One thing I don’t like about Whole Foods is the fact that they do not allow people to take photographs within the store. Now I’m not talking about taking photos of the shelves and stock, that I can sort of understand, but simply no where in the store including in the ‘cafe’ area of the store. I don’t think that is cool. So what happens if you are with friends at a table enjoying a meal or even a snack and you wanted to take a pic of you and your buddies… no go! Anyway, who cares… lets talk about coffee instead.
Well it just so happens that I needed to go to Whole Foods anyway to get a couple of things. In addition to a bit of shopping, I also wanted to make sure I grabbed an Allegro latte since most of the other times I find myself at Whole Foods, it tends to be at those times of the day when I have already had a latte so I haven’t really had the right opportunity to check out their espresso drinks. So today was great simply because I had not yet drunk my morning latte.
So after I got done with my shopping, I stepped up to to espresso bar to get my latte. Normally I would have just ordered a 12oz latte and all that, but since I am trying to cut back on my dairy, and I am also finding that a double tall (12 oz) latte doesn’t cut it anymore since I need something a little stronger. This second point was brought home this past Friday when I ordered a 8oz latte… but more on that on a later posting. The long and the short of it is that I ordered a double 8oz instead. When I told the barista about this, she told me that she actually drunk triple 8oz lattes since even triple 12oz lattes did nothing for her… ok, now that’s a hardcore espresso junkie!
Now Whole Foods does not have their own coffee roasting plant, however, they have partnered up with Allegro Coffee, a Colorado based specialty coffee roaster to supply all their coffee beans for espresso and drip, and also for sale in the stores. And with keeping with Whole Foods products, Allegro Coffee supplies organic coffee beans. For the espresso, Whole Foods uses Allegro’s Organic Espresso Bel Canto. The name translates to “beautiful song”. This is a medium roast that is described in the words of Allegro Coffee as “enticing and aromatic with a mild nutty undertone onto which lemon, jasmine and ripe berry notes are layered”. And I actually liked it. Being that it was a double 8oz, it was pretty strong as I would expect but being that it was a medium roast, it was still a great taste.
I would certainly go back for more since the latte was pretty decent… and even better were the two baristas on duty who were very friendly and helpful even though they told me that I couldn’t take pictures, but we were able to chat about coffee and cameras.
Now if only Whole Foods would let me take a picture of the espresso bar, then that would be a more personal touch than the picture of the Allegro Coffee paper cup that I included with this post.
