![]() It is an incredibly complex, beautiful, delicious coffee, but I also knew that it offered a great opportunity to incorporate a theme of accessibility, which is something that is important to me as a barista and to us at Box Kite. A lot of deliberation went into the decision to use this coffee… I spent a month considering many different coffees from all of our roasting partners and in the end picked the coffee that I knew I could spend a few months of focused research on without losing interest. The folks at Sprudge recently described it as “fascinating and unctuous,” and I think that’s a wonderful description. I’m using a coffee from Kenya called Kirura that was roasted by our friends at Madcap. What coffee are you using and how did you decide on it? We took a moment to interview him about everything from how he chose his coffee, to the rigors of the training process. We are thrilled to announce that our barista, Steven Latham, placed 6th in the region at the Big Eastern Coffee Competition, qualifying him to represent Box Kite in the Nationals in February. The sweet spot for out-of-town roasters tends to fall on Thursdays and Fridays, when the shelves are full of plump bags of fresh beans.An Interview With Box Kite’s Big Eastern Finalist Steven Latham Then I figured it out: as a rule, coffee is often roasted on Mondays, and because of shipping the bags don’t arrive until later in the week. Not long ago I was fixated on trying coffees from MadCap, a tiny roaster founded in 2008 that’s been drawing praise within the coffee world, but every time I stopped by RBC NYC the pickings were slim. I wanted to serve seasonal coffees from microroasters — small batch, quality beans, really solid purchasing practices.†Cult roasters with a conscience.Īlthough it might be easier to find small-batch coffee in New York, timing is important. “I wanted to bring to New York coffees you couldn’t get here,†she said. On any given week, RBC NYC carries about 10 different coffees split between three or four roasters.Īll this work is the labor of love of Cora Lambert, the Director of Coffee at RBC NYC, who says she’s driven by ideology. Instead, the shop is supplied by an honor roll of small-batch roasters drawn from across the continent: Barismo(Arlington, Mass.), Brown Coffee Company (San Antonio, Tex.), Counter Culture Coffee (Durham, N.C.), Heart Coffee Roasters (Portland, Ore.), Klatch Coffee(Southern California), MadCap Coffee Company (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Ritual Roasters (San Francisco), 49th Parallel Roasters (British Columbia, Canada). In a show of bravado, there is no house brand. Now Stumptown shares shelf space with Sightglass Coffee from San Francisco and Terroir Select Coffees, a roaster in Acton, Mass., owned by the legendary George Howell.Ĭora Lambert The interior of the TriBeCa coffee shop RBC NYC.Īrguably, the most ambitious multiroaster setup in New York is found at RBC NYC in TriBeCa. Recently, Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, also started carrying different coffees. Even if Sweetleaf isn’t the only multiroaster coffee shop in New York — Culture Espresso Bar in Midtown, Kaffe 1668 in TriBeCa, Third Rail Coffee in the West Village (Intelligentsia and Stumptown) have been doing it for some time — it’s one of just a handful. ![]() Does Sweetleaf have enough Verve-curious customers to justify the hassle? Is Queens ready for Santa Cruz? Most don’t bother.īesides, there’s no guarantee that a shop’s customers will be tempted to pick up coffee beans from an obscure roaster from a beach town. It’s not a lot of extra work, but it’s more than just one-click shopping. But there’s no central supplier for coffee, and if a shop wants some variety it needs to place multiple orders, track shipments. It’s one call, one delivery, one transaction. If a bar wants to sell different beers or whiskeys the manager simply gets in touch with his or her distributor. It’s more unusual for a coffee shop to switch it up like this than the casual drinker might realize. Last week I had a shot that was crisp and clean, bright but not aggressive. (Whole beans from both roasters are also for sale.) Sweetleaf now offers a single-origin espresso, Verve’s Los Angeles Reserve from Costa Rica. Stumptown Coffee Roaster’s Hair Bender is still the house espresso, but the pour over bar has a changing roster of Stumptown and Verve coffees. It makes Sweetleaf a rare specimen within coffee, a multiroaster establishment. Oliver Strand The bean shelves at Williamsburg’s Marlow & Sons carry not just Stumptown but also San Francisco’s Sightglass and George Howell’s coffee brand Terroir Select.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |