A Man Walks Into a Coffee Shop
I have visited Kaldi’s new Clayton location three times since opening. I will tell you about them–one at a time.
Two weeks ago when a quick email response signaled that Kaldi’s Clover would finally be landing in their new downtown Clayton shop my lunch plans for the following day, a Wednesday, were set.
You might find it surprising, but although my love is addictingly strong, I really don’t drink that much coffee. So, having saved the days caffeine consumption for Kaldi’s exclusively, I cruised over to the shop at noon–six hours into its existence.
Entering, it came as no great shock I recognized a handful of people in the store as it was filled with a who’s who of obvious Kaldi’s notables I’d mostly seen before. Maybe that’s sad, but for a food and coffee geek like myself, I remember industry names and locations in the same way normal guys remember sports stats like innings pitched and receptions made.
The shop itself is in the same vein as the other post-Demun shops like Kirkwood and Chesterfield, but, from a visual assessment anyway, much smaller. Because of the reduced size and their segmenting it into various rooms, it also felt much warmer–sort of a nuevo Demun as it to is separated off into various rooms.
Approaching the counter I must have said I was there to try the Clover as I was asked by the woman (wo)manning the register if I was the one who had emailed them about it on Tuesday. Having responded yes, she recommend I try the Fair Trade Organic Timor Ermera, as it was one she’d had for the first time that morning and really enjoyed.
She and the notables were eager to hear what I had to say about my first impression of the Timor and my first taste of Clover brewing.
The coffee was good, but for my own reasons, not exceptional, but mostly because it wasn’t in line with my own preferences. I found it a bit thin, and its sort of molasses flavor (they say brown sugar) didn’t overcome the coffees acidity for me. Some people do love bright, acidic coffees like this, but my favorites come from Central America. While they often lean to the bright side of things as well, it tends to be more of a citrus-like acidity rather than a wine-like one, and it usually comes coupled with flavors of chocolate or caramel that give them a sort of creamy mouth feel and body. It did, however, have a definite freshness (as it should have) which was a welcome change from the stagnant drip brewed coffees in carafes at any shop.
The woman who rang me up, who I assumed at the time was the manager, also commented to me about the color being different from coffees brewed in the Clover versus traditional drip. As this was my first experience with the machine, I really couldn’t say without a side by side comparison.
The one notable I knew by name, Kaldi’s Barista Trainer Alex McCracken, whom I recognized from photos of his 15th place finish in the SCAA US Barista Championships last year (that’s actually really good), spoke to me briefly about cupping–something I admitted haven’t actually done before. Apparently, when they had the Clover at the roasterie, they found it to be a good way to taste coffees true flavors. In a pinch, they utilized it as the second best method when there was no time for actual cupping. Also, he told me they do a public cupping almost every Friday at 2PM at the roasterie, a fact I would have known if I had seen their blog sooner than two weeks ago.
Basically uneventful, that’s it for visit one. Introductions were made, hands were shook, and I scurried back to work before the end of my hour long lunch break.
Overall first impressions: the shop left me pleased by the enthusiasm of the Kaldi’s staff. They seem–at least visually–to be trying to raise the bar of the St. Louis coffee scene, and that’s always a good thing.
Stay tuned for visit two in which I get called out by a Zimmer.
