christopherpetro wrote:I keep meaning to go to the Counter Culture and Intelligentsia cuppings... one of these days I'll make it. Anyone other HB folks in the area want to arrange to meet up at one of them (obviously I'm not going to make it to today's)?

It was a great learning experience today and I'd be happy to go back again. There were four different beans cupped blind. The first three were Guatemala Finca Nueva Armenia, a Sumatra, and the french roasted Bolivia. The fourth was a blend of all three (#46)!

christopherpetro wrote:And since you brought it up, what is up with Shake Shack? I've never seen lines that long for such mediocre food.

1. Hype
2. Good weather/standing around with friends
2. a) Interns at area offices getting lunch for the boss?
3. Vanilla concrete with dark chocolate cookie dough, bananas, and peanut butter.

christopherpetro wrote:I didn't know there was a Stumptown cafe here! I'm going to walk over right now and try it out.

And they have some very cool Mistral's to lust after

shawndo wrote:And they have some very cool Mistral's to lust after

...along with a wall of vintage lever machines...

shawndo wrote:And they have some very cool Mistral's to lust after

I noticed that. I went in and said to the girl at the register, "Is that a Mirage? It's obviously a Kees van der Westen." She said "No, it's a Mistral. He designed it and it's made by LM." Very nice (and surprising) to talk to staff who know that much about espresso machines. However, I was so disappointed that she didn't even blink when I asked about it. I was really at least hoping for a "You know who he is?" or something like that. I mean, what's the point of being an obsessive know-it-all geek if no one appreciates it? Are there really so many coffee nerds in NYC that that's a common topic of conversation with customers?

We had a nice little chat after that about how I needed something like the Zassenhaus they have up on one of the shelves for the office, since grinding coffee at home and taking it in is only a step above having it ground at the store, and I would like something I don't have to carry back and forth to the kitchen to plug in. Then we talked briefly (there were like 30 people in line) about the Chemex.

Considering that almost every cafe I've been to in NYC doesn't have even the first idea how to use their grinder or espresso machine, it was a wonderful experience overall. I got a straight shot of espresso along with the beans I picked up. The top of the shot was very nice, but at the bottom of the cup it was cold and sour, even though I drank it pretty quickly. That was a bit disappointing. I couldn't see the shot being made from where I was standing so I have no idea what went wrong.

I agree. My whole shot was sour, and I left with the sour aftertaste stinging my tongue. It seems to be a trend in my current NYC espresso survey. Hopefully RBC will be just right when I go tomorrow