THIRD WAVE COFFEE

Ironic Starbucks Bashing

2008-05-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2004/02/23/starbucks/index.html

A very funny, although poorly researched article... Among the un-facts... "Steven C. Topik, a coffee historian at the University of California at Irvine: "Coffee prices are at an all-time low, but Starbucks prices are still extremely high. They're selling mostly ritual and snob appeal. And foam."

Actually coffee traded today at $1.39, far from being an all time low...

and " One competing brand, at least, has apparently decided to market itself as a sort of anti-Starbucks. That is to say, anti-pretension. Anti-gibberish. Anti-faux European. And most distinctly pro-American.
Chock full o'Nuts, a classic American brand that was born in 1926 as a series of Manhattan nut shops before expanding into coffee in the '30s"

I guess the writer forgot to notice that Chock Full, is owned by Sarah Lee, which in turn is owned by Italian Robusta Slingers Segafredo-Zanneti.

Oh Well.

Cafestol-Coffee's Paradox

2008-04-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia... the free encyclopedia...

"Cafestol is a molecule present in coffee.
A typical bean of Coffea arabica contains about 0.6% cafestol by weight. Cafestol is present in highest quantity in unfiltered coffee drinks such as French press coffee or Turkish coffee. In filtered coffee drinks such as drip brewed coffee, it is present in only negligible amounts.
Studies have shown that regular consumption of boiled coffee increases serum cholesterol by 8% in men and 10% in women. For those drinking filter coffee, the effect was only significant for women.

Cafestol has also shown anticarcinogenic properties in rats.

According to a 2005 study by the Baylor College of Medicine, cafestol may act as an agonist ligand for the nuclear receptor Farnesoid X receptor and Pregnane X receptor, blocking cholesterol homeostasis."

I'll soon be conducting experiments dealing with Cafestol...expect more (somewhat) soon!

I have an on-line music store!

2008-01-21T21:17:00.000-08:00

Check out my tracks! Leave a 'lil luv if yer feelin' it!

Ninth Street Espresso @ Chelsea Market

2007-10-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

There's a new 9th street in NYC... CLick the link to the right for more info!

Ethiopian Coffee 2007

2007-04-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ethiopia's Branding Battle

is an article I wrote with Tim Castle. Part 2 is coming next month and will feature interviews with Getawchew Mengistie of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office and Coffee industry lawyer, Marshall Fuss.

Enter The Dragon

2007-02-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Some Articles I've worked on have recently become viewable at Tea and Coffee Asia's website

Zen and The Art of Coffee

Roaster Training

Disclaimer-The "Asian Wannabees" part was added by the editor...

Ethiopia!

2007-01-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has signed on to the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office's licensing agreement for the

Harrar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe coffee names.

Expect more about this on this page soon!

Hot Coffee

2007-01-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know what to say about this!

Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

May 2007 be your best yet!

Jazz N' Java

2006-11-02T20:25:00.000-08:00

from left to right;
Phillip Hand (Supreme Bean), Greg Torres (La Mill Coffee), Kei Okumura (La Mill Coffee), Ty McNulty (Groundwork), Joel Starr (Castle and Company), Tim Castle (Castle and Company), James Marcotte (IntelligentsiA Coffee) Photo by Joan Nielsen

On October 22nd The American Institute of Wine and Food presented an excellent coffee event in Silverlake. IntelligentsiA, Groundwork, La Mill and Supreme Bean all represented with great coffee for all.
Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, Inc. provided Sparkling Wine and the coffee condiment bar. It was a good time for all!

Espresso is born

2006-10-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

L.A. Times Coffee feature

2006-10-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

There is a gang of coffee articles featuring L.A. coffee people today in the times...

L.A.Times does coffee

registration to the times is free...

Summertime Rolls

2006-09-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

MIKE PICCOLO AND KEN MARUYAMA AT ROASTERS GUILD

It's been a busy time for me lately. I attended the Sixth Annual Roasters Guild Retreat in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and got to meet a gaggle of dedicated coffee professionals from Vancouver to Tokyo that all made the pilgrimage.

