From Coffee With Love

May 10, 2015

About Consistency: The Roaster

As a natural follow up to my previous post, I thought that I’d mention one of my favourite coffee roasters, Square Mile Coffee Roasters. If you’ve been following me for a while, on twitter or even instagram, then you’d know that I often purchase square mile coffee, but why?

Well, it’s all about consistency again.

Sometimes you get so involved in something and you forget why or you always buy a particular product that you forget what drove you to adopt a particular habit or to buy the same type of product over and over again. I come across this occasionally when for example in order to satisfy my coffee fix, I stop over at a cafe, even sizing the place out for equipment and checking out the baristas tamping skills, only and sadly, more often than not, to be disappointed. Then I think why did I do that ? So, I become a creature of habit – visiting the same cafes (i.e. Workshop Coffee in Marylebone) and ordering the same type of drinks (milk based espresso or filter if I have lots of time to spare) or in this case buying the same type of coffees. (term, square mile coffee roasters) Why ? Well, in a nutshell, I don’t want to be disappointed – I’m not a cafe. If I order coffee, I can only spare 18g of wastage for espresso from a 350g bag. If I order online, I can’t take it back and say “what’s this rubbish eh?”. So, I prefer to stick to what I know. I confess that occasionally, my adventurous side takes hold of me and so I try new things (see previous posts on blacktop coffee) which pays off when it works to your delight. But, of course, when my palate has become accustomed to a particular level of standard – a standard that feels betrayed when experimentation goes horribly wrong, then I think “why did I do that ?”.

But, there’s more.

When you get used to some type of standard and you let people enter that realm, then you also get awakened to how privileged you are. Like when I introduce colleagues and friends to drinking speciality coffee brewed especially using the Hario V60 – then they’re like “wow! I was very sceptical” “oh! this is the first coffee I’ve drank and I don’t need sugar” or like when I had a cafe in Cape Town “this is the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life” – but usually it all comes down to a very few variables – the coffee, the way it was sourced, roasted and brewed and to sum up, “consistently cared for”. Looking after the bean “from coffee with love”.

So, in summary you don’t know how privileged you are until you try something new and it tastes bad or you let people taste what you take for granted and they’re like, “wow!”.

Let’s focus on the bean, the way it was cared for.

I could give you a bio on square mile coffee roasters, the birth of a collaboration between 2 world barista champions (James Hoffmann in 2007 and Stephen Morrissey) and a top roaster, Anette Moldvaer, but read my first post on them here in 2009 for more info. Back then, only one cafe (Flat White on Berwick Street, used their coffee) and they sold most of their coffees on line, thank God, as I was living in Vienna, as I still do now.

Since then they’ve expanded naturally, providing coffee to countless cafes in London and beyond and their online presence has grown. They have a large customer base because they are consistent – you know that if you get their espresso blend and other specialty single origin coffees for filter that you’re getting something good that you can rely on and I’m proud to say that I’m also a victim of their success and their consistency. Sure their taste profile has changed a bit, earlier it was buttery toffee (I must confess I miss that) and now it’s a bit more diverse but their passion for sourcing the best remains.

So, in a nutshell, when I want to order coffee online then I safely order Square Mile Coffee, because I know that I’m not going to be disappointed that if I set my espresso grinder to the point where I get an extraction of 25ml in 22-25 seconds, it’s going to taste nice, that if I brew it using a hario V60 or aeropress then I’m going to get a pleasant taste on my tongue.

Before I go, I should nevertheless mention another fave coffee roaster of mine, when it comes to single origin filter type coffees and that’s Workshop Coffee, see here, which have now started shipping to Europe, so expect a post very soon God willing on them. Usually when I’m in London, even for a few hours, I stop over to buy coffee from their shop in Marylebone, by St Christopher’s Place, just off Oxford Street, near Selfridges and Bond Street Tube Station.

When you find something/someone good, hold on to them and don’t take it for granted – some coffee wisdom to sign off on, ciao.

