PAY ATTENTION

Nothing matters more to the end result as the person who makes it.
A barista who cares about each of these steps will produce the best shot of espresso.

EVERY SINGLE STEP

We understood by checking out the scenes from Portland, San Francisco and NYC that the best coffee isn’t done fast. It isn’t some automatic machine. It isn’t in powder form. The best espresso follows a simple formula.

We use a triple basket (3 times a normal shot) and pull just under 2 shots worth of espresso out of it. That part we leave in the portafilter is the part no one wants… the bitter and the unrefined flavors. All that we serve is the delicious part.
Here’s how:

DENVER WATER. FILTER IT. FILTER IT AGAIN.

After some stringent testing, the water purification company said our water from the tap was better than most purified water elsewhere in America. Because we want to be OVER THE TOP, we are double filtering our water for odor and impurities.

FIND AMAZING BEANS

We have been trying many different roasters and have found several that we are truly excited about. An amazing bean makes it possible to pull amazing shots. We aim for local, but we mostly aim to please. If you have suggestions for coffee, put your beans where our mouths are. Send us a SAMPLE! If we like it, we can put it into our guest rotation.

GRIND THOSE BEANS

We bought fancy grinders, because grinders actually will make or break whether the espresso extracts properly. Not that all steps in the process aren’t important, just this is the one that moves okay coffee into the great realm. The grind is what determines if we pull the correct amount of deliciousness in the correct amount of time.

TAMP

We have purchased some fancy tamps to make sure that the coffee leaves the grinder and gets to the espresso machine as quickly as possible. If we do our job: the correct amount gets dosed in, it is settled properly, it gets pressed down into the portafilter just so and then moved to the machine for extraction.

OUR NERDY MACHINE

We bought a fancy Italian Espresso Machine. Then we pimped it out. We are able to control the temperature to about 1/10 of a degree. This means we get a flavor profile out of the bean that we want. If temperature stability is key. Deliciousness is the lock.

TIMING

It takes about 20 seconds (and up to 30 seconds) to pull a great shot after you put the espresso under pressure. It is worth the wait, though.

ENJOY

We enjoy straight espresso almost every single day. We don’t mind if you slurp, as long as you don’t mind if we do. It really lets out all of the flavors in a shot. DO IT. ENJOY IT. YELL ABOUT IT.