If you are looking for afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen in the Uhlandstraße area near Kudamm in Berlin, check this place out. The coffee is not earth-shattering, but the cake selection and the attached chocolate store are worth a stop. And, it is air conditioned (a rarity in Germany.) Our server had a wonderful sense of humor and insisted that the milk I selected for my flat white should come only from a “happy cow.” I stopped here twice and the cake selections were different each time.
A definite recommendation for a warm Berlin summer afternoon.
Coffee Drink Your Monkey has a very funny name. I’m not sure if there is a local German phrase which is a play on words that this name comes from or not, but it certainly caught my attention when looking for a place to have afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen. I had a flat white. It was o.k. They close at 7pm and I arrived at 5:30, so the workers seemed to already have closing on their minds, so the service was “short”…not rude, just to the point and quick.
I also tried their freshly made lemonade. This was interesting. A combination of noise and my poor German pronunciation resulted in the Ginger version. What this drink turned out to be was literally fresh squeezed lemon juice, concentrated ginger syrup, muddled Mint, and sparkling water. So, really this turned out to be an oversized sparkling ginger shot. If you like that sort of thing, which I do, it was good.
If you are in the Savignyplatz area of Berlin, and need a rest and a snack, this is a reasonable place to stop.
I spent the morning at Mostra Coffee’s 4S Ranch Location. Mostra has been around in San Diego for a while now, and has added a few cafe locations in the Rancho Bernardo area. The coffee is very good. It’s pretty typically 3rd wave, but I did not find it to be overly acidic or tart as is sometimes the case. The flat white I had was creamy and flavorful. They have free WiFi and the location has indoor and outdoor seating. The location is in a corner of the 4S Ranch Commons .
My son spent a week at Space Camp, which left me for a week working remotely in Huntsville, AL. On a recommendation from a coffee group I found Alchemy Lounge. It’s not a place you would find on your own. It’s in a wacky location inside a converted old warehouse type building.
Inside, Alchemy has a cool vibe with a very modern hipster feel. The air conditioning and wifi make for a great remote work location, and the coffee is excellent.
Alchemy is a Counter Culture shop and has all the usual espresso and pour over options you would expect. Espresso is served up from a La Marzocco Linea and Nouva Simonelli Mythos grinders. Pour overs are done with Kalita drippers.
They also have small bites and beer and live music on occasion.
Ever since my son was in the cast of Matilda on Broadway, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with coffee in New York. There’s a bunch of great spots, but there’s also a ton new new places that are trying to capitalize on the coffee bandwagon and have good looking shops but make crap coffee. My stop on this trip was Bird & Branch.
Flat White @ Bird & Branch
Every time I go back, I make it a point to try the new places and patronize the smaller shops. Bird & Branch is on 45th near 9th (across the street from Schmackary’s). The owner is a nice young guy who cares about what he’s doing. My wife had visited the store 6 months before, and apparently was talking about my home roasting, and the guy recognized my son and asked if I was the home roaster!
They don’t roast their own, rather serve Saint Frank, a San Francisco based roaster. The Espresso is 3rd wave-ish, but not overly acidic and pairs well with Milk. They are using a “Slayer Steam” for espresso extraction, and it’s a beautiful machine. If you’re a pour-over fan, the Guatemala is excellent with hints of milk chocolate. The shop is small. clean and bright and I will go back.
So, in a very interesting development, Starbucks has introduced what they call Starbucks Blonde Espresso. Which, supposedly is a true “light” roast. Anyone that has ever looked at the Blonde Veranda beans can see that they are clearly what the SCA defines as “medium”.
So, we’ll ignore the light roast comment and move on to something more interesting.
Andrew Linnemann, vice president of Global Coffee for Starbucks, describes the Blonde espresso blend as “bright, with sweet citrus notes and a smooth body.”. This seems to be hinting at what most early reviews are saying, that it is less bitter. An article at Fortune used the term “hard stuff” to refer to the Signature Roast Espresso.
What is ridiculous about this is that Espresso should NEVER be bitter…ever. What Andrew Linnemann called “boldly roasted” in the Fortune article is plain burnt, which is why it’s bitter. Also, Espresso is NOT a roast, it’s a brewing method.
Did Starbucks really just introduce a roast because they realize their signature roast is burnt, nasty and bitter? Is this a marketing move like “New Coke”? Time will tell, but I will still spend my money on the smaller shops that have people behind the counter that can actually tell you what 1st and 2nd crack mean.
The moral, for those of you that want the quick version; Just because a place has green beans and a nice Diedrich machine does not mean the coffee is good. Twin Peaks Coffee & Donuts in Tannersville, NY has such a machine, and had the lure of quality. It failed to live up to the promise.
There’s even bags of greens out front next to the machine. But, alas, as I see all too often, people jump on the specialty bandwagon without fully understanding what that really means.
Roasting is only part of the equation. You can screw coffee up at every step of the way. Even the best roasted coffee can be brewed like crap. I can’t really speak to the roasting because the machine was not in action when I visited. But, the barrista (once she eventually ambled over) did just about everything wrong.
First, the coffee was pre-ground. Seriously? You have a big roaster that you proudly show in the front of your shop, and you pre-grind your coffee?! Secondly, the shot poured in about 12 seconds. That is just way to fast…period. And, third, she steamed the milk first, and then just let it sit, without any agitation while she ran the shot.
If you happen to be driving to Hunter Mountain NY, and need coffee badly somewhere near Saugerties, DO NOT stop at Gourmet Cup & Pastry Shop. Do not let the word “gourmet” deceive you.
Starbucks would actually be a better choice. And, for me to say that, the coffee really has to be horrible.
The coffee in the doser of the Mazzer was clearly stale, and the girl behind the counter burned the crap out the milk…which in turn burnt the crap out of my mouth. This was just an awful, horrible cup of coffee. Stay away.
On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I had to kill several hours at Universal City Walk. There are only 2 options for coffee. And, when faced with a choice of Starbucks or Voodoo Doughnut…well…that’s not actually a choice.
First, let’s get this out of the way. Voodoo Doughnut is NOT a coffee shop. But, they proudly advertise Stumptown coffee, and they have a bad-ass pink, 3 group La Marzocco espresso machine. So, I grabbed a sugar bomb and then hoped for the best with the coffee.
A Flat White? I don’t think so.
Voodoo is pulling their shots with Stumptown Hairbender. It’s a decent blend, but this not being a true Stumptown shop, the dice are rolled.
I asked for a flat white. Warning #1 is the guy asked me what size I wanted. Any true barrista knows a flat white is a 4-5oz drink, so choice of size in this case already flagged a problem. I looked at the cups and asked for the smallest one (which was 6 oz).
Now, while warning bells were going off like crazy, the end result was actually not terrible. I wasn’t great, but it was something drinkable and suited my need at the time. It was much better than anything at Starbucks. I realize that’s not saying much, but still, I was surprised. This was a case of a well trained employee clearly using calibrated equipment. So, while equipment alone does not make great coffee, in this case, it helped to make adequate coffee.
If you are at Universal Studios (or City Walk), this is the place to get coffee if you are in need. Oh…and the donuts? The doughnuts are not the best in the world, but they are quite good.
