Coffee

First Look: Comet Coffee

See also: Slideshow: A First Look at Comet Coffee Comet Coffee Opens in Highlands Plaza Today There's coffee, and then there's coffee. The former is typically cheap and exists to get us through the day, while the latter is responsible for swoons and weakened knees at the simple utterance of "Blue ... More >>

Owner Scott Carey Discusses New Sump Coffee

Ian FroebSump Coffee in south city​I noted last week that a new coffeehouse called Sump Coffee will be opening at 3700 South Jefferson Avenue in south city. Today, I had a chance to speak with owner Scott Carey, who returned to his hometown of St. Louis last year after spending time in both Berkel ... More >>

Cafe Ventana's Lucas Prize: Featured Bartender of the Week, Barista Edition

Welcome to Girl Walks Into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week, Sarah Baraba profiles Café Ventana's Lucas Prize. Below is a Q&A with Prize, followed by the recipe for a Spanish Coffee. Sarah Baraba​OK, so we cheated a smidge. Lucas Prize is ... More >>

Sunny-Side Uprising: Half & Half gives breakfast the bistro treatment

Watch Kaldi's Trainer Joe Marrocco in Brazil

Last April Joe Marrocco of Kaldi's won the South Central Regional Barista Championship. One of the perks of being among the best baristas in the country is sometimes, you get to visit the places where the coffee beans grow. Marrocco, along with other regional barista champs, are visiting Brazil wit ... More >>

Cup of Colombia Cauca Inza, Half & Half

Image via​If you show up at Half & Half (8135 Maryland Avenue, Clayton; 314-973-0446), Clayton's bustling new breakfast-and-lunch spot, at 11 a.m., smack in the middle of the Sunday brunch rush and sans reservation, expect to wait. If the host informs you that it will be about a half an hour b ... More >>

The life, and death, of "Java" Joe Charleville, a local coffee icon

South Central Regional Barista Competition: And the Winner Is...

The setup at one of the stations at the South Central Regional Barista Competition.​Several former baristas work here at Gut Check International Headquarters, and sometimes when we're really, really bored, we gather in someone's cubicle and compare war stories. Oddly enough, none of these stor ... More >>

Kaldi's Hosts South Central Regional Barista Competition This Weekend

James HoffmannDream big: A participant in a past World Barista Championship. The South Central Regionals take place in St. Louis this weekend, April 1-3.​What's that buzz? It's the sound of baristas and coffee aficionados descending on the Chase Park Plaza today, April 1, through Sunday for th ... More >>

Starbucks Pitches a Trenta

StarbucksA new size and a new logo (above) are among the changes at Starbucks.​Once upon a time, there were only two drink sizes at Starbucks: the eight-ounce short and the twelve-ounce tall. Now, of course, tall is the de facto small -- short cups are still around, though Starbucks rarely (if eve ... More >>

Eating in New Orleans, Five Years After Katrina

Five years later, the New Orleans Times-Picayune looks at thirteen ways Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans' food culture - what's gone, what's new, and why the tea got sweeter. Forget Yelp! and foursquare. Foodspotting just got some big financial backing to make it a player in the food social m ... More >>

Changes at Pi's CWE Coffee Bar

Image via​The bad news: barista extraordinaire Alex Brooks is leaving Pi, according to a posting on the restaurant's Facebook page.Brooks came from Portland, Oregon, to get the coffee bar at the Central West End location (400 North Euclid Avenue) established. He's headed home to return to his stud ... More >>

Fifteen Shots Later, Part 2: Java Enabled Judges the Midwest Regional Barista Competition

Photo courtesy Kaldi's Coffee​On Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1, Zach Dyer helped judge the Midwest Regional Barista Competition, with the winner advancing to the national competition in Anaheim in April 2010. In last week's post, Dyer explained how the competition works and describe ... More >>

Java Enabled: Fifteen Shots Later, Part 1

​When I received an e-mail a few weeks ago inviting me to sit as one of the sensory judges at the 2009-2010 Midwest Regional Barista Competition, I jumped at the opportunity. At my most delusional, it sounded like "celebrity judge" -- at the very least, it sounded like a great time. Last weekend, ... More >>

Java Enabled Previews the Midwest Regional Barista Competition

​"It's like Iron Chef with baristas making coffee drinks."That's how Josh Ferguson, owner of Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company, describes the Midwest Regional Barista Competition. The competition gathers the best baristas from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dako ... More >>

Java Enabled: Lo Mejor de Monserrate

Lo Mejor de Monserrate. It means, "the best of Monserrate." This perhaps presumptuous claim is the name of a tiny cooperative nestled high in the mountains of Colombia's Huila coffee region. Last month Tyler Zimmer and Mike Marquard of Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company visited Monserrate. This was a r ... More >>

Java Enabled's Postcard from Costa Rica: Typical Coffee

At first glance it looks like a baby's sock hanging from a mini oil derrick, slowly dripping the black liquid into the cup below. OK, maybe it's closer to a Chemex than I'm making it sound, but the "typical" -- or "tipico," as restaurant menus across the country will remind you -- percolador style o ... More >>

Java Enabled: Southwest's Coffee Gets a LIFT

It's been a while since I've taken a vacation and even longer since I've flown. So when a good deal on a Labor Day weekend in Orlando, Florida, popped up, I jumped at the chance to go. As I filed down the ramp with the rest of my fellow passengers, I was surprised to see an ad on the wall for LIFT, ... More >>

Java Enabled: Coffee's Big-Ass Red

​In What to Drink with What to Eat, sommelier Steve Beckta writes about the challenge of finding that perfect bottle of wine to meet the different tastes of every diner at the table: "Scientifically, there may be a bottle of wine they 'should' have. But...they're not going to like that at all. Wh ... More >>

Java Enabled: Probat, Unlike Any Other

It's the Cadillac of roasters -- or maybe the Mercedes-Benz, considering its origin. The German coffee roaster Probat isn't a household name, but it's synonymous in coffee circles with high quality coffee roasting. Some of the best artisan roasters in St. Louis -- Shaw's Coffee Ltd., Northwest Coff ... More >>

Java Enabled: How Do You Store Your Beans?

