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Antigua Coffee House, Pearland, TX Review
Robert Harmon posted his review of this coffee house in Pearland on CoffeeGeek. I thought it only fitting to include it here.
With permission, of course.
Like a moth drawn to a flame…
The TurboCrazy is out of whack (anyone know where I can get a refill?), so I
decided to give the local roaster another try. Previously I’d mentioned
their problems relating to espresso (I’ll let sleeping dogs lie, so maybe
the crescendo of barking will quite down). This time I bought a half pound
of their Costa Rican Full City roast to use at home. They had a good variety
of SO’s on hand, primarily Central American.This store is still having trouble with the simple things. After weighing &
bagging my beans they tossed them on the counter & rang up the sale. Fine,
except the bag seemed a bit heavy to me, so I asked them to reweigh it.
Turns out I was given an extra half-pound because the clerk didn’t know how
to work the digital scale. I informed the owner of the problem, suggested
more training, paid for the full pound and left.I ground enough for a couple of doubles & set about making two shots, one on
the Gaggia & one on the Bunn. Before I get into the results, let me once
again praise my newest acquisition - a Rancilio MD50 grinder. There’s not a
day goes by that I’m not reminded of why I like it so much better than the
Rosito Bisani/Rossi RR45 & Mazzer Super Jolly. Besides the obvious grind
quality there’s the matter of lower RPM’s resulting in quieter operation.
That plus the almost total lack of grounds flying about as it’s grinding &
dosing makes it a vast improvement in my opinion over the other two grinders
mentioned earlier.Now, on to making the shots themselves. The beans were roasted nine days ago
& still in their prime. The shot I pulled on the Gaggia was done at a
temperature of 200F & the Bunn was done at 193F. Both shots produced full
shot glasses of crema and both were great tasting. The Bunn’s results were a
bit less sour (temp difference?) while the Gaggia’s tasted a bit sweeter.
The shot from the Gaggia was for me - a straight shot enjoyed with a
Lazzaroni macaroon. Yummm, I felt sorry for everyone not sharing one with
me. TASTY!The shot from the Bunn went into the Ol’ Ball & Chain’s vanilla latte & got
raves from her (how she could tell given the pure vanilla extract, sweetener
and half & half, is beyond me).Bottom line: Juan is on the right track with his coffee roasting at least.
This is the third SO from him that I’ve tried & each has been evenly
roasted, with lots of the varietals’ flavors present & loads of crema. While
the store in general still needs some improvement I can recommend his beans
as being as good as any I’ve had. If you happen to be in the area give the
Antigua Coffee House in Pearland, TX, a visit. Hey, you might get a twofer
bargain like they *tried* giving me.REVISIT!
From a visit since the review above:
Like a moth to a flame…
Back to the Antigua Coffee House on Broadway I go. This time I was pleasantly surprised, as Juan took my earlier criticisms to heart and bought a Rossi RR45 espresso grinder. I had them make me a double of their Guatemalan Vienna roast and it was great, lots of crema and an even flavor from start to finish. Maybe not the cup-licking quality I make at home: I think the machine temps & pressure are a bit off. But this was the kind of drink a coffee house could build a reputation on.
Thanks for the review, Robert.
Antigua Coffee House
8201 Broadway St
Pearland, TX 77581
(281) 485-6670
NOTE: They could really use a website.
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