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藍瓶咖啡,最好的咖啡(上)

藍瓶咖啡,最好的咖啡(上)

Michael V. Copeland 2011-09-28
要想享用詹姆斯?弗里曼那來自天國的精品咖啡,你得多等一會兒,但它的確值得等待。

????鑄幣廣場(Mint Plaza)位于舊金山市中心,是多條狹窄街道與人行道交匯的地方,過去這里頗為臟亂。如今,戴著厚實塑料邊框眼鏡的建筑師、穿著格子襯衫和緊身牛仔褲的單車快遞員以及三位首飾叮當作響的老婦人全都耐心地站在小巷里排隊,希望親口嘗一嘗他們心中全世界最好的咖啡。

????藍瓶咖啡(Blue Bottle)店內,顧客們圍坐在陽光充足的山胡桃木柜臺邊,從仿佛是借自生物科技實驗室的玻璃容器中小心翼翼地倒出“虹吸”咖啡;或者一臉幸福地啜飲一款菜單上找不到的拿鐵,它稱為Gibraltar——與裝著咖啡端上來的多面玻璃容器同名。饑餓的主顧們將水煮荷包蛋放在厚厚的吐司切片上大快朵頤,或者小口小口地品嘗著精美的甜點,同時仔細閱讀他們所喝咖啡的多元來源地:YirgacheffeKoke產自埃塞俄比亞,FazendaSertaozinho則來自巴西。

????排隊的人群中還包括藍瓶咖啡創始人及首席執行官詹姆斯?弗里曼,他的一身行頭與那些建筑師主顧頗為相似:黑色牛仔褲、暗灰色襯衫和時髦的黑色皮鞋——他在密歇根市北部一個鞋匠那里找到的。弗里曼的禮貌令人印象深刻,他記得所有員工和許多顧客的名字,一一向他們打招呼。與其他排隊的人不同的是,他還在不斷環顧四周,查看有沒有什么不妥的地方。查看他的iPhone之后,弗里曼發現柜臺上的單一來源咖啡列表與網站上當前顯示的信息并不一致,于是立馬發了份更正郵件。看到有個男人買了本《R Is for Rosetta: A Blue Bottle Coffee Coloring Alphabet》,現年45歲的弗里曼輕輕地發出了一聲歡呼。這本書與店里的咖啡一樣,同樣凝聚著弗里曼及其員工的心血,是傳統工藝的結晶。

????首席執行官和創始人的名頭聽起來很正式,這沒錯,可它們并不能準確的反映弗里曼古怪的企業家風格。“為了一本彩色畫圖本開上25次會,這像是真正的首席執行官的作風嗎?”弗里曼笑道,“一旦腦子里產生這個想法除非它們得到不折不扣地實現,否則我怎么也放不下心來。”

????現在看來,弗里曼和藍瓶咖啡發展前景遠大。藍瓶咖啡正引領著新一輪咖啡運動,美國西海岸的舊金山、洛杉磯和西雅圖等城市是這場運動賴以匯聚力量的基地。首先出現的是餐館咖啡,然后是雀巢(Nescaf)和Flogers式的速溶咖啡,再然后星巴克(Starbucks)與畢茲(Peet's)這類咖啡連鎖店紅火起來,弗里曼和他的咖啡教軍團則代表著咖啡發展的下一階段。

????他們對咖啡豆出身的要求近乎苛刻,產地記錄極端詳盡,以至于弗里曼這樣的買家不僅能說出一些咖啡采摘者的姓名,還能描述它是在什么樣的樹蔭下成長起來的。通過煞費苦心的烘焙,咖啡豆才能完全釋放出以豆苗、干香蕉和甘草之類的術語才能形容的芳香和風情。這些珍貴的純天然咖啡豆值得最認真地對待:煮咖啡的玻璃器具進口自日本,設計極為精妙;店員親手把煮好的咖啡倒入一個個滴濾器;他們使用的咖啡壺壺嘴如此纖細優雅,仿若天鵝的長頸。每杯咖啡多花50美分至1美元,再額外排上5到10分鐘的隊,藍瓶就能將你的咖啡體驗提升到前所未有的高度,甚至遠遠超出你的想象。

????如果說星巴克是最新款的本田雅閣(Honda Accord),配有全套浮華虛飾,那藍瓶就是一輛1955年款的阿爾法?羅密歐Giulietta。當然,阿爾法或許價錢較高,養護方面也需要多加留心,但它在美感方面所達到的水平是雅閣難以企及的。藍瓶咖啡反映了同樣的精湛工藝和細節上的盡善盡美。不過,隨著弗里曼將他的精品咖啡推向更廣泛的受眾,就連他本人也擔心是否人人都已做好準備。

