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.

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.

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.