What's a Coffee Commentary?
Subject: Cafe d'Bolla
Location visited: Salt Lake City, UT
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]
Grids must be the one thing I love about major cities. The ease of getting around with nothing more then mediocre directions (and the concept of how a square works) makes my life billions of times easier.
But despite the simplicity of the grid, Salt Lake City must have consisted originally of very malicious people who wanted people to never find anything.
As is commonly known, SLC was the original all-Mormon settlement built with their temple smack dab in the middle of town. So to denote the significance of the temple, they made every street on each side 100 st (100 N, 100 S, etc). Now add the direction the street is of the temple (i.e. if you're east of the temple on 700 North, you're on East 700 North) and you're pulling your hair out.
So this crazy road system made what would be a simple morning coffee run into an excruciatingly complicated crawl. I had heard of a place called Cafe d'Bolla in some research prior to arriving and figured since it was relatively close to the Temple Square (the area where I ended up staying), that I would make a walking trip before I left. I checked Google Maps to verify the location of the address (249 East 400 South), I called to get verbal confirmation (with no answer any of the 12 times I called), and finally decided to just wing it. Needless to say, Google Maps ran me astray and Cafe d'Bolla would not answer their phone.
So I gave up and began heading back to my hotel. I grabbed coffee at a far less impressive place (Salt Lake City Roasters), breakfast, and just when I thought I was done with SLC I stumble right onto Cafe d'Bolla (which upon examination, turned out that Google Map sent me to the inverse of the address).
The outside was a nice modern, well-constructed exterior that really made you want to sit down at one of their outside tables. The inside was a long shop, with a decent number of seats inside but mostly space to wait in line.
The coffee is roasted in house and from their single origin offerings, it looked like they had a nice selection. But even though they serve french pressed coffee normally, they were completely out of coffee that day (which to me is ludicrous)!
The espresso is where they garnered their strength. Not only was the barista fun to converse with, she was also very skilled in pulling shots. My espresso was decent though it had a bit of a sharp of a taste as well as some char. The tea was Rishi Tea.
Overall, Cafe d'Bolla was a nice stop (after finding it) with a lot of good practices plus a good deal of potential for improvement. Especially in a city where coffee is hardly promoted (Mormons aren't big coffee fanatics), they're making some headway. If you manage to master the SLC streets, I'd make a stop in.
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...
What's a Coffee Commentary?
Subject: Caribou Coffee
Location visited: various
Free WiFi ? :
Rating: 1+ [see key]
Just having returned from a long series of plane trips, I felt it appropriate to write a small blip on Caribou Coffee, the coffee chain alternative (in most airports) to Starbucks.
Since there are no real locations in my home Philadelphia area, I have had most of my experience with Caribou Coffee abroad, quite often in airports (though in passing I thought the Caribou Cafe on Walnut St could be their eastern coffee branch, I found it dubbed but a decent French restaurant, as elaborated on by local food bloggers Messy and Picky).
After numerous visits to Caribou Coffee, I've had but a small number of decent cups of coffee and zero cups of drinkable (never mind decent) shots of espresso.
Am I surprised? Not really. The only real advantage that Caribou could ever pull over their chain competitors would be better coffee, but I can only say that I've had a few non-bitter cups from their founts. The classic problem of serving consistent, well-pulled espresso haunts Caribou every bit as much as it does any other national chain (yet on a positive note, I do give Caribou props for not lowering themselves to automatic espresso machines like Starbucks).
So if you have to choose between Caribou and Starbucks or Seattle's Best, obviously go with Caribou. But most often, I'd say wait until you can find a better cup elsewhere.
What's a Coffee Commentary?
Subject: Small World Coffee
Location visited: Princeton, NJ
[14 Witherspoon location]
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 4+ [see key]
Back in the day, not being into the lets-get-sloshed-on-the-weekend scene, I would often meet up with friends in various spots to hang out, chat, and occasionally grab coffee. One of those spots was Princeton Panera, mainly because it was obvious and had not bad coffee. Then, three years ago, meeting up with friends in Princeton suddenly became passe' (probably because the drive for some of us was extensively longer then others) and as I grew more finicky with my coffee, Panera coffee became much more of a memory then a good idea.
Then the other day, the old meeting spot was reconciled as a bit of a reunion amongst old friends. We met up for dinner at the Triumph Brewing Company which was a poor match of price to quality, but nonetheless an ok dinner. Then afterwards, we decided instead of Panera (though we did sit outside for a second while we waited for more pals) to try out Small World Coffee, a local Princeton roaster that I've had mixed experience with (some good, some very bad).
We arrived sometime around 7pm-ish during an open mic. The place was mostly empty, though the seating capacity is extensive to accommodate the numerous students and faculty.
As mentioned before, my past experiences with Small World have mainly been with their drip (as well as their really expensive baked goods!). I've had several really bitter cups out of their pots, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got a not-bitter cup this time. It was smooth but still nothing fantastic.
The espresso was also fairly decent, with a nice citrusy tang but also fairly bland. On a positive note, the baristas did seem to have a decent knowledge of how to pull good shots.
On a side scrawl, the tea was Rishi and the chai, according to my friends, was "spicy."
To put it bluntly, I strongly prefer Small World to their local chain competitors (Panera and Starbucks) plus there are few alternatives anywhere nearby, but they still could improve in some areas of quality. So if you're a student or in town visiting, it's not such a small world when it comes to finding a good cup of coffee, so give Small World a go.
What's a Coffee Commentary?
Subject: Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters
Location visited: Boise, ID
[Capital location]
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 1+ [see key]
Boise has to be one of the more surprising towns in Idaho. While Coeur D'Alene was my favorite, Boise comes in a close second (Coeur D'Alene's built on the side of a beautiful mountain with a gorgeous lake right below). But what made Boise such a surprise was the ambient downtown area with a nice selection of good places to grab lunch on an outside patio. They also "seemed" to have a decent selection of coffee in the downtown.
But oh, how I wasted my coffee stop on Thomas Hammer Coffee, a chain out of Spokane, Washington that looks more like something Target shot out in its spare time. The place looked good enough on the corner right across from the Capital area with a snazzy, corporate look on the inside but the appearances were so deceiving.
The coffee is roasted up in Spokane and from the look and taste, they're fans of over-roasting (when your website has to advertise which coffees are "smooth", it's a bad sign in my estimation). The coffee I sampled wasn't horrific, but it definitely lacked tasted and quality.
The espresso on the other was horrific, as the barista seemed to be fresh off the assembly line with not a real clue on how to pull a decent shot (really, really overpulled). On the note of the barista on duty, one should not work alone if one does not know how to make everything on the menu (especially one of your signature drinks!).
Succinctly said, don't waste your time with Thomas Hammer.
What's a Coffee Commentary?
