so i run over to zibetto's as soon as i hear about it. a tiny espresso bar with no chairs on 6th ave NYC. i had one of the best macchiatos ever.

so why disappointed?

it was too effortless. the beans were from a danesi can. they were already ground into the bean hopper. he swipes once for a single, and 2x for a double, and tamps 1x using the built-in tamper (very quickly at that). no special scraping or playing w/ the grounds. he puts the PF onto the danesi machine (i think it was a 4 group), hits one button, and walks away. i watched the pull - and it was a slow dark stream - one i would find hard to replicate on my anita - ending automatically when turning blond.

i felt the same disappointment with the foaming procedure - where he didn't even look in/at the pitcher while he foamed, yet created perfect micro-foam.

all this humiliation for $3.50 for a double....


ugh..

am i alone?

No you're not alone. I had heard a number of months ago that Zibetto was serving the best espresso in that quadrant of the city but that doesn't mean much in Manhattan (a sad commentary). I visit the city on occasion and apart from what i've been served at Blue Spoon on Chambers and at 9th Street espresso I had never had a good straight espresso in the city.

Miker, the owner of Casa@Cupcake Cafe over on 9th Ave behind Port Authority, served me a few decent 6 oz cappa's when I stopped in there on Saturday late year but the straight espresso shot wasn't to my liking.

When I was in the city last week it all changed - had a triple ristretto of some Australian "Bin 35" SO espresso at the new Cafe Grumpy on 20th St. in Chelsea. Wow! I usually prefer to have a dash of raw sugar in my straight espresso. Not only did this absolutely not require that - I think sugar would have ruined it. Loads of natural sweetness and the shot was like a classic cafe Vivace ristretto - about 3/4 oz of all crema. Awesome.

And 50 cents less than your shot at Zibetto's! But I am disappointed to hear about the drink quality. When I'm in NYC that general area is quite often close to where I travel. 9th Street is just too far out of my way most of the time - at least Grumpy is fairly accessible (it's only a three minutes walk from the 23rd St stop on the 1 train)

Sounds to me like perfect coffee with taste but no soul.