Beating Homogeneity Out Of Iced Coffee

Cold Brew Towers at work in The Lab at Spro.

Just yesterday I was mentioned in a blog post about Iced Coffee and Cold Brews. For those of you not following the coffee biz it's been a heated topic for the past few months with various people arguing about which iced coffee brew method is "best" - as though there has to be one magical brew formula that bests all others.

 Quite frankly, I just think it's a load of hogwash.

All across 3WCoffee people with the intention of proving that they're "right" because they've used some sort of psuedo-scientific method or newfangled electronic device that tells you that their technical numbers are "right" and that number means that your drink is "awesome." And they haven't even tasted it yet.

It's as though there's some sort of campaign to get everyone to brew the same way.

Which leads to the question: do I think that the methods we use at Spro are superior to the others? The answer is: of course! Otherwise, we wouldn't be serving coffee in that manner.

Do I then want everyone else to brew and present coffee the same way we do? Absolutely not - that's just ridiculous.

What I want to see when visiting coffee places is vision and interpretation. Sure Mad Cap and Spro can buy the Ardi green coffee from the same person and have the same coffee from the same lot, but do I want the two coffees to taste exactly the same? Gosh, what fun would that be? That's about as exciting as a tour of DC coffeehouses where the coffee is the same everywhere.

I want to experience the interpretation and the nuance as offered by that barista or that shop. Give me something different, interesting and exciting. And for God's sake, taste the coffee instead of running it through some machine!

Is that to say that we expect our way of brewing to be the do-all, end-all for all people? Well, that would be nice. But I accepted many years ago that what we do will not be the right fit for all people. We're making coffee to our vision and to our tastes. We want people to experience our interpretation of coffee - hopefully, they find it as interesting and exciting as we do, but sometimes they do not.

Some people dislike the way we brew iced coffee and that's okay. There are plenty of places brewing coffee in a different manner that they might find more appealing. But all of this argument, discussion and banner waving about whose method is "best"? That's just malarkey. Taste is what determines what is "best" and we let taste be our guide, and I hope you do too.

Because my guests don't come into Spro bearing measuring devices looking for some magic number, they actually drink the coffee.

Bacan

The bread basket at Bacan.

From the street Bacan Restaurante is simply gorgeous looking. Ana pointed out to me the other night as we drove by on the way to my favorite B&B. At the corner of Mexicali and Avenida Oaxaca, the place is stunning with it's garden water fountain, Parisian bistro chairs, Euro gas heaters and sharply dressed waiters. It's impressive.

Ana and her mom had been wanting to go and what better time than now?

Printed on the inside of the menu is the definition of Bacan. Dicho de una persona: refinada, de trato amistoso y agradable, muy atractivo y popular, elegante, afecto al lujo y al buen vivir.

And for those of us who are Spanish-challenged, it means a person who is refined, friendly and pleasant treatment, very attractive and popular, stylish, fond of luxury and good living.

In other words: this is place to see and be seen.

And it certainly lives up to its desire. It's obvious that someone spent a lot of money on the buildout because it's gorgeous and everything is well-appointed. This results in a decidedly beautiful crown of Chilangos in nice clothing, driving nice cars and looking like the social elite.

The only problem is that this place is a restaurant and restaurants this nice looking should deliver cuisine that's its equal.

But before I go further, I do have one gripe to grind. This restaurant opened in October of 2011. This is the age of the mobile device. Who the hell thinks its still okay in 2011 to develop a Flash page making it impossible for an entire population of diners to visit your website.

Please take your web designer out to the country and shoot him.

I want to note that the service was really great. The hostess and servers were all very nice, attentive and responded to our needs. The setting is fantastic, the service is good, now what about the food?

Utilizing our scoring standard for barista competitions where a six is extraordinary, I give Bacan a 3.5 - good plus. Described as contemporary fusion, the menu offers an interesting mix of items that sound promising but are produced by a kitchen that doesn't seem up to the challenge. The technique is there, it's just missing that extra detail to make it shine.


Tacos de Pato, Argentinean Empanada and Tuna Ceviche.

Take for example the Tacos de Pato (duck tacos). The meat is lovely. Perfectly cooked and shredded, the texture is also perfect, just where is the flavor of the meat? Strong notes of orange and sweetness dominate over the perfunctory tortilla. The rolled tacos (think: unfried flauta) are laid on top of sweet caramelized (without the caramel color) onions and fried chopped cebollita stems. Sadly, the sweetness comes through and the rest is just flat.

What really makes this dish a shame is that we're in Mexico City - Ground Zero for amazing Mexican cuisine and an ambitious restaurant such as this produces such a taco? For ten percent of the price of this duck taco, I can get an amazing taco at 101 different places. I mean really, a taco here should be stunning.

Then there was the Tuna Ceviche served with avocado on top of a tostada, a nice idea for fusion appetizer. Here the quality of the tuna was just lovely but it was marred by the liberal use of diced tomato (which made it seem like the kitchen is trying to stretch the quantity of tuna used in the dish) and the lack of acidity that is the hallmark of a ceviche. Here the problem of the duck taco returns with a candy like sweetness dominating everything else - even the creaminess of the avocado.

To add insult to injury, the tostadas weren't even executed well. Uneven and bland, some were thick, one was thin. One was soggy. I must note that the one tostada that was thin and crispy made for an excellent texture juxtaposition with the ceviche, it's just a shame the quality control in the kitchen isn't more stringent to maintain tostada consistency.

Senora Garcia's salad of lettuce, goat cheese, apple slices and walnuts was perfunctory but decent while Ana's Penne Con Chistorra was actually nice tasting with a sparse amount of tasty chistorro sausage slices. This dish too was marred by the slightly overcooked pasta which lacked that toothy resistance one expects from a pricey pasta dish at a fine dining restaurant.


Estofado of Ox Tail in red wine sauce.

When choosing between the oven roasted chicken in white sauce or the oxtail stew, our server noted that the stew was the right choice, I went with that recommendation. The braised oxtails were cooked perfectly and dressed with a lovely stew sauce, paired with a buttery smashed potatoes that gave off notes reminiscent of buttered cauliflower, but here too the kitchen fell short with a perfectly textured meat that lacked the oomph to send it over the top.

As I ate the meat, I wondered just what was missing and added a little salt. That was the ticket - the kitchen lacked the ability to season properly. And for a dish that is two hundred and twenty pesos (a little bit more than the average daily wage in Mexico) you expect something stellar.

And that is the problem with Bacan. The food lacks that final detail that make it soar. You want it to be amazing. You hope that it will be amazing, but the food falls short. And that's a shame.

I mean Bacan has all the things you want in a go-to restaurant. Beautiful setting, a place to be seen and great service. It just lacks that one key: stellar cuisine. And that's the reason that stops you from rushing back to eat there again.


Bacan Restaurante Condesa
Mexicali 4 a esquina Nuevo Leon
Hipodromo Condesa DF 06100
5211-9236
bacan.com.mx

Outsourcing Your Core Competencies

Testing and vetting brew methodologies, January 2010.

Lately, I've been thinking that it's time for me to start up a restaurant. A restaurant that can seat about 30-40 people and turn roughly 200 covers on a busy service. Without a doubt, it should be cutting edge, comfortable, casual but with serious ingredients and a serious approach to quality and service. I want this new restaurant to be the best restaurant in my city.

To achieve this, I'm going to find a local supplier of restaurant equipment and produce and ask for their help. I'm going to buy the best equipment available, like a Jade cooking suite and maybe even some equipment for sous vide and molecular gastronomy.

Problem is: I'm not a "chef." But it's all good because both the guy selling me my Jade suite and the local farmer selling me super quality heirloom tomatoes are going to teach me how to use the suite and cook the food properly. In just a few days time, these people are going to teach me and my employees how to make and run what will easily become the best restaurant in the city serving high-quality food product. It's going to be awesome!

If you're reading this and thinking "this guy must be smoking crack cocaine" then you'd be right. For anyone to invest the kind of money it takes to get a business going and then expect their equipment and produce people to teach them how to cook and run a restaurant is absolutely preposterous and foolhardy.

Yet, day in and day out, people get in the coffee business expecting their coffee roaster to teach them how to become a "barista" and be "the best" and make "quality" drinks.

At Spro, we do coffee. That is our core and our focus. We are Baristas. That is what we do. This is who we are. Why I would ever allow another company and another person from outside the company and our culture to come in and "teach" our team how to do what we do, is as preposterous as me starting a restaurant and asking my Sysco rep to teach me how to be a "chef."

We have a culture. We have an approach. We have a way of doing things that is uniquely different than others. While other baristas rely on their coffee roaster to tell them how to brew coffee, pull shots, make drinks and cup profile, our baristas do it themselves. They cup the coffee samples, they cup the new arrivals, they help create the descriptions and they know their coffees.

We teach our own on how to tamp, pull shots and prepare drinks. We teach our own on our culture and our approach to hospitality and service. Our team tests and vets brew methodology. We develop and train. We learn how to make everything by hand, as a craftsman should.

The road to becoming a Spro Barista is long and difficult. There is a lot to learn - much more than can be taught in a couple of days with some roaster "customer service representative" - who, chances are, either doesn't have real world barista experience or has been away from cafe service for so long that I question their suitability to teach modern coffee production techniques.

Truth be told, I don't encourage so-called "Third Wave" thinking. I don't encourage "rock star" worship I see in many other baristas. I don't even encourage competitions. I should note that I don't discourage those areas either (except the "third wave" thinking part - I truly abhor "third wave"). And while I don't encourage and don't discourage, I would be supportive of any Spro Barista that desired to engage in those areas of the industry.

What I do encourage and support is craftsmanship and hospitality. Our focus is not somewhere out there in the pretense and condescension of "third wave" or in the hype and fallacy of barista competitions, it is here on the home front and making great coffee day in and day out for our guests. We make coffee and provide a warm, nurturing environment - one that must come from within and one that cannot be outsourced to a third-party company.

It's time that those who desire to call themselves "baristas" and "coffee professionals" break away from this fallacy that your coffee roaster can make you and your people "baristas."

And Sometimes I Fail

I'm big on customer service and working to provide the guest with a great experience every time they visit one of our locations.

And sometimes I fail.

Yesterday, I failed in a major - looking like a complete asshole kind of way.

I've been running my own little company for twelve years now and I've made just about every customer service mistake one person could make. I've yelled at customers, argued with customers and kicked customers out - sometimes in a very fiery and spectacular fashion.

Maybe some of those times I was in the "right" on the matter and the customer/guest/visitor transgression was met with a commensurate response that could be completely justified - meaning that I was "right."

However, there has never been an incident where, after cooling down, thinking about it and analyzing the situation, I have ever felt that it truly was the right way to handle the matter and that I couldn't have responded better, and won out with aces.

The situation was this: I'm standing in a walkway chatting with a long-time guest whom I haven't seen in months when an elderly gentleman walks between us (there's about three feet between the guest and I). Instead of the usual convention of saying "excuse me", the elderly man gruffly tells me to get out of the way and makes a disparaging remark on my tummy. At first, I didn't catch his meaning but the snideness of his manner just tweaked me enough to press it a little farther.

Now, it's later in the day (about 4pm) and I had just come to the location to drop off some supplies after spending the morning at the roasteria repairing the roaster and the afternoon in the garden planting tomatoes. So, by this point, I'm looking pretty disheveled: my hair is messy, I'm wearing work boots and probably look slightly grimy from planting the garden. In other words, I look like a laborer.

I press the guy a little on his meaning and he still comes at me with the disparaging remarks. Usually, I don't let these kinds of people bother me but today, I'm in that mix of being tired and dirty from working and slightly irritated about a variety of things, meaning that when this guy comes at me, I lose perspective and become confrontational.

You know, why the guy didn't just do the polite thing and say "excuse me" or "excuse me, but you're in the way", I don't know. Maybe he was having a bad day or maybe he just thought that I was some (to his mind) piece of shit Hispanic laborer that didn't deserve the general respect and courtesy that he would give to other white people (I note this because the guest I had been talking to is white and the guy didn't address him and singled me out).

Whatever the case may be, it started out poorly and went all downhill from there.

Come to think of it, the guest and I were talking about the piss poor ways that the SCAA and WBC treats their volunteers and judges - a subject that always irritates me - and probably was the catalyst (on my end) for the degradation in handling the matter.

I don't remember the specifics but it wasn't pretty. I did not handle myself in the manner that I desired. I was the offended party who thought he deserved justice. Regardless of who was "right", I still ended up looking like an asshole. Not only to the elderly man without manners but, more importantly, to the other guests that were in the house at the time.

I'd like to think that I was justified. That I was "right." I stood up and didn't take prejudiced crap from some jerkoff. But in the end, like every time before, I don't feel that it was the "right" thing to do. I handled it poorly and engaged that elderly man in the manner that he engaged me. I didn't elevate the interaction. I didn't improve upon it. I helped degrade it. And that, to me, is a Failure.

I often talk about hospitality and leadership. That an environment of hospitality and quality can only be maintained if it is strongly demonstrated by the leadership. I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I failed so poorly and brilliantly as a leader during this incident. In front of staff, guests and passers-by. That kind of interaction can only give people a poor impression of who we are and what we are about.

Hospitality is easy when things are running smoothly and everyone is happy. The real test is when you're met with someone as grumpy and rude as that old man. Granted, I wasn't working the bar but anytime that I step into the scene, I should always be "on" and not running in cruise mode. What I should have done was dropped off the delivery and gotten the heck outta there. I had just come from working in the garden so I looked terrible (and probably smelled funky). I wasn't prepared for the "show" that we like to give to our guests.

I just hope that the next time I'm faced with a challenging guest, I'll have more clarity to handle the situation better.

Coffee Obsessive

I'm currently stuck in Mexico City after a mechanical problem with the airplane forced a two-hour delay, missing my window to connect on a flight back home to Baltimore. Granted, if I'm going to be "stuck" anywhere, Mexico City is about as ideal as it gets.

To my own surprise, this blog was mentioned in the article about me and my little company, Spro Coffee, in Baltimore. For those of you visiting us from the Washington Post: welcome.

I first was introduced to Martha Thomas about nine months ago in June 2010 where I received a phone call during my trip to London for the World Barista Championship. That's where the article you read in the Post all started. Over the next nine months, Martha and I would chat on a regular basis regarding the article and she came in several times to see just how we do what we do in our little shop in Hampden.

Martha joined us for a cupping with Joan & Ralph Gaston of Rusty's Hawaiian Ka'u Coffee where we sampled a range of coffees, including samples grown by Lorie Obra (Joan's Mom) - who is an amazing scientist turned coffee farmer on the Big Island. Martha later joined us in a demonstration on how we select a brewing method that "pairs" with a particular coffee. It seems that in the translation of the article, a little bit of both events were mixed together.

As with any article written over a long period of time, some details may have been a little jumbled with the passage of time. I wanted to take a moment to clarify some of the details:

- A visit to Anthony Rue's Volta Coffee & Tea in July 2009 was instrumental to the direction we decided to take Spro Hampden. Had it not been for Anthony, our approach of multiple brew methods throughout the day might not have happened. If anything, we might have ended up "cheating" like many shops in the country by batch brewing coffee during the morning "rush" instead of taking the time to prepare each cup by hand.

- Much of what we do is inspired by others. Almost nothing is truly original. From Ichiro Sekuguchi of Tokyo's Cafe de L'ambre to John Sanders of Origins Organic Coffee, Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, Aki & Alex from Ideas In Food, and fellow baristas like John Lewis - all and more have had an impact on me and the way we approach and present our coffees.

- In the article I'm quoted as saying: "We have no loyalty to any one roaster." Honestly, I don't think I ever said that - especially since loyalty is something central to what we do and own approach to doing things. As a company, we're very loyal to our vendors. We maintain long-term relationships with all our vendors. A great example of this is Origins Organic Coffee. We've been buying their coffee since 2004.

What I did say is that we do not maintain roaster exclusivity with any one roaster. In the coffee business, the typical model is for a retail shop (like Spro) to purchase all their coffees from one coffee roaster. It's a limited way of doing business that is slowly eroding in these modern times (although one of our original six roasters, Counter Culture Coffee of Durham, NC recently told us that they would no longer sell to Spro for three reasons, one of which was that they were returning to the roaster exclusivity model).

