Thursday, August 20, 2009
11:21 AM
Labels: Coffee Trip , great northern , traverse city
Two weeks ago I took a trip with my wife and family to Traverse City, MI. I thought I would post a little about my experiences in the coffee world there. Although I peeked into a number of shops while I was there I want to talk about two in particular. The first one is called Morsels. They serve Intelligentsia coffee. I had a macchiato there and it was pretty decent. (Note: My brother went on my recommendation and loved it, but when my mom stopped by she said her espresso wasn't very good. So be warned there are some reports things are hit and miss) They were using a GB/5 by La Marzocco.
This is my second trip there this year. I had gone earlier for a barista jam at Great Northern Coffee Roasting Co. I stopped by the rostery again and talked to Jack Davis for a while. It was a lot of fun. Great Northern always has fun toys to play with (a lever machine at one point, and a pre-bux Clover). Jack was a great host and we talked about his adventures in dirrect trade. He's been tracking his coffee though a system called "track your coffee" http://trackyourcoffee.com/ Each bag you order can have a number on it which allows you to follow your coffee. The bag I got had the number SCM6202048... Plug it in at the site and find out about it!
Morsels is using a La Marzocco Swift grinder which I think it a good move for them. The shop is trying to make a good product, but I don’t think the staff has had a ton of training. The word on the street is it’s owned by a couple one is into coffee and one is into baking. Another note: The shop serves these little “morsels” of food that are delicious. Both my wife and I loved the Olive one which is worth the trip even without the coffee! The Swift gives some consistency to the shots that I don’t think the staff would be able to pull off on their own at this point.
This is my second trip there this year. I had gone earlier for a barista jam at Great Northern Coffee Roasting Co. I stopped by the rostery again and talked to Jack Davis for a while. It was a lot of fun. Great Northern always has fun toys to play with (a lever machine at one point, and a pre-bux Clover). Jack was a great host and we talked about his adventures in dirrect trade. He's been tracking his coffee though a system called "track your coffee" http://trackyourcoffee.com/ Each bag you order can have a number on it which allows you to follow your coffee. The bag I got had the number SCM6202048... Plug it in at the site and find out about it!
Oh yeah you should check out the Music House Museum. They have a big manual coffee grinder on display as well as an amazing collection of automated music machines!
Wondered if you'd gotten a chance to check out Leelanau Roast coffees in Glen Arbor or Higher Grounds and what you thought of them.here's a story on Higher Grounds http://www.mynorth.com/My-North/January-2009/Higher-Grounds/ Also wondered if you have any thoughts on this video on making a perfect cup of coffee using a French press ...