Bay View Breezes: Snapshots: Stone Creek Coffee

Today, I had the pleasure of being treated to a French press of Stone Creek Coffee's Market Day blend at their Bay View location. Apparently, the press pot is an off-menu item--just how far off, I'm not sure. I selected the Market Day because I'd actually been hoping to try the Organic Ethiopian, now featured at Grace Lutheran Church's Grace Place (more on that later). For whatever reason, the Ethiopian has not hit their retail stores (yet). The Market Day features a strong Ethiopian component. The French press took four minutes or so to brew; the barista attached a little timer to it. Best of all, she brought it to my table and left it there. I appreciate the vote of confidence that I've graduated from kindergarten (see this post from January). When I took my first sip, I let out a little noise that was kind of half laugh, half O-face. I can't get around using the phrase "night and day" when I look back on the last Stone Creek brewed drip I had last week (though granted, that was a different variety). Suddenly, I'm having the best cup of non-espresso coffeehouse coffee I've had in Milwaukee--and after harping about Stone Creek's drip for two years. So, um...time to rethink the brewing method? I can vouch for the fact that French press is worthy of a home on the Stone Creek menu.

Comments

[C. Ott]

If you were looking for Ethiopian, I would suggest trying the Burundi Factory Reserve at Stone Creek. It has a lot of similar flavor notes. However, they are discontinuing that Factory Reserve soon, so it might be hard to find. Ethiopian (Organic/FT/Signature) is not sold in their stores anymore (I am told) due to its price, as it is more expensive, and it has a small demand for it. Unrelated, there is also a growing skepticism over Ethiopian origin coffees. I guess it is getting harder to verify if a particular Ethiopian coffee is actually from a specific region due to a loosening of Ethiopian trade regulations.

[Ashley]

I'm sorry I couldn't provide you with a more friendly experience - it was a particularly slow day for me on Sunday (I took two wrong turns on the way to work, just to give you an idea of how out of it I was). But I'm glad you enjoyed the press! I've enjoyed many coffees that way that I did not like from the drip. A thought I have on that - Many times, the barista who is working will forget to start brewing a new batch, so sometimes a pot will be sitting for untold amounts of time. I am trying to get that fixed wherever I can. Also, I've found that the coffee changes character drastically over the hour it exists in the pot. Many baristi serve the coffee as soon as the timer reaches 57:00 - however it doesn't stop fully brewing until around 51-50:00. Therefore if you are unlucky enough to come as a pot has just begun brewing, the flavors will not have been fully mixed and therefore you will either receive a cup of extremely strong or extremely weak coffee.

Another thing that happens at Stone Creek is that we grind the coffee a day before it is brewed. So, it isn't as fresh as it could be - occasionally new coffee will need to be ground depending on demand and the timeliness of the baristi during the day, so it would be a better bet to come later at night to receive coffee that may be fresher.

Lastly, I've heard that the brewers themselves are not ideal for the types of coffee we have. I'm not sure how that works, but Jeremy from Glendale has told me that he knows of a better brewer that's available that would produce drastically better coffee. Some of the stores have different brewers, additionally; I find that I like drip coffees better at the Bay View store than at my own.

So there you go... a little insight on Stone Creek brewing procedure.