There's no caffeine in Muscadet

The way I start out my day seldom changes, yet for some reason this morning it suddenly seemed blogworthy.

I make coffee. Here it comes...


An unassuming enough of a start to one's day, you'd think. But actually, really really blogworthy...

Organic vs conventional! Fair trade vs direct trade! Caffeinated vs decaf! Espresso in a shot vs espresso in a cup!? Just pick your talking point.

To make my espresso-based latte-macchiato hybrid that I drink, I use these beans. They are made by Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, a coffee importer.



I have other coffee in my cupboard ... this one... this one... and I even forgot I had this one.



I usually bypass them unless I've run out of freshly roasted Intelligentsia. But today I realize that all these coffee labels remind me a lot of wine labels. They're less a manufacturer's smacked-on trademark and more a tribute to the grapes and beans that go into it.

And while overly processed bread, dairy and fruit preserves drive me nuts, I don't seem to mind consuming processed foodstuffs when it comes to wine and coffee. Maybe that's because each one undergoes a substantial transformation -- they require significant craftmanship and some exact science before they can become acceptably drinkable. So it's the non-transformative processed food I avoid: industrial fish sticks and other frozen dinners and prepared foods that are overpackaged conveniences -- which really only seem to replicate the easier kitchen tasks I can perform without much effort, and usually, with better results.

I suppose I could try roasting my own coffee. A couple of years ago I made the leap to grinding my own coffee beans (even though it's only a blade, not a mill, grinder) and that paid off nicely for me, including this morning, as you can see.



I'm nowhere near taking on winemaking.

ORGANIC VERSUS CONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE

I feel the first talking point coming on.... Another reason I don't mind consuming processed items like wine and coffee is because they are both involved in a positive labeling endeavour. During WLW 1 (Wine Label Week), I saw that labels don't need to be obscure sources of information once you know what you are looking at. And new label designations based on environmental certifications for organic or biodynamic farming -- Terra Vitis, Eco-Cert, Demeter, etc -- are generally being conveyed clearly to the consumer. These are good developments.

Coffee is similar to wine on being green and accountable to drinkers in how it obtains standards from a group called Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International, which sets rules on farming techniques, pesticides and recycling practices. The organization even has a program to encourage children of farmers to stay enrolled in school, so the initiative is obviously based on more than how food is cultivated but on equity practices too, which are primarily concerned with the condition of the farmer and his laborers.

Like wine, coffee is certified through visits to farmers to verify that they are meeting the criteria that bar, among other things, the use of child labor and harmful chemicals.

FAIR VERSUS DIRECT TRADING

So, like wine, some coffees can carry the organic label. On the whole, also like wine, most are still not certified. At the risk of sounding like a cop-out, sometimes you can rely on and trust in the brand name you endorse. Intelligentsia is that trusted brand name that appears on the label. Even when no official green certification is there, I buy Intelligentsia. Because while they are actually not a "fairtrade" certified company, they are a reputable "direct" trader.

That's because Intelligentsia has spoken out. They have said that fair trade coffee is as exploitive as the conventional kind, especially in countries that produce the highest-quality beans -- like Colombia, Ethiopia and Guatemala.

"Fair trade farmers there are barely paid more than their counterparts in Brazil, though their crops become gourmet brands, selling for a hefty markup, said Geoff Watts, vice president for coffee at Intelligentsia."

Full details in this business article in the New York Times.

CAFFEINATED VERSUS DECAFFEINATED COFFEES

Speaking of the New York Times, a Yahoo! feature on caffeine pointed to a NYT blog post which in turn pointed to my blog via one of the comments I left. As a result, my hits went absolutely through the roof -- more than a hundred visitors were on my site at once and 800 visits for the day total. I could post these record-setting charts and stats but I myself was going through the roof at the time too, so I'd rather talk about that.

Basically, coffee is a broad term and the coffee I drink and the coffee Tara Parker-Pope writes about in her NYT blog called Well about are not the same thing. She reported on drip coffee caffeine levels and then ran a photo of an espresso-based coffee. These are not the same types of coffee, especially when it comes to caffeine level.

In her Well blog, Parker-Pope acknowledged my issue with this in saying that "You are correct that per serving, espresso (which is served in shots rather than cups) typically does have less caffeine than drip coffee."

ESPRESSO IN A SHOT VERSUS ESPRESSO IN A CUP!?

