Snapshot: A Tale of Two Espressos (Part 2)

Last time, several months back, I compared Alterra on Humboldt and Caribou, the latter being an outfit that sells really good beans, but in terms of their cafes. . .well, the most notable thing about them is that you can get any of several varieties of chocolate or candy sprinkles on your drink.  It's kind of the coffee version of I Can't Believe It's Yogurt (or was it The Country's Best Yogurt?), which used to be on the other side of Silver Spring Dr.  This time around, we square Glendale's Alterra off with a somewhat more substantial competitor, Stone Creek Coffee's location a half-mile or so north.

As I've written before, Alterra pulls triple ristretto espresso shots, and Stone Creek does not.  There's nothing inherently wrong with Stone Creek's approach, but I found this afternoon's example to be completely lackluster.  I'd ordered a "brew and a shot" (in good Milwaukee form) and after taking just a sip of my Stone Creek espresso, dumped it into my drip coffee.  The whole was definitely more than the sum of the parts in this instance.  Poor Stone Creek is shorthanded and moving employees around from store to store (I just overheard the barista here saying she worked a double shift today, one at each of two stores).  I notice that Stone Creek's machines are programmed to 27 seconds, which is too long in my opinion.

Earlier this afternoon, my favorite barista was working at Alterra Bayshore, so there was no choice for me but to order a double.  Interestingly, most Alterras seem to serve doppios in single demitasses (perhaps to highlight the triple ristretto approach), but this particular one came in a larger cup.  Still, it had all the flavor hallmarks of Alterra triple espresso: intense flavor rather like a piece of hard candy and, most remarkable, incredible natural sweetness.  As is my wont, I poured a little half-and-half into the last ounce or so to get all the flavor out of the cup.  (Does that count as a ghetto latte?)