dresese

State of the Cappuccino

As previously noted in a previous entry, I have become fairly interested in making good capuccinos. As part of that, I decided to go to local San Mateo coffee houses and see who makes a good cappucino. So far, I've hit three stores in two months. Not a good rate, but it's tough to get out when you have kids. I would like to go twice to see if the cappucinos are made consistenly, but I just don't have the time. Anyway, here are the cafe's and short review of their cappucinos.

• Walsh's Coffee Roaster: When I got one at this cafe, I knew I was in trouble when they started preparing my cappucino by putting espresso in a coffee cup. This is a bad sign. Cappucino's just don't work well in a coffee cup. With not enough surface to roam, the froth seems to lose it's importance. You tell how good a cappucino is by just watching them pour the frothed milk. At my favorite place, Steps of Rome, it comes out in a thick luscious stream, naturally making the milk and froth layer. No spoon has to touch it. At Walsh's, they poured the milk, then spooned out the froth. Another bad sign. When I drank it, the froth was gone by the time I finished, partly because it was served in a coffee cup, partly because the froth was wimpy.
• Draeger's: Draeger's market has a nice looking cafe in front. Draegers is home to a lot of nice things, so I had fairly high hopes. My hopes were raised when I saw that they actually had Italian barristas. There's no logical reason why Italians make the best cappucinos. After all, good technique can be taught to anyone. But, in my experience, they do. They served in a nice cappucino mugs, but when they poured the froth, they helped the froth along with a spoon. They didn't quite pour, and didn't quite spoon, but evidently they had a lot of froth. The cappucino was fairly good. The froth wasn't quite as smooth as it could be, and it wasn't quite as long-lasting as you could hope, but it was OK.
• Bean Street Coffee: This is a newly opened coffee house. So I went in a few months after it opened and gave it a shot. This was one strange cappucino experience. The barrista frothed the milk, and started spooning out froth. No pouring, just spooned out spoonful after spoonful of froth. Weird. After making it, the barrista asked me if I wanted it "wet". "What does that mean", I asked. Evidently, it meant if I wanted any milk at all. I said "yes", and she gave me a smidgen of milk. So I drank this strange beast of a cappucino. The espresso below was a bit bitter, and there was an insane amount of froth. The froth was pretty darn sturdy, but not all that smooth. When I drank it, it was like drinking a somewhat bitter espresso, poured through a hole in some foam. When I was done, none of the froth was gone. I had to eat it out with a spoon. Thinking about it, this is the exact opposite of Walsh's Coffee Roaster cappucinno.

So, I'd say Draeger's was the best, followed by Bean Street Coffee, then Walsh's. Of all of them, I'd probably only drink Draeger's cappucino again. But I'm still searching for a truly good cup. It's ridiculous that I could make better froth in the office. Doesn't anyone try anymore?