Patina - Disney Hall - Downtown

You go to a nice restaurant that is known for the its' food preparation and you order an espresso or perhaps cappuccino. The server brings you the drink in a nice cup with a saucer and a hefty silver spoon. He sets down a silver bowl-thing with an assortment of sugars and its' substitutes. Things look good, unless you actually look at the drink (a cappuccino in this case). This is what you get:
Hot ass coffee, and I do mean HOT. That is wasn't still boiling was amazing.
About an inch to inch and a half of soap foam with no flavor at all...not surprising since it is mostly air.
Once the lava cooled and I could begin to drink I discovered little flavor or satisfaction.

Now if you have read any of my other posts you know that other than Choke and Coffee Intelligentsia this is the standard Los Angeles coffee experience. The thing I still cannot get over is that it happens at all these restaurants that focus so much attention on all these OTHER details. Again, maybe this is because the public does not demand more from them in terms of coffee, so they do not rise to meet anything but the lowest standard. To me this is something like going to one of the finer restaurants here in Los Angeles and they server your food with plastic utensils?!?

So I am not gonna bother with more than this for the review. They didn't, and neither am I.

Step up Los Angeles!

You are the kid who grows in size faster than the other kids and therefore appears to be an adult. However, underneath you are still an ignorant and uncultured child.

Kaldi Coffee & Tea

Been gone a while, sorry bout that. Back now with two for you.
First up:
Kaldi Coffee and Tea
3147 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 660-6005

This is a tiny little spot around the corner from where I serve my daytime sentence out. Originally it was owned by a couple of regular guys who would alternately hang around and pull coffee all day. I would pop in and talk coffee and the weather like everyone else. They seemed like good guys and the fact that they had pulled together and started their own spot really struck a chord in me. So, I would go there ALL THE TIME. Any excuse to stop by and get my fix, even if it was no where near our lunch spot for that day. I wanted to support the little guy, and did.
Well time passed, I managed to leave and return to my reason for being in the hood, and they were still there. One day I stopped by and learned that they were selling it to new owners...not good news for me, but perhaps good coin for my fellow upstarts, so be it.
Honestly, I can't say anything about the new owner(s). I think I met one of them once, shortly after the sale, but I can't be sure. None the less, I was seriously dubious about the quality maintaining and the service being as personal. And on the few occaisions that I did stop by, the experience was definitely varied. (Exposition ends here)
Today I stopped by with my good friend Chris (a man who UNDERSTANDS baking). We were greated by a pleasant young woman wearing a cool shirt that read: "Snorkling is sexy" Being men who appreciate women, we both agreed. :)
Anyways, I got a cappuccino and Chris got some crazy, fluffy-sweet, latte-type thing with whipped cream (the man likes his sweets).
I broke tradition and got it to go in the obligatory paper cup. While we were talking and she was preparing I noticed the attention she paid to the process and how she cleaned everything as she went along...very good signs. I noticed her concentration and technique in creating the foam and froth...more good signs. She presented and we paid, I tipped.

- REVIEW -

- Coffee -
**
Good flavor. Distinct. Not ideally thick and rich, but definitely on the map of good flavor.
They claim to roast their own coffee, but I don't remember her actually grinding the beans...

- Foam -
**1/2
Very nice consistancy and bubble size. She asked what kind of milk and I responded with Whole milk.
I believe it paid off in flavor and thickness.

- Presentation -
**
Not holding the paper cup against them since it was my choice,
but I am subtracting for not asking me in what I wanted it served.
All in all she presented our coffees like it mattered and not like it was something she was doing on the way to another chore.

- Overall -
**
Nice work young lady and good choice Kaldi for hiring someone who knows what they are doing.

the search begins...

This blog is about coffee and more specifically finding good coffee in Los Angeles. First up is devising some kind of consistent, hopefully objective test for the coffee.
This is what I have so far:
Coffee
- flavor
- temperature
Foam(if applicable)
- flavor
- density
presentation
- cups
- service

The grade will be 1 to 5 beans. So for coffee it would be like this:
1 = ugh...this really sucks. what is this, tea?
2 = standard office coffee. some flavor, but nothing you will enjoy.
3 = good average coffee. most chain coffee joints on a good day.
4 = now we are getting somewhere. distinct flavor, made with some love.
5 = how it should be. great flavor, great consistency, perfect balance of bitterness.

So for foam on capps and such, the scale would be:
1 = none. or at least it might as well be. thin, no flavor, soap sud bubbles.
2 = some. still no flavor really. a mix of bubble sizes.
3 = foam has arrived. some flavor and maybe a bit of sweetness.
4 = density is good. flavor really contributes to the coffee as a whole.
5 = Get out your Spoon! head on the foam. think and creamy. perfect sugar content in the milk.


I need Field Operatives, so if you like coffee and feel like reporting in, use the above test and get to spying agent 69.