Posted Tue Aug 4, 2009, 8:36am Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
Driving back to the bay area from Los Angeles, I stopped by Santa Barbara and got to visit the French Press coffee for the second time. Look at this nice tall ceiling.
Posted Tue Aug 4, 2009, 8:37am Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
Latte made with Streetlevel espresso and very nice sweet steamed milk. The French Press coffee house is so pretty inside. Very inviting to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee.
jimru Senior Member Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 25 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Andreja Premium Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly Roaster: iRoast
Posted Thu Aug 13, 2009, 3:21pm Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
Well I finally made it back to Santa Barbara and spent some time the last two days at the French Press. It's a very nice space in the middle of downtown SB. Julia had previously pulled me great shots in Santa Cruz at LuLu's....so we spent some time catching up over three VERY nice Streetlevel shots, lots of chocolate and complexity.....just like at Verve :-)
Today, I was back and had two shots of Sermon. This time Todd pulled the shots and did a great job. Todd is a new barista BUT has had some intense training from Chris Baca from Verve in SC......Chris, you did well! Todd's shots were terrific!
It's really special to walk into a coffee house and feel the passion and excitement of the staff....in this case the owners. Julia and Todd are gonna turn the coffee world upside down in SB. If you haven't tried the French Press you owe it to yourself to check it out!
jimru Senior Member Joined: 13 Aug 2005 Posts: 25 Location: Santa Cruz, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Andreja Premium Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly Roaster: iRoast
Posted Sun Aug 16, 2009, 11:59pm Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
Yesterday was my last day in SB for a while so I decided to check out the Coffee Cat. It's just 2 blocks from the French Press at 1201 Anacapa St....on the corner of Anacapa and Anapamu St, in the shadow of the Court House. The first time I went to the Cat, I immediately thought it must be one of Manthri Srinath's coffee establishments because it has the same logo and name as his place in Scott Valley. What I learned was that Manthri did own it but subsequently sold it to Krista and Jason. Over the last 3 years I've been in multiple times, learned that the espresso was to be avoided and the regular coffee was OK. It's a nice space in a great part of town.
Recently, Mathri told me that they are on a campaign to upgrade their coffee program and he has been helping them with process improvements....so I ordered a double espresso. The first surprise was that they were not using the Swift grinder but instead a Mazzer! I was a little surprised when my drink was served in a cap cup...but there was a reasonable amount of crema and the shot had a nice flavor but without much complexity. This was a BIG improvement from the last espresso I had here! I had a chance to have a chat with Krista and she is indeed committed to raising the bar on their coffee program and there seems to be a new level of excitement with the staff too! This is the same kinda upgrade program that Manthri put the Scotts Valley Coffee Cat on with great results. I am very excited by Krista's progress and while it will take time to make all the changes, I think that SB might just have another legit espresso house in the next.....few months.
As I was driving back to Santa Cruz last night, I couldn't help remembering that just a few years ago I had to drive to Santa Clara to the 'Foot to get a good shot and sometimes all the way to Ritual in San Francisco...now we have Verve, The Abbey, LuLu's et al all serving excellent espresso based drinks. It feels like Santa Barbara is slowly starting to build the same kind of coffee culture.....
tonesfrommars Senior Member Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 13 Location: all over Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Dec 27, 2009, 2:21pm Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
I made it to the french press while in SB for some holiday gigs at the arlington up the street. Big thumbs up for these guys. Very pleasant and enthusiastic and the drinks I had were top notch. Brought home some Verve beans. Be sure to visit them.
poison Senior Member Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 1,164 Location: LA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Astra Pro Grinder: Maestro Plus, Super J deal Drip: Cone filter Roaster: RK drum
Posted Sun Jan 3, 2010, 9:20pm Subject: Re: Santa Barbara Coffee!!!
OUTEffingSTANDING! Lovely space, great people, and damn if it wasn't a stellar, perfect shot! They were slinging Sermon, and it was perfectly pulled, thick, sweet, with burnt caramel and dark chocolate, and very mild acidity. Definitely not one of the trendy 'bright' shots, certainly not a dark roast, straight down the middle. VERY nicely done. My wife had an iced latte, which she liked, and they brought out freshly baked cookies from the oven, which we tried. They were, of course, outstanding, as well. I bought a bag of Streetlevel to bring home, can't wait til tomorrow morning!
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