the friendly ones at Joe’s
Props to Joe’s on 30th at the Steelyards (Bluff/Mapleton vicinity). They continue to be one of the friendliest crews in Boulder. Went in for a spot check today and was met with just nice, friendly, genuine service. Now, of course, everybody knows by now that we don’t love their choice of roasters (how many times can we call Allegro “swill”? apparently often enough that some people think we’re working for our favorites…). But Joe’s makes up for that by knowing how to work their machines. As we’ve said plenty of times, it’s not just the roast, it’s a combination of the roast, the barista and the machine, and near as we can tell, none of the three swamps any of the others in importance. So a good machine and an excellent barista can make Allegro taste halfway decent, and Joe’s is the place to find that barista (along with Ozo, if you’ve taken a wagon ride out to 55th).
how to make tea
alright, so clearly tea ain’t that hard, right? insert leaves, add hot water. done.
this is how 98% of the shops in Boulder serve tea and how close to 100% of them outside of Boulder do it.
but this reviewer drinks more tea than coffee and is tired of being discriminated against for it. Boulder coffee shops, hear me: TURN DOWN YOUR DAMN HOT WATER DISPENSERS!!
Look, everybody has a different opinion of the proper water temperatures for various teas, but in general this list of proper temperatures will do. Only the pu’erhs need be boiled and I’d be willing to bet the number of dedicated pu’erh drinkers in Boulder is fewer than 5. The black teas come in under boiling and the greens and whites significantly so, all the way down to 160°F for some. But when I can’t drink my tea for 10 minutes because it still hasn’t cooled enough to not strip the paint off my tongue then there’s a problem. The water is too hot for the tea, and too hot for me.
The only shop that I have come across so far that does it right is Tea Spot. Tea Spot not only dails down the temperature for their more delicate teas, they have three different pots set to three different temperatures to match what each individual tea needs. Not even erstwhile Pekoe, also specializing in tea, does right by temperature control. Everybody else gladly ignores the issue, happily dispensing scalding, sizzling water in every cup. Boulder shops, next time your machine guy comes around, please ask him to at least dial you down to 180°F? Nice compromise for all the different temperatures required for your teas?
And this isn’t even getting into steep times. Again, Tea Spot has it wired, everybody else (including Pekoe) is clueless. Tea Spot holds your tea back while timing your steep, making sure they get it right. Everybody else hands it to you right away and you’re on your own. Only the most dedicated tea drinkers know that many green teas should only get 2-3 minutes in the water. Two minutes? That time is gone between the initial request and the final transaction, the details of the steep forgotten in the blur of the moment. Who can know how long the tea has been steeping? Not the baristas of these coffee-oriented shops who couldn’t care less about the bitters that arise in oversteeped green tea.
I can’t fathom why a shop (and this includes many in Boulder) would spend the time and energy to gather a pantry of fine loose leafs and a cupboard of personal steeping equipment, only to potentially ruin the tea each time by ignoring the water temperature and steep time. Maybe the time will come yet….