But espresso is espresso is espresso. It doesn't matter if an espresso shot is served in a cup with milk as a cappuccino, or if it's served solo in a shot. It's still a single espresso, and it'll have the same level of caffeine no matter where it is.

There is a reason I am making a point about how different espresso is. The image attached to this caffeine story as it made the rounds through the media is clearly a an espresso-based beverage -- a cappuccino or similar artisanal coffee from the looks of its latte art on the top. Cappuccinos and other artisanal coffees like macchiatos and lattes, are the combination of a shot of espresso and varying amounts of warmed milk. Cappuccinos therefore have the same low level of caffeine as the espresso shot it is made with. But most importantly, cappuccinos by their very definition are not drip coffees, which are brewed and which are more heavily caffeinated. Yet a drip coffee is not the image chosen for this damning report on some drip coffees -- specifically the problematic levels of caffeine in drip decaf.

Why place an illustration of a non-drip coffee beverage under the headline? And why a beverage that uses a single shot of espresso which has LESS caffeine (as low as 30 mg) than a cup of Dunkin' Donuts drip decaf (as high as 32 mg)? Clearly, it's because image sells and a pretty one will draw more interest than brown, watery and lifeless decaf. Those readers who don't care about caffeine will visit just to see the dazzling latte art. Those readers who do care about caffeine levels will visit to analyze their coffee intake. In both cases, readers leave with an false association of artisanal coffee and high caffeine.

I think this is shoddy journalism by the New York Times and they should be more upfront about the photos they choose to run.

Cappuccino, which when made by a real barista, looks better, tastes better and actually is better for you on the caffeine front than the unattractive brews festering in decaf coffee pots. But based on the warning-alert nature of the headline and its accompanying image, it's the attractive espresso-based coffee that undeservingly receives the black mark, not the black decaf, the ugly fast-food swill that is actually the problem.

And once again, the media circus health report sets out on the wrong foot and potentially does more harm than good.

The new wine is coffee: Benda 2007 shows at nationals, vintage In Gamba bulks up

Coffee is the new wine; espresso is the new claret.

Intelligentsia is the new Cheval Blanc; Anthony Benda is the new Véronique Rivest in Quebec.

Mr. Benda, pictured here behind his shiny Synesso at Café Santé Veritas, is the best barista in the town. His customers already knew that, but a strong third-place showing in at the Canadian National Barista Championships in Toronto yesterday meant that he was officially among the best in the country, a shining light outside Vancouver's legendary artisanal coffee scene.

Michael Yung of Caffè Artigiano (Park Royal) won the contest and Cady Wu, of Wicked Cafe, also in Vancouver, came second.

As a wineblogger, it seemed to me that this type of competition was restricted to sommeliers representing the world's greatest restaurants. Now I think it's an indication of how coffee is becoming the new wine.

For proof of this, read the feature story of last week's Dining and Wine section at NYTimes.com and if you are still in doubt, just watch the multimedia included in the report. We're talking:

• Blind coffee tastings (known as "cuppings") with some serious slurping going on


• A coffee industry newly characterized by brokers and direct trade, which mirrors the négociant/domaine dichotomy in wine production


• Quotes like "go almost anywhere, do almost anything and pay almost any price in pursuit of the perfect _" -- no, not wine... "cup of coffee" is how that statement ends
  

To me this only a good thing. I think my readers must think the same thing, even though they are visiting this site to read about the latest bottle I'm enjoying.

The fact is that the best coffee in the world is just as accessible to coffee drinkers as the best wine in the world is available to wine lovers. Through direct trade, the finest coffee beans on the planet are now being harvested to the top of their potential. Up until quality roasters started endeavours based on direct trade engagement of coffee growers, the best beans weren't doing that. (A similar modernizing phase in wine could be argued to have happened many years ago, before the advent of Mondavi-ating and Rolland-eering winemakers.)

WHERE TO BUY: A GAMUT OF FINE COFFEES AT CAFFÈ IN GAMBA

In Quebec, it's obvious you go to the SAQ to purchase wine. As of last month in Montreal, it's become equally clear that you go to Caffè In Gamba when you want to buy coffee. Sure, you can get some okay beans at the corner grocer, but you could also say there's drinkable wine for sale at the dépanneur. It might be true but I'm not going to condone it.

