Culture Espresso Serves Up Some Tasty Cold Brew

Since moving to New York City I have realized how spoiled I was in the PNW! I’m not saying there isn’t good coffee here ‘cause there’s hecka good coffee all over the place it’s just that in most you gotta take your order to go. Real estate is a hot commodity and cafe sizes reflect that truth. Wifi and outlets are super hard to come by too.

Culture Espresso located in the Garment District of NYC and just a stones throw away from Bryant Park & The New York Public Library (the one that was in Ghostbusters) has Wifi (sometimes spotty) and I’ve always been able to find a seat even though there are few to choose from. Make sure that laptop is fully charged because there are no outlets. They serve espresso from a snazzy La Marzocco Strada and also serve house made cold brew, Kyoto style cold drip, and even nitro. All the traditional drink choices are available too.

I’ve been on a cold brew kick lately so when I saw that they made theirs with Heart Coffee Roasters I couldn’t pass. Heart is a roaster of of Portland Oregon and I ❤ them. Anyway, to the coffee! The sweet nectar comes straight out of a keg all cold and tasty. My iced coffee was brown sugar sweet up front with no bitterness. On top of all that goodness it was really strong. Iced coffee is disappointing when it tastes like watered down coffee and in my experience that’s what I get served. Plus 100 cool points for filling the cafe with awesome tunes!

Go to Culture Espresso!

~Originally published on tehcoffee.com

January…so far.

Ohh my sweet Jesus you guys! I just realized how awesome it is to post up and chill at a coffee shop. I’ve spent years as a barista working behind the counter and never truly knew the joys that this could bring. I’m so about this lifestyle. People watching, free wifi, and espresso. If you’re planning on doing the same keep in mind that you should buy at least one drink an hour to pay for your seat.

Some of my favorite things right now:

Batdorf & Bronson Coffee The Dancing Goats espresso is real good.
Cycloramic App Take panoramic pictures HANDSFREE!
San Diego Coffee Network Great coffee folks doing great things for the community.
Only Burger The fried green tomato burger will change your life!
Frasier The best show ever!

This is window display rules all,

2014 do we continue…yes

I’ve been running this blog for a few years now and a lot has changed. I got married, bought a home, got a dog, divorced, moved, and started a new career. It’s kind of weird writing a blog because you have to assume other people are reading your posts otherwise your really just talking or “writing” to yourself. Either way it’s therapeutic and I enjoy it. I’ve been toying around with the idea of ending the blog but I’m not completely convinced yet.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you are one of the people that don’t exist in my head sorry not sorry for the sporadic posts. I keep telling myself that I’ll post more or rework the flow of the blog but I think it’s kind of perfect the way it is. Thanks for reading this.

Some of my favorite things right now:

Baby trashes bar in Las Palmas.
Magisto App
Bar Francis
Virgin America
Bay Area Coffee Community

National Coffee Day Round 2

Round two! Stop #3 Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. where I enjoyed a single origin espresso. The Costa Rica Llano Bonito Natural espresso tasted like Sugar Smacks. It was well balanced, sweet, and had a caramel/molasses finish. I really like the ambiance of this shop. The music was pretty dope too. I know it’s super hipster but Bon Iver’s Woods was playing and it’s kinda perfect for a grey rainy day.
The final shop for today was Sizizis. Usually I don’t say anything if my coffee experience was bad…not today. I ordered a macchiato and was served a bad cappuccino. This was not by accident because the barista called out macchiato. The drink was not good. I’m sure it not always this bad. I’m simply reviewing my one experience on this day.
So that’s it!! I hope you have a wonderfully caffeinated National Coffee Day.

National Coffee Day

It’s been a while since my last post. Hopefully you’re all still there. In an effort to get my butt off the couch I’ve decided to contribute more of my time to this blog. So here you go.
It’s national coffee day! I’ve spent most of my weekend on my couch so I decided to force myself out of the apartment to celebrate. My fist stop was Batdorf & Bronson. I enjoyed a nice macchiato and Mighty O donut. A barista from B&B joined me on for my next stop Bar Francis. I’ve been here many times. It’s my favorite place in town to get coffee.
We had a Shrub and espresso. If you’re not familiar with Shrub drinks check wiki. It’s a vinegar based drink that’s to die for. Our shrub had grapefruit and it paired well with the Four Barrel Friendo Blendo espresso. Now I’m off to Oly Coffee!

The Northwest Coffee Festival 2012.

I’m so very excited to be heading to The Northwest Coffee Festival today. This has become one of my favorite events to work. The festival is a consumer based coffee and food event. A ton of great roasteries and cafes from the area get together for two days to hold talks on the current state of the industry to customer service and serve awesome coffee.

 

Don’t let bad beans go to waste!

I currently live in Olympia, WA and I’m originally from the south which means I’m inclined to re-purposing mason jars. I have a Baratza Maestro plus at home and when I need to dial in the grind for a certain brewing device I don’t waste new coffee I use old coffee. To keep the beans from getting too gross I keep them in an opaque jar covered in ColorTex by Design Master. It’s a spray adhesive that has bits of multi colored plastic in it. After I’ve covered the jar with the ColorTex I let it dry overnight. I noticed that the jar smelled of spray paint afterward so I covered it in two coats of Mod Podge. This helped cover the smell and give the jar a more glossy look. I really love how the jar looks!

tehCoffee review

I’ve  been struggling with updating this blog more often. In an attempt to help with that I’ll also cross-post some things I feel like you guys might want to see. I just posted a review on a really great new site tehcoffee.com Dan Baumfeld dreamed this baby up and it’s been picking up speed. These reviews are done by industry professionals. People that actually work as judges for the SCAA & BGA, cafe owners, baristas and other active members in the Barista community. You can trust that these reviews and the places that are reviewed are quality. The next time you go out for coffee check tehCoffee!

Direct link to the review——-> http://tehcoffee.com/reviews/86

 

 

_Panda

SERBC Barista Finalists 2012

Check out http://www.usbaristachampionship.org all day today and cheer on your favorite Barista!

Michael Harwood/Caffe Driade

Lem Butler/C.C.C.

Trevor Corlett/MadCap Coffee

Dustin Mattson/Octane Coffee

Camilla Ramos/Panther Coffee

Lindsey Kiser/Peregrine Espresso

SERBC Brewers Cup 2012

The Finalist for the SERBC Brewers Cup

Tune in to http://www.usbaristachampionship.org/ for the live stream of the competition.

Jonathan Bonchak/C.C.C.

 Bryan Duggan/C.C.C.

 Matthew Ludwikowski/OctaneCoffee

Stevie Brown/Octane Coffee

 Dave Delchamps/Octane Coffee

 Jason Dominy/Batdorf & Bronson