Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

East Side/Riverwest: Snapshots: Apollo Cafe

2009-11-08T00:20:22-06:00

It's been a while since I was last at the Apollo Cafe. Friday night saw me return for my favorite, which happened to also be the special: the stuffed pepper. My favorite part is the rice that comes with that dish, which must be spanakorizo. If you get the "cheekenrice" (as the more ornery guy from the staff--who wasn't there last night--pronounces it), it doesn't come with the fancy rice. They also have their own reliable Wi-Fi there now. I'd been able to surf there on earlier visits, but only by mooching signals provided by neighboring establishments.

Snapshot: What a Weekend!

2009-11-03T18:58:20-06:00

I had a weekend filled with amazing coffee experiences. It began with a barista jam at Roast Coffee Company. There, I had an opportunity to sample coffees from roasters such as Stumptown, Olympia and, most notably, Milwaukee's own Anodyne. All reminded me of the thrill of big-league coffee, which I've been largely depriving myself of so far this year in an attempt to save money. Anodyne's roaster, Steve Kessler, provided me with samples of two of their varieties, the Nicaraguan Pacamara Natural and the Ethiopian Sidamo Grade 3 Natural.

Monday, I actually formulated this thought: "Man, it's been a while since I had a mediocre cup of coffee." Yeah, I should never think that. Jump cut to Alterra on Prospect, where I was all excited about trying their current $15/lb coffee, the El Salvador Miralvalle Pacamara. It was being offered as both the strong drip coffee of the day and as single-origin espresso. The drip coffee was lukewarm and had been held too long. (This wasn't close to closing time, it was about 6 p.m.) The espresso was worthwhile, however. Tonight (Tuesday), I've stopped at Bayshore to try it again and see whether last night's experience was a fluke. It was, in the sense that the coffee had indeed been held too long. The fresh version is much better. Still, I would peg this as a $10-a-pound coffee. I'm not going to fork over the fifteen. Plus, wouldn't you want to make sure that the brewed version is as good and fresh as possible as a way of promoting sales of the whole bean coffee?

I also note that during the time I've been sitting here, a fairly loud rap song played with the words "shit" and "ass" clearly audible. I think that regardless of my personal feelings, that is just a colossally bad business practice. I grew up two blocks from here, and sometimes I really question whether Alterra has its finger on the pulse of North Shore life and sensibilities. Though I'm sure they have the financial figures to argue against me, even if the money is rolling in faster than they can count it, that doesn't mean it will be five years from now. The loss of Fiddleheads as a wholesale account is significant in the North Shore/Ozaukee County area. After all, that is where a high proportion of affluent target consumers live.

To make a long story short, I see cracks in the foundation here. I'm not just saying that to have something to write about or to draw attention to myself. Search unmoderated forums such as Facebook and Twitter. As I've written on Alterra's Facebook fan page, no matter how well-deserved the laurels received are, the competition never sleeps--especially not in the coffee business!

Links: You Fill Enjoy It: Spronomy

2009-11-03T01:23:41-06:00

No time to post today, either in depth or out of depth--so I will simply leave you with a link, Spronomy.

Current Affairs: Halloween

2009-11-01T01:50:10-06:00

I've never been a fan of Halloween, but for whatever reason, I found myself enjoying it this year--though I didn't actively participate in any observances. Doing a little Google research, it was good too see, for example on Wikipedia, that its pagan origins basically have to do with a festival commemorating the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the darker half. ("Good" in the sense that it's hard to see the outrage of more Levitically-minded Christians as being justified, at least by that particular fact.) In the meantime, of course, the holiday has become Christianized or at least intermingled with Christianity, specifically All Saints' Day.

Blog News: Social Media Madness

2009-10-27T20:27:08-05:00

Today, I resolved to take greater control of my life by scrambling the Department of Overwhelm Management to unleash a can of whoop-ass on my Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. Wish me luck. These "communication" tools seem to demonstrate the 80/20 principle: 80% of the material comes from the people I am only 20% interested in hearing from. Secretly, I'm waiting for the first animated GIF of people humping on hump day (get it? It's hump day, so they're humping) to give me an excuse to plonk Facebook altogether.

Alterra: Snapshots: The Second Coming of 'Spro

2009-10-25T19:00:54-05:00

For me, Saturday was a day filled with experiences that I'd like to build a frame around and hang up on my wall. From my apartment, I walked to Alterra on Prospect, where Scott Lucey was presiding as barista-in-chief. It was a perfect opportunity to try a double shot of the Honduras Capucas Fausto microlot as espresso. The espresso was definitely worth trying, but it seemed not quite on a par with the regular Espresso Toro or some of the single origin espressos offered this year. Even more happily, I ran into a fellow coffee connoisseur and his wife.

I had intended to write a follow-up post to that from last weekend, but it may be better to just fold it into this post, as Alterra on Prospect is a perfect example of a sociopetal space. In the conversation with my friend, he mentioned that he knew he would see me there sooner or later, as if Alterra were a current that would draw us both in towards the center at some point. The experience stood in stark contrast to all the time I've spent in sociofugal spaces over the past two-and-a-half years--experiences I now look back on ruefully. I'm thinking particularly of time spent in some hell-a-thon Starbucks or, even worse, Borders or Barnes & Noble. It's not these companies that are evil, but rather the strategy of hiring (at least mostly) indifferent teenagers to serve up an indifferent product and experience. Contrast this with the mastery of Lucey and his fellow baristi.

