Roasting Plant opens shop in Manhattan

[Abe Carmeli]

Three hundred years after the Dutch unloaded the first bags of coffee in New York Harbor, the city has finally been discovered by coffee entrepreneurs. And those folks are not from Seattle. Grumpy is co-owned by a Joyzy gal, (Jersey girl, for the uninitiated), 9 Street Espresso by a native New Yorker, and now Roasting Plant by Mike Caswell, a Bostonian (though to his debit, he did work for Starbucks).

I paid a visit to Roasting Plant this morning, to inspect the goods and feel the vibe. The place looks a bit like a micro brewery, with a modern design of the interior.


Roasting Plant


The interior

As the competition heats up among the high end shops, Roasting Plant tries to standout by serving the freshest coffee possible. Coffee is roasted on the premises, in small batches, stored for 24 hours for degassing and then transferred to tube container that feed directly into a super auto machine. With a push of a button, the exact amount of coffee to produce a shot is delivered through those clear plastic tubes to the super auto espresso machine, ground by the machine and brewed.


I watched with wonder as those beans shoot through those clear plastic pipes and come out as brewed coffee on the other end. A clean efficient & very fast track from bean to cup.


Caffe Crema by Egro

But as we all know, it takes more than fresh coffee to produce a good cup. I'm yet to meet the Super Auto that can produce a passable shot, and the ones I got at Roasting Plant were no exception. Flat, watery and pale crema were the dominant features. But beyond the missing barista, I think they didn't pay much attention to the coffee itself. Either the roast profile was off, or it was low grade coffee. That point brings me to another issue - Freshness. Too Fresh is almost as bad as too old. Brewing for espresso usually requires a degassing period of three days to get the best out of the coffee. They often brew it after one day of rest, and all the coffees I tried (2 espressos & one caffe crema) were too fresh.

Kudos to Roasting Plant for the emphasis on Freshness, but that chair cannot stand on one leg.

I closed my morning stroll at 9 Street espresso's new shop on 13th Street and had a real shot.


9 Street Espresso


A Shot of Toscano at 9 Street

Roasting Plant is at 81 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002. 212-775-7755. http://www.roastingplant.com

9 Street Espresso is on 13th Street between 3rd & 4th Avenue.

[HB]

I'm yet to meet the Super Auto that can produce a passable shot, and the ones I got at Roasting Plant were no exception. Flat, watery and pale crema were the dominant features.

Abe, I thoroughly enjoy reading of your wanderings, and this one is no exception. In this particular episode, my hopes rose with the sight of a dedicated roaster so clearly reaching out to the public at large. My heart sunk with the dreaded words "super automatic." While I (not so) secretly wish for a miracle on this front to save the masses from mediocrity, to-date every knowledgeable visitor's account has the same conclusion.

Do you think this place will be around one year from now?

[jesawdy]

Am I mistaken in thinking that if the Roasting Plant chose any brew method OTHER than pressure brewed (superautomatic aside), that fresh roasted might be a good thing?

BTW - Them NYC prices are pretty good... especially for triple ristretto shots. Nice simple menu too.

[another_jim]

There's a major hitch in this system.

All the superautos I've heard of do not brew most of the coffee just ground; in general, 5 to 10 grams of the previous grind is in the pipeline between the grinder and brewing unit. If the Egro were an exception, why are people paying $8000 for a Clover. One can certainly set up a superauto to produce a well brewed regular cup of coffee, providing it really did brew what was ground.

I think whoever opened the place may have been so carried away by the concept that he or she forgot to check for the devil residing in the details.

[TimEggers]

Thank you Mr. Carmeli for the enjoyable and informative write up! It flares my own desire to "coffee vacation" and experience some of the finer coffee establishments available around the nation. There's an amazing romance and simple joy that can be had in many lesser-known places. Thanks again for sharing!

[Abe Carmeli]

Do you think this place will be around one year from now?

They are in a part of town where the rent is reasonable, so I think they will. I hope they listen and make some changes to improve their cup quality. Super Autos can't produce a passable cup for a variety of reasons, and Jim mentioned a very important one. Add channeling to that list. They all have the same uniform flat beige crema no matter which coffee you feed them. One of the shots I had was a dry processed Yirgacheffe. That coffee gives a very rich reddish brown crema on any prosumer machine you'll brew it. I couldn't figure out how they managed to beige it, I thought it was impossible to do even with severe channeling. Never underestimate human ingenuity...

