Saturday, October 02, 2004


the pain in spain is getting on the plane

yes, the worst part of flying from venice to new york is that mandatory plane change in madrid. but rather than complain about the practical shortcomings of the stylish-looking but functionally difficult madrid terminal a, let me thank those bccy pals who filled in during my absence: jim schulman on just about everything, dougie cadmus, oren bloostein on the coffee market, and of course, scaa chief ted lingle himself from the i.c.o. meeting in london.

you guys are the best, and i owe ya. tons. your posts were all fantastic; they generated great comments and offered intriguing ideas. in fact, there's no need to stop if you all still have bees in your bonnets. . .

naturally i have tons to post on all subjects: the discovery of new chocolates, such as the white chocolate bar with poppy seeds and 70% dark chocolate with intense cinnamon by stainer, handmade artisanal chocolate at andrea pansa, and the famed cuba venchi bar with 5% real absinthe (for licorice lovers only!); the amazing traditional, handmade breads at rome's renowned panarella on via meraluna; coffee at bologne's caffé degli orefici and venice's caffé del doge, where i did get to speak briefly to italian coffee genius and scae member bernardo della mea; and finally, scoped out yoga schools in siena and venice (future yoga, why is your website down? did the shin-deep acqua alta drag it into the lagoon?).

thanks to a long-considered purchase of a canon elph by mr. right, i at last can offer digital pix of some of these treasures. the one i'd like to start with is the incredible etching by the baristi at the orefici, which uses coffee by 14 luglio -- an amazing, amazing espresso blend.

etching is different than latte art, in that while latte art is steamed milk designs poured straight from the pitcher into your cappuccino, etching is made by drawing in the microfoam with a small stick after the milk is poured into the cup.

nowadays it's common even to see all kinds of fancy etching; in some baristi use things that look like plastic templates almost, or stencils, to draw through, and they may highlight the designs with an artful shake of cocoa or cinnamon to create multi-toned or shadow effects.


orefici nude the baristi at the orefici did none of these. rather they etched whimsical, customized, and, umm, slightly racy cartoon designs in the blink of an eye for every customer.

for example, i received a charming soft heart with long hair, inside which smiled a cute cartoon of my own face, with a dot for the diamond in my nose. mr. right, on the other hand received the etching you see here. . . .click the thumbnail for a larger image.

and the coffee was delicious -- perfect northern italian taste, fluffy soft microfoam. it may have been the best coffee of the whole trip, a tie right up there with that served by bernardo's baristi near the rialto in venice!

and let me say, that would be an enormous feat, since many people are beginning to say that bernardo currently has the best specialty coffee in all of italy. . .

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