Coffee bars in Milwaukee

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
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dominico
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#1: Post by dominico »

Hello there,

I have been drinking espresso for years, but just stumbled upon this website in the last month or so, when my decision to cut soft drinks out of my life meant that my coffee consumption shot way up.

At any rate, I have tried many of the popular bars around here: Colectivo (Alterra), Stone Creek, Anodyne, etc.

One that I really had a pleasant experience in has been Valentine Coffee Co. They are apparently popular for their pour overs, but since I never drink those I can't really comment. There are a couple baristas there that seem just truly passionate about espresso, and it shows in the delicious coffee I have been served. They always have a few different types of their roasts in the grinders (all Mazzers) and are willing to dial in and prepare an espresso for you with most of them. I also like the fact that behind the bar (they have a bar where you can stand up and drink your coffee Italian-style while chit-chatting with the baristas, I LOVE that) is a glass wall where you can see right into their roasting room and you can watch them going about roasting the coffee. They got excited when I asked them advice about dialing in various roasts on my home equipment, and went into great detail about what they were doing with each of their roasts in order to pull a great espresso out of each of them.

As for their coffees: their "Espresso Dolce" blend is less dark than the standard "espresso" blends in the other local roasters (although I am going to have to give Colectivo's Toro another try) and it makes a good espresso, but I prefer the medium to lighter roasted coffees and their Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia have all made nice espresso for me at home. The Ethiopia performed particularly well on my Europiccola, there is a very strong "blueberry" presence which I quite enjoyed.
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Il caffè è un piacere, se non è buono che piacere è?

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Boldjava
Posts: 2765
Joined: 16 years ago

#2: Post by Boldjava »

dominico wrote:Hello there,
...

At any rate, I have tried many of the popular bars around here: Colectivo (Alterra), Stone Creek, Anodyne, etc.

....
I lived in MKE for 20 years. Hit the Colectivo on Lincoln Drive (on the Lake). Nathan pulls a nice shot at the shop on Prospect. I love the ambiance/architecture of their shops (less the one on Oakland -- too industrial, concrete overused).

Stop in during mid-day at Roast Coffee (Locust and Maryland). Ryan rotates stellar coffees in and out from around the US. Does a nice job on pourovers. Tell him I sent you.
-----
LMWDP #339

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dominico (original poster)
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#3: Post by dominico (original poster) »

It's been a tough few weeks for seasonal illnesses in my house, but soon the rest of my family should be healthy enough that I can get some free time back to explore around a bit more.

I have never heard of Roast Coffee, I think that's going to be my next shot.

BTW, there is a place in the Third Ward which isn't even a coffee bar, it's an Italian deli run by a couple of Sicilian brothers who make various forms of panini and also serve espresso (but nothing milk based, I love it!) and it tastes damn fine. But perhaps that's just the strong nostalgia notes I sense in the cup! :-)
https://bit.ly/3N1bhPR
Il caffè è un piacere, se non è buono che piacere è?