317 replies to this topic

[Ling]

(Is Americano merely a watered-down espresso?) I add cream and sugar to my Americano and drink it like coffee (or is it already considered coffee, I'm not too sure). I like a full, deep flavour that isn't very bitter (maybe this is why I add so much sugar and cream to my Americanos?) I'm not a huge fan of Starbuck's drip coffee, or Seattle's Best, which I also find very bitter.

[stovetop]

Go to Commercial Street and have a Joe’s Espresso it might help you out, it is sweet and not biter, at least it was when I work at Havana’s, I used to have my Kitchen meetings at Joes.
steve

[Ling]

thanks for the tip, steve!

[jayhay]

only to have my silenced shattered by a screaming 4 year old
"that's not your job , you don't do that , I do ".  ( again and again )

Cute story Neil.
What coffee do you use at home? Is it available only to the restaurant, or can it be bought commercially? I can never seem to duplicate at home, coffee nearly as good as at higher-end restaurants.

And no, I don't mean I want you to provide us coffee, as well as steak!

[nwyles]

only to have my silenced shattered by a screaming 4 year old
"that's not your job , you don't do that , I do ".  ( again and again )

Cute story Neil.
What coffee do you use at home? Is it available only to the restaurant, or can it be bought commercially? I can never seem to duplicate at home, coffee nearly as good as at higher-end restaurants.

And no, I don't mean I want you to provide us coffee, as well as steak!

I hate to say after all of the posts about fine Italian Coffee etc. but usually Seattle's Best , sometimes Starbucks.

I feel so dirty.
Forgive me.

[jayhay]

...found you out!

[peppyre]

OHhhhno Neil, Should we be giving you coffee on Sunday instead of cookies?

Seattles Best is OK, but Starbucks?! Ohhhhhh......

[Ling]

Yeah, that reminds me...nicer restaurants DO serve delicious coffee! I remember really enjoying the coffee from Parkside and West. I asked the server at Parkside for the brand of coffee they use, but I lost the slip of paper she wrote it on. Too bad! She said she thought they only supplied their beans to restaurants though.

[montrachet]

Ling,
If you get a chance, go try the coffee at Umami. I know they said it was an organic local product but I forgot where from. It really goes well with the Poplar Grove Tiger Blue Creme Brulee! -m

[Ling]

I've never heard of a cheesy creme brulee! Sounds interesting...must try that (and the coffee too!)

edit: I was going to go for Greek food tomorrow night, but the idea of blue cheese creme brulee is too inticing. Must try it after yoga tomorrow.

Edited by Ling, 02 December 2004 - 12:40 PM.

[Ling]

I hate to say after all of the posts about fine Italian Coffee etc. but usually Seattle's Best , sometimes Starbucks.

I feel so dirty.
Forgive me.

Another Starbucks drinker! I am not the only one...

[Xando Head]

Well, seeing as I live directly above a Starbucks, I also have to admit I end up there quite often. It's the convenience thing. (Sorta like Urban Fare. If I didn't live on the same block as the darn store, I'd never shop there. Every time I go in I get peeved, but I keep going back because it's so...darn...convenient)

But if I'm out of my Yaletown live/work cocoon (I know how awful that sounds, btw), I'd get my nonfat latte at Cafe Artigiano.

[Daddy-A]

Until December 7, the fine folk at JJ Bean are having their annual Customer Appreciation Sale. Buy 2lbs of beans, get 1 free. And as usuall you get a free coffee when you buy their beans ... I was at the Granville Island location, so of course I had to scoot over to Lee's for a glazed old-fashioned

I picked up a 1lb Nero Forte (nice & dark ... what I use for espresso most mornings), 1lb Palomino Espresso (something new to try tomorrow morning) and 1lb of their Christmas Blend which I will be serving on Sunday.

Neil, you're close enough to JJ ... no excuse for buying bad coffee. Incidently, Starbucks owns SBC. It's just wrong on so many levels (sorry, it's the Naomi Klein in me ...)

A.

[nwyles]

Please read first line of my post in coffee.

