dripp

this post is part review and part rant. as you can see my coffee cup is not full. this is how i received it from the barista. they use a 12 ounce cup (i measured it when i got home) but they only fill it with about 10 ounces of coffee. they charge a premium for their coffee ($3.55!) so to not receive a full cup is a bit of a fail.

when you step into the cafe, you don't see a menu board behind the counter, instead you see several hanging clip boards with the day's offerings. you choose what you want before you get to the cashier. i ordered the ethiopian and hubby ordered el salvador.

they hand pour each cup individually at the brew bar so they are in full control of the amount of water that is added to each cup. we told them "no room" so why then, did they not fill our cups? [this was our 2nd visit here, and the 2nd time we felt shortchanged.]
it's a cozy shop with additional seating in their upstairs loft and a quaint outdoor patio. the coffee was very good, and i would totally order the ethiopian again, but i'm really on the fence about a 3rd visit.

their coffee is fair trade certified and most of their coffee is also usda certified. and of course they sell the typical accoutrements: bags of coffee (though the ethiopian was a whopping $21.95 for 12 oz!), brewing equipment, branded merchandise, etc.

dripp, the shoppes at chino hills

chemex pour over

when brewing a pot of coffee, my brewing method of choice is the chemex. i have been making coffee in my chemex for about two years now and i will never go back to the automatic drip coffee maker. yes, the chemex is a bit more work because you don't just push a button and walk away. you must tend to it but the result is well worth the effort. how do you brew your coffee?

creating heaven

brewing then *poof* it's gone

portola coffee lab

daughter #1 discovered portola coffee lab a while back and she took me on wednesday. it is located in the oc mart mix, otherwise known as the anti-mall. they handcraft each cup individually with beans that were roasted in-house.
they have several brew methods to choose from. among them are the siphon, trifecta & the ever popular pour-over. (i chose the siphon method pictured below). as you can see the baristas are dressed in lab coats, which reinforces the coffee lab theme.

i don't know if it was the coffee i picked (san francisco natural), or the brew method, but it was a sweet, fruity cup of coffee. i am looking forward to my next visit, at which time i will try the trifecta brew method. (sorry, i didn't get a shot of that.)
portola does not pre-brew any of their coffee. each and every cup is brewed after you order it and not one minute before. if you want your coffee quick, this is not the place for you. anything worth having is worth waiting for and this coffee is worth the wait.

portola coffee lab, costa mesa

hario v60

i bought myself the hario v60 dripper the other day and have been enjoying it ever since. i liked this one because it is glass instead of ceramic. also i picked the brown trim because it seemed the most coffee-like color, plus it matches my kitchen. they also had pink (which i wasn't about to pick), green (not really my color) & black (this would have been my 2nd choice). brown wins!

preparing for a single cup pour over

a great cup of coffee starts with freshly ground, high quality coffee beans.