April 12, 2015April 14, 2015

About Consistency: The Beans

When we usually talk about quality, we try and add the term, “consistency” – why? because we prefer to experience things in a consistent manner. We want to know that if we go to our favourite restaurant and order our favourite meal, that the experience is always great, replicate of the last time we went there or ate there or even better – the ideal. So, our favourite “thing” is born of consistency – not letting us down – always the same quality or even better – something we can rely on.

And so, after that lecture on consistency, what’s this post about ? Beans in short. If you study carefully the picture of of the coffee beans at the top if the post, you’ll notice something peculiar – not all the coffee beans have the same type of shade of coffee brown – some are lighter than others and hence there is some inconsistency. This usually means one thing – the coffee has not been roasted with care, paying attention to two things – origin of coffee, whereby coffee from different farms have been added into the roast, with lack of attention to variety and also roast profile. On the farm, different coffees need different exposure to heat when they are roasted, even from the same farm. On the roast profile, if the beans have not been sorted and tested properly, usually in a sample roaster, then when you roast them for distribution or for commercial purposes, you’ll get what I got. This means that in summary the coffees roasted above have not been roasted properly or to their maximum potential.

For further proof, look at the picture below during the brewing process.

You can even see the inconsistency with different shades of brown.

On the origin of the beans – these came from Ethiopia, roasted by a well known roasting company and cafe there. When it was given to me, I was bit sceptical. Nevertheless I prepared it and shared it with my colleagues. The first most prominent comment came from the person who gave them to me “I was expecting more – it didn’t taste as nice as the ones you usually give me” He was right in a nutshell. But to add more, it wasn’t as flavourful – it didn’t delight the taste buds and it wasn’t “consistent” in the mouth, leaving that lasting flavour in your mouth. Another colleague, with a trained palate from wine tasting, termed it a robust roast with plums and low acidity. I have to confess, that the second time I brewed it, more colleagues had warmed to it and it tasted better. By better what do I mean, let me qualify that statement – I mean, “easier to drink with a bold, robust flavour, a very “pick me up” coffee for the morning, good in the morning with milk”. Furthermore, this type of coffee can only be brewed the robust way – French press or filter – any other way will “expose” its frailties and probably render it “undrinkable”. Do I sound harsh ? a little bit, but I have more to add.

Why am I sceptical about the roaster ? Because I know that’s where the final skill lays. So, I rarely buy coffee roasted in Africa from a shop or airport, just like I never buy coffee from a supermarket in Europe or anywhere else. It’s not that I am prejudice, it’s just that for something I hold so dear, I need to know as much as possible before I commit to it – sure I can be adventurous – ask my wife, but when it comes to food and coffee, I’m constantly searching for consistency in quality. Nevertheless to finish off on a positive note, this coffee brewed adhering to strict principles of temperature, water quality and weight was kind off rescued to give a drinkable cup.

If any coffee roasters are reading this and want to add anything or even better, want to write a special guest article on this subject, please contact me.

February 15, 2015February 16, 2015

I’m Drinking a Cup of Crema

I know, look at that crema and although I can’t capture the depth of it in the cup, trust me, the cream is literally half of the coffee in the cup. Curious ? Of course you are, that’s why you’re still reading. In short, this is a pure robusta espresso blend. If you look through my pages on types of coffee, you will know that there are two main types of coffee, arabica and robusta. The latter is a cheaper variety of coffee with a much higher caffeine content, inferior in taste and used mostly for the ghastly stuff called “instant coffee” Sorry! but I’m a self-confessed coffee snob and drinking instant coffee is like saying you’re eating fresh fruit that has been somehow preserved for many months and years and looks like fruit – I’d rather drink water. Ok! I digress, but I’m coming to the good bit.

Traditionally, robusta is not used for speciality coffee because amongst other things, it is inferior in taste and for coffee connoisseurs, taste is king. Even when it is used, it is blended with its much more superior cousin, arabica, to give it some colour and a more profound caffeine kick. The Italians tend to prefer a bit of robusta in their blends because the other key quality of robusta is….. wait for it, crema, plus it looks good with a brown reddish vibe and we all know the Italians love what things look like. So, if you want crema and a good looking espresso or ristretto with a caffeine kick, then head to Italy or search for one of the rare coffee roasters that uses robusta in their blends. But, I know you’re asking “what about taste ?”