從單簧管到咖啡豆

????弗里曼在加州洪堡郡長大,這是個沿海農村地區,就在舊金山背面,當地標志性的產品是高大的紅杉樹和藥力強勁的奇妙大麻。高中的時候,弗里曼頗為叛逆——表現在不抽大麻,而是把時間投入于古典單簧管演奏。“我可能是學校歷史上最書呆子氣的男生,”弗里曼說,“在家的時候,我喜歡看看書,聽聽倫敦愛樂樂團的演奏。”大學畢業后,他又攻讀了個音樂碩士學位,隨后做了十年單簧管樂手,在舊金山灣區周圍四處攬活。不過,用他自己的話說,他的演奏水平還不夠,只能找到自己不感興趣的工作。

????2001年左右,弗里曼對于音樂演藝生活逐漸失去了熱情,開始將注意力轉向他的另一項激情所在:咖啡。弗里曼在位于奧克蘭的公寓附近找了一處186平方英尺的地方,創立了藍瓶。這里原本是個盆栽棚,但他用來烘焙咖啡豆,然后開著自己的標致旅行車,將這些咖啡豆和咖啡滴濾器運往伯克利、奧克蘭的農貿市場,后來常去的地點則是舊金山的渡輪廣場(Ferry Plaza)。

????八年前一個沉悶的冬日,弗里曼又來到了渡輪廣場,正忙著在車上泡咖啡,他記得當時聽到的顧客閑聊的聲音與平常沒什么不同,結果猛一抬頭,發現車前已經排起來15個人的長隊。原來是在莫斯康會展中心召開了美食展銷會,而藍瓶咖啡的名氣在會上傳了開來。弗里曼的第一個想法是:今后得烘焙更多咖啡了。“我當時想,哇,這是怎么回事?”弗里曼說,“從那時起,生意一直都這么好。”

????當年還是一個音樂人的時候,弗里曼多年來堅持每天早起,衣服都還沒穿上,就開始進行單簧管半音音階練習。他把同樣的自律和專注投入到咖啡的挑選、烘焙和炮制中,追求咖啡的盡善盡美。“一切在于‘不必要的美’,”弗里德曼稱,“以及愿意為此付出的努力。”

????從某些方面看,弗里曼似乎與現代生活有些脫節。他的參照系是普魯斯特、莫扎特、1970年代早期立體聲設備以及1920年代的日本咖啡設備,他從來不用“哥們”(dude)這樣的詞。與弗里曼在一起時,他禮貌的詞匯和安靜而又有些輕快的說話方式讓你覺得好像是在與克里斯托弗?羅賓(《小熊維尼》中的角色——譯注)共處。

????這倒不是說弗里曼生性隨和。他的朋友江上杰伊表示:“有時候他非常固執。”江上替日本飲料巨頭悠詩詩(UCC)進口咖啡和設備,鑄幣廣場咖啡館里那款價值2萬美元的鹵素動力虹吸機就是他賣給弗里曼的。江上杰伊認為,他朋友的固執源于對一切都必須恰到好處的追求。

????如果你的餐館沒有合適的設備,不能煮出真正的藍瓶咖啡——也就是說,如果你想用質量一般的咖啡機糊弄過去——那無論你的餐館多么受歡迎或是受好評,弗里曼都不會賣給你咖啡。他也不肯賣咖啡粉——要買就買完整的咖啡豆。也不能點一杯外帶意大利濃咖啡(espresso),而只能在店里喝。對于那些驅車幾分鐘就能到達他的咖啡烘焙地之一,卻一次購買大批咖啡豆的顧客,他“深表懷疑”,根據他的理想要求,咖啡豆烘焙完成后四天內,就應該制作成意大利濃咖啡或滴濾咖啡,才能享用最佳美味——三天內的話更好。至于espresso咖啡粉能保存多長時間,他回答說:“大概45秒鐘。”

????(未完待續)

????譯者:小宇

????FORTUNE -- Mint Plaza, a formerly grubby intersection of small streets and walkways in the center of San Francisco. Architects in chunky plastic-framed glasses, bike messengers in plaid shirts and skinny jeans, and a trio of older women with clanky jewelry all wait patiently in an alleyway for their turn to taste what many believe is the best coffee on the planet.

????Inside Blue Bottle, customers sit at a sunny hickory-topped counter to pour "siphon" coffee from glass containers that look as if they were borrowed from a biotech lab, or sip happily from an off-the-menu latte called the Gibraltar, after the faceted glass it is served in. Hungry patrons demolish poached eggs on thick slabs of toast and nibble on beautiful pastries while they read about the diverse origins of the coffees they are drinking: Yirgacheffe Koke from Ethiopia or Fazenda Sertaozinho from Brazil.

????Joining the queue, like everyone else, is James Freeman, the CEO and founder of Blue Bottle. He dresses like his architect clientele, sporting black jeans, a muted gray shirt, and funky black shoes he picked up from a cobbler in northern Michigan. He is unfailingly polite, greeting all the staff and many of the customers by name. Unlike the rest of the people in line, Freeman scans the room looking for anything out of place. He checks his iPhone and notices that the list of single-origin coffees on the counter doesn't match current information on the website. An e-mail is sent. Freeman, 45, lets out an understated cheer when he sees a man buying a copy of R Is for Rosetta: A Blue Bottle Coffee Coloring Alphabet, a newly printed book that Freeman and his staff agonized over, in typical fashion.