I also competed in the innaugural "ULTIMATE BARISTA CHALLENGE", Latte Art Competition; an Iron Chef type barista showdown, put on by Sherri and Danny John's of Whole Cup Coffee Consulting. The competitors were all young and talented (myself excluded), but in the end, there can only be one.... It was me. Since I won the competition I was able to pick between Heather Perry or Ryan Denhardt to square off against in an exhibition. I chose Ryan and he brought the pain. It was great though and I encourage everybody out there to compete in this event when it comes to your area. My prize was a customized Reg Barber Tamp that says "The Ultimate Barista".... Sweet!

Back In The Saddle

2006-07-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Cowboys used to drink coffee. I wanted to find out what coffee might have tasted like in the wild west, or after a nuclear apocalypse (or global environmental disaster) which sadly, is a more likely reality for my generation.

Taking that large sample of green beans that I had, I put about a pound in a cast iron frying pan and proceeded to roast them over an open flame . . . Aiming for a complete roast time of about thirteen minutes.

The main difference I knew of, that would alter the flavor from what I'm used to on a modern drum roaster, was the amount of conductive heat in the roast. As a drum roaster rotates... Like a tumble dryer, three kinds of heat work together to raise the green coffee's temperature; Conductive, Convective, and Radiant.

The open flame fryingpan method of roasting, I reckoned, would maximize conductive heat (that is heat transferred from the hot iron directly to the bean), and minimize convective (heat transferred from the hot-air surrounding the beans) and Radiant heat (heat transferred from bean-to-bean). Each type of heat contributes to the overall flavor of the resulting roast.

Other side effects of this method included the amount of chaff; that is, what's left of the silver skin which lines each coffee seed from the surrounding parchment and cherry husks. On a drum roaster, the operator is able to use air-flow to blow off the chaff, resulting in a cleaner roast . . . There were also a lot of Quakers; beans that do not fully develop due to their unripeness or low density. This was to be expected though as the green sample was a melange of various origins.

I handicapped the experiment by using my nearly empty freezer to create a ghetto cooling phase after the roast, the cooling phase being critical to a tasty roast.

After the coffee had cooled sufficiently, I skipped the de-gassing phase and brewed up a pot of the resulting roast, as I imagine a cowboy coffee roaster might have done.

It tasted revolting.

Yet another reason to seek professional help when purchasing coffee for your home, and an even better reason to avoid a nuclear war.

Os Mutantes... Not The Cool Brazilian Band

2006-06-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

I selected these green coffees not for their attributes, but for their defects.
This group was pulled from larger coffee samples.

In theory, very few of these beans should be sold, roasted, ground or served in "Specialty" or "Premium-Specialty" grade coffees.

However, that is not reality.

Some defects, are visually apparent if you know what to look for. Other defects require careful evaluations of the bean's roast, fragrance, aroma and taste of the grounds and brew.

For businesses that buy Specialty grade coffee, especially those that aspire to get only the best of those designations, gambling with green purchases is the last thing you want to do. The visual inspection of green samples is almost as important a step in the cupping process as the sensory evaluation, itself
.
Things to look (and feel!) for;

bean size, density, uniformity, color, broken beans, cut beans, misshapen (I call them "Mutants") beans, fungus and insect damage, husks, parchment and "foreign-matter", like sticks, rocks, nails or chicklets.

That being said, many Indonesian and African coffees, especially those that are "dry" or "natural" process reach our shores fraught with defects, however, they are still iconic flavors and often sold justly, for a premium.

I'm not alone when I wonder how good these coffees could be if their Motherland's were politically and economically stable.

Some dedicated importers, and non-profit groups seek to build relationships with farms and Co-Operatives to help reduce defects and improve growing and processing techniques at origin.

By providing financial incentive and infra-structure investment for farmers to improve their farms, two things are happening;

1) the coffee tastes better

2) the farmer can get a better price for her crops

Exclusivity of the coffees is important for importers who invest financially in coffee farms.... but as we all know, "No good deed goes unpunished".

