Starbucks: 40 years

40 years in the Industry.
Had to post props to original Pike Place location in Seattle.
Birth of making coffee sexy, and without the mass appeal of *BUX maybe we wouldn't have the push for quality beans around the world...

What are your thoughts?
How did you celebrate 40 years in the business?
Did you go and try their Tribute blend?
(sheepishly I have - and it's not bad, it's just not my preference to have such dark, earthy tones.)

Tweet

Read more »

Wrap Up; LIT college 1st Anni

A great crowd of regulars, fans, friends and Family of LIT Espresso Bar came out in full force on Saturday night to celebrate the first year of business.



The atmosphere reflected the mid-to late 20s hipster/ fashionista crowd and clientele of the  neighbourhood. College Street, and Ossington Strip. Enough said. But that's just a lackluster description of the ample amount of LOVE that was in the room.Glasses clinking, music blaring, voices travelling, you could tell there was a party happening up in thurr.

Casual, Informal, Fun, pretentiousness-free Party. Mill St, Prosecco, omg baked goods<--> cupcakes were making their way around the room.
Great atmosphere to celebrate!

LIT didn't really observe Earth Hour, but hey it's kinda hard when the temperature drops to -7, when we've already approached Spring... No Patio weather quite yet.
Loud music pumping aside, it was a great event!

Thanks for the invite Nicole. Such a lovely Coffee Family.

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Birthday,College Street,LIT Espresso

NY: Blue Bottle Coffee (Brooklyn)

Address: 160 Berry St
Neighbourhood: Williamsburg
Borough: Brooklyn, New York
Tel: (718) 534-5488 bluebottlecoffee.net‎
@bluebottlenyc


This West coast transplant found itself a new home in the depths of Williamsburg, nestling into a brick-based factory style loft on a seemingly ordinary residential street.  Blue Bottle has been a staple of the Bay area scene since 2002, taking it's simple desire of providing freshly roasted coffee to their neighbourhoods. Not far off from their quest to bring their knowledge to the East Coast almost a decade later. Can this transplant survive in cutthroat NYC?

Using up the warehouse-like space to push for a on-site roaster, they've created a coffee lab and open concept storage space in 2/3s of the "cafe". More working museum than sit down locale, they seem to have harnessed the imagination of the working professionals, artists and passer-bys. New York's burgeoning coffee scene and continual revival of the micro-niches has made it easier to digest for the renovating area. Blue Bottle might have opened up their shop during the economic "downturn", but it's this fusion of community, quality products and different brewing styles that have made them a staple.
Technical

Machines: La Marzocco FB80
Grinders: Anfim
Beans:Uganda, Guatemala, Brazil, Ethopia & Mexico. 

Roasters: Blue Bottle C.C (onsite)

Temp: 203 degrees Fahrenheit

Size: 1.5ish ounces in 30 sec

Turnover: Busy, lots of foot traffic

Popular: Cappuccino

Feature Brewing style: Pour-Over
Slow Cold Drip Coffee - Great to see live.

Verdict: Low Acidic body, syrupy dense texture results in a great chocolate party. Consistency is key, and this tasted exactly the same as the Blue Bottle in the back alley of Linden Street in SF.

Up for permanent display are the 5 imported Japanese Cold Brewing devices. The Kyoto-style brewing method can take up to16 hours to fully run through it's cycle. But it's refreshing (or so I'm told) and what a better way to pay homage to it's former space; glass-blowing artisan studio

Manual brew is definitely one of the focal points of the cafe, with 8 Cilio (with their own branding) devices, the Pour Over Bar was busy during my stay. Having one barista solely focused on the pour over bar, indicates it's popularity. It doesn't hurt that the coffee menu (changed weekly) gives a wide selection for those interested in discovering the wonders....

Pour Over Bar. WOW.

A Second Machine??

Machines: San Marco Leva Manual lever Grinders: Anfim
Beans: S/O Ethopian

Roasters: Blue Bottee  - onsite

Temp: 197 degrees Fahrenheit

Size: 1.5ish ounces in 31 sec

Turnover: Busy, but more people hang-out here

Verdict: Lushish tones of citrus, berry compote and dark chocolate of the 70% variety. Great Technique from the barista

Hanging out is definitely possible with a garage glass door, large table facing the street and stools for chatter. The L-Shaped bar helps traffic flow, and the condiment stand gives a great view of the roastery in the back. In addition there is a wheeled table in the middle that doubles as a "stand-up" table. 
High ceilings, large windows, bright light just creates that west coast chill. So different from the Ferry location, but James Freeman - owner - has done well to foster a relationship with NY.


Here's to more local roasting!
(New York Photo tease below)

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Blue Bottle,Brooklyn,New York

Method: Siphon

Spotted: LIT Espresso Bar (College Street Location)
Address: 810 College Street

Having just celebrated their first birthday at the 810 College Street location, it seemed like forever, since I was here last. The truth is: I hadn't ventured to this location during store hours....

When they decided to open up later - until 8pm, now that Spring is upon us. har har har!

I needed to make a trek down to the College location for some Hairbender... as I'd been craving for that syrupy sweetness from Stumptown. I know, go local, but there's something about Stumptown that I was craving.

LIT recently tweaked their water pressure system to create a more consistent process, but Nicole managed to convince me to try Siphon over Chemex...

Here's a photo blog and accompanying video for all of those that are wondering how the Siphon works.

Don't forget their birthday celebrations this Saturday March 26th - 7pm

 

Looks like a time to watch the RAW uneditted video with Dave:

Siphon @LIT Espresso Bar (College St.) from Espresso Adventures on Vimeo.

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: LIT Espresso,Siphon,Stumptown

The Only Cafe

The Only Cafe
Address: 972 Danforth Ave
Neighbourhood: the Danforth
Website; Tel: 416-463-7843

Shining some light for the East end. Many seem to think that beyond the Danforth there is a nothing; slightly true, but there is a love for these local establishments. Seeing as we just did the BWV, we had to represent the other side of the Bloor-Danforth line. Hopping off at Donlands Station, it reminded me of my time in Boston, Mass.

This lovely location was introduced/recommended to me first as the Only Cafe. Local bar/pub where the barkeeps knew you by face and name. Literally a narrow hall, with small tables and mismatched chairs this cozy warm feeling is how it can become your go-to location. .Yet, you won't find any historic brick exterior at this location, but instead a vibrant well painted mural on the outside creating a very welcoming attraction to on lookers. If you step in during the day,you'll be greeted by "the One and the Only Coffee House". Much more spacious then the "other side", with a plethora of comfy couches, wood tables and a general home-y feel. This can potentially act as your home away from home.

                  

Machine: Synesso Cyncra
Beans: Black Cat Espresso
Roasters: Intelligenstia (Chicago)
Grinder: Mahlkoenig K30 Twin Espresso Grinder

Verdict: sharp acidic, bitter tones. Hmm, is this really the syrupy sweet iconic Black Cat?
I'm not too sold on how they prepared my shot, but I sure know this isn't the same stuff that's being pulled at Manic.

Giving them some cred here, their Latte stands up, but what happened to the quintessential double?

Not sure which factor played a "hand" in this poor representation of Chi-town's staple... but it's not for me.

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Danforth,Indie Coffee Passport,Intelligentsia,The Only Cafe

V60; Grumpy Honduras

Surprise, surprise Toronto. SNOW!

No grumpiness here, just exctasy with this mornings brew. The start of the new season of roasting has gone off amazingly well, and most cafe have been brewing some incredible SO and Blends. This can only mean that everyone is benefitting from the source of these beans, acquiring knowledge through craftmanship.

We so easily forget who roasted, or where the source of the beans are located, or most importantly the farmers that work hard all-year round. Their craft of cultivating amazing beans by pouring blood, sweat and soil into highlighting the best quality that they can obtain from the fruit.

As we've now hit spring, this is a Thank You tribute to all farmers - not just coffee farmers.

Coffee: Lo Mejor de San Vicente ( Pena Blanca, Santa Barbara region), Honduras
Varietals: Pacas + Bourbon
Producer: Santos Alexi. Flor de la pena + moreno
Roaster: Cafe Grumpy (Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC)

Roasters note: fruited and sweet with hibscus, ripe red grapefruit and honey

Method: Hario V60 Pour over


Verdict: Sweetness, sweetness, sweetness. clean honey tones with a ringing bright sweet lime-like finish.
Nostrils: strong-tea


Overall: this microlot is definitely lush! Sweetness from the first sip, gets even better as the fresh brewed coffee starts to cool. The sweet, fully ripe ruby grapefruit starts to shine, and the pleasent after-taste lingers just enough that you wish you brewed a big quantity.

But with amazing crops this year, the talks of coffee prices on the rise may be generating a divide between great coffee, and creating a larger gap from the "bad, unwanted" coffee. What are your thoughts?

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Cafe Grumpy,coffee cupping,Hario,Single Origin

LIT College: Birthday Celebration

It seems like March has been quite the month for Birthday Celebrations.

LIT on College had their official birthday a couple of weeks ago, but you know how those crazy kids have busy lives... they just need to celebrate it on a different day.

Saturday, March 26th - 7pm

810 College Street (close to Ossington)
STUMPTOWN will be providing some wicked coffee, and maybe candle light celebrations with EARTH day?

 Too bad I missed out on the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Adado....

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Birthday,LIT Espresso

Mercury Photos

 

 Happy Birthday! Five Years in Leslieville.
Creating the scene for Local Independent Cafes -
Mercruy Espresso Bar opened theirs doors on March 20, 2006 - it's been growing ever since.

Major Barista Jam on Saturday night filled the 400 sq ft. location to the brim, with local barista from the GTA. We had Detour, Social, Capital, LIT, TeAro, Crema, SJCB/CP, Terrior all in representation last night.
A great turn-out for the neighbourhood, and a great scene for Toronto to thrive off.
As a coffee geek, it was just a lot of love going around.
Great to see so many familar faces.
(more photos and details after the jump)

Matt was Chemexing some lovely coffee from Terroir:
Kenyan Kangunu
Hawaii - Ka'i (Rusty's Farm)

The Ka’u area is on the slope of great volcano Mauna Loa, as is Kona, but facing south as opposed to Kona’s facing west. This is by far the sweetest Hawaiian coffee I have ever tasted, an instant classic.

Having been on the Big Island I can honestly say that being South of the volcano is quite a vegetative rich area. Very hard to access without a range rover, but rewarding views at the same time.
This coffee is by far the sweetest coffee I've tried from the Hawaiian islands, bursting with floral tones and tropical fruit cup. Such a stark contrast to Intense, earthy Kona coffee.

La Esmeralda Baru Lot, Boquete, Panama, 2010 Crop! - Highly Coveted, and simply Delicious

Tasting Notes :
A lush fruit basket of peach, blueberry, and gingered lemon candy accented with tropical fruit.

Here is very comprehensive photo-barrage of the Latte Art Showdown that occurred on Saturday night

Thiago - Te Aro

Thiago

 

Aerin Fogel - Mercury

Lawrence - Crema

Matt Davies - Capital

Steve - Crema

Neil - Mercury (background: Jeremy - Terroir )

Neil - Mercury

Andrew - Crema

Andrew - Crema

Kaelin - Detour

Kaelin - Detour

Alex Tran - Capital

 

Alex - LIT College

Sophie - Detour

 

Sophie - Detour

Marcie - Unattached

Marcie - Unattached (Swan action!!)

Katie Davis - Capital

Taryn - LIT College

Bruce - Crema

Bruce - Crema (Phoenix)

Hugh - Detour

Hugh - Detour

Joshua - Mercury

Joshua - Mercury

Robin - Mercury

Tyler - TeAro

Tyler - TeAro

Maggie - Captial

Geoff - Detour

 

Geoff - Detour

Nolan - Mercury (Avant-grade)

FINALS: 3 Baristas, 3 Cappuccinos.

 Up First: Katie from Capital (former Mercury)

Katie Davis - Rosetta

 2nd up, Lawerence from Crema (Junction)

Lawerence Tulip

 

3rd finalist: Josh - Mercury (New School creation in the back)

 Winner of the Latte Art throw down: Miss Katie Davis (Capital/Mercury crew is quite content)

 Thanks for creating such a Rock n Roll badass indie cafe for everyone to enjoy.
As a coffee geek, it was interesting to watch barista's figure out the Synesso machine. It can be noted that the top 3 have been trained on Synesso and are particularly more familar with the beast.

3 Cheers to all that made it out this weekend to all the birthday celebrations.

(Friday - Crema Bloor (1 year) , Sunday: the TAMPERed Press (1 year))

Tweet

Read more »

Posted in: Birthday,Leslieville,Mercury Espresso