Mike White gave me the heads up on this, and this morning I stopped by. Does your local ice-cream truck do this?





Van Leewen, a local ice-cream truck vendor in Manhattan is now serving Black Cat. They are normally parked on 6th Ave & 22nd Street till 10 a.m. and then at 23rd Street and 5th Ave. I stopped by today and got me a morning shot in a small papercup. It was sweet but watery and single dimensional, however, it is probably the best shot within five square miles. Not bad for a truck brew. They broadcast the truck locations daily on twitter

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JohnB. wrote:No bikini??

Yer looking for a strip club that serves crappy coffee. If the coffee is pulling it's own weight, there will be no reason for anyone to be pulling their pants down. If your 'barista' is half naked, you can bet the espresso will su-u-u-uck.

But we have something similar in Tucson. It's a trailer, not a truck, but Jason's pulling Black Cat, and doing a damned fine job of it. It may not be the best cuppa in Tucson, but then again, it might be. If it isn't, it has to be one of the top three.

I once tried an affogato at that truck (somewhere downtown) with Black Cat over hazelnut ice cream. The affogato at the Mercury Dime (now closed) was much better - maybe their Dallis blend and gelato were a better combination?

If I recall correctly, I timed the shot from the truck at around 20 seconds when I was there. Not terrible, but could be better. I'm not sure how being outside affects an espresso machine's stability.

Abe Carmeli wrote:They are normally parked on 6th Ave & 22nd Street till 10 a.m. and then at 23rd Street and 5th Ave
[...]
it is probably the best shot within five square miles.

In that neighborhood, you have Cafe Grumpy right down the street!

Of course there is Spella Caffe in Portland, where they have lever machines in a trailer.

JohnB. wrote:I've been served LOTS of lousy espresso by fully clothed baristas so the amount of clothing they are wearing doesn't seem to be an indicator of quality in the cup.

I getcha, but I meant to suggest that the converse was true. The amount of clothes they aren't wearing is an indication of the lack of quality in the cup. Of course, it does *not* mean that you'll get great espresso from a guy wearing a parka and mittens...


Oh, and that lil trailer? One of Arizona's two Clovers...

This just opened in Philly:

http://underthebutton.com/2009/10/coffee-talk/

Farmer's Market in Port Townsend, WA sports a coffee truck. Looks like a Roald Dahl gypsy caravan.

Psyd wrote:Oh, and that lil trailer? One of Arizona's two Clovers...

*sigh*

Jason just took a day gig at Avenue Coffee in Tucson (I guess the weather is starting to get cold, it was under eighty all week!) so the VanGo is ostensibly closed. I'll keep ya in touch if he decides to do something interesting with either the trailer or the Clover...

OTOH, Avenue isn't that far away from where this was parked, and they are, at very least, vying for best damned espresso in the state.