Two very different experiences this month: a café cortado disaster and a surprisingly good dark roast.
Five Watt Coffee / Lyndale
Cortado · ★☆☆☆☆
September 23, 2025
Daniel J. Schwartz
Worst Cortado of 2025.
I drank the coffee while working. I didn't enjoy it.
I did learn that a barista says "Hi, how's it going" about 200 times during their shift. 99% of the time the customer says "Good, how are you?" But then move on to their order. I've only witnessed two hours of this. How can someone put eight hours into the same thing over and over?
After seeing this I'm never going to have this response. Well, at least try not to in the future.
Bitter and foamy. I know making a cortado steamed milk is hard. But I'm not a professional barista. Coffee is burned, milk masks the flavor, so very bitter.
One star. Not much else to say. The people-watching observation was more interesting than the coffee.
Infusu
Crema · Southern Italy Style · ★★★☆☆
September 30, 2025
| Brew Method | Grind Setting |
|---|---|
| Espresso | #13-12 |
| Pour Over | #20 |
Southern Italy espresso. Dark roast.
Too dark for pour over and regular espresso.
Really solid in latte and cortado. The dark roast makes for full rich chocolatey espresso drinks.
It's too dark for a smooth espresso.
4 stars with milk, 3 stars on its own.
Three stars overall. This is exactly what it says it is: a dark, Italian-style espresso roast. I don't usually go this dark, but it made excellent milk drinks. Sometimes you just want that old-school, bold, chocolatey espresso.
Next up: October 2025—three coffees including Minimum Wage Tin and a disappointing new Minneapolis roaster.