Wednesday, August 27, 2003


one of the most interesting people in new york coffee

his name is dom chieco, of liemco. i'm used to stumping professionals with my technical espresso machine talk and boundless enthusiam, but dom matched me step for step.

an intense, stocky scilian kick-boxer with eyes like lignum vitae, there's nothing dom can't tell you about pro espresso from the machine side. from his shaved head to his pierced ear, dom is all about coffee in way that's rare, very rare.

he drinks americanos and cares only about quality. reputation and market power mean nothing to him -- how good is your damn coffee?

in short, he's frank about what right and what's wrong with espresso in new york. he views the job of the machine and the machine tech to be the interpreter of the coffee.

the roaster chose beans, blended them, roasted them to an end. but how to get that artistic intention in the cup? that's where the machine comes in. . .

i must say, not only is he funny but he's spot on to boot.

and he's installed and set up the la marzocco machines here in new york for a lot of my favorite cafes, like jonathan's joe in the west village, patrick's the victory in brooklyn, halycon in brooklyn, and robert's stylish in the black on varick.

i won't gush on and on. but i could. dom's the man with the goods -- incredible. thinking about opening a coffeeshop? need a commercial machine?

i'd go with dom in a heartbeat -- no, half a heartbeat. his passion, idealism, and commitment to good coffee is what makes him a bccy kinda guy.

and speaking about passion and idealism, dear readers, those of you who haven't yet joined the scaa's consumer program can download the updated membership form right here (adobe acrobat required). best use of US$18 i can think of!

posted by fortune | 12:24 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments