August 29, 2006

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A bounty of beans from San Francisco

A few days ago I got to enjoy some great espresso blends courtesy of co-blogger David. He was coming back from San Francisco and asked if I wanted him to bring anything back for me. Beans from two shops came immediately to mind: Ritual and Blue Bottle.

Ritual is a hip new coffee shop in Valencia. It's been profiled in Wired as a hangout for techies, but it's also known in the coffee world for having talented baristas, delicious coffee from the Stumptown Roaster in Portland, and style to spare. Blue Bottle is a roaster in Oakland with a charming walk-up shop in Hayes Valley. The espresso and Gibraltar I had there last fall count as some of the best coffee I've ever tasted, period. (I previously wrote up my visit to Blue Bottle on my own blog.)

David brought back three bags of espresso to try: Stumptown's Hairbender and Blue Bottle's Hayes Valley Blend and Roman espresso.

David brought the coffee by the shop where I work, Open City in Woodley Park. While I got the equipment ready to go, I started him off with a shot of our house espresso, Counter Culture's newly reformulated Toscana. The summer batches of the blend had been a bit rough, with a consistent sweet spot hard to locate. The new blend, composed of two Sumatrans and a Brazilian, dials in very nicely with caramely sweetness. The crema-rich photo on the right is the shot I pulled for David. Pretend I airbrushed out the sugar packet; he didn't actually use it and would be offended if I suggested he did!

Hairbender was the first blend we tried out. As I feared, it became quickly apparent that the beans had aged a bit too much on the journey from SF. They were just over two weeks old by the time I got to them. Nonetheless, the Hairbender's crema held up well and the flavor came out like dark chocolate. Of the three blends, this one aged the best. It's the one flowing from the portafilter at the top of the post and in the demitasse at left. It also performed well in the small cappuccino pictured at the bottom of the post.

Next on the lineup was the Hayes Valley Blend. Both of the Blue Bottle blends suffered more from ageing, coming out a bit thin. This is no fault of the roaster. Coffee isn't meant to age well! A fun aspect of the Blue Bottle beans is the precise brewing instructions they come with. Working on a Synesso espresso machine, I was able to set the group head to the exact temperature recommended for each blend. For Hayes Valley this is 195 degrees. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to pull a good shot of this one, certainly nothing to compare to the sweetness they produce at their shop.

The last blend was the Roman Espresso. They suggest brewing this at a ridiculously low 184 degrees. I bumped it up two degrees to try to coax a little more crema out of the older beans, with mixed results. It still poured thinly, but the character of the coffee came through -- lots of brightness and a little bit sweet. People who tasted it liked it. I'm anxious to try this one again with some fresher beans. When I order more from Blue Bottle, I'll post again to give them a better review at the peak of freshness.

The last two photos are of the Hairbender capp and of the cafe from behind the espresso bar.

Thanks to David for bringing me the beans and taking the photos. We'll do this again sometime!

[Cross-posted on Smelling the Coffee.]

Posted by Jacob Grier at August 29, 2006 10:11 PM | Comments (4) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts


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Nice looking coffee place, and great post. What are some of your favorite aspects of being a barista?

I don't drink much espresso. I'm mainly an old school, regular flavor only coffee drinker. I can't stand all the flavored coffees. I think they taste like shit (I'm talking store brands of coffee here, like French Vanilla Brand X).

I'm a nut about coffee though. It's easily one of my favorite foods, and I rarely go a day without. I wish I knew more about it like you, but something in me keeps me from getting too fancy with it. I enjoy a cup of freshly ground 8 O'Clock Coffee beans every morning. Then I usually take a thermos with two more cups in it to class or work.

At work, since I don't bring in my own cream (I only use half and half, I don't like the job that milk does, skim milk is even more useless), I have begun to learn to drink my coffee black, with a little bit of sugar. However, if there is cream, I prefer it.

What would you reccommend for a traditionalist who wants to expand his coffee horizons at home or out on the town?

Posted by: Chris Santoro at August 30, 2006 9:12 AM


That's a LOT of espresso to drink in one sitting, good Lord, I'd be doing jumping jacks all day.

As it stands, I'm a cautious coffee drinker. I don't much like the taste so I like to dunk lots of sugar and milk in it, and the more frou-frou flavoured it is, the better.

The first time I ever drank it, I was ten years old, and I developed a fever within a matter of hours. It was such a bizarre development that it put me off the stuff for almost a decade. I worked my confidence up with the regular frappucino-cappucino stuff but I still stay well away from espresso and the likes. The last time I had one of those at Tryst, my hypothalamus went into overdrive and I spent the next day alternating between intense chills and hot flashes.

I generally brew coffee for use in desserts, especially chocolate desserts. I have this blend that a friend brought from Israel that is just redolent with cinnamon, cardamom, allspice....heady stuff...and it adds this wonderful silken, coffee flavour to the recipe.

Posted by: Natasha D'Souza at August 30, 2006 10:52 AM


Hey Chris, I'm with you on the disdain for flavored coffees. I think it's unfortunate that they're often perceived as "gourmet," since they're really just a way to mask bad coffee taste. Good coffee will be complex and flavorful on its own.

I initially got into being a barista because I liked hanging out in coffee shops. Working in one seemed like a great way to enjoy life and meet interesting people. That's still the main reason I'm more interested in owning a shop someday than working behind the scenes as a roaster.

I also like the fact that the job is technically challenging. One can spend a lifetime learning about wine, but in the end it's hard to screw up the service. With espresso, in contrast, the skill and attention of the barista can make or break the quality of the drink.

Lastly, this is an exciting time to be in the coffee business because of various technical innovations that are coming onto the scene. Equipment manufacturers are designing machines with a precision that older generations of baristas just didn't have access to, and communication through blogs and magazines ensures that new ideas spread quickly.

As for what a traditionalist can do to get into coffee at home, I think that'll make a good post on its own, so I'll get to that soon.

Natasha, are we going to see some of those desserts on EatFoo?

Posted by: Jacob at August 30, 2006 9:39 PM


The flavoured stuff is great for plebians such as myself who like a little bit of the coffee taste but just aren't cut out for the stuff straight-up.

Jacob, do share how we can learn to enjoy good coffee at home (instant or otherwise).

I shall indeed post these desserts on EatFoo once I have moved into my new apartment and can prepare them in my new kitchen. But first, I shall need to lockdown this said apartment. Alas, the hunt continues.

Posted by: Natasha D'Souza at August 31, 2006 9:26 AM

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