Get yourself to Caffè In Gamba in Mile End next time you're low on coffee. The place has a retro, vintage attitude to it yet it is the first to sell Intelligentsia's coffee blends in Montreal (or in all of Eastern Canada I believe -- I had to get mine in New York before this place opened). The café stocks both Kid-O and Black Cat blends. Check out Kid-O pictured first on the left along their wall of coffees).

In Gamba has great selection, as you can see, and prices are reasonable. It comes to about $9 for a sealed roasted-within-the-week 1/2 lb bag of Kid-O, which seems to be the going rate in the U.S. too. The friendly In Gamba scale, which offers free cappuccino deals, encourages customers to buy their coffee bulk. So you don't need to dole out a lot of cash to get in the game. Get a small sample for evaluative brewing or ask the barista for advice on the bean that best suits you.

Caffè In Gamba is at 5263 Ave du Parc, just north of Fairmount.

If you don't live in the Mile End area, check out the supply of other great coffee beans at these places:

Caffè ArtJava sells Gimme Coffee! beans in Plateau Mont-Royal and downtown.

Café Santé Veritas sells 49th Parallel beans in Old Montreal.

Breaking for coffee: Café Santé Veritas

This is Anthony. He's the barista at Café Santé Veritas, and yes it's true, this bar serves no wine. Anthony makes a mean macchiato, which is my drink of choice when I'm working at my day job.


This is the kind of cappuccino you can expect at Café Santé Veritas. It's got latte art. Anthony is a great latte artist but the shots taste as good as they look because they're made with 49th Parellel coffee beans.


At Café Veritas, Anthony works with a very expensive machine that has three groupers. See... 1, 2, 3. He says this means a lot to him and to the coffees he makes. He mentioned something about temperature, and how important regulating heat is to a good espresso shot. I'm not a coffee geek, but clearly machines like these are hard to come by. It's the only one in Montreal so no wonder he likes it. Plus, it's shiny.


As a wino, I find it hard to believe that Anthony never drinks what he is most surrounded by. Or at least, he has coffee very rarely and almost never while he is on the job. Here he is, with his steady uncaffeinated hand, pouring the milk into the espresso shot in order to make latte art. (Café Santé Veritas will soon be able to tout their bar for something more: next week Anthony will be entered in a stakes-is-high barista competition. Good luck Anthony!)


It's always a luxury if your favourite café serves a solid food menu. (Having come back from New York last month I can tell you that it doesn't happen very often so Montreal is lucky.) That the menu at Café Santé Veritas is solid AND healthy -- none of the dishes containing meat are cooked using any oil, for example -- is another big plus. But the thing I like most about the café is its devotion to doing more than just one meal right, serving up nutritious fresh breakfasts as much as delicious lunches or desserts and snacks.


Always fresh chick-pea salad, with a tofu wrap on the side. Salads Waldorf (below) and grilled chicken with blueberries (above) are two of my favourites.



Open Now

CAFÉ SANTÉ VERITAS 480 Blvd Saint-Laurent (corner Notre-Dame), (514) 510-7775.

Brooklyn, as good a detour as any

I finally got around to seeing the latest film by Michel Gondry, who is one of my favourite directors. He did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and a pile of music videos. Really good music videos. Anyway the movie is not about wine in any way, nor is it about food. It's a bit about Brooklyn, but mostly about hip hop and Dave Chappelle. It is of course, Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

I think this means that yet again Gondry has had to play second fiddle in a major motion picture that he's directed. In ESSM, he was upstaged by writer/producer Charlie Kaufman; in DCBP, he is eclipsed by subject/star Dave Chappelle.

In any case, I chose to see this movie on the weekend because I still have New York on my mind. Gondry did a good job making me fall back in love with Brooklyn, which I reluctantly left on January 2, not having come close to seeing the many faces that the borough proudly shows off.

One face, for example, is Clinton Hill, which I had never even heard about before. In the film, the Clinton Hill district -- with its landmark and recently-in-the-news house called Broken Angel -- was the backdrop for the block party. It surely will be the next neighbourhood on my list of places to visit (and the block party site will be easier to locate than the corner outside Paris that Gondry previously inspired me seek out.)

I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT ABOUT WINE

Really no part of this post has anything to do with wine. This, despite the fact that you are reading a wine blog.

