Caffeine Crawl Day 2
4:23 PM
String Bean
 |
| String Bean guitar pick and coffee sample |
The coffee we sampled was roasted to Led Zeppelin Live at the BBC. While I couldn’t pick up those notes in the Tanzania Peaberry, I did get an interesting fruit flavor.
This was an interesting coffee. They roasted one batch of the Tanzania light and another batch dark, then blended them post-roast. This is an idea I’ve heard in other spots and think it may be an STL phenomenon. I’m not sure what the appeal is. I suppose I would need to try the light alone and the dark alone, then see if blending the two really makes a different flavor. I’m not convinced.
This was an interesting coffee. They roasted one batch of the Tanzania light and another batch dark, then blended them post-roast. This is an idea I’ve heard in other spots and think it may be an STL phenomenon. I’m not sure what the appeal is. I suppose I would need to try the light alone and the dark alone, then see if blending the two really makes a different flavor. I’m not convinced.
Arthouse Coffee at The Living Room
This company is a new kid on the block. It’s been open for a couple years. We gathered in the parking lot in front of Living Room (which is good because the tiny shop couldn’t hold the twenty of us). Arthouse has an espresso machine cart, so the company can take its coffee on the road, or at least to the parking lot when the tiny shop fills up or the weather is nice.
The presenters served us a Fitz and Bitt’s, a 50/50 mix of the signature cold brew and Fitz’s root beer. It was a delightful combination – dark and not too sweet. It’s not a drink I would get often, but it was an interesting flavor combo.
The presenters served us a Fitz and Bitt’s, a 50/50 mix of the signature cold brew and Fitz’s root beer. It was a delightful combination – dark and not too sweet. It’s not a drink I would get often, but it was an interesting flavor combo.
Northwest Coffee
My coffee alma mater. I worked at Northwest for three years and helped with Caffeine Crawl events in those three years, so the demonstration was quite familiar to me. The head roaster, Kitaro, walked the Crawlers through a batch of coffee from the green beans dropping from the waiting chamber into the drum to the roasted beans spinning in the cooling chamber. No one else gave us this blow by blow of the roasting process, so it was a great stop. Plus, we got to sip Guatemala Huehuetenango and munch Liege waffles.
Northwest roasts on a 1957 Probat. The company does a full city roast, which is a medium roast. While others go light for the sake of experiencing all the flavors of the beans without adding in any roasting profile flavors, Northwest roasts a little longer to reduce acidity and bring in chocolate and caramel flavors.
Kitaro also likes to emphasize that there are no USB ports on this roaster – no way to hook up a laptop. It’s all done through looking at the color and size of the beans, smelling the beans and listening for the first and second crack. A mechanical pencil for recording info and a stopwatch for tracking time is as high tech as Northwest gets.
The Mud House
We gathered outside The Mud House, where the company has set up an outdoor bar so Cherokee foot traffic can grab a quick cup of joe and skip the long lines that are common at The Mud House. The barista in charge of this stop offered an interesting coffee mocktail – ginger beer, tonic water and cold brew Goshen coffee. He called it a Dank and Stormy. Not my favorite name and, honestly, not my favorite drink. But, definitely a new flavor experience.
Goshen does a very light roast, which means it’s bright and fruity. That pairs very well with citrus flavors. I’ve had espresso and tonic and love it because it's sweet, tart, and bubbly with a little coffee kick. The spiciness of ginger was an excellent addition. Again, this is not something I would go for regularly, but for this special trip and a warm afternoon, it was great.
Blue Print
This stop fell flat. While The Mud House recognized its space limitations and had us gather outside, Blue Print seemed oblivious. They should have known a Saturday afternoon would have been packed without a couple dozen extra folks packed in. Yet as far as I could tell, no attempt was made to accommodate the extra bodies.
Blue Print has a fairly large space, but at least half of it is taken up by the L-shaped bar. The rest is sprinkled with small tables and a few shelves for displaying merch. We stood in the front of the shop, wedged between the bar and the front door. Customers paused in the doorway, asking under their breath what’s going on. I had to direct people around our group.
The noise and cramped space made the experience a dud. The man leading the Blue Print presentation leaned against the counter as he spoke, and spoke in a tone that was just as casual and relaxed as his posture. It barely reached us over the rumble of the packed room, whirring bur grinders and hissing steam wands.
Mostly he discussed the Neapolitan drink he was sampling, which was made with cream from a local farm, house-made ganache and, of course, espresso. Garnished with a strawberry slice, it looked beautiful, but it wasn’t my jam. It tasted like a malt ball, but gritty. I don’t know why it was gritty! It was also room temperature, either by design or because it had to sit before we came up. Either way, it would have been way better with an ice cube or two.
We didn’t learn anything about the business or roasting philosophy. The roaster is in the back, on full display, which I only know because I wandered off to find the bathroom and stumbled upon it. It was unlike the other roasters I had seen on the crawl. I would have liked to know more about it, but didn’t get the chance. Talk about a missed opportunity! You've got a group of coffee lovers who've paid to hear you talk about coffee. Why not take advantage and show off what you do?
Overall, this was a great experience. The LAB is a delightful team to work with and the shops got really into it. Plus, it was fun to geek out with a group of fellow coffee lovers. I’m plugged into the coffee culture of St Louis pretty well, but I learned quite a bit. And it was the best caffeine high I’ve ever had. Small doses of caffeine over 8 hours means you ride a pleasant, giddy wave without the crash or jitters. I highly recommend it!
0 comments