you who ordered items, the following information will be useful should you have any further questions. 

1. Orders will be processed as they were received. 

2. We will begin processing orders immediately. You will receive a second email once the items have shipped. Please be respectful of this and avoid calling to check on updates. We are working as fast as possible to process orders and your patience is appreciated. 

3. Problems with your order? We have a form just for that! It can be found HERE  Once you have filled that form out, we will contact you as soon as humanly possible. Again, your patience will go a long way with making things go smoothly and will be appreciated so much from the hard working DMC staff! 

4. We will have a small reserve of both snifters & mugs in case of breakage during shipping. These will be released at a later date in our stores ONLY. Again, this is a very, very small reserve and will be on a first come, first serve basis, with no reservations taken. 

5. Cleaning your snifters or mug: we recommend hand washing these items. The mug is also microwave safe. 

Hope For The Day's Art Gives Me Hope 2017 is presented by Dark Matter Coffee, Bucketfeet, and Threadless.

Art Gives Me Hope is HFTD’s annual spring pop-up art show with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Hope For The Day’s proactive suicide prevention programs. We're excited to have the art show at Communitas this year!

Once again we will be offering a diverse selection of amazing art donated by an eclectic list of artists from Chicago and around the world curated by Lance Curran & Threadless.

2017 featured artists include: Shepard Fairey, Matt Skiba, Jill Thompson, Morley, Kristen Liu-Wong, Alex Pardee,  Joel Birch, Rosey Jones, Wrdsmith, Travis Lampe, Karl Gerzan, Tara McPherson, Luke Pelletier, Casey Weldon,  Alex Solis, Jeremyville, Craig Shimala, Arthur Hickman, Kevin Leary, Adrianne Hanley, John Maloof, Sow, Dean Bernardini, Denial, Code of Conduct, Jeff Guerrero, Conrad Javier,  Michael Sieben, E. Lee,  Lauren Asta, Bucket Feet x Ello Ello, Katie Lukes, Steve Seeley, Fortoul Brothers, Coop, Angryblue, Birdcap, Jason Rowland (R6D4), Jason Brammer, Derek Hess, Karen Mooney, Natalie Shugailo, Mitch O'Connell,  Erik Lundquist,   Amanda Adams,  Jamie Foster, Allison Poplett, Jackie Carmody, 

Dark Matter Coffee and Essentia Water will be flowing along. We are thrilled to also have food generously provided by our friends Uncle Dougies, Osteria Via Stato, Nacional 27, Tallboy Taco, and Pork Shoppe.

The 15th Annual CHIRP Record Fair & Other Delights is happening on April 8th. Join us at Plumbers Hall to dig through thousands of crates of vinyl records, as well as DVDs, CDs, posters, and more. It's a music collector's paradise!

This year, we will be expanding into Plumbers' Lower Hall to bring you EVEN MORE Delights! Chicago's own Vintage Garage Chicago will hold a special-edition vintage fair in the lower level. You can register to win $50 in Garage Bucks to use at the Record Fair! 

More awesome ‘Other Delights’ that will be happening at the CHIRP Record Fair:

LIVE MUSIC:
Donna from Beat Drun Juel Paul from Dust Bunnies, Danielle from Impulsive Hearts, Izzy from Half Gringa (more to come!)

First Time will be MCing and doing stories between sets!

DJ SETS:
Flesh panthers, dj shAde (Fridays @ Logan Bar & Grill), DJ Franktronic (Thursdays @ Exit), Avery R. Young, plus more to come!

FOOD:
Moxee Barbecue & Cajun and Mad Mouse Brewery
Puffs of Doom

DRINK:
Dark Matter Coffee (bags of CHIRP Radio Blend beans available as well!)

The NEST:
South Side Hackerspace: Chicago - ssh:chicago,Tandem Felix Letterpress, Pedal To The People LLC (bike fixing), GlitterGuts Photobooth

See you there!