Snapshots: The Second Coming of Joe

2009-10-23T23:50:50-05:00

In a tight economy, the volume of Public Relations is amped up to the max. As you may be able to imagine, especially on this beat, one hears a lot about how various companies are saving the world (*swelling, stirring music, stir, swell, stir...swell...*). It's rare to actually see this in action rather than hearing about it. I'd like to offer a little anecdote.

This afternoon, I walked to Bayshore's Trader Joe's. I picked up a few staple items--they have a whole-grain S. Rosen's (a brand of Chicago's Alpha Baking) bread that's really good, and cheap...OK, the "cheap" is pretty much understood. Even more remarkably, they've lately introduced Joe, a coffee that retails at $3.49 for nearly a pound--thirteen or fourteen ounces, something like that?--and is really good. Today's purchase of this new coffee offering was my second. When it first came out a month or so ago, I bought a can to see just how bad it would be. I brew manual pourover at home, and I think the fact that the grounds bloomed (indicating freshly roasted coffee) was the first tipoff that this wasn't going to be quite what I expected. To be honest, I like it better than many $7-9 a pound coffees and some $10 or higher coffees. Moreover, I'm not quite sure how they make the numbers work on this, considering the fact that there must be little or no cheap filler in the blend (that, and/or the roaster has a Karl Rove-like genius for making something out of...not much).

A lot of companies pay a PR person or department good money to let the world know how it's being saved by said company. Obviously, that's business. However, I think giving people the stuff they want and need cheap--without a lot of fanfare--is saving the world too. When it's done with the sense of humor and fun that Trader Joe's exhibits, that's even more admirable. (And need I mention the lack of plastic bags?) Honestly, I almost feel like I better stop thinking about all this, lest I lose my stomach for some of the other regular stops on the beat. I'm not sure I would be cut out to be a writer for the Religion page, despite my religiosity. It's the taking oneself too seriously that I find a bit wearisome. I know extremely well that when you put a message out there, you can't really control how it's going to be interpreted, but still--if you're paying marketing and PR folks, why not pay 'em to lighten things up a bit?

As far as I can tell, Trader Joe's doesn't pay a lot of people to tell us all how they're saving the world. So I'm going to do it for free. When I walked away from the store, I saw that a Feeding America truck was backed up to the loading dock. Arrayed next to the vehicle were bags upon bags of food about to be loaded up. I didn't read about this in a press release, and indeed, searching the Feeding America site for "Trader Joe's" yields no hits. I've long though that the best news is that gathered with one's own senses while on one's feet walking, and this was no exception.

Alterra: Snapshots: You Can Call Me Pedro (Or Jose)

2009-10-20T19:21:57-05:00

In another impressive matchup between varietals, this week Alterra is offering two takes on their Honduras Capucas, lots named after the respective farmers, Pedro Romero and Jose Isidro Lara. Last night, I enjoyed a mug of Pedro at the lakefront location; tonight, I had one mug of each at Bayshore. I didn't think that last night's coffee delight could be topped, but I actually think tonight's mug of Jose hit the spot just about perfectly. Actually, I'd like to try a blend of both. So it's looking like I'll have to take advantage of the package deal, offering a pound of each. One kind--I forget which--is being offered as single-origin espresso at some locations. Without looking, I'll bet it's the Pedro.

UPDATE: Ooh, it's neither: it's Fausto. A new twist! So you can have the Fausto as espresso, but not as drip or over-the-counter beans? I'm intrigued!

Current Affairs: The Politics of Proxemics (Part 1)

2009-10-17T12:25:33-05:00

I'd like to devote a post or two to why I believe discussions of urban sprawl, transit and related issues on this blog are really not that off topic at all. All are affected by the science of proxemics. I think one of the main reasons coffeehouses have become such a force in American society and, indeed, the world over the last couple of decades is the fact that they provide a venue where people are physically closer to others--particularly random others--than they would otherwise have the opportunity to be. During this same time frame, the political sphere has taken us physically further apart from each other than ever before. I'd argue that this is by design. Isolated, frightened people can be more easily influenced. Such people are, for example, more receptive to the messages that have emanated from a certain faction of the Republican party over the last twenty-odd years. (Mind you, in another lifetime, I might well be an Eisenhower Republican--I just don't think that's the right choice for this lifetime.) At the same time, the marketplace has been only too happy to provide us with the equipment we use to draw a bubble around our bodies and our consciousness. Imagine a stock index made up of the iPod/iPhone, SUVs, big-screen TVs, and the possibly $10 billion or even higher adult entertainment industry.

(To be continued.)

Stone Creek: Retail Coffee: Stone Creek Decaf Colombia

2009-10-15T19:34:49-05:00

Many thanks to Stone Creek Coffee's Steve Hawthorne, who graciously sent me two pounds of their delicious Decaf Colombia. It's wonderful both by itself and blended with regular coffees to create half-caff (my usual strategy when I find myself downing cup after cup of coffee).