Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/50871
T en years ago, Canlis Restaurant made a splash with its coffee program. One of Seattle's top fine-dining estab- lishments, Canlis partnered with Starbucks to help the coffee giant launch CAFÉ Practices, a set of standards measuring factors such as product quality and social responsibility. Canlis served CAFÉ Practices' first coffee, Guatemala's Casi Cielo, and the initiative took off: According to Starbucks' 2010 fiscal report, 84 percent of the company's coffee is now sourced under CAFÉ Practices. Brian Canlis tells me this story in Canlis' dimly lit lounge, with expansive windows overlook- ing the city; it's just before 6 on the first Saturday night of December, and he's anticipating the restaurant's busiest night of the year. But before the rush begins, Canlis wants to discuss the restaurant's coffee pro- gram—a story that only begins with the Starbucks partnership. Moments earlier, Canlis was leading me on a brisk tour of the restaurant's kitchen, where hordes of white-clad cooks hun- kered over counters, butchering meat and dicing vegetables. In the corner of that busy kitchen sat an arsenal of top-tier coffee equipment—multiple grinders, a hot-water tower, a semiau- tomatic espresso machine— lorded over by a rare sight in a restaurant kitchen: a barista devoted to producing coffee drinks. While Canlis Restaurant has stood in this same spot for 60 years, the coffee equipment has been here mere months. In September, the restaurant over- hauled its coffee plan, ending the decade-long association with Starbucks. Wearing a black suit and clutching a glass of ice water, the 30-something, baby-faced Canlis chooses his words carefully when explaining the decision. "Starbucks kept getting bigger and we kept getting smaller," he says. "They took coffee off their logo and were going into food. Every other supplier we use is tiny. We're all about an experience that no one has ever experienced before, and Starbucks didn't fit with that." While Canlis is quick to praise the restaurant's decade-long relationship with Starbucks, he's also unable to mask his enthu- siasm for the restaurant's new coffee program. In mid-2011, Canlis enlisted retailer and green coffee expert Edwin Martinez to curate a coffee lineup that would approach the same quality level as Canlis' 2,500-selection wine list. Under Martinez's guid- While Canlis Restaurant's coffee program is an ambitious one, it's also in line with a growing number of high-end restaurants putting a great deal of emphasis on serving the best coffee pos- sible. These establishments have helped rekindle the national conversation about restaurant coffee—a category that has long been looked upon with disdain from those in the coffee industry and the food world alike. With quality coffee becoming more prevalent in restaurants, some in specialty coffee believe this movement will be key to the industry's growth—as consumers experience mind-blowing brews after meals, they may then be more inclined to check out their local café for their next fix. The reality, though, is that great cof- fee is still far from the norm at fine-dining establishments, and a vital question remains: What challenges must specialty coffee overcome to succeed in the restaurant world? continued on page 42 freshcup.com January 2012 41 ance, Canlis chose an espresso program anchored by Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea and complemented by four coffees served via Chemex that rotate by roaster and region. Martinez plans to change the Chemex lineup seasonally, but on the night I visit, Costa Rican coffees from Canada's Transcend and Massachusetts' Barismo sit alongside Kenyans from Intelligentsia and San Francisco's Sightglass. "We put a lot of thought into how the menu is laid out, and that extends to having two countries and two roasters from each country," Canlis says, "Similar raw product, but two completely different expressions." BRIAN CANLIS