In Search of Espresso’s Best Friend: The Perfect Water

Espresso is good. Espresso with a glass of water, is better.

The last few days I have been on a mission, and it wasn’t to find the best espresso. I already know where to find that. I wanted to find the cafe that has the best water to cleanse my palate from the ounce or 2 of crema filled goodness. At first I did what any barista would think to do – a coffee crawl. And crawl we did. I grabbed a fistful of quarters for parking, threw all my radiohead CD’s into the car, and picked up 3 of my closest allies/fellow cleanhotdryers. We left from Crema in West Van and made our way out over the great 3 lane bridge we call the Lion’s Gate over to the following (in order): Cito, JJ Yaletown, Wicked Cafe, The Elysian Room, and 49th Parallel. We had espresso, water, and good times at all of them. Then it happened. I ran into an unexpected problem. Almost all the waters (with the exception of one – though I won’t name names. Yet.) held their own , on their own – but it was hard to distinguish a true difference between them without having the others there to compare with one another, and by the time we arrived at the next cafe the taste obviously no longer still lingered.

Solution?

I set up an old fashioned cupping. Only it was for water. And it was blind. And it was awesome. My guess is that this is the first of its kind (leave a comment if you know otherwise). And so it was, the first Cafe Water Cupping. The only rule to qualify was that each contestant had to be water of the “sparkling” nature. Still water is great with espresso, but any cafe with a glass and a tap can get you the same Vancouver water. (That being said, there are some places that even manage to mess that up. ie: Plastic Cups, To-Go Cups, Jars, No Ice, etc.)

I’ve only ever seen 4 different brands of water available for purchase in Vancouver’s cafes, so I went out and bought each one of them. What followed next was a royal rumble that would leave no man standing, and only one bottle.

The Prize? Indisputable reign and bragging rights over all other non-superior waters.

The cost of losing? Their lives. (all losing bottles will be smashed in a safe, yet very aggressive manner.)

The Contestants:

i) San Pellegrino

Bottled in: Lombardy, Italy.

Who Uses It? JJ Bean, Crema, Cito, 49th Parallel, Starbucks, and almost every other cafe in the city.

www.sanpellegrino.com

Notes: San Pellegrino is probably the best known sparkling water and is definitely the easiest to find. Almost every cafe uses it, and it comes in a convenient 250ml bottle or a much larger 750ml which is perfect for sharing. Look for that dark green bottle with the red star, representing Italy proudly in the cafe cooler. Apparently it has been around for 600 years. You may also hear it be referred to as, “San Pell” by hipsters.

ii) antipodes

Bottled In: New Zealand

Who Uses It? Crema, JJ Yaletown and Commercial Dr. (As far as I know, these are the only 3 cafes that sell it. Again, leave a comment if I am mistaken. In addition, Crema and JJ Bean have antipodes AND San Pellegrino.)

www.antipodes.co.nz

Notes: It’s easy to spot antipodes, thanks to it’s medicinal-like bottle packaging. It is easily the most attractive and is the hardest sparkling water to both find, and pronounce (An-TIH-Po-Dess, not Auntie Podes). Like all good things, it’s rareness is what makes it oh-so-good. Oh, that, and the fact that it was rated “best sparkling water in the world” in 2006. Add a freshly squeezed lemon wedge to give it that extra kick. antipodes has a motto printed on all of their bottles: “Drink Chilled. Drink Often. Live Well.” Nice.

iii) Perrier

Bottled In: France

www.perrier.com

Who Uses It? The Elysian Room.

Notes: Perrier is pretty well known, and definitely a crowd favorite. The bottle is a green similar to that of it’s arch nemesis, San Pellegrino, but has a convex and busty shape that fits into your palm nicely, as if saying, “hold me.” Because of it’s French origins, it is often referred to by many (and by “many” I mean just me) as the “Filet Mignon” of water. I also believe that it is the dark horse in this cupping and any ranking lower than 2nd would be a great disappointment.

iv) Monte Forte

Bottled In: Italy

Who Uses It? Wicked Cafe, Artigiano.

www.monteforte.it

Notes: You know the song that goes, “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I’ll go eat worms…”? I’m pretty sure it’s about Monte Forte. The only thing that ranks lower than the taste of Monte Forte is the branding and their website. Look back up at the picture and answer this question: Does a plain white label with a bad blue font curving everywhich way really say, “sparkling water” (or anything good, for that matter) to you? Not to mention I don’t know what that thing is on top of the “M”. My prediction is it comes last, and rightfully so. I have nothing else to say about it.

The Rules:

After an extremely short notice event was made on facebook, 4 of my friends ended up coming down to Crema to join in the fun, where the following rules were agreed upon:

- The test is fully blind.
- Water is to be served at cafe cooler temperature, without ice.
- You must sip the water, then your coffee, then the same water again once more.
-Due to an excessive amount of inconsistency problems that would arise using shots of espresso to compare the water with, (not to mention the dangerous levels of espresso that would need to be consumed) the french press is used for comparison. (Dark Guatemala was the bean of choice tonight)
- Rank the waters in order from best to worst.

The Cupping:
The cupping was, to put it simply, awsome. We listened to The Mix Up by the Beastie Boys. (click that to listen, it will load in a different window, free and fast). That cd fit so well that I think they made it while cupping water themselves.

When we finally sat down and started tasting the waters it was actually pretty tough. They all tasted very different from one another, but all of the sudden it was hard to say which one actually tasted better than another. Philosophical questions raced throughout my mind – “What even makes a good tasting sparkling water?”, and “Could time travel ever truly exist?” were two of the many.

After some serious conversing and back-and-forth tasting, we all wrote down what our favorites were. The results? Shocking.

The Results:

I know. I can’t believe it either. San Pellegrino won (3 1st place votes, and a 2nd place) with Monte Forte coming 2nd. The worst part? I somehow picked Monte Forte as my number 1. While I can’t deny what I put, I’m blaming it on “lost-in-the-moment” syndrome. I still think it’s horrible. Perrier and Antipodes tied for 3rd, or last place, depending on if you’re a half full or half empty kinda person. This is more or less the exact opposite of what I predicted. I still stand by my favorites though. San Pellegrino’s experience came through when it mattered most. Talk about clutch performance.

As promised, all the losers were sentenced to immediate death by smashing.

Author’s Note: Sparkling water goes great with espresso for a few reasons. One, it clears your mouth/palate so that you can taste and distinguish every detail about the espresso you are about to consume. It helps clear it up nicely for after, as well. If you are having a drink that takes a few more sips, like a macchiatto or a traditional cappuccino, it is great to have a splash in between sipping your drink, for one to re-cleanse your palate for the next sip, and also to provide a nice contrast in taste. If you do it correctly, it’s as if you are having the first sip throughout the whole thing. It doesn’t hurt that it helps keep you hydrated too. As antipodes says, “Drink Chilled. Drink Often. Live Well.”