coffee forum, ?????, ?????, fresh coffee beans and tea house

[boblam]

The shop front, simple, nice and cozy. The coffee shop is a bit out of the tourist area but was well situated to do the cafe crawl with El Mello

[boblam]

Inside from the counter bar I sat. I think the counter is a better place to sit and watch

[boblam]

Its milk drink was very good and it seemed the coffee was designed with milk drink in mind.

A just right temperature, supplement by a dark chocolate tone, and, after a bit of a cool down, very sweet milk.

The texture was just OK, not as velvety as the good one I had in Hong Kong but very memorable one among all cafes in Bangkok

[boblam]

The espresso was more on a traditional side, dominated with chocolate and some rough acidity. It reminded me of Illy which the roaster talked highly about before. There's robusta in this blend, IIRC. I was told the bean was roasted within five days. While the crema color looked OK, it was a bit pale vs. my memory...

To me, the cup was pulled too long it�s blond a bit at the end with quite thin crema. Could have been better shorter, just my 2 cents. The longer shot seemed to be a common practice among cafes in Bangkok as if this gives "more/advantage" to customers though I think the rough acidity comes from this longer pull.

The espresso was not my favorite and this was quite similar to my memory of the last time I had it here about a year or two ago despite different barista from both times.

[boblam]

The things that make it happen.
The new espresso machine was also from Reneka, matched with Eureka grinder though I'm more familiar with the smaller one next to it, the Eurega Mignon, cousin of Nuova Simonelli MCF in the US which was mostly for filtered coffee here, according to the owner, due to clumping.

[boblam]

Cafe name: Ristretto Corp

Location: 73 Nak Niwat Rd, Latphrao BKK 10230 Tel:0 2932 5595 and 08 9132 5595
Operating hour: weekdays 7AM-8PM, weekends 7AM-6PM

Date of visit: July 31, 2010

Ristretto celebrated its seventh anniversary. Its staying power is amazing considering the location in mostly residential area of Bangkok's suburb. The success even allows the owner to change his gear to one of the best espresso machine in the world, IMHO, the Synesso Hydra. No surprise he's very confident and proud to present only Thai coffee in his espresso blend, hence the perfect place to try a pristine quality of Thai coffee. See more of the shop here

http://ristrettocorp.blogspot.com/

[url=http://www.facebook.com/people/Pongtorn-Srinualchai/100000707284118#!/profile.php?id=100000707284118&v=info]Ristretto-facebook[/url]

I won't comment on the taste as I wasn't feeling that well on that day. I will go back to try this shop again when time is available. However, I need to bite the bullet anytime I think about driving there and in Bangkok, one of the most traffic jam capital in this world.

PS: I just learned from a post in one blog that Ristretto does not allow phototaking in the shop. I wasn't told anything when these pictures were taken so if I heard anything from the owner, I will pull all these picture down to fit his requirement. The purpose of taking picture is to take a mental note as you see from my notes earlier. I have no intention of copying and doing things to hurt this guy.

[boblam]

This shop is very different from others in this trip, locating in a more residential area than others. If you drive, you can just park a car on the side of the street and walk to the store. You can see a typical setting of houses that Thai people stay. This area used to be a suburb in Bangkok but not any more as the city spreads out according to the size of its population

[boblam]

The reason I drove this far is the first Synesso Hydra in a cafe in Thailand and it seemed to be the only Synesso in the real cafe in Thailand as far as I know. The Synesso was paired with two legacy Rancilio MD50s as the shop used Rancilio espresso machine before. You can see the old set on his blog/facebook I provided elsewhere on this album. I wonder how the coffee will taste like had the grinder be something more "IT" like Anfim Super Caimano or even the old mainstay like Mazzer SJ.

[boblam]

This was what it looks like looking back from the Synesso counter.

To me, it's easy and nice typical Bangkok style with lots of books to read if you care.

On the day I was there, the music was quite loud from Harman Kardon/JBL that sat on the top of the book shelf right beside the album which, in yesteryears, is usually matched with Apple computer or some "cutting edge" computer at the time. It sounds quite boomy considering all flat surface and tile floor (again typical deco over there) which further reflects the sound, making it quite larger than life but somehow goes well with the shop at the moment.

[boblam]

If you look outside from where I sat, you supposed to see the main street that led to the shop.

Just coincidental that the milk truck came to deliver the milk used for the shop. Actually, CP-Meiji (yes, the jv with Japanese company) was the milk used by all cafes I visit this time, IIRC.

One thing I notice is the powerline that hanging on the top part of the picture. This is a typical view in residential area in Bangkok. To some, this looks exotic. To me, it significantly reduced the charm and beauty of city I wish they put it all underground.

However, Bangkok are prone to flood every now and then and I'm not sure what will happen then. Ever heard things happen in Bangkok. Even a subway accident, ie a subway hit another subway a while back.. Only in Thailand..

[boblam]

Back to the coffee. First drink I order was Cappuccino. While most of us may think something was missing from the Capp as it's almost a given these days some form of cartoon, animal, etc has to be drawn on the white part However, I like it the way it is... making me think I was sipping a UFO in my coffee cup.

However, that's pretty much the good thing I can say about this cup. The Capp was prepared in an old style, IMHO. The barista used spoon to manage its milk instead of free pour, starting with spooning the foam on top to its espresso until about 2/3 (from my eye) then use the spoon to block the liquid and tilt the pitcher up to fill the cup with the �liquid� part. As expected, the foam was airy and fragile and there was no nice mouthfeel as the texture was long gone with the spoon technique, used frequently at Starbucks. The temp was OK but it doesn't help any more with the spoon technique. However, this does fit the Starbucks definition 1/3 coffee, 1/3 foam, 1/3 milk though I wonder whether this ratio was set in stone.

I can't comment on the taste much more as my taste bud was off that day and will need to confirm on my next trip if I could make it that far.

[boblam]

Of course, I had to order the shop�s namesake, ristretto, for my black coffee. The Synesso also made it impossible not to try one. It's quite easy to notice the nice crema color and some fleck.

Structurally, it wasn�t too bad with some sort of layers of taste with syrupy consistency and very clean cup profile overall. I credit the clarity to Synesso and the rest to barista and can only wonder when HK cafe who really knows coffee will use the superb machine like Synesso as Hong Kong now has an agent. To me, LM GB5 was good but doesn't really make a cut when comparing to Synesso... Just my 2 cents though.

[boblam]

I did ask the owner about the blend and he just disclosed that he ordered beans from various places including Zana�s Bean and Bluekoff. One of Bluekoff blend received 89 point from coffeereview though you won't find it on its website. I was told via email it was the bean they produced in house and this is a good thing as I plan to try it next time I drop by.

Not sure whether the overall cost for coffee or nationalism played the part, the owner chooses to use only Thai coffee bean in his blends and blend the bean himself to come to an average of 7 days after roast date. I only know from him that this is a typical taste for coffee from beans grown in Thailand (mostly northern Thailand in Chiangmai and Chiangrai).

He made an interesting argument which I still remembered vividly until these days that it is not that difficult to make good coffee if one has the $. His idea was that Intelligentsia just uses $ to buy good coffee from everywhere without the limitation on the cost. Holding everything equal, ie roasters, barista, machine, etc, the more $ one put in, the better the taste.

Before you make other comments, I like to point out that this comes from an experienced businessman with an impressive track record of over 7 years and seemed to be still going strong. He also managed to changed the machine to one of the best in world and I witnessed customers through the door but ordered mostly iced coffee. This means that he knows his business well so I guess this is the way the coffee should be and work well to allow him to stay in this business for long. YMMV

[boblam]

I like the logo and slogan a lot. IIRC, someone mentioned his shop on coffeegeek.com too.

[boblam]

This is the map. You will need a cab to go there and it was definitely out of the way of the tourist area. I cannot say this is a must stopby as my taste bud was only 50% that day so I will need another visit to see how it goes.

However, for those of you who really like to try a pure Thai coffee I would suggest those to try this shop with a nice Synesso machine to boot. Bear in mind that only if you can manage to reach the place which is in a suburb area, far away from city center and tourist spots that were frequent by tourists. This map wasn't clear. Neither does google map. However, the area should be relatively well known to all the cab. Enjoy!