Ritual Roasters – Hunapú, Guatemala

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It’s been a little while since my last coffee review – over a month actually. I’ve been sort of overwhelmed with a lot of things, both coffee and non. But rest assured, I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee. Frankly, sometimes it’s nice to drink coffee and not think about writing a review about it.

But – also frankly – it’s time I put my face to the grinding wheel (did I get that idiom right?) and get back to some reviewing.

I’ve had a lot of good coffees in the past few months, many of which have been reviewed here on SnobCoffery. But I felt that I was lacking in experience with some more varied roasters. I’m keeping a growing list of roasters that I want to try, so it was just a matter of browsing some sites and picking a coffee. This time, I went with:

The Coffee
Ritual Coffee Roasters
website | twitter | facebook
Origin: outside of Cuidad Vieja, Guatemala
Producers: Hunapú Producers
Processed: Luis Pedro Zelaya, Beneficio Bella Vista. Washed, sun dried.
Elevation: 1,500 meters
Varietal: Bourbon

The Method
Various.

  • Method 1: V60/paper
    • Dose: 34g coffee : 500 mL filtered water
    • Grind: medium
  • Method 2: Aeropress/Kaffeologie K250
    • Does: 17g coffee : 250 mL filtered water
    • Grind: Medium/fine
    • Directions: Inverted. 20 gram bloom for 20 seconds. 1 minute 30 second total contact time. Flip and plunge.

The Review
This is a fairly lightly roasted coffee. The trend over the last few years seems to be heading in that direction, especially considering the popularity of dark “french” or “italian” roasts from years back. There’s a lot of discussion on either side of this issue, but there are a few roasters out there that are tending toward roasting on the lighter side of medium, or lighter still. The first time you drink such a light roast, it’s a little surprising. Mostly because you expect a certain level of robustness in the flavors – a “volume”, if you will. When lightly roasted, coffees tend to become more delicate in their flavor and texture, of the few I’ve tasted anyway. In many cases, this can give you a different perspective of their flavors, offering a wider view of some of the more subtle nuances in a bean. This Ritual very much fits that bill.

The aroma is light and mild with a little sweetness and an herbal quality to it. When Aeropressed, I pick up some orange scents as well as something faintly floral. In the cup, it’s hard to distinguish flavors at high temperatures. As it drops down to a still-hot-but-now-drinkable temperature, some fruits start to shift into focus: mostly cherry and just barely strawberry. It’s sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and just a hint of tartness. It has a slight tea-like feel with a mildly dry tail. As the temperature drops farther, cherry and grape take over. Aeropressed, I wonder just a little if I’m drinking juice.

From Ritual:

Flavors of hibiscus, raspberry with a juicy, Bing cherry finish.

The subtlety of this coffee kills me – in a good way. It’s like a riddle: a little clever, a little taunting. It’s like playing a game with your coffee, where it gives you just enough hints to keep you interested and coming back, but not quite smacking you in the face with the answer.

I also picked up some of their Sweet Tooth single origin espresso. While my espresso skills and abilities are not quite ready to review for the blog, it was a really interesting espresso. Say what you will about single origin espressos – and people certainly do – sometimes the result is not so great, sometimes it is fantastic, and still other times it can be a truly unique and interesting experience. Result: Positive. Would do business with again.

Secret Squirrel Cold Brew

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There’s a lot of disagreement and borderline controversy surrounding cold brew coffee. I have my own stance on it, which is a blog post for another day. To that end, this is a cold brew coffee review. I will not be discussing the merits of cold vs. hot brewing for iced coffee. If you’re looking for info on pour-over iced coffee (brewed hot, served cold), here’s a recent recipe of mine.

You’ve been adequately warned.

 

The People
Secret Squirrel does cold brew iced coffee. They only do cold brew iced coffee. They sell their bottled brew at farmers markets and other events, staying fairly exclusive to the LA area. If you’re not in the area, don’t despair. They sell their bottles through their site in 2, 3, and 4 packs. This is how it came to me out here on the east coast. A box of ready-to-drink coffee waiting on my doorstep when I got home from work.

