Posted Wed Feb 7, 2007, 6:12am Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
Worldman Said:
I find that La Prima's consistency is much improved and now that Matt is on duty at the 22nd St. location, it is even more better. Give them another try.
Matt was in yesterday afternoon. First time I'd had a chance to talk to him. Nice guy, showed me some of his latte art on his cell. He's going to get certified at CoffeeFest up in Chicago next week and we talked about him possibly entering the Midatlantics in March, although he said he might want to watch one first before entering. Would be nice to have someone else from Pittsburgh represented. Anyway, we're hoping Matt's enthusiasm for the craft proves infectious behind LaPrima's bar.
Chris - before B&B came in to do training at Tazza d'Oro in November, I spoke with Antonio over there and asked specifically if they used Dancing Goats and he said yes. I didn't confirm that with Amy. Since I haven't had it anywhere else I wouldn't know. Since the training, Tazza's baristas have corrected their tamping techniques and apparently dosing/distribution as well. The shots seem richer. Just my opinion.
Worldman Senior Member Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,734 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Expobar Office Control Grinder: Cimbali 6/S
Posted Thu Feb 8, 2007, 4:43am Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
mayhew Said:
BTW, before someone mis-interprets my "red head" comment, what I meant was that for a long time everyone associated with La Prima was *clearly* Italian; spoke it fluently and looked like it. Their Saturday morning quality starting going downhill as more people starting showing up behind the bar who at least did not look Italian.
Worldman Senior Member Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,734 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Expobar Office Control Grinder: Cimbali 6/S
Posted Thu Feb 8, 2007, 4:52am Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
AldoCoffee Said:
Matt was in yesterday afternoon. First time I'd had a chance to talk to him. Nice guy, showed me some of his latte art on his cell. He's going to get certified at CoffeeFest up in Chicago next week and we talked about him possibly entering the Midatlantics in March, although he said he might want to watch one first before entering. Would be nice to have someone else from Pittsburgh represented. Anyway, we're hoping Matt's enthusiasm for the craft proves infectious behind LaPrima's bar.
Chris - before B&B came in to do training at Tazza d'Oro in November, I spoke with Antonio over there and asked specifically if they used Dancing Goats and he said yes. I didn't confirm that with Amy. Since I haven't had it anywhere else I wouldn't know. Since the training, Tazza's baristas have corrected their tamping techniques and apparently dosing/distribution as well. The shots seem richer. Just my opinion.
You are the Pittsburgh area diplomat for espresso...always flitting about town and trying the competition and then freeely giving them their kudos where appropriate. BRAVO!!! Do you just stop by these bars to see what is out there - OR - is it that you are in the area and want a cuppa' jo?
Len <---- "discovered" a couple of worthy bars through talking with Rich
Worldman Senior Member Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,734 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Expobar Office Control Grinder: Cimbali 6/S
Posted Fri Feb 9, 2007, 5:12am Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
Tazza D'Oro
Yesterday I was in the Highland Park area and visited Tazza D'Oro. (Well, OK, I was actually at a meeting in RIDC Park and "mapquested" my way from the O'Hara Township light industrial/office complex to Tazza D'Oro.) Though the owner, Amy, wasn’t there, the staff was pretty knowledgeable and conscientious. They have a 2 group La Marz + a couple of Mazzer Super Jolly grinders and use coffee beans from Batdorf and Bronson. One surprising aspect was that they APPEARED to be using a pretty “light weight” EPNW EP5 tamper. Ahhhh…but before the HB & EPNW traveling “Tamper Road Show”, how was anyone supposed to know what tamper to buy before buying it?
They served B&B Dancing Goats (*) blend for milk based drinks and Blue blend for straight espresso. I started with a single espresso and Blue was pretty nice as was the preparation and presentation. The crema was a little light-ish but the shot was good. I then had a small cino (served in ~ a 7 to 8 oz. cup) and it too was nice.
