Earlier this week, noted espresso expert Chris Tacy posted on a tasting he and some culinary pros did among his home region's (San Francisco) espressos and coffees.
Stumptown's Hairbender was the preferred espresso and a couple of Intelligentsia and Stumptown single origins fared very well.
So did some espressos and coffees roasted locally in San Francisco, indicating that the Bay Area is gaining ground on Portland and Seattle as a legitimate coffee destination.
As local coffee gadfly Michael Hoffman noted on a recent Tweet, Pittsburgh also offers a wealth of great coffees, including Intelligentsia (us, 21st, Big Dog, Dozen), Stumptown (us), 49th Parallel (Voluto), Counter Culture (Espresso a Mano*, Blue Horse), Verve (Tazza d'Oro), Ecco (21st, testing it here soon) and we'll throw Victrola (Oh Yeah!) into that group.
The shops serving those espressos and coffees may not be the busiest in town, but they're the ones that serious coffee people talk and blog and tweet about., not only in local conversation, but across the country. And there's an important difference between this contingent of local Pittsburgh shops and the coffeehouses people consider the best in San Francisco: their use of local coffee vs. ours.
As Tacy notes, the Bay Area offers several roasters who can compare favorably with the Stumptowns and Intelligentsias in quality and sourcing - Ritual, Four Barrel, Ecco (and though not included in the tasting, Verve, and many would also include Blue Bottle).
Pittsburgh proper doesn't have one. Yes, there are roasters here who are beloved by locals, but none are innovators. Only two, La Prima and Kiva Han (through our LaVerdad** partnership), promote relationship coffees - and that's only three coffees among the dozens offered. Ironstar (Coffee Tree) used to participate in some Cup of Excellence auctions but to best of our knowledge hasn't done so in a couple of years (and please Bill, if you are doing CoEs, let us know, we'd be interested).
Even roasters north and east of Pittsburgh are further along the path of sustainable coffees than our local 'big' names. It's progress, but we should be able to better within the city.
Granted, the San Francisco area is three times as populous as Greater Pittsburgh and certainly has a more established culinary history. Still, to have a half dozen quality-focused, innovative coffee roasters in the Bay Area to none in Pittsburgh would certainly indicate a lack of attention to changing consumer preferences toward better coffee - and an opportunity for someone who wants to fill that niche.
That's one of the reasons we started LaVerdad with Kiva Han - to start the process of creating a locally-operated roasting company specializing in sustainable relationship coffees. But at a stunning volume of, oh, 30 lbs. of roasted coffee per week, we're a long way off from being mentioned with anyone, let alone our mentors and heroes.
Meantime, we've heard local roasters grumbling about new quality-focused cafes using out of state (and in Voluto's case, out of country!) roasters instead of staying local.
There's a reason for that.
Before anyone suggests that we're dumping on local roasters, let us be clear: we're not saying the coffee at LaPrima or Coffee Tree or Kiva Han is bad coffee. What we're saying is that they're not pushing any boundaries or inventing anything new and distinctive or creating green farm-to-table business models (with the notable exception being Coffee Tree's early involvement with the Cup of Excellence program).
What they are, in our opinion, are traditional coffee roasters using tried and true flavor profiles that have historically appealed to our market. That's all good and fine. But if anything, the shops mentioned above continue to prove that there is a market for non-traditional espressos (single origins, brighter espressos, blends that aren't all chocolate/caramel/roasty), single-origin sustainable coffees and alternative brewing styles besides urns and airpots. They're the ones driving the coffee conversations and taking the risks to expose more people to new ideas in coffee. And the current local roasters have yet to do much of anything to meet the growing demand in this area.
So how about it guys?
*Espresso a Mano also uses a custom LaPrima blend that Matt designed, in addition to serving Counter Culture coffee.
**Yeah, we know the LaVerdad website needs some work. Lots of it. It's tough having three jobs!
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