Good Espresso in Tampa Bay Area? - Page 2

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
Master_Hobbit
Posts: 14
Joined: 14 years ago

#11: Post by Master_Hobbit »

Don't get me wrong, I was totally shocked when I got my coffee. They're no Heart, but it was an awesome surprise.

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Travisimo
Posts: 68
Joined: 11 years ago

#12: Post by Travisimo »

Although many people or locals may think the espresso/caps
are good or decent in most places mainly for the "pick me up",
I like many of you on this site look to others on this fine HB
community to find better coffee beans, espresso and tips to
attempt that "god shot" at home that first hooked many of us in
a cafe to reevaluation what we previously had thought about
coffee and its quality.

Best cafe's around Tampa Bay ~ 1st thru 4th place:
1) Perq (Sarasota ~ Far south from of Tampa, neighboring city.)
2) Mazzaro's (St. Petersburg)
3) Buddy Brew (Tampa)
4) Kahwa (St. Petersburg)

In regards to Tampa Bay/St. Pete area, Mazzaro's was the
original best (now 2nd best), I first had from a only a particular barista girl.
Pulling from a La Marzocco Strada MP 3 group. That shot was
what made me fall in love with the essence of what a good
straight espresso could still be and to tell the difference of
mouthfeel from a LM saturated group compared to a Faema
e-61 shot!

Baristas still make or break yet in regard to city of Tampa, the
3rd best I found was Buddy Brew.

The absolute very best, was actually south of here in
downtown Sarasota at a cafe called Perq.

At Perq, a professional barista gave me the best single origin
Kilenso (Heirloom varietal - roasted by Coava) double as a
spro shot on actual Slayer unit!

From the Slayer @ Perq, that is by far the best espresso
taste/mouthfeel smooth benchmark reference for me!

The fourth place was Kahwa in downtown St. Petersburg area,
shots from a Faema Legend e-61 group. It was ok yet not
exceptional.

trix
Posts: 114
Joined: 16 years ago

#13: Post by trix »

An new Espresso bar opened in Dunedin a couple of days ago: 9th Bar Espresso at 929 Broadway...located in or next to the House of Beer. Open from 7am to 3pm weekdays and Sat and Sun from 8am to 3pm. I haven't been there yet but my husband has. The owner was trained at Buddy Brew. He uses fresh beans and his roasted beans look good...not the super dark oily roasts we tend to see around.

https://www.facebook.com/9thBarEspresso

http://www.9thbarespresso.com/

My husband said he prefers the pulls he gets on our La Pavoni Pro but the espresso he had there was passable- good...not fantastic.
Lucy
LMWDP #166 trix

luckymox
Posts: 6
Joined: 9 years ago

#14: Post by luckymox »

im new to this site and just did a search for tampa on this site and found this question. i can tell you there has been a recent surge of espresso places in tampa recently. the best ive found so far is a local roaster called "zeal coffee roasters". they also have a bar and serve some single origin coffee at a vintage furniture store called Rare Hues. I could type forever on this but I will just list some names and you can give them all a try. Respond back and let me know what you think of them as you visit.

1a. Zeal Coffee Roasters - (roasted right there in store) - North Tampa/Lutz
1b. Zeal in Rare Hues - (single origin) - North Tampa
2. Oxford Exchange - (roast is buddy brew) - Downtown
3. Sips - (unknown source for roast) - Citrus Park
3. Library Coffeehouse - (roast is buddy brew) - South Tampa
4. The Grind - (not sure on roast) - Westchase
5. Jet City - haven't been there yet
6. Buddy Brew - (roast is buddy brew of course) - Hyde Park
7. Victory Coffee - haven't been there yet

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