"You're a wine guy," said the man who operates my favourite (as-yet-unlicensed) café. He is quizzical, desperate for an answer when he sees me. "Why you keep blogging about our coffee?"

He asks a good question. Do I know the answer?

"Wine in the evening and coffee in the morning..." I offer him as an explanation.

But that is not it. Is it because you can take tasting notes on both coffee and wine? No, that's not really it either... Is it because there's nothing like following a wonderful wine-filled meal with a good espresso!? No again. Oh, for chrissakes, because it's all snobism! Ahem, no...

I should've just told my coffeeman that I tweaked it. That would be the truth. And to anybody who asks why they're are reading about Brooklyn and coffee in a wineblog: I tweaked it. Yes, I TWEAKED IT!

Tweaking your blog in all its glory was described by David Carr yesterday in his column in the New York Times. NYT blogger Eric Asimov then revisited those themes on his blog. Emails have been sent out all over because of Carr's column and that's because he speaks the truth. Check it out.

Right after I tell you more about Brooklyn...

Initially, I was inspired forced to explore Brooklyn coffee once I realized I was leaving behind my favourite café in Montreal and I would need a replacement. My café, called Caffè ArtJava, has an honourable artisanal approach and -- so my sources had told me -- the approach is mirrored in several coffeehouses in Greenpoint and Williamsburg as part of a burgeoning Seattle-like coffee scene. Translaton: The coffee that has spoiled me and that calls out for me continuously is only an L train away.

First we hit Greenpoint's Café Grumpy, but we could not stay. Next time, Grumpy -- I promise! (Maybe at your new Chelsea location.)

Then we breezed into Williamsburg and the Oslo Coffee Company. Hello! The best coffee in New York! I worship their Odin coffee blend which they use for all their espresso-based drinks. It is light and nutty, with that edge of orange rind flavour I love. It's so different from my darker, more chocolaty hometown espresso at ArtJava, but I loved it without making an effort to compare. It's like making a wino choose between a top Bordeaux and a top Brunello. You simply love them both. Down the hatch, then.

Since August, Oslo has been running another location on Bedford Avenue, not too far from its original location on Roebling Street. This we found out by literally stumbling across it. The Bedford shop does not have a phone. The Oslo people do not have a web site. The emphasis is obviously on pleasing whoever walks in their door. They are very friendly. The photo at top is of their small dining area which shows off their openness to neighbourhood.

After that we circled. I wanted to walk by Gimme Coffee! on Lorimer Street (off Grand Avenue), if only to complete the winning trifecta of macchiato-makers. Gimme, as well as being a coffeeshop chain, is the name of an Ithaca-based coffee brand. That meant this Gimme Coffee! coffeeshop possessed the same beans that went into my favourite ArtJava macchiatos -- Gimme Coffee!'s Leftist blend (or Gauchiste, if you're drinking it in Quebec). So in the end this was a detour that required no armtwisting. We got there and it tasted like home, but in a smaller paper cup, as the photo at left shows. My macchiato even looked like home, with its attention to latte art and rich roasted tones.

It was no match for Anthony at ArtJava but it still convinced me that it always is a bit of a comedown when you have to say to Brooklyn.

I never knew how much I would fall in love with the borough.

Another Day Without Wine: C'est café !

I found out today that my favourite café doesn't have a liquor license -- doesn't even plan on getting one for a while. Although I'm obviously a wine blogger, I don't mean for this to sound dramatic. I didn't even bat an eye when I heard the news. This blog and its readers may temporarily disown me but I don't care. I'm drinking coffee that has no qualifier.

The espresso is so good at Caffè ArtJava that my mind doesn't much wander to red wine these days. If you have gone to ArtJava for a macchiato you might think the same thing.

While I admire their latte art and I enjoy a real fine brew, I can't claim to be a real connoisseur of coffee. For instance, I am only beginning to realize the depth of coffee science and the heights of barista expertise. We're talking World Barista Championships.

To me, what's so alluring about a gourmet coffeeshop like ArtJava is a culture and an attitude that is, well I don't know, fun, for lack of a better word (I did say that this was coffee with no qualifier, right?). Sure it helps that you enjoy coffee but there's just a real great atmosphere inside, largely because the friendly baristas clearly love their job, which is an intriguing blend of craft and art (the entire staff shares this attitude and the lunch plates are very good too I might add). But craft and art -- that brings me back to the wine angle again...

Some people say there's art in making wine, but it's nothing like the art of presentation that baristas put into their coffees. "You drink it in with your eyes" I once heard someone say. That's a memorable way of putting it. And it's something the world of wine appreciation does not openly embrace, though there may be times when assessing the colour of wine, decanting a bottle, or admiring a wine label can be its own reward.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that ArtJava's customers are rewarded in returning. And so I do.

And when my favourite café finally gets licensed to serve wine, so much the better. Last summer, when I ordered a glass of Chianti at the original ArtJava location, I requested that they chill it in their fridge for ten minutes. They could've told me no, or to try it first as it is, or that their customers seem like to like it at the temperature it's already at. Instead, they happily obliged. Craft and art and great service.

TASTY MORSELS

At the end of last week's gushing restaurant appreciation of ArtJava -- gushing especially because the post gushed out of me without actually taking the time to review the elements unique to the new location -- I made a promise. I did at least take the time to say that I would delve deeper into the unique "surround-sound chill-out room" tucked away in the back of the downtown café. Well, the story behind it is better than I could've guessed.

The room is bank vault. The ambient little setting you sip your lattes in today is a result of necessity more than design. Because the bank vault was built with massively thick walls, it is a structural element of the building. The mezzanine above it which houses offices would basically collapse if the vault was torn out. Talk about a unique element.

The bank that installed it, the National Bank, or la Banque Nationale du Canada, is now directly across the street. In a weird twist, National Bank employees have been said to store the coffee supplies for their office kitchen in their new vault, which is space reclaimed from a long-defunct A. L. Van Houtte.

Robert Parker, or Mother Parkers?

I encountered an interesting tasting note while hitting my usual stops online. It is a very accurate description of something I've drunk a lot over the past year. So I am quite pleased that the guy who wrote this really nailed it like he did.

Can you identify what he's drinking based on his description below? (I've edited it slightly, leaving out the key words so as to not give too much away.)

It feels richer, fuller and more viscous in your mouth. The acidity of the ------ is balanced; the tannins contribute shape, not sting.

The aroma is nuanced — with suggestions of scents like jasmine and orange — reflecting the pedigree of the ----- it’s made with, and the care and precision with which it was ------

It's a tricky one to answer indeed. Give up? The kitty shown below knows the answer. Click on it to have it revealed.



Yup, the above is actually a tasting note for a cup of coffee, not a bottle of wine. The missing words were: coffee, beans, and brewed, respectively. You can find the article this excerpt came from at NYT Dining & Wine.

"It's coffee in a culinary context. It's not just a fix anymore." That's the good word from Café Grumpy, the artisanal coffeeshop from New York profiled in the article. Agreed!

They also serve artisanal coffee at Montreal's Caffè ArtJava, which is a restaurant café much closer to where I live. The ArtJava Macchiato made it onto my Top Five Things to Eat in Montreal.

Yes, of course something like coffee was one of my top tastes for The Foodblogger's Guide to the Globe. Drink it or eat it, this is serious stuff. When it's rooted in a real culinary craft, why shouldn't a great cup of joe get the respect it deserves?

Clearly a lot of effort and precision goes into a good artisanal espresso. Just ask the baristas who make your artisanal latte. They typically favour roasts that are medium-dark (the "medium-rare" of of the coffee gourmand's world). J.D. Merget, owner of Oslo, which is another New York joint, explains this in the article: "It’s like grilling meat; if you char it but don’t burn it, you get to taste both the meat and the char. If you burn it all the way through, you’re just tasting char."

And the feathery fern-like pattern the NYT reporter writes about is depicted in the design of the red ArtJava sugar packet in this photograph. If you watch this NYT video you can see how it all comes together.

The hypnotic milky topping created on top of your espresso shot is really quite an art. It's easy to be beguiled by it. But I also recognize that it's the craft behind these fantastic coffees that achieves the gastronomic success, and that is always the bottom line.

In the end, I guess no one should be surprised a quality espresso gets the wine tasting note treatment. After wine, there's no other part of my daily intake that I find is as enjoying or rewarding.

That said, I know there are some beer lovers who think their drink of choice is just as worthy of the tasting treatment. Perhaps writing a tasting note for beer compares more closely to one done for coffee. They're both "brews" and it's said that espresso's luscious crema can appreciated like the head on a stout beer.

I'll drink to that.