A Bar for “Gentlemen of Character” Is Opening Downtown

Thank you for your comment, Meg. I knew that sounded wrong and appreciate your clarification on the fine art of Italian coffee.

Not to out-pedanticize you, but as someone who worked in specialty coffee for over a decade, I must point out that your pedantic paradoxical parable unfortunately gets many of the details wrong.

“Espresso solo” is not a common way to order in Italy in my experience, more commonly it’s just ordered as “un caffe” as American style drip coffee does not exist, so “coffee” just means espresso without milk. But someone who spends more time drinking espresso in Italy than me can correct me if I’m wrong.

More importantly, drinking espresso “neat” is absolutely NOT doing a disservice to the coffee. In fact many espresso aficionados would argue the exact opposite, that adding milk to a well executed espresso is masking the nuance of the coffee.

While the crema does contain some coffee oils, it is absolutely FALSE that this is “where the most flavor is.” In fact, the crema is mostly C02, trapped in the roasted bean and off-gassing from the fine grinding and pressurized brewing process (with a result similar to the “Guiness effect” with nitrogenated beer or cold brew kegs), and tends to impart mostly bitterness to the overall cup as a result of its carbon nature. While traditionally crema is considered a desirable trait in espresso as it adds to the perception of body and a thick, syrupy mouthfeel to the drinking experience, modern specialty baristas and coffee experts agree that it does not tend to enhance the overall flavor profile, so some even choose to spoon it off before drinking. I think reasonable coffee people can disagree on the aesthetics, but facts do matter.

“…oils quickly oxidize and the acids break down, which can make the shot go bitter, bland or even sour.” do you have a source for this? bitter, bland and sour are three very different defect descriptors in an espresso shot, and each usually have their own cause, none of which have much to do with an espresso shot sitting or crema dissipating for one minute before drinking. Bitterness is usually a result of over-extraction in the brewing process or over-roasting or just low quality coffee. Sourness is usually under-extraction due to too coarse a grind or water that isn’t hot enough. It can result from an espresso shot that sits unconsumed on the counter for many long minutes, but not usually after one minute. Blandness/flatness could be a number of causes, from the source coffee, the roast profile, the age of the coffee, water quality, brew temperature, etc.

“Espresso is pulled at around 200 degrees so it’s difficult to drink while it is still fresh.” What? Nonsense. Unless you are very sensitive to hot temperatures, an espresso is usually drinkable right away or after 30 seconds or so at most. That’s the whole point. Express. Fast. It’s only 2oz of liquid give or take, so unless the barista preheats the demitasse with a blow torch, it cools down to drinking temperature very quickly. However, the shot does not “deteriorate” in one minute, that’s outdated coffee science. The crema may dissipate but how quickly varies highly by coffee and brewing parameters. Adding steamed milk does nothing to “preserve the shot” or the crema other than adding volume and diluting espresso flavor. Not saying a well made cappuccino isn’t delicious in it’s own right, but this particular barista “of character” would never order a “bone dry” cappuccino. I know your anecdote is just for giggles, but I think even if we go by your false philosophy that milk is somehow necessary to “preserve” an espresso, then the “gentlemen of character” (whatever that silly marketing phrase means) should truly order a macchiato.