Posted by TheShot on 30 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Barista, Local Brew, Quality Issues
With Spring upon us, that means it’s time for the 2008 Western Regional Barista Competition (WRBC): ‘Attention to every detail’ at Berkeley barista contest - San Jose Mercury News. Starting this past Friday and ending today (check out their photo album), the 2008 WRBC performs a time-honored ritual to select a barista champ representing our [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 28 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew
There are plenty of fans of this sunset café with limited breakfast, lunch, and even more limited dinner options. Several indoor and many patio tables overlook the ocean sunsets, but the main attraction here seems to be waking up with a view of the beach and a giant cinnamon roll. Many locals rave about the [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Home Brew, Machine
Today’s Seattle Times reported on how the exchange rate wreaked havoc on the American waiting list for the La Marzocco GS/3 — their first machine designed with home use in mind: Retail Report | Espresso-machine price leaves some steaming | Seattle Times Newspaper.
For two years, La Marzocco promised a hefty $4,500 price tag for the [...]
Posted by TheShot on 23 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Café Society, Local Brew, Machine, Roasting
Today Blue Bottle Coffee Co. opened up their long-anticipated Mint Plaza café — their first true space (besides kiosks and outdoor carts at the Ferry Building and in the East Bay) to showcase James Freeman’s commitment to freshness.
The café is located at a bend in Jesse St. in the Mint Plaza alleyway — in [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 01 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew, Quality Issues
If Peet’s Coffee & Tea has been a slow-growth contrast to Starbucks‘ cancerous proliferation in recent years, Intelligentsia’s expansion has been deliberately glacial. And why not? You get big, you get less selective about your coffee growers and suppliers. You start accepting employees with fewer skills and less passion about truly good coffee. And how’s [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 27 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Machine, Quality Issues, Starbucks
While we’re on the subject of humorous opinions on coffee purveyors…
No matter what you might think of Arianna Huffington, you have to admire the cajones to publish today’s op-ed blog piece on The Huffington Post: Beverly Tan: Why I F**cking Hate Starbucks - Living on The Huffington Post. Author Beverly Tan, an admitted and yet [...]
Posted by TheShot on 22 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Home Brew
A Peninsula people-watching Mecca, typically filled with large crowds throughout the day and skirmishes over available outdoor tables. It’s been that way here since I first entered this place 15 years ago. They have large indoor and outdoor seating areas, local art, occasional musicians, and obligatory patrons in bike shorts.
One of the most indelible memories [...]
Posted by TheShot on 17 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Local Brew
This Oakland/Rockridge outlet of the small chain is a little smaller than its SF Fillmore District counterpart, but the standards are the same. Outside there’s a sidewalk bench and a couple of chairs; inside there are four beat-up wooden tables and a tendency for houseflies to gather (just something odd about the building dynamics, location, [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 02 Jul 2007 | Tagged as: Home Brew, Local Brew, Roasting
One of the odder, and better, espresso adventures in San Francisco is the outdoor Blue Bottle Coffee tent that descends on the Ferry Building Marketplace every week like a traveling Burning Man exhibition. Starting in 2004, East Bay artisan roaster James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee brought his coffee cart out to the weekend farmers’ [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 12 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Foreign Brew, Local Brew, Roasting
After recently posting on the Flying Goat mothership, the time seemed right to dust off another Flying Goat review I should have published long ago.
This large outlet of “The Goat” (as it is affectionately known by locals), a Healdsburg-based chain café and roastery, is located across from the Santa Rosa train station. Bright and airy [...]