SENDING FOR IT
A list of resources
The best place to buy coffee and brewing gear is at your neighborhood specialty coffee store. Look in the yellow pages under “Coffee Dealers–Retail.” Excellent specialty coffees sometimes can be found in supermarkets as well.
However, if parking, freeways, isolation, or cocooning tendencies keep you at home, virtually everything described in this book is available via the Internet, catalogs, and telephone. In compiling the following list of Internet and mail-order resources, I have concentrated in particular on products that are difficult to find in person: green coffees, exotic equipment like piston espresso machines and home roasting devices, flavored syrups, etc.
Hard-to-Find Equipment by Internet or Telephone
Fante’s
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
800-878-5557
Fante’s is a coffee-equipment fetishist’s dream. Not only does it stock virtually every possible form of brewing and grinding equipment, exotic and otherwise (Neapolitan macchinetti, classic French ceramic drip pots, Middle Eastern brewing-and-serving paraphernalia, vacuum brewers, cast-iron, clamp-on hand grinders), but the helpful staff will research, find a source for, and special order any available piece of equipment that the store does not carry.
Sweet Maria’s Coffee Roastery
Columbus, Ohio
888-876-5917
Sweet Maria’s web site reviews and sells a small but carefully selected assortment of aficionado coffee gear.
Thomas Cara
San Francisco, California
415-781-0383
This old, family-owned business in San Francisco’s North Beach is the source for the recommended Riviera Baby Lusso home piston espresso machine and the aficionado, spring-loaded, Riviera Bristol home piston machine, as well as high-end, home pump espresso brewers. Most importantly, it fully supports all of its machines with a knowledgeable staff and a basement full of replacement parts.
Mr. Espresso
Oakland, California
510-287-5200
Source for the recommended ECM Giotto, a handsome, rugged, romantic device on the cusp between small commercial and large home machine.
Coffee by Internet or Telephone
At this writing there appears to be no one-stop shopping for specialty coffee. In other words, there is no way to buy coffees from more than one roasting company without visiting or calling each company separately. One well-established site, www.coffeereview.com, does provide authoritative reviews of a wide range of coffees plus links to sites where those coffees can be purchased.
Single-Roaster Sites and Sources. At this writing there appears to be no one-stop shopping for specialty coffee. In other words, there is no way to buy coffees from more than one roasting company without visiting or calling each company separately. One well-established site, www.coffeereview.com, does provide authoritative reviews of a wide range of coffees plus links to sites where those coffees can be purchased.
Hence the following list of roaster-retailers who sell their coffee over the Internet and/or by catalog and newsletter. To help the armchair coffee shopper I have added some notes, in particular notes concerning the style or “darkness” of roast each company tends to emphasize when roasting its single-origin coffees. Keep in mind that companies that specialize in roast styles toward the medium range of the spectrum also produce dark-roasted coffees, whereas companies that specialize in dark roasts typically produce only varieties of dark roasts.
I have organized the list more or less geographically from east to west, and tried to name a selection of roasting companies from each part of the country.
Simply because a roaster does not appear on this list does not mean that that roaster does not produce excellent, well-roasted coffee. If you have a specialty coffee store in your neighborhood, try that store’s coffee first before you begin punching keys and ordering over the Internet.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Waterbury, Vermont
800-545-bean
Traditional American roast styles. Wide range of origins, including sustainable coffees; full-color catalog.
Armeno Coffee Roasters
Northborough, Massachusetts
800-ARMENO-1
Wide range of origins and roast styles. Informative newsletter.
Gillies Coffee
Brooklyn, New York
800-344-5526
A specialty coffee treasure, Gillies is the nation’s oldest continually operating roasting company. Traditional American roast styles. Wide range of origins.
Oren’s Daily Roast
New York, New York
888-348-5400
Somewhat darker roast style than the traditional East Coast norm.
Willoughby’s/New World Coffee
Branford, Connecticut
800-388-8400
Traditional American roast styles. Wide range of origins.
