6 Search Results for ""espresso drinks""

• Gimme! Coffee, Soho, New York

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    The storefront of Gimme! Coffee, in Soho, New York City-- just a bit south of Houston.  Notice that the awning says 'Roasting | Espresso'.  The espresso drinks are fantastic, but I can't vouch for the coffee.  Get a machiatto or a cortado to stay at the bar. 

  • 6 months ago
  • Views: 249
  • Not yet rated

• Inside Arabica Coffee Co., Por

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    The inside of Arabica, a cafe in downtown Portland, Maine-- the vibe is friendly and relaxing and the staff knows coffee.  Grab a newspaper from the independent bookstore down the street, order a machiatto to stay, and fall asleep in the big windows at the front of the store.

  • 7 months ago
  • Views: 407
  • Not yet rated

• Machiatto, Arabica Coffee Co.,

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    More from the coffee series. This is a very good machiatto from the Arabica cafe in Portland, Maine.  I've had better drinks in San Francisco and New York City, but this stands up very well and is worth the trip to downtown Portland.

    I visited three or four times during my last stay in Portland, and found the espresso drinks to be consistent-- plus, the cafe is well run, the barristas are friendly (and actually care about the coffee), and the vibe is relaxing.  Grab a paper from the bookstore just down the street and waste a few hours.

  • 7 months ago
  • Views: 319
  • Not yet rated

• machiatto, Joe cafe, New York

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    Another perfectly made machiatto at Joe cafe, in New York City. I still haven't made my way to Gimme! Coffee on Mott Street, though my friends at Joe say it's amazing. I'll report back on other machiatto, cappuccino, and latte options in the city soon.

    UPDATE: I've been to Gimme! Coffee since this posting, and still find Joe to be the best espresso drinks in the city. Gimme! is very, very good, though, and if you're in Soho you should drop by Gimme! and try a machiatto to stay.  I love the set-up in the Soho shop-- it's pretty much just counter space, so it feels like an Italian coffee experience to me.

  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 827

• Machiatto, Blue Bottle Coffee

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    A really well made-- and super-tasty-- machiatto at Blue Bottle Coffee, in the Hayes Valley of San Francisco. After a thorough search of the town, I think Blue Bottle makes the best coffee and espresso drinks in San Fran.

  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 372

• San Fran: Best. Coffee. Ever.

  • From: steve778
  • Description:

    So I've Got a Little Problem

    

    To be clear: I have a bit of a coffee problem. It's more of a macchiatto problem, really, but I'm splitting hairs. I drink at least one really good macchiatto every day, if it can be arranged. And it almost always can be.

    Anyway, my friends know about the issue; the people I work with, for the most part, know about it; my family is well aware. I'll travel miles for a really good macchiatto. I do it way too often.

    The folks at Joe coffee in New York City, where I show up virtually every day, certainly know it too.

    Still, it was a little disconcerting when I walked into Ritual Coffee Roasters in The Mission district of San Francisco on a recommendation from the coffee gurus at Joe-- this is some 3,000 miles away from my home-- and heard someone behind me say, quizzically: "Steve?" I turned around a little slowly, because it threw me off.

    "Do you drink a lot of coffee at Joe? In New York City?" he asked.

    I mean, not really. I drink a lot of macchiattos . But I've learned not to argue about it.

    It turns out he used to work at Joe, and although I didn't recognize him-- well, he knew me. I was just rationalizing the whole thing to myself (it's a small world, he got my last name wrong, etc...) and explaining it all to a friend who had accompanied me when I heard someone behind me say, quizzically: "Steve?"

    I turned around slowly, again, to find someone I knew well: A barrista who had served me a macchiatto only a few days prior, back at Joe in New York City. He was in town to learn more about coffee drinks, and had landed at SFO only hours before me. Needless to say, he was a little stunned to see me standing there, the whole landmass of the United States behind me, ordering the exact same drink I always do. The fact that he was the second person in about thirty seconds to be shocked by it struck me as something it was going to be very, very hard for me to rationalize.

