Trip Report: Barefoot Coffee Roasters
Posted by TheShot on 23 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: Barista, Beans, Fair Trade, Local Brew, Quality Issues, Roasting
As a former resident of Palo Alto for several years, a trip down Santa Clara’s Stevens Creek Boulevard conjures up images of discount mattress stores, Denny’s, and strip malls as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately, that’s commercial real estate in the Silicon Valley — regardless of the hidden gems tucked away in Northern California’s answer to The O.C.
One of those gems is Barefoot Coffee Roasters — three-time winner for best coffee in the local free weekly, Metro (and one of those rare occasions where a popularity contest gets it right). Despite all my peripheral encounters with Barefoot and its well-deserved accolades, I finally paid my first visit this week.
Barefoot starts with Andy Newbom (owner and CEO, or “Chief Espresso Officer”), and I couldn’t think of a better person for the role. I first met him as emcee at the last Western Regional Barista Competition (WRBC). There are many great inside stories of how he’s offered his time, energy, and even his spare bedroom to support the training and development of budding, high-quality cafés throughout the West. But most of all, he exudes an infectious enthusiasm for good espresso. Andy visibly loves good espresso the way Homer Simpson loves donuts.
Outside this small café there are several sidewalk tables and chairs for scoping out the nearby freeway traffic. Inside, there’s a handful of artful tables and sofas — and a long corridor leading past their famous Probat roaster to their less-famous bathroom with its brooding, Central American-themed mural walls.
Barefoot is religious about the need for, and its support of, professional barista training, and it shows. They have mounted numerous framed training certifications on the back wall behind their three-group La Marzocco GB/5 station. The barista will demonstrate a detailed level of quality control — rejecting shots that didn’t come out to their professional standards.
For espresso, I first sampled their Bare Espresso — a double shot made with a standard blend ($2). They served it with a medium brown crema without distinctive markings or froth, and it was a little lighter in color and thickness than I expected (or experienced at the WRBC’s The 4th Machine). The cup had a sweet, herbal earthiness with a lot of bright, acidic notes, but the body was surprisingly lighter.
I moved on to their Single Estate Espresso ($3.50) — a variant to their usual blend, typically made with a rotation of estate coffees (as modelled in very few other cafés, such as Palo Alto’s Caffé del Doge). As a single origin espresso, as in the case with single malt scotch, it often has a very distinctive, unique, and intense flavor profile. The day’s offering was a Panama Finca Hartmann, which they recommended with spouts (as opposed to a naked portafilter).
One of the things I really like about Barefoot is that they don’t succumb to the latest popularized specialty coffee trends. For example, some baristas have recently glommed on to the (not-so-new) Cup of Excellence phenomenon — as if Cup of Excellence-competing coffees have a monopoly on unique, distinctive, high-quality flavor profiles. But Barefoot knows there is plenty more out there to choose from, like Finca Hartmann. (We’ve arguably witnessed a similar phenomenon in the past year with socio/eco-conscious types discovering Fair Trade coffees en masse and attributing it with a monopoly on ethical and sustainable growing practices — putting a blind eye to Fair Trade’s many shortcomings and problems.)
The Finca Hartmann espresso hit paydirt. Not that the Bare Espresso was a slouch, but here the cup came with dark red and brown flecks in its thinner crema (expectedly thinner, given its single-bean profile). It had a more robust aroma, a round and robust body, and an intense sweetness with a sharp but pleasant bite at the back of the throat to complement its herbal pungency. Outstanding.
Read the review of Barefoot Coffee Roasters (Single Estate Espresso).
8 Comments »
on 01 Jan 2007 at 2:36 pm PT 1.Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Inc. -Artisan Roasters » Blog Archive » Coffeeratings.com gets happy coffee said …
[...] CoffeeRatings.com pays the ‘foot a visit. http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2006/12/barefoot-coffee-roasters/ here is a small excerpt from their blog site. Visit them and read the rest and make sure to check out the sweet reviews on our coffee pals at Ritual and Blue Bottle. –One of those gems is Barefoot Coffee Roasters — three-time winner for best coffee in the local free weekly, Metro (and one of those rare occasions where a popularity contest gets it right). Despite all my peripheral encounters with Barefoot and its well-deserved accolades, I finally paid my first visit this week. [...]
on 11 Jan 2007 at 11:36 am PT 2.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Espresso done right is intense — a full-bodied, stop-time moment to savor said …
[...] However, I am in less agreement with his “aversion to robusta” argument. Sure, robusta is generally a cheaper grade coffee that many American retailers tend to avoid on this criteria alone. And the right percentage of good-quality robusta in an espresso blend can make a huge difference in an espresso’s volume of crema, the richness of its aroma, and the breadth of its flavor profile. But I’ve also had astounding single-bean espresso shots that have blown blends out of the water. [...]
on 08 Feb 2007 at 5:31 pm PT 3.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Santa Clara: Finding the coffee shop that’s right for you said …
[...] Ah, yes — the old “All coffees are created equal, but how about those curtains?!” trap. (I’m reminded of the punchline to the old restaurant-on-the-moon joke: “Good food, but no atmosphere.”) The article mentions the usual suspects plus Mission City Coffee Roasting Co., City Lights Espresso, and the Cocola Bakery on Santana Row (sister to the Cocola Bakery in the San Francisco Centre). But it is a moral outrage that the author makes no mention of Barefoot — even if it’s not about the atmosphere. [...]
on 13 Feb 2007 at 10:28 pm PT 4.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » The 2007 Shameless Gadget Promotion Post said …
[...] If had to choose a second from last year, I’d have to pick the French press travel mug from Barefoot Coffee Roasters. I’ve developed a habit of bringing it to the office most days (I also get plenty of comments on it). I grind some fresh beans into it before leaving for work in the morning — storing some extra grinds in the hidden compartment at the bottom. It makes truly good coffee quite convenient and portable. [...]
on 24 Feb 2007 at 3:07 pm PT 5.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Interview with the founder of an espresso tasting society said …
[...] The closest Coffee Meetup to S.F. is The South Bay Coffee Meetup Group, based in Santa Clara. It will come as no surprise that it was founded by noneother than Andy Newbom of Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Their next meeting is March 5. [...]
on 21 Mar 2007 at 1:40 pm PT 6.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » David Lebovitz: Making Perfect Espresso at Illy said …
[...] The Illy preachers also sound a bit reactionary to the trend towards single-origin products. It’s a bit like the Johnny Walkers making their case against the single malt scotch trend. While there is a definite art and mastery to making a well-balanced espresso from a variety of blended coffee sources, single-origin espressos can often be excellent for their singularly strong, albeit imbalanced, flavor profiles. [...]
on 17 Apr 2007 at 12:55 pm PT 7.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Trip Report: Piccino Cafe said …
[...] Until its closure last year, SF residents were able to taste some of that at Café Organica. But today if you want to try espresso made from a rotation of single estate beans and/or from a choice of different roasts, you have to travel to the likes of Barefoot Coffee Roasters or Caffé del Doge. Copycats are fine when it’s something excellent, but there’s clearly more than one way to make a great espresso. [...]
on 29 Jul 2007 at 4:05 pm PT 8.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Andy Newbom of Silicon Valley - Founder of Barefoot Coffee Roasters said …
[...] rag, but once in a while they feature the occasional gem — like today’s interview with Barefoot Coffee Roasters‘ founder and all around cool guy, Andy Newbom: American Chronicle: Andy Newbom of Silicon [...]