Story by Manos Angelakis
Photography Nikki Goldstein
 

Coffee has been a much sought-after beverage in Europe from the 19^th century on, from the Biedermeier to fin-de-siècle (19^th century) to the present-day. The coffee houses of Vienna, Paris, London, Milan and all major European cities were, and still are, meeting points for artists, philosophers, politicians, composers, revolutionaries or civil servants and like-minded patrons. At a café, one is able to relax, read the newspaper, play a hand of cards or backgamon, study, gossip with a friend, or even conduct business, sipping a cup of coffee or tea. European coffee houses are still places to linger, socialize, and enjoy.

In the United States, it is typical to order coffee with milk and sugar (regular), pay, and then leave. In other parts of the world, coffee is still ordered by variation, with milk (cold, hot, or frothed), cream, whipped cream, or even a dash of liquor (espresso coretto in Rome). Many cafés have a selection of over two dozen coffee specialties. In Vienna, you visit the Café Sacher Wien to experience the upper-end of the Vienna coffeehouse culture, along with a piece of the famous Sacher Torte.

Espresso has slowly but steadily gained a foothold in the New York City coffee-culture, but it is still mostly ordered in restaurants after a meal. It is only with the emergence of “Starbucks” that the public has discovered other styles of coffee. Now, New York City is starting to develop its own coffee culture in the city that never sleeps; but it is still mostly a hurried affair, as in “Give me a latte to go”. Thankfully, a few talented baristas are able to create visual masterpieces from foamed milk and coffee, and we stop and admire their artistic capabilities. 

I like coffee, but many of my friends make coffee by using cheap, pre-ground beans that have been kept in vacuum tins in warehouses sometimes for a year or more; all the ground coffee you find at a supermarket falls into that category. The coffee made in neighborhood restaurants and coffee shops is also mostly cheap, preground, apportioned coffee, but at least, the usage volume is high, so the coffee is considerably fresher. I personally purchase small quantities of whole beans, grind them myself, and then brew them. I have both a standard coffee maker that makes filtered American coffee, and an espresso machine; both grind a preset measure of beans. I also own a coffee press, for French-style coffee. I have been constantly looking for flavorful beans that are fresh and properly roasted.

There is a number of coffee roasters in New York City and a few specialty markets that carry a large variety of fresh beans from specific origins; there are about 27 countries that produce commercially available coffee. You can purchase single-origin exotics such as Blue Mountain from Jamaica, Hawaiian Kona or Maui Oma, Honduras’ Santa Isabel, Mexican Chiapas, Costa Rican Terrazu, Sumatra Mandehling, Tanzania Peaberry etc. etc. Each roaster makes their own varieties of exotics in regular roast, dark roast, French roast (a darker roast but not as dark and oily as Italian), and Italian (Espresso) roast.

In future issues we will be checking out coffees from individual producers that we think are worth looking into. 

© March 2010 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.