I travel a lot these days, both for business and pleasure, and that used to mean subjecting myself to horrid coffee and middling tea. No more, thanks to a couple of simple gadgets and my wife’s ever-present patience during packing.

We carry with us a Mukka Express by Bialetti to make cappuccino-like and latte-like drinks that, while not as good as one gets at a great cafe, a far sight better than what the average North American restaurant serves, and on par with average European coffee. In Europe we use a grinder we’d bought at a Monoprix in Paris, but it works on 220 volts, and doesn’t give us a fine enough grind at 110 volts, so we either need a North American option or a dual-voltage converter system. We usually carry coffee beans from Kicking Horse, a good Canadian company and demerera sugar, leaving only milk to buy on site, and most places have milk. (This proved a little tougher in Bangalore, but I’ll leave that for another story.)

Tea requires less work and less complicated equipment. We’ve recently grown fond of a portable, durable infuser by ForLife Design, and leaves from TeaHaus, another fine Canadian company. No more Tetley; no more Red Rose. Even most hotel coffee makers heat water hot enough for good tea.

So it takes some more effort, and some extra room in our suitcases, but when you travel as much as we do, you value a good cappuccino in the morning and good tea to aid the digestion later in the day.

Although I’ve been here repeatedly since @atmos introduced me to it, I’ve not written about it yet. Time to solve that as I actually sit here waiting to head over to 21st Amendment for dinner with @stesla and @xagile.

Unlike many of the cafes in San Francisco, Epicenter does not brew Bluebottle, Fourbarrel, or Ritual beans. They use they use beans from San Jose based Barefoot Coffee. Incidentally, Barefoot’s “The Boss” is my preferred beans for home use. So tasty I tend to have straight espresso rather than cappuccino.

Epicenter not only does a superlative job with the coffee, but is also has beer & wine, as well as a selection of food and pastries. The baristas here have mad skillz, their latte art creations are always impressive. For example:

The atmosphere is excellent for relaxing with a drink & snack, or having a meeting with potential biz partners. It’s a very startup-friendly spot. Free wifi (as expected), quiet background music and friendly staff.

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While I drop into Bluebottle Coffee Company as often as I can, I haven’t reviewed it yet.  So here goes.

I love Bluebottle’s Mint St. location.  I dropped in for a cappuccino recently with my buddy @stesla. See the collage below. It’s a great looking shop.  The coffee is, of course, spectacular.  The baristas are top notch, and the resulting drinks are amazing.

Not only can you get great drinks there, but you can pick up brewing equipment as well.  Expresso machines, grinders, siphon brewers, and various bits and pieces like steaming pitchers.

I really have to get a siphon pot sometime. I usually get a cappuccino or a New Orleans Iced Coffee (in the summer). Did I mention they do an amazing job of cappuccino? Have a look:

Bluebottle. Check it out. It’s good coffee.

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I’m a coffee junkie. I remember vividly when I came downstairs one morning during my undergrad years. One of my roommates was in the clinical physiology program. She’d made coffee. She poured me a cup as I stumbled into the kitchen. Siippp.. *bing* “Aaaahhhhhhh”. “Dave, that was the classic reaction of a junkie getting a fix. You are an adict.” Sweet, sweet addiction.

These days my addiction is centered on Espresso. Espresso, cappuccino, latte, machiato. Back when I was still at Google I decided to take some of my bonus and invest in some serious espresso equipment. I did research and asked on the coffeelovers mailing list. After all that it came down to the Gaggia Classic and the Rancilio Silvia for brewing and the Gaggia MDF and Rancilio Rocky for grinding.

I ended up going with he Gaggia Classic + MDF combo, mostly because I like saying “Gaggia” and becasue I’ve always wanted to have a Gaggia espresso maker:

This worked quite well. The only thing I didn’t particularly like was the doser on the MDF.

Fast forward to Engineyard and the planning for our new offices. It was decided that we should have a proper espresso machine since there are many coffee lovers at EY. I was asked to decide what equipment we should get. For the office I decided to get the Silvia and Rocky combo because it was generally regarded as being more robust. I figured that meant that it would hold up to the rigors of life in an office environment better. Further, I thought the doserless grinder would be good:

This combo is absolutely killer. I liked the Rock so much, in fact that when my GF at the time needed a new grinder, I gave her my MDF (which worked perfectly well) and got myself a Rocky.

I have no hesitation in recommending the Silvia+Rocky combo to anyone that asks.

So I’m happily quaffing espresso at home and at work. Gotta feed the addiction.