A Romantic Valentine's Day Event at Carabello Coffee

Our Valentine’s Day Event is Carabello Coffee’s OG event—the first ever event we created and our longest running. It has consistently sold out within 48 hours and this 11th year was no exception.

Emily Carabello goes all out with decorating to make sure the Monmouth Room at the cafe has a romantic atmosphere to set the right mood for all the celebrating couples. Valentine’s Day comes in second only to Christmas as having the most decor in the cafe.

Every year, a different musician helps set the tone for the night. This year featured a pianist, Wayne Yeager, who did an excellent job adding to the mood.

It’s so fun creating menus to fit a theme and both Emily and Cheyne Schuchardt, Analog Lead Barista, worked hard on this one in order to nail drinks that felt special and Valentine-y. Each guest received three drinks—a non-alcoholic Cherry Mango Mimosa, a cold Strawberry Shaken Espresso, and a Chocolate Plum Cappuccino.

Dessert was provided by Memorie Makers Cafe and Cakery in Florence, Kentucky and each couple received individual cakes in Pink Champagne and Chocolate Raspberry Ganache. Many loved them so much they purchased extra cakes to take home! 

This was Barista Ryan Schauberger’s first time helping with an Analog event and Cheyne’s wife Laura was also on hand to help serve drinks. With 26 people per seating, at 3 drinks each—that’s 78 drinks per seating and a whopping 156 drinks for the night—everyone had their work cut out for them to make sure everything was prepped in between seatings and so that everyone was served in a timely manner.

The only bummer of the evening was this was the first time in 11 years that Justin Carabello had to miss hosting the event with Emily as he was home sick. After a busy night of hosting the Valentine’s Day Event, the Carabellos usually go out for wings in lieu of cooking dinner—a tradition that was sadly missed this year. Don’t worry though…next year they’ll eat double the wings to make up for it!