Roaster exclusivity is simply ludicrous. It's akin to walking into your local pub and only finding one brand of beer or alcohol. We are unable to do business with companies that insist on roaster exclusivity and we're very appreciative of the companies who started with us and believed in supporting our approach - and those companies are:

Origins Organic Coffee - Vancouver, BC
Barefoot Coffee - San Jose, CA
Ecco Caffe - Santa Rosa, CA
Stumptown Coffee - Portland, OR & New York City
Intelligentsia Coffee - Chicago, IL

- In the article, Ryan Jensen (owner of Peregrine Espresso in Washington DC) cautions about claims of singularity. While our model of multiple roasters, multiple coffees paired to multiple brewing methods, made by hand, day-in and day-out, is still the only one in the industry, I certainly hope that this anomaly is short-lived.

Seriously, Spro Hampden can only make so many coffees per day and we can only impact a small segment of the coffee drinking public. For our notion of quality coffee prepared without compromise to be tasted by the larger public, more shops have to take our approach. We cannot and do not want to be the only kid on the block serving our kind of coffee.

However, to do what we do takes a certain level of commitment and skill. Ryan Jensen has both of those and with his opening of a second Peregrine in the coming months, I'm hoping we'll see a more in-depth approach to their coffee program - because I think he's the best coffee operator in The District.

- The article mentions my judging experience. While I have judged barista competitions across North America, Central & South America, as well as Africa, I have not judged a competition in England. My visit to London last summer ended up with me as a spokesperson for Reg Barber Enterprises during the World Barista Championship.

From 2004-2007, I served as a volunteer director on the Executive Council of the Barista Guild of America. I have also served as a volunteer for the United States Barista Championship regional competitions and as a volunteer trainer for the Specialty Coffee Association of America. And in three weeks, I will serve again as a volunteer panelist speaking on multiple brewing methods in a cafe environment at the SCAA's annual trade show in Houston. I will be one on a panel with Anthony Rue (Volta), John Piquet (Caffe D'Bolla), Kyle Glanville (Intelligentsia) and Tracy Allen (moderator).

So, despite my criticism of the SCAA, I'm still willing to support and help out when I feel that I can lend something of value.

Well, that's about all I have. It's humbling to be written about in the Washington Post and I'm truly honored, but much of the credit goes to the people around me. My staff of baristas are some of the best baristas I've ever known and worked with, they ply our craft with humility and honesty in an unassuming manner absent of pretense and condescension. My non-coffee friends and family keep me grounded. My mentor, John Sanders, who has been instrumental in my learning of coffee and sense of duty to get involved in our industry. And many thanks to my friends in and around the business, without whom I never would have done what we do.

And of course, thanks to Martha Thomas for noticing and taking interest in what we do to take it to the Post. She's been fun and easy to work with and I wish her the best in her writing career. Same goes to the editors, staff and Marvin the photographer from the Post. Always professional and always easy to work with.

Thanks to all of them and thanks also to you for reading the Washington Post article and then this lengthy blog post (btw, I write about more than just coffee here). I hope you'll find your way to visit our little shop in Baltimore (or at least your local specialty coffee purveyor) where we look forward to making you a cup of coffee in a manner we hope you will enjoy.

Best regards,

Jay
Mexico City
6 Abril 2011

The Ideal Barista

Bullet points on becoming a Spro Barista.

Over the years, I've enjoyed the opportunity to train baristas near and far, for my own companies and for others. Training can be fun and exciting, but it can also be challenging and frustrating. Whether it's to my own standard or someone else's or to a more general standard, the training environment is always interesting and unpredictable, though I do find it a bit more difficult training people to a standard more open to interpretation, like the SCAA standards.

Within our own world, the standards become more defined and the sway room more narrow. When training to a specific standard, one can be more rigorous and exacting and I kinda prefer it that way.

However, standards do change from time to time and year to year. The more we learn, the more we refine what we do and that standard changes. It's most evident in my own baristas - whether from Jay's Shave Ice or Spro. Now that I've got eight years of training experience behind me, I can look back on our baristas and see the evolution of our style and standards.

While we continually push ourselves to become better and we retrain certain aspects of technique, I can look upon each barista and see details of their style and technique that says what era of our company they learned the craft. Perhaps it's a little flair here, or a particular tamping style there, but it's obvious to my eyes.

The interesting thing is that while the techniques may have evolved, the general base standard for preparation has not. Whether we're talking 2004 or 2010, we're still looking at a base standard espresso of 1.75-2.0 ounces, delivered in 25-29 seconds. The goal remains the same while the way we reach that goal has evolved.


Jeremy teaches Mia and Mia the AeroPress.

I got to thinking about this the other day after I had assigned the training of new baristas to our current baristas. Our new training program now begins with 20 hours of basic instruction and then a minimum 20 hours production experience before a candidate will be eligible to take the barista examination - a four hour marathon of coffee making that comprises both oral and practical skills.

After the new candidate's first day, I was working in the lab the next morning when I noticed the notes written on the white board.

I've long pondered exactly what the baristas I instruct learn and pickup. While I may talk about hospitality, accommodating the customer, hyper-excellent quality and doing whatever it takes for the customer to leave feeling "stoked" about visiting us, one can never be sure if they're absorbing it verbatim (as much as I would prefer it to be digested verbatim) of if I'm missing the boat completely.

The notes on the white board were a fascinating journey into how one barista has internalized, digested and then communicated "our way of doing things" to the next generation of barista. In reading the notes, part of me is touched, part of me is amused, part of me is honored and even a part of me is a little bit horrified. "Is this how they are interpreting my words?" Yet, I'm assured on a regular basis by customers that indeed they have digested my teachings while interpreting it through the prism of their own experiences.

Forty-Five Seconds

Kimmy inspects the new 64GB iPad.

If only Kimmy had called me five minutes earlier... Heck, if she had called me 45 seconds earlier, I would not have purchased the iPad.

I was standing there talking to Daniel when she called to tell me that there was an issue in Hampden and then I told her I would come down. By that point, I had just swiped my credit card into the reader. Dammit!

For whatever reason, I felt compelled to visit the Apple Store and check out the iPad. Did I want one? Not really. Before it came out, I thought it was stupid. Like a big, stretched iPhone and what good is that? But over the past month or so, I started to slacken on my stance.

Maybe we could create a document on the iPad that would replace our paper worksheets at the shop? Maybe it could become our communication center for emails and Tweets with customers? Maybe we can do more with it for the business - all for no less than $500. Stupid, I know.

But I couldn't help myself. I couldn't leave. Or, I left, went to Williams Sonoma and then came back. After discussing it with Daniel the Business Genius, I knew I secretly wanted one.

I should have left. But I didn't. I needed to go to Crate & Barrel. But no. Finally, I broke and told Daniel I would take it. Give it to me now!!! Dammit!!!

Daniel finished up with his customer then went into the back to get the fresh iPad, then proceeded to tell me about Mobile Me and AppleCare and all sorts of other details before actually processing my card. Kimmy could have called me any time during that time period and I would have had to pull out and depart sans iPad, but no...

She called just as the card was being swiped and I had the iPad - BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Precious is mine!

Now what am I going to do with the damn thing?

Moons Over My Hammy

Grandslam Sandwich





Moons Over My Hammy

ph: Mugging It

Weird Science at project hampden.

Ceramic wares for coffee have always been a bit of a problem for me. In spite of the large industry surrounding the coffee world, I find it quite difficult to find really great ceramic cups for coffee service.

Most shops use the "Brown Betty" style espresso and cappuccino cups but to my eye, they're God-awful ugly. Terrakeramik has been making tulip style cups for a couple of years now but at $75 for two, they're prohibitively expensive for service. That is, unless I'm charging French Laundry prices. Sadly, most companies make terrible cups for coffee service. Most of them have poor interior shapes that cause turbulence when pouring or they're just ridiculously large in size. I need a six ounce cappuccino cup, not an 8 ounce sorta shaped like cappuccino cup.

For years, I found respite in the aisles of Ikea where they made very affordable tulip-shaped cups in 2 ounce and 5.5 ounce sizes. Just right for service and competition, but now they're gone and I'm left stuck with nothing.

Ever since my days learning coffee at Hines Public Market Coffee in Seattle, I've been using the ACF La Marzocco branded cups. Those are just right but it's been difficult obtaining more of them and my entire inventory of those is either at Towson or in reserve somewhere. My next alternative is to go with a custom cup from a European manufacturer but I'm still not sure of the design and have been putting it off until we get everything just right. I mean why invest in 300 pieces if you're not 100% behind the design?

Meanwhile, I've ordered a bunch of Illy espresso and cappuccino cups. By far, the Illy cappuccino cups are my favorite. At six ounces with the sloped bowl, they're perfect. Too bad they have the Illy logo on them. The espresso cups aren't bad either.

