Thursday, July 12, 2007

CC: Academia Del Cafe

What's a Coffee Commentary?

Subject:
Academia Del Cafe
- a subsidiary of Hausbrandt -

Location visited:
Philadelphia, PA
(1039 Chestnut
St)
Free WiFi ? : no
Rating: 3+ [see key]

One area of contention I have with the coffee world is the over-infatuation with coffee things of Italy. Not wanting to be misconstrued here as I am of partial Italian background, allow me to clarify. Espresso and all that one could consider part of the specialty coffee industry stemmed from little espresso cafes in Italy. I cherish the ground plowed ahead in the earlier portion of the twentieth century by Italians (and some other Europeans, as noted here).

But what amazes me is that people still think that coffee roasted in Italy holds superiority to that which is roasted here in the States (or anywhere else for that matter)! This claim simply does not float, as the rise of the specialty coffee industry in America has left us with many amazing coffee roasters that can roast coffee just as well as the finest Italian roaster, with the key being to find a good one nearby. One can also easily deduce that coffee roasted in Italy will never arrive here fresh (unless expensively rushed here), though there are some who believe that vacuum sealing will keep the coffee just as fresh as the day it was roasted (call me skeptical...)

So given my leeriness of coffee-related things labeled fantastic simply because of an Italian affiliation, I really took painstaking steps to be objective when Hausbrandt, a local Philly chain bent on all things Italian, decided to open up a number of small "authentic" Italian cafes, each called Academia Del Cafe. The claim is that each cafe will give the consumer a true cafe experience, complete with imported Italian furniture.

One day, I was picking a friend up at the bus station and so made a side trip to one of the locations nearby on Chestnut. From the outside, it had a bland corporate look and inside was crowded small shop with all the amenities of a cafe (including paninis) but the feel of a hot dog cart (small is small, unless you manage to pull off "cute").

Given their claim to excellence being espresso, I would have to say the barista upheld the claims that they know how to pull a shot. But what I would contend was the quality of the beans (all roasted in Italy by Hausbrandt), for my shots tasted a tad charred.

The coffee on the other hand was ugly, with a hyper-fierce bite on the front and a bleh finish. They also offered two teas, which are Two Leaves and a Bud as well as Kronen Tea.

In the end, Academia Del Cafe came across predictably; a small cafe with know-how on how to pull decent espresso but not the tools (in this case, the coffee I predict). I would venture that while the company has the right idea on small cafes, I don't know if the average American is ready (or ever will be) for the stand-up espresso bar instead of the spacious sit-down, free WIFI coffeehouse. The years will tell...