Yes, taste is king. My previous experience with robusta blends was a caffeine kick, where literally the back of my head by my neck hurt. However when I visited the cafe at the Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington, London (see my post before last), I was pleasantly surprised by what I had and even more so to discover that the espresso coffee was 100% robusta, roasted by the company Leave the Herd Behind – a very apt name denoting that they are going against the grain, having discovered how to work with coffee growers in India to grow robusta coffee in a way that can be roasted with a good taste profile for espresso based coffee – they call it black sheep coffee, read more about them on www.leavetheherdbehind.com

In any case, the robusta comes from the Sethuraman Estate – the first specialty grade robusta farm in the World

So impressed was I with their coffee that I made a special order of two espresso blends and two Ethiopian single estate coffee for filter, Yirgacheffe Dumerso, grown at over 2,000 metres, naturally processed, very fruity and sublime, when brewed on a hario V60.

The espresso Robusta blend was literally a cup of crema, dark chocolate and very full bodied and you could literally scoop the crema out with a spoon. Using the sugar test – a spoon of sugar took about 10 seconds before it fell through the crema cloud, wow! now that’s what I call a full bodied crema. When blended with milk, literally hot chocolate came to mind – I even paused and looked at the pack again to check they hadn’t sent me hot chocolate.

I know the picture looks weird but honestly there’s no photoshop nor manipulation of the picture – it’s like the crema blends weirdly with milk giving it this dreamy like effect. Well, if you dream of chocolate then this is the blends for you. If you can’t buy and brew beans at home, then when you’re in London visit them, as they have two shops:

63 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 4PG London

Inside Urban Outsiders on 469 Oxford Street, W1C 2PY London

So, if you’re nearby, leave the herd behind on Oxford Street and grab a good looking cup of crema, yum!

February 8, 2015

Best Coffee Moments of 2014

I just wanted to share with you some of my top coffee moments of 2014 (yeah, I know we are already approaching the mid half of the second month) but this site is about sharing the love.

First up, was my first Chemex experience, which my palate witnessed at Curators Coffee new shop on Margaret Street, just off Regent’s Street, Oxford Circus, London. As I had a bit of time to burn (i.e. I wasn’t in a rush) I decided to try a non-espresso based coffee and have my coffee expertly “curated”, selecting their top coffee to be brewed on the chemex. I wasn’t really expecting anything out of the ordinary as I’ve only really had a few exhilarating experiences when having filter brews outside my home or office. But wow! the flavours of the Kenyan coffee were at one point refreshing then, fruity with a balanced acidity pic at the top of this post. OK, I know the coffee plays a really important part but I think on this time, the brew process was able to extract some really precious delicate flavours, making this one of my key coffee moments of twenty 14.

OK, let’s move to where the coffee was the “star”. Fresh after making coffee for Tom Cruise and team on the set of Mission Impossible 5 in Vienna, Jo Wechlesberger (Vienna School of Coffee) asked me to help her lift a very heavy La Marzocco Strada 2 group into her shop. A few bloodshot marks later, she invited me to taste a very exquisite coffee she had just roasted.

After a very delectable palate experience, I was like “wow!” that was great – wild berries and a fruit bomb in your mouth – what s that ? An Ethiopian Sidamo, scoring over 90 and known as Nekisse N2, mixed heirloom varieties and naturally dried in the sun. Jo’s taste profile was wild strawberries, peaches, passionfruit, rhubarb, creamy with a long lasting clean finish. But it gets better – I was actually on the verge of buying what undoubtedly would be my most expensive coffee at 100 Euros a kilogram – yep, that’s right, instead Jo gave me a 150g bag for free, for helping her and another gentleman lift the espresso machine inside her shop. I was more than ecstatic, even declining the offer, preferring to pay to support the artisan coffee trade, but Jo insisted and I could see my wife in the background, winking just take the gift, so I did. Of course I enjoyed every little bit of this coffee, sharing it on one occasion with a colleague who loves wine and has been schooled how to taste – naturally he was very excited.