The real problem comes when you're specifying larger sizes. Because of the trend towards sizes 16 ounces or greater, finding a decent 12 ounce cup for brewed coffee and lattes has been a challenge. But I did find a cup that fits the size requirement and has a pleasing shape. I ordered 48 of these cups in our new Caffeine Molecule design commemorating the opening of project hampden as Spro Hampden. As we transition to a new logo and new look, this will most probably be the very last item we make with the classic logo style.

Now, if we can only get them to work properly!

ph: Seven Months

Final inspection paperwork and the celebratory cigar.

Seven months.

It's been seven months since we took control of the space for project hampden that would become the new Spro Hampden. Seven months of hard work, poor choices, setbacks, steps forward, steps backwards, delays, irritations, celebrations and infatuations.

Seven months.

A lot happens in seven months. Friends come and friends go. Family members have been born. Family members have passed away. I dated two girls and met a third in those seven months.

But more importantly, I've grown and I've learned. Our once little company has blossomed with some of the most promising baristas I have ever known. They've chosen to be a family. I've heard of situations where people from different locations have rivalries. In our little company, the baristas from both locations share their friendship. It's amazing to watch and an honor to be a part of this talented team.

Today, I sat in project hampden mostly alone because with the postponement of our Barista Jam, everyone ended up with the day off. A couple of our team came by to pick up their paychecks (since today is payday) and we had a couple of visitors who happened to find me sitting in the shop. I made them coffee. Coffee from the heart.

Seven months.

In those same seven months, I've come to realize that I haven't worked the bar in three months. I haven't made coffee for customers in over three months now - I couldn't believe it. Where once I thought I might never get out from behind the bar, I've been wondering when I will get back.

Anisha and Dai came over to eat a lunch of burgers from the Kooper's Burger Truck. It was a nice time and I wondered how many more times we might have the opportunity to enjoy these kinds of lunches before the madness of service begins.

Seven months.

Seven months ago, I thought that we could be open by August 1st. It was that date or October 1st because I had made a commitment to Alirio Laguna that I would come to Ibague in September. August 1st passed. No big deal, we still have October 1st. By November 1st, I knew we were deep into it and we still hadn't opened. I had hired our crew and we chugged forward without a specific opening date in mind. December 1st - nothing. January 1st, still not open. February 1st - still waiting.

Project hampden has been the most difficult facility I've ever build. It's also the most ambitious with a slew of details that I wanted to make sure were just right. Back in November, I was in a rush to open for the Christmas season. By mid-January, I had abandoned all the rushing and knew that we had to get it right before we opened.

Seven months.

For a long time now, I constantly wondered when this day would come. The day when the final inspections of project hampden would be completed and we would pass those inspections. On Wednesday, when they said that our appointments would be scheduled for today, I couldn't believe it. Certainly, there would be another mishap that would delay the project once again.

Both the building and health department inspections went smoothly. The respective inspectors checked out the alterations carefully and considerately. I was nervous. Even after ten years in the business, I still get nervous when inspectors come to inspect our premises. I'm worried that they'll find incontrovertible evidence proving that I'm really just a charlatan.

But today wasn't going to be that day.

As the health inspector looked around and checked the various equipment, backflow valves, floor sinks, plumbing and electical separations, and sanitary sinks, he commented: "Looks like you really know your stuff." Wow, that was nice.

Seven months.

Today, project hampden passed its last inspections. From here, it's just a slew of paperwork (and the obligatory check to the city government) that must be filed before the new Spro Hampden will be certified to operate.

Pretty soon, I won't bristle when people ask me when we will be opening...

ph: Trial By Fire Saturdays

Jenny, Jess, Ilenia and Lindsay prepare themselves for the onslaught at hand.


After a couple of weeks of holidays, the tribe has gathered again for another group therapy session.  This time the task is to start putting all of the lessons together and delivering drinks in mock customer sessions.

For project hampden, we're making coffee with seven different brew methods.  Add a mix of six to eight coffees per day and top it off with everything being made to-order, on demand and by-the-cup and you're asking for trouble.  Swirl in a complete menu of espresso drinks made-to-order, hot teas, cold beverages and baked goods and you've got a veritable storm on your hands.

With such a radical change in service, there is no current working model.  The shops I know of stick to one or two main brewing methods, and if they have a setup where additional brewing methods are offered, it's on a very limited basis and not part of their standard operating procedures.  At project hampden, those seven brewing methods will be part of our daily operations.

Team Kimmy considers their menu options.

To facilitate the exercise, I divided the crew into two teams.  The task was simple: prepare yourselves.  Each team would order any drink off the menu while the other team prepared those drinks.  The entire menu from coffee to teas to espresso to cold drinks was up for ordering.  How would each team fare?  Would they be able to handle the load from a sympathetic group of "customers"?

Finding your groove can be a difficult proposition - even when you know your brewing methods.  Working with others in a confined space while trying to prepare a continuous stream of drinks in a timely fashion can be downright grueling.  Quite simply, there is no other way to get a team of people into their grooves than just throwing them into the fire.

Kimmy and Jeremy plan their macchiato strategies.

Each team would prepare three rounds of drinks for the other team.   Espresso, cappuccino, macchiato, latte, vac pot, eva solo, french press, pour over and everything in-between.  Not to mention finding a way to squeeze in the drink orders for the real, revenue-generating customers who happened to stop by for a coffee.

Each drink would have to meet my standards in order to be served.  Bad shots, bad milk or a screw up, and the drink would be rejected to be made again.  The proper cups had to be used, preheated and the service had to be correct: with the proper saucers and spoon positions.  While we would stop or pause to clarify certain aspects of the flow or service, timeliness was of the essence.

Some things went smoothly.  Others went not so smoothly.  While the crew wanted to remain positive, I could tell that they were stressed by the exercise.  What they thought they knew and could handle, they weren't as sure at the end of the day.

But that's to be expected.  We're working without a model and writing the book as we go along.  These exercises are meant to be brutal and difficult to encourage the best performance out of them.  Even with a few hiccups today, I'm very excited to see things as they progress and learn to find their groove together.

Until then, we'll keep at it!

ph: The Brews

Our tasting crew points to their brew preference for the Dama Yirgacheffe - aeropressed.

Today was the day to take the coffees that we have selected for service at project hampden and determine which brew methods will be the "default" brew for each coffee.

The idea is that if you're the kind of customer who wants to come in and just try the coffee, you can simply order it and we'll prepare it for you utilizing the brew method that we think best highlights the qualities of the particular coffee. Of course, if you're a bit more adventurous, you can come in and request the coffee of your choice brewed in the method of your choice.

So while the "default" brew method for let's say, the Amaro Gayo Ethiopia from Barefoot Coffee Roasters may be in the Clever brewer, you can also order the Amaro Gayo brewed as a pour over, French press, aeropress, eva solo, chemex or vac pot - giving you the ability to try the same coffee and see for yourself how each brew method will enhance or diminish certain aspects of a coffees' flavor. No other shop in the world offers this array of brewing options - all to order, by-the-cup.


Jenny eva solos the Kenya Gichathaini from Ecco Caffe.

Here are the coffees that will open project hampden in early January 2010, and their "default" brew methods:

Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia – Clever & Cold Brew
Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Santa Clara, CA

Santuario Bourbon, Colombia – Aeropress
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Chicago, IL

Yirgacheffe, Dama Cooperative, Ethiopia – Eva Solo
Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

Gitchathaini, Gikonda Cooperative, Nyeri, Kenya – Chemex
Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

Finca El Injerto Pacamara, Guatemala – French Press
Stumptown Coffee Roasters, New York, NY

Finca Mauritania, Santa Ana, El Salvador – Pour Over
Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC

Aida’s Grand Reserve, Santa Ana, El Salvador – TBD
Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC

Kigabah, Plantation A, Papua New Guinea – Chemex
Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC

Decaf House Blend – Aeropress
Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC

Espresso Blend – Espresso
Hines Public Market Coffee, Vancouver, BC


Lamarie and Rebecca vac pot the Amaro Gayo Ethiopia.

ph: The Results

Joy, Ilenia and Jeremy ponder their evaluations.

