2 Jul 2015: abraço

2 Jul 2015 (Thu):

While visiting New York, I have made a point to visit the cafe Abraço which was on the list of Alon's Favourite Cafes in New York City. Alon Halevy is the author of the book The Infinite Emotions of Coffee.

It took me a while to find my way there. When I was there, I felt proud of myself that I have made my way there all by myself with the help of maps and the helpful directions of streets signs and from strangers.

I ordered a cup of cafe latte. The coffee tasted good! The cafe latte went well with the olive oil cake which was actually too sweet for me if I ate the cake on its own.

I had wanted to order the almond milk latte. However, there was no almond milk available that day.

This is a cosy cafe for a tasty cup of coffee. I had enjoyed the coffee there that I ordered myself a cup of espresso after the earlier treat to cafe latte and a cake. The beans for that particular day were made up of two-third of Brazilian beans from a specific farm. This I learnt from the barista.

Do not expect to have hotel quality service at this cafe yet this is a place for good cafe and standing up to have conversations with friends and the barista on duty.

abraço
86 East 7th St Manhattan
New York
http://www.abraconyc.com

Read: Scott Rao's The Professional Barista's Handbook

Image credit: http://www.scottrao.com

Title: The Professional Barista's Handbook: An Expert's Guide to Preparing Espresso, Coffee and Tea
Author: Scott Rao
Copyright by Scott Rao
ISBN: 978-1-4675-0371-6

Scott Rao is a world-renowned writer, consultant and trainer with over 20 years of experience in the coffee industry.

Scott Rao will be conducting two coffee-related workshops in Singapore this November. I was recommended to hear from Scott Rao on his ideas in preparing espresso, coffee, and tea. I managed to get myself a copy of one of Scott Rao's books, The Professional Barista's Handbook.

Scott Rao's writing is clear and systematic. He discussed key issues in preparing espresso and coffee in a clear and systematic fashion. In this book, there is even a chapter on brewing tea. His style of writing is very engagin, and it was quite a page-turner to read about his views on preparing espresso, coffee, and tea. Some of the issues discussed were a bit too technical for me and I foresee I would have to re-read those sections to better appreciate the technicalities involved.

I am happy with this handbook. Scott Rao has in many ways distilled the essence of brewing great coffee and attempted to summarize the essential ideas into this book. The author also gave insight on how to produce more consistent results in preparing quality espresso drinks and brews. I would say that so far, this is the most authoritative and comprehensive guides I have read to date on coffee preparation, especially preparing espresso. The book that is worth reading and I will be even more keen to meet this brilliant mind in person. Special thanks to Scott Rao for writing the book.

For more information on this book, please refer to: http://www.scottrao.com

22 June 2015 and etc: Thinking Cup

Espresso in the cup at the front. Thinking Cup.

About less than 10 minutes walk away from Hostelling International Boston is a cafe named Thinking Cup. It is known to serve the well-praised Sumptown Coffee, which is said to use the finest coffee beans from around the world.

On the morning of 22 Jun 2015, while I was visiting Boston, I met up with one of my friends, Emz. On our way to explore the Freedom Trail of Boston, I noticed that we were walking along Tremont Street. My recollection reminded me that there was a cafe worthy of a visit that was located there. As the name of this blog-post suggested, the cafe was the Thinking Cup.

Many thanks to Emz for a treat to espresso. The espresso there was well-balanced and has a fruity and citrus flavour. The ambience was cosy and enjoyable. It took us a while to find a table for two at the morning peak hours yet it was overall a good place to catch up with friends and to enjoy specialty coffee and other beverages. Pastries, sandwiches and other breakfast options are also available from the Thinking Cup.

Thinking Cup.

The Thinking Cup. 165 Tremont Cup.

Thinking Cup was so conveniently located nearby HI Boston that on one other occasions, I went there too to give myself treats to espresso beverages.

Affogato, from Thinking Cup.

At the time of publishing, Thinking Cup has two other branches in Boston. One in North End of Boston and the other in Back Bay. While I was exploring the North End with my friend, Emz, we were pleasantly greeted by the outlet of Thinking Cup at the North End.

Thinking Cup.
North End.
236 Hanover Street, Boston, MA, USA.

I felt thankful for the precious moments to catch up with one of my friends. Many thanks to Emz for her generous treat to espresso. I also appreciate the dedication that went into creating flavoursome cups of espresso beverages at the Thinking Cup. I felt enriched by a good cup of espresso at the Thinking Cup.

Thinking Cup
165 Tremont St
Tel: 617-482-5566
http://www.thinkingcup.com
Nearest T-station: Chinatown

Read: The Connoisseur's Guide to Coffee

Image credit: Amzon.com

Title: The Connoisseur's Guide to Coffee
Author: Jon Thorn, Michael Segal
Publisher: Quintet Publishing Limited

This is a guide that is accessible to read and well-researched for connoisseur's who loves coffee and the espresso drinks. The book is nicely illustrated and filled with photos to illustrate a variety of useful information related to coffee.

The first part of this book covers the story of coffee, how it spreads and what coffee is. It also presents in easy-to-read fashion the technical issues about tasting, roasting, grinding, making, and buying coffee.

What I appreciated about this book is its second section. This section is a directory covering the finest unblended coffees in the world. This director features all (at least the book's foreword claims) the specialty coffees. The directory also lists the general flavour profiles of each of the coffee from different parts of the world. Written in accessible language, this is a directory that lends a good introduction to the characteristics and flavour profiles of coffee beans from different parts of the world.

Read: Halevy's The Infinite Emotions of Coffee

Title: The Infinite Emotions of Coffee
Author: Alon Y. Halevy
Publisher: Macchiatone Communications (USA, 2011)

Out of interest to learn more about the drink that we know commonly as coffee, I picked up a copy of Halevy's book, The Infinite Emotions of Coffee.

This book discusses about the origins of coffee. It also takes readers to a reading adventure of how coffee has evolved over time at various parts of the world. While reading this book, I realized I have missed a number of opportunities to drink from some of the world-renowned coffee-houses in various parts of Europe. This probably suggests that I would have to make another trip to these parts of Europe in the future to drink the coffee from these famous coffee-houses. While I was in Italy for holiday a few years ago, I had been offered espresso drinks every single morning and I did not realize how good coffee in Italy could be. Now I know.

In the meantime, if you are interested to visit Halevy's favourite cafes at different parts of the world, check out Alon's list of Favourite Cafes here: http://www.macchiatone.com/alon-s-favorite-cafes

A copy of this book is available locally from Bettr Barista's online shop.