The Coffee
The cold brewing process is a simple affair. Ground coffee is steeped in water – not hot water – for a long time. In this case, 18-24 hours. It is then filter and bottled. The concentration of the resulting beverage varies depending on the coffee-to-water ratio and steep time. Squirrel Brew is a coffee concentrate to be cut with water or milk. They recommend a 1:2 split, 1 part Secret Squirrel brew to 2 parts milk or water. Adjust to taste, of course.

The Review
For me, I think 1:2 is a bit on the weak side. I like my iced coffee a little punchy. I went with a 1:1 ratio of coffee to water, and also coffee to milk (not combined, two separate beverages). As a concentrate, Squirrel is a little on the thick side. This means at a 1:1 ratio, there’s still a bit of thickness lingering in the cup. If you like a thinner texture, you’ll have to balance that with the diminishing strength of the coffee as you decrease the ratio.

With water:
Again, it has a relatively thick mouthfeel. It’s smooth – very smooth – and chocolatey. There’s a subtle fruit flavor floating around in there, like plums. At this ratio, you lose a little of the refreshing characteristics due to it’s viscosity. At a 1:2 ratio, it is light and delicate, quite refreshing, and dangerously drinkable. But that ratio cuts out just a bit too much flavor for me.

With milk:
Whole milk, of course. The flavor is much the same and of course the mouthfeel is even thicker. It seems a little sweeter. Overall it skews toward a milkshake or melted ice cream situation. It’s almost an entirely different drink with milk than it is with water. It’s hard to pick a preference since they are so different. You sacrifice a bit of the drinkability and refreshingness when prepared like this, but it’s surely a relaxing summer beverage.

A Brief Summary
I’ve only had a couple of cold brew coffees: my own, Stumptown bottled, and now this. Within this small collection, I have to give Squirrel Brew the nod. The flavor is a bit punchier, even when diluted, and even versus the undiluted Stumptown. It’s still not quite a freshing, chug-able iced coffee, the kind you’d throw back 2 cups of after hanging sheetrock in the hot sun. (That’s what people do, right?) It’s more of a sip and relax after a long summer’s day kind of drink. And I can certainly get behind that.

Coffee Culture: Paris, France

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As you may or may not be aware, my wife and I recently spent a short time in Europe. The trip was strictly vacational. It’s not as if I planned an elaborate coffee tour of the Eurozone. But lucky for me, Sarah (my wife, for future reference) enjoys coffee as much as I do. It did not take much convincing to get her to agree to spend at least some portion of our time visiting various coffee vendors.

Also lucky for me, where we were it didn’t take much effort to immerse ourselves in coffee culture, as you will soon see.

First stop: Paris, France.


A random bistro – Tribeca – in Paris.

I can only think of one place to start. Coffee in Paris is pretty bad. I don’t know if you can tell by the photo above, but the espresso is just all wrong. I didn’t get a chance to evaluate the brewing process at any of the restaurants we went to, but based upon what I tasted, here is my best guess as to how most places are preparing coffee.

  • The coffee is very likely not fresh, and very likely roasted fairly dark.
  • Ground fresh? Probably, though not necessarily.
  • I don’t believe there is much of a dosing technique, apart from “fill the portafilter.”
  • The coffee is either not tamped, or tamped very lightly.
  • Extraction time seems very fast.
  • Very little resistance, which means low pressure.

All in all, the coffee (espresso) is thin, a little watery, doesn’t have much in the way of a specific flavor profile, but is not overly burnt-tasting either (likely due to the underextraction). To me, it was interesting that it didn’t taste very bitter or sour, just very weak. And not much like espresso, frankly. Almost like a mokka pot with lots of crema. Crema that dissipates quickly.

On the upside, this experience is alarmingly consistent. We experienced this kind of espresso at just about every food venue at which we stopped. Which brings me to my next point.

Every bistro, cafe, restaurant has an espresso machine and a decent coffee menu (espresso, americano, cappuccino, cafelatte). And everyone drinks coffee. Often. Basically every meal is capped with a coffee, and people are always stopping in at cafes to sit for a quick drink. This is a considerable and welcome change from the restaurant culture I am used to here in the States, specifically the metro area. Not every restaurant has an espresso setup, and those that do are often full-automatic, push-button style machines. Coffee is largely a commodity.

In Paris, it seems less of a commodity and more of a cultural cornerstone. It’s a beautiful thing, really. Even if the coffee is less than stellar.

There were upsides, though. Two of them to be exact. With the help of the Twitterverse, I found a few coffee bars that seemed worth visiting.
 
Coutume Cafe
website | facebook | twitter

Coutume Cafe

Coutume Cafe is a coffee bar like you’d expect. Coffee-centric, relatively spacious, and a small selection of food products (they were out of croissants by the time we made it there in the mid-afternoon). Their beans are roasted in-house (or maybe off-premises, but their own roast nonetheless), and they offer a couple of different beans brewed to order, using a variety of different methods. The day we stopped in, it was a siphon-brewed Kenya. And of course I ordered a house espresso.

The Kenya was good. Very good. Light, delicate, sweet, and incredibly balanced. This was actually the first siphon brew I’ve ever heard, and what an introduction. A clean cup indeed. I wish I could say such stellar things about their espresso as well, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to the Kenya’s standards. It was a hair on the sour side and a little thin. It seemed clear to me it was an extraction issue, not a bean or roast profile issue.

As far the space, I really like their setup. It’s almost like a diner. Grab a seat and let the waiter take your order. Pay at the counter when you’re done. It really encourages the “sit down to enjoy your cup and your company” environment. And it works. It was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, and there was a good amount of people there. The staff is all very friendly and knowledgeable. On our way out I picked up a bag of their Guatemala, which was similarly delicious.

Bonus points: A Pyrex 500mL beaker for serving water.

A day or so later, we headed to another coffee bar. After checking this place out online, I was itching to have a taste.
 
Telescope Cafe
website | facebook | twitter

TelescopeCafe

Coffee is the focus, and it is very clear from the moment you walk in. Telescope is a little off the beaten path, so the atmosphere is very relaxed and quiet. It’s not very big, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in knowledge, quality, heart, consistency, just about everything. We went with an espresso (Square Mile), a cappuccino (also Square Mile), a cup of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (Has Bean) Kalita-brewed with the help of an UberBoiler, and a slice of raspberry granola tart.

Everything was spot on.

It was my first taste of Square Mile and Has Bean. You don’t see these in the States that often. Both were roasted pretty lightly and the flavors were just delightful. Nick – the barista – and I talked coffee for quite a while. They’re a pretty new shop (3 or 4 months? Is that right?) and they brew by the cup exclusively. Well, until recently. As it turns out, the UberBoiler is a very hands-on device. The issue that Telescope has found is that it very much impedes business flow when things get busy. From what Nick told me, their experience drinking the batch brewed coffee at Everyman in NYC convinced them that it is entirely possible to batch brew coffee that is not just good but great. And easily on par with by-the-cup pour over coffees. If I were there earlier in the day, Nick would have brewed me some side-by-sides, but since he was prepping to close it wouldn’t make sense brew a whole batch just to taste one cup. This is the main reason my Yirgacheffe was Kalita-brewed. No need to fire up the FetCo for one cup of coffee 20 minutes before closing.

I regret that I didn’t ask what milk was being used for the cappuccino. It was so delicious.

Also, here’s a picture of the raspberry tart that we got. It was similarly deliciou.

raspberry tart
 
Parting Words on Parisian Coffee Culture
Coffee in Paris left me overall a little hollow. Filter coffee is nearly impossible to find. Espresso is all sorts of wrong. Thin, watery, underextracted. The beans don’t taste entirely fresh or unique in flavor. There are some upsides, though. It’s nice to see espresso machines at every restaurant, cafe, and bar. They get extra credit for housing two above average coffee bars: Coutume and Telescope.

The coffee culture was a real treat and is sorely lacking Stateside. Everyone drinks coffee. Frequently. But it doesn’t end there. Coffee is meant to be enjoyed, and more than that coffee is meant to be a means to enjoy yourself, your surroundings, and your companions. There is virtually no “to-go” culture to speak of. When you get coffee you sit down. You order it from a waiter. You drink it with your family and friends. It’s really a dream come true.

That is not to say that you can’t find it in the US, especially in major cities like Chicago, NYC, etc. But when you find it, it feels nice.