Coffee - love it lots, drink tons, hot , cold , lukewarm , not too fussy, cream and sugar please.

When you drink as much as I do, it is just a delivery vehicle for caffine.

Edited by nwyles, 02 December 2004 - 02:09 PM.

[mangez]

Please read first line of my post in coffee.

Coffee - love it lots, drink tons, hot , cold , lukewarm , not too fussy, cream and sugar please.

When you drink as much as I do, it is just a delivery vehicle for caffine.

Chef, your post got this long time lurker to finally post. I absolutely share your sentiment and philosophy regarding caffine. You guys think Starbucks and Seattle's Best is bad? At our college office, we pour Costco!!! beans into our Saeco just for the convenience. And I add cold water to it to make my lukewarm black Americano so I can down it in one go. I have to keep this a secret or our students will riot.

Forgive me God.

And Chef thanks very much for the hanger's beef, my wife cooked it with a nice peppercorn sauce last week it was lovely. And she had the cut my way as well. I personally prefer a nice thick cut over the now very common sliced cut (whatever you call it, same thing at Lumiere's Bar, Le Crocodile, etc.).

And you're right, lots of blood indeed. Which reminds me I have to get some cooking brandy today. Everyone be forewarned, do expect lots of meaningless and silly posts from this food addict.

[peppyre]

Welcome Mangez. Meaningless and silly posts will fit right in with the rest of us.

Every other office I've been in, I have been able to get everyone to switch over to my kind of coffee. Now, at the University, there's absolutely no way, so it's down to the cafeteria every morning to get a palatble second cup of coffee, which is usually.....starbucks or Cafe Ami...neither of which are real coffee.

I've been meaning to buy a French Press for my office, but everyone thinks I'm nuts in here already, that would just make it worse.

[Daddy-A]

[COLOR=blue]

Chef, your post got this long time lurker to finally post.
<SNIP>
Everyone be forewarned, do expect lots of meaningless and silly posts from this food addict.

Welcome to you new addiction mangez! I'm just wondering how we'll be able to distinguish you meaningless & silly posts from everybody else's meaningless & silly posts?

peppyre ... you should ask for one of those new "pod" coffee makers for Christmas. I'm assuming they'll use the Illy pods, which in my experience make pretty damn fine coffee.

Dear Santa,
I've been a very good girl this year, but suffer from bad coffee jitters.
Please bring me a new coffee maker so I can stop shaking.
Love, peppyre
ps. Can I get hanger steaks from a reindeer?

A.

[Minou]

I'm pre-disposed to Melriches on Davie.

It's busy, fun, eclectic music, the staff are hip and border on rude and , hey! It's located in the middle of Homo-Slavia! ... this prairie gal didn't mind looking at the hot guys whist enjoying her hot latté!

[mangez]

Thanks peppre and Daddy-A for the warm welcome. So back to the topic, have you guys tried those Vietnamese dripped coffee?

My favourite one is at this Vietnamese joint on Fraser and 17th. Pho something, it has a huge yellow canopy and a big TV inside. Best Vietnamese coffee I have ever had, nice and strong.

[Daddy-A]

My favourite one is at this Vietnamese joint on Fraser and 17th.  Pho something, it has a huge yellow canopy and a big TV inside.  Best Vietnamese coffee I have ever had, nice and strong.

Pho something ... yeah. That oughta narrow it down!

I love Vietnamese coffee ... but I'm never sure how to drink it. There's the glass with the condensed milk and the coffee dripping into it, and then there's the glass of ice.

So, do you add the ice to the coffee or vice versa? I'm guessing it's adding the ice to the coffee because I did it the other way the first time I tried it and made a hell of a mess!

A.

[mangez]

My favourite one is at this Vietnamese joint on Fraser and 17th.  Pho something, it has a huge yellow canopy and a big TV inside.  Best Vietnamese coffee I have ever had, nice and strong.

Pho something ... yeah. That oughta narrow it down!

I love Vietnamese coffee ... but I'm never sure how to drink it. There's the glass with the condensed milk and the coffee dripping into it, and then there's the glass of ice.

