@shadowfax: im assuming this place to be good. it's gotten alot of buzz, they carry some rather high rated coffees and well to my taste, they rock.

@whale: any other recommendations ? i go to art java cause it's on my way to and from the metro; a collegue of mine recommended 'brulerie ste-rose', on rachel. heard of it ? what about other possible spots on the plateau (east of st-denis, even better)..

ive always liked my leftists but for a few reaons i've been wanting to try out other coffees, for a change and because im leaving for 2 weeks and didnt wanna put too much money on coffee i would probably waste.

You have gotten plenty of good advice. I have used some older beans before, about 2.5-3 weeks before and got semi passable drinks while I waited on the next order to be delivered. Most blends die a quick death after about 12 days.

Have you had a shot there with the new blend? Their shots may be just as bad with the new coffee. Sometimes people make a financial decision about product instead of a quality decision. They may have just tanked their quality, or you simply got a bag that was missed and left on shelf too long.

You can always add some milk and make a latte/cappa That is what I do when I have some "old" beans and need to mask the thin shot.

pedepy wrote:@whale: any other recommendations ? i go to art java cause it's on my way to and from the metro; a collegue of mine recommended 'brulerie ste-rose', on rachel. heard of it ? what about other possible spots on the plateau (east of st-denis, even better)..

I am a west islander so I do not go east of St-Denis to go get coffee, downtown is about as far as I'll go since I am happy with the coffee from Myriade. They get it from 49th parallel within 2 days of roast. There is so much things to taste and I do blend in my house with single origin but the results are still less than stellar.

Cafe Union roast on the premises, as I wrote before. I have bought from them a few time custom blend some were good some weren't. There is a lot of hit and miss when you are building a relationship with a roaster. Just learning a common language is not easy let alone describing your tastes.

I have heard many people recommending La brulerie St-Denis, but I never tried it yet.

If you are stuck with it (really old coffee), try to grind finer, and put more of it into the basket. Do a double ristretto. Then put milk in it.