No Foam Please
All Things CoffeeArchive for February, 2010
Blue Bottle Coffee Co. delivers the goods
Blue Bottle Coffee co. is a micro-roaster of organic coffee, with just a few cafes in San Francisco (4 or 5). A colleague recommended I try it out sometime when they saw how often I was heading to the Starbucks on the first floor of the building we were working in…
Historic Light Rail, before everyone boarded
The first time I tried it I was taking the light rail to work and just stopped early at the Ferry Building.
The Blue Bottle Coffee Co. In the Ferry Building
But it had been a few weeks since I last made it to Blue Bottle, and I had previously failed to get a picture of the fantastic coffee they serve. I resolved to return early one morning before work…
So I woke up to a nice sunrise…
Sunrise in San Francisco
And walked a couple of extra blocks to the Ferry Building to return to the scene of the crime. The first time I went, I ordered their fairly well-regarded hand-drip coffee. They make each cup of drip coffee individually, and many coffee fans rave about it. But I’m used to drinking espresso or lattes and mochas, and the drip coffee is still too acidic to my taste. When I returned, I tried the latte- which I found to be excellent, and this last time I ordered a mocha.
They sell all kinds of coffee paraphernalia at the Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Siphons and French Presses and other exotic tools of the trade.
coffee siphon anyone?
One of the redeeming qualities is the location: the Ferry building is just unique. It has a great feel, and when you step inside, it feels like you’ve stepped into an alternate world of anti-marketing – for none of the specialty stores inside have a shingle hanging outside the Ferry building itself. You have to step inside to find out what’s there. And maybe that counter-intuitive branding is part of the charm. There’s no logo on the cup, just good coffee.
Don’t believe me? check out the yelp reviews.
Oh, and what about the coffee? Check out the pictures, they definitely have good foam-art skills.
mocha latte
closeup of mocha latte
Ristorante Umbria finishes with espresso
Today I had dinner at Ristorante Umbria, an Italian restaurant in SOMA (South of Market) San Francisco. I got the last open table in the restaurant and it has a cozy, conversational feel when it is crowded. After dinner I thought I’d test their latte/mocha credentials, rather than dessert.
Ristorante Umbria's Mocha Latte
It was served more like a cappuccino, in a short, wide cup, with a mountain of frothy foam on top (um, see the title of the blog… no foam please…). Of course my main complaint about serving it this way is you had best drink it quickly or it goes cold.
But, on the taste front, Umbria passes with flying colors.
Texspresso
Since the early 90′s (at least 1995), Texspresso has been serving up their own take on espresso drinks, and they’ve clearly spent more time on the drinks than on the web site or the atmosphere in their Austin location (they have a newer location in Buda I haven’t been to).
The Texspresso Alamocha
They’re located in the North Village Shopping Center in Austin, which is undergoing major renovations. I hear that renovations are coming to the interior of Texspresso soon as well, but for now it has the acoustics of a gymnasium with 20′ ceilings and nothing to break up the sound.
I hadn’t been to Texspresso in 10 years, and I’ve become much more of a coffee fan since the last visit, so I thought I’d try it again… this time the barista recommended that I try the Texspresso or the Alamocha (extra points for clever use of “Alamo”), and so I did. They somehow brew the sugar in instead of stirring it in later, and what they serve is rich and creamy. I went back the next day and had another.
Espresso, Let me Count the Ways
I’ll be blogging about espresso and coffee here. Especially when I travel and get a chance to try out someplace “different”, or when other people put me in touch with a unique coffee shop local to their city.
When I can I’ll post photos or link to them. The iPhone comes in handy for that.
