Chris Bean

Coffee Shop #2: Luckman Coffee in Mt. Washington

My first experience with Luckman coffee was a couple of years ago at their Clough/8 Mile location. I bumped into Steve Luckman, the owner/roaster, during one of those visits and was impressed with his passion for excellent coffee/espresso/hospitality etc.

So as I do a more intentional survey of the top cafes in Cincinnati, I certainly have to include it in my destinations of choice.

The beverage experience began with a cup of the Peg Leg Jim blend. I immediately knew that it had a majority of Latin American beans as the main component but there was something a little spicy & peppery that I couldn’t identify. Turns out it has some Rwandan produce in the mix. Apparently, this blend has earned some notoriety as a great coffee in Cincinnati. Although the body, aroma, and balance were all pretty good it wasn’t a flavor impression that I would be craving on a regular basis. There are a limited number of African coffees which really appeal to my palate. But this shop definitely places a priority on freshly roasted coffee and had a good selection to choose from.

Drip Coffee score: 4 out of 5 stars

The barista I happened upon today was Amanda. She’s been working in the coffee biz for several years (at least 4 or 5 I think). She was confident about the quality of beans being served and had that welcoming and conversational personality which you always hope to find behind the bar.

The café itself was not a particularly impressive manifestation of ‘third place.’ The seating area is limited and feels a little more like a diner than a café. They’ll soon be busting out a wall and expanding into the next space which could certainly help their front and especially back of house space. Country music doesn’t really do it for me in terms of café audio ambience either.

Hospitality Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

On to the espresso! Amanda let me snap a pic as she was pulling this double shot which poured in 24 seconds. I did notice that the shot blonded a little too soon. But I was actually impressed with the flavor and balance of the espresso. All the right components were there except for a sweet thick crema. The acidity was under control and the sweetness was mostly there. She did pull the shot into a 6 oz capp mug instead of the demitasse I asked for…but I’m finding many baristas don’t necessarily know what a demitasse is even if they have one sitting on top of the machine.

Steve uses Rancilio machines in both of his shops and typically Mazzer grinders.

Espresso Score:  4 out of 5 stars

And now the cappuccino test. Granted, many coffee shops have a variety of definitions and expressions of the “cappuccino.” I was very glad to see that they had the right mugs on hand. The 6 oz mug is what I would call a traditional European capp. In the states we’ve pretty much “biggie sized” everything so usually the smallest capp a shop will serve is a 12 oz version. Amanda pulled another decent shot in the mid-20 second range and then steamed about 16oz of milk (too much) to create a 10 oz capp. Unfortunately she set the pitcher on the drip tray while it was steaming instead of holding it the whole time. That tells you quite a bit about the cappuccino culture of a café. Due to the good espresso being used, the final beverage was pretty tasty…but the texture and milk ratio was off. This drink was what most cafes would probably call a “wet” cappuccino with just about a ¼ inch of foam on the finished drink. The milk and foam separated quite rapidly. Although 75% of the training and technique looked good (grinding, dosing, extraction time, etc)…the treatment of milk was average.

Capp Score: 3 out of 5 stars.

Overall Score: 14.5 out of a possible 20

What does that mean? Well…any café that scores above a 12 is worth a visit. Just as coffee flavor itself is a highly subjective experience, the appeal of a café is difficult to objectify into a graded experience. This café is certainly one that cares about the bean and how it’s delivered in the cup. Although there’s room for improvement in the espresso category, I would recommend this café to anyone who’s within 5 or 10 miles of it to begin with.

For awhile now I’ve been meaning to plot out a tour of coffee shops in Cincinnati. Although I’ve already been to half a dozen or so, I’m going to push the reset button on my live coffee browsing and report on my findings here with a new cafe review once or twice a week.

So cafe #1 in this tour of 20+ shops is Coffee Emporium in Hyde Park. I recently met the owner/roaster of CE, Tony Tausch at a barista jam. I’m not sure how long he has been with the company, but CE has been in Cincinnati since 1973 and has 3 locations. You can find out more about Coffee Emporium here.

The baristas on duty were Micah (manning the La Marzoco) and Amy who were definitely welcoming and conversational. Amy was very patient with my questions about the company, coffee, and food. Micah seemed fairly enthusiastic about being reviewed by some no-name coffee geek like myself.

It was $1.60 for my for-here mug of coffee. I had the Sumatra Aceh first and then got a refill of the French Colombian for $.75. Unfortunately, they don’t have a “bottomless” option. Although food options and quality won’t figure in to my overall scoring of cafes (that tells you I don’t consider food a cafe necessity). The wi-fi was easy to access with my macbook pro and it appears they were using Pandora for the in-house tunes. When it came time for the “capp test” Micah asked a common question. Do I want it “wet” or “dry?” That in itself is a bit of an indication of their espresso quality and culture. At Micah’s suggestion I got a little cinnamon powder, which I don’t usually do but it sounded good at the time and really was a good addition. Although it was a larger cappuccino than I prefer (their smallest size was a 12oz and I prefer a 6 to 8 oz capp), the milk was aerated properly and the espresso flavor was decent…though quite muted by the abundance of milk. The milk/foam was not quite the velvety microfoam I desperately hope for in a capp, but it certainly was better than most other capps I’ve had in the city. I opted not to order a straight espresso for some reason. I should probably do that in the future to evaluate the flavor/balance/smoothness of the house espresso roast. Here are the scores I would give on this experience. I’m sure this system will evolve as I visit other cafes, but somebody had to be my first guinea pig, eh?

The Cappuccino:  3.5 stars (out of 5)

The Brewed Coffee: 4 stars

Food Selection & Quality:   4 stars  (this score won’t be relevant to the composite “grade”)

Customer Service: 4.5 stars

Third Place/Vibe: 4.5 stars

Total Score: 16.5 out of a possible 20 stars. Anything at or above 12 stars will be worth recommending and re-visiting. Under 12…sorry! It was nice knowing you.  

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this cafe visit and will put it on my list to recommend highly to others as well as to re-visit frequently for my own consuming and connecting pleasures.

Having just spent some time in the latest issue of Catalyst’s free online magazine, my passion is definitely stirred as I think about ministering to college students. There’s a good article/interview with Francis Chan who uses the analogy of surfing to talk about how dependent we really are when it comes to whether or not lives are changed.  In any kind of ministry setting, it’s easy to begin believing that “success” and results directly correlate to our efforts, gifts, programs, etc. I notice this in my own weekly and day-to-day schedule. Many times I fail to prioritize time with God or simply time with people (i.e. the students I’m hoping to see transformed). It’s often easier to spend time sending emails, posting on a blog, working on communications, putting together curriculum, studying for a talk, or any other number of things…than to prioritize time in prayer, reading Scripture, or loving on students.

The interview with Dallas Willard was brief but packed with some great points. I’ll on it another day or so before completing this thread on spiritual maturity.

Any thoughts on this topic? Good or bad experiences? Ideas for defining success when it comes to discipleship and spiritual formation?