A Touch of Earth

A Touch of Earth
(in the North Market)
59 Spruce St
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Another pleasant surprise! A Touch of Earth is located in the North Market in the Short North. It offers a variety of local roasters' beans to buy by the pound and has a little coffee bar with stools for sipping your beverage. They offer two blends of espresso for their own drinks; Crimson Cup's Armando's Blend and Cafe Brioso's Milano blend. They also offer two great baristas, Shawn and Joy, who were a lot of fun to talk with while we drank cup after cup of coffee*.

Espresso

Equipment: La Pavoni grinders and a 2-group Brasilia Gradisca espresso machine. This model is unusual in that the group heads are positioned outside of the housing that contains the boiler and temperature controls. Some say this causes the groups to lose heat and negatively affect quality in the cup. As you will see, our experience contradicts any doubts about what this machine can do.

Wow! Another decently pulled shot! The shot began nice and slow, dark and thick, and was pulled directly into a preheated demitasse (with a spoon!). We first had Armando's blend, which is slick and very acidic. Not Bronwyn's favorite, but Damion likes it. Then we found out about the second option and went for the Milano blend. It was smoother, charcoaly, and thick-bodied. Although we asked for a double ristretto, the shot was pulled too long. Both had nice crema, however.

Positives:
Used dry towel for cleaning the portafilter between shots
Ground per shot
Served with saucer and spoon (and chocolate-covered espresso bean)
Dark crema on both espressos
Purged group
Preheated demitasse

Negatives:
Did not give us ristretto shots

Cappuccino

The cappuccino here was pretty good: well-done shots (we had the Milano blend for this one), great foam, yet it was very dry. It was served in a cup with a saucer and spoon, although we had to ask for the proper size and make sure we were all on the same page of what that is (6-8oz). The usually use 12 or 16 ounce cups. While both the espresso and the foam were great, the barista did not free-pour the drink; he simply scooped the foam into the cup from the pitcher. This contributed to an extremely dry cappuccino with non-standard ratios of espresso:milk:foam. It was still delicious though, and the foam made from Snowville Creamery whole milk was robust enough to enjoy with the aforementioned tiny spoon.

Positives:
Uses whole milk as their default
Sturdy melted ice cream foam
Preheated cup

Negatives:
Did not free-pour
Too dry

Drip

The drip coffees are provided in self-serve airpots in front of the espresso machine. Although I got the last 12 ounces of Crimson Cup's Peruvian coffee, it tasted fresh and had the rustic flavor and subdued acidity one wants in a Peru.


*Hopefully you guys don't mind being name-checked. We can always be reached at columbuscoffeereview AT gmail DOT com for any corrections, comments, or concerns!