This week I am reviewing Dilusso's coffee on the corner of Franklin and Bond downtown Bend.
Dilusso's claims to be primarily a bakery and a coffee shop on the side. They sell Be-Bop coffee which is a local roaster. 
The store is really big inside, with plenty of indoor and some outdoor seating. It was somewhat empty when I was there at about 2p.m. on a Wednesday after noon.I am guessing the local hipsters hadn't gotten out of bed yet.
Onto the coffee.
First, I got a double short cappuccino, but they didn't have an 8oz size, so I got a double tall (12oz). About the whole name/size chatter: people get really frustrated because a certain coffee company that also happens to run the world has this cute little "Short, Tall, Grande, Venti" sizing method. What these people don't understand is that those are, and have always been the traditional sizing methods when serving espresso drinks, Starbucks isn't that creative...
The cappuccino... It took my barista two tries to get the right amount of foam, which is nice to see. I would much rather the barista admit failure once, than serve me a bad beverage. I could even tell by the sound of the milk being steamed that this wouldn't be the best drink I have ever tasted. When served, the foam had a few stray coffee grounds on top, never an appealing treat. The foam had those huge bubbles they teach you not to make on the first day of barista school, which apparently my friend was only in his first few hours.
For being not very well made, the drink actually tasted pretty good. Had the foam been free-poured rather than scooped on, I think it would have been much better, but I still enjoyed it.
In a cappuccino, the espresso is so watered-down with milk that you can't really taste it well enough to review it. Since this was the case, I decided to also get a doppio espresso (two shots of espresso in a small cup). They must not sell many of these, because they didn't have any ceramic espresso cups, only small mugs, which was awkward but fine.
The pull was about 21 seconds, which is pretty standard at a place like this. Some shops will have a finer grind, and a shorter pull, or a coarser grind and a longer pull. It all depends on the barista (if they care that much) and the type of coffee being used. 
The coffee had a slight taste of manure, which is really common in organic coffee's (because they use manure, rather than chemicals when growing the coffee). This sounds disgusting, but really isn't bad. It is hard to explain, but the actual manure isn't in the coffee bean at all, but it leaves a slight flavor/scent behind. It would be like growing wine grapes near an orange farm, the wine will have a slight hint of an orange flavor, even though there is no orange in the wine. Same idea.
The espresso was of the correct size, which I was happy to find. Many shops around Bend seem to give huge espresso's, which may seem like a bonus, but it really just drowns out the flavor.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the flavor of the espresso, and would absolutely get it again if I found myself at Dilusso's. I don't know if I would go out of my way to go back, but I certainly wouldn't mind stopping in if I found myself with some free time, and no other place to go.
Overall, I would rate Dilussio's Cafe and Bakery 3.5 beans out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment