Ecco's Andrew Barnett has hope for restaurant coffee's future: because chefs are drinking properly made coffee in the morning. Article here: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/1 ... ett_ex.php.

I enjoyed the article up until the second to the last word. Why do we need to add profanity to an otherwise interesting dialogue? Even if it was spoken, does it really need to be quoted? It was so out of context of the remainder of the article. Profanity has it's place, this wasn't one of them.

Good article, and I hope it really is a sign of the future.

I can't tell you how many times I've had a nice meal and bottle of wine at a good restaurant, only to be served a terrible cup of coffee or espresso afterward. Recently, I took my wife out to a nice Italian restaurant for her birthday dinner. After a good meal and a couple of tasty glasses of cab, she ordered coffee, even though we both knew it would probably be terrible. When the coffee was served, it was in a really elegant, modern cup and saucer, but the coffee itself was scalding hot and tasted like cheap office coffee from Farmer's Brothers, which is probably what it was. So disappointing, but sadly not surprising.

If a restaurant cares about the quality of its food and wine, it should care about the quality of its coffee too. As Barnett says, this is the last thing most people will taste at a restaurant, so it should be as good as the rest of the meal. Otherwise, you're literally left with a bitter aftertaste.

Rather than trying to do espresso, which requires a substantial investment in equipment and training, restaurants could do French press or pourover. As long as you use decent, fresh beans, a burr grinder, and the proper brew ratios, you should be able to get decent results even with minimal training and investment. Then patrons could actually enjoy their coffee after their meal.

jbviau wrote:I have hope for restaurant coffee because there's at least one place where I live (namely, Woodberry Kitchen) that does it right. Hell, they even hold cuppings on Friday mornings!

I believe Woodberry has had a lot of guidance from Jay Caragay of Spro.

mitch236 wrote:I enjoyed the article up until the second to the last word. Why do we need to add profanity to an otherwise interesting dialogue? Even if it was spoken, does it really need to be quoted? It was so out of context of the remainder of the article. Profanity has it's place, this wasn't one of them.

It's a great article. I understand where you're coming from regarding the profanity but language usage changes, and it's looking to me like the F word is being used enough now in basic conversation that within a couple more years it will be a minor profanity, like damn, and something more severe will have taken it's place.

Just last night while channel surfing saw a clip of how ventriloquist/comedian Jeff Dunham
and his mother were estranged for a few years because she saw his break-thru appearance
on Carson and he had used 2 words that she did not approve of, hell and damn.

btw Greg (Trystero), congrats on making the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la ... 3471.story

Marshall wrote:I believe Woodberry has had a lot of guidance from Jay Caragay of Spro.

Im thrilled to see this thread right now. The conversation regarding coffee in restaurants is one of my favorites! Jay has offered great guidance for our coffee program at Woodberry Kitchen, as have the amazing crew over at Counter Culture, some killer Baristas and Roasters from around the world, and last but not least, some ridiculously talented chefs.

Kudos to you for actually making the effort to make good coffee for your customers. I hope this spreads to other restaurants, and one day excellent coffee is a mandatory part of the dining experience.

expy98 wrote:Just last night while channel surfing saw a clip of how ventriloquist/comedian Jeff Dunham
and his mother were estranged for a few years because she saw his break-thru appearance
on Carson and he had used 2 words that she did not approve of, hell and damn.

btw Greg (Trystero), congrats on making the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la ... 3471.story

Thank you!!! And that note about Jeff Dunham is great!