When you hear the terms “cyclone,” “blooming,” “exothermic” and “coarse particles,” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? These aren’t terms from a science textbook but are actually coffee jargon, heard throughout the Caffentures’ Brown Line Coffee Crawl. The crawl takes coffee lovers to three unique coffee shops along a particular train line and explores the facets of brewing, grinding, roasting and other aspects that makes a good cup of Joe.
I “crawled” the brown line “caffenture” and was impressed by what I saw; heard; learned and most importantly, tasted.
The crawl started at Intelligentsia 1871, which is tucked away on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart and called “1871” because it is partnered with and adjoined to the art center for digital startups with the same name. It’s a little hard to find: As soon as you step out of the elevator on the 12th floor you are greeted by ghostly white walls and faded grey carpet. Looking around, you will see private office space, and before you get back on the elevator in embarrassment, look down the hallway for the blazing yellow 1871 neon sign, which covers an entire wall at the end of the wall and beckons you to some excellent coffee.
At this first leg of the tour, my fellow “crawlers” and I began with a coffee rite of passage, drinking black coffee. Intelligentsia educator Rebecca, who described the staff of Intelligentsia 1871 as “self-motivated coffee nerds,” filled three small glasses with different Ethiopian coffees brewed from different sized coffee particles. Yes, the grounds. Everything else, the weight of the grounds and the amount of water used, was exactly the same, but there was an obvious difference in taste. Rebecca explained that baristas are trained for as much as nine months before they have mastered the skill and knowledge to brew with the right particle size.
The next stop of the tour was City Grounds Coffee Bar, which is just a 10-minute walk from the DePaul Lincoln Park Campus on Dickens’ Ave., near Oz Park. The chic coffee bar is again a little hidden away and tricky to find, but once we got there, we were greeted by what looked like a laboratory and the owner, Steve Chang. He took very precise measurements of coffee grounds with a small silver scale and the temperature of the boiling water with a thermometer until each was perfect. Then he used a pour over method so we could watch two different coffee grounds react to the hot water, in a process that is called “blooming.” The first coffee, fresh Metropolis coffee, rose and foamed as the water hit the coffee, while the second, four month old coffee, hardly changed and was not pleasant tasting at all. On our way to the third coffee shop, I bought a savory vegetable empanada, and really, the empanada is reason enough to visit City Grounds again.
Finally, the last leg of the tour concluded at Bow Truss Coffee Roasters on Broadway. At the front of Bow Truss, you can get an excellent cup of coffee, and at the back of Bow Truss you can watch and smell it being roasted. The crawlers and I all crowded around the roaster, watching the beans turn from jade to mocha brown and they smelled, interestingly enough, like buttered bread or maybe popcorn. Next to the roaster was a laptop with an open spreadsheet, keeping very precise track of every temperature and batch that day.
While we watched and learned about roasting, a taste challenge was being prepared behind us. Three small deserts (strawberry shortcake, hot coca with peach slices and a honey and a blackberry and caramel plate) were placed in front of us along with three small cups of coffee. Each coffee held a hint of the desert in front of us and we were to match the desert to the coffee. With that, the tour was completed and had actually run 30 minutes over.
Two things that might intimidate potential crawlers away are the price tag and all the black coffee. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the black coffee, something I’d never voluntarily tried before. If you truly like coffee, you won’t miss the cream and sugar. As for the price ($30), I think you absolutely get your money’s worth with nine small cups of coffee, three small deserts and a great tour of parts of the city many people don’t see.
One of the greatest things about this tour, besides the coffee obviously, was the unexpected sightseeing done along the way. Caffentures recommends you wears walking shoes on a tour and I would second that recommendation, but all of that walking takes you through the vibrant Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods and past many places worth coming back to check out. Tour guide and founder Jenn Chen was more than knowledgeable about the places to see and eat. None of us on the tour knew each other before but it was fairly relaxed and enjoyable, so no need to bring a friend along.
One word of advice, make plans for after the crawl. When the crawl ends at 4 p.m., you will feel more than caffeinated enough to fuel several more adventures.