It would appear that NO coffee bars in Pittsburgh serve up latte art as a usual practice.
BTW, Tazza D’Oro is hosting a cupping this Sunday @ 3:00 with folk coming in from B&B for the event.
Posted Fri Feb 9, 2007, 10:24pm Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
Worldman Said:
Rich,
You are the Pittsburgh area diplomat for espresso...always flitting about town and trying the competition and then freeely giving them their kudos where appropriate. BRAVO!!! Do you just stop by these bars to see what is out there - OR - is it that you are in the area and want a cuppa' jo?
Len <---- "discovered" a couple of worthy bars through talking with Rich
Len, The only way to make sure we're still on top of our game vis a vis everyone else is to get out and taste. That said, there's also, I believe, the need for "critical mass" in a community in order to get people to pay attention. Happened in NYC - that espresso scene was nowhere before Gimme/Grumpy/Joe/9th St. That all happened almost overnight and mostly because Grumpy/Gimme was talking about other shops they liked. Hopefully we can get something like that going here in Pgh.
Mel and Belle were in Easton past couple of days at a Jam hosted by a local shop there with the express intent of learning how to produce a jam here sometime later this year. That's another piece of the puzzle.
Regardless, the more people get hit over the head with recos on decent shops, the more likely they'll pass up places that don't care about quality.
Worldman Senior Member Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1,734 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Expobar Office Control Grinder: Cimbali 6/S
Posted Sun Feb 11, 2007, 2:51am Subject: Re: Do you dare rate Pittsburgh's coffee bars?
Alright, I went back to La Prima roastery on Friday to pick up (yet) another pound of beans and went across the street to Intermezzo. Not only was Luke not there (his wife Alexis was) but there was another non-owner behind the bar named Greg IIRC. Alexis pulled my shot and it was as expected: pretty darn good.
I also went around the corner to La Prima's 22nd St. bar and Matt pulled another shot for me. Mmmm... I also has a cino immediately thereafter, though a decaf so as not to become overcafinated. Matt had his latte art down pretty good.
Not only "redheads" - but young "redheads"! My wife (Colleen) & I were back in the Strip on Saturday since we had to get some stuff for an upcoming party and went into La Prima's bar ~2:00 PM. The place was jumping! There was hardly room to get up to the bar to order a couple fo cinos...the place was full of patrons (many speaking the language of opera). The interesting thing was that the bar was tended by all kids! I counted 5 with Matt being the oldest!
Len, That's because you're ordering capps. The art on capps is more a west coast thing, although shops are now doing it in NY and other places too.
Anyway, order a small latte and see what you get. As I told you last time you were in our shop, the rule is no art in capps or macchiatos. It's always a traditional monkheads pour for the former and the little dot of less than 1oz of microfoam in the latter.
The reason for us doing that with the capps is it gives us more control over the ratios, keeping us closer to the "rule of thirds" (and we can avoid explaining that it's not a latte). With the macchiato, if we were to do art, we'd pretty much fill a demi, which would change the characteristic of the drink to one of a small latte, not a macchiato.
Len, Meant to point this out since you mentioned earlier in the thread that we had the only Swift. The Walnut St. location of Coffee Tree has TWO Swifts working along with their four-group LM. It's probably the highest volume shop in the city, certainly the highest-volume indie. I don't recall seeing any other grinder. That would go a long way to explaining consistency.
counting Senior Member Joined: 8 May 2005 Posts: 823 Location: Baltimore, MD
Posted Sat Feb 17, 2007, 10:51am Subject: Orinocco
Worldman,
You say The Vault uses Orinocco beans. Do you by any chance refer to CafeOrinoco roasters in Columbia, Maryland? It'll be interesting if you say yes - I live in Baltimore and never heard of this roaster until two days ago, when I had lunch at a place that serves Orinoco coffee. I don't know how old the company is, nor anything else about it.
Funny - The Vault is listed as a Place of Interest in the Wikipedia entry for Brighton Heights!
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