Well, the cover of FOODday, in an article entitled, The New Brew, wherein writer Leslie Cole explains to a million+ readers what Din's been telling customers for a year, which is, while they think they want the deepest, darkest roast, they really don't:
"People are very skeptical," says Din Johnson of Ristretto Roasters, a new roastery/cafe in the Beaumont Wilshire neighborhood (3520 N.E. 42nd Ave.). "I've got to ease them into it. But then they buy a pound, and they come back." It helps that at the tiny cafe, you can order a cup of any of the half-dozen single-origin coffees on the menu, brewed-to-order in a filter cone.
Yes, the photo on the cover (which you cannot see online) is of Din's roaster. Were that he were standing next to it!
Even better than the article is a half-page, above-the-fold sidebar, Like Good Wine, Coffee Has a Language All Its Own, by Katherine Cole (the O's wine columnist), who lets Din talk all about his beans, their origins and characteristics, and, for fun, which coffees complement which foods.
Din Johnson speaks the language of wine lovers: He's obsessed with microclimates and single estates.
But Johnson is the owner of Ristretto Roasters, the coffee roastery and cafe that opened on Northeast Fremont last September. One of Portland's new wave of light roasteries, Ristretto is beginning to break into the dining scene around town. "What I would like to see is for restaurants to approach coffee as they do wine," Johnson says.
So, just for fun, I asked Johnson to describe some of his favorite coffees in ways that a wine lover would understand. We even discussed some food-matching ideas, even though, quipped Johnson, "I don't know that many people who are drinking coffee throughout their meal at a nice restaurant."
And yes, that's his hand holding the green beans!
If you were standing in front of me, you would feel my button burst off and hit you in the eye. In the meantime, go buy some coffee
Recent Comments