There is great danger in such endeavors as there is no "International Coffee Police" to hold remote coffee farmers to their contracts if they choose not to honor them the next season.

Geo-politics, economics, beauracracy, warlords, weather and natural disasters are very real pressures to coffee farmers, the influence of which can be greater than that of the coffee importer when times get tough.

... but then again, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, right???

It seems contrary to the often ruthless capitalist business model so prevalent in America today, but by boldly working with farmers to increase the value of their crops, coffee importers can also profit.

Once you go blak...

2006-05-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

After a long day of cupping, I half-jokingly told my colleagues that we should cup test the new Coke product that claims to fuse the flavors of Coke and Coffee.
They agreed.
Here's the skinny on Blak; it tastes like coke and it tastes like coffee, but has a more syrupy body and less carbonation.
Like the well known "Yellow and Blue Make Green" phenomenon, Coke and Coffee extract combine effortlessly to form a very chocolately taste that though not amazing, is hard to hate-on. I thought it tasted like a Starbucks Mocha Frappucino (TM) in soda form. (Don't lie, I know you've tried it).
We'd heard from an anonymous source that Blak was formulated as a mixer for alcoholic beverages in addition to a stand-alone soda.
Setting out to make "Blak Jaxx", we tried to find our stash of Jack Daniels, but it was dry and we had to plunder the far finer liquid* you see above.
When we mixed the two together on ice, the results were outstanding.
Now, I don't drink really, I love the taste but lack the tolerance, but this new cocktail... I tell ya . . . it threatens to turn me into a raging alcoholic.
This Memorial Day,
PARTY ON THIS ONE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

*Woodford Reserve

Special Report From The Coffee Wolf: Coffee Flavored Coffee

2006-05-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

THE COFFEE WOLF GIVES IN, DRINKS ANCIENT DECAF.

Conditions got extreme today. The event that I had sworn would never come to pass occurred in an instance both more hideous and strangely justifiable than I ever could have thought possible; we had no alternative but to drink decaf... espresso!

To be fair, the coffee was Zoka's Decaf. Espresso Paladino. The spiffy brown paper facade on the one-way valved bag promised good things. In fact, the coffee is upon inspection fairly untampered in appearance. Visually the beans have that good oily quality I crave in the look of coffee beans, and more importantly they weren't burned. Their fragrance also speaks of a "real" coffee bean, and is pleasantly brisk if a little mild for an espresso blend. Its aroma seemed to have legitimate qualities, all speaking to the Zoka roasters general strengths .

However, the act of drinking this coffee was nonetheless inexcusable as the coffee was three months old. Furthermore, it was made using a Starbucks (tm) Barista coffee maker. This latter aspect though should probably be ignored, as much to the moderate shame of all involved parties, said device is employed with great frequency.

All that aside, the odd thing was that at first pass it was difficult to detect whether the coffee suffered more from its age or its decaffeinated state. In large part this was due to the fact that the front of the cup was surprisingly good. Sadly, its finish brought a much detested and recognizable flavor of the unnatural processes required to make this aberration. This particular flavor, which I deduced to be the mysterious "decaf note" was different than just that hollow bitter flavor that always comes to mind when one thinks decaf. On further speculation I began to think that this flavor might be a particular variant of the decaf note, as it had a quality that persisted through it's strangely bitter yet effervescent finish. I must grant that in general this coffee was far more full bodied than any other decaf. I've ever had the misfortune of drinking.

As to the particular flavor, there was some speculation that it might derive from the method utilized to create this so called miracle of modern science. Upon research one finds that there are four methods of decaffeinating the coffee bean. On one end of the liquid chemical spectrum we find the Ethyl Acetate solvent process, which doesn't even utilize any water. Next comes Methylene Chloride which is often marketed as "European Water Processed." The chemically least complex method utilizes good old H2O and is the patented Swiss Water process. It should be noted that this last process while possibly better for the environment, does not guarantee a better tasting coffee (industry insiders generally seem to favor Methylene Chloride processed beans.) In addition there is the "Supercritical" CO2 method which involves the use of super pressurized liquid carbon dioxide as a solvent. Personally I take the existence of this proliferation of designs as further evidence that nature's little miracle seed was never meant to be so tampered with by the hand of man.

