Headliners: ESPRESSO

See Mariel making Chai. See Mariel using a spice grinder. See Mariel NOT using a syrupy concentrate.

If we were to distill our theory of making our espresso - and everything else we do here, for that matter - into one phrase, it would be this: If you have to pay attention to what you're doing, you'll always do it better.

We find that this is true for most everything food-related: organic farmers have to pay close attention to what they put into their soil or feed, cooks using freshly cut parsley stems for their chicken stock have to make sure they're washed and clean before throwing them in, bakers who shape baguettes in the morning will feel every one passing through their hands, confirming even length, width, and strength of dough. This holds true to coffee. I don't need to tell you that the Starbucks Coffee Chairman Howard Schultz sent out a memo in February stating that the company has lost it's "soul" - I can only assume that at the very least he's referring to the super-automatic machines - heck, he stated as much in his memo.

But setting aside the metaphysical, let's concentrate on the bones of the issue: Essentially, to make espresso in bulk, you need a machine to do it. You have a few choices when browsing around, and they fall into four distinct groups:
SUPER AUTOMATICS: The Starbucks special. These machines grind, tamp, and "pull" the shot (we'll get into that phrase in a moment) with one push of a button, usually a button with a little cup icon that's either half-full (single!) or full (double!). There are variations, but that's the short of it.
AUTOMATICS: These are pump-driven machines with the same little cup buttons on them, but the barista does the grinding and tamping themselves. The buttons control the exact output of the shot.
SEMI AUTOMATICS: Similar to the Automatics, but the little pictures of the cups are gone. It is up to the barista to grind, tamp, and hold down the button until the shot is as full as they want it, and let the button go. No automatic stopping.
LEVER MACHINES: The Barista grinds, tamps, and truly "pulls" a shot - this is where the term comes from. The machine has a lever (or two, or three) which, when pulled down, fills a spring-loaded piston with hot water from the boiler. Releasing the piston presses the water through the grinds in the portafilter (the little basket and handle with the tamped grinds in it), and the barista pulls the shots away when they've reached the volume desired. Different shot sizes require holding the lever down for different amounts of time to let more water into the chamber, and sometimes the lever has to be pulled down a second time, depending on the shot size.

All of the above methods require that the barista constantly pay attention to the fineness of the grind and the time it takes for the shot to be made - if the grind is to fine and packed too tightly, the shot will pull long and bitter flavors will be extracted from the grounds; conversely, if the grind is too rough, water will flow right through, resulting in a fast shot and a decreased flavor.

WHEW. And that's grossly over-simplified. Anyway, here's our machine, and again, Mariel:

You can see the levers and the pistons, so you can see that we've chosen the machine that's the most difficult on which to train, and the one that's the hardest to use consistently. The benefit of those other machines, the superautomatic, the automatic, and the semiautomatic, is that they offer varying levels of machinated control over the final product. They produce good shots, even great shots, and we do not blame any restaurant, coffeehouse, or cafe for using those styles. You have to control your variables!
But when it came time to choose our machine, we chose the style that would allow the barista the most control over what came out of the machine. Does it involve more training? Yes. Does it involve more wasted shots when one doesn't come out quite right? Yes. Does it involve increased trust in your employees to make the correct decision while the lines of people are piling up? Yes.

But at the end of the day, we asked ourselves this: Who do we want making our espresso - the machine, or the person?
To that end, we also have tried to create every espresso drink adjunct possible from pure sources. To that end:

We make out own caramel, without preservatives, and with real butter and heavy cream

We make our own chocolate sauce, with the same chocolate that goes into our pastries

We blend our own spices from scratch and blend it with loose leaf tea to make our chai

We use milk and cream from antibiotic and hormone-free cows that live in Middleton, MA (go to Richardson Farms to meet them!)

We are experimenting with making all of our own flavor syrups from pure extracts

At the end of the day, we're trying to pay close attention to everything we do here, not only with our espresso, but or regular coffee (we grind just before we brew the pot), our tea (we recently changed to a superior brand) and our breads and pastries (more to come in future issues). We realize that folks might not be able to taste every little change we make, but we feel that the combination of training, technique, and high-quality, local items will always make a superior product.