Buckle Up For Caffeine Insanity*
Jan 31, 2010 St. Louis, coffee, missouri, restaurants
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| Pi’s 2-group Linea w/ PID rebuilt by Barry Jarrett–formerly of Riley’s. |
Due to the unfortunate closing of the Central West End location of Companion Bake House, today was to mark the opening of Chris Sommers’ new Pi Coffee Bar–located under the loft of Pi’s new Central West End location. Teaming up with Matt Herren and Debbie Sultan of Edwardsville’s Goshen Coffee and 222 Artisan Bakery, the plan was to begin carrying a full line of Goshen’s coffee and teas as well as Sultan’s award winning pastries.
Of course, to run a great coffee bar, you need a great manager and barista, and when the topic of who to run the bar came up last Thursday, Herren told Sommers there was only one choice: Alex Brooks. In a whirlwind of a day, the call went out, and an offer was made, mulled over, and accepted by Brooks.
For St. Louis coffee fans, this is great news. A more passionate coffee professional you will rarely find. It does, however, mean that the opening has been delayed as Sommers feels it wouldn’t be right to open without Brooks at the helm. Sommers is, after all, hoping to raise the level of what coffee can be in the Central West End saying about the Brooks acquisition, “I can’t afford him, but I can’t afford not too.”
Speaking with Brooks last week, he is currently putting the finishing touches on his employment in Portland and is excited for the opportunity to be back amongst his friends putting his mark on St. Louis coffee.
At this time, the plans are to now open Monday, February 8, with the hours being Monday-Saturday 6-11AM. Be sure to stop in to welcome Alex home.
Full Disclosure: Alex Brooks, Matt Herren, Chris Sommers, and Debbie Sultan are all friends of mine.
* The title is lifted from a text message Sommers sent to me.
Tags: 222 Artisan Bakery, Alex Brooks, Chris Sommers, coffee, Debbie Sultan, Goshen Coffee, Matt Herren, Pi
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?
February 1st, 2010 at 1:12 pm
This is great news. I’d been looking forward to the opening of the Pi Coffee Bar and now with the addition of Alex, it’s even better. The bad part is now I’ll be tempted to turn my 15 minute drive every Saturday to Kaldi in downtown Clayton into a 25 minute drive to get to the CWE.
February 1st, 2010 at 3:23 pm
What a great addition to the CWE. But like it says above, “you need a great barista.” Not that Alex is a bad barista but far from the best in Stl. Not to mention the coffee pi will be using is subpar.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:49 pm
David, I actually agree with you on your first point. I don’t think Alex is the best barista in St. Louis. That title clearly goes to Kaldi’s Mike Marquardt. I do think Alex is incredibly passionate about coffee, however, and will easily be in the top tier of St. Louis baristas not employed by Kaldi’s. The team they’ve been able to assemble at their Crescent location is remarkable for St. Louis.
I disagree on their subpar coffee, however, and would say that I probably like Goshen and Kaldi’s equally these days, but for different reasons.
I’d also add, the only reason I am friends with any one of the four people mentioned in this article is because I frequented places they owned or worked in. Where Alex is concerned, I first met him when he was 19 working at Picasso’s in St. Charles. While he was not the most consistent barista I had encountered at that time, what he did that few others did, was discard shots. To this day I rarely see that occurrence in St. Louis, and it’s something I believe we should probably see more of. Unfortunately, so many coffee shops in St. Louis are the result of someone wanting to own a coffee shop rather than owning a coffee shop because they are passionate about coffee. That ultimately leads to sub par coffee and although I believe Chris Sommers himself would tell you he’s not super passionate about coffee, his genius seems to lie in the passion of business and finding people to employee that are passionate about the specific areas in which he, himself, is not–thus Alex.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Well said Bill. Thanks
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
As a coffee enthusiast and a proponent of anyone promoting specialty coffee, I salute and look forward to the opening of a coffee shop focused on quality. For all of us who celebrate the opening of any quality focused coffee shop in St.Louis, I find it counterproductive for anyone to prejudge the quality of drinks that will be produced. I’ve been fortunate to taste drinks from the best baristas in the world and I concur that quality coffee is produced by sourcing good beans, properly developing roast profiles, good water filtration, calibrating equipment correctly and finally skilled baristas.
I have spent much of my last 5 years working closely with other industry leaders and SCAA representatives to help educate the public on Specialty Coffee and how it differs from what many others perceive as quality. I’m disappointed at times by the lack of local involvement and participation that quality roasters commit to the specialty coffee industry and hope that in the next few years we can build a local sophistication equal to our neighbors in KC or better yet Chicago.
As a selfless leader in the Specialty Coffee industry, Peter Giuliano owner of Counter Culture Coffee in Durham, NC continues to inspire me as first, a promoter of the specialty coffee industry, then second by the execution of his own reputable roasting company, Counter Culture. The more Counter Cultures, Intelligentsias, Stumptowns, Alterras and many other quality focused roasting companies that exist, the wider our span of education will be. This 3rd wave of coffee education (as referred to by the industry) is extremely important to the advancement and longevity of the specialty coffee industry. Congrats to Pi on the terrific location and thank you for your commitment to quality.
On Thursday February 11th 8pm at Foam off of Cherokee there will be a BGA event promoting the skills and talent of local baristas.
Josh Ferguson
Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co. Owner
February 4th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Well, I am excited to have the opportunity to meet Alex, my coffee mentor in recent months. I am looking forward to getting more education, in person. Welcome back, Alex!
February 7th, 2010 at 9:18 am
And BAKED goods!!! dangerous having 222 pastries on this side of the river. With Matthew Rice and Debby making tasty treats Pi may become a morning destination…..
What about the bread Matt, is it coming over too?
February 9th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
not even close to being on my way home to work.. but hmmmm… i think i could find a way… can’t wait to stop by!
February 13th, 2010 at 11:09 am
I just made the trip to Pi for my Saturday morning coffee and I have to say it was worth the trip. It’s the best cappuccino I’ve had since Monmouth Co.
February 15th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Mr. Ferguson,
I prefer to support Kaldi’s coffee over Pi. Here’s why:
1) You genuinely care about your employees, vendors, and customers. I’ve heard some bad things about Sommers and Uible at Pi, and don’t want to support a company that screws people over just to get ahead.
2) You’ve grown your business at a modest pace, and haven’t tried to over-expand too quickly.
3) Although it would be cool to see Kaldi’s go to the White House, Pi’s trip to the White House as Guest Chefs definitely did something to their egos.
Stay humble,
MJ
February 15th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I actually love Kaldi’s they helped pave the way for those uf us at Goshen to develop a brand that’s totally different. We roast on totally different types of equipment develop often the same coffee’s to completely different profiles and if Howard and Suzanne hadn’t sacrificed so much of themselves over the years to develop a coffee community in Saint Louis we would all be drinking Folgers. I personally love to have the chance to try their Organic Fair trade coffee knowing we source from some of the same green coffee brokers it’s really cool to try coffee that’s so different and yet often the same. Thank you Kaldi’s I love that we play in the same sand box and yet have different followers, Keep up the good work.
For the record I also like to eat at PI and and good Pi and they are totally differnt Pizza’s and serve different coffee.