In the end, while further investigation clearly remains to be done, I hope to avoid any future involvement with this matter whatsoever.

The Coffee Wolf, signing off for now.

(editor's note: it should be noted that upon completion of writing this article, the author immediately went for another shot of the decaf.)

The Coffee Wolf is a sometimes denizen of Los Angeles who has been known to purvey fine coffees and other excellent libations . . . Particularly wine and beer.

9 A.M. Saturday

2006-04-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

These were the first two drinks I made this morning for a lovely couple enjoying Saturday brunch at Fatty's in Eagle Rock, CA. Its a vegetarian restaurant with a large wine selection and an espresso and juice bar.
Starting to get a handle on the 2% milk at long last.

Setting the record straight on "Third Wave Coffee"

2006-04-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

With all due respect to the innovators and improvers of all levels in the coffee world. This is the context of my references to "Third Wave Coffee". Reprinted with the authors' permission from TEA and COFFEE ASIA, December, 1999.

Doing some work in the cupping room at Castle and Co. I was given a copy of Tim's book: "The Perfect Cup".
After reading it, I mentioned to Tim the whole "Third Wave" discussion, to which he replied, "Oh yeah, I wrote an article on it six years ago."

After much searching, we found it.

Please note that the Article mentions Espresso Vivace, Cafe Zoka and Cafe Vita.

Coffee Is The New Wine

2006-04-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

At least before noon.

What's exactly new about "Third Wave" Coffee?

2006-04-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

It's funny, All this "Third Wave" chatter... There's a lot of noise out there in Coffee Land, people wishing to claim ideas that are bigger than their personal contribution. Kinda like Nirvana and Candlebox being mentioned in the same article about the Seattle "Grunge" scene over a decade ago.

To me, it seems that "Third Wave" is acquiring more meanings than it should.

Obviously It's become a marketing term, but unlike most other marketing terms, it resonates with the people who have been involved in it long before it was dubbed so.

Fortunately, in my opinion, It's become bigger than it's briches, so to speak, coming to mean different things to different people,

As much as "Third Wave Coffee" can be considered a movement... Coffee itself, to me and every other person I've known to be moved by it... Is a highly personal journey. The movement to create a higher standard in American Espresso and Coffee isn't new...

Alfred Peet opened his doors forty years ago this week, bringing freshly roasted single-origin beans and the promise of a more discriminating palate to California, and in turn, America.

There have been proponents of fine, consistent espresso drinks in America since at least 1978, courtesy of Mr. Espresso.

Much respect to the East Bay.

Latte Art has existed since around then as well, although not in the states.

And get this.. some people, containing actual MORAL FIBER have personally sourced and paid fairly for green beans for decades!

I would argue that the world was simply not ready for their message...

That is until now.

What's new to me about the Third Wave of Coffee is that people are beginning to listen to the message, instead of just hear it.

As a career barista and a new roaster who's worked at many a "specialty" coffee purveyor in various places... I offer the definition that to be a "Third Wave" coffee operation, you should adhere to the following MINIMAL parameters during ALL business hours.

1. Have a custom espresso blend and pour latte art in every drink that can sustain it.
2. Offer french press or mellita single cup pours of carefully selected single-origin coffees that are ground per-order
3. Execute all drip coffees brilliantly, consistently and often as a matter of principle.
4. Support organic/sustainable farming and fair labor practices with your green or roasted bean purchases and your staff.
5. Be willing and able to educate any and every customer if prompted.
6. Always try to improve.
7. Play Bob Marley's early recordings often.

If you can't or won't do this....

Then your just making coffee.

Special Report from the Coffee Wolf: A New Episode

2006-04-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today I was pretty desperate for coffee.

