EXQUISITELY ECO-CONSCIOUS

Get a sneak peek of the first stop on our home tour

This summer, Cadillac sent designer, stylist and star gardener Linda Vater on a home tour adventure around Oklahoma City and Edmond to talk with homeowners about their architecture, design and landscaping. In this captivating three-part video series, we delve intimately into the inspiration and distinctiveness of each home.

Linda cultivated her gardening skills and acumen for 30 years at her Tudor-style home, and she shares her lessons learned with 158,000 subscribers on YouTube and in her book, The Elegant and Edible Garden. We asked Linda for her expert take on this fabulous OKC home — and these are her answers.

405: What did you find remarkable or unique about this home?

VATER: The owners expressed their personal value set throughout the home in its eco-conscious design, family-friendly practicality — expressed in exquisite modern ways — and brilliant, focused use of color.

405: In what ways did you see the family reflected in the design of the home?

VATER: I see them reflected in the functional, tough materials to handle the demands of a boisterous family with pets, with lots of spaces to gather and congregate indoors and out. There’s lots of room for the whole family to entertain and engage in so many ways.

405: What parts of the home do you think will inspire others?

VATER: I think the fabulous indoor-to-outdoor views will, and how nature is everpresent as a muse wherever you are. I love the vivid use of green!

Roasters, cafes and caffeine appreciation around the 405

WORDS BY GREG HORTON PHOTOS BY CHARLIE NEUENSCHWANDER

CAFE EVOKE/TWISTED TREE:

Frozen Oatchata

Lemon Poppy Berry Scone

Chocolate Ganache Cruffin

Pain Au Raisin

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie

Croissant

Blueberry Scone few years ago, a commentator on a nationally syndicated podcast mentioned that because coffee contains caffeine, many Americans go about their days with all the resultant side effects of regularly ingesting a psychoactive drug. Allow me to speak for all of us: Hush. We don’t care. Give us our psychoactive deliciousness, and let us enjoy it while you drink your fizzy water or orange juice.

No matter an individual’s preference — black, sugar, sugar and cream, loaded with whipped cream, oozing with caramel or poured over ice cream — coffee is our national addiction, but as addictions go, it’s benign and wonderful.

Only one thing makes coffee better: a bite of something sweet. So we’ve compiled a list of coffees and pastries around the 405, and we’ve broken the businesses down into the coffee roasters and the coffee shops. Most of the roasters also have a shop, but not all.

We asked Ian Flemming, owner and roaster at Sincerely Coffee Roasters, why the roast is important. Turns out it’s not just throwing green coffee beans in a big oven and waiting till they turn brown.

“Roasting smaller batches in a roastery is for the purpose of being more intentional about the roast profile for each batch,” Flemming said. “Single-origin coffees are coffees coming from a single place of origin, both country and usually farm or lot. Both of these are usually signs of quality because of the intensive sorting and attention to detail from growing to picking to processing and to roasting that happens at the farm or roastery.”

The roast profile is the important part for our flavor preference, so we asked him to explain that, too. Even if it doesn’t help you enjoy your coffee more, you’ll at least understand how special and specialized this task is, and why you should hug your roaster next time you see them (ask permission first).

“A roast profile is a chart that consists of the temperature and time during the process of roasting,” Flemming said. “It’s usually noted in 30-second increments. The measurements are checked visually and aurally because the beans go from green to yellow, yellow to orange, orange to brown, and then there is an audible ‘crack’ that roasters use as a significant checkpoint. The coffee is then tasted according to the time and temperature it comes out of the roaster, and that becomes the profile.”

By finding the best flavor profile in the process, the roaster is then able to replicate the process over and over to give you consistently delicious coffee. You’ll find information about Sincerely below, along with many more of the 405’s local roasters and coffee shops.

- IAN FLEMMING, OWNER AND ROASTER AT SINCERELY COFFEE ROASTERS

SINCERELY COFFEE ROASTERS:

Grapefruit Shandy

Mango Chili Lime Scone

Cheddar Jalapeño Scone

ELEMENTAL COFFEE:

Cardamom Cream Pie

Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie

Cool Hand Luke