Raw coffee?
2009-08-24 17:45:50.979646+00 by
Dan Lyke
4 comments
I'm generally a fan of Cafe Gratitude, it's an option when Charlene and I are hanging out down in Marin (although in the evenings we'll usually go to Taco Jane's), it's one of the places I take people when I want a relatively affordable Bay Area dining experience (not too many raw food restaurants in middle America...), and their desserts...
Well... their desserts are awesome! However, Charlene recently picked up Sweet Gratitude: A New World of Raw Desserts, and I was thumbing through it. On page 10 they have a section on "Making Cold-Pressed Espresso", which seemed like a bunch of work for something that'd probably get similar flavors with just a fairly dense hot-water drip process, but I thought "okay, they're doing the raw thing".
Then a few days ago I was roasting a batch of small Peru beans in the popcorn popper out in the back yard, and realized that... well... the whole roasted coffee bean thing kinda blew the "raw" concept out of the water. Not that I'm complaining, their desserts are still awesome, but...
Anyway, coincidentally, the East Bay Express article on the connections between Cafe Gratitude and the Landmark Forum also popped up recently, and I thought that explained some of the attitudes within the cafe. Don't have any issues with Landmark Forum, I bet they've got a lot more on the ball than most modern psychology, but there's a certain vibe in the place that almost needs to be experienced to be believed, and it makes sense that Cafe Gratitude's founders have ties to such a "human potential" / "self-improvement" organization.
[ related topics:
Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Food Bay Area Current Events Work, productivity and environment California Culture
]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2009-08-24 19:57:44.547538+00 by:
swag
I'd be highly suspicious of anything that promotes "cold-pressed espresso" rather than "cold-pressed coffee". There's a huge difference, as the former still requires 8-9 bars of pressure to produce.
It could be a sign that they don't have a clue about the difference, which calls their expertise into question.
#Comment Re: made: 2009-08-24 20:16:55.414498+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Yeah, basically their method is a cold steep in a French press.
Not arguing with their results, and I'll probably try this 'cause the whole home-roasting kick has me discovering coffee subtleties I didn't know existed, but their terminology needs work.
#Comment Re: made: 2009-08-25 02:43:22.150928+00 by:
ebradway
[edit history]
What's the difference between the manager of the San Rafael restaurant saying:
"I see the value of what people are getting as a much stronger force
than the discomfort of someone being pushy."
And a Baptist boss being overbearing about accepting Jesus as your personal
savior? Or, how about this twist:
"You have ten days to decide whether you will {do Landmark|accept
Jesus}. Otherwise, you will have to step down from management."
I mean, this isn't even a manager saying "You don't 37 pieces of flair."
#Comment Re: made: 2009-09-03 15:18:28.97669+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Eric, I've been mulling this over, and I guess I'm still not sure. My preference in fast-food burgers, largely because of their supply chain management, is In-n-Out, and they print bible references on the bottom of their packaging. I don't know what their corporate culture is like, but that suggests a certain bent.
So, yeah, as a customer I'm not sure where to draw the line. Companies have cultures, and I don't find myself eating at restaurants whose wait staff sport flair, but that's more based on how that culture reflects on their external face.