Fortunately I realized in fairly short order that I still had a few samples of coffee Joel had given me. One was Victrola, and the other was some of the Black Cat espresso blend. The Victrola sadly was not that amazing Bolivian stuff as I had already drunk all of that ambrosial bean. In fact I was pretty worried that the beans I had might have been a bit old. In fact that was not the case.

The beans were some of that Colombian Valencia and they were still in fantastic shape. Maybe it was the shiny space-age packing that helped the beans maintain their flavor, or maybe it was the fact that they'd spent some of the time in the fridge, either way they provided the makings for some excellent coffee.

At this point I've gotten pretty confident with my french press skills, so the coffee was just right. Not too grainy, and not too hot, but strong and thick. In other words, it was highly drinkable and I was able to get a pretty good read on the flavour. The aromatic oils were visible on the top, and the aroma was crisp but not overpowering. The coffee had a strong well balanced front, and a nice consistent back . . . none of that bitter or sour flavor that some coffees leave behind. It wasn't too complex, but damn it tasted good.

Ahhh, satisfaction. I think I need to get some more Victrola to confirm my findings. In the meantime, back to the Black Cat. Those people at Intelligentsia know a thing or two about roasting a coffee bean, although it's not the best blend for a frnch press =(

The Coffee Wolf, signing off for now.

The Coffee Wolf is a sometimes denizen of Los Angeles who has been known to purvey fine coffees and other excellent libations . . . particularly wine and beer.

Nothin' Special...

2006-04-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

...just a mocha, sans whipped cream...
...and a couple of lattes.

I'm trying to get better definition in the lower portion of the cup... lot's of progress to make! Ha ha!
2% milk never helps... It's too volatile and prone to over-expansion. Whole milk is the logical answer of course. The owners of Fatty's prefer lowfat though... so that's what we got!

S.C.A.A. update from Marshall Fuss

2006-04-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

What middle aged geeks (who are my good friends) do after
a hard day at Conference. Karaoke with the BGA? Hell, no. Fine wine and fine food!
From left Jim Schulman

coffee cuppers

Bob Yellin (same URL, plus

green coffee coop

BTW he's also one of America's banjo
greats

green briar boys

and Abe Carmeli,
a new USBC judge.

L.A.'s only USBC competitor and current West Coast
Champion, Heather Perry, at her semifinal performance. Heather didn't make
the finals this time.

Marshall Fuss is a business and real estate lawyer practicing in Pasadena, California. Marshall’s practice encompasses several levels of the coffee industry, from local roasters to the Coffee Quality Institute, and he has been a panelist at three SCAA Annual Conferences. He is also the organizer of SCAA’s annual Consumer Homecoming each summer in Long Beach, CA.

2006-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

Espresso Craft has Arrived!

2006-04-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

The unobtainable Rolls Royce of barista tools is now available at Espresso Parts North West.

Espresso Craft @ espressoparts.com

Saturday Morning

2006-04-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

I'm back in L.A., At work Saturday morning... Approximatly 8 A.M.

We have a new signature, Fair-Trade and Organic espresso blend from the Supreme Bean.

This one ended up in my belly, with minimal fuss.

Before it got too busy I was able to document a few beverages.

We only have 2% milk at work... I figure it's good practice, like throwing a heavier shot put in anticipation of the olympics.
Little Foam Latte
Rosie
Two Lattes from one pitcher.

In other news, The SCAA... Specialty Coffee Assosiation of America will be holding their annual conference next week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sort of like the G.O.P. holding their convention in New York City.

I hope to have some intersting items to report from some secret agents over there!

2006-04-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

Crema Wars: Attack of the Lipids

2006-03-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

It's been a good week in Oakland researching the coffee scene out here.

Tommorow it's back to L.A.!

We went back to Mr. Espresso today to get some prices on the Faema E-61's he has and ended up talking for a while about... Yes, that's right, coffee.

Mr. E. explained to us his particular philosophy on espresso, along another walk through of the roastery, this time in action.

The roastmaster would periodically grab a sample of beans and get an Agtron scale reading, grind it, then get another reading.
The Agtron scale, for those of you that don't know, is a light refraction measuring system that measures the roast intensity of coffee. The lower the number, the darker the roast. This batch came in at 47, pretty dark, but not yet a "French Roast" (I think!).

