{ Coffee Thirsty | Refill }

Without question, Seattle is a coffee town. Despite the overwhelming presence of mega coffee chains like Starbucks and the like, independent coffee shops maintain a strong presence in the city. For my money, they generally make a better cup of joe than their gargantuan competitors. Case in point, Espresso Vivace. Roasters and brewers, these guys just have coffee-making down to a science. No where else in the city will you be able to find a more consistent cup of coffee. On my way in to work yesterday, I stopped in to their cafe on Capitol Hill for a macchiato. Have you ever seen a more stunning and surreal site?

In a previous blog, I laid out what I felt were the essential qualities of the a good latte. One of these qualities was stamina. By stamina, I was referring to the quality of a latte to maintain its consistency throughout the duration of consumption. This weekend, I popped into one of my favorite coffee places here in Seattle – Herkimer Coffee in Phinney Ridge. I’ve gone there for years now, and always enjoy going back there. The quality of their lattes is fairly consistent, and I find that they roast their beans perfectly for my taste.

So this weekend I ordered a customary double short latte and I was impressed by the body of the latte. The consistency and flavor were perfect as usual. As I worked my way through the cup, I witnessed one of the indicators of a truly great latte. As I drank my wonderfully wonderful coffee, the design that the barista had adorned the top of my latte with stayed intact throughout. Many baristas can make a cool design on the top of your drink – but the truly great lattes have enough body to maintain the design as you drink down. See the photos below – they will show you exacly what I mean.

Submitted by:  Aaron Crawford

The best “damn cup of coffee” in all of Washington, DC, is of course Murky Coffee,  Nestled on scenic Capitol Hill in Eastern Market neighborhood it had its own charm. Most of the baristas are young and a little zany. They have a local favorite drink called the “$5 no-questions-asked cup of hot chocolate” that is superb. Attached (below) is one of the crazy animal sightings I posted from Murky using my new iPhone. I call it Buffalo Hides Behind Cinnamon.

Ciao!
 
Aaron

The other day I was blown away by my cappuccino experience at Caffe Umbria. Usually when it comes to artistic expressions of coffee, the focus is on the coffee patterns that talented baristas can create in lattes. In fact, I believe that most university Art programs now offer a certificate course in latte artistic expression.

The cappuccino however, hasn’t enjoyed the same kind of buzz. Some cafes will top their cappuccinos with cinnamon, cocoa, or nutmeg, but that is about as far as it goes when it comes to the cappuccino getting a chance to express itself. No longer.

Caffe Umbria makes a modern, minimalist, streamlined cappuccino that tastes as good as it looks. A solid, staight-edged stripe of espresso dissects the foamy cap of the drink, creating a stunning visual effect. All of their drinks come with 2 shots of espresso by default. So my guess is that they pour 1 shot in the cup, add the foamed milk, and then finish the drink off by pouring the second shot in slowly (but not too slowly) across the surface area of the foam. I have to say, I was impressed.