    We talked for a little bit, the barrista and I. I asked him where else I could get really good espresso drinks in San Francisco, and he directed me to an employee who knew a ton about San Fran coffees. We talked beans, roasting, foam, drink balance-- until he squinted at me suspiciously and said: "Are you in coffee?"

    Turns out I have a huge problem with coffee. Just huge.

     

    But If My Problems Can Help Others...

     

    Well, then I’ll take one for the team.

    The upshot of all the questions was that I learned a lot about great espresso drinks in San Francisco. Over the next two days, I spent most of my time tracking down good macchiattos, lattes, and espresso shots all over town, usually on the recommedations of experts. I did my fair share of "yelp-ing" too ( Yelp ), to see where the locals-in-the-know frequented. Then I went and tested all of them .

    The best-made espresso drinks, I think, exhibit all the marks of careful preparation: They are nice to look at, often feature an appealing milk or foam pattern on the surface, and are prepared by hand with carefully chosen beans. You should see your barrista shake out and tamp down the grind, and you should see them froth the milk and take their time pouring/ladling it in. It can take 5 minutes or more to get your drink in a place that does it right, but it's worth the wait. Coffee shops that throw your espresso in a paper cup after pressing a few buttons (and dumping a ton of milk on it) aren't working very hard, and are probably producing mediocre, if consistent, drinks. You know who you are...

    Ritual Coffee Roasters, in the Mission district of San Francisco, is pretty well known amongst the coffee cognoscenti. Ask at good places in New York, and they'll mention it. So I made it my first stop. I ordered a macchiatto with two shots of espresso (a double macchiatto). The barrista immediately informed me that they always serve it that way: “No need to specify.” I took this is a good sign; I like a little pretension in my barristas. At least they care.

    My friend ordered a latte. A few minutes later we had the drinks back at the table. I took a few photos of the latte (see photo 1, top right), focusing on the presentation of the drink: A leaf pattern I’ve seen a lot, but it’s not easy to pour. Overall, it was a great drink, and I managed to make my way to Ritual two more times during the four-day trip. The macchiatto, for the record, was very good too. You should know, though, that Ritual is a young-ish crowd, and it's apparently de rigeur to come with the newest apple computer and a healthy dose of political correctness. On one occasion I asked for a bottled water, but the woman at the cash register really thought it would be better if I just used the common fountain. I looked at her closely; she wasn’t about to change her mind. So the vibe's probably not for everyone, but if you can get past it the people are generally friendly, the staff is professional, and the coffee drinks are top-notch.

    The guy I had quizzed about coffee liked Blue Bottle Coffee up in the Hayes Valley, and then mentioned a newcomer as an afterthought-- 4 Barrel, which he said had opened up in an alleyway in the Mission, just a few blocks away from where we were chatting. I had heard a lot of good things about Blue Barrel already from some online research, and from some friends in town-- so I grabbed a cab and headed there next.

    There are two locations for Blue Bottle Coffee , it turns out: One they’ve taken to calling a ‘kiosk,’ and another that’s a more traditional café. I visited the former, located on Linden Street, a small alley between Octavia and Gough streets in the Hayes Valley district. I’m not sure the word ‘kiosk’ describes it, really—it’s more like an urban garage and there’s an adjacent outdoor counter. If you take your espresso drinks to stay, you can cozy up in Italian style and savor your cup while standing at the outdoor bar, but most people seemed to order take-away. The storefront draws some pretty huge lines, and you have to love espresso drinks to think it all makes sense. I took a friend and it was about five minutes to get to the front of the line, and another five or so to get the macchiatto and latte we’d ordered

    The macchiatto was beautiful (I'm SO sorry I talk about coffee this way. Really.) Photo 2, above and left-aligned, is a picture of the macchiatto from straight above, taken at the standing-room bar. The pattern on the top is not as complex, or as appealing, as the leaf pattern on the latte from Ritual (again, photo 1, top). But honestly I get sick of the leaf pattern—this macchiatto looked less artificial to me, like something crafted by a person with no need to show off. And the taste was tremendous. Still, it was my friend's Blue Bottle latte that took the crown as the best espresso drink in San Francisco. Photo 3, to the right, is that very latte, poured with just enough milk and foam to give it a super-rich taste, without ever becoming cloying. I'm serious! It was really really good-- with a nutty aftertaste, and subtle hints of treebark, sawgrass, saddle leather, wild basil, and thrice-whittled bamboo. So that last part I'm not so serious about. It was just plain good, and I’m not sure I can explain why, exactly.