So, do you add the ice to the coffee or vice versa? I'm guessing it's adding the ice to the coffee because I did it the other way the first time I tried it and made a hell of a mess!

A.

Ok, here's the drill:

1. Wait patiently until all coffee has dripped into the glass which has the condensed milk at the bottom.
2. Promptly remove coffee container once it's empty, stir the condensed milk vigorously until it has completely dissolved in the coffee.
3. Slowly add ice to the coffee a few cubes at a time.
4. Ask for a straw so you can still stir it using the added ice to cool the coffee.

If you're a fan, you HAVE to try out the yellow canopy place on Fraser and 17th. It's on the east side of Fraser, best Vietnamese coffee!

[Mooshmouse]

Pho something ... yeah.  That oughta narrow it down! 

I love Vietnamese coffee ... but I'm never sure how to drink it.  There's the glass with the condensed milk and the coffee dripping into it, and then there's the glass of ice.

So, do you add the ice to the coffee or vice versa?  I'm guessing it's adding the ice to the coffee because I did it the other way the first time I tried it and made a hell of a mess!

A.

Ok, here's the drill:

1. Wait patiently until all coffee has dripped into the glass which has the condensed milk at the bottom.
2. Promptly remove coffee container once it's empty, stir the condensed milk vigorously until it has completely dissolved in the coffee.
3. Slowly add ice to the coffee a few cubes at a time.
4. Ask for a straw so you can still stir it using the added ice to cool the coffee.

If you're a fan, you HAVE to try out the yellow canopy place on Fraser and 17th. It's on the east side of Fraser, best Vietnamese coffee!

Welcome to the craziness mangez! Be prepared to forfeit a good portion of your life to the sucking time vortex that is eGullet.

Preliminaries aside, I'm of the opposite school when it comes to drinking Vietnamese iced coffee: I'm with you on steps 1 and 2, but I add the coffee to the ice. That way, every little bit of coffee cascades over the ice as it's poured into the glass, thus ensuring a more uniform level of coolness for your initial sip. As far as the drip factor is concerned, it's kind of like pouring cups of Chinese tea at dim sum without dripping onto the tablecloth. It's all in the technique. And whenever I've had iced coffee, I've always been given a long-handled spoon for stirring; comes in handy while the ice melts as you're able to stir and prevent errant watery sips.

And mangez's right: you absolutely cannot miss this yellow-awninged Vietnamese pho place on Fraser at 17th. It's the only one that garish in the immediate vicinity.

[mangez]

Pho something ... yeah.  That oughta narrow it down! 

I love Vietnamese coffee ... but I'm never sure how to drink it.  There's the glass with the condensed milk and the coffee dripping into it, and then there's the glass of ice.

So, do you add the ice to the coffee or vice versa?  I'm guessing it's adding the ice to the coffee because I did it the other way the first time I tried it and made a hell of a mess!

A.

Ok, here's the drill:

1. Wait patiently until all coffee has dripped into the glass which has the condensed milk at the bottom.
2. Promptly remove coffee container once it's empty, stir the condensed milk vigorously until it has completely dissolved in the coffee.
3. Slowly add ice to the coffee a few cubes at a time.
4. Ask for a straw so you can still stir it using the added ice to cool the coffee.

If you're a fan, you HAVE to try out the yellow canopy place on Fraser and 17th. It's on the east side of Fraser, best Vietnamese coffee!

Welcome to the craziness mangez! Be prepared to forfeit a good portion of your life to the sucking time vortex that is eGullet.

Preliminaries aside, I'm of the opposite school when it comes to drinking Vietnamese iced coffee: I'm with you on steps 1 and 2, but I add the coffee to the ice. That way, every little bit of coffee cascades over the ice as it's poured into the glass, thus ensuring a more uniform level of coolness for your initial sip. As far as the drip factor is concerned, it's kind of like pouring cups of Chinese tea at dim sum without dripping onto the tablecloth. It's all in the technique. And whenever I've had iced coffee, I've always been given a long-handled spoon for stirring; comes in handy while the ice melts as you're able to stir and prevent errant watery sips.

