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Decent espresso in Ottawa?

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Discussions > Regional > Canada East > Decent espresso...

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davea
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Joined: 18 May 2005
Posts: 708
Location: Ottawa, ON
Expertise: I love coffee

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Posted Mon Jul 18, 2005, 11:22am
Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

ELSEBET Said:

Two places that should also be checked out ...

Posted July 18, 2005 link

Elsebet,

Welcome to CoffeeGeek! The Ottawa community grows :-)

I'm rarely in Morala's neighbourhood, so while I've talked to Hamid briefly on the phone a few times, I've never been down to try his coffee. I seem to recall someone recommending his coffee (beans), but I have no idea what he sells and his website only mentions pods.

Dave

Clark
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Joined: 5 Apr 2004
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Location: Ottawa, ON
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Posted Mon Jul 18, 2005, 11:35am Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

I didn't realize Morala sold espresso drinks. Aside from demoing products perhaps. You'd think they would have a hard time keeping fresh coffee that way. Or maybe I'm wrong and they do sell a lot of coffee too?

RKEM
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Posted Mon Jul 18, 2005, 8:49pm Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Well, after tasting a shot and a cappa at the Morala trading booth at the coffee and tea expo, I'm a tad bit wary. I was looking at the Rancilio machines and the guy started to talk to me and trying to convince me that "the era of the semi-auto is over" and "now is the superauto era" and in the process, atempting to sell me a Franke. All I can say is : yuk! Do they use Rancilio machines or the dreaded Franke at their place in Ottawa?

Clark
Senior Member

Joined: 5 Apr 2004
Posts: 346
Location: Ottawa, ON
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Espresso: Synesso
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Posted Tue Jul 19, 2005, 10:49am Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Well, unfortunately Morala may be correct when talking about the Ottawa market of today. A super-auto shot is probably going to be better than something you get from someone that doesn't know how to use their semi-auto HX. Of course if the so called "Third Wave" develops a significant presence in Ottawa sometime in the future then maybe he'll have to rethink his business plan. But for the time being, pretty much all of Morala's clients are probably better off going super-auto. The quality of their coffee won't be any different and it's less of a headache. Back to the topic, "Decent espresso in Ottawa", I finally went around to Francescos. I wasn't expecting great things, which is too bad considering they roast their own coffee twice a week. They did surprise me though. Some of Mark's advice seems to have rubbed off on them, to a certain extent. Some good things they did that surprised me: Heated the demitasse with boiler water Cleaned out and dried a portafilter Used mostly fresh ground coffee Cooling flush before brewing! Sadly this list is a bit misleading. The cleaned out a dried a portafilter, unfortunately it was the one that was sitting in the group where my shot was going to be pulled from. The portafilter that was used for my shot was sitting cold on the counter. The one that was cleaned and dried then replaced my pf on the counter, I assume getting ready for the next shot. I also got really lucky on the freshly ground coffee. There was only a couple of grams of grinds left in the doser, so they had to grind a whole bunch more for my shot (and the next 10 or so). The espresso was drinkable and even enjoyable to a degree. It was underdosed/not dialed in and ran really quickly. Very blond. Still, aside from a little sourness is was quite decent. You just have to go in with low expectations and you'll be happy.

ddmacd
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Joined: 30 Apr 2004
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Posted Tue Jul 19, 2005, 11:17am Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Morala does not sell espresso drinks. If you go to browse their shop you will probably be offered a drink from the Franke. Mine was pretty good. I bought my Silvia and Rocky at Moralas and when I asked, I got a decent discount.

ExS
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Posted Wed Jul 20, 2005, 9:48am Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

I think what Elsebet means is the Morala "coffee shop" in Glebe not the "coffee equipment shop". It is on bank Street and around Starbuck. Everytime I pass by, I thought it will use Franke and make the same coffee as the Morala coffee "equipment" shop. So I never go in. Personally I don't like those superauto machine. It is so "machine". I like to see people busy around and make you a coffee from hands. Also, I won't be happy to pay $2-3 dollars for a press the button latte. But on the business point of view, those superauto machine save a lot of trainning cost. How many days, weeks, and months of everyone of us to pull a decent espresso? then foam milk to make latte and cappuccino? If it is easy to learn, we won't have this topic to talk about. Spend a few weeks to train a new guy to make cappuccino maybe to much for a small coffee shop. James

Posted Wed Jul 20, 2005, 10:44am
Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Clark Said:

Well, unfortunately Morala may be correct when talking about the Ottawa market of today. A super-auto shot is probably going to be better than something you get from someone that doesn't know how to use their semi-auto HX. Of course if the so called "Third Wave" develops a significant presence in Ottawa sometime in the future then maybe he'll have to rethink his business plan. But for the time being, pretty much all of Morala's clients are probably better off going super-auto. The quality of their coffee won't be any different and it's less of a headache.

Posted July 19, 2005 link

Well, I'd sooner have the styrofoam and almost tasteless cappa that I had last week than another drink from a Franke. Seriously, it was bad ... nasty bad. The tasteless cappa was a disappointing experiement while the Franke cappa was nasty experience. There was no crema on the espresso and the milk had giant bubbles and was so overstretched (or whatever the machine does to the milk) that it almost didn't blend with the espresso, it just sat on top of it. I swear you could build sculptures with the stuff.

Clark
Senior Member

Joined: 5 Apr 2004
Posts: 346
Location: Ottawa, ON
Expertise: Professional

Espresso: Synesso
Grinder: Robur-e/Anfim

Posted Wed Jul 20, 2005, 3:42pm Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Strange that there was no crema on the Franke shot you tried. From what I've seen they all have crema aiders to at least give the impression of a half decent shot. As far as taste goes, it must come down to the coffee they were using. I've only had a Franke shot from Bridgehead and it was bland and tasteless, but not foul. On the other hand, if you ever make the foolish mistake of trying an espresso from a Starbucks super-auto then you get a noxious pool of toxic waste in the bottom of a styrofoam cup. Evidently, and obviously, the coffee plays a huge role in the taste coming out of a super-auto. I doubt the Starbucks shot, or the one you tried, would have been much better coming from a semi-auto. If anyone is thinking of trying Caffe Mio for a straight espresso, it's worth it. Only $1.50 for a single and the shot isn't bad. Pre-ground in the doser and sloppy tamp, of course, but the espresso has a nice medium body and hints of chocolate. It would be great if they extracted it properly, but it's still not bad. I wonder what blend they're using.

Posted Thu Jul 21, 2005, 6:22am Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

Where is cafe mio? Well, there was yellow watery crap on top of the Franke shot but in my book that's not crema.

davea
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Joined: 18 May 2005
Posts: 708
Location: Ottawa, ON
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Posted Thu Jul 21, 2005, 6:55am
Subject: Re: Decent espresso in Ottawa?

RKEM Said:

Where is cafe mio?

Posted July 21, 2005 link

If I am remembering my intersections correctly, right where Wellington becomes Richmond, across from the Amber Garden restaurant. Here's a map -- between Granville and Western: Cafe Mio

Dave

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