Pazzo Gelato - Sunset Junction

While running around Sunday with my usual coffee crew of Macleod and Noles, we stopped off at Pazzo Gelato for a little sweet and bitter balance. I have had the gelato before and as I remembered it was pretty tasty. But this is a blog about coffee so lets get crackin:
Coffee
* * -Two stars for flavor and balance with the milk/foam. Everyone agreed that the coffee had a nice aroma and hints of a nutty flavor. I noticed that they use coffee from Intelligentsia Coffee
so I wasn't surprised it was tasty.
Milk/Foam
1/2 * (half of a star) - why a half, because Noles had better foam than I did. Mine sucked. No real foam to speak of and I am guessing the lack of foam was because the milk didn't spend much time getting frothed. Which would also explain why our cappuccinos were room temperature.
Presentation
* 1/2 - Nice, solid Pasquini porcelain. Which is good, because the foam thing really kinda killed the presentation otherwise. That and the luke warm coffee.
Overall
* 1/2 - Basically the coffee saved this one. Props to Intelligentsia Coffee for saving the day.

Later that day my friend Mousa informed me that Intelligentsia is opening a shop right on the corner of Sunset Junction. He had just recently met Kyle, a guy from there through another friend and had even mentioned my little blog quest to him. I did a little looking around and it seems that he also has a blog going: http://intelli.la/

Nice to see that some other roasted berry lovers are coming to the hood.
Los Angeles finally receives its' Coffee Wake Up Call.

Cheebo - Sunset Blvd

Had lunch/dinner today at Cheebo in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. Good spot for pizzas, salads and really great breakfast sausage. After a chicken sandwich and veggie chop salad I decided to have a single cappuccino. Our server, who has waited on us several times and is always really cool and attentive, prepared me a single capp in a fairly large cup.
Let the reviewing begin:
My girl and I were talking about this blog and what it's rating system should be. We decided to try rating each category out of 3 stars, with a description for each score.


Coffee
* * 1/2 - nice strong flavor well balanced with the milk and foam
Milk/Foam
* * - foam was right on, could have been a little thicker - flavor was very subtly sweet. I like more sweetness in my milk.
Presentation
* * - good porcelain, nice weight. - cup was def a little big. I prefer the smaller 6 oz. size. Like the "Cafe Cappuccino" imported by Great Infusions.

Overall rating: * * Nice work. Definitely way better than normal swill you get at most places. There was definitely effort and some skill involved in that cup. And that is what we are looking for. I would be more inclined to stop in there and order and coffee than say the chain spot up or down the road. Keep it up Cheebo...oh and buy other sizes for your porcelain.

backstory

- Time for some back story on why this blog exists.
I grew up in a place and during a time when coffee was something that came in a can and usually had 'flavor crystals.' In college I learned a little more about what coffee could taste like, but still really had no idea. It wasn't until after college, when I moved to San Francisco that I discovered how it could be...mmmm...coffee.

- Caffe Trieste -

This place is the shit. period. Great atmosphere and charm. Fantastic coffee and snacks. I discovered the place while exploring North Beach for the first time on my Suzuki SV650 motorcycle. I was riding past and saw a mess of cool and unique looking motorcycles sitting outside and had to stop and check them out. One thing lead to another and POW! I was sitting outside on a perfectly gray SF day having the best cappuccino of my life. That was it. Addiction set in and I was finished.
I ended up working south of Market at an interactive agency and I would hop on my bike for coffee breaks and zip over to Trieste for a quick capp or shot of espresso. So that set the standard. For my remaining years in SF I would try other spots out, but would always end up back at Trieste. My shelter from the fog, cold and work day routine.

I left SF many years later and ventured to Phoenix for a brief stay with my brother. Things looked really bad on the coffee front at first. Well to be honest, things looked bad on ALL fronts. That town really blows, but that could be a whole other blog. So I eventually found a good spot through this wacky-ass girl I met at a Sigur Ros show. Lux is a nice little spot right on Central in the middle of Phoenix proper. Good atmosphere and solid coffee. Nice accomplishment in the middle of the desert of both climate and culture.

After Phoenix I moved to my present home, Los Angeles. Big place. Very spread out and scattered, kinda like the people. So I of course immediately began looking for my new Trieste or Lux...and looking and looking. And in short form that is how we got to here.

As things go along I will define in greater detail what it is about Trieste that makes it the standard, as well as what I think defines coffee perfection.
One quick note for future reference. In this blog I will mostly type the word "coffee" but more often than not I really mean cappuccino or espresso. I really only drink cafe americano in the winer when it is cold or with breakfast at a greasy spoon type place.

ciao for now.

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.