In summation, here’s a photo of Sarah enjoying the hell out of that Telescope cappuccino.
sarah cappuccino

Missed Connections

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I’m sorry I left.
Life calls, sometimes you answer.
It hates the voicemail.

Keep your eyes peeled. I have some moderately interesting stuff coming up in the near future, including my opinions on Parisian and Italian coffee culture.

Brewing Method: Pour-Over Iced Coffee

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I guess I’m a few days late. There was a rush on iced coffee recipes a few weeks back when temperatures inexplicably rose to un-spring-like heights. Well this past week temperatures rose yet again to un-beginning-of-summer-like heights. During every heat wave, iced coffee recipes spring up like photos of car dashboard thermometers. But more often than not, when I see an iced coffee article I don’t want to hurl my fist through my laptop display.

I’ve played around with iced coffee before. You can see my two recipes over on Corner of the Cafe’s iced coffee methods post. There are some good ones there, including pour-over and Aeropress recipes of mine.

Since then, however, I’ve made some changes. After some lengthy discussion on Twitter with the likes of @SoundGuyAndy, @Joe_ProShop, and @coffeeandbikes (Sam Lewontin of Everyman Espresso), it was determined that my usual 50/50 ice-to-water split needed to be re-evaluated.

There are many people online (the three aforementioned included) that swear by a 2/3-water-and-1/3-ice method (that’s a 2:1 water-to-ice ratio) for iced pour-over. I tried this a few times and achieved results that were less than stellar. The coffee was a bit on the weak side and the final brew temperature was cool not cold. Because of the reduction in ice, all the ice available is melted during brewing and only serves to cool the coffee down to a soothing temperature below that of the room, but not quite iced coffee levels. So I would add more ice.

But two things hit me.

  1. The coffee (shockingly!) plays a part in the resulting weak brew. The particular coffee I was using (a Colombia from Ceremony Coffee) just didn’t quite pop as an iced brew. Certainly not at the ratio I was using.
  2. The ice being depleted before the coffee is fully cold isn’t intrinsically a bad thing. In fact, this can be used to your advantage. As you’ll soon see, this ratio creates a brewing recipe that doesn’t really require the measurement of ice.

Addressing the second point, I realized that by adding the extra ice at the end, I had effectively reduced the importance of the quantity of ice to the point that it became negligible. The extra ice helps reduce and stabilize the temperature. In truth, it does change the brew ratio, and the flavor undoubtedly changes because of it and as the ice melts. But really, how long does your cup of iced coffee last? And a change in flavor over time? That happens with hot coffee, too.

But here’s the end result. Do not even brew with ice. That’s right. Screw the ice. Well don’t screw the ice. That would be uncomfortable. Even in 98 degree heat. But forget it during brewing. Don’t measure it, don’t brew over it. Don’t even LOOK AT IT. That being said, don’t just brew hot coffee as normal. We’re still going to be changing the ratio in accordance with my earlier notes. Pull back the water quantity by 33%. It’s that simple.

So let’s hit it.

Pour-Over Iced Coffee
This recipe produces 2 tall glasses of iced coffee. When drinking hot coffee, I typically drink about 250ml / 8oz / 1 cup. Iced, however, I tend to consumer more.

Measure

Measure out some delicious fresh beans using your normal ratio. My starting ratio is 0.068 grams per milliliter. My starting point for this batch is 750 milliliters, which corresponds to 51 grams of coffee. Then, as mentioned, I pull back the water quantity by 33%, which brings me to 500 milliliter. The rest of the brew will be as normal, including grind size. I go with a medium/fine for the V60.

Bloom

With your water freshly boiled and settled, it’s time to bloom. Hit your grounds with some water. I like to aim for just enough to get everything wet, while also minimizing the amount that makes it through into the server below. In this case, 50 grams (milliliters) of water. Let bloom for at least 30 seconds. It may need to go to 45 or a full minute if the beans are very fresh and have a lot of gas to give off.

Extract

Now it’s time to brew. Start pouring in slow, circular motions, taking care to evenly cover the entire bed while also avoiding directly striking the walls. Thanks to the flow restrictor I picked up from Espresso Parts, I can get a pretty slow and even stream out of my Hario Buono kettle. Aim for your target water weight and hit as close as possible. Honestly, a milliliter or so in either direction will be undetectable in your cup.

Cup It

Prepare some drinking glasses with ice. Remember, don’t measure. I know this is counterintuitive. As mentioned earlier, if you did measure, you’d add a carefully measured amount of ice to bring your brew ratio back on target (that other 33%), but the drink will not be icey cold. So you’d end up dumping a little more ice in before drinking. Instead, just put a whole mess of ice into your cup and pour in your fresh, hot, slightly concentrated coffee. Give it a good stir. You’ll have a final brew ratio that is close to your target and it will be icey cold. The strength of this ice coffee will change fairly significantly with time as the ice melts, but I’ve found that this isn’t necessarily an issue, since…

  1. my iced coffee doesn’t last long anyway.
  2. even hot coffee has a flavor profile that changes with time. Embrace it.

Wrap it up.
While I’m still fond of my old 50/50 method – particularly in the Aeropress – I have to admit that this brew ratio may in fact be superior. It captures a lot more of what the specific bean has to offer. Since the hot brewing portion is still relatively close to the normal hot brewing ratio (with a reduction of 33%, compared to the 50% of my original method), the resulting flavor profile is closer to what you’d expect from a given bean. If the coffee is light and fruity, the iced version will be light and fruity. If it’s chocolaty and dark, the iced version will be chocolaty and dark. Though keep in mind that temperature has a fairly significant effect on taste, most noticeable in terms of perceived sweetness. Likely you will notice that the sweetness of the coffee will vary to some degree between the hot and iced versions.

We’ve got more heat coming, so I’m sure I’ll be getting good use out of this method. And frankly, I feel good knowing that I’m able to provide you with the means to make your own delicious ice coffee. This knowledge will undoubtedly serve you well in the coming weeks, as temperatures fluctuate and sweat stains run rampant down your shirt. I’m helpful, and it feels good, if not a bit selfish. And I’m ok with that.

Missed Connections

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The World, an oyster.
Be a bad mother shucker
Read these coffee links.

  • Slayer Espresso builds commercial espresso machines. Here is an explanation of the difference between what Slayer is doing and what others are doing.
  • The SCAA just released their Coffeehouse Sales Trends report. In infographic form, of course, because that’s the hip thing to do.
  • Do you know what varieties are and how much effect they have on flavor? Watch this Counter Culture video explaining it all. To be frank, I haven’t watched it yet.
  • Want to know the history of the espresso machine? Of course you do. Read this.
  • If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of new cool mugs. Here are some new cool ones. Drink differently. Or the same, but out of new cool mugs.

Passion House Coffee Roasters – Guatemala El Limonar

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Post number 1 in a series: The Great Coffee Exchange, Spring 2012.

It’s been an interesting few days of coffee in my house. Last week some coffee friends and I organized what Drew Moody is calling The Great Coffee Exchange, Spring 2012 (I added the “Spring” part). Basically, we each bought a bag of locally roasted coffee and split it into fourths, keeping one portion for ourselves and sending the other three out into the world. We have some great areas represented: Drew in Chicago, Daniel in Washington, David in Boston, and me in NJ.

First up is Drew’s pick: Guatemala El Limonar.


Sorry. Just playing with my new super wide lens.

The Coffee
Roaster: Passion House Coffee Roasters
Origin: El Injerto, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Farm: Finca El Limonar
Elevation: ~2000M
Process: Washed

The Brewing
Method: Clever brewer
Ratio: 23.4g coffee : 344mL filtered water
Grind: coarse
Directions: 40g bloom for 30 seconds. Full immersion for an additional 2 minutes. (2:30 total time.)

The Review
The aroma hits you hard from the moment the beans are ground and explodes when the water hits. It’s extremely citrusy. It’s like brewing a lime. In the cup it’s more of the same. There’s a lot of citrus acidity, like drinking limes and grapefruits. Very fruity but very smooth. It’s bold, but not heavy or muddy. The mouthfeel is on the thin side, but has a good linger and slides through the palate like it’s ice skating. There’s a subtle richness like a chocolate cake that offers a bit of balance to the fruity acidity.

As the temperature drops, everything fades away. Except of course the limes. I swear it tastes like a cup of tart fruit juice. A crazy cocktail of citrus goodness. If I were blindfolded and drinking the bottom half of this cup, I don’t know if I could tell that it was coffee. It’s that juicy.

From Passion House:

As you brew this coffee the aroma hits you with ripe peaches and hydrangeas. Your first sip, the fresh floral flutters to the roof of your mouth while peaches and nectarine skin flood your cheeks. Sparkling lime soda water hits the sides of your tongue and tupelo honey settles into your tongue. Notes of fresh fig play well with all the peaches. The finish leaves you with the richest of milk chocolate and creamy caramel.

As usual, you may not find all of these nuanced flavors in your cup, but this description is fairly accurate. It’s very fruity, as I’ve beaten into you in my description above, but there’s a certain depth to the sweetness and a bit of body that reminds you of chocolate or caramel.

Drew raves about Passion House constantly. And now I totally see why. I’m glad he chose this coffee as his contribution to The Great Coffee Exchange, because it’s a doozy. It’s honestly one of the most interesting and enjoyable coffees I’ve had in the past…weeks? months? Maybe since the Kuma Coffee Guatemala Bella Carmona.

Stay tuned for the next post in The Great Coffee Exchange, Spring 2012 series. You should also check out Drew’s review of this Passion House Guatemala El Limonar.

Handsome Roasters – Burundi Gatare

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The last coffee I reviewed for this here blog was the Stumptown Burundi Kinyovu. Round about that time I started to notice that Burundi and Rwanda coffees seem to be on the rise this year. (Fun fact: They’re neighbors!) I’d love to spend some space here discussing the histories of these nations and the influence of coffee, but I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs of their socio-economic situations. If you’d like you can read more about them here and here. (These sources are never wrong!)

But I digress. As you may have read, I wasn’t too thrilled with the Stumptown Burundi, even though I enjoyed it at the Stumptown tasting I attended back in February, and despite the coffee community’s general enjoyment of Burundi coffees. I’ve decided to go on a coffee tour of Burundi, guided but a handful of different roasters. My next stop after Portland, Oregon (Stumptown) is Los Angeles, California care of…

The Coffee
Handsome Coffee Roasters
Burundi Gatare
Location: Kayanza

Handsome Roasters did not provide as much location and varietal information about the beans, but I am fairly certain that most beans out of Burundi come from the same place: the Kayanza mill.

The Brewing
Hario V60 | Buono kettle
34 grams coffee : 500 mL filtered water
Medium grind
Bloom with 35 mL water for 30 seconds. Moderate pour remainder.

The Review
The aroma is very reminiscent of the Stumptown Burundi. It’s a little chocolatey and nutty. There’s a musky aroma I can’t quite place. I wouldn’t exactly call it bad, but not necessarily delicious, either. The mouthfeel is clean and smooth, not too thick and it doesn’t linger for too long. And the taste? Like cocoa. It’s a little sweet though not fruity. It’s a well-balanced flavor. The strange musky aroma is there in the flavor, too. This part of it reminds me of the Stumptown Burundi. I think I placed it as a nutty aroma/flavor in the Stumptown, but in this cup it’s more separated from the nuttiness.

As the temperature drops, that strange musk completely vanishes and it gets a little sweeter and fruitier – in the berry/cherry family.

This is a tasty cup of coffee. I’m still not sold on the flavor of Burundi overall, but I enjoyed Handsome’s take on it more than the Stumptown. Overall I found it has more character and cleaner, more nuanced flavor.

From Handsome Roasters:

We Taste Strawberry, lime, graham.

As you can see, I didn’t exactly get the flavor-tastes they did. Don’t worry, that only means that I’m terrible at this.*

Tune in next time to find out my next stop on the Burundi tour.

* This is sarcasm. Everyone’s tastes are different. If you try it, you will undoubtedly find something a bit different from both my description and Handsome’s. If you do try it – or have tried it – let me know what you taste!

Missed Connections

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Hot water. Ground beans.
Hat tip to Able Brewing.
Boom. Coffee brewers.

Manhattan Coffee Crawl

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I’ve only been on one coffee crawl before. It was kind of impromptu and only included two coffee bars. After our typical bi-weekly meetup at Culture Espresso, my brother and I headed downtown to do I-don’t-remember-what. Lucky for us (and thanks to Google Maps), I found Everyman Espresso. And then we went home. Two coffee bars is just barely a crawl.

