Trip to Seattle and Vivace: David Schomers espresso

[Marcello]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted here. I didn't want to withheld my drinking experience at the famous Vivace in Seattle, run by David Schomer.

There are only three Vivace bars in Seattle, two being at Broadway. One is the old spot of his first cart the other is the roastery which is hidden just around the corner in the shade at the crossing of Broadway and Denny's. We actually had to look hard to find it. Still, there is a line at the counter all the time!!

And what can I say? The espresso is very dark and thick and has a strong taste. I wouldn't say it's as sweet as Schomer calls it. He wants hois espresso to taste like the smell of roasted coffee. I liked the taste but without sugar it's not sweet enough to come close to the smell of roasted coffee. I really liked the thickness though. When I make espresso with my little Domobar I like it honey thick as well, although my Sicilian aunts make amazing cafe that's much thinner. I use a gas brewer for that, like they do.

The staff works really quick and is nice. Looks like they are trained well. I haven't seen them miss a single rosetta on a latte. No other figures as far as I have seen. I've been there 3 or 4 times, took my espresso and had a blast just looking. Schomer himself was there only once and it looked like he was going to experiment a bit in the back. The walls are covered with pictures of rosetta's made by Schomer and the staff.

I took some of their roasted beans which I will try this week (I only just returned). I also bought the Barrista and Latte Art DVD's and a nice tamper. The tamper is really nicely made and I think this will be my main tamper for some time to come. The DVD's are to expensive in my opinion for only 25 minutes of instruction. All the stuff is in the book too, although it's nice to see how they do it. I haven't watched the Latte DVD yet, but it's only 20 minutes so I assume it will be kinda the same. Their great memorables to our trip and our visits to Vivace though so I have no regrets buying them.

Okay, just wanted to share this with you. If anything comes up in the video's you need to know... I'll post it here

[Steve]

Thanks for shareing that, would love to visit myself one day

[Bertie_Doe]

Hi Marcello, I agree, thanks for sharing, that's a top post. How many varieties were on offer and were they all blends? Let us know how the beans work on the Domobar.
Quentin

[Kiduk]

Hey tell us how the beans were that you brought back from Vivace.
And you described the espresso, but was it the best you ever had or did you have better?
And if you had better were was that?

[Joris]

Top post indeed, nice read

[CakeBoy]

Great read Marcello, sounds like a lot of fun . Were the shots consistent regardless of barista? That is something often overlooked but very important.

[Raf]

Hmm, would love to taste a Schomer. The closest I ever came was espresso at Peet's in Santa Monica.

[Beanie]

Great post, Marcello Do you prefer the Vita or the Dolce and which one did you bring back? My preference is for the Vita

I only had a chance to visit the Roastery once, fantastic looking place And it's great that you can look into their 'lab' see the roaster & synesso, perfectly lit :drool: It was almost 2 years ago but I remember liking the shot I had at the exhibition booth better That was easily in my top 5 of best shots I've ever had