A while back my wife took me down to San Diego for a little getaway weekend over my birthday. While down there we tried to stay somewhere fancy, eat some good food, and drink some great coffee. I had heard of Dark Horse Coffee roasters from some friends. It was a great location, and the tiny little shop had a really special feel. Not to mention that they roast a pretty solid dark decaf Kenyan. If in San Diego, make sure you stop in an have a sip.
Seaworth Coffee Co.
Came across this Single Fin Sludge at a local Bristol Farms. I love being able to get these different cold brew coffee's a try. For the most part their relatively similar and really you judge everything against the greatest in Stumptown. How does this Seaworth Coffee Companies "Single Fin Sludge" hold up? It's wonderful and best of all, it is brewed here in California. Based out of Costa Mesa you know that it's not traveling too far to get into your hands. The bottle says you're able to get about 8 drinks out of each bottle of sludge, however with the way I prepare it and the amount I like to drink (a lot), I get about 4. I cut it with a little water, some half and half and pour it over ice. Seaworth also makes a Coconut Simple Syrup that you can purchase to add to your drink. It's excellent, and if the price is right for you, it's something you'll want to keep on hand. Over all, solid bottle of brew.
Seaworth Coffee Co.
http://www.seaworthcoffee.com
Artís Coffee
I had never heard of Artís until I was reading a post from an old friend about how he had designed some pour over stands that were on sale at Artís. That being said, I still had no idea where the store front was.
On one of our trips up North to visit family we stopped off at 4th street in Berkeley and I saw Artís on the block. It's an interesting store front, selling a lot more retail items than other storefronts. So there is plenty of stuff to browse through. My favorite part of Artís though, was that you pick your beans in their green state, and they flash roast a pound for you in a small air roaster. Not sure what any coffee snob would think about that, however, I thought it was a pretty cool little feature, and I thought the beans tasted pretty great.
Go enjoy a pound:
Artís Coffee
1717B 4th Street,
Berkeley, CA 94710
Courier Coffee Roasters
Good friends of mine took a trip up to the Pacific Northwest, and knowing that I'm a huge fan of finding all the small batch roasters in America. They brought back a pound of the happy bean for me. <!--more-->I brewed Courier using two methods, the French Press and the Chemex. To be honest, I preferred the pour over going through a paper filter with this roast. Not sure why or for what reason, just had a deeper flavor and was less acidic to me. I don't know much about the company themselves, they're unique branding on the bag of beans has me thinking they're a unique small company, making it all the more exciting that I was able to grab a pound. Check them out in person at:
923 SW Oak. in Portland Oregon (obviously)
M-F 7-5 Weekends 9-4