Alterra already makes, in my opinion, the best coffee in Milwaukee (and I drink a lot of coffee).
This morning, Alterra barista extraordinaire Scott Lucey made me an even better cup.
Scott is an old friend of OnMilwaukee.com, but he's also a winner of the 2009 Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition. So when he says this method is how he brews his coffee at home, my ears perked up (pun intended).
It's a brewed-in-the-cup method that Alterra on Prospect is trying out, and I can honestly say it makes an already excellent cup of coffee even better.
Instead of the machine-made coffee, Scott has a line of V60 vortex coffee drippers set out, each with a paper filter. Today, he's using a more limited-edition blend of Costa Rican coffee called Herbazu Honey that he brews by hand, in the cup, by gently pouring boiling water through the filter.
It takes a few minutes, but the result is perhaps the smoothest cup of coffee I've ever had. It's stronger than normal, but you can't taste a hint of bitterness. The mouth feel (Scott's phrase, not mine) is velvety and a little hard to explain, even.
For now, a cup of hand-brewed coffee costs the same as a regular cup, so if you have a few minutes, give it a try.
Eventually, Scott says Alterra may offer this permanently at a small price upgrade. That will make this a very expensive cup of coffee, but once a week or so, it's well worth it.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