The Agtron scale is scientific, whereas other measuring/naming systems are not.

An Espresso's crema, he explained is a suspension of the coffee's flavor oils or lipids. The more lipids, the more flavor.
With an espresso roast of about 47 agtron (I think, about a full city roast) and a brewing temperature of 185 degrees F.
combined with his Oak Roasting technique, Mr. Espresso believes the shots posses greater amounts of lipids.

David Schomer, of Seattle's Espresso Vivace on the other hand advocates a lighter espresso roast and a much higher brewing temperature: 203.5 F.

Neither of these men have any problems extracting ample amounts of crema in their shots.

I must admit though, that Mr. E's espresso's had a crema that didn't seem like it was going anywhere, anytime soon.

Both of these espresso enthusiasts do add Robusta beans to their blends.

Robusta is the often unloved coffee cousin of the fairer Arabica, who gets all the attention.

Robusta is cheaper and generally not as tasty as Arabica, but guarantees a longer lasting crema.

Why then add it to an Arabica espresso? Just to cheaply give it the appearance of a good crema?

The going philosophy is that with the addition of a small amount of a high grown Robusta, that it's long lasting crema will preserve the delicate lipids of the Arabicas and thus preserve it's flavor a little longer.

This is one area where many espresso people are starting to converge.

My take is that the Robusta can still be tasted. But I'll also go on the line to say that a good Robusta doesn't have to taste bad.

In my opinion they taste like wood. Not cedar, but pine.

Wood, of course is typically described as a negative flavor characteristic, but if it's just a hint, it can add to the shot's overall complexity and longevity in milk.

One of the wonderful things about coffee is that so many people love it for so many different reasons.

One man's swill is another man's gold and vice versa.

Who's right?

Who's wrong?

Polarization to different ideologies in coffee, just like in politics can lead to unpleasant battles and wars.

One thing is for sure though. Everyone in the coffee world is not going to agree anytime soon on how to produce the best results.

I think the most important ingredient any roaster or barista or drinker can add to their coffee is of course passion.

It may seem like, or even be a cliche, but...

You just can't fake the funk.

East Bay Espresso

2006-03-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today, we finally made it to Blue Bottle Coffee Co., the roastery in Oakland, that is. We met James and Jan and another cool cat, who's name escapes me, who plumbed an Astra one group into his home kitchen.

Coincidently, one of James' friends had just brought him a bag of the "Alphabet City" blend from Ninth Street Espresso, my Alma Mater of sorts.

Ahhh, sweet memories. This stuff rocks. for descriptors, click the photo and read the label.

We drank a few of those lovelies then sampled Blue Bottle's "3 Africans" espresso blend ; a bold, syrupy bodied, well balanced shot that's both fruity and spicy and has a rich, deeply hued crema.

James is obviously an exceptional barista himself but is very humble, praising his baristas over the bridge as being the real experts behind the machine. Nice.

When it comes to drip coffee, the Blue Bottle, and it's Kiosk in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, don't mess around with commercial coffee brewers... Each coffee is ground per request and brewed individually using the chemex / melita pour-over technique on a cool little multi-melita, stainless steel cozy that they had custom made, like the one pictured below...

Afterwards, we still hadn't had enough coffee, so we stopped at Cole Coffee, pictured above... Formerly Royal Grounds, as in Royal, the green bean importers.

Apparently retail wasn't their passion, so they sold it to the former manager and he changed the name, Royal still does the roasting though.

Like Blue Bottle, they grind and brew drip coffee in the coffee cozy or french press per order and offer a wide selection of coffees to choose from.

Mr. Espresso? Damn straight.

2006-03-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

I'm in Oakland helping my brothers scout locations and potential roasters for their future East Bay coffee bar. We were on our way to the Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk on Linden St. today when after a quick phone call to the roastery we learned that it's on Linden St. in San Francisco, not Oakland.

Disappointed, we turned to go back home.

