‘Man Seeking Coffee’ Seeks Here

Hi there – I have to agree with ManSeekingCoffee’s assessment of the coffee scene in New Orleans. After living here for two years now, I still have not found a quality espresso joint. Sometimes, rarely, a pleasant brewed coffee can be had, but I think the dedication required, as well as higher skill and equipment setup, keep New Orleanians from experiencing quality espresso. Perhaps it stems from the general mentality of “it is what it is”. Maybe the area just doesn’t really care to improve its coffee quality, which is unfortunate but fine. Just don’t get upset when someone who is a competent judge critiques it for being what it is – not good. I just returned from a week-long coffee trip to the Pacific Northwest. There is no comparison. Just try coffee from somewhere like Stumptown, Cafe Victrola, Caffe Vita, Coffeehouse Northwest, Espresso Vivace, 49th Parallel to name a few… returning to the coffee scene here afterwards will be a cruel punishment.

I am curious if you have any recommendations for quality places to try in the New Orleans area. I’ve been to all listed on your Cafe list except The Sound Cafe and The Orange Couch. Ideally, I’d like to find a spot that knows how to grind, tamp, and pull a good shot (not this semi/fully automatic stuff). It would be nice if they knew how hard to tamp, how long to extract (and what a good versus bad pull looks like), what ristretto means, how to properly froth milk, how to pour latte art, etc. I guess I’m looking for a coffee shop that cares about quality espresso. That’s a lot harder than it sounds. Maybe we need to import some hipsters from the Vancouver/Seattle/Portland areas. It would also be nice if there was a shop that offered siphon brewing, chemex brewing, maybe even a Clover (there were a couple floating around that Starbucks hadn’t snatched up) for some quality single origin varietals. As of right now, June 27, 2009, there is NOT good coffee in the Crescent City. If you think there is, I’m afraid you have not had good coffee and would encourage you to try coffee in other areas. I look forward to any suggestion you might have – I’m always looking for new places to try!

I know this post is a bit older, but Velvet. Try Velvet on Magazine St. across from Whole Foods. I just returned from coffee centric trip to Houston and Austin and the verdict is Velvet. I suggest a siphon.