Chemically Imbalanced (espresso-jogged screeds)

SERBCCH: pure crema

i’ve withheld remarks about 3 cups and pheasant creek — my favorite joints by far. this was somewhat surprising, given this as my third jaunt to chapel hill. both were special. given time, i’ll weigh in with thoughts on flavor profiles, personnel, machinery and ambience. for now, just know: one had the only la marzocco fb70 on the east coast. the other had a kenya aa that featured berries galore. you’re gonna wanna go.

UPDATE: i was going to note this in my more detailed account of pheasant creek, but since the folks there brought it up in the comments, i’ll add: the fb70 went even beyond the standard model with a PID device and boasted temp stability within half a degree (according to barista aubrey, who served me a superb macchiato and traditional capp while i was there). unless i’m mistaken, that would make aubrey’s day-to-day machine more stable than the lineas used in competition. also … i arrived at friday’s competition a bit late to catch aubrey under the gun. judge dan kehn had some observations, though, right here. nick cho was also heard to say in the lobby on saturday that aubrey was a “very solid” competitor. props to her. pepper in the specialty drink seems to be a, er, hot trend of late.