Little did we know that our unfortunate detour would lead us to a hidden treasure.

Right in front of me I saw a big warehouse with "MR. ESPRESSO" spelled out on it....

"Mr. Espresso?" I thought to myself apprehensively... "C'mooooon!"

Inside, a worker was closing the gate and peering in, I spied an enormous amount of green beans and a gargantuan set of roasters.

I immediately pulled over and my Brother Jim and I went inside to see what the hell was going on here.

I was highly skeptical of any company with a name that seemed on the surface to knock-off "Mr. Coffee", but there was something about this place compelling enough to warrant further research.

Once inside we were spotted by the owners, Carlo and his wife Marie-Francoise.

Carlo, the boss, we would soon find out, isn't really joking around with the Mr. Espresso moniker.

Carlo, hereby referred to as "Mr. Espresso" led us to a large, modern showroom with a number of Faema, Rancilio, ECM espresso machines and his own line of customized machines based on these manufacturers designs.

Like myself and my friend Ken Nye, Senor Espresso also shares a love for the Faema E-61 espresso machine and he had a few gorgeous vintage, original E-61's that he's restored to lustery glory... like this one...

Mr. Espresso, or "Espresso-San", as he is known in Japan is from Salerno Italy, in the Northern part of Southern Italy, or perhaps the Southern part of Northern Italy, one or the other, and his espresso roast reflects that in it's slightly dark nature.

Armed without a proper tamper, Mr. Espresso pulled us a couple of shots one at a time from a single-dose portafilter on his Faema Diplomat...

Already, Mr. E had broken three of my preconceived rules of how espresso should be prepared (roast, tamp and filter basket) and I thought the shots would for sure be bitter and nasty...

They weren't.

In fact they were pretty damn tasty and hit the spot after our Blue Bottle fiasco!

Like his Italian brethren, I suspect he adds a dose of robusta to his blend, but over all, I found the shot to have a good acidity with a medium body, a mild, woody character of the robusta, a little chocolate and a long, yet sweet finish that wasn't unpleasant... Crema was not an issue.

Mr. Espresso gave Jim and I a long tour of his unique roasting facility and we chatted about various topics from world politics to heat exchangers... Monsieur Espresso, to his own admission, loves to talk.

Long story short: everything in the place is Italian designed and machined. He designed the facility largely by himself and the roasters are powered by burning oak logs, reclaimed from forest fires, instead of gas: an art he learned as the boy apprentice of an Italian roastmaster in the 1950's.

Yes, that's right, it's a coffee BBQ up in this joint.

I wouldn't say that Mr. Espresso is at the fore-front of the Third Wave of Coffee exactly, quite the opposite in fact, he's the definition of "Old School". He's been roasting espresso's and selling Faema's and Rancillio's since 1978. That's well before Peet's made the leap to espresso after the Starbucks buyout/sellout.*

An E-61 in human form, Mr. Espresso has a passion and knowledge of espresso that was WAY ahead of his time in our fair country.

He even has an Organic and Fair Trade line.

A couple of shots later, we eventually made it out of there.

I went out for Dinner tonight with my friend Aileen from NYC who has since moved to Oakland.

She took me to an Amazing Tapas restaurant called Cesar in Berkeley's so-called "Gourmet Ghetto" (lot's of Gourmet, zero ghetto, the original Peet's is just around the corner).

Great Tapas with an unforgettable orangey, caramel-creamy bread pudding dessert dish that defies adequate description.

After our meal we wanted a coffee but were less than excited about ruining an otherwise excellent dining experience with bad restaurant coffee.

Biting the bullet, we ordered an americano to share but they served us two by accident. It was a good thing too because they were served promptly to us in that classic brown Italian porcelain that we love so much with a good crema clinging to the top.

It was dark for my taste, but good... and familiar.

I asked the bartender.

"Hey, what kinda coffee do you guys use?"

The answer, of course was a spirited

"Oh, that's Mr. Espresso."

For more fun facts on Mr. Espresso, check this out...

Logo

and for serious info, click on the link on the top right.