I don’t have a picture for this next experience but having a cold brew coffee served in a tall wine glass was another wow experience courtesy of Otto from Balthasar Coffee, Vienna. To emphasise the point, Otto gave me a trial in a typical porcelan cup and most of it in a tall wine glass – again another fruit bomb but with a delicate cocoa and long lasting finish, proving that how you serve it is very important.

January 11, 2015January 12, 2015

First Flat White of 2015 @ the Ampersand Hotel

As a treat to the family to end our two week long holiday in London, I decided to take up an offer of two-for-three at a lovely looking boutique hotel in South Kensington called The Ampersand – in case you are wondering what that means an “ampersand” is the official name for the & sign. So that’s your English lesson for the year. Now to the coffee.

We checked in on the first day of the years, 1 January 2015 – obviously and I was kind of worried that to celebrate the beginning of 2015 I wouldn’t get a decent cup of coffee – others wanted champagne but for me it’s coffee of course, love. So after checking in I noticed a cafe like setting adjacent to the checking in lobby, a nice pretty place for English Tea and cakes, and spotted…. a La Marzocco Linea 2 group machine (ahhh!). I naturally got excited and after quizzing the poor young Australian waitress about if she knew how to make good cup of coffee, I decided to take the plunge – she kind of retorted with “I’m Australian, so I know a good cup of coffee”. I’m not sure if the pressure from moi (coffee snob) was too much but her colleague, a waiter, decided to make the coffee and I could see in the background that he was really taking his time, et voila

Naturally, I was impressed as I won’t be blogging about this experience and I told the waiter afterwards that it was a good flat white and he was really happy. So, first lesson of the year “don’t misjudge people based on your own bad experiences and always give people a chance”.

So, I came to find out that their coffee beans are from a new London coffee roaster group, called “black sheep” and to top it off, the use pure robusta – they are supporting an Indian coffee farm to bring you the best. See here for more info http://www.leavetheherdbehind.com

I had a couple more tasteful experiences which showed me that the waiters/waitresses had been trained properly – very important.

Also, it was a great hotel to stay at, very well located for the museums, near the South Kensington tube station and if you are stuck in this vicinity looking for good cup of coffee and a hearty avocado filled breakfast, pop into the Ampersand on 10 Harrington Road for a quick cup – they also have take away cups if you’re really in a rush.

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015

From Coffee With Love: 2014 Web Stats review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

December 22, 2014

New York Coffee Scene

New York Coffee Scene #1

So, you’re in the big apple for a week or so and you need a great coffee fix…. Notice the emphasis on “great” because in New York City (NYC) like all big cities, the locals tend to think they know what coffee is – after all the place is literally littered with Starbucks and other chain outlets, selling coffee, so don’t make the mistake to ask a local. In fact, New York was one of the markets Starbucks initially feared entering back in the 1980s because most New Yorkers didn’t believe in spending more than a $1 on coffee and with speciality coffee, that’s impossible.

So, first up, you could search for “New York coffee” on goggle, where there’s the www.newyorkcoffeeguide.com by Allegra, the same people who brought you the London Coffee Guide. You could trust your judgement (risky), ask on twitter or if you’re like me, you would have been following the ever changing coffee scene in New York for several years from the onset with the launch of Café Grumpy (probably the first well known artisan coffee shop in New York) and last but not least, read below. A proviso, my list is by no means exhaustive and is Manhattan biased – the coffee scene in NYC is changing very rapidly and even as I write, there might be a few new openings.

So here we go…

Drinking Coffee in Midtown Manhattan

As a lover of coffee, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too far from my “love” and so after scanning countless maps of Manhattan, I decided that the family should stay in mid-town Manhattan within walking distance to Culture Espresso, near Times Square, Joe’s at Grand Central, Bluebottle at Rockefeller Centre and about 15 minutes’ walk from Stumptown, near the famous Flat Iron Building fanatic or what !!!

