Nashville cafe recommendations?

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
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Eastsideloco
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#1: Post by Eastsideloco »

These cafes are mentioned here on HB:

* Dose.
* Barista Parlor
* CREMA

Are there other notable options? Do you have a favorite?

We'll just be in Nashville for 36 hours, but maybe we can check out one or two cafes while we're there.

Thanks!

Bob_M
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#2: Post by Bob_M »

Hi..I was in Nashville last year for three days and in that time visited barista parlor...I know nothing about the other two. I was very impressed with Barista Parlor. They have a two group Slayer and the owner is very proud of it, and very knowlegable about the espresso industry.He pulled a shot for me and it was one of the best I can remember. My friend had a brew coffee done at a pourover bar with a group of Baratza Vaios...I sampled my friends coffee and it was delicious. On our way back from Smoky Mountains to airport we stopped again and had a second round of very delicious coffee...needless to say I can recommend this coffee shop..EDIT Only reservation is it's on the east side of and on outskirts of the main drag of Music row etc.

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tglodjo
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#3: Post by tglodjo »

+1 for Barista Parlor. Great atmosphere, and everyone is very knowledgable about the coffee industry and brews excellent shots/pour overs.

Crema is also phenomenal. Some would say that they started the speciality coffee craze in Nashville. Their in-house roasting is superb and has won many awards. They also host regular classes for various brew methods, including espresso technique and milk frothing.

IMAWriter
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#4: Post by IMAWriter »

+3 to all 3.
Barista Parlor definitely is 3rd wave, even to the oddball decor. It's a converted garage of some sort, auto?
Ask Andy (the owner) to give you the "wooden plank." it's 1 coffee, prepared 3 ways. Espresso, pour-over, and cortado. All their coffee comes some of the best artisan roasters in the US.
They also do some gourmet type sandwiches.

Dose serves 2 or 3 artisan coffees, quite often pulling (and selling) Counter Culture Toscano. I believe they are a step below in true top notch product, but it's a nice, quiet vibe.

As was said, Crema was really the first to step up to the next level, so to speak. They now roast their own. Some really good, some OK, IMO. Seems like they only pull SO espresso.

There is also the venerable Bongo Java/Fido. (Each in a slightly different local, both near Belmont and Vandy universities. Excellent food at both places, better still at Fido.
Solid coffee, they roast their own. Very good baristi as well. Under-rated, IMO. Always busy.

Stay FAR away from J&J's cafe. Hyped little grocery with horrible coffee.

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Eastsideloco (original poster)
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#5: Post by Eastsideloco (original poster) »

Thanks for all the feedback!
IMAWriter wrote:Ask Andy (the owner) to give you the "wooden plank." it's 1 coffee, prepared 3 ways. Espresso, pour-over, and cortado.
What a great idea. I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the tip.

IMAWriter
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#6: Post by IMAWriter »

Hope I didn't give away Andy's secret presentation! :lol:
I had told him before hand I was a "CoffeeGeek."
It's an awesome presentation of a coffee, showing how it resides in milk, as manual drip (Hario, at least back then) and the cortado.
You feel like your a judge in a contest!

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Eastsideloco (original poster)
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#7: Post by Eastsideloco (original poster) »

While Barista Parlor wan't offering a coffee flight (one coffee as espresso, cortado and V60) on Saturday, we had a great visit there. Our friends in Nashville live in East Nashville, walking distance from Barista Parlor, which is their favorite cafe in town. They had a couple different coffees and V60, while I had a SO espresso and siphon pot. I've just started siphon brewing at home and Lee Sills, BP's director of quality, let me watch his siphon brewing process at a distance and generously answered my questions about their preferred recipe. The siphon pot was fantastic-definitely something to shoot for at home. I had selected a washed Ethiopian SO roasted by Sightglass, which Lee said was his favorite of the current coffee offerings for siphon brewing. They also had coffees from Counter Culture, Handsome Coffee Roasters and well as some others. Loved the generously sized venue, the layout and all of the wood and metal details. Perfect multi-roaster cafe, IMO.



While we also made it to DOSE, the visit was hardly ideal. We rolled in shortly before closing on a Friday to pick up some whole beans. I grabbed a very nice bag of Finca Mauritania El Salvador from Counter Culture. They also had whole beans from Equator Coffee in San Rafael, CA. After 8 hours in the car, I thought a shot would do me well. While the shot tasted okay-I don't even remember what I ordered-it was served up unceremoniously in a paper cup and was too hot to drink. Maybe that's just the closing time special? If that's de rigueur, I'd definitely skip DOSE in favor of Barista Parlor.

Unfortunately, we only had 36 hours in the area, so we didn't make it to Crema. Would love to get back to Nashville for another visit. If so, we'll stay longer next time.

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IMAWriter
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#8: Post by IMAWriter »

Hey, next time give me a word up to meet y'all! :D