[Abe Carmeli]

I think whoever opened the place may have been so carried away by the concept that he or she forgot to check for the devil residing in the details.

My sentiment exactly

[Abe Carmeli]

Am I mistaken in thinking that if the Roasting Plant chose any brew method OTHER than pressure brewed (superautomatic aside), that fresh roasted might be a good thing?

In regular brewed coffee, the one day freshness indeed would be a plus. A Clover or french press, or even a good drip machine would be better. As a side note, and I'm in extreme minority here, the clover cannot produce a cup as flavorful as a french press. It is cleaner and closer in character to a vac pot, but the 45 seconds of brew time is just not enough to coax all the flavors out of the grounds.

[cannonfodder]

Now modify that vacuum system to deliver the beans to a good grinder to be used in conjunction with a quality espresso machine, Clover, French Press, by a properly trained barista, and they have a winner. The shop definitely has the gee whiz factor, that looks like something from a Dr Seuss book. The coffeevacugrindamatic

[HB]

It's a shame the Roasting Plant's elaborate investment to deliver freshness is for naught. Too bad they didn't take a cue from a coffee shop in the next town over from mine, 3 Cups. They are known for press pot, the cheapest and easiest preparation around of fresh coffee.

[LeoZ]

too high tech. whos cleaning all that tubing? whos maintaining and cleaning the vacuum system?

its gonna all break down and become artwork sooner or later.

do they offer beans for sale? maybe thats a more viable market for them?

i feel sorry for the people living above the shop.. all the smells of roasting :p

[terrakeramik]

We did exactly what Abe did. Curious to see the Roasting Plant, we arrived around noon and spent about 20 minutes ordering and drinking. First impression is that the place is smaller than the photos on their website and on this thread lead one to believe. Second, because of the limited seating (4 seats against the left wall, ok if you're reading or working on a laptop), it is not conducive for a social get-together with friends or colleagues. Third, we would have expected some information on the green and roasted beans for sale (i.e., origin, dates, cupping notes, etc.) as well as the coffee beans available for espresso and coffee drinks. We ordered a cup of Guatemalan coffee and while the grinding and brewing took less than 2 minutes, the coffee did not have the flavors of a typical Guatemalan (it tasted muddy and flavorless). We also took a look at the tubing system and did notice accumulation of coffee grinds in the top section of the tubes, as well as what appeared to be coffee grinds clinging to the walls of the tubing (static?). We would say this is a works in progress...

We headed over to 9th Street Espresso (a 5 minute taxi ride) and ordered a capp and a triple espresso. This espresso bar fits well with the surrounding East Village neighborhood, it is spacious compared to the Roasting Plant, cool rhythms were streaming from the stereo, and every one of its tables were occupied. We asked our barista to serve our capp with latte art, and he was happy to oblige. As we waited, UPS delivered three large boxes of fresh beans from CCC. Bob Peyton, one of 3 baristi working behind the bar (and the GM), came over and introduced himself and we learned that he is headed to Long Beach for the USBC. The espresso and capp (blend of Brazilian and Sumatran beans) were flavorful and smooth! This was our first visit, but definitely not our last...

[Peaberry]

I would like to chime in on the superauto issue. Not that I am an advocate, but I think there has been some misrepresentation concerning their inner workings.

Neither of the two superautos I have trained on, the Astoria Jada and the Franke Evolution, use old grinds. They both grind a pre-programed dose and dump those specific grinds directly into the extraction chamber (which looks freakishly like a tiny Clover). This happens just one second before the pistons squish the grounds into a tall 44 mm puck and suck the solubles out of it. In the case of the Astoria, there is a little bit of a neck that can hold maybe a gram of previous grinds, but the bulk of the dose is freshly ground.

As for flecking on the crema, it is probably possible to program a superauto in such a way as to extract a mottled crema. Unfortunately, the shots have to pass through 12" or so of Teflon tubing before they are dispensed. This will churn any body's crema into a homogeneous brown tan.

Again, it must be understood that I have not had any great shots from the superautos, not for lack of trying. The puck configuration, the lack of proper distribution and leveling, and with only 8 bars of pressure virtually assures mediocrity.

Thanks,
Peaberry