So, now where to stay ? I curiously looked at Conde Nast Traveller’s Guide to New York Hotels and discovered a hotel, ranked in the top 20 hotels in NYC that served… you guessed it, Café Grumpy coffee – DONE, that’s where we’re staying, Andaz on Fifth ( A Hyatt hotel) – ok! It looked really nice, with a great location, opposite the NY Library on the corner East 41st Street and the famous Fifth Avenue too, but it also had the promise of serving good coffee at The Shop (their cafe). So that’s where we stayed.

Using the usual gadgets, La Marzocco GB5, etc, a choice of espresso blends, different brewing processes, plus a cold drip, the coffee prepared at the Andaz coffee shop, called the Shop is done with precision and complimented with freshly baked goods, a choice of healthy and hearty breakfast, great staff and joyful baristi and is accessible to all, non-hotel guests too.

To top it all, the real bonus was that Café Grumpy’s filter blend is available free to hotel guests anytime of the day, so after a long day walking the streets of Manhattan, what better than to have a night cap with some great filter brew #coffeeheaven in NYC – I’m not affected by caffeine at night.

So where next,

Next up and closer to where we stayed was no doubt one of my favourites, Culture Espresso, located at 72 West 38th Street on the corner of the Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue). The décor is almost like a typical London coffee shop, as you enter, there are displays of gadgets on the right and right in front of you before you place your order there are delectable sandwiches and sweet bites.

I found the coffee here consistently good and loved their commitment to using Heart Coffee Roasters. If you don’t know NYC, then this is the closest great coffee spot to Times Square – so suck up the glitter and lights of Broadway at Times Square with a well prepared cup of joe (NYC speak for coffee) in your hand.

OK! So rushing off to the glamour part, Rockefeller Centre, there’s the famed (at least by coffee connoisseurs) Blue Bottle branch, slightly north of Times Square but on your right. I must confess I never visited this branch but I visited their Chelsea branch, see below.

Drinking Coffee in Chelsea NYC

Well! of course you’ve got to go to Café Grumpy, at their first shop in Soho, corner 7th Avenue and 21st Street. I had a mini-lunch there, focaccia and lemon madeleine (I always read about these on twitter) with an espresso macchiato.

My sister bought me my lunch as well as a bag of Heartbreak Espresso (delicious).

Take a 10 minute stroll to Chelsea Market on the corner of ninth and tenth avenue and 15th and 16th Streets – located in the old National Biscuit Company factory, on Saturdays it celebrates food, with lots of stalls inside selling delicacies from cute cupcakes to lobsters. Inside however, is the aptly named Ninth Street Espresso, who have now embarked on the journey to roasting their own beans – their focus is more on a darker blend, at least that’s what I was told when I visited in 2013.

The head barista was really friendly and when I told him who I was (pleasantly surprised that a barista in NYC knows about me) he gave me a bag of their espresso blend. So, head down there for great food but finish off with coffee from Ninth Street Espresso.

Literally around the corner is Blue Bottle’s other shop – I got a bit lost surprisingly, but it’s easier to find it if you use the front entrance of Chelsea Market, veering to your right, past the Apple Store on West 15th Street (you see, it’s next door). Ah, finally, I get to visit Blue Bottle after all these years.

It’s not very big and they have a coffee menu thing going on, showcasing the beans, so choose the one you want or ask them for which coffee goes best with which brewing style. Great! Nothing else to add.

Drinking Coffee in Soho

Not that far from Chelsea and near the flatiron building, in between 7th and 6th Avenues on West 21st Street is a haven for coffee pros, Joe Pro Shop and Headquarters. I stopped by there on a Saturday afternoon, dashing off from the wife and kids for my “coffeefix – it was quite quiet with the pros in the back conducting a barista or tasting school so that meant I had lots of time to “talk coffee” with the head barista there. Usually they show case different blends from different roasters not only from America but Europe too. Again, just ask for what goes best with what and let your palate delight in this coffee haven in NYC. I tried two coffees, one with milk and another just….