And here are the results for the last three days of service cuppings for project hampden:

Score / Coffee / Origin / Roaster / Roast Date

9.43 Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia - Barefoot, 12/1
8.69 Wondo Worka, Ethiopia - Caffe Pronto, 11/11
8.44 Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia - Barefoot, 11/23
7.50 Dama Yirgacheffe Organic, Ethiopia - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
7.44 Santuario Bourbon, Colombia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.40 Don Pachi, Panama - Stumptown, 12/1
7.38 Santuario El Mirador, Colombia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.30 Organic Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.19 Finca Mauritania, El Salvador - Counter Culture, 12/1
6.60 Sidama, Ethiopia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
6.57 Malacara Lot 119, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
6.44 El Injerto Pacamara, Guatemala - Stumptown, 12/1
6.36 Gichathaini, Kenya - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
6.14 Palo Blanco, Guatemala - Barefoot, 12/1
6.13 Cruz del Sur, Peru - Intelligentsia, 12/1
6.00 Los Luchadores, El Salvador - Counter Culture, 12/1
6.00 Tablon 12, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
5.90 Ndaironi, Kenya - Counter Culture, 12/1
5.90 Lot 91, El Salvador - Barefoot, 11/23
5.81 Monte Cristo, Brazil - Barefoot, 11/22
5.80 Gichathaini, Kenya - Intelligentsia, 12/1
5.71 El Porvenir, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
5.69 Nueva Armenia, Guatemala - Counter Culture, 12/1
5.64 Piura Organic, Peru - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
5.63 Sidamo Washed, Ethiopia - Origins, 11/23
5.31 Montes de Oro Honey, Costa Rica - Stumptown, 12/1
5.29 Tingo Maria Organic, Peru - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
5.21 Ixii de Avelina, Guatemala - Barefoot, 12/1
5.00 21st de Septiembre, Mexico - Counter Culture, 12/1
4.80 Thiriku, Kenya - Intelligentsia, 12/1
4.31 Gathuriri Reserve, Kenya - Stumptown, 12/1
4.13 Ndaroini French Roast, Kenya - Counter Culture, 12/1
3.86 La Guatuza, Nicaragua - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
3.75 Pashapa French Roast - Counter Culture, 12/1
3.19 Organic Emera, Timor - Zeke's, 11/30 ?
2.86 Monte Cristo, Brazil - Barefoot, 12/1
2.75 Supremo, Colombia - Kirkland, ??

Again, we used a subjective scale of 1 to 10 and all coffees were cupped on December 4th or 5th, or in the case of the Ecco Caffe and Barefoot coffees roasted on 12/1, they were cupped on December 9th.

ph: Pondering Paper

All sorts of paper goods from the paper suppliers' showroom. I won't need TP at home for a week!

As project hampden moves closer and closer to its' opening, more and more details need to be attended and time seems to be in very short supply. Time to think about paper goods. The quandry: how to present a thoughtful and refined approach without increasing costs to the point where it has to affect the retail price? Sure, we could go with nice linens, but that costs money and may mean the difference between a dessert costing $3.75 and $5.50, or more. And while I'm fine with charging what's appropriate, we don't want to scare people away because of price alone.

To my mind, many things in the coffee business are played out. Cheap is played out. How about something refined? Corn lined paper hot cups are nice but the premium is pretty steep and does the wax lining of "regular" paper cups really mean that it will take a bazillion years for the thing to decompose? The irony here, of course, is that all "bio-friendly" disposables inevitably end up being sealed in plastic bags that will always take a bazillion years to decompose...

Of course, nothing beats ceramic. Give me beautiful white plates and we'll fill them with something beautiful and tasty. Eating stuff for "here" is the easy part. It's the "can I take it with me" that it all falls apart. Plastic containers are nice and reusable, but there's going to be some tree-hugging jerkoff who's going to complain about the petrochemicals used in the container. I'll then be tempted to point out that the Horizon Organic Milk they're drinking at home is rubbish but that would only serve to irritate the problem rather than soothe.

Foil has the ability to go from the oven to the bag, so if we decided to make fresh mac 'n cheese, we could just pop it in the over, bake it off and let the customer take it home in all its' molten, oozy, cheezy glory. But the foil containers look about as classy as the stuff I used to get from the Washington Square Diner while attending NYU.

Then there's the pseudo-chinese-takeout-looking flat boxes in bio-friendly brown paper. They're stylish, kinda retro and very bio-chic. They can take the microwave, limited oven and look classy. I think we'll go with those.

Cups? To go paper will probably remain standard white because I'm unconvinced that the wax lining is that destructive to the environment, and because no matter the cup, the lid is always going to be plastic - until they figure a way to stop corn based plastics from disintegrating when warm.

Plastic cups may go to corn-based plastics. The concern here is not with cold beverages, where the corn plastics excel, but with the method we prepare some of our cold drinks - starting with warm to hot ingredients that we cool down. Does the additional expense of corn plastic also justify the additional labor of changing our production methodologies? Not sure yet.

Another conundrum is the utensils. At The Spro in Towson, we use all black plastic utensils. They're stylish, functional and disposable. Do we maintain those utensils for project hampden, or change to bio-friendly tan colored utensils? Or do we just use stainless utensils in-house and screw the convenience and tell people to go home with their take out, use their own utensils and save the environment? Idealistic but not very accommodating for the customer.

The curious aspect is the paper towels. The recycled towels cost less because they're not as pretty as the white towels. Hmmm, bio-friendly and cheaper? Now that's some tree-hugging I can get behind!

Meanwhile, I've spotted a bit of whimsy while perusing the stacks of our paper supplier. Soap dispensers geared towards children. I'm determined to find a way to use them at project hampden to bring a little fun into our serious world of coffee...

project hampden: project cupping

The cupping begins!

It's been over two months since we started on this journey of the barista for our project hampden crew. In the process, we've cupped lots of coffees, learned and proofed brewing methods and visited cows and other coffee places. In training new baristas, I've never taken the route we've taken. For our crew of baristas, I've been doing my best to train the best rounded baristas that I possibly can - and I still wish I had more time.

A by product of tasting and learning about coffees is the formation of preferences. It's simply not possible to taste some of the best coffees available and not become tainted by it. As our time together has progressed, I've been hearing more and more reports on how increasingly difficult it is for them to find coffee that they can enjoy outside of our little world. It is a hazard of our business.




As such, I almost never drink coffee outside of The Spro or my own home. I only drink coffee at select places that I know take the time to do it right. Sadly, most places brew poor examples of coffee. For most people, it's not too noticeable, but when you're drinking some truly spectacular coffees, the difference is starkly apparent.

So, after two months of subjecting my crew to truly amazing coffees, as well as a number of horrific coffees, it's now time for them to take the big step: the evaluation and selection of coffees for the opening of project hampden.

I've always felt strongly that our baristas should be passionate about the coffees we serve because it's far too often that I see baristas (yes, in the Third Wave) that merely recite verbatim the description provided by their roaster. Perhaps that description is accurate but, in our experience, it's not always so. The vision that I have for project hampden is that our team of baristas will evaluate and vet out the coffees for which we feel most strongly.


Jenny crunches the numbers.

I'm lucky to have great roaster partners to work with. Friends in the business who are willing to join me and our crew on this exploration/aberration of the coffee industry. The practice of using multiple roasters is still relatively unheard of in our business and certainly the few places that have done this have not executed to the extent that we are planning to execute.

For project hampden, our primary roasters will be:

- Hines Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC
- Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC
- Stumptown Coffee Roasters, NYC
- Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Santa Clara, CA
- Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Chicago, IL
- Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

All of whom are friends and companies whom I believe are sourcing, roasting and producing some of the best coffees in North America.

Our cupping protocols follow along the industry standard but our cupping forms mimic those developed by Counter Culture Coffee for their informal cuppings. In the evaluation of the coffees, I wanted more notes on the flavors, aromas and characters of the coffee rather than the numerical scores given in either the SCAA or CoE cupping forms. I wanted more "gut" feeling about the coffees than the clinical numbers of formal cupping sessions.


Writing their evaluations.

This past weekend, we cupped twenty-five different coffees from a variety of roasters, both named suppliers and outside sources. The results were both surprising and not so surprising.

A new feature to our cupping form was the additional of a numerical score for each coffee. The point scale ranged from 1 to 10, with ten being the highest. Again, this numerical score was completely subjective. Did the barista like the coffee or not? Loved it or hated it? The numerical score would be the easiest way to gage likability by our staff and readily tell me which coffees to target.