*the original founders of Starbucks bought Peet's and sold their SBUX shares to Howard Shultz. They were against the espresso bar concept.

Vivace Nuovo

2006-03-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to David Schomer on the grand opening of a new location of Espresso Vivace.
Tonx from Victrola has posted a review here

TONX

Photo by Tonx

Company Man

2006-03-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've launched my company... Third Wave Coffee, Inc.
I realize this is a fairly generic name and will probably opt to do business under another.
In the meantime, I'm learning any and everything about coffee and the coffee industry that I can.
Recently I've begun to read and discuss the different processes in which coffee cherries are born into green beans.

Mostly they are either "Wet" or "Dry".

coffee cherries are first put in a swimming pool-like tank .The cherries that sink are of course, denser and harder. These are the higher quality of the picked cherries. The cherries that float are separated and used for "other" purposes... Ha ha.

The sinkers can be taken to patios and spread out to dry

or

they can get wet again

Wet processed coffees are dumped into fermentation tanks while the skin softens

Wet or "washed" coffees are said to have improved acidity due to the slight fermentation that takes place in the swimming pool, oops, I mean fermentation tank.

Many or most Central American coffees are wet processed, methinks.

The Brazilian coffee Fazenda Vista Allegre is a natural dry processed coffee that is truly amazing. Many thanks to James at Intelligentsia for turning me on to this great coffee and helping me understand the process. The FVA, by the way is brilliant as a single-origin espresso.

There is WAAAAAY more to this than I've discussed, or even know about for that matter...

If your interested check out:

Coffee Processing

Oh, and by the way... Have you ever eaten a red n' ripe coffee cherry right off the tree?

They're delicious! Like a coffee grape.... Yum Yum.

Thanks for those James!

An Obsessive's Guide To Coffee

2006-03-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

In the March 2006 issue of Food and Wine magazine, Ninth Street Espresso, Kenny Nye's shop where I worked back in the day was named as one of the top U.S. Coffee Bars along with Victrola and many other great shops.... here it is:

Food and Wine

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/an-obsessives-guide-to-coffee

top roasters are listed here:

roasters

Congrats to Doma, Intelligentsia, Barefoot and the rest. Your all very special... in your own way... ( single teardrop rolling down my cheek)

Peta Luma Barista Championship

2006-03-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

I'm bummed I didn't have a chance to go

Conratulations to Heather, Gabe and Eton!!!

I now make a resolution to go next year... Better yet there should be one in L.A. (or maybe there is one that I don't even know about)!

Maybe I'll set it up!

Anybody interested?

Coffee Good

2006-02-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

I wanna thank the good folks at Intelligentsia in Chicago, Victrola and Zoka in Seattle, Doma in Idaho, Supreme Bean in North Hollywood and La Mill in Alhambra for giving me the goods... I think I need a kidney transplant! Any volunteers?

Latte Art

2006-02-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

After two years in Japan with no hands on an espresso machine, I'm begining to get my skills back

a triple latte

single shot 12 oz. latte

another triple latte

Mr. Marzocco

2006-02-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

I've been working as a Barista at Fatty's in Eagle Rock and We'd been having some problems with the La Marzocco swift grinder.
Kent Bakke, of La Marzocco showed up and fixed it personally... huh huh...cool.

Kent's tip for a great espresso blend in Seattle: Lighthouse

I'm a man on a mission

2006-02-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

This blog will chronicle my adventures in bringing world class coffee and espresso to Los Angeles.
I'm currently scouting locations and generally getting my self organized.

The state of coffee in L.A. is pretty bad! I could count on one hand the number of coffeeshops in So. California that care at all about the quality, taste and presentation of the coffee that they serve.

Tonight on KNBC news at 5pm there will be a news story on independent coffee shops in L.A. and their fight against the mega-chains... I hope they find someone newsworthy!

This is a call to all the coffee geeks, espresso fanatics, baristas and other freaks out there to make your thoughts heard and a call to anyone else who wants to be a part of the movement to bring Seattle quality to L.A.