Aldo Coffee Company

Press Pot Coffee Menu Week of July 30-August 5

Here are this week's varietals and blends, which are served by the cup in airpot or press pot before noon and in press pot only after noon.  You can also order Aldo House Blend, French Roast or Black Cat Espresso Blend as press pot coffee.

To learn more about any of the coffees listed, click the coffee's name and you will be taken to a fact sheet on that coffee.  The notes provided are tasting excerpts from Intelligentsia's green bean buyer, Geoff Watts.

This week, July 30-August 5:

Espressopus? Seaweedcino? What Should We Expect at the WBCs in Japan?

Yes, we recognize that the title of this post may be considered in poor taste (literally and figuratively). 

We also acknowledge that of all the world's significant cuisines, Japanese is the one we never cook at home (although we've ventured far into just about every other significant Asian style except Korean - sorry, Nick).  Out of the house we only eat sushi on occasion and teppanyaki only when kids visit. 

Love the ginger salad dressing at Benihana's though.

Anyway, there's a reason we went with that headline. 

Just about everything we do leads back to a coffee discussion.  And today we were looking online for any indication why we can't seem to get regular Snyder's Kettle Chips and can only find the Low-Fat version (judged inferior to the full fat version by both our own taste buds as well as those of the Taquitos tasters).

Anyway, while on the Taquitos site we came across a link to a list we couldn't resist following:  The Worst Chips of All Time.

See, the Japanese do make octopus, seaweed and cuttlefish flavored chips.  Those are the tastes many kids in Japan grow up with, so it makes sense.  They didn't grow up with ketchup or barbecue sauce or sour cream and onion.

So here's the convergence of these thoughts:  The World Barista Championships will be held in Tokyo in 2007.  If the host country Japanese like seafood in their snacks, who's to say we won't see some baristi try seafood flavorings in their signature drinks? After all, many in the industry have been harping on specialty coffee being as important and versatile to cuisine as wine.

So in keeping with an Asian theme, is a ristretto Monsooned Malabar sucked out of a cleaned squid that much of a reach?

(OK, grilled calamari with an espresso glacé - that might be pretty decent)

We know this:  if we're lucky enough to get to the WBC in Tokyo in 2007, we're bringing our own snacks.

The Dog Bowls of Washington Road - Cool Drinks for Hot Dogs

Aldo Coffee and other Washington Road merchants were featured in a new "Pet Tales" article by Linda Fuoco that appeared yesterdays' "South" section of the PG.

The article, "Merchants Quench Pets Thirst", told how we started a trend with the dog bowl promising "Free H20 to Good Dogs" we put out on the Washington Road sidewalk when we first opened back in December 2004. 

There are now seven bowls on the street and they seem to continue to multiply.

One thing the article didn't have was photos, so we took some (hold cursor over the photo for the store name).

As Linda noted in her column, "The water bowls on Washington Road are more than a nice touch. They can be lifesavers. It's hot out there, and dogs overheat faster than people because they have year-round fur coats and can sweat only through their tongues and foot pads." 

"If your walking route doesn't have dog-friendly merchants or water fountains, carry a water bottle for your dog."

Thanks to all the dog-friendly merchants here for caring for our four-legged friends and for Linda Fuoco for noticing and publicizing our efforts.

Coffee & Food Pairings: Stumptown's Experiments with Coffee as Cuisine

UPDATE(S):  Chris posted the coffee/food pairings menu here.   And Matt posted photos here.

This post was originally sent last week and titled with some obscure reference to "Fazenda Daterra", which is probably why nobody around here seemed to read it... so we're reposting with a new title and update (above).

You thought we were nuts offering a couple of top single origin coffees for $5 a cup. 

Well, slurp on this: The űbercoffeefanatics over at Stumptown have announced a dinner that pairs not wine with each course, but coffee.  Nick's got the scoop.

That's right, flights of coffee.  With dinner.  For $55 ($65 with booze).

If you buy the argument that constituent coffee flavors are as complex, if not moreso, than wine, this dinner offering begs the question: What coffee goes with asparagus?

And when you think of new ways to present the public (you) with opportunities to try top coffees, how come we haven't seen a cafe with those little paddles with holes for shot glasses you see at so many microbreweries.  Why not flights of coffee?  If somebody's doing that, we haven't heard about it yet.

You know, that's not a bad idea...

Triple Rosetta Latte Art

Ever since Andi finished in the top 10 in the Mid-Atlantic Millrock Free Pour Latte Art contest back in February in DC, she has set her sights on going right to the heart of the latte art beast - Seattle - and seeing how she matches up with the A-list baristi who all but invented latte art.

While the competition isn't until October, Andi's been working on some new tricks in addition to the standard rosettas and hearts.  Namely, the triple rosetta.

Still some work to be done on the downstroke from the branch on the right through to the middle - but she's getting closer to executing these on request. 

They do take a little more time than the standard rosettas and hearts, so you likely won't see them during rushes.

Btw, if you're ordering whipped cream on top of your go-cups, you never get to see what Andi and our other artists have designed inside your cup.  Your loss!

Coming Soon (Maybe) - A Stirrer That Takes the Caffeine Out of Coffee, Tea, Coke

We had no idea anyone was working on an idea such as this, but it looks like the DeCaf Company's development of the caffeine eliminator stirrer stick is about to get some funding.  Business Week explains the science.

While we don't know yet if it'll effect the taste, this should make a whole lot of people happy.  We know we'd probably use it at night - we tend to get a bit overcaffeineated during the day.  So if this stirrer stick doesn't affect taste, we're all over it.

If/when it comes to market - and assuming it's affordable - we'll offer it here.

