UltraCafé

Jott Blog Post

2007-08-21T17:16:00.001-07:00

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Aroma Espresso Bar

2006-10-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

Aroma Espresso Bar is located at 180 Wooster on Houston in the fashionable SoHo neighborhood. Customers present themselves in an array of current fashions and generally look extremely sharp.

The espresso is totally innocuous. The "short" was the weakest drink I have ever tasted claiming to be espresso. Pictured is the "long" espresso which was only slightly better.Presentation was poor. Presented in an anonymous but branded cup, there was a paper thin crema, hardly any aroma and a very thin taste, as previously noted.

Aroma Espresso Bar itself, other than the coffee is an over-designed space with problematic people flow. The good side is that there is wireless and adequate bar space for individual work.

Akureyri, Iceland

2006-10-10T23:44:00.000-07:00

Cafe in Akureyri, Iceland

This is the cafe I spent nine days in during my time in Akureyri. The way it would work is that I'd go to the library, check the internet with my one free hour of access I got as a member and then check out a book. I'd take the book along with me on a walk of the waterfront, or gardens, or neighborhood and then eventually back to my tent in the public campgrounds before I'd get into the mood for a nice cup of coffee from these guys. The strange thing is that even though I visited this shop for nine days in a row and ordered the same drink each day, the barista who saw me during that time never once acted as if she recognized me from any other day in her life. It was surreal.

McNally Robinson

2006-10-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

This relatively small bookstore has an attached tea room. They also serve coffee. I had a double espresso. The espresso was bitter but not that bad. Other than bitterness there was nothing particularly special about the cup other than the nice crema. Their default espresso size appears to be double. While not the best tasting espresso, the coffee did have a nice kick.

Flickr: Photos from Brodyb

As you can see from the photos the presentation of the espresso is plain. A generic cup and saucer are accompanied by a modest but elegant spoon and a picnic napkin.

Notes about the cafe itself. The cafe is strangely quiet as there is not the usual sounds associated with coffee production such as grinding and steaming for the most part. I assume this is because they grind ahead of time in batches and serve mostly tea so they don't need to steam things very often. The clientele are young creative professionals and fashionable students.