russell freeman stock photography

This week we are visiting the local coffee hang out in Irvine, California to kick off our Coffee Latte review, the drink in the cup.  My choice how to review, after all the coffee aficionado in this world, I am not one of them nor pretend to be, all I want in life is just a good cup of “joe”.

With this in mind, I bring you my review of various coffee’s & coffee latte’s of the local coffee shops, compare, learn, review with me, add your own experiences, comments and the like, after all this is a blog with a two way communication, anyone with a internet connection these days can be an expert, “yea mom it is true, I read it on the internet”  !!

disclaimer as we need set our record straight:  we own or work at Volcano Coffee a wholesale coffee broker of raw green beans, and none of the places we review we sell to, in fact we sell no beans into the united states, so this is a fair & balanced review of , well just coffee in the cup.   Now do we know what we are talking about, hum,,,?? not really, coffee is coffee, some good some bad, some really really bad… the others are just OK.  Does the local coffee shops hold up to an Italian coffee house, no way, not in a million years,,, but then again that is what our traveling around may find out, there are a few of the true coffee believers who own a coffee establishment, who actual care, in this very blog we will find them, discover their locations, and tell the world, “dear blog, today…” we found the perfect cup.

Guidelines:   what ever i feel like telling you, depends upon my mood.

Where:  The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, chain store  5653 Alton Parkway   Irvine CA, 92604

Served in a:  Paper cup, or for here a Glass mug, otherwise we requested a real ceramic cup see photo

Espresso Quality:  one half on a ten scale, very low quality shot, thin

Temperature: luke warm, barely hot, cup was cold not pre-heated, so espresso absorbed the coldness of the cup

Latte art Quality: Zero, in fact told they are not allowed to do so, never done one

The pour:  dump in with a spoon over for the foam added

The milk: half left over from last latte, fresh added then re-heated all mixed to form something warm & white foamy stuff.

The stir:  wooden only, no spoons on premiss

Logo Cup & Saucer:  YEA, great, start a collection set of your very own, worth taking home.

Outside Tables:  Great provided by Irvine Company, green metal with umbrella’s, good , heaters at night

Parking:  100% easy in-out for the commuter

The walk-in girls, babe meter:  55% good walk-bys on the babe meter, nice legs, professional dressed for work

Crying kids:  zero today

Barista knowledge:  Zero, said she had no formal training, push this button, stick pot of milk here.

Store cleanliness:  65%, inside full of students on notebooks, no place to sit

Time of day:  11 am morning

Overall Rating 1-10 score:   minus-1

Photos of our samples: