Blue Bottle Coffee and Shiny Things!...

Can we say...summer is here? Or well, springtime with a dash of wack weather and dee-lishousss iced coffee is here?

I know I know, I've fallen off the face of the earth since November with nary a peep and I apologize--but now I'm back! And not to worry, I've been eating and snapping away (and had a photo show of my best foodstuffs!) since then. Good news is I'll be starting my second Masters in Fall 2010 so I'll have *plenty* more time for food photography for at least another 2 yrs! Five yrs if I can continue on w/ my PhD! WOOHOO! But for now I'll start with Blue Bottle Coffee, new spankin'ly opened in Williamsburg on Berry between N. 4th and N. 5th st. And Relish for dinner. and...Pulino's in another post!!

For expediency, I'm gonna not research the coffee & the shop (originating in SF), u can read it on NYTimes.com. So, I say we gaze further at pretty pictures I took :) Onto other pictures with relevance and substance! like...interior shots and of the machines! :D And human workers!

I don't know much about coffee. I can't really drink it since I bypass the energy boost and go straight to jitters, nausea, and clammy-ness across the board! I get soy chais @ starbux and the blended mochas at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf once in blue moon. I have done espresso shots and some coffee here and there so I can definitely taste the difference and nuances in flavor. Alls I know is, the best coffee I've had is Sant Eustachio in Rome (seriously, and not b/c of my n00b palate but...sweet jebus!) and worst I've had is Champignon on 7th ave b/w 22nd and 21st!! deeeeskusting!

This is the slow drip they do--kind of fun to watch, one might assume this is exactly why they put it right up front by the register with a mere sheet of glass between the plebians and baristas so we can watch the magic happen!

So, again, I know nothing of fancy coffee and equipment--except the machines. mmmMMmm damn those are nice. Anyhoo, I can only suppose these shiny contraptions below are elaborate drippers of sorts. Part of me is reminded of O-Chem lab back in the day when we did fractional distillation with similar looking things, except I spent most of the time making tin-foil hats and watching the beakers boil. YAY education!

The three of us got the New Orleans iced coffee (which had a bite to it! very nice tho, good flavor, we're told it needs milk and some sugar tho, even at home).

The only other ice coffee offered was the Kyoto which when I coincidentally ran into our friend Gary afterwards, who said he got the Kyoto and it tasted not like coffee at all but liquid dried blueberries. My mind and tastebuds are still processing that description. And coming up blank. Kinda grossed out. But not really. Mostly...blank. :)

Some offerings to for at home roasting!...

And thus concludes my official post back. :)

...AAAaaAaannd I leave u with a giant picture of some knobs on the espresso machine and the grinder. And a dirty towel. *the end*.