Java Passage Named
"Charlotte's Best Coffee"!
2006 Charlotte Magazine
'Best of the Best' Awards
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CHARLOTTE'S COFFEE COUP
THOUSANDS OF JAVA EXPERTS WILL POUR INTO TOWN FOR 2006 CONFERENCE
KATHLEEN PURVIS, FOOD EDITOR
What's the difference between Charlotte and Seattle?
In Seattle, a computer search of businesses with "coffee" in the name turns up 114. In Charlotte, the search turns up 32.
Starbucks lists 88 locations in Seattle. It lists 11 in Charlotte.
In April, thousands of coffee professionals from around the world arrive for their annual conference in Seattle. In April 2006, thousands of coffee professionals from around the world arrive for their next conference - in Charlotte. Here's mud in your eye, Seattle. Next year's meeting of the Specialty Coffee Association of America is expected to bring 7,000 to 8,000 coffee people - growers, importers, roasters, retailers, teachers and scientists - with an estimated value to the city of up to $9.6 million. "The aromas will be fabulous," said Tim Newman, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. With such a large group - this year's show in Seattle is expected to draw 10,000 - the coffee association has to pick cities years in advance.
SCAA spokesman Mike Ferguson said the group visited Charlotte in 2000."The board at that time was overwhelmed by the hospitality," he said. "Everybody loved the city. Things closed up a little early for us, but we understood that was changing." Four years later, the coffee association is coming into a city with three professional cooking schools, including a Johnson & Wales University campus, and increasing national culinary attention. The National Chicken Cooking Contest, for instance, makes its Charlotte debut in May.
The coffee conference April 7-10, 2006, will bring four days of seminars, from sustainable coffee production to instructions on how to shoot photos of coffee, plus a trade show for coffee equipment. Most of that is only of interest to people in the coffee business. But the conference also will bring the U.S. Barista Championship. Baristas - people who make coffee drinks like espressos and cappuccinos - come from around the country to compete, making 12 drinks in 15 minutes for judges. The winner goes to the world championship. (This year's world championship is in Seattle. OK, we'll let them have that one.) Ferguson said the barista competition will be open to the public if a suitable space is available. "It's fun to watch." In the meantime, coffee professionals in Charlotte are gearing up.
David Haddock, regional sales manager of Counter Culture Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster in Durham, is opening a coffee classroom next month in the Grinnell Water Works at Morehead Street and Summit Avenue. The classroom will offer free coffee training and "cuppings," like a wine tasting with coffee, for restaurant workers, baristas and the public. "The market is developing rapidly," said Haddock. "The timing could not be more perfect. By the time the conference gets here, we'll have world-class presentation of coffee."
Several Charlotte coffee makers, including Java Passage in the Design Center of Charlotte in South End and the Harpers restaurant chain, have already won Golden Cup Awards for their prowess from the SCAA. Ferguson of SCAA says the group's timing was good. The Southeast is one of the fastest growing regions in high-end coffee. "We were sort of betting on the future of Charlotte, a little bit," he said. "As soon as people heard, they said, `Charlotte? Why Charlotte?' But it works for us." Ferguson will return to Charlotte to see what's changed after this year's conference in Seattle has ended. But here's what Charlotte is up against:"In Seattle, if you stand on the corner of Sixth and Pine, you can see three Starbucks. "In 2000 (in Charlotte), I just remember my legs getting sore looking for coffee."
For Caffeine Lovers The Specialty Coffee Association of America's 18th annual conference will be April 7-10, 2006, Charlotte Convention Center. For members only. But consumer memberships cost $25; floor pass $60. For information: www.scaa.org.
Counter Culture Coffee's Charlotte cupping room is scheduled to open in April: www.counterculturecoffee.com.
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Best place to work and hide
DESIGN CENTER COURT Walk through Java Passage and get a perfectly pulled espresso from Debora DeLano -- she won a Golden Cup Award for her skill -- then take your laptop into Wifi-enabled courtyard. Just tell your boss you're taking a coffee break.
At Worthington and Camden streets in Charlotte's South End.
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We'll have espresso answers in a jiffy
GLAD YOU ASKED
Posted on Fri, May. 20, 2005
Q. What's a cappuccino without the foam? -- Anonymous
Unnamed One, you pose a profound query. Let's grab a spoon and dig beneath the foam.
A cappuccino is equal parts espresso, steamed milk and foam. So if you leave off the foam, you are left with some espresso, yes. But half of your drink is still steamed milk. (Which is basically foam that hasn't been fluffed.)
A cafe latte, on the other hand, is the same amount of espresso but uses much more steamed milk and only a little foam. This is a larger, milkier drink, for those who don't like to play mustache games with clouds of foam. (Lattes sometimes include a flavoring syrup.)
Bob and Debra DeLano, owners of award-winning Java Passage in Charlotte's South End, told me that a barista, or coffee bar tender, might call a cappuccino with no foam a "short, wet latte." Short refers to less milk than usual, and wet refers to no foam, resulting in an equal ratio of espresso to steamed milk.
Here's something you might not know: One espresso has less caffeine than a cup of regular coffee. (An espresso cup is smaller, of course, because espresso is a more concentrated drink.) When coffee bars first began to pop up -- like a turtleneck on a coffee-bar poser -- people joked about what rocket fuel espresso was.
But the darker the bean, the better the bean and the faster the brewing -- they all contribute to one thing. Less caffeine. And that quick process is what espresso is all about.
There's a reason for brewing it so fast, says Peter Giuliano, master roaster of Durham-based Counter Culture, named the best coffee company in the country last year by Roast Magazine. That quick steam blast means the grounds aren't "over-extracted" -- with water washing over and over the shells. That makes coffee bitter -- and is why many purists oppose percolators. (Get a French press instead, they urge. They're cheaper, make much better coffee, and are very cool.)
Where did cappuccinos get their name? From the Capuchin monks in Italy, whose brown robes and peaked caps resembled the drink, some coffee experts say.
There are even official definitions of what constitutes espresso, listing the barometric pressure of the steam involved. And the ideal "viscosity of warm honey." I just like that.
