Tim Hortons on Espresso

I saw the following on the plasma screen at Timmys tonight:

What is espresso?

Dark roasted coffee brewed through steam and hot water.

Sigh. Timmys has no clue what espresso is, and yet they help to widely disseminate this (mis)information. I can understand their dilemma — that the average double-double-ing Canadian doesn't know or care what "expresso" (sic) is — and thus they need to educate them. But at least they could do it properly.

Here's my attempt at public espresso education:

What is espresso?

A small, intensely-flavoured coffee brewed with high pressure hot water.

It avoids the pitfalls of assuming that espresso is a particular roast or type of bean (it's not, despite what's being served at Tims or Starbucks), and that steam is used to brew (only high pressure hot water should touch the coffee). Further, three of the most important characteristics of espresso are touched upon: the small volume, intense flavor, and unique extraction method that are only found in espresso. It's not perfect, especially to orthodox espresso-ists, but I implore a purist to try and do better in 11 words of common language.

Here ends the first YWG Coffee "rant". I'll try and keep these to a minimum, but I must stand against misinformation while on my quest for good coffee.

Best espresso so far?

I went down to De Luca's today for some of their Alba Espresso blend (more on this in another post), and unexpectedly enjoyed what might just be the best espresso I've had in Winnipeg so far. While I was waiting for my order, the staff there offered me a shot made from the Alba Espresso blend on the innocuous Saeco Vienna automatic machine in the corner of their showroom.

The double shot had a thick crema and had no bitter or sour notes in it. Just smooth, slightly sweet, coffee flavored espresso. If you want one, just go and buy some beans or other gear — I'm sure they'd be happy to make one for you.

After this shot, I'm looking forward to getting my new batch of Alba Espresso dialed in at home to see what kind of shots I can pull.

PS. If you are interested in local roasters (and why wouldn't you be? — fresh is best!), check out De Luca's, or The Black Pearl. I've heard of (but yet to try) Green Bean Coffee Importers. Also, does anyone know if Sunstone is still roasting? Their website is up, but a little old...