Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I do not care if you roll your eyes at me, it is hot outside and I want an iced coffee!
Artisan and haute coffee culture has been steadily growing. Pretty soon there will be no way just to get a regular coffee. It seems like you cannot go into any coffee shop in New York without knowing where your coffee came from and the ph levels in the soil it was grown. Baristas have reached bartender status and are like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, except replace the flair and the Hawaiian shirts with aero presses and white v-neck tee shirts. I am by no means a coffee purist or even remotely a snob. I am a daily coffee drinker. I generally drink my coffee like I drink scotch: neat. No sugar, no cream. The weekends since I have a bit more leisure time, I will at half and half or cream and I am not opposed to added sugar in it either. College I was fueled by Dunkin Donuts coffee, hazelnut, light and sweet. It was basically drinking a Monster in coffee form. I do on occasion and always trips back to Taiwan drink Mr. Brown Coffee. I mean, a jolly looking dude, how could you say no?
Coffee Stuff after jump!
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| Come on! Yeah it comes in a can, but look at the dude! |
The rise of coffee culture in New York with Stumptown and Café Grumpy popping it, it comes to no surprise and utter delight to coffee nerds that Blue Bottle Coffee opened up their first New York outpost in Williamsburg. Blue Bottle Coffee, originated from California, is the pioneer and attributed to the rise of the coffee culture in America. Their goal is to brew the freshest and damn best cup of coffee you can have. However, if you think it just means throwing it into a grinder and then hitting the “start” button in the morning is what they do to make the fresh and the best coffees then you are naively mistaken. Grinding coffee to a precise grain and using methods such as the pour over drip coffee and making sure the water is boiled at the right temperature is more like it. Walking into Blue Bottle the first thing you notice after the impressive looking espresso machine is the cold dripped coffee which looks like it belongs in an engineering lab. The Baristas are carefully pouring perfectly tempered water into filters with concentrating only seen when building a card pyramid. To say that coffee is taken seriously here is an understatement.
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| Cold Drip Coffee Apparatus, dripping slowly can also be used as a modified caffeinated water torture device |
I stopped by here on my way to the Smorgasburg. Although I really wanted to try one of their coffee done up via pour over drip, I was on the verge of being late in meeting up and I needed a cold pick me up. So I went with their New Orleans Iced Coffee that has a splash of milk and slightly sweetened with some sugar. The coffee is their own blend that has dark roasted chicory that is cold brewed which is how it sounds, no heat is involved and the coffee just seeps in cold water. The iced coffee was refreshing and a great pick me up in the morning. Coffee cup is also uber-biodegradable/recycled material, feigning responsible consumption making the coffee taste better!
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| New Orleans Cold Dripped Iced Coffee and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie |
Blue Bottle also has an assortment of pastries and although I was on my way to go stuff my face, I felt obligated to at least try some of their offerings so I picked up a double chocolate chip cookie and a Chocolate Stout Coffee cake. Blue Bottle utilizes local products so Mast Brothers chocolate is featured in the cookie and Brooklyn Brewery Beer in the coffee cake. It would be a mistake to skip out on the pastries and both were top notch. The cookie was the epitome of chocolate: bittersweet, smoky, nutty and delicately sweetened to compliment this chocolate disk. The cookie was on the crunchy crispy side with a little bit of softness, the cookie would be perfect for dunking in milk or hot chocolate or even the coffee, but I think you would get hard glares at Blue Bottle if you did that. The Coffee Cake make with chocolate stout was moist, and wisps of chocolate flavors and a worthy accompaniment to any of the coffees. The pastries are served in coffee filters which are a cute touch, but not the best for transport if you are not planning on eating it there or immediately.
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| Chocolate Stout Coffee Cake |
Blue Bottle takes their coffee seriously, and heard stories via YELP of people when buying coffee beans if Blue Bottle would grind it for them. The response has always been that they do not and that the customer should purchase a grinder. This has caused a lot of negative feedback for Blue Bottle and automatically labeled them as being pretentious or snooty. Although I am taken aback a bit by this kind of treatment, for a person that is constantly cooking/baking and weirdly obsessed with food, it is understandable and really does not faze. It is clear that Blue Bottle is not just a coffee shop in the sense that it clearly takes their coffee seriously and strives to push out the best product. So the idea of pre-grinding the coffee, to them is just their weird version of customer service because they know that pre-grinded coffee will not result in the best tasting coffee. Though I have only tried the iced coffee, I need to find time to try one of their signature blends or single origins via pour over drip and enjoy and damn fine cup of coffee.
Blue Bottle Coffee
160 Berry St
Brooklyn, New York 11211
www.bluebottlecoffee.net/
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