Subject: Coffee

• Where’s the Great Espresso?

  June 12, 2008

• Summer Drinks: Greek Frappe

  June 19, 2008

• Espresso Perfecto at Catalina Coffee

  June 20, 2008

• Great Espresso at Cafe Inka

  July 10, 2008

• An art, not an afterthought

  December 9, 1993

• La Dolce Vita

  I was young, espresso was exotic, and Dolce and Freddo was the only game in town

  May 6, 1999

• How Do You Take It?

  Our intrepid driving diner discovers the Bright & Early Coffee stand and why Houstonians like their brew weak

  August 8, 2002

• Bean Town

  Will Houston ever reach a caffeine overdose?

  August 29, 2002

• McCafe Latte at McDonald’s

  October 27, 2008

• Keen on Kaldi

  July 14, 1994

• Calling All Night Owls

  September 1, 1994

• Panini Passion

  December 29, 1994

• Unlikely Lunches

  June 8, 1995

• Stellar Sandwich

  February 8, 1996

• Factory Approved

  February 22, 1996

• The "Taco Man" Truck at Bubbles

  The egg and chorizo breakfast taco comes with a free roasted jalapeño and your choice of red and green homemade salsas at the taco truck parked behind Bubbles Carwash at Westheimer and Bering. The business is called the "Taco Man" and its run by two brothers from San Luis Potosi. The truck is one of those elaborate rigs popular in L.A. with the louvered skylight vents above the cooking area. Barbacoa and al pastor tacos were also available at 9 a.m. I went for a cup of black coffee, and was p

  January 27, 2009

• Hogg Heaven?

  September 12, 1996

• Side Order of Chaos

  October 2, 1997

• Dish

  October 30, 1997

• Dish

  December 23, 1999

• Best Drive-thru Java

  September 21, 2000

• 4th Annual Readers Theatre

  March 12, 2009

• “In the Soil: Nicaragua”

  Photographer Ryan Booth documents a trip to the coffee fields of Central America

  August 14, 2008

• Best Coffee Beans

  House of Coffee Beans

  September 26, 2002

• Javajazz: No java, no jazz, lots of rock

  Coffee Grounds

  February 28, 2008

• Hot Plate

  Schlotzky's Marketplace

  July 15, 1999

• Balkan Grill & Market

  Try the hearty soups and stews at this fancy new Bosnian restaurant, or just hang out and drink Turkish-style coffee

  December 6, 2007

• Dodos

  concert preview

  August 16, 2007

• Sunshine When It's Gray

  March 9, 2006

• ZULA'S ESPRESSO MARTINI

  October 5, 2006

• Sanguine Soup and Sandwich

  Bodard Bistro on Bellaire is packing them in with "not too greasy" Vietnamese food

  December 29, 2005

• Less Price, Less Spice

  Two Mandola-family restaurants provide a lesson in what we're paying for when we eat out

  April 14, 2005

• Best Coffeehouse

  September 23, 2004

• Best Coffee Beans

  House of Coffee Beans

  September 25, 2003

• Best Coffeehouse

  Brasil

  September 25, 2003

• Best Espresso

  Dolce & Freddo

  September 26, 2002

• Short Courtship

  A whirlwind romance with The Little Havana

  April 18, 2002

• Odd Couple

  Despite naysayers, the Breakfast Klub makes the marriage of chicken and waffles work

  November 8, 2001

• Hot Plate

  November 25, 1999

• Rising Star Barista at the Greenway Plaza Food Court

  Photos by Robb WalshDavid BuehrerThere were a couple of coffee connoisseurs sampling the espresso blends at Tuscany Coffee in the Greenway Plaza food court when I stopped by to check it out. "We come by to sample the espresso every day," they told me. And they aren't the only ones. Barista David Buehrer has developed quite a following lately. I tried two "guest espressos," coffee blends that Buehrer ships in from other outstanding espresso roasters around the state. The San Antonio blend was o

  July 22, 2009

• A Cuban Cortadita on a Dog Day Afternoon

  Photo by Robb Walsh​I stopped into a Cuban restaurant called Conga and ordered a café cortadita and a glass of ice water yesterday afternoon. Conga is located on Richmond in a shopping center with a bunch of Columbian restaurants including the very popular rotisserie chicken stand called Dodo. There is also a Cuban sandwich stand in the same center called Café Cubano which also serves café cortadita. The two restaurants are owned by the same folks. Conga is a white tablecloth joint and

  July 31, 2009

• Distant Early Warning: Alice Cooper, BT, Drive-By Truckers, Neko Case, Skinny Puppy, Wanda Jackson, etc.

  ​Alice Cooper: Sun., Oct. 11. Verizon Wireless Theater. Bamboo: Fri., Oct. 2. Arena Theatre. Billy Joe Shaver: Sat., Nov. 28. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. BT: Fri., Sept. 4. Rich's Houston. Colin Hay: Sat., Oct. 17. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Dave Seaman: Fri., Nov. 27. Rich's Houston. Drive-By Truckers: Fri., Oct. 30. House of Blues. Dustin Welch, The Small Sounds: Fri., Sept. 18. Continental Club.

  August 18, 2009

• 36th Anniversary: House of Coffee Beans

  Photos by Robb Walsh​Peru Chanchamayo is a rare limited-production coffee that's on special this month during the 36th Anniversary of House of Coffee Beans, 2348 Bissonnet. The coffee comes from the sparsely populated Central Jungle of Peru and is certified organic, Fair Trade, and migratory bird-friendly. It is medium-roasted and has a clean, tart flavor and fabulous fruity aroma.

  August 25, 2009

• Caffeine Deficiency? Call the Coffee Ambulance

  ​Katz Coffee Company just bought a new "Transit" van and outfitted it with flashing safety lights and a wacky paint job. They call this high-profile delivery vehicle "the coffee ambulance." Katz custom-roasts proprietary blends for some of Houston's top restaurants, including t'afia, benjy's and Empire Coffee. Its mellow, medium-dark espresso blend, which I discovered while reviewing Giacomo's, is one of my favorite espressos. I saw the coffee ambulance when I stopped by Katz's roasting

  October 16, 2009

• Iced Coffee at Home

  ​Iced coffee goes by quite a few names. Whether you call it Black Gold or Texas Tea, cold coffee helps us beat the heat around these parts. And it keeps us sane during our mild winters too. Here's how to make it at home:

  October 20, 2009

• Steam Punks: Baristas Throw Down at Houston's First Latte Art Competition

  Photos by Katharine ShilcuttSilence Huang points out good and bad characteristics on a calibration cup of latte.​Judging a latte art competition is deceptively difficult, as we found out on Friday night. Silence Huang, one of our fellow judges and a master barista from Taiwan, drew careful diagrams on the back of our judging sheets, pointing out all the idiosyncrasies and aspects that we should watch for in each cup of latte that hit the table. "Which of these looks more balanced and symmetr

  November 2, 2009

• Know Your Roast

  ​A very common question asked in cafes around Houston is, "What is your dark roast?" We think people are trying to ask, "What coffee has the biggest, most pronounced flavor today?" But there's some confusion here. One aspect of coffee is often overlooked but very important. There are, in essence, two different philosophies of coffee roasting. The early years of American roasting brought what coffee geeks call "roast profiling," which means that the coffee, no matter where it's from, is r

  November 9, 2009

• City of Coffee: Houston Coffee Culture

  November 12, 2009

• City of Coffee

  November 12, 2009

• Coffee Practices: Transparency

  ​One of the most important aspects of the movement for quality coffee is transparency. This doesn't mean your cup of joe should be clear, but that the consumer should understand as much about the product as possible. In the '90s, coffee blends hit the market with a bang. Since then, they have been marketed as "house," "some kind of city" and other weird names that don't represent where the coffee is actually from. These names are fine, as long as sufficient information is given to the c

  November 17, 2009