So this is what I missed:

Stumptown at Ace hotel on corner of Broadway and W 28th Street

Intelligentsia (iconic) at 180 10th Avenue

Gimme Coffee on 228 Mott Street in Nolita /Little Italy Neighbourhood

Prodigy Coffee on 33 Carmine Street in the West Village Neighbourhood

Ciao, NYC

November 23, 2014

Lick Me, LIKMI !!! – Don’t be deluded

So, what do you see ? A well prepared espresso by moi ? Well! To the best of my knowledge, ability and experience

A good picture of an espresso ?

Well, almost but sometimes it’s not about looks, sorry guys and gals who spend time perfecting their looks and espresso shots, BUT ultimately it’s about taste. I’m passionate about the “real” deal. So many times I taste stuff, especially cakes, that look fabulous, but when you bite into it, you’re like screaming, Why!!!!!!!! I prefer something to taste better than it looks, but of course the ultimate culinary experience is for something to look and taste great simultaneously.

So, how about what you don’t see where were we… what do you see….

Great beans and roast ? A bit difficult

BUT! Let’s build on that last point.

First up the facts. It’s an espresso blend, called LIKMI (lick me), roasted by Jo Wechlesberger, of Vienna School of Coffee Master Roaster extraordinaire, to get an espresso roast so delicious and sweet, that you just want to….. yep. you guessed it, “lick it”. In it, are coffees from Brazil and Rwanda with a roast profile of dried fruits, molasses – see the bag below.

Secondly, we know that it’s just not about the beans and roast profile – if it was, anyone could learn how to roast coffee like a pro, and we know that’s not true, if not, I’ll be on the waiting list to do so pronto. It’s takes guts, experience and something you can’t buy, a gift or skill – God given and some may argue on that point.

But, that’s not all. When I went in to buy this special coffee, Jo told me that she had started using burlap bags to pack her coffee and had noticed that it seemed to preserve the coffee taste for longer and of course it is also better for the environment.

So, upon buying the coffee, I raised concern saying”it was roasted about a month ago, are you sure its fresh enough for espresso?” Of course, she said. So, when I got home, and pulled my first shot, I was pleasantly surprised, but more so, after another few days of pulling shots, I realised that the coffee still tasted great, sweet and caramel like. I DRANK THIS COFFEE IN MARCH 2014.

With milk (excuse my latte art), it was really sweet – caramel and raisin sweet, yummy.

So, what’s this post about – if I’ve lost you in all my jargon

The picture at the top is an espresso shot following all the rules but using coffee that was roasted over a month ago and still with a great taste (I usually don’t use espresso blends over 2 weeks old) – it’s the first time on this blog that I’ve shown a picture of an espresso shot using coffee roasted over a month ago.

So, once you’ve mastered the skill of roasting, taking care of your beans by packing them in environmental friendly packaging could preserve the taste and your reputation far and beyond, especially if you are in the online coffee selling business. It also helps if you have a roast profile that’s sweet like dried fruits, which tend to develop into complex tastes profiles, giving you the joy that different cups will give you different tastes.

October 18, 2014

Vienna’s New Coffee Guys: KaffeMik and Zamm Good Coffee

Kaffemik

To change a culture, you need passion and commitment and you can quote me on that, so when I heard that some guys who were fed up with drinking bad coffee during their coffee breaks/lunchtime decided to open up a small café near their office, so, that they could at least have a decent cup of coffee during their breaks, I was impressed. This is the story behind Kaffemik, located on Zollergasse 5, of Mariahilfer Strasse – one of the main thoroughfares in Vienna. Craving the thought of experiencing their coffee and concept, I passed by for a flying visit one lunchtime. It’s small, reminiscent of a place where you know the focus is coffee, pure and simple, so it’s dominated by a La Marzocco Linea 2 group and an unassuming brewing station.

Also available are light pastries to accompany your coffee and a shelf displaying coffees on sale as well as other coffee geek gadgets, like aeropress and Hario V60s and accessories.

On offer, they have a house blend espresso, roasted by Rosterin (i.e. Vienna School of Coffee) and every month have a guest espresso and filter to sample or purchase on-line.