And mangez's right: you absolutely cannot miss this yellow-awninged Vietnamese pho place on Fraser at 17th. It's the only one that garish in the immediate vicinity.

Thanks, it's great news to hear another fellow Vietnamese coffee addict. This is indeed a fine support group.

You're right Mooshmouse, if you go to a trusted restaurant where you know the amount of ice is in the proper proportion, by all means, be bold and chill the coffee all at once by pouring it straight into the glass of ice. It's certainly more dynamic as you sip the perfectly chilled coffee when your fingers caress the condensation from the melting ice!

However, this Fraser Pho place lately had been rather generous providing a large jug of ice yet not giving me an extra empty glass, making this pour-coffee-over-glass-of-ice a lost art!

They also serve pretty good spring rolls there, and there is an interesting rice dish I can't remember if it's number 26 or 29. A mixture of various local Vietnamese dishes on 'baby rice', quite authentic as you add your own fish sauce on top.

Edited by mangez, 03 December 2004 - 08:37 PM.

[Mooshmouse]

Thanks, it's great news to hear another fellow Vietnamese coffee addict.  This is indeed a fine support group.

For those of you who haven't yet been indoctrinated into the cult of Vietnamese iced coffee, it really does give you the ultimate sugar and caffeine rush. Because of it's sweet, creamy goodness, I've often been sucked into the trap of ordering one to follow up a late-night Vietnamese food fix. Then I'm left wide awake on the sofa until all hours of the morning, channel surfing and finding nothing on but Planet of the Apes or Star Trek reruns from the William Shatner era (tribbles anyone?).

[peppyre]

Come on Moosh. We know what you're really doing....surfing eGullet until 4am. The coffee is just an excuse BTW...I'm baking all night, so uh, where can I get this coffee again?

[Daddy-A]

Then I'm left wide awake on the sofa until all hours of the morning, channel surfing and finding nothing on but Planet of the Apes

Roddey McDowell rules! And Planet of the Apes is the only thing Heston ever did that I can watch, now that he's an NRA gun-slinging dufus.

Get your hands off me you damn dirty ape!!!!

Think I'm gonna grap me a coffee and watch the late show! Can I come and get some cookies peppyre??

A.

[peppyre]

Come on over. I got cookies and I got coffee. oh and the simpsons

[Ling]

I had my first espresso today. Actually, I had 2 double espressos. And this was about an hour after I had my 2 morning coffees. I don't think I'd ever felt so jittery in my life!

I was meeting a student at Brighouse library (in Richmond) today and I noticed that Tree Organic Coffee had set up a little stand right by the entrance. Remembering this thread, I ordered a double espresso, and the man asked me if I wanted a long one. I said (somewhat hesitantly): "Uhm...I don't know. This is my first espresso. I usually drink Starbucks." The last word out of my mouth was met with snorts of disgust followed by admonishment from all three baristas. The man made me 2 doubles and only charged me for one, which was so kind of him. I didn't add any milk or sugar, but I was surprised that it was really good! The crema (foamy stuff?) at the top was delicious. I much prefered the espresso made with less water. The man (I'm assuming he's the owner) also explained to me briefly that Starbucks can't control the roasting temperature of the beans correctly because they roast in such large batches, so a lot of the beans burn.

The little stand inside the building is permanent, and the cheesecakes and apple pie in the display case looked homey (in a good way) and tasty. Tree Organic Coffee apparently has a downtown location too.

[DameD]

Ling, you were saying before how a lot of restaurants, I agree with you, I have noticed quite a few serve illy coffee which is extremely tasty, i think one of my favs, though soo expensive, can't bring my self to by it for home. Right now JJ Bean has there Xmas blend which is really good and Intelligensia is also great.

[peppyre]

Ling, I am so proud of you for being brave enough to try your first espresso. A double no less!! Brava!! You'll be hooked now and you'll never be able to go back. Welcome!!

**edited because apparently I need my espresso

Edited by peppyre, 06 December 2004 - 10:29 AM.