Well my girlfriend and I recently went to a wedding in France. I had been warned that the coffee in France wasn't all that great but I thought to myself, "I bet I can find a good shop there." I mean come on, the French Press?, one of the oldest coffee epicenters in Europe is Paris, the French Revolution was started at a coffee shop. Anyway, I was sure there would be a gem there and I was going to find it. Well I found something. It seems as if the Parisians are all about Nespresso (little coffee pods cooked in a machine that looks kinda like an espresso machine but I think that's to make people feel like they are baristas. It feels good to be a barista! What a great marketing tool). We explored outside of Nespressoland to find that most of the cafes were serving old preground espresso and using it to pull bad long-ass shots, not long bad-ass shots. They needed milk so we learned that the things to order were Cafe Creme and Cappuccinos. They worked to provide us with our caffeine but flavors weren't the best. BUT, THE FACT THAT WE WERE SITTING AT A SIDEWALK CAFE IN PARIS DRINKING CAPPUCCINOS made it pretty damn good!
We also spent some time in Amsterdam. I found the best Cappuccino there at a shop called Belgica. Tomas, our star barista ground the shot after we ordered it, pulled the shot with a newer lever machine (I couldn't tell what brand it was or how old it was) while he steamed the milk. They steamed the milk like we do with nice thick microfoam as opposed to the dishsuds I had been getting in my caps. Tomas talked about how he would love to visit New York and how his bosses thought that latte art was a waste of time. Poor guy was chompin' at the bit to pour a rosetta. I thought about buying a late and pouring it myself to show him but I think the previous "Coffee Shop" visit would have made it difficult for me to even find the steam wand let alone pour a latte.
The day after we got back to the city, I had to open the shop. I unlocked the door at 6:15am and was pounded with the smells of awesome fresh coffee. I missed it so much. I Clovered up a cup of Yirgacheffee Worka and was in heaven again. Thank you Grumpy...Thank you..sniff sniff.
Well that was a fun night. I understand that some of us had to open coffee shops the next day. Bummer. Yeah me too Dan. We made it though and people have been talking about another one or that we should do this more often. I agree. More fun to be had. Mike, let's do this again!