A great place to get a good coffee when shopping on Mariahilfer Strasse and I’m glad to report that they’re open on Saturday too.

https://www.kaffemik.at

Zamm Coffee

About a quick 10 minute walk towards the Burgasse end of Zollergasse and a few streets over is another place driven by passion, Zamm Coffee on Kirchengasse 35, owned and run by Max. A pleasant young and talented guy – his café also poses as a mini-art gallery, which also displays very hard to get creative magazines like Folk, Cereal, Caffeine and Longberry – if you’ve never heard of these magazines, then you’re either not a serious caffeine lover or a graphic designer – if you’re curious, then head down to drink great coffee and read trendy magazines. In any case, Max gets his coffee from different roasters in Europe and has a simple menu, recognisant of the original Prufrock Menu by Gwilym Davies many years back. So there an espresso, espresso with some milk (i.e.Cortado) and with more milk (i.e. Cappuccino) but if you really want more milk, then he can make you a classic cafe latte too. Also on offer are various pour overs methods, aeropress, copper encrusted Hario V60 and Syphon, especially on Fridays. Ask Max for which filter coffees are best brewed on what.

I’m not entirely sure what drew Max into coffee – I was rushing as his café is not near my office at all, but he just got back from a “barista bootcamp” in Europe with leading figures like Jim Hoffmann of Squaremile. I expect he learnt a lot and must now be breaming with new brewing ideas. Check this Zamm “good” Coffee, where you can buy coffee gadgets, coffee, magazines and art.

https://www.facebook.com/zammcoffee
Well done Vienna – I don’t have to hold my coffee breath anymore for trips to London to taste and appreciate great coffee, made with passion.

July 13, 2014

My Fave Cafe in Vienna: Balthasar

It seems that all good things come to those who wait and sometimes they kind of creep up on you. So, one fine sunny day in Vienna, after a fine lunch, I was rushing again and what did I notice, a La Marzocco Strada to my right in a shop – of course I stopped, walked in, saw a friendly guy behind the brew bar and state of the art espresso machine and said “wow! is this a new place…. you’ve got a La Marzocco Strada machine… erm… I’ll be back” And sure I was in 10 minutes and ever since then, several times, taking colleagues, the wife, the daughter, the son and more.

It also helps that Balthasar, is about 15 minutes walk from where I live and about 10 minutes on the underground (in Vienna it’s called the u-bahn) from where I work, so very easy access.

So, what else is there to know about Balthasar apart from the flashy machine.

Well, it’s run by Otto Bayer, a very friendly guy, whose family have been in the catering business for over a century, who gets his coffee from a specialist coffee roaster in Germany, who sources coffee “directly” and often visits the farmers themselves.

On one occasion coffee from the long mile coffee project in Burundi was on offer. In any case, all the gadgets are here, two Mazzer grinders, cold brew system,

Cold Brew - great for a hot day — Cold Brew – great for a hot day

V60 brew bar and semi-retired La Marzocco G3 (Otto trained on it, but as he spends all his time in his cafe, it might as well be in the cafe.

On offer also are cakes, brownies and some savouries, as well as tea and Otto’s other speciality, wine – he loves the relationship between wine and coffee and of course the tasting experience of both.

His customers usually order a coffee and then a glass of wine afterwards. Balthasar has been opened for a few months and is decked out with new age furniture like Kartel and palettes, topped with magazines and low hanging light bulbs.

You can also buy coffee and gadgets like V60, the filters, aeropress and other bits. The good thing is that it’s opened from 7:30am to 7pm everyday except Sundays, so visiting on Saturday are great even Otto though must be exhausted but he really loves his job and his cafe.

The coffee menu is not extensive but to the point like the top end cafes in London – cappuccino, flat white, espresso and cafe latte

and a new way of brewing an Americano – brewed for 45 seconds on 5 bar of pressure.

So, what else, just go visit and you won’t be disappointed.

Balthasar

Praterstrasse 38

Vienna 1020

http://www.balthasar.at

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