Drinking coffee from Chicago is a prideful practice.
And given not? The direct for coffee is large here, some of a country’s up-and-coming brewers are formed here, and there’s a clearly unconstrained swell in new roasters popping adult opposite a city and suburbs.
Plus, this is Chicago. If it’s done here, locals will wish it, buy it, urge it and swear devotion to it.
But infrequently we wish to wandering off a internal lane and try something different. Sometimes, we wish to try something from an area formula you’re unknown with.
Enter guest coffee programs, that have flush in new years during area stores and cafes.
It’s not a Fourth Wave of coffee, by any means, though for coffee drinkers already informed with internal customary bearers like Intelligentsia and Metropolis, it’s a possibility to try what’s over a Illinois border.
“It’s how a coffee enlightenment has evolved,” pronounced Ken Tsang, executive of record and selling during Standard Market in a western suburbs. “It’s same to booze and beer. People are peaceful to learn about a product, and we wish to give people options. It fits a matrix.”
Standard Market sells some-more than 3 dozen varieties from 12 out-of-town roasters as partial of a guest coffee module and has shelves lined with bags from award-winning roasters like Onyx (Springdale, Ark.), Heart (Portland, Ore.,) and Methodical (Greenville, S.C.), as good as informal standouts Madcap (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Ruby (Nelsonville, Wis.). Counter Culture (Durham, N.C.) is a primary coffee offering during a in-store cafe, with Chicago-based Intelligentsia, Metropolis and Dark Matter also available.
“We’re arrange of remote ambassadors of these brands,” pronounced Tsang, a coffee fan who grew adult in Portland, Ore.
Building a guest coffee program
Standard Market, an workman grocer with dual locations in a western suburbs, done carrying a strong guest coffee module a signature component in a stores. When a Westmont plcae non-stop 7 years ago, it dedicated an aisle to high-end internal and nationally famous coffees. Within a few months, a kiosk was built to showcase a program. When a second store non-stop in Naperville a few years later, a full-scale cafeteria was a must.
“It was a tough sell when we didn’t have a coffee bar,” Tsang said. “We had to interest to a broader audience.”
Both locations decoction 3 out-of-town roasts daily regulating dual methods — dual by pour-over, one by AeroPress. A customary deteriorate is also offered. Rotations final about a week and are culled to yield resisting flavors, regions and intensities.
Because it’s a tiny retailer, buyers can pierce fast to prove supply and direct and acquire coffees within days of roasting. Freshness is key. Unlike mass-produced commodity coffees, a shelf life to say a firmness of specialty roasts is a month or less.
“A lot of people come in for a coffee. we find that unequivocally flattering,” pronounced Troy Hoertman, a 23-year-old barista during Standard Market. “I have a lot of specific business that come in for specific pour-overs.”
Hoertman was drawn to a tradesman given of a guest module and a event to work with roasting experts during Counter Culture’s training lab on Chicago’s Near West Side.
“I was very, unequivocally vehement about a program,” he said. “I consider we’ve had a lot of people learn coffee they’re not accustomed to and found new favorites.”
New ways to knowledge coffee
While there are internal shops that underline guest roasts on a rotating basis, some go to good lengths to display business to new coffees.
Fairgrounds Coffee and Tea, that has non-stop dual locations in Chicago given 2017, facilities a guest coffee judgment as partial of a core business model. Stumptown (Portland, Ore.), Frothing Monkey (Nashville, Tenn.), Verve (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Colectivo (Milwaukee, Wis.) browbeat a menu and are all brewed to order. A “Taste One Taste All” sign is resolutely embellished on a walls of a Bucktown cafe.
Fairgrounds even offers flights of 3 8-ounce servings with a coffees selected by a customer.
“We like to underline roasters who are doing innovative things in a industry,” pronounced associate manager London Coleman-Williams. “Our guest adore a variety.”
Wormhole Cafe has Halfwit coffee as a signature partner though has enclosed a rotating guest coffee module for 5 years.
“We get a lot of samples from all over a states, and many of us who work here have connectors with other roasters,” pronounced Emma Steiber, manager during Wormhole. “Our guest coffee varies formed on a season.”
At Purple Llama in Wicker Park, a guest coffee knowledge is fused with music. Half record store, half coffee shop, it offers a monthly subscription use by mail that pairs albums with bags of whole beans. Past subscription roasters embody Sump (St. Louis), Sey (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Color (Eagle, Colo.), Apr Coffee (Copenhagen, Denmark) and The Barn (Berlin), and they are still sole in a store. Most are accessible as a pour-over.
“It unequivocally usually takes that one good shot of a fruity, offset coffee for a chairman to unequivocally have that ‘holy (expletive)’ impulse with specialty coffee,” pronounced owners Joel Petrick.
Where to try them
Chicago-area shops featuring a guest-coffee program:
Fairgrounds Coffee Tea: 1620 N. Milwaukee Ave., 12 S. Michigan Ave. Guest coffees: Colectivo (Milwaukee, Wis.), Frothy Monkey (Nashville, Tenn.), Stumptown (Portland, Ore.), Verve (Santa Cruz, Calif.); brewed to order, whole beans available.
Purple Llama: 2140 W. Division St. Guest coffees: Apr Coffee (Copenhagen, Denmark), The Barn (Berlin), Color Roasters (Eagle, Colo.), Counter Culture (Durham, N.C.), Sey (Brooklyn), Sump (St. Louis); brewed to order, whole beans available.
Standard Market Coffee Bar: 333 E. Ogden Ave., Westmont; 1508 Aurora Ave., Naperville. Guest coffees: Counter Culture, Dogwood (Minneapolis), Heart Coffee (Portland, Ore.), Kickapoo (Viroqua, Wis.), Madcap (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Methodical (Greensville, S.C.), Onyx (Springdale, Ark.), Ruby (Nelsonville, Wis.), Stumptown; 3 varieties brewed to sequence and rotated weekly; whole beans available.
Wormhole Cafe: 1462 N. Milwaukee Ave. Guest coffee: Ozo Coffee (Boulder, Colo.); rotated, whole beans available.
Other cafes featuring out-of-town coffees as a primary fry or proprietor variety:
Common Cup: 1501 W. Morse Ave.. Counter Culture.
Damn Fine Coffee Bar: 3317 W. Armitage Ave. Equator (San Rafael, Calif.).