It’s a good time for coffee folk to live in North County San Diego.  First there was Pannikin.  A few years later, La Costa Coffee Roasting showed up.  Then the upstarts showed up.  Lofty Coffee Co and Cafe Ipe started serving up really great stuff, and showing that Pannikin was a bit long in the tooth.  Then, Revolution Roasters showed up in Cafe Ipe doing small batches of heaven weekly and really showing how badly Starbucks had conditioned America to over-roasted (burnt) beans.

Now Lofty Coffee has opened their own roasting facility too.  It’s right across the street from their other location on he Pacific Coast Highway in Encinitas, CA.  Yep, that’s two small batch artisan roasting facilities within 5 miles of each other on the coast.  Unlike Revolution Roasters, which has an old school, used Probat roaster, Lofty has a glistening, super shiny custom computer controlled setup.  Not only that, but there’s a new custom coffee bar in the front of the facility.

The bar has a food porn worthy custom Synesco machine where only the group heads and steam wands are above the counter.  The rest of the machine is totally hidden under the counter.  Th group heads above the bar look a bit like they belong in a Star Trek movie.  The shot I had was heavenly, and I think a little better than the machine across the street.  The location is a bit breezy though, and the barrista had to take great pains to keep the shot from getting ruined by the cross breeze.  BUT, the barristas are fully aware of the conditions and know that a breeze will mess up the shot.  So, when I saw him shield the group head with his hands, I was impressed…and he even apologized for blocking my view of the pour.

Then there’s the cold brew side.  You would be forgiven if you thought there was beer on that side of the bar because the cold brew, two versions, comes out of beer taps.  One version is cut with water and pumped with CO2.  The other is not cut with water, and pumped with Nitrogen.  It looks just like a Guinness tap.

So far, there is no regular roasting schedule.  “We roast on demand” was what the barrista said.  It looks like they are really just ramping up the operation.   Their espresso blend is something they are calling “Stay Classy” and I only saw 12oz bags and are about $12.  Revolution sells 8oz and 16oz bags, and the 16oz bags are $15.  So, Revolution is a just a fraction cheaper.  But, either way, if you brew at home, you will still come out significantly cheaper (and better) than a daily Starbucks run.

Surprisingly, I was not able to find a central “don’t go here” list to report bad espresso.  So, here’s the places I’ve encountered that you should avoid.

Starbucks – Just don’t do it…anywhere (unless you are buying food…the pastries are decent)

New York

• FIKA – All locations.  They are trying to be a hip Scandinavian place, but the espresso isn’t worth it.
• Porto Rico – East Village.  This place will draw you in with the aroma of the massive supply of beans they sell there…all different varieties and roasts, but the latte was undrinkable.  The shot was horrendous and the milk was burnt.  My 8yr old son can make a better drink with my Delonghi machine.
• Re:vive – Terminal 5 JFK.  This is an Illy cafe that has their “Artist I Del Gusto” label.  This means that the barrista is supposed to have the highest level of training.  The woman, that made my drink was on her phone the entire time, didn’t clean out the portafilter, and foamed the milk by just dunking the wand all the way down in the pitcher and let it it there.  This post is a direct result of me trying to find  number to call at Illy to report this travesty.

San Diego

• Black Rock Coffee Bar – 1918 Oceanside Blvd Oceanside, CA 92054.  See my review here…
• Cucina Enoteca – Del Mar. The food at this restaraunt is outstanding, but the espresso isn’t.  It’s sort of strong coffee, but it is bad coffee.
• “Espresso” Cart – San Diego Zoo (near the entrance)

 Palm Springs

• Mr. Parkers  – In the the retro-fab Parker hotel lies this restaurant.  The food is good.  The espresso is not.  It is actually espresso, unlike some other restaurants (who think strong coffee will pass), but, it is very bitter and had a sour aftertaste.

I came across an article on a recent trip to New York, and it explained the problem quite well.  The article describes an NY Times critic’s attempt to find a real espresso in a city known for food excellence of every type.  He had ample help from Italian residents to the regional head of QA for Illy.

It can be summarized by this one-liner.

If the quality assurance guy at Italy's leading coffee maker cannot score a good espresso under direct supervision, what hope is there for the rest of us?

This, after a story from the Illy QA guy describing a time where he set up a new machine for a cafe, pulled a great shot, then ordered one 5 min later from the barrista and it was bad.

The core problem, as many know is that people simply do not know what good espresso actually is…or even that espresso is a method…not a drink…or that Starbucks has “Starbucked” people into thinking that espresso tastes bitter and burnt.

The author went so far as to take advice to seek out a freshly immigrated Italian fellow at a random location because that’s where real good espresso could be had…that week.

I fully appreciate and understand this problem.  There’s only one place in San Diego that I have had a seriously great cup, and only 2 total places that have served me actual espresso (and not just dark bitter water).  I would go so far as to say that Starbucks has also not just affected taste, but the production problem as well.  In order to keep up with impatient consumers, many establishments are taking the barrista out of the equation by using auto grind/dose/tamp machines and programmable volumetric machines.  So, anyone that can push a button can make a drink.  But, without understanding the actual variables of a real good espresso, you can’t actually make one.

FIKA is apparently a hip Scandinavian chain with a few locations around Manhattan.  I stopped today in the Midtown location (Lexington and 41st) for a shot.  The machine is a beautiful 3 group Synesso Hydra (a custom Hydra is what they use at my favorite local joint in CA, Lofty Coffee).  Unfortunately, the shot was not quite up to the capability of the machine.

The shot looked nice, but it ran too fast, and was not nearly as full bodied as it should have been.  Also, at $2.50 for a single, it’s not much of a bargain considering Lucid Cafe is pouring very nice doubles for the same price only a few blocks away.

Really?  Expresso?  This was on a coffee grinder at a very large chain grocery store.  If they can’t even get the name of the process correct, how can you expect the grind to be correct?

I should have ground some just for fun on the Turkish setting…maybe I could have had a whole thanksgiving dinner come out?!

Get a good grinder and grind what you need ever time you make a drink folks.  It’s the single biggest improvement you can make in your espresso quality at home regardless of the machine you have.

There’s a ton of videos out there with a bottomless portafilter, so I decided to add one more.  Seriously, can you have too much espresso porn?  This is just simply unscrewing the Delonghi portafilter to remove the lower half.  The basket here is a La Pavoni Millennium double basket.  I have found it to be great for this machine, but they seem to be hard to find now.  The coffee is Revolution Roasters Smooth Operator and was roasted 7 days ago.

I have now taken my dremel and converted my portafilter to bottomless for good.

As with most people I’ve encountered on the web in my quest to understand the perfect espresso, I’ve done more research than I did for my college thesis.  I ended up with what many agree is the best sub $100 machine around, the Delonghi EC155.  I’ve taken it to work twice and made morning drinks for my team with excellent results, but this last time I really noticed the poor little machine really couldn’t keep up.  I only had one thought.

I need a bigger machine.

So, now I’m left in a quandary.   I get really great results with the little Delonghi.  I can consistently pull a 7.5/10 quality shot (as rated by others.)  But, I do like to make drinks for friends, and this machine does lack capacity.  So, what do I do?  I would really love to pick up a Rocket Cellini, but at $1500, that’s a big chunk of cash.  For $500 less, I could get a Nuova Simonelli Oscar.

I need a bigger machine.