Hot as hell at Quixotic!

98 degrees outside and some awesome single origin Columbian at Quixotic!

Urth in LA

Machiatto and Green Tea Latte'

Washing down the bad with the good... or trying at least

Visited Nina's in St. Paul and then went immediately to Dogwood in Uptown to try and wash the taste away. Just because you have a Synesso doesn't mean much if you don't know now to use it. Why why why?

Oh Nina, why hast thou forsaken me?

Delicious Dogwood...

Corner Coffee Espresso

Small town espresso in a mug

You find Synesso's in the strangest of places...

The barista at Kenwood Cafe (next to Birchbark Books) had no idea he was pulling shots off a very nice machine. Stop in and school him people. He's a nice guy :-)

Urban Harvest at The Quarry the other day

OK, nothing to write home about, but in the right place at the right time...

Joseph serves up some excellent Dogwood

Joseph pulled some excellent "winning" shots today at Dogwood. Love the machine too!

Ask Jim Jarmusch why two...

A new place for excellent espresso in Minneapolis!

Sun Street Breads in South Minneapolis (4600 Nicollet) has excellent espresso. I spent some time with Martin who kindly let me around the counter to check out his awesome La Marzocco GS/3 in action. Needless to say I was drooling. He pulled some wonderful Dogwood shots and we chatted about how he got into espresso (a trip to Barcelona sealed the deal). Definitely check out the awesome espresso and the bakery run by Solveig Tofte the head baker (and Martin's wife). She competed at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris as the captain and breads representative on the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA 2008. So come for the espresso and stay for the high quality bread products. You won't regret it!


Feast your eyes on the crema...

Shawn of the Espresso Strikes!

Need the perfect espresso pulled for you? Well duh... Shawn at Quixotic (Ford Pkwy/Cleveland) will set you up. Winning!

Breaking away from it all!

Work gets in the way sometimes, but not today. 2 espresso heaven in a cup with Michael over here at Quixotic, still one of the consistently great espresso bars in town if not the Midwest.

My man Michael serves it up!


Michael pulls a dream shot and shouts "Look at this!"


Not sure if I look insane homeless or armless...

Spain! The country that "The Limits of Control" was filmed in and I got my inspiration for 2 espressos! My daughter reporting in again from Spain!

Thalia at Barcelona's flea market. Café always comes con leche in Spain - in other words, coffee is only drunk with steamed milk. If you ask for an espresso, you will get milk in it. But it's delicious, so accept the Spanish ways!

Madeline, 2 espressos right outside the Sagrada Familia, at a little place called Bicicleta Café.

Eric at Dogwood

Attention to detail a must...

Dogwood Two Espresso Old Style

Two Espressos From Le Panorama, on Rue Gerando, Paris

My daughter sent me this and I'm soooo jealous. Paris man... She described her coffee as pungent, nutty and the good kind of bitter.

Doggin' it again

Stopped into Dogwood again today and Eddie pulled me a couple wonderful shots off the Mirage...

Eddie working the machine...

A "real" Mirage...

It's the CREMA!

Is this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen coffee lover?! Dogwood coffee in Calhoun Village, single origin from Nicaragua and beautiful colors and delicious oils. Wow...

I even picked up some dessert from Rustica for my wife on the way out. It's a win win situation...

My daughter sent this from Le Select in Paris

Tres classy!

I'm going to Jackson

Damn cold = tongue works, nose doesn't

But hey, that didn't stop me from fulfilling my ritual 2 espresso. And what better place than Dogwood today on the way home. Strange feeling to try to smell the espresso and get nothing back. The taste was fabulous of course. So get your asses over to this place. It's a whole different experience from most coffee places people frequent. I mean, c'mon, leave the chains behind. Free yourselves to taste the real deal!

Below, Justin showing excellent attention to detail...

On neck surgery and coping...

OK, I just found out I have to have a 2 Level fusion in my neck because of chronic neck and shoulder pain I've had for the last year. So what better place to cope than Rustica/Dogwood and some espresso. Eric served me up my 2 espressos and after tasting the first one I realized there are worse things than having surgery on your neck vertebrae. What are they? Oh I don't know, but as the espresso rolled across my tongue all my cares faded away. I love this habit. You should too!

2 Espresso in Siberia?

No, actually St. Paul at Quixotic. Thought I'd warm my cockles with an espresso and Gibraltar. Got to wondering again why all the good espresso joints are in the south part of the Twin Cities. Why can't I get good espresso where I live? Why oh why?

Well at least great espresso is finally making headway here in Minnesota. Am trying hard to promote these fine establishments in the hopes of waking up the rest of Minnesota. But come on North East!

And somehow we got on the subject of beer...

Stopped into Quixotic doing my Madcap-Dogwood-Madcap-Dogwood shuffle and Michael pulled 2 delicious shots of Madcap for me. But then we started talking about beer and one thing lead to the other. Well, not actually, but it turns out we have beer brewing in common so we chatted about brews. All the while sipping my 2 espressos of course....

Tangs For The Memories...

Kristin pulled two brazilian-sumatran blend Dogwood espressos for me today and the results were excellent. A very zesty and bright espresso, a little less oily but nonetheless a very interesting experience. The tang hit me right. I quite enjoyed the contrast with some of the equally excellent Madcap I've been tasting these days. Crema well done as was the attention to detail...

When the barista is smiling it is always a good sign...

Yours truly embarking on yet another tasty trip...

Shawn's got my back!

Who's my man? Shawn pulls the best shots time and time again. It's like every espresso is the last one he'll ever make in his life. He puts his heart and soul into it...

Here at Quixotic...

Dogwood rocks the espresso world at Calhoun Square!

Ran into Keith and Greg today at Calhoun Square at the new Dogwood Coffee Co. I'll bet you can guess how that went... AWESOME OF COURSE! The espresso was sublime. Keith even pulled me some single origin because that's the kind of guy he is. Thanks for putting in another high quality espresso bar. Now everyone get your asses to Dogwood for some nirvana in a cup...

This place is so open...

The Coffee Shop NE

Is it? Is it?

Sunday morning espressos courtesy Jefferson at Nick and Eddie

2 espresso day, of course!

Stopped in to Quixotic today for a Third Coast and Just a Nicaragua pulled by Gordon with skill. I enjoyed lemony, citrusy, bright and zesty treats. It's nice to have someone pull a fine shot and make an effort to draw something different and unique out of the beans. I pulled up a chair, worked on some videos I'm producing and relaxed into the world. Thanks Gordon and Quixotic...

Bull Run seems to be doing very well!

Bull Run was doing a hopping business today. The place was almost packed. Good for them. Maybe Americans are finally coming out of the dark and starting to frequent places of quality coffee instead of the schleppy crap Starbucks and most coffee houses swill out. This is good news...