The Balconi Coffee shop is part of a wave of fancy pants coffee places; while I think I'll always be loyal to the original quality coffee place, Peet's, it's sometimes interesting to check out these new places like LA Mill, Intelligentsia, etc.
Of course your coffee won't cost $1.80, it will cost $5, maybe even $6.50. Not for a mocha or what have you. Just for one cup of black coffee.
So let's check out Balconi. The place is located at Sawtelle and Olympic, so it's somewhat part of the whole Little Osaka reinvention of the area - though it's definitely Seattle/San Fran anglo in feel.
Inside are lots of little test tube looking beakers. You feel like you are back in junior high science class.
The test tubes are (I had to look this up on wikipedia) actually vacuum coffee makers, sometimes called siphon coffee makers. They were apparently popular in the late 1800s up through the early part of the 1900s. They work by heating the bottom part of a beaker filled with water. The water then rises, or is siphoned, into a higher beaker, where it mixes with the coffee grounds. Here's a picture of it I found online:
Before they make your coffee, they have you smell the grounds, which is a lot like smelling the cork: always a little awkward.
They then start making your coffee. Don't be in a rush. It takes about 10 minutes. Per person.
Here is my actual coffee being brewed:
While waiting, you can read one of the many books lying around the place, or look at the interesting decor. You might even want to type something.
Looks like one person typed something at some point:
Or maybe you'd like to make a phone call.
Finally the coffee arrived.
It tasted....like coffee basically.
The little biscuit was a nice touch.
One neat aspect of this place was their hours. They used to be 10am to 5pm. The idea was that they should NOT be open before 10am, because anyone coming at that time would be in a rush. They only wanted people willing to sit down for a long while and savor the coffee.
Well I guess they have caved, because I noticed they now open at 7am.
So is this coffee worth $5?
No, no it isn't.
But for a non-corporate place to relax in the middle of the day, with no crowds or sense of being rushed, it's probably worth $10.