Bucks County Coffee
Langhorne, Pennsylvania
800-523-6163
Wide range of origins and roast styles. Try the premium blends.
Timothy’s World Coffee
North York, Ontario, Canada
416-638-3333
Traditional range of roast styles. Wide range of origins.
J Martinez
Atlanta, Georgia
800-642-5282
Traditional range of roast styles. Wide range of origins. A source for the rare (and wildly expensive) Kopi Luak.
Counter Culture Coffee
Durham, North Carolina
888-238-JAVA
Leader in sustainable, bird-friendly, and CO2-decaffeinated coffees. Traditional range of roast styles.
Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters & Tea Blenders
Chicago, Illinois
888-945-9786
Traditional range of roast styles; sound selection of origins.
Caribou Coffee
Minneapolis, Minnesota
888-227-4268
Somewhat darker roast styles than the traditional American norm.
Orleans Coffee Exchange
New Orleans, Louisiana
800-737-5464
Wide range of origins; excellent range of dark-roast blends, including an authentic New Orleans–style chicory blend.
The Roasterie
Kansas City, Missouri
800-376-0245
Traditional range of roast styles. Custom personal blending via web site.
Montana Coffee Traders
Whitefish, Montana
800-345-5282
Wide range of origins.
Allegro Coffee
Boulder, Colorado
800-666-4869
Wide range of origins (including organics) and roast styles. Particularly informative newsletter. Try the Ethiopia and Yemen selections.
Arbuckle Coffee
Tucson, Arizona
800-533-8278
Somewhat darker roast styles than the traditional American norm. Wide range of origins.
Alpen Sierra Coffee
South Lake Tahoe, California
800-531-1405
Small but sophisticated roaster.
Batdorf & Bronson Roasters
Olympia, Washington
800-955-5282
Slightly darker roast styles than the traditional American norm. Wide range of origins.
Caffè Appassionato
Seattle, Washington
888-502-2333
Specializes in naturally low-acid coffees brought to roasts slightly darker than the traditional American norm.
Torrefazione Italia
Seattle, Washington
800-827-2333
Specializes in classic espresso blends. For straight espresso try the Perugia blend, for milk-heavy espresso drinks the Napoli.
Thanksgiving Coffee
Fort Bragg, California
800-648-6491
Leans toward darker roast styles, but very respectful of the green coffees. Specializes in sustainable, organic, bird-friendly, and other cause coffees.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea
Berkeley, California
800-999-2132
The original, dark-roasting coffee company. Peet’s manages to preserve an impressive range of green coffee character in its extremely dark, signature-roast styles. Catalog and newsletter.
Mr. Espresso
Oakland, California
510-287-5200
Specializes in espresso blends and smooth, moderately dark–roast coffees. Try the Gold Medal Blend.
Pasadena Coffee Roasters
Pasadena, California
626-564-9291
Small but sophisticated roaster.
Trader Joe’s
Pasadena, California
Trader Joe’s offers a line of whole-bean coffees packed in nitrogen-flushed fiberboard cans that may not be North America’s finest specialty coffees but certainly are among the best values for the money. Wide variety of roast styles and origins.
Pannikin Coffee & Tea
San Diego, California
800-232-6482
Generally darker roast styles than the traditional American norm. Try the Best of Africa blend.
Heritage Coffee
Juneau, Alaska
800-478-5282
Wide range of origins and roast styles. Espresso-with-milk drinkers should try the rich, rough, twisty espresso blend.
Café Del Mundo
Anchorage, Alaska
907-562-2326
Somewhat darker roast styles than the traditional American norm. Wide range of origins.
Home-Roasting Equipment and Green Coffees by Internet or Telephone
Hobbyist or home coffee roasting has developed its own grass-roots culture, which is easily accessed on the Internet. Here are just two of many companies specializing in green coffees, home-roasting apparatus, and home-roasting information.