Certainly an argument can be made against this system of grading- what are the criteria? None. What does a "5" mean? Whatever that barista deemed it to mean. It's not "fair"! True, it's not fair. But neither is the likes of any customer. It's not meant to be a "fair" grade. It's meant to tell me which coffees our baristas feel most passionate about. Which coffees will they champion? Which coffees will they sell the most? It's human nature to push something you like. Why not fill our selections with coffees our baristas like?


More smelling and cupping.

Of course, that's not to say that the selection of coffees for project hampden is completely egalitarian. project hampden is about my vision and what I want to project upon the world, so if a coffee doesn't meet my standard, it won't make it - even if everyone on staff gave it a "10". Conversely, if there's a coffee that I'm particularly interested in highlighting, it will be there.

But for now, our crew is cupping, evaluating and determining the coffees that will be there the day we open.

DC Cafe Crawl

Alex Brown leads the Friday Cupping at Counter Culture.

The first stop on our DC Cafe Crawl was to the Counter Culture Training Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC where customer service rep Alex Brown holds weekly cuppings on Fridays at 10am.

After nearly a month of learning and cupping coffees, and the ever-impending opening of project hampden, I figured it was time to really give the crew a plunge into cupping outside of our little World of Spro. It's one thing to taste and cup coffees in your home environment, but how would they manage outside our world? How would they manage at the lab of one of our roasters, amongst industry peers and colleagues? It was time to sink or swim.

Also attending the cupping were the lead barista and sommelier from the soon-to-open Liberty Grill, as well as an assortment of other baristas and a couple of coffee enthusiasts.

I'm happy to say that our crew performed admirably. With a grasp of the basic protocols, they were able not only to cup to industry accepted practices but also pitched in to handle some of the rudimentary functions of cuppings like filling the cups, skimming the tops and clearing down afterwards.

As anyone who's attending cuppings knows, there's a level of stress involved when discussing the flavors. Did you get them "correct"? Were you on "the money"? Or are you some sort of weirdo who can't or doesn't taste what everyone else does? Normal concerns that are typical with anyone just starting in the practices of cupping.


Clever brewing at Counter Culture.

Happily, our crew joined in the conversation with their tasting notes and identified lots of great characteristics and really added to the discussion. The three coffees we cupped were the Finca El Puente from Honduras, Gayo from Sumatra and Aida's Grand Reserve from El Salvador. Here are some of the descriptions;

Lamarie on the Finca El Puente:
"This fresh, medium-bodied coffee surrounds you with a campfire swirl filled with sweet embedded flavors of vanilla, tobacco and toasted almonds. Finca El Puente's brightness will leave your tongue lingering with a smooth and creamy citrus that blends perfectly for any occasion."

Rebecca on the Gayo:
"This rich and savory cup of coffee is for those who take pleasure in the bittersweet taste of dark chocolate. Filled with a strong, full-bodies flavor of nuts, wood and childhood s'mores, leaving you with an aftertaste of warming spices."

And the Group on Aida's Grand Reserve:
" This unique and complex cup of coffee has an abundance of fragrances including grape, vanilla and cinnamon. The aroma is a pleasant sweet smell with hints of nutmeg. After tasting this delicious and fruity cup of coffee, you'll be left with a cornucopia of flavors that linger on your palate wanting more."

For lunch, we enjoyed a selection of Julia's Empanadas on the rooftop garden overlooking the District.


Hanging at Chinatown Coffee.

From there, we made our day down to 5th and H Streets to visit the very new Chinatown Coffee. Many of you know of the fallout between old friend Nick Cho and myself - some of whom have likened it to the split between Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, so I decided to fire off an email to Nick before we decided to visit Chinatown. I told him that I didn't want to spring a visit on him and to let me know if it would be uncomfortable for him and his crew if I showed up there. Never did get a response, but I guess that's to be expected. He's got other pressing problems to worry about.

There's only one reason I want to check out Chinatown: the Clever Abid brewer. As far as I know, they were the first shop in the nation to incorporate the Clever (not clover) brewer. Basically, the Clever is a full-immersion brewer with Melitta filter. Simply fill the unit with coffee and hot water, wait three minutes or so, then set the cup-actuated brewing device on the top of a cup and it filters the coffee as it passes into the cup. Clever! I ordered a Kenyan from Intelligentsia on the Clever. Pretty tasty.

Chinatown is a long, deep and narrow space. Black, concrete, orange and fluorescent lighting fill the space. The layout is big and spacious but narrows and feels claustrophobic on the customer side by the espresso machines. The female barista at the register seemed more surprised about our arrival with a "where did you all come from?" So much for "hello, how are you?"

The crew at Chinatown is decidedly murky coffee. If you're a fan of murky and their methods and service, then you too will be a fan of Chinatown. We enjoyed our drinks, the cortados were nicely done but the female customer huffing and puffing because the girls were taking pictures in her vicinity made me chuckle. Here's yet another "customer" camping out all day on her computer, taking up real estate, sucking down electricity and consuming bandwith with a nearly empty cup on the side that looks two hours cold, huffing and puffing.

It's people like her that are the reason we will not have Wi-Fi, Internet or electricity at project hampden.


Jeremy and Jenny sample one of Peregrine's signature drinks.

From there, we piled back into VanSpro and headed past the Capitol and up The Hill to the now legendary Peregrine Espresso.

I openly admit that I had not been to Peregrine in the 14 months they had been open. Many of my friends had encouraged me to go, but I couldn't. I had to stay away.

Don't get me wrong, Peregrine owners Ryan and Jill Jensen are great people whom I consider friends. I have to ill-will towards them and always look forward to seeing them again. The truth is that back in early 2008, I led a small investment group in a campaign to put a coffee shop in the same space after murky coffee had been seized by the DC Government for tax evasion. Without knowing that we were bidding against Ryan and Jill, it was a heated battle and a personal one for myself. In the end, Ryan and Jill won the space and put in a great coffee joint. For me, I was a bit burned because had the property owners been upfront about who they wanted instead of asking our group to jump through many hoops, we wouldn't have wasted so much time and effort on the project. It left a distaste for their practices and I felt no compulsion to return.

It's been many months to soothe my senses and I wanted to visit Peregrine because I've been hearing that they're simply the best coffee place in Washington DC. Walk into the shop and it's immediately apparent that while Ryan may have come from a murky lineage, he's shed the murky vibe and gone for a place with clean design, bright, shiny and filled with passionate and friendly baristas.

In fact, it was the friendliness of the staff that our crew noticed the most about the place. Add to that a daily selection of signature drinks for the customers to try and you've got a winner.

Even though he wasn't there when we arrived, Ryan soon appeared after making a delivery and regaled our crew with Peregrine stories and philosophies on our craft and coffee. It was a good way to spend our afternoon.


Barista Champion and Peregrine principal Ryan Jensen busts out science to the Spro crew.

Originally, I wanted us to visit a couple of other places like Tryst and Big Bear but since David was out of town and Lana was no longer with Big Bear, it didn't make any sense to visit unless we could meet with the people that made those places. That's especially true in the case of Lana who built not only Big Bear but resuscitated its' Bloomingdale neighborhood in the process. Quite simply, Big Bear isn't "Big Bear" without Lana.

Moving right along, we headed out to the NorthEast Badlands along H Street to Sova Espresso & Wine. I had been hearing about the opening of Sova for what seemed like years from owner Frank, who spent a bit of time in the murky coffee scene learning about coffee, and was excited to check the place out.


Lamarie, Lindsay and Kimmy chillin' at Sova.

But sadly, I have to write that I was disappointed. Maybe it's because of the hype, but Sova did not live up to my expectations. Listening to Frank regale me with his plans for a place that would be part of the NorthEast revival, visiting the Sova website and just the general feel of its' reputation and I was looking forward to a very slick, clean, hip and modern espresso and wine bar. I was expecting something that I hadn't seen before. Visit the website and it looks very slick. Visit Sova itself and it comes across as just another coffee house - like a fancier murky Arlington. I was disappointed. It was hyped so much in my mind that perhaps no place could live up to that expectation.

Of course, it didn't help much when we rolled into the place and the one barista was busy on the telephone. Too busy to acknowledge that ten people had just rolled into her shop. Not a very good sign. On a positive note, at least when she finished her phone call she didn't give the same gasping expression that the barista at Chinatown gave us. This one, when off the phone, was at least a bit more accommodating.

Much to my chagrin, some of our crew decided they wanted to try a couple of drinks out of the ordinary for us (though more ordinary for most): a mocha and white mocha. I wondered how they would like them. Others went with cappuccinos and I went for the Fetco brewed Nicaragua.

At one point though, I think it was Becks who asked for the brewed Kenya featured on the wallboard menu, only to be told that "someone" had forgotten to change the sign since that was yesterday's brew. Perhaps not a big deal at 7am, but not to have noticed all day long (or worse pretended not to notice) that the sign needed to be changed - it was 3pm.

In spite of the fact that I was disappointed that Sova looked more like a fancy murky arlington than a slick and modern wine bar, we made our way into the back lounge where we enjoyed our final coffees of the day amidst convivial conversation. Drinks were passed around and some noted how they no longer found the mocha/white mocha to their liking. Too sweet.

Hmmm, a mocha now tastes "too sweet"? That's the kind of barista talk that makes me proud...

Cupping The Barefoot

Jeremy, Ilenia, Lamarie and Nikki cup samples from Barefoot Coffee.

As we grind closer to the opening of project hampden, the crazies at Barefoot Coffee were excited to send us some samples. I've known Andy Newbom, owner of Barefooot, since I really started getting into the business in 2004. He's a crazy guy with whom I haven't always seen eye-to-eye with (mainly when we served on the Barista Guild of America's Executive Council). Regardless I've always liked the guy and have always respected his passion and the company he's worked so hard to create, which is why it's now an honor to work with Barefoot for project hampden.

If you ever have the chance to visit their original cafe in Santa Clarita, I think you'll find a remarkable place. Dab smack in the middle of a very suburban strip mall is Barefoot - an urban oasis of bohemian coffee amongst soccer moms and technology wizards. The first time I visited in 2004, Andy was just getting started and it wasn't too radically different than most Third Wave shops at the time. When I stopped by again last December, I was amazed at the transformation. That it was possible to create an urban oasis in the middle of suburban hell.

When I went to visit Barefoot again during my brief four-hour stopover in San Francisco this past August (on the way home from the Western Canadian Regionals), I found Andy and company in a mission-style mansion not too far from downtown Santa Clara where everything was churning along. Since it's forty minutes each way, I only had about fifteen minutes to stop in for a chat and a quick tour. After meeting much of the crew and chilling with Andy, I was on my way back to SFO.

Like I said, Andy is a crazy guy. To my mind, there is no one coffee professional in our generation crazier than Andy Newbom. The guy is completely psycho about coffee and creating a rock culture of passionate coffee people. Which should have prepared me for the day that our Barefoot account rep Tony Serrano came-a-calling.

There was Tony, on the phone and just as crazy passionate about coffee as Andy. He was hyper excited about coffee and working with us, which in turn made me even more excited about working with them. Speaking through the phone, across America, in a high-speed, rapid-fire staccato about sending us an assortment of coffees to try. I was so swept up in his enthusiasm, how could anyone say no?

Not that I wanted to say "no" but I wasn't sure if now was the right time to start bringing in coffees for operational evaluation. We don't have a firm opening day yet.

Needless to say, the coffees started arriving and we started cupping. Many of the roasters we work with provide tasting notes with their coffees and Barefoot does the same. However, I think it's important for our baristas to know the coffees so, instead of memorizing the note cards and giving rote recitations of the descriptions, I have them cup the coffees, identify the characteristics and develop a description of the coffee based on their own tasting notes.

I tend to withhold the roasters' tasting notes until they are finished with the descriptions so as not to color their interpretations of the coffees. And while the differences can be starkly different, the commonalities are what I find most interesting. Here's Ilenia's description of Barefoot's Sumatra Gayoland Water Processed Decaf Coffee:

Barefoot Coffee's Sumatra Gayoland Decaf delivers a delicious cup of coffee with milk chocolate flavors and hints of fresh-cut honeysuckle. This crisp, yet thick but never heavy cup leaves a lasting aftertaste that will leave a spritely punch of rich, dark chocolate notes."

Now, here's Barefoot's description:

"Deep and earthy, heavy body and low bass notes heavy chocolate, rich nuttiness, loamy power creamy cherimoya and hints of tropicals."

Table 21

Oooh La La!

Why anyone would build a fine dining restaurant in Frederick is really beyond me. Nothing against Frederick but it just seems like an odd place to open a contender for the finest restaurant in Maryland. Washington DC, of course. Baltimore, sure. But Frederick? Just odd.

Even though I had eaten previously at Volt in June, it was only recently that I heard about Volt's Table 21 - a private chef's table situated in the middle of the kitchen featuring a 21 course T-21 tasting menu. Stories buzzed about the "molecular gastronomy" approach to Table 21 and with Chef Bryan Voltaggio being a part of the coming season of Top Chef, we figured we had better hit Table 21 before the show aired and it becomes another Minibar - where you have to play telephone marathon months in advance to score a seat.


Anisha and Juan Manuel playing "Thumpers."

To be honest, I'm not one for planning too much too far ahead of time. If I get in, I get in. If not - oh well. My experiences at per se, minibar, L'Arpege, Alinea and other places were because I just kinda showed up or called at random times with lots of flexibility - sure, I'll take that seat for one. Happily, because I think he knows how much I hate to plan too much, Juan Manuel took upon the task of securing our reservation.

For our dinner, I invited Anisha, chef/owner of Puffs & Pastries, and Janice, chef/owner of the now-moving-to-Frederick Tenzo Artisan to join myself and the aforementioned Juan Manuel - former restauranteur, coffee aficionado, car enthusiast cum food expert.


Neil Protects Us from Our First Course.

Like I said, I had been to Volt back in June. It's a gorgeous space. Take a Victorian mansion, put in a modern interior with a gleaming kitchen and that's Volt. Like Cafe Atlantico's minibar, at Volt's Table 21, the guests sit in a row facing the garde manger station, with the hot line and pass to your right. In other words, you're smack dab in the middle of everything, with a front row seat. The problem with the setup is that if you're in the first or fourth seat, it becomes very hard to engage in the conversation across the table. Like at minibar, there were numerous times I was wishing we were sitting in a typical four-top so that conversation could flow easier - and I was in seat 3.

Anisha and Juan Manuel had asked me before about Volt and I decided not to tell them what I thought about my previous experience because I didn't want my comments to color their expectations. Truth is, my first experience at Volt was a bit uneven and off-putting.

I had been hearing about Volt for months. Then, on the way back from the Mid-Atlantic Roasters Group meeting in Blacksburg, Virginia, I decided what the hell - I was going to take the long route home and detour through Frederick for a taste of Volt. Parking on a deserted lot, I changed from my long-distance driving attire into khaki shorts with webbed leather belt, black Polo Ralph Lauren t-shirt under a short-sleeved button down. I didn't have a reservation and as I walked up to the host podium, the blonde receptionist gave me a really fast one-over look and a half-second squint in her eye - as though I was improperly dressed.


Chocolate Cake in a Martini Glass

Truth is, I didn't know the dress code. I didn't know much about Volt at all other than the fact that people had been talking about the food. She asked if I wanted to sit in the dining room or at the bar. The dining room was my choice. Her glance had only been for a fraction of a second but it was enough time for me to catch it- which wouldn't have irritated me so much except for the guy I saw sitting in the bar area wearing an outfit nearly identical to my own. The difference was that he was white.

After dining at some really wonderful restaurants around the world, I was surprised to find a really fine dining approach in such a small town as Frederick. Servers in suits, runners, bussers - crap they had a lot of staff in the dining room. It reminded me of per se. But to my eye, some things were just incongruent to what they seemed to be pursuing. Take the attire, for example. The runners were nicely dressed, but not too nice. My servers' suit was a suit but it wasn't well tailored. It lacked the sharpness you see at places like Charlie Trotters or Alinea. It didn't drape well. Then there is the matter of the footwear: brown Converse Chucks.


Prosciutto Chips, Potato Dip

I graduated from high school in 1987 and throughout my high school years it was the height of teen fashion rebellion to wear Converse Chucks with suits - especially red Chucks with your tuxedo at prom. I'm sure there are many legions of diners that probably love the juxtaposition of the Chucks with the suit, but I'm not one of them. Here's a place that obviously spent a lot of time and money sourcing and preparing the food, developing service and creating a sophisticated environment that seems like it wants to be on par with places like Citronelle or Le Bernadin, but the servers wardrobe was so incongruent with everything else they were doing that it hit me like Mike Tyson.