The only time I've ever had something remotely close to an argument with another coffee drinker was over how beans should be stored at home. How often have you heard of someone storing their beans one way and thinking, "Oh god, they're ruining that coffee"?For me, the greater question is why there's ... More >>

Java Enabled: Have Coffee, Will Travel

One of the things I love most about travel is getting the chance to try new cafés. (As I wrote last week, some coffee aficionados base entire trips on this premise.) But even when your travels won't lead you to some undiscovered java gem, you might not want to sacrifice the comfort and security of ... More >>

Java Enabled Visits Kaldi's Barista Jam

Crowds, kegs out back, live music and coffee -- lots of coffee. While it might sound like that college party you don't remember very well (the one that ended up at Uncle Bill's at 4:00 am), it was, in fact, Kaldi's Summer Barista Jam.Last Friday, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company hosted its third bar ... More >>

Java Enabled's Day at the Roasters

"It smells sweet, like candy," my friend said as I extended my wrist to his nose. My skin had absorbed the caramel flavors that had been wafting around me all day like a welcome second-hand smoke. It was the smell of coffee roasting.It was a bad day to hang out near a coffee roaster -- much less two ... More >>

Java Enabled: Chill Out with Cold-Brewed Coffee

Last summer I was in New York visiting friends over Memorial Day when I first saw the signs. Walking between friends' apartments, going to restaurants and even a backyard barbecue in the West Village, I kept seeing café windows advertising cold-brewed coffee. Between the cafés and people I spoke ... More >>

Java Enabled: Mokka Express, Revisited

My Bialetti Mokka Express stovetop coffee maker was the first specialized percolator I ever bought. With a newly christened driver's license, I used to drive to J. Viviano's and Sons on the Hill to buy Italian coffee in search of the promise of real espresso at home. It will be no surprise to the h ... More >>

Java Enabled: Dedicated to Coffee and Free for All

"If you look out that window, you can still see the original smokestack that they put in when they started roasting coffee here," said Mike Marquard, a barista trainer for Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company.We were sitting in the back room of the roaster's DeMun café. Sure enough, tucked away behind ... More >>

Java Enabled: Coffee Break Point

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.The first shot was ... More >>

Actually, Java Enabled Meant to Say Expresso

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.When I was in high ... More >>

Can Java Enabled Win the One-Cup-a-Day Bet?

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.I am not addicted t ... More >>

Jave Enabled: Coffee for One

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.Betrayal was the fi ... More >>

Java Enabled: Kaldi's Barista Smokes His Way to the Top

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.Tobacco smoke, cara ... More >>

Java Enabled: Is Coffee Recession-Proof?

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.Is coffee recession ... More >>

Java Enabled: The Café, Unplugged

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.I sit at the mouth ... More >>

Java Enabled: Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.A friend of mine in ... More >>

Java Enabled: The Rise of Joe Double-Shot

Zach Dyer is a writer living in Saint Louis. He did his thesis research on coffee farmers in Southern Mexico. Since then, he has visited coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Mexico as well as roasters and cafés across the U.S. He blogs about coffee for Gut Check every Wednesday.Last September, McD ... More >>

Annoyed, Party of One

Wikimedia Commons"Tables? Your coffee shop has tables?"When I was in grad school in Iowa City, there was this coffee shop with rude signage. Sure, the place seemed cozy, with its local art and overstuffed couches, but those accoutrements belied a dark truth: This coffee shop did not like you. It cou ... More >>

No Hallucination, STL Addicted to Caffeine

An outfit called HealthSaver -- a "health-care discount program" -- has released its second annual HealthSaver Caffeinated Cities Survey. The survey looked at caffeine consumption in twenty major metropolitan areas, including St. Louis.How do we rank? Well, we love our caffeine -- God knows, it's t ... More >>

RFT reader wishes the Cubs 100 more years of failure

Starbucks: Once More, With Energy!

Hit Me with your Best Shot

Bookplates: Starbucked

Black Lightning coffee

SqWires, 1415 South 18th Street; 314-865-3522.

Bean There

Hummus? Mediterranean omelets? Eye-opening jolts of java? At the Oasis, you can have it all.

Drinks of the Year

Mirasol, 6144 Delmar Boulevard, 314-721-6909; Arthur Clay's, 7266 Manchester Road, Maplewood, 314-645-0300; Meshuggah, 6269 Delmar Boulevard, University City, 314-726-5662

Best Coffeehouse

The Grind

Best Crêpes

City Coffeehouse & Creperie

Live, from Canada

It's the Big Show at the Commonspace

Cappuccino

Backyard, south city, 8:30 a.m.

Best Coffeehouse

Meshuggah