el_cabong Said:

I've been thinking for a while that I should combine my coffee and motorcycle habits somehow, so with some research provide by holygrounds and with our intrepid reporter "Uncle Bob" as my shining example, I hopped on the bike and set out to try a couple of local coffee houses. Unfortunately, there were no surprises.

My first stop was Napoli. This shop has a three group La Marzocco FB70, a real looker. They have a Astra grinder which I believe is a re-branded Mazzer Super Jolly, also a nice machine. The Barista looked to be 15 maybe 16, she went through all the right motions, tamping, knocking, tamping, but the pull was blond from the very start. I got a paper cup of thin "espresso" with super blond crema. I think the culprit here is the beans. They had signs all over for their out of state roaster. "Roaster XXXX, Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco...." Um yea, I guess those places are sorta near Albuquerque . Picked up a couple of vacuum bags of coffee displayed a'la Starbucks with roast dates of about three weeks ago. I don't imagine what's behind the bar is much better.

So I tried to chat up the owner about his machine. His best comment about this beautiful machine was that because it had two boilers it would really crank out the shots for the morning rush, nothing about shot quality. When I told him about the bottomless portafilter and how shops were reporting significantly better shots, even double blind, his reply was something to the effect of "That sounds good, but when you're cranking out shot after shot, who's really going to notice." So if his only concern is cranking out mass volumes of shots efficiently, why bother with the FB70, why not just get a super-auto and crank them out at the touch of a button? This is like driving a Ferrari to get groceries.

He took pains to point out that all of their shots were 18-24 seconds, so I guess he's read some books, but he is a coffee retailer, a business man, not a coffee lover. It occurred to me that the shop looked like a Starbucks knock off, even the color scheme (Kelly green and burgundy, et al). Too bad really, he has all the right elements in the equation, just not a lot concern for what ends up in the cup.

Next stop IryshMac's Coffee House - This is a small shop by the University of New Mexico. It had a funky and intimate decor. The place was very quite and cozy, it looked like an excellent place to study (they even had a sign that cell phone conversations were to taken outside, Thank You). They had many awards from local magazines for being the best place to "hang out with friends." I don't doubt it. The sad part was they had bad espresso too. I imagine most students cramming for finals don't care if it tastes like 10W40 as long as it keeps their eyelids open. This barista did exactly the same thing that I saw when I visited another shop last weekend. He started the pull (after tamping with the tamper on the grinder) and rang up my sale while the pull ran, and ran, and ran, and ran.... finally filling two of those stainless pitchers with lukewarm "espresso" (what's that 4 - 5 ounces?!). The sad part here is that the Barista seemed friendly and the drink was served in a nice ceramic cup. I don't think it was just this Barista either, from the looks of the shabby espresso machine, I don't think anyone cares much what comes out of it. It's too bad they don't make good espresso, I think I would like to hang out there if they did.

So that is my report from Albuquerque, for the two or three of you that even know where we are (just kidding).

Joel

Posted September 3, 2004 link

This reminds me of something that Mike Perry told me. The very first question on his job applicaton questionaire is "Do you drink and appreciate coffee?" If the answer is no, he doesn't hire the person.