Heading back from North Carolina, we decide to stop for a coffee break at Lamplighter Coffee in Richmond, VA. Lamplighter is more of a cafe than a dedicated coffee shop, but do roast their own coffee (Tallbike Coffee) on a Probat located a few blocks away.
Tall Bike Coffee is roasted off site by the owners of Lamplighter Coffee in Richmond VA
The espresso on offer was a single-origin natural process Sidamo and I have to say it was excellent, nicely balanced with good density and distinct, but not overwhelming, cherry notes. The brewed coffee was a different story. Apparently, much of their business is food and so they don’t have space to offer individually brewed cups of coffee. So I tried the house blend, a combination of three beans and three different roasts. It wasn’t really bad, but it wasn’t really good either. It tasted thin with a faint hint of smokiness from the dark roasted bean of the mix. They had half a dozen beans from different origins by the bag, so it seemed a shame not to offer them brewed to order. I picked up a bag of their Costa Rica Fruto de Oro, which according to the bag was roasted four days before. It should have just been hitting its stride, but the beans had virtually no aroma and when brewed up there was just a hint of grassiness and nothing else in the cup. Best guess is this batch was baked. This can happen if the beans are heated too slowly at the end of the roast or if the beans are not actively cooled once the roast is stopped.
Hipster hangout Lamplighter Coffee in Richmond VA
So ends this travelogue. My experience on this trip reaffirms my conviction that most “good” coffee shops focus their attentions on espresso while brewed coffee is treated like an unwanted stepchild.