Sadly wasn't all. I think I chatted with someone later that night about finding knowledgeable servers in a town so far removed from any metropolitan city. My server was nice enough but all night long he chatted endlessly about himself and what restaurants he's been to and anything and everything else him. Had I not tuned him out earlier in the evening, I would have known just about everything there is to know about him. I'd be very surprised if he knew anything about me.


Neil Opens a Bottle of White Wine

Not to say that I think I'm all that, but I was the guest that evening. You'd think by the amount of information I was being fed that I was server and he was the guest.

By now you're probably wondering what I thought about the food that night. I remember it being good. I remember that I enjoyed the food. The problem with Volt that night wasn't the food - actually, I know I enjoyed the food because I made a point to stop by the kitchen and thank the cooks before leaving - it were these incongruencies in the evening. Those little (and not so little) things that just throw off everything that everyone is trying to achieve.

You can see why I was being so coy about my thoughts on Volt before our dinner. Normally, I would be reluctant to go back after such an evening, but the food was good and when I heard that they were doing some exciting stuff at their Table 21, I wanted to go back and give it another try, and I'm glad I did.


Sashimi of Yellowfin Tuna, Yellow Doll Watermelon, Perilla

I never want to be close-minded about things because things can change. Things can improve and there's something about Volt that I really like. It's hard to hold a standard and bring service up to that standard - I know that personally. It's something that takes time. And it helps that former Volt staffer Felecia had lots of good things to say about the restaurant and their approach.

This time was much better. Service was friendly but deferential. There wasn't a lot of chattiness. We weren't burdened with someone's low opinion of other restaurants or how poor the restaurant scene is in Baltimore, or how that restaurant sucked. We were given the room to have a good time.

Enough about that. How was the food? Quite good. Lots of great technique going on with those cutting-edge things you may have heard about: liquid nitrogen, anti-griddle, PacoJet, foams, chemicals, sous vide. For someone like me, it's always fun to be served a meal and have an understanding (and hopefully an appreciation) of the technique that went into creating the dish. Like compressing watermelon in a vacuum. It's so simple yet so exciting to me.


Heirloom Tomatoes, Encapsulated Buffalo Mozzarella, Basil

Happily, none of our courses begged of technique for the sake of technique. Sometimes these tasting menus get crazy just because. They become exercises in intellectual wow rather than soul nourishment. Bryan Voltaggio and his crew are able to walk that line without crossing into the intellectual wow factor.

Sitting in the kitchen offers the opportunity to watch that technique in action - like the Nitro Beet's beet puree that starts off as a dollop on the AntiGriddle and then finished in a liquid nitrogen bath. Lots of cool things to watch that you don't see on Food Network.


Chicharron, Spun Sugar, Curry Salt

Twenty-one courses is a lot of food. Some were great, others not so much. I'll tell you about my favorites.

Prosciutto Chips in a warm potato foam dip with chives - deelish. The chips were dehydrated and the perfect foil to the potato foam. The problem with the dish is that there's more foam than chips and I was left wanting for a spoon to chow down on the remaining foam dip.

Sashimi of Yellowfin Tuna with compressed Yellow Dot Watermelon. Like I said above, I dig compressed melon. It's widely regarded as having the same texture as tuna (I disagree), but I'm always game for good yellowfin tuna. More please.

Then there was the chicharron stick with a swirl of cotton candy topped with curry salt. Crunchy pig wrapped with sugar and the spiciness of curry - need I say more?


Compressed Yellow Doll Watermelon, Salmon Roe, Vanilla Salt

Foie Gras Torchon - nothing terribly innovative here. Just beautiful foie gras from Hudson Valley, some fresh bing cherry halves and toasted brioche. The anti-foie gras people can go fuck themselves.

Iberico cross pork - I had to ask our server to repeat himself on this one. Evidently, there's someone local who's raising a cross breed of Iberico pigs from Spain and by the taste of the pork belly, someone is doing something very, very right.


Working in the Corner of Dreams: PacoJet, AntiGriddle, Liquid Nitrogen

The Pineland Farm Beef Strip was the dish that was both amazing and disappointing. First off, it's plated onto a huge, mother of a plate. The thing takes up the entire depth of the table and demands two hands to handle it. It's frickin' huge. The components of the dish are really good and I really dig the flavor of the creamed corn and the Yukon Gold puree, plus the garlic chip and foam paired perfectly with the stellar beef - and I do mean that the beef was stellar. Absolutely perfectly seasoned, cooked sous vide and just delicious. Stellar.

The problem with the dish wasn't the flavors or the beef but the amount of time it took to prepare such a large plating. By the time it reached our table, the creamed corn had started to dry out under the heat lamps at the pass and was developing a dry film. Flavor wise, it was the highlight of the meal. Visually speaking, the drying corn made it the lowest.


Nitro Beet, Foie Gras, Candied Walnut

Cheese is always an enjoyable course and the Midnight Moon cheese was delicious. The only problem was that the plate was so big. Not in terms of physical size but of quantity. All night long, we've been enjoying tastes of food. The cheese with the beets and the strawberry sorbet was just too much after so many courses. Half that size and it would have been perfection.


Chicken Wing, Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Celery


Cherry Glen Farm Goat Cheese Ravioli, Sweet Corn


Bass, Tasting of Summer Squash, Chorizo


Sweetbreads, Flavors of Picata


Preparing more to eat.


Iberico Cross Pork Belly, Bacon, Mostarda, Upland Cress

The Dulce de Leche "dirt" on the dessert was my favorite component of the dish, even though the goat cheese cheesecake was very tasty. I'm also a sucker for coconut ice cream and while the coconut dessert reminded me of Hawaiian haupia, it reminded Anisha of India. "It tastes like India," she says.

Now I no longer have to visit Bombay.

The barista side of me demands that I must try the coffee at nice restaurants - just to see what they are doing. Volt's coffee comes from Dublin Roasters in New Market, Maryland. Juan Manuel and I shared a french press of Organic Tanzania Peaberry. While more roasty than I prefer, it was pretty decent.


Foie Gras Torchon, Bing Cherries, Vanilla Brioche, Pistachio Soil




Duck, Belgian Endive, Purslane


Salsify, 60F Egg, Summer Truffles


Longnecker Farm Rabbit, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Carrot, Parsley


Dried and dehydrated Beets

Our mignardises were miniature madelines, Parisian style macarons and chocolate truffles. Tasty stuff that Anisha took home in what turned out to be a large container (for the four mignardises) and an even larger bag.

For me, the challenge is in the details. I found our experience at Table 21 to be very good. Not quite equal to the experiences I've had at other restaurants but certainly better than many, many others. One detail that I particularly loved was the cleanliness of the kitchen. Overall, it's very clean. But take a closer look and the details reveal themselves.


Chef Voltaggio doing his thing.


Pineland Farm Beef Strip Loin, Yukon Gold Puree, Roasted Pepper, Garlic


Cheese Midnight Moon, Strawberry, Beets


Dulce de Leche, White Chocolate, Goat Cheesecake


French Press Coffee Service



Coconut Vanilla, Lavender


Anisha and the Bread Sticks - After spending the entire evening without bread and spying the house baked bread sticks sitting on the undershelf at the Garde Manger station, the baker in Anisha finally broke down and asked for a taste.


Bing Cherry Chocolate


Mignardises

While most restaurant stoves have an overshelf, Volt's has a custom fabricated overshelf with a smooth coved base that prohibits grease from collecting in the corners. It's a touch that I'm sure not many people will notice but it's a killer detail that I'm sure the cooks appreciate.

The pans are also spotless. No burn or scorch marks on the side means that they've been scrubbed hard by the dishwash crew.

But the detail that caught my eye most dramatically were the chrome plated halon fire extinguishing pipes and nozzles in the hood above the hot line. Those pipes and fittings were gleaming and spotless. That detail alone is an absolute beauty and an indication of the level these guys are pursuing.

So how much does all of this cost? A cute 121 dollars - plus beverages, taxes and tip. After sharing a bottle of wine with Anisha, my portion came out to $203 all inclusive. Pricey for DC, expensive for Baltimore, which has to be astronomical for Frederick - but still less than half what you would pay at Alinea in Chicago and not even a third of the price for dinner at L'Arpege in Paris - so, all in all, a good deal. And you don't have to fly to get there.

Will I go back? In addition to Table 21 and the a la carte menu in the main dining room, there's still yet a separate menu in the Chef's Dining Room...


When Pigs Fly at Volt's Table 21.


Volt Restaurant
228 North Market Street
Frederick, Maryland 21701
301.696.8658
www.voltrestaurant.com