A Coffee Shop Tour — Comparing Cappuccinos Across Multiple Stops
Had cappuccino at all shops. Most served in a 10 ounce or so cup.
Outside the city: D & M – Just average, milk in cap slightly over heated, didn’t have much sweet flavor to the milk. Coffee tasted like it was a bit on the dark side.
First stop in the city:
Tougo: Roast was very light, barely a city roast. It was extremely well prepared, he weighted out the ground coffee and timed the extraction.
The flavor was complex yet reasonably smooth. The only thing I didn’t care for was I felt like this lighter roast had an aftertaste. Overall an A++ to this shop for stepping way outside the norm and using this very light roast for espresso.
Milstead & Co.: Featured a blend roasted by Stumptown roasters. Was extremely smooth to the point it had few highlights or distinctive notes that you could taste through the milk. It was very nice to have such a smooth drink but I prefer a bean / roast with some stronger flavors that stand out more against the milk.
Analog Coffee: Again a very smooth coffee, slightly more flavor that the Stumptown from Milstead. Well made. Again I prefer a cap with more flavors to it.
Overall the tiny out of the way shop, Tougo is the winner for the day. With their very light roast they used for espresso and their meticulous shot making procedure, they won points with me on both counts.
All the in city shops (not D&M) above were grade A and I’d be happy to have them anytime. Even D&M was better than 95% of the coffee shops in Wisconsin.
More on home coffee and roasting
- Roasting Coffee on the Behmor 1600 — A Full Video Walkthrough
- Home Coffee Roasting on a Behmor, and a 2008 Coffee Show in Minneapolis
- Freshly Roasted Moka Kadir Blend from Sweet Maria’s — Ready for the Grinder
- How to Clean the Behmor 1600 Coffee Roaster — A Quick Maintenance Guide
- An Antique Coffee Roaster at Montana Coffee Traders — A Beautiful Old Machine
- Coffee Roasting at Montana Coffee Traders
- How a Cappuccino Is Made — A Step-by-Step Home Espresso Bar Video
