How do you know when your fancy restaurant still doesn’t “get” coffee?
Posted by TheShot on 29 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Restaurant Coffee
The post title is the question of the day. If I may paraphrase an old quote from a previous post — where we asked, “How does the fool who knows nothing about wine impress his guests?” — the answer is: by buying the most expensive coffee they can find — along with a good story to tell about it.
Case and point with American wünderchef, Thomas Keller. In a press release this month: Chef Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and Per Se establish one-of-a-kind coffee program [56kb, MS Word doc]. Yes, the man behind America’s most esteemed of restaurants — including Yountville’s The French Laundry and New York’s Per Se — has proudly announced to his customers that his restaurants will now offer Panama Esmeralda Geisha coffee roasted by the consistently underwhelming Equator Estate Coffees.
But how can you knock that? After all, at least they’re not pushing kopi luwak, right? Problem is that the coffee service at The French Laundry is well, uh, severely lacking compared to the otherwise lofty dining expectations and l’addition. (For example, their espresso scored lower than the Starbucks at SFO.) So rather than get educated, train staff, and elevate the craft (if not also chuck their superautomatic Schaerer espresso machine for something less suited for an assembly line), they take the lazy short cut of espousing the merits of “the most expensive coffee in the world” on their menus.
And to drill the point home that they have the whole coffee-as-wine thing confused, here’s a direct quote from their press release — from their master sommelier, a man who sounds like he clearly knows the difference between his Malabars and his Harars:
Paul Roberts, Master Sommelier and the Wine and Beverage Director for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group notes, “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to bring our guests such a rare and extraordinary coffee as the Panama Esmeralda Geisha. The coffee is a truly a gold standard, and a wonderful compliment to our fall menu offerings.”
Thomas Keller’s restaurants don’t have to brew the best cup in the world. But if they’re going to promote an image of coffee connoisseur savvy to match their prowess with food, they should at least have invested more time and thought into it than they spend on boiling an egg.
I can buy some Geisha at the Peet’s Coffee around the block from where I work; I don’t need a restaurant to do that for me, charge me $210 for the privilege, and then act as if they just made me a 1959 Château Margaux with their bare feet. I’m respecting Coi Restaurant more and more for gracefully not pretending to be something they’re not.
UPDATE: Oct. 31, 2007
Sasha Paulsen, Food Editor for the Napa Valley Register, tells the story of her invitation to the French Laundry for a grandiose sampling of their Geisha coffee: Napa Valley Register | Tasting coffee of the gods.
In the article, she recounts Mr. Roberts’ use of descriptive adjectives and his telling of the story behind the coffee’s/estate’s history — which curiously looks like a verbatim recitation of what was once posted on the Peet’s Coffee Web site. (The Web page has since been taken down as their supplies ran out.) What remains to be seen is if Mr. Roberts and/or Mr. Keller are capable of demonstrating any knowledge of good coffee beyond the most overhyped coffee in years, let alone the Peet’s Web site.
8 Comments »
on 30 Oct 2007 at 2:34 pm +00:00T 1.Food News » The French Laundry's Mediocre Coffee? said …
[...] He owns a popular coffeehouse in San Leandro that does its own roasting and blending. He forwarded an amusing post that argues that The French Laundry is trying to cover for mediocre coffee by impressing guests [...]
on 31 Oct 2007 at 6:05 am +00:00T 2.Kiril said …
a very interesting take mate, i think the simple conclusion here is, if you cant make the coffee right dont even bother. ofcause their snobby customers dont know the taste of esmeralda, but do have money to throw around.$
makes me as mad as you
on 01 Nov 2007 at 11:40 am +00:00T 3.Brooke McDonnell said …
A bit of clarification:
1. Equator coffees & teas does not supply, nor has it ever supplied, the espresso for the French Laundry which comes from Illy. (We supply their drip coffee). As a roaster I appreciate anyone who takes an interest in and promotes the crafting of specialty coffee in all its forms, yet, it is startling to read for the second time a review disparaging of Equator in the context of French Laundry espresso.
2. As traditionalists we may have objections to the automatic espresso machines, however, in certain environments, where there are multiple servers, these machines eliminate inconsistencies and improve the execution.
3. Espresso preferences are subjective: Illy is just one style of espresso that when pulled properly has a strong constituency based on its balanced sweetness and moderate acidity. At recent barista competitions the trend was towards very tangy, citrusy, salty origin espresso. This is a big tent subject that leaves plenty of room to promote ones preference and appreciate other styles of espresso.
4. As any roaster knows, the key is always control over the variables that effect espresso, and, as any roaster knows, the same espresso can yield different results at different locations under different hands. Your ratings confirm this. So you understand what the roaster is up against – that there is limited influence over the final espresso translation, even when there has been on-site training (which we do). Simply put, we cannot compel those on the front lines of retail to have a passion for the process.
