Espresso Review……Equator Coffees and Teas
Two expertly prepared espressos (by company co-founder Helen Russell)
Show on mapWhy is it that Blue Bottle, Ritual, and Four Barrel get most of the street cred in these parts, when northern California’s Equator Coffee pioneered artisan coffee roasting’s renaissance more than 15 years ago?
Recently, I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to drop by and chat about this and other topics with Helen Russell, a co-founder of Equator Coffee — one of the country’s top artisan coffee roasteries — which happens to be headquartered right here in Marin County (San Rafael).
Everyone on the staff (from Maureen in operations to David in coffee buying) is passionate about coffee and extremely generous with their time.
So if you have a chance to try Equator’s coffee, I recommend starting with their organic Ethiopian Amaro Gayo — I tasted the distinctive flavor and aroma of ripe blueberries when I brewed this at home using my portable Hario grinder and a french press. And it received a score of 92 at CoffeeReview.
Equator Coffee: Highly Recommended!
I agree that Equator is under-appreciated by the coffee cognoscenti, but being tucked away in an industrial part of San Rafael doesn’t help their street cred. The others you mentioned have cafes that allow their staff to serve their coffee their way — when Equator sells their beans to a random bakery or fancy restaurant for that matter, it’s out of Equator’s hands.
Equator should open a cafe in SF and really show what their roasts are capable of (to a bigger audience than if they were to open a shop in Marin).
For what it’s worth, the best espresso I’ve had in Marin is at Cibo in Sausalito made with Blue Bottle beans. For perspective, my favorite espresso is Four Barrel’s Friendo Blendo which I use at home on my La Pavoni and love at their cafe.
Mick Jones
14 Jan 11 at 5:13 pm
tht is awesome, I would LOVE to stop by ther spot in SR, also isnt there a good brewery off 4th st?!
Super dig equator, I was introduced to the awesome strength of this coffee via arizmendi’s bakery
swoon =)
meligrosa
14 Jan 11 at 9:47 pm
mick/ very well said and i agree. i don’t think they will do the retail shop in sf, but you never know. they are positioned to be the only artisan roaster to grow there own coffee (in panama)…and now i must try cibo in sausalito.
meli/ hmmmm…not sure which brewery you’re thinking of….but the most recent arizmendi did just open on 4th st., which is kind of exciting for us here in the northern hinterlands.
fridaycyclotouriste
15 Jan 11 at 12:00 am