I'd like to return to the drip coffee discussion. In the early to mid-1990s, good drip coffee was still a novelty. Most people were still drinking canned commercial coffee, perhaps even brewed with a percolator. I imagine that as the 1990s waned, more people were drinking coffee that was at least acceptable if not necessarily specialty (say, Eight O'Clock). This is probably around the time Starbucks launched the Frappuccino.
So if I repeat this to myself enough times, will it sink in? Regardless, I'm going to make a special effort to include only constructive comments in this post. And nice. And constructive. And nice. And. . .
Last time, several months back, I compared Alterra on Humboldt and Caribou, the latter being an outfit that sells really good beans, but in terms of their cafes. . .well, the most notable thing about them is that you can get any of several varieties of chocolate or candy sprinkles on your drink. It's kind of the coffee version of I Can't Believe It's Yogurt (or was it The Country's Best Yogurt?), which used to be on the other side of Silver Spring Dr. This time around, we square Glendale's Alterra off with a somewhat more substantial competitor, Stone Creek Coffee's location a half-mile or so north.
As I've written before, Alterra pulls triple ristretto espresso shots, and Stone Creek does not. There's nothing inherently wrong with Stone Creek's approach, but I found this afternoon's example to be completely lackluster. I'd ordered a "brew and a shot" (in good Milwaukee form) and after taking just a sip of my Stone Creek espresso, dumped it into my drip coffee. The whole was definitely more than the sum of the parts in this instance. Poor Stone Creek is shorthanded and moving employees around from store to store (I just overheard the barista here saying she worked a double shift today, one at each of two stores). I notice that Stone Creek's machines are programmed to 27 seconds, which is too long in my opinion.
Earlier this afternoon, my favorite barista was working at Alterra Bayshore, so there was no choice for me but to order a double. Interestingly, most Alterras seem to serve doppios in single demitasses (perhaps to highlight the triple ristretto approach), but this particular one came in a larger cup. Still, it had all the flavor hallmarks of Alterra triple espresso: intense flavor rather like a piece of hard candy and, most remarkable, incredible natural sweetness. As is my wont, I poured a little half-and-half into the last ounce or so to get all the flavor out of the cup. (Does that count as a ghetto latte?)
-Mary at CricketToes posted a great blog entry about the backlash to yet another fast food restaurant in the inner city.
-Speaking of food, I'll soon be posting a page on the four food groups every good coffeehouse should have.
Tonight's ramblings began at Le Reve, where I took advantage of the relative peace and quiet of a Friday evening to reacquaint myself with the Pan Bagnat ($8.50) and this here cappuccino ($3). (Note to POS system programmer: "Pan Bagnat" looks better next to "$8.50" than "Tuna Sand"!) I've noticed that the side salad portion has been trimmed a bit; it was fun to come here in this place's first weeks and experience some extra helpings! The capp was a killer, hiding some seriously strong espresso under an igloo of dense foam. The espresso had a different, though not at all disagreeable, taste to it and took quite a while to be served (my food actually came up first), so I wonder if there was some improvisation. Whatever the case, the results were very good, definitely well suited to power walking, writing or. . .who knows where my ramblings will take me?
-I'm enjoying a freshly brewed Pike Place decaf at Starbucks in Whitefish Bay. I think one of the biggest benefits of the new drip program is that in the p.m. hours, you're more likely than not to have it, basically, custom-brewed just for you. And it's really good. The Pike actually reminds me of Alterra's coffee of the week this week, Campesino Blend. I received a complimentary Grande for waiting while the coffee brewed. The server also walked over to offer a refill without prompting.
-I need a wide-lens camera to get all of tonight's Alterra Bayshore salad in. Woo-hoo! I'm reading a book on the secrets of the world's oldest living people, and it reaffirms the imortance of eating lots of salad.
-Tomorrow marks the arrival of the new Factory Reserve coffee, Colombia La Mujeres de Guayata, at Stone Creek. You can bet I'll be in to buy a pound.
-In the near future, I'll be spending quite a bit of time blogging about other subjects on my personal blog, Mike's Rants and Raves.
-Curious to see what all the fuss is about, I went to the Indulge website, which Mary had blogged about earlier this summer. Isn't that a little clip from the movie Eyes Wide Shut? I only know because I saw the movie in a UWM German class, of all places. It kind of reminds me of some of the overheated sexuality in ads for Info.
-Tonight finds me back at Pizza Shuttle. I'm trying a new pizza tonight, the Chicken Florentine ($12.69 for a 10"). It's absolutely fantatic, far surpassing my previous standby, the Parmesan Margherite.
-The pizza place across the street, Zaffiro's, is being developed into a chain by Marcus Investments. (Link)
-A peaceful pre-rush experience at Alterra Bayshore was sullied only by my witnessing a server giving one of his friends the hook-up. It was a cold drink or, even worse, a blender drink (I say "even worse" because blended drinks have the highest profit margin, so the employee theft is worst in this case). I don't claim to have never stolen food or drink when I worked in restaurants, whether by giving unauthorized freebies or what have you. Still, I can't lie and say that I don't find this obnoxious when I am putting thousands of dollars into this business (my own business, not Alterra). Maybe if employees didn't steal, they could offer free Wi-Fi at all cafes, which would be very helpful and probably increase company profits over the long run.
-In a hook-up of a distinctly different variety, I got a free Red Bull from the little car they drive around this afternoon. That'd be a clever marketing idea for some coffee company to borrow.