     

    And Then, a Real Alleyway

     

    Despite being tucked away in an alley, and despite serving from what looks like a coverted garage, Blue Bottle feels civilized. The staff is laid-back (it's San Francisco...), the service is good, the storefront is well-preserved, the outside counter is clean and appealing.

    4 Barrel's (see Coffee Geek’s announcement ) in an alley too, but it's doing something different altogether. It took me about ten minutes to locate the store; I finally spotted a handmade sidewalk sign in black magic marker-- just the words '4 Barrel' and an arrow pointing down a long, truly urban alleyway. I could see that the alley terminated at a brick wall, and that a homeless man was reconstituting his shopping cart back there. About twenty feet in front of that, a few people seemed to be milling around aimlessly, and one, at least, appeared to be cradling an espresso cup.

    So I headed for that. And that, it turned out, was 4 Barrel.

    The storefront, if you can call it that (it's still under construction), was more than a little ramshackle. After studying it for few minutes, and taking some photos, I concluded that it was probably the back entrance of an artist's loft; if I'm wrong I'm happy to hear about it in the comments below.

    There was no one in line at the time, and only a few customers on hand, so I ordered my typical macchiatto and had it in my hands pretty quickly. When I turned around to figure out what to do now that I had my drink, I noticed two freestanding chairs sitting against the alley wall. I grabbed one, settled the macchiatto on the only truly flat space on the curbside, and snapped a few photos (photo 4, to the left) before drinking it. I didn’t put the cigarette butts in the gutter for effect; they were just there-- and I felt, as I depressed the shutter button, that the photo would probably capture the weirdness that was 4 Barrel. So, there it is… I drank the macchiatto (which was excellent, by the way), and a few more stragglers made their way down the alley. We all sat around taking in the oddness of it all, shifting our seats on the curb, talking to each other a little-- and feeling, I think, a little bad about the homeless guy still packing up nearby. For the record, he didn't seem to mind a bit. I finished my macchiatto, pondered the question of where to put the dirty espresso cup, decided I should leave it back at the counter—and walked back down the alleyway into San Francisco proper.

    Do I recommend 4 Barrel? Yes, definitely. But I probably wouldn’t go after dark (it seems to close early anyway), and if a little dirt makes you tense—you should skip it .

    Like Espresso Drinks, but Not Obsessed?

    If you have a need for a good, solid espresso drink in the morning, or you have the desire to try one without too much wandering, Peet’s is a good bet. Many years ago, Peet’s was a small, local newcomer to the coffee scene (it started in Berkeley in 1966). In the years since, it’s become a pretty big chain, but unlike some chains I won’t name it still takes making coffee seriously—and the results are still good.

    I went to the Peet’s on Market Street to see how they stack up. As usual, I ordered a macchiatto with two shots of espresso. The barrista asked me whether I was taking it to go or wanted it to stay; it’s always a good sign when the barrista cares about the way you want to drink it. The photo to the right is the macchiatto from Peet’s. You can see it’s not quite as aesthetically interesting as the drinks from the previous three coffee houses, which doesn’t affect taste, but says something about preparation. And it was just a little bitter, to my taste, although it mellowed as the foam dissolved in the macchiatto. Still, it’s a good drink overall, and you can find a Peet’s in most neighborhoods in San Francisco, and in tons of surrounding towns, too.

    Tips

    >> I like Yelp.com to find good food and drink in towns I don’t know very well. It’s a free service, unlike Zagat’s-- and its unique system of rewarding good reviewers tends to produce accurate assessments.

     

    >> When looking for good espresso, make sure the barrista isn’t just pressing buttons. You should see the barrista tamp down the ground beans, “pull” the shots, and add the milk and/or foam-- all with some degree of care and attention.

    >> If you can order twenty ounces of coffee at the place, get out.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 1 year ago
  • Views: 2972