????CEO and founder sounds official, and it is, but it doesn't quite capture Freeman's quirky brand of entrepreneurship. "Are 25 meetings about a coloring book real CEO stuff?" Freeman jokes. "I get these ideas in my head, and I can't let go until they are done exactly right."

????At this moment Freeman and Blue Bottle appear to be the real deal. Blue Bottle is helping lead a caffeinated charge that first gathered momentum on the West Coast, in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle. First there was diner coffee, then Nescafé and Folger's instant, followed by the vente-size growth of Starbucks (SBUX) and Peet's (PEET). Freeman and his cult-coffee cohort (see last page of article) TK are the next phase of coffee.

????It's coffee that is obsessively sourced, with provenance so detailed that buyers like Freeman can not only tell you the names of some of the people who pick it but describe the shade trees under which it grows. It's coffee that is painstakingly roasted to bring out aromas and flavors described by terms like pea shoot, dried banana, and hay. And because the precious organic beans deserve no less, the coffee is brewed in elaborate glass contraptions imported from Japan, or slowly hand-poured into individual drip filters, using kettles with spouts as slim and graceful as a swan's neck. For an extra 50¢ or a dollar per cup, and an extra five or 10 minutes in line, Blue Bottle elevates your coffee experience well above anything you've had before, or even what you thought was possible.

????If Starbucks is a late-model Honda Accord with all the bells and whistles, Blue Bottle coffee is a 1955 Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Sure, the Alfa might cost more and require a bit more attention, but it reaches an aesthetic standard that the Accord simply can't match. Blue Bottle coffee reflects similar craftsmanship and attention to detail. But as Freeman sets out to bring his couture coffee to a broader audience, even he wonders whether everyone is ready.

From wind blower to bean roaster

????Freeman grew up in Humboldt County, a rural region up the coast from San Francisco that's known primarily for its gigantic redwoods and prodigious, powerful crops of marijuana. In high school Freeman rebelled by not smoking pot, instead devoting himself to playing classical clarinet. "I was the nerdiest boy ever," Freeman says, "at home reading and listening to the London Philharmonic." After college and a master's degree in music, he embarked on a decade-long career as a journeyman clarinetist around the Bay Area, but by his own account he was only good enough to get gigs he didn't want.

????Around 2001, burned out on the life of a performing musician, Freeman turned his attention to another passion of his: coffee. Blue Bottle started life in a 186-square-foot former potting shed adjacent to Freeman's Oakland apartment. Freeman would roast coffee beans in his shed, then load the beans and a drip coffee contraption into his Peugeot station wagon and drive to farmers' markets in Berkeley, Oakland, and eventually the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco.

????Eight years ago Freeman was busy making coffee at his cart on a dreary winter day at the Ferry Plaza. He recalls hearing the usual customer chitchat. The next time he looked up, the line at his cart was 15 people deep. It turned out that a gourmet food trade show was going on at the Moscone convention center. Word had gotten out about Blue Bottle. Freeman's initial thought was that he was going to need to roast more coffee. "I was like, whoa, what has happened?" Freeman says. "It's basically been like that ever since."

????As a musician, Freeman rose every morning for years to practice chromatic scales on the clarinet before even putting his pants on. He applies that same discipline and attention to detail to source, roast, and prepare the perfect cup of coffee. "It's really about an appreciation for unnecessary beauty," Freeman says, "and a willingness to work for it."

????In some ways Freeman seems out of phase with modernity. His reference points are Proust, Mozart, early 1970s stereo equipment, and 1920s Japanese coffee gear. He never says "dude." Hanging out with Freeman, you get a Christopher Robin vibe that comes from his polite vocabulary and quiet, almost lilting, speech patterns.

????That is not to say Freeman is an easygoing guy. "He can be very stubborn," says Jay Egami, a friend of Freeman's who imports coffee and equipment for Japanese beverage giant UCC. Egami sold Freeman the $20,000 halogen-powered siphon machine that sits in the Mint Plaza café. Egami says that his friend's stubbornness stems from his desire to have everything just right.

????If you are a restaurant that doesn't have the right equipment to prepare Blue Bottle coffee -- that is to say, if you try to use a run-of-the-mill brewing machine -- Freeman won't sell you coffee, no matter how popular or well reviewed a joint you run. He won't sell you ground coffee -- whole beans only. You can't order an espresso in a to-go cup (just drink it). He is "deeply skeptical" of would-be wholesale customers who are more than a short drive from one of his roasteries. Ideally, he wants your espresso or filter coffee sitting in a cup ready to drink within four days of when the beans were roasted, and three is even better. When asked how long you can store beans ground for espresso, he responds: "About 45 seconds."

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