Fast forward a couple of months and I finally took the time – and had the opportunity, schedule-wise – to put together an improved Manhattan Coffee Crawl. I’ve been keeping a map of coffee bars in my area, tagging ones that I know of or hear good things about. Some of these I have been to, others are on the “need to go there” list. And some of those can be moved to the “been there” list after this recent tour. I used this map to pick the bars along the most logical route. Or at least the most logical route I could think of in the five minutes I took to plan this trip.

We visited the following coffee bars, in this order.

Joe The Art Of Coffee – Pro Shop
Joe The Art of Coffee operates a handful (or so) locations in the NYC area. Recently – quite recently – they opened up their Pro Shop at 131 W21st Street. This location is pretty much their office-slash-HQ onto which they have placed a storefront. This isn’t a typical “morning rush/afternoon cappuccino” type NYC coffee shop. With a Kees van der Westen 2-group lever machine and a rotating supply of roasters from around the US, as well as a decent stock of coffee and espresso supplies and accessories, this shop appeals to the home barista probably more-so than the average coffee connoisseur. Whoever happens to be on the levers that day is always willing to chat extensively about anything coffee.

On this day they were serving their own espresso from Ecco Caffe alongside MadCap Coffee Ethiopian. We went with the MadCap.

This shot was really delicious. Well balanced and incredibly smooth. It was a little sweet, a little punchy, and the barista was friendly and pleasant.

The Joe Pro Shop is a great spot to hit if you like delicious coffee and chatting with knowledgeable people. The ever-changing shelf of roasters ensures that you’ll be able to try lots of different coffees both at their shop and in the comfort of your home with the help of all the supplies they sell. (All signs point to me picking up a Hario Woodneck from them in the near future.)

Cafe Grumpy
Based out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Cafe Grumpy also operates a cafe on West 20th, just two short blocks from Joe Pro. The aesthetic is cozy and comfortable with lots of exposed brick and a relatively small, friendly vibe. There’s a larger area toward the back with some more spacious tables. They are outfitted with a delightfully shiny Synesso, some Chemex’s with Kone filters and two – count ‘em two – Clover brewers.

Since this opportunity had never presented itself before, we couldn’t help but order a cup of Clover coffee. They roast their own beans out in the Greenpoint location and we opted for their Piatã, Bahia, Brazil. For espresso we were served their Heartbreaker – a blend of Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia and Monserrate, Columbia.

The espresso was kind of like a ristretto. Granted, I don’t have anything “traditional” with which to compare, but they’re definitely shorter, more concentrated shots. Rather than a dense extraction, it almost tasted like they pulled a standard double and just pulled the cup early, leaving only the first 1/2 or 2/3 of a double shot. Although more than likely, it’s just their ristretto profile. Whatever they’re doing, it’s delicious. Very punchy with a good amount of syrupy sweetness.

The Brazil in the Clover was also quite good and in fact very reminiscent of an Aeropress brew, unsurprisingly, since the extraction process is very similar. There are amped up sweet, fruity flavors that I’m used to experiencing out of my own Aeropress brews. It did seem a little watery. I’d guess that the coffee:water ratio was a little low for my liking.

Cafe Grumpy is making some great coffee in a sweet space. They’re built for both speed and comfort: even though their coffee is top notch and the space is relatively small, they crank through customers like nobody’s business.

Joe The Art Of Coffee
A dozen or so streets down from Cafe Grumpy we stopped in to another Joe The Art Coffee down on Waverly Place. It may seem counter-intuitive to stop in to two locations of the same chain on one coffee tour, but the Pro Shop is a special place. It was only fair to get a taste of the classic Joe-The-Art-Of-Coffee experience.

The espresso here is solid. They’re using their house espresso blend from Ecco Caffe. It’s a straight-forward shot, well-balanced with just a touch of sweetness without being syrupy. It has good body and a creamy texture. A great house espresso. It’s definitely not a personal favorite of mine, but I imagine it’s quite a crowd-pleaser.

