A local New York NBC web site did a story on RBC & Slayer in Tribeca.

Check it out

The coffee scenes in Portland and Seattle differ more than you might think, especially considering that the two cities are less than three hours apart by train or car, and share similar demographics, climates, &  cultural attitudes.  Sam Lewontin touches on what the Seattle coffee scene could learn from Portland and what it might take to catch up.

The opening of Heart Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon has garnered a huge amount of buzz in the Northwest coffee community, and it’s easy to understand why: It’s clear that a great deal of money and attention to detail were lavished on building out the space. It’s a polarizing design, certainly (sparse seating, cool colors, cavernous ceilings, very industrial chic), but there’s no doubt that it’s a work of care and precision. Love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny that it’s audacious and interesting.

Thing is, it’s not particularly out of the ordinary in Portland. Beautiful, well thought-out spaces have been opening left and right in the past two years: Ristretto Roasters’ café on Williams, Barista in the Pearl district, Coffeehouse Five and the Red E in North Portland—to name just a few. There’s almost no part of Portland that’s without an ambitious, forward-thinking café. It’s little wonder that the coffee scene there is widely considered to have eclipsed the scene in Seattle, long considered the birthplace of modern specialty coffee.

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Reading this, I think Ethan makes one good point: no one is perfect and  unfortunately we do live in a time and place where even posting a comment to the Cloud is emitting tundra-melting CO2.  In this sense, we are all hypocrites and posers. However, I also think Ethan misses a larger point.

Assume for a second that artisan roasting is akin to Art. . .

Art isn’t MAINLY about the product.  It’s about the process.  Art is verbular (if that’s a word).  It’s the process and development of the artist which is reflected in what he or she makes of an object or even of life itself.  Art is an individual activity.  Individuality is its essence.

For me Duane is above all a coffee auteur.  From this small thing he created Stumptown.  When I buy his coffee I am acknowledging HIS accomplishment.  I am not a big enough fool to think drinking a certain coffee or buying any product REALLY says anything TRUE about me other than I have enough money to buy it.

Unfortunately for Duane, as you market your art, you are essentially attempting to transfer your genius to a product, and then to a customer who can afford to pay. This process is largely psychological. However,  transference like this is at the heart of most marketing today.  It is also at the root of consumerism.  Consumerism destroys souls and the physical environment too, which of course is bad (and actually boring from the perspective of personal growth). But we do this to ourselves. 

Ethan seems to forget that “consumption” of anything is the problem and not the fact that some guy from Portland who a particular magazine has styled a “Messiah” is doing his best to keep it as real as he can.

Anyway, that’s how I see it.  I think that Duane’s creation is amazing, and I am so pleased to know the genius behind it, even if just superficially, in this one facet of coffee.  Duane has CREATED his magnificent art and presented it to the world.  What the rest of us do with it is our problem not his.

I won’t address the comments about Portland here.

Eric Perkunder in Seattle

I have attached a picture of the BOSCO espresso machine now in place at the Caffe Vita in Fremont.  

This machine is a classic lever machine.  The use of a spring instead of a pump to provide brew pressure is the main difference between lever machines and conventional, traditional-style espresso machines.  The BOSCO lever has no pump and motor–so brewing is quiet.  

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We recently had the privilege of hosting a group of guys from Fratello Coffee. One purpose of their trip was to visit Slayer and witness some break through in brewing technology and experience the ability to develop new characteristics in espresso brewing techniques. Day two’s purposed was to educate them on some of the great Seattle 3rd Wave café’s and bring this knowledge back to Calgary to help their clients elevate their skills in offering excellence to their customers.14 cafes were chosen (click here for a map of our tour), all different and all excellent in what they are doing. Let the madness & caffeine begin. You can also view the entire tour on our Flickr page.

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A tour of Seattle cafes reveals that some prominent wholesale roasters are both coffee suppliers and cafe operators. This is especially true in the emerging Third Wave segment. Notably, Stumptown, Caffe Vita, and Zoka roast coffee as well as operate their own cafes. 

The dual role of these companies raises a question: Should someone who plans to open a cafe view the cafe operations of a potential coffee supplier as a competitive threat?

The answer to this question might seem obvious. Afterall, a roaster has a huge advantage in terms of their coffee price. The highest quality green coffee can be had easily for $3-4 per pound even in small quantities. And with the economies of scale that go with roasting commercially, each additional pound of coffee that is roasted diminishes unit costs.  Fixed overhead costs remain constant and at higher volumes, green coffee generally gets cheaper the more you buy.  Meanwhile buying higher quality pre-roasted coffee can cost $10-14 per pound.  This seems like a wide spread. However, there is more to this than meets the eye.

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Many of you have likely heard of Caffe Artigiano in Vancouver, heard how busy they are likely have heard of brothers Vince & Sammy Piccolo who created and ran this group of cafes. If not, I’ll give you a 2 second rundown: They opened January 2000, have 5 locations in Vancouver and Sammy was the Canadian barista champion from 2003 through 2006. The one I frequent, when in Vancouver, is the location on Hornby. I’ve been at least 10 times and at all times of the day, all days of the week…this place is slammed. There is always a lineup, the tables are filled inside & out and their baristas handle this madness through the operational efficiencies crafted by Vince & Sammy.

I love going to cafes and watching/studying what going on and pay attention to small details and one thing I can say, is this place has it figured out – as it relates to drink delivery, and that is what this video is focusing on.

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Next time you’re in Seattle, you have to check out the new Stumptown retail location on 12th near Seattle University (1115 12th Ave). This is the first retail location for this roaster, outside of Portland OR, where the company is well-placed as one of the leaders in the Third Wave coffee movement. Stumptown has built a reputation for expert, perfect-pitch sourcing of green coffee, as well as a true, hands-on policy of social responsibility and awareness in origin countries. Stumptown is utterly real in this, totally authentic. Anyway, Jason Prefontaine and I made our way to the store to have a coffee, while sort of hoping to run into Duane, Stumptown’s founder.

It turned out that Duane wasn’t around because he was busily working on his second new location west of Broadway (616 East Pine St). This will be Stumptown’s second retail opening within two weeks! However, our visit was well worth it anyway.

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Within the walls and halls of specific cafes around Seattle, around the country, and even Canada, something verging on a Revolution in mind and action is occurring. This revolution is based on paying attention to the finer details of coffee preparation, but it also includes pouring time, energy and resources into developing awareness and formulating action around social and cultural issues–issues that we might ordinarily think go beyond the role of the traditional coffee house. Developments in this direction are happening with remarkable intensity, and cafes focused on this are beginning to show up everywhere, while some old favorites are transcending their previous practices to emerge anew. Its not just those of us who love great coffee who stand to benefit either. It is the whole world. The coffee individualists who carry the banner for this new movement are usually well-informed. In addition to cafe operators, their number includes baristas, equipment developers, and commentators. The most active of these are totally engaged. They are pushing the boundaries at all levels, including the standard ones around coffee preparation, equipment and new culinary experiences around coffee. But there is even more to it than this. Read the rest of this entry »