Chicago Espresso
Posted by TheShot on 31 Dec 2005 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew
Every once in a while I have the privilege of visiting some place else. Eventhough American cities are becoming more and more homogenized, not everything is a Starbucks. When it comes to espresso, Chicago has a few notable exceptions that I experienced this year.
| Name | Address | Neighborhood | Espresso [info] | Cafe [info] | Overall [info] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligentsia | 53 W. Jackson Blvd. | Loop | 9.00 | 9.00 | 9.000 |
| Intelligentsia | 3123 N. Broadway St. | Lakeview | 8.80 | 8.80 | 8.800 |
| Metropolis Coffee Company | 104 W. Granville Ave. | Edgewater | 8.40 | 7.30 | 7.850 |
| Lavazza | 111 W. Jackson Blvd. | Loop | 6.30 | 7.80 | 7.050 |
Intelligentsia
One of the finest roasters east of Seattle, Intelligentsia even supplies the coffee for Canada’s world-class Caffè Artigiano. Few in the Bay Area realize their preeminent status as a roaster when they saddle up to any one of the Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery chains. Probably because Intelligentsia coffee in the hands of Specialty’s staff and equipment is like putting a cello in the hands of Tim McGraw.
Thankfully, Intelligentsia exhibits the clasically trained approach with their coffee at their very own cafés, with one located downtown on Jackston Street and the original café on Broadway Street in the Lakeside District.
The downtown location is inside the historic Monadnock Building, which is complete with a classic dark wood interior adorned with cool retro espresso machine posters.
As for the espresso, it’s some of the best in the U.S.: highly-skilled baristas use beautiful La Marzocco machines to pull a short, potent, but sweet espresso like you may have never had east of Seattle. Certainly one of the best aromas I’ve had off a cup anywhere.
Equally worth a visit is their original Lakeview/Broadway St. location, where their methodical approach to great espresso is even more pronounced … and espresso lovers seem to pack it in all day long. (Read the review.)
Metropolis Coffee Company
Perhaps the only other Chicago area roaster/café worth writing home about is the Metropolis Coffee Company, far up north in the Lakeview District. Sure, the decor is a little worn and the coffee aesthetics could be better, but the espresso is great and it’s a lively literary scene. (And given what everyone will likely be reading, bring your Che Guevara T-shirt for bonus points with the locals.)
Lavazza
Illy no longer seems to be the “in” thing for pre-packaged coffee that Europhiles and restaurants like to brag about these days. That trendy crown — both here and in Rome, mind you — has gone to Torino, Italy’s Lavazza.
Just in time for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino (a grossly underrated city, btw, and one of my favorite escapes from tourists when in Italy), Lavazza has brought their high-end chain café concept to the U.S. this year. Modeled after the original Lavazza Caffè, the excellent San Tommaso café in Torino, the decor of these chains brings a modern industrial chic to the States.
As always, here: so what about the coffee? Well, some coffee lovers in the know will tell you that Lavazza strikes people as an “either-or” taste — you either like it or you don’t. I’m one of the few coffee snobs that falls in the “like it” camp — at least for pre-packaged coffee.
That said, I’m not impressed with the standards at this Chicago café — as I’ve had arguably better espresso from their beans in San Francisco at the humblest of places. More concerning is that I expected their standards to improve after reviewing them soon after they first opened. Yet upon my revisit earlier this week, I found their espresso to be more watery and less flavorful than before.
Well, I suppose that won’t necessarily stop the trend mavens from accessorizing with the Lavazza logo.
Happy New Year, all!
8 Comments »
on 31 Dec 2005 at 12:15 pm -06:00T 1.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. said …
[...] TheShot.coffeeratings.com « Chicago Espresso I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. [...]
on 21 Jan 2006 at 3:25 pm -06:00T 2.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » San Francisco’s New Wave said …
[...] The espresso shots at Organica aren’t the sweetest and most full-bodied (when looking for those qualities, I am more apt to visit the other troika members). However, a visit there is like a wine tasting excursion. They produce some of the most meticulous shots you will find in the Bay Area — and always coated with a crema of dark flecks that I often associate with Chicago’s Intelligentsia. [...]
on 15 Feb 2006 at 8:25 pm -06:00T 3.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » An Obsessive’s Guide to Coffee said …
[...] I sense that they never veered off the beaten path in major U.S. cities. This explains other notable omissions, even for just the Bay Area, such as Barefoot Roasters of San Jose and Flying Goat of Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. And while Metropolis Coffee Company in Chicago makes a very good espresso, they aren’t in the same class as Café Organica right here in San Francisco proper. [...]
on 22 Jun 2006 at 8:59 pm -05:00T 4.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » A trickle-down approach benefits coffee growers said …
[...] This article starts with Nicaragua’s 2006 Cup of Excellence coffee competition and Geoff Watts, coffee buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee. Intelligentsia founder and chief executive, Doug Zell, invests some $150,000 to $200,000 annually to send Watts on the road seven months each year to reach out to elite coffee growers around the world. For businesses like Intelligentsia, the payoff is in offering a supply of some of the world’s best coffees to consumers who know the difference and will pay for it. For growers, the payoff is in earning a premium for their crops over and above the prices Fair Trade offers. [...]
on 12 Sep 2006 at 3:01 pm -05:00T 5.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Espesso: Turning coffee world upside down? said …
[...] With a build up like that, how could you not order L’èspesso at one of the three U.S. Lavazza cafés? — all located in Chicago: Espesso: Turning coffee world upside down? (Chicago Sun-Times). While L’èspesso has been available in Europe since 2002, today marks its first day of availability in the U.S. Just a mere $2.49 for what you might call a “shot” (?!), and far cheaper than a meal at elBulli. [...]
on 05 Oct 2006 at 9:35 am -05:00T 6.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » CoffeeRatings.com Reaches 500 said …
[...] What’s so arbitrary about it? For one, the 500 milestone was actually passed many months ago. While CoffeeRatings.com’s focus has been San Francisco proper, there are a number of non-SF ratings that aren’t currently available (or readily available: e.g., Chicago) through the Web site (by design). [...]
on 31 Oct 2006 at 8:33 pm -06:00T 7.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Chicago magazine: Black Gold said …
[...] The November issue of Chicago magazine reviewed the best straight up cups of coffee available in the Loop: Black Gold | Articles | Archives | Chicago magazine. Not surprisingly, Intelligentsia came out on top. [...]
on 29 Dec 2006 at 11:57 am -06:00T 8.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Does “Fair Trade” imply everything else is “Unfair Trade”? said …
[...] Since Fair Trade’s origin, some professionals in the coffee industry have said that something is better than nothing, while others have long stated Fair Trade is worse than nothing at all. Perhaps one of the greatest statements on Fair Trade’s shortcomings came this year from Chicago’s Intelligentsia, one of America’s premiere specialty coffee roasters and home to the 2006 U.S. Barista Champion. Intelligentsia found enough problems and inconsistencies with Fair Trade that they opted to define and pursue their own alternative certification system, called Intelligensia Direct Trade™, and no longer do business with Fair Trade. Yes, it turns out that there are many alternatives to Fair Trade — just without a commonly recognized “brand” label. [...]