A Four Barrel Coffee Revolution

It was only a matter of time before someone took my Four Barrel Coffee cherry (pun intended). No one could be more worth than @KaylaGettys as proxy to @MattnWells. I had honest only ever seen a free-pour brewing of coffee once in my life, at Picasso in St. Louis with @SamuelAveryHunt.

For being a coffee lover it is pretty lame that I had never had a pour-over.

“What is a pour-over cup of coffee?” asks the general public. It’s glorious, that’s what it is. Instead of really hot water flooding grounds at high temperatures and inconsistent times, pour-over coffee is treated like a work of art. Continue reading

Give a Flying Goat

I’m not sure what it is with The Flying Goat Coffee. Either I get an amazing cappuccino made exactly as ordered or I get something else entirely and in some cases I don’t get anything at all.

Of the last three times I have visited The Goat in Healdsburg only once has my order been properly fulfilled.

  1. Ordered a cappuccino. Ten minutes of waiting, they forgot to make it.
  2. Ordered a cappuccino. It comes, delicious. (Pictured above)
  3. Ordered a cappuccino with two extra shots. I get a double espresso.

I understand that The Goat is a coffee shop superior in product to Starbucks but at least with Starbucks, if I order a drink, nine times out of ten that drink is what I get.

Of course, as long as The Goat has plain bagels with cream cheese and tapenade, I’ll be loyal with ever trip to Santa Rosa/Healdsburg. Fact.

I Love Kaldi’s Coffee

Despite it’s iffy wireless, and the fact I have to buy something from them every two hours to get access to their wireless, I just love Kaldi’s Coffee here in Columbia.

I worked for Starbucks for… well for a long time. I don’t even remember how long but I do remember working for Starbucks in Washington DC, California, Missouri, Texas, Illinois and New York.  Phew.

And while I still go to Starbucks, somewhat regularly for a Iced Venti Sugar Free Vanilla, Non-fat Starbucks Doubleshot with the extra shot.  It’s delicious, I swear.

But more and more, I’m craving the succulent brew of the Espresso 700 or a hot cup of Highlander brew.

And that’s all this post is about.  A random blog post about a coffee shop I really love that serves awesome coffee, great food and wins my heart, even though they don’t have free, open WiFi.

(One of the major reasons I’m getting the 3G iPad haha)

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Kaldi’s Iced Coffee is Yum

I’ve wanted to record my daily iced coffee creation for a while now.

I have a few of these every morning, probably too many really!  I typically used Kaldi’s coffee brewed and then chilled overnight.  Just a little ice, some fat-free creamer and I’m ready to go.  I used to never put creamer in my coffee, wonder why I do that now…  Never-the-less, I’ve settled on this recipe and it has never failed.  Oh but what a difference quality coffee, water purity, grinding and proportion matter.

I grind my coffee just seconds before I brew.  I use only fresh beans and as I said earlier, I prefer Kaldi’s coffee though I’ve recently heard good things about Dunn Brother’s Coffee (c/o @samuelaveryhunt).  I use filtered water, once through a triple-stage Pür filter followed by a two-stage Pür filter. We have really metal-rich water in downtown Columbia so this is a necessary step to take all the copper etc out.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll do a few more, trying out different angles and lighting techniques.  The video today was really just a test or proof-of-concept. I think this angle might be fun…

Though the real fun will come once I modify my Kodak Zi8 with different lenses.  Maybe someday I’ll own a proper HD video camera.  @ZackLuye‘s Canon 7D is such a sexy piece of equipment.  Too bad I’m a Nikon guy.  Next time Zack and I shoot an AdagioTeaV together, we’ll have to do some experimentation with his camera.

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Coffee and Tea

I met with Karen (@ok2baprincess) today at Ingredient to watch her eat a friggin delicious looking veggie burger.  I love our time together…

We followed that up with some coffee and tea at Starbucks.

Now it’s time to get ready for the trip to Kansas City with Ryan. Excited to get out of town with him, just the two of us. Feel like we haven’t had enough of that kind of time together for a while.

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