No Foam Please » On the Road

Baltimore’s Pitango Gelato

nofoamplease — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:46:06 +0000

The Fell’s Point location of Pitango Gelato has it all – location, history, brick sidewalks, amazing gelato… and coffee.

The feel of this place was so good we came back for a second visit – on a 4 day trip. I had to take a picture of the gelato as well – but trust me, the lattes and mochas are also top-notch.

Agua Azul: Excellent Food, Excellent View on NYE

nofoamplease — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:55:19 +0000

Agua Azul is an excellent restaurant, though it doesn’t look like much from the road – it is up a flight of stairs, which affords you a compelling view during the day, but it feels completely private and isolated when you’re on the premises at night.

We had our New Year’s Eve dinner, followed by dessert… and coffee! For dessert, I had this excellent cafe mocha:

Mocha at Agua Azul

Like most restaurants in Costa Rica – you might not go there for the espresso, but you shouldn’t be afraid to order it.

Marlins: Proof that Good Coffee is Everywhere in Costa Rica

nofoamplease — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Marlins is not the kind of place you expect to get a good latte. But I peeked behind the bar and I could see the legitimate espresso machine, so I took a chance.

After a long hike in the Manuel Antonio park, we were starving and really enjoyed our meal (heavy on the fruit). And this Mocha kept me going the rest of the morning:

Marlins Cafe Mocha

Cafe Milagro: My Favorite in Costa Rica

nofoamplease — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:51:57 +0000

We recently took a family vacation to Costa Rica. It might surprise you to know that not everyone realizes that Costa Rica is a haven for coffee lovers. Cafe Brit is the largest local company – their new store in the airport is very impressive. But it is the little roasters and cafes that always get my attention.

Cafe Mocha @ Cafe Milagro

In Manuel Antonio (and another in Quepos), there is a fantastic little placed called Cafe Milagro. They’ve been roasting since 1994, and serving coffee and espresso nearly as long. If you frequent the location in Manuel Antonio you’re likely to run into the bilingual proprietors (originally hailing from Colorado). The shop has a nice patio in front and back. The front is nice for watching people walk by, with frequent interruptions from tour vans and cars. The back patio is surprisingly secluded and green, you’d hardly know the main road was just on the other side of the restaurant. The wait staff were incredibly understanding of the challenges of eating with small children, and would frequently stop by to distract our kids as we were waiting for food, or as the kids were waiting on their parents to finish.

Back to the coffee. Cafe Milagro has several different roasts, and they sell ground coffee as well as whole bean… but they also make delicious espresso drinks, hot and cold.

Another Morning's Latte

The food at Cafe Milagro is better than you’d expect, especially breakfast. Like most places in Costa Rica you can get fresh fruit galore, and juices that you (or your kids) will love.

I took home a bag of the Quince 15-year anniversary roast, and a bag of espresso beans. The Quince roast has made for a fine French press several times already. It is strong, but not too bitter when prepared this way.

Never fear: you don’t have to travel all the way to Costa Rica to try it out, if you’re willing to pay $10 (flat rate) shipping and handling to have it shipped to you.

Return to Blue Bottle Coffee

nofoamplease — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:43:25 +0000

Hayes Valley blend from Blue Bottle Coffee

I recently returned to San Francisco for business and decided to pick up some coffee beans for a friend (and a bag for myself!). Of course, another latte was a must.

When I walked over to the display of coffees, I noticed they aren’t categorized the way some are (no “dark” or “medium” roasts… ) – but they had interesting sounding names. There was a helpful gentleman working at Blue Bottle who made recommendations based on how we thought my friend might be preparing his coffee. And then he recommended beans for my espresso as well.

So I checked in with my friend, Peter, and he reports that not only does it smell fantastic, but it makes a great coffee with his french press. The espresso beans I brought home fill the room with a great coffee aroma when I make an espresso or latte, and the flavor is really rich. Too bad they only sell half-pound bags…

Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park, CA

nofoamplease — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 04:57:15 +0000

Cafe Borrone is apparently a favorite of many of the startup titans of the bay area. I read mention of it the other day and I was going to add it to my list… when I realized, I’ve been here before, quite a few times, to meet friends who live in the area. And it is, indeed, a great place to get coffee (or food).

Cafe Borrone has a great outdoor patio, as well as indoor seating. There’s a parking garage adjacent, and they’re also a short walk from the Menlo Park train station. The desserts are fantastic, but they might distract you from getting a really nice latte or mocha to sip while you catch up with friends. I should thank my friends Kristin and Riz for introducing me to this place.

There are over 470 yelp reviews, with over 350 of them being 4 or 5 stars.

Kennedy Coffee, Bentonville

nofoamplease — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:30:07 +0000

In one of my trips for work, I went to Bentonville, Arkansas, and had occasion to stop at Kennedy Coffee. Its pretty close to one of the Wal-mart facilities, so there are a lot of Wal-mart folks stopping in at rush hour in the morning. It has the usual amenities – free wifi with any drink order, ample seating to stop and check your mail or read the paper, and low enough lighting to give you a little bit of privacy.

The coffee there was good – but the first time I ordered a “Mocha” there they made me a “Kennedy Mocha” which has about 10x the chocolate of any normal mocha latte, complete with flakes of chocolate on top. The lattes were good, service was pretty efficient considering the traffic volume (most independent places don’t have quite the speed of operation that places like Starbucks and Peet’s have). They have a collection of other somewhat unique (or at least uniquely named) drinks but unfortunately the menu isn’t posted online!

Yelp Reviews are similarly positive.

I believe this is the Kennedy Mocha

Blue Bottle Coffee Co. delivers the goods

nofoamplease — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:51:25 +0000

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

nofoamplease — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:09:02 +0000

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.