5. Regarding the Panama Geisha served at the French Laundry: after visiting the Esmeralda farm, I arranged for one of owners to meet the French Laundry staff and provide background on the coffee varietal and microclimate prior to introducing this coffee. The staff took the time to educate themselves on the agronomy of this coffee farm. They also spent time evaluating different roast styles and brewing methods. I was impressed with their commitment to raise the bar on their brewed coffee program.
As owner and master roaster of Equator coffees & teas, I welcome feedback from coffee aficionados. Feel free to contact me at brooke@equatorcoffees or 415-485-2213.
on 01 Nov 2007 at 12:42 pm +00:00T 4.TheShot said …
Thanks for the helpful post, Brooke. For the record, when the French Laundry serves espresso, they explicitly claim they use Equator Estate Coffees — not Illy. There was no mincing of words on this: this came from several of the staff at various levels of responsibility.
This then presumes that there is either a problem in staff training and education at the French Laundry (entirely possible) — or that they may be using Equator for espresso, despite what they might be telling you.
One of the frustrations we frequently encounter is the number of restaurants that take special care to deliberately enumerate the many adjectives with each course of their menu — and yet are entirely careless with something as simple as the roaster of the coffee they serve.
And I certainly welcome the news that the French Laundry staff are demonstrating a commitment to raise the bar on their coffee program. However, their current results are pedestrian at best, disingenuous at worst. And until they can responsibly account for something as simple as the coffee they are using in their espresso, this Geisha announcement is the equivalent of a restaurant espousing the elite virtues of its wine list while carrying only a single bottle of Silver Oak. (I deliberately chose Silver Oak for both its positive and negative connotations among wine connoisseurs.)
As for Equator being “consistently underwhelming”, a common theme is the roaster who is at the mercy of the establishment that serves their coffee. So I can certainly sympathize with what you are up against. But even if your run with the assumption that The French Laundry really does use Illy for their espresso, you would be hard-pressed to argue that their weak scoring is due to a subjective, “anti-Illy” bias. Knowing that Illy arguably has some of the best quality controls and standardization of any roaster in the world, compare The French Laundry’s espresso with other places that serve Illy:
http://www.coffeeratings.com/roaster-view.php?roasterId=38
They would score near the median, with 26 places serving better espresso with Illy beans and 34 places serving worse — underscoring their rather mediocre status for an establishment with otherwise tastefully high regard.
on 05 Nov 2007 at 9:20 am +00:00T 5.Food News » Equator Coffee Responds said …
[...] few days ago, I posted about The Shot’s assertion that The French Laundry was using mediocre, expensive coffee in lieu of making a good [...]
on 25 Jan 2008 at 12:35 pm +00:00T 6.Steve G said …
Just to join the French Laundry coffee pile-on, when we went a few years ago it really stuck out as the worst part of the meal. My partner’s father drinks his coffee drip, he drinks it black, and he drinks more than one cup. When he asked for coffee, he said “black, no cream, no sugar.” When it came, there was a big tray covered in a selection of sugars, splenda, nutrasweet, a pitcher of cream, and some other shenanigans, which the server put down on the table despite him trying to fend it off saying “I just want the coffee, none of the rest.” The second cup of coffee was just like the first, but took 10-15 minutes to arrive. There was an almost willful lack of grace on the part of the staff when handling coffee.
on 25 Jan 2008 at 6:33 pm +00:00T 7.TheShot said …
Thanks for sharing that story. “Willful lack of grace” is such an apropos way to describe some of that trademarked French Laundry experience. Like they’re doing you a favor by letting you take out a second mortgage to eat there.
The most telling thing for me in my service experience was when I was actually trying to have a good time by casually joking around with some of the staff (hey, I’m paying top dollar). One of the junior staffers was clearly into it, and almost seemed excited at the rare opportunity to handle a customer outside of the “mortician’s façade” they all put on so well. He was immediately glared at by his peers for being such an uncouth rookie, squelching any chance of a rapport developing with the customer over mutual enjoyment of the food and experience.
on 05 Dec 2009 at 7:55 pm +00:00T 8.JB said …
At the risk of chiming in after the buzzer, I celebrated a friend’s birthday at Per Se a few weeks ago. The meal was amazing, but the espresso at the end was almost distractingly bad — thin, watery, and served in a bizarrely-shaped cup.
I’m not sure what type of machine Per Se uses, although the Bouchon Bakery downstairs in the Time Warner Center is a super automatic. A number of reviews of Per Se have noted Thomas Keller’s obsession with quality and the “Finesse” sign hanging in the Per Se kitchen; sadly, neither appears to extend to the coffee.