The space is small, with seating for about 10 people tops. It can hold maybe a handful of people waiting before the line pokes out the door onto the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the plastic cups they use for water remind me of my childhood. I hated those cups. The contrast between this Joe Shop and the Pro Shop where we started is striking. Everything about it is different. It truly highlights what Joe is about and how they’ve successfully created a great NYC coffee chain as well as a hub for the home-barista (the Pro Shop).

Third Rail Coffee
This is sort of the reason we organized this coffee crawl. Third Rail Coffee just came off their appearance at The Great Googa Mooga, a food and music festival in Brooklyn. They were there with a spacious setup, supported by La Marzocco and Stumptown Coffee. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend, but my brother was. His description of the Third Rail made them a definite stop on our tour.

The staff was incredibly friendly. I noticed the barista weighing the shots before serving them to us, and in fact dumping one and re-pulling to ensure quality. This struck me as odd, but as it turns out they were using a unique coffee on that day – Stumptown’s Peru Cesuvo. He explained that this coffee was a favorite with the attendees of Googa Mooga, but unfortunately the standard timing and visual cues did not seem to apply. Well-timed and good-looking shots tasted terrible, and ones that did not seem so good were tasty. He had to resort to weighing the final product to ensure deliciousness.

And it worked. I’ve had the Peru Cesuvo as coffee, but as espresso it was (unsurprisingly) a whole different animal. It was a little sweet, tart and savory. Grapefruit umami. This is what I love in an espresso. Uniqueness. It’s great that a shop is really exploring coffee and sharing it with their customers. It’s great to share that experience with them. It made for an excellent visit and some delightful conversation.

La Colombe
The last stop on our tour was La Colombe. If you don’t know of La Colombe, you should. It’s founder Todd Carmichael is some kind of important coffee person. (Look for his new reality show soon! That’s no joke!) Based in Philadelphia, they operate several coffee bars in NYC. We chose the SOHO location (270 Lafayette), which may not have been in our best interest. Their NOHO location, just a few blocks north and also on Lafayette, is much larger and classier.

I’ve been to La Colombe in Philly. It was a pleasant experience overall: the barista was quite friendly and helpful and the cafe was comfortable and spacious. The SOHO location on the other hand is a much different affair. As a long, narrow cafe, customers flow is in a “U” pattern. There’s minimal seating (half a dozen or so) and customers file in on one side, travel the “U” that is the counter setup and funnel right back out. I’m certainly not against “grab-and-go” cafes, especially in La Colombe’s case where they are operating more than one and it is clearly a satellite location to support the larger cafe. In fact, for a small space, it’s darn good. A hugely high ceiling and a mirror wall expand the space significantly as well as keep it cool (the high ceiling, not the mirror). You can’t fault them for equipment either, sporting dual Faema Legend 2-groups. (Google Image that. It’s a doozy.)

As for the coffee, it seems…(pause to imply that I am taking time to consider and choose my words carefully)…traditional. It’s a litte dark, considerably punchy and not entirely sweet. Frankly, it seems a bit out of place alongside bars like Third Rail and Cafe Grumpy. Maybe that’s just the Philly style. Or maybe that’s just the La Colombe style. (Well, obviously it is the La Colombe style.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t make note of their dating system on their bagged beans. Instead of a “roasted on” date, they are using a “best by” date. I noticed some bags had a “best by” date that was a couple of months out. This strikes me as odd, considering the reputation that La Colombe and Mr. Carmichael have. I could write pages and pages on this, outlining various reasons both in support of and opposed to this practice, but in the interest of time I will not do so.

The coffee isn’t really my style, but on the upside I’ll say that I’m into their ceramics. The white straight-walled demitasses are nifty, and they rock some seriously colorful cappuccino cups.

And then we went home.

If I learned one thing, it’s that Manhattan has some damn good coffee. And these bars are but the tip of the iceberg that is the coffee scene in New York. (I haven’t even touched Brooklyn yet.) It’s interesting to see how each place has carved out its own niche. With the lack of head-to-head competition you really get the feeling that everyone is in it for the community: to provide great coffee to the area. It’s refreshing to see specialty coffee on the rise, to see these bars full of a wide range of customers, from coffee snobs to connoisseurs to everyday people who just want a good cup. It’s a good sign for the industry and for the community in general.