Sweet Maria’s Coffee Roastery
Columbus, Ohio
888-876-5917
Fante’s
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
800-878-5557
Italian-Style Syrups by Internet or Telephone
Torani Syrups
South San Francisco, California
800-775-1925
Entertaining web site with extensive recipes and other information. Provides links to sites that sell Torani syrups online (select Online Torani Providers).
DaVinci Gourmet
Seattle, Washington
800-640-6779
Offers three lines of syrups: conventional, all-natural, and sugar-free. Provides links to sites that sell DaVinci syrups online (select Order Online).
Stirling Foods
Renton, Washington
800-332-1714
Simple, serviceable site. Offers a full conventional line of syrups plus a few low-calory selections.
Monin
Clearwater, Florida
800-966-5225
Impressive site, but, at this writing, no links to retail sources. Monin syrups are assembled of all natural ingredients, without preservatives.
Stearns & Lehman
Mansfield, Ohio
800-533-2722
Impressive site and wide range of syrups and flavorings, but, at this writing, no links to retail sources.
Chicory by Internet or Telephone
Roast and ground chicory root, which is combined with darker roasted coffees in amounts of 10 to 40 percent to make New Orleans–style blends, can be purchased in bulk from:
Orleans Coffee Exchange
New Orleans, Louisiana
800-737-5464
Chai by Internet or Telephone
Chai, the spice and tea mix that is combined with frothed milk in the new American espresso cuisine, can be difficult to turn up in stores.
Chai Stall
Currently this web site sells only one chai, but it is as pungently authentic as they come.
A large selection of decaffeinated, herbal, green tea, and black tea chais, none fully authentic, but most tactfully crafted from natural ingredients.
Chai Land
877-495-2421
Sells commerical chais from a variety of producers. None are authentic, and many are flat-out tacky.
Starbucks, the Coffee Store That’s Always There
As Starbucks made its astonishing transformation from small Seattle specialty roaster to darling of the stock market, symbol of chain-store oppression, salvation of the coffee world, abomination of the coffee world, etc., its actual, useful place in the world of the coffee lover is sometimes overlooked: Starbucks is the coffee store that is always there. Almost always, anyhow. If you need access to fair-to-good, whole-bean coffee and a small but thoughtful selection of brewing equipment, and if you live in the suburbs and prefer to avoid both Internet commerce and freeway travel, you may want to visit your local Starbucks.
The extremely knowledgeable coffee leaders at Starbucks do an amazing job at maintaining quality, but apparently the company simply has become too big to produce a large range of really distinctive specialty coffee. At this writing Starbucks regularly features two or three single-origin coffees every few months or so. These featured selections are likely to be interesting and worthwhile. The Kenya is always excellent. But, of late, I have found Starbucks blends ordinary to drab.
Starbucks
Seattle, Washington
800-STARBUC
Buying Kona and Other Hawaiian Coffees by Internet or Telephone
Given how much they cost, the celebrated coffees of Kona are best enjoyed as estate or special mill selections rather than as generic “Kona coffee.” Thanksgiving Coffee and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (see Coffee by Internet or Telephone) both sell good estate Konas, but the best approach is to order directly from Hawaii. Among the many excellent sources:
Pele Plantations
Honaunau, Hawaii
800-366-0487
Custom roasts and ships coffee from several tiny, boutique Kona farms.
Bayview Farms
Honaunau, Hawaii
808-328-9658
Bayview is a mill, not a farm, that custom roasts special mill selections.
Finding “Other Island” Hawaiis. The low-grown but interesting coffees from the large estates on Maui, Molokai, and Kauai also are hard to find retail on the mainland. Order directly from the farms:
Maui’s Kaanapali Estate Coffee
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
800-99-MAUI-9
Malulani Estate
Coffees of Hawai’i
Kualapuu, Molokai, Hawaii
800-346-5051
Kauai Coffee
Eleele, Kauai, Hawaii
800-545-8605