Mazzer Robur!

I never thought I would be singing the praises of a grinder but as of yesterday at the Portola Dr. cafe that has all changed! Sure it's big. Yeah, a little pricey. Beautiful? Yes! But the flavor and crema difference in the cup is what counts, and we're very impressed.

That's a Mazzer Super Jolly in the background--a workhorse in the industry--but my goodness it looks like a home grinder compared to the Robur! We're still learning it's tricks--it's fast!

We'll be bringing Roburs to the other two Coffeetopias in the coming weeks. We're looking forward to adding this tool to our mix in the persuit of excellent espresso. It'll be interesting to see the results at Mission through the Synesso and Cap Rd. through the LaMarzocco. Anyway, it IS just a grinder, and I don't want to sound any more like Mazzer ad copy than I already do, but together with some soon-to-be announced espresso changes we're feeling very good heading into Summer!

Double shot anyone? Salud!

New Pics, same old camera.

Quad shot anyone?

Sam and Casey @ Capitola Rd. in a picture that will get me in trouble.


Michelle, Will and Brooks @ the Mission St. Coffeetopia...

More trouble, but in a different way...

Each cafe has their own camera on site, and I would hope to see a small flood of new pictures from each of the three Coffeetopias. If they don't, I'm going to continue posting my own pics, but I'm going to find more and more embarrassing images as time goes on. Could be fun...

Espresso Snob Denial!

This is Ben, underlit, at the helm of our three-group Synesso. (I don't want to give the impression through my weak photography skillz that either our machina or ceramic ware is more important than Ben. Ben is more important!) Despite our great love for our Synesso Cyncra, we are humble before our espresso; we feel that we learn new things every day, we pull the best shots we can, and we fully appreciate any comments (or criticisms!) that come our way.





More on coffee and espresso later--there's plenty of time for that.

Enjoy!

It's the small things...

Front of the Capitola Rd. cafe. What you don't know and can barely see is that we've planted four high-bush blueberries along the wooden fence, and have already had a few ripe, sweet, tasty blueberries! These bushes will take a few years to size up, but just the thought of growing handfulls of blueberries makes me smile. Here's what they look like close up...


Salud!

Latte Art!

This is one of a series of coffee inspired works by Brian Reed, former Coffeetopia barista extrordinaire and current partner in Lovedog Tattoo in Santa Cruz. Three of these are permanently at Cap Rd cafe. Bravo Brian!

Welcome!

The Coffeetopia Blog is buzzing forward! We're looking forward to sharing some of what we do here at our cafes with anyone who's inclined to look. We like coffee, espresso, food, people, and the seductive aroma of a well-toasted garlic whole wheat bagel. Did I mention coffee?

Now where did I put that camera...