coffee house

Ritual Roasters: California Coffee at its Finest

Filed under: Dining

Ritual Roasters is nominated for a Luxist Award for Best Coffeehouse

Ritual Coffee Roasters is a California coffee company nominated for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Coffee Houses.

Like Californians, coffees come from all over the world. Ritual Coffee Roasters' coffees come mostly from small, eco-minded farms in Africa and South America. Thirty steps go into every shot of espresso made by Ritual Coffee Roasters, who claims that their customers frequently say "I don't know why, but this just tastes better."

Beyond the delicious coffees, which are served seasonally to ensure that you are getting the very freshest brew, their single origin Sweet Tooth espressos are especially acclaimed.

Gallery: Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco

Tags: awards-main, california, coffee, coffee house, coffee shop, luxist-awards, ritual roasters

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Victrola Coffee: Cup with the Connoisseurs

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Victrola Coffee is a small Seattle chain of cafes with enormous heart, and a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Coffee House.

If you've ever wanted to know coffee the way oenologists know wine, Victrola Coffee's weekly Wednesday "public cuppings" should be your first destination. There, you'll get to "cup" (fancy coffee terminology for "taste") a number of different roasts and beans to orient your tastebuds -- they're confident that once you're an expert, you'll choose Victrola.

The Victrola Coffee cafes are comfortable and cultural, just as coffee houses should be. You can pop in to read the newspaper or a book, or to check out the local art on the walls, which changes regularly, or even see a favorite band perform (upcoming events are listed here).

Gallery: Victrola Coffee Roasters in Seattle

One thing Victrola provides is truly knowledgeable coffee connoisseurs behind the counter. The have a morningly staff cupping before opening to get their buzz going and, most importantly, to taste the previous day's roast. Varietals like the widely-loved Streamline Espresso, Fair Trade Deco Decaf, Guatemala Santa Rosa and El Salvador Finca Alaska are roasted in-house, ensuring that everything is prepared with the utmost care.

If you'd like to know how far coffee geekery can go, visit their website for descriptive gems like: "Its pillowy viscosity clings to the sides of the warm demitasse. In a swirl around the cup, it offers fleeting notes of fresh pine that plump into a full, soft caramel aroma. Streamline's fruit---juicy blueberry and blackberry--carries it accross the palate in no rush: toasted hazelnuts, bittersweet chocolate, and brown sugar each take their time on the tongue before melting into a butter frosting mouthfeel. The four coffees working together here are a linear, tight knit bunch. They have dinner together and laugh until their bellies hurt, kind of like us."

Obsessive? Maybe. But that's just the kind of people we want making our coffee. (And maybe they just wrote it really caffeinated.)

Vote for the coffee house that you believe is the best of breed. The voting period runs through April 30 and winners will be announced on May 1.

Tags: awards-main, best coffee house, coffee, coffee house, Luxist-Awards, seattle, victrola coffee

Zoka: Drink Your 'Cup of Excellence' All Afternoon

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Zoka is nominated for a Luxist Award for Best Coffee House

Zoka is a Seattle-based coffee company with cafes in Washington and Japan, and is a nominee for a Readers' Choice Award for Best Coffee House.

At Zoka, you'll find coffees and teas from Africa, Central and South America, Asia and the Pacific Islands, as well as tasty homemade baked goods, some vegan, for soaking up all that caffeine (the chocolate truffle cookies are especially recommended). They pride themselves on their Cup of Excellence winning coffees, artisan-roasted beans and many single-origin coffees which they roast in small batches to preserve the uniqueness and pungence of the flavors.

Gallery: More from ZOKA

For coffee house frequenters, Zoka provides a comfortable home. Rather than rushing you out the door, they lure you in with complimentary wifi and hope you'll stay all afternoon. And for the busier coffee geeks out there, you can join one of their three Coffee Clubs to have fresh, artisan-roasted coffee delivered to you monthly. Many of their coffees and teas are also available for purchase online.
Do yourself a favor and visit their website in advance of visiting a shop -- there are so many options and you don't want to miss your ideal cup of coffee or tea. You can browse by region or varietal for coffee, and by usual leaf category (green, black, oolong) for tea. We think the Organic Sumatra Permata Gayo Coffee sounds especially enticing: "Floral notes of orange peel up front, mellowing into blackberry jam and finishes with sassafras and sweet malt."

Yum.

Vote for the coffee house that you believe is the best of breed. The voting period runs through April 30 and winners will be announced on May 1.

Tags: awards-main, coffee, coffee house, Japan, luxist-awards, Washington, Zoka