The Perfect Cup
Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 2:06PM 
I showed up to work this Friday morning only to have my boss tell me I HAD to go right now to the St. Helena Dean & DeLuca and order the perfect cappuccino. Her husband and Martin Estate co-proprietor, Greg Martin, had gone for his afternoon java run the day before and been introduced to Master Barista Peter Giuliano, Counter Culture Coffee Co-Owner and Director of Coffee, who was in town hosting a private training session for the store's in-house baristas.
My caffeine intake is limited these days, but when I heard the words "perfect cappuccino," all I could think was, I have to interview this man. And, I have to have a [tiny] taste of his work. Greg and his daughter Greta were totally up for a mini-adventure. I grabbed a camera, a notepad and my wallet, and we all trooped over to the local Dean & DeLuca.
The cappuccino itself would have been worth the trip, but it was the conversation with Counter Culture Coffee's Peter Giuliano that made the morning truly memorable. Peter pursues the art of crafting coffee with the same blend of passion and humility I've seen in some of Napa Valley's best winemakers. Peter believes it is the job of the barista to preserve (one could even say "to honor") the quality of the bean, as well as the characters and flavors of the land from which it came. It's a refrain that bears a striking resemblance to the winemaking philosophy of Martin Estate's full time winemaker Frederic Delivert.
If you'd like to see more photos and read more about our morning with Master Barista Peter Giuliano, check out the post and album I put together over at MartinEstateWine's Facebook Page. We spent almost an hour discussing coffee's hottest regions (Peter's eyes got all dreamy-cloudy when he talked about the Southwestern Ethiopian town of Yirgacheffe, which is tinier than Napa Valley's St. Helena), the ideal temperature range for steamed milk, and the key to achieving the perfect creamy-goopy molasses hued "crema" (foam and texture) in espresso.
Peter handed Greta her "perfect cappuccino," which she sipped, then sipped again, then again, before handing the cup to me. I pulled that first mousse-like taste into my mouth and could not tell where the espresso began and the milk ended. The flavors were that integrated. I didn't quite experience what journalist Martha Gelhorn (Hemingway's wild-at-heart wife for a time) once described as "that state of grace which can rightly be called happiness, when body and mind rejoice totally together." But, I came darn close.
Our morning mini-escape was a great reminder to the slowly expanding, more-and-more-obviously-with-child homebound me that I don't have to travel to the wilds of North Africa or island-hop from Antigua to St. Bart's to find adventure.
“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home,” Dagobert D. Runes wrote. With my traveling somewhat limited right now, I have decided to watch my own "everyday" people with the same rapt fascination and curiosity I typically reserve for the everyday people of new, unfamiliar cultures.
Reader Comments (4)
Hmm its really a nice cup for the coffee lovers. I think it may use even to drink the wine.
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I'd really hope that the perfect cappuccino doesn't come in a paper cup.
You're right, True, a proper cappuccino should be savored, slowly, and in a proper cup.
Sadly, most of my coffee drinks are indulged on the go these days, so paper cups (recycled paper) or, preferably, my own washable to go container, is the usual vessel.