Drinks at Intelligentsia

Around 3PM today, a few of us headed over to the nearby Intelligentsia to see my friend Matt (the 2006 United States Barista Champ), who was there with his coworker Amber, serving up some signature drinks.

Matt, prepping a few drinks for us. On first hearing about this event, I figured we’d have the chance to purchase the custom “signature” drinks from Matt and Amber. Turns out, they were offering smaller, free samples – which was awesome, because it meant I could get more than one. :)

Ah, the Clover! I remember Alex telling me all about this, and how it was the best cup of coffee he’s ever had. And he knows a thing or two about coffee, I should note, as he and Linda run a coffee shop!

I think this thing can create custom cups of coffee, and get the temperature down to something specific like tenths of a degree. I need to come back here and see this thing in action.

Amber’s drink. On reading the description, almost everyone I know said “oooh” when they heard about the melted ice cream. I wasn’t so sure I’d like the cherry or chestnut, but on trying this… I was very surprised. The flavors were very balanced, and not overpowering at all. I loved the combination of the hot espresso underneath the coolness of the whipped cream.

I didn’t end up using a flash in the store (I felt too self-conscious), and so my photos of Matt;s drink were all blurry. I did, however, get a quick vid of him serving one up.

Again, on hearing about the ingredient’s… I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m not the biggest fan of ginger, but I have to tell you – this drink was good! The first word that came to mind was “light.” There was nothing overpowering at all, everything was incredibly muted, subtle. I thought the ginger would spring up first and that the carbonation would dominate everything, but his drink was incredibly soft. The carbonation almost ran underneath everything else, with the ginger coming in for a bit of a kick at the tail end.

Ooh! I forgot to mention. While we were all sipping and chatting, Ben mentioned how much he enjoyed the last tour we took of Intelligentsia HQ. I never did get around to posting those pictures, unfortunately… and I too, remembered that tour fondly.

When asking Matt if we could get another tour, he said it would be no problem. I’ll have to talk to the other design folks, and see if we can’t coordinate some time where we could all slip out for a bit. Ahh… I’d trek all the way over there, just to SMELL the place again.