Faema Ariete at Donato Enoteco in Redwood City, CA - Page 2

#11: Post by **TomC** » April 1st, 2014, 8:31 pm

Luigi DiRuocco from Mr Espresso met with me last week and put a fair bit of effort into the explanation of how sugar can be best used for the darker more "roasty" style of espresso that his father chose to bring to the bay area in the late 70's. They use the tinniest spoon, your typical espresso spoon and put maybe about 1/8th of a teaspoon or less of sugar right on top of the crema. Never stirred in, he recommends letting the sugar sink in and fall to the bottom of the espresso cup. The top sip of the shot isn't affected as much, which is nice. But the more bitter end of the shot is nicely sweetened and balanced out.

I tried it with their Neapolitan blend and most of the sugar was still undisolved at the bottom of the cup. But it greatly enhanced the experience. I'll be meeting him again this Thursday to hear more about Coffee Bar and their plans for the future.

#12: Post by **cafebmw** » April 2nd, 2014, 1:25 pm

Beautiful machine! I love the 70's design!

April 2nd, 2014, 2:10 pm

I tried the coffee today and it had started to stale, true to what I've heard about other nitrogen packed coffees. Actually I could start to smell the staling last night, three days after opening. Fortunately this only happened to the small amount I left out of the freezer to see if this would happen. The rest is safely frozen.

#14: Post by **vze26m98** » April 2nd, 2014, 4:12 pm

drgary wrote:I tried the coffee today and it had started to stale, true to what I've heard about other nitrogen packed coffees. Actually I could start to smell the staling last night, three days after opening.

Interesting observation and comment. The Erbisti 1947 is a 100% Arabica blend, right?

Best, Charles

April 2nd, 2014, 5:02 pm

Yes, 100% Arabica. I just had a shot from my stash in the freezer and it was just as good as when I put it in there the other day.

#16: Post by **vze26m98** » April 2nd, 2014, 5:59 pm

Is it less apparent in Robusta blends?

I noticed staling in my Passalaqua Moana a while back; it's a very dark Neapolitan 100% Arabica. The more recent Caffe del Faro never gave that impression. I'm unsure of its Robusta content, but I'm guessing it's much less than 50%.

Best, Charles

April 2nd, 2014, 6:12 pm

No idea. I'm not wild about robusta anyway if just for the excess caffeine.

#18: Post by **RioCruz** » April 3rd, 2014, 9:59 am

TomC wrote:Luigi DiRuocco from Mr Espresso met with me last week and put a fair bit of effort into the explanation of how sugar can be best used for the darker more "roasty" style of espresso that his father chose to bring to the bay area in the late 70's. They use the tinniest spoon, your typical espresso spoon and put maybe about 1/8th of a teaspoon or less of sugar right on top of the crema. Never stirred in, he recommends letting the sugar sink in and fall to the bottom of the espresso cup. The top sip of the shot isn't affected as much, which is nice. But the more bitter end of the shot is nicely sweetened and balanced out.

I tried it with their Neapolitan blend and most of the sugar was still undisolved at the bottom of the cup. But it greatly enhanced the experience. I'll be meeting him again this Thursday to hear more about Coffee Bar and their plans for the future.

Mmmm... I like this approach! Sugar becomes a kind of garnish rather than a main ingredient...sort of like the dusting of pastries with powdered sugar to enhance the experience.

I'll look forward to hearing more about his approach to coffee, etc....