The Coffee Foundry

Leaving work at lunch for more than just grabbing something to bring back to my desk is pretty rare. So recently, when I went to meet up with a friend from out of town at Blind Tiger, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and check out a coffee bar nearby I’d been asked to try.

Good thing I looked up The Coffee Foundry online before trying to find it; I passed right by before realizing that this was the storefront. As the space is primarily used for karaoke — Karaoke Boho, to be exact — Coffee Foundry has to content itself with very unassuming signage.

Once inside this cold, overcast day, I warmed to the spare, industrial space with the long stone bar, and chose a seat. Coffee Foundry currently offers three single-origin beans (fair trade, organic, etc. as well): Colombian, Ethiopian, and Bolivian, all roasted in-house. Never having enjoyed a cup of Bolivian coffee, I decided on that, using the manual pour-over serving method.

The setup, complete with four-minute timer, included this Chemex-like contraption for steeping the grounds, alongside a cup with some very hot water already in it. The coffee is steeped essentially stronger than desired, then diluted and then, before the Clever is attached to the cup for dispense, the hot water is tossed.

My just-ground coffee waits for the first dose of water. As you might expect, The Coffee Foundry grinds to order.

The filter is nearly filled with water and then ignored for a short bit as the grounds steep, releasing all their wonderful aromas and flavors just for me. This step was maybe half the time allotted, and it gave me plenty of time to talk with the man behind the counter, who definitely knew his coffee.

At the preordained time, the contraption was placed atop the coffee mug and twisted, releasing all the accumulated liquid into the cup. More liquid was then poured into the filter to get a bit more flavor out of the grounds.

Talking with the coffee guy, it turns out the building is landmarked. The Coffee Foundry can’t put up a shingle on the facade, or any sort of sign at all, save using the windows. Since the karaoke bar is the primary, they got the window. So Coffee Foundry is (currently) relegated to small sandwich boards out front. That kind of sucks. With any luck they can figure out how to be more prominent soon.

My four minutes is almost up.

Finally! Was the coffee worth the wait?

Short answer: yes. Longer answer: hell, yes. Rarely have I enjoyed a cup of coffee this full-bodied and rich without the unpleasant bitter aftertaste. Earthy, ever so slightly peppery and chocolatey, just a nearly-perfect cup. I compare this preparation method favorably with Clover machines (which Starbucks now owns, but a few other places in the city managed to snag before the sale). It’s like every good coffee molecule was extracted from the beans. The fresh coffee aroma itself was eye-opening, to a greater extent than I’ll ever get from my coffeepot at home. I savored every drop of this cup — and I could, as there was no sediment in the cup whatsoever.

Granted, this method does take a while, and for those without that kind of time, The Coffee Foundry also French presses coffee, and offers Vietnamese coffee. There are espresso drinks too, from latte to cappuccino. But great coffee isn’t the only thing served here, which, considering the large space, is a smart move. If I hadn’t just eaten, there are a number of pastries and cookies, brought in fresh daily from Jae & Ess Pastries in town. If coffee is somehow not your thing, various teas may work. Or one of several craft bottled or canned beers, ranging from a couple of Porkslap offerings to beer from Ommegang, Victory and other well-known regional brewers, whatever they’ve got that day. Several well-known Belgian beers — the various Chimays, Duvel, La Chouffe — are also available, as are a few wines if beer isn’t your thing, but alcohol is.

Overall, if it isn’t obvious, I’m a believer in the coffee tradition at The Coffee Foundry. This cup of coffee set me back $3.50, which is kind of steep, but it’s orders of magnitude better than a cup at, say, a major national coffee chain. The space retains the coffeeshop vibe up until you reach the doors to the private karaoke rooms (which were thankfully unoccupied on my visit). I don’t know what the crowd might be like at other hours, but it was completely laid back at this odd hour. Really, there’s little not to like about the place, and I plan on going back when I’m in the area and in need of a good cup of joe.