Wednesday, June 21, 2006

CC: Hausbrandt


What's a Coffee Commentary?

*CLOSED
Subject:
Hausbrandt

Location visited: 15th St, Philadelphia
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 3+ [see key]



*CLOSED*

This coffeehouse I had not caught wind of until recently, when they were dubbed City Best coffeehouse 2006 in Philly. I decided to give it a whirl even though I am always suspicious of AOL cityguide's "Best of" (in the same "best of" for the coffeehouses, they placed a faux coffeehouse in the top ten...) as well as other "best of" rankings due to the ambiguity of criteria.

Last week, two friends and I embarked to Center City to hang out, and as we were driving we decided to see if Hausbrandt was open. We caught them 5 minutes before closing and they were happy to serve us (fortunately).

Taking a look around, I noticed that they had no formal menu, which I guess means that they have a java-wise clientele. Taking a look at their own beans, imported from Italy (so not as fresh as local-roasted) I decided on an americano (mainly because they had no coffee left 2 minutes before closing). I have to say it was pretty good.

I looked at the tea as well, it was bagged (as apposed to free leaf) and called Kronen. Nothing fancy (I'm pretty sure it was a Hausbrandt product as well).

Overall, I can't say I was "wowed" by this chain from Italy. It was good, but best of? Maybe I missed something...


Update 2/24/08

In retrospect and after a bit more review, it seems like I didn't miss anything. The coffee comes off with an obvious mediocrity and the espresso impresses similarly (a bleh sharpness). I must say that my opinion of the operation has definitely deflated since my original writing of this post. Oh well.


Update 1/3/10

Though this update is long overdue (I keep forgetting to update this), Hausbrandt is no longer an active cafe, but it seems that they are still plugging along with their Academia Del Cafes.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A little inside information ---

Massimo Taurisano and wife are business hacks. The company Hausbrandt USA is actually a non-entity, and they dont own the exclusive rights to any coffee from Italy, they're just lieing about it.

Also dont ever work for them because they consistently bounce employee checks, thats if you even get your check on time. Also they have burnt so many vendor bridges, they are running out vendors to go to --- they can only do COD from vendors, because vendors dont trust them in paying on time.

Their distribution/service center is also going down the tubes, because of incompetent people repairing machines. Granted they do have some individuals who actually know what they're doing in their business, but their hands are tied because Massimo Taurisano financially mismanages the money he brings in.

Oh yea, the coffee they use isn't always Hausbrandt. Massimo switches their brewed coffee with a cheaper type, and then charges the same high price.

He has no ethics.

Anonymous said...

Would love to find out more about these guys, they are screwing us for thousands of dollars and we are not the first, but hopefully we'll be the last.

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with the last posting - we are also out thousands of dollars - don't get involved with them - once you do, you can never get in touch with them and they never return phone calls.

Anonymous said...

Massimo Taurisano and
Carrie B Lapp
2237 20th Street
Philadelphia, Pa 19145
Massimo works in Hoboken NJ
Carrie works for Astrzeneca

Anonymous said...

Hausbrandt espresso is currently being retailed at www.foodiesgourmet.com. Also for wholesale contact John Yancigay at 631-495-7005

Anonymous said...

how come none of you have sued them?