That said, we want to remind everyone of a couple of things:

a) Arabica coffee beans (what we use here) have about half the caffeine of robusta beans (mass market supermarket coffee)

b) Coffee brewed as espresso usually has less caffeine per bean than coffee roasted for drip.  The longer roasting time to produce a typical espresso roast cooks out more caffeine.   Generally speaking, coffee roasted to French or Vienna roasted depth will be heated even longer than a traditional espresso roast and thus should contain even less caffeine.   

(However - we'll note that a 1 oz espresso shot, due to the concentrated nature of the extraction, contains far more caffeine than 1 oz of brewed drip. - but you'd never drink 1 oz of brewed, you'd drink 8 oz or 12 oz or more, in which case the espresso shot is the less caffeinated option).

Thus, if you are worried about caffeine intake but don't want to compromise on taste, an Americano (1 oz. espresso to 7 oz. water) may be a better option for you than drip.

Gimme Gimme Good Lattes

Today we turned the editorial controls over to Belle so she could talk about her recent trip East.

Frank and I have now been back and recuperating for a week from our trip to the South Jersey shore and NYC (it takes about a week to fully recupe from a beach trip with about 100 high school students). 

We were fortunate enough to spend the weekend bouncing around the boroughs visiting friends and first rate coffee houses.  Considering the density of a city such as New York, one would assume (I would have assumed) that there would be more independent coffee shops than there actually are.  But, because of the price of living and the exorbitant amount of money charged for rent, there are just not enough of them around there.  (How does $123/sq. ft. sound?  This of course, is a discounted rate in the Village.) The good news is that the ones we tried that have taken the challenge are wonderful. 

We got a chance on a Sunday morning to visit Gimme Coffee in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.  Williamsburg is one of those places in NYC that is currently hip and cheap (and hip because it is relatively cheap).

After finding Gimme!, we went inside to find an unassuming, high-ceilinged, several boothed nook of excellence.  We each ordered capps, mine a double and Frank's a single.  As Chris began to make our drinks, we realized this was the real deal with excellent barista skills on display.  It was a joy to watch (their setup allows customers to see every step of the drink preparation process.) And yes, as Chris began to pour, we knew what we were getting: Frank got a nice rosetta and I recieved a heart.  This was my first time ever receiving latte art outside of the context of a demo or Coffeefest.  To my personal dissapointment though, I prefer my cappuccinos with a decent amount of foam ("dry")as opposed to defined art. Nonetheless, the espresso was excellent and the milk was sweet.  We enjoyed the atmosphere very much as we took it all in from our little booth.  I would love to live in NYC someday and imagined what it would be like for us in the neighborhood. 

As Frank and I were on a schedule we couldn't stay long and our discussion with the three baristas (yes, three baristas on a Sunday morning) was a friendly banter concerning the specialty coffee industry in NY (which the key to success is finding a great deal on rent) and their roasters in Ithaca and our mutual acqaintance of Chris Deferio who started with Gimme.  They gave us some heads up on other shops to visit including Cafe Grumpy, which we got lost finding on our first and sadly only try.  I left with a complimentary cup of drip in hand and a feeling of satisfaction from connecting with a few colleagues.

Frank and I will hopefully be returning to Gimme and Grumpy and hopefully to Joe: The Art of Coffee and 9th St. Espresso in Manhattan next month. 

What?  No vivid description of Frank's encounter with the McSorley's Cheese Plate?

Ines We Hardly Knew Ye

Pat's a convert. 

Thanks also to Jay, Chris (x3), Bill, Mark, Pat (1/4 lb!), Sylvia (x2) and about a dozen others who came in a tried the Santa Ines at $5 a cup over the eight days.

We're putting it to bed tomorrow.  After that, no more, unless you go to Vancouver.

Think of how many times you plunked down $5 for something you didn't like, something that tasted mass manufactured, or just plain off.  Heck, anyone who's been to Heinz, PNC or the Igloo has paid north of $5 for a Coors Light.  And that's bad.

Put in that light, spending $5 on something that's incredible, even if it's "just a cup of coffee", seems a bargain.

Hopefully we'll make more converts going forward.

July 23-29 Varietal Press Pot Offerings

We started doing these menus in the store on the first of July and thought we should make sure they're online as well. 

The reason our menu changes week to week is that we don't roast our own beans, so we can't just go "out back" and roast more.   And unlike other retailers, we don't keep a month or more supply of beans around.  Everything here turns in 10 days or less.  Usually in seven.  Our coffee is roasted every Wednesday in Chicago and arrives here on Thursday afternoon.  By Sunday it's ready to drink.  You'll always find what's available by clicking the link to the right that says, "This Week in Press Pot".

Varietals/blends we're offering in our 3-cup (17oz) Bodum Chambord pots this week (July 23-29):

Coffee bean buyer Geoff Watts' tasting notes (click the links for a full page description of each):

Las Mandarinas Pacamara El Salvador

"Pacamara is a fascinating varietal, unlike any other I have yet encountered in the world of coffee.  It originated in El Salvador quite some time ago, after a grower discovered some Bourbon trees on his farm that had naturally mutated and displayed a set of characteristics different than the rest of the trees.  This coffee has a wide range of flavors with herbal notes, slight grape and plum fruitiness and the dominant presence of spices such as licorice root, clove, and white pepper. They are held together by a creamy but effervescent body and come to a crescendo in a complex, lingering finish."

Painting With Coffee

Apparently there are people out there who paint using only coffee for their medium.

And they're doing well.

Here's a gallery.  Here are animations.

Who knew?

Thanks to Dave at "Smelling the Coffee" for the pointer.