When I look at my social media timelines, I often see restaurants hosting wine training, cocktail classes, food tastings, and taking trips with their staff to meet producers and suppliers. Serious restaurants at all levels tend to focus their attention on the small details, in all areas of their business. With one glaring exception.
I've been lucky enough to have dined in many 2 and 3 Michelin starred restaurants around the world, and one thing has always baffled me. Regardless of how progressive, modern and forward thinking the restaurant's approach to food and wine may be, their coffee is almost universally dismal. I would go so far as to say that there is some scientific law of inverse proportion at play here, as in my experience, it appears that the better the restaurant, the worse the coffee. So much care attention goes into every detail of a meal, yet the final element served to guests appears to be a complete afterthought. I find this apparent dis-connect difficult to reconcile in my head.
Closer to home, I find it just as difficult to get a decent brew in any of our top restaurants. For that reason, I seldom order it any more. For me, coffee is similar to wine in many respects. Once you've tasted the good stuff, it's very hard to go back. I'd rather no wine than bad wine, and I feel exactly the same about coffee. If I'm eating out during the day in Dublin, in addition to good food, my choice is also driven by the quality of coffee on offer. I've become a creature of habit as a result, and now spend the majority of my hard earned grub dollars in a small number of places. Most weekends you'll find me at either 3FE, Fumbally, 250 Square, Brother Hubbard, or Sister Sadie.
So why do so many restaurants apparently overlook their coffee offering, whilst striving for excellence in all other areas? In truth, there are multiple answers to this question, some of which stem from apathy or a basic lack of understanding, others which are purely economic. I've put this question to several restaurateurs over the past two years, and many of the same responses frequently came up.
There is a perception among many in the industry that you have to spend a small fortune on equipment in order to achieve good quality coffee. This is not the case. It doesn't cost much more to produce good coffee, than it does to produce bad coffee.
If your core business is coffee, then by all means throw the kitchen sink at it and get the top end equipment. If not, then people who know a lot more about these things than I do, tell me that a good quality digital grinder is the most important piece of kit required. These wholesale for about the cost of a kitchen vac-pac machine. After that, there are several cost effective options available for coffee machines. Once the machine is correctly set up, well maintained and properly cleaned, you're well on the way to serving espresso that you can be proud of.
For those on a very tight budget, I recommend sticking to French press or chemex and serving your guests excellent quality filter coffee instead of espresso.
Another common response from restaurateurs is that good beans are simply too expensive, and that "the bloody staff drink more than the customers anyway!". Wholesale beans broadly range in price from about €12 to €30 per kg. As you can imagine, the gap in quality is a wide as the gap in price. However, for less than €20 per kg, it is possible to buy excellent quality beans from small independent suppliers, that are roasted, rested and delivered to customers within a short time frame, in perfect condition. These should be given the same respect as any other prime ingredient which the restaurant purchases. Just as restaurants do not serve turbot for staff lunch, they should keep the prime beans for their guests and introduce a less expensive alternative for staff.
Whilst equipment and product are obviously vital elements of the equation, education and training are just as important. For anyone looking to upgrade their coffee service, I strongly recommend getting the best advice possible as a first step. Once a plan has been agreed, then the equipment installation, set up and staff training should be done by experts. There are so many factors which influence the quality of a coffee such as water quality, pressure etc., that it requires specialist set up. Key staff should be completely proficient at operating and cleaning all equipment. Regular refresher training should be carried out to maintain standards.
The mechanics of pulling an excellent shot, and steaming perfect milk can be taught to most people. The first step is make a commitment to treat your coffee service as seriously as you treat your food and wine. As the coffee revolution continues to grow worldwide, it is no longer acceptable for any restaurant with ambition to serve sub-standard coffee. So go on, show your coffee some love. Your customers will thank you for it.