Flyover Flavor

Location: University City

Overall rating: 5 out of 5

Drink Menu: A short list of staple espresso drinks with an even shorter list of flavored syrups. You can also choose from an assortment of teas.

Food Menu: A little bit of everything — breakfast, lunch, dinner, take-and-reheat meals, bread, and pastries.

Brew Options: Autodrip, cold brew

Most interesting drink pastry: the Winslow's Bar steals the show. Who can resist pecan shortbread smothered in a layer of ganache and topped with caramel?

Espresso Machine: Manual 

Roaster: Sump True Level espresso with a light-to-medium roast; you can also purchase bags of Stringbean, Kaldi's, and Sump coffee in the market

Review — pandemic edition:

Winslow’s Table (formerly Winslow’s Home) has become my favorite coffee shop during the pandemic in large part because of their walkup window and happy hour from 3 pm to close. This $1-off coffee deal has fueled my late-night work for months.

Coffee is not the main focus at Winslow’s, but they take it seriously and consistently serve good drinks. The Sump True Level espresso often has a sweet, citrusy flavor with bright acidity that I recommend drinking straight. In a cappuccino or latte, the milk covers the citrus notes and brightness. It still tastes good, but less interesting. My only beef with the drinks at Winslow’s is with the cappuccino foam. There’s never enough! Even when I ask for extra foam, I end up with a small layer on top and warm milk that’s barely textured below. Interestingly, the lattes usually have nice microfoam and latte art, so it’s a mystery to me why the cappuccino is sometimes off. Still, I think Winslow’s Table has some of the best coffee in the city, great food and pastries, and outstanding service.

Owned by Tara and Michael Gallina, the couple behind nationally renowned Vicia, Winslow’s Table offers the same quality and creativity as its sister restaurant with a more casual vibe. The menu features fresh, local ingredients and the market includes many local farms and small businesses.

Pre-COVID, the space was packed with tables and was bustling every time I went in, especially for weekend brunch. It’s odd to imagine eating elbow to elbow with a stranger now, but it was comfortable in 2019 and the buttermilk pancakes with blueberry compote were worth the noise and close quarters.

In response to the pandemic, Winslow’s Table pivoted a couple times. Like many businesses, they opened a walkup window and switched to only patio seating or carryout. This week they switched things up even more by reopening the inside as a market and bakery with prepared food and small goods from local companies and farms, pastries and bread made in-house, and other merchandise. Their full kitchen is still operating for carryout or patio dining. They’ve always had a small market so it’s not a surprise they would expand this offering now that indoor dining is problematic. It will be interesting to see whether this will be a permanent change or if they will revert back to a restaurant once it’s safer to be in crowds.

Location: CWE

Overall rating: 3 out of 5 (The drinks vary depending on which barista makes them, so sometimes the espresso is bitter or sharp and the milk steamed improperly. When pulled correctly, I give the espresso 5 out of 5.)

Drink Menu: A mix of traditional and Starbucks-style drinks. You can find an espresso macchiato or con panna as well as blended espresso drinks and a long list of syrup flavors. You won’t find third-wave coffeehouse drinks, such as cortados or sidecars on this menu.

Food Menu: Breakfast and lunch options. There is no kitchen, but they offer smoothies, sandwiches, waffles and Barista Eggs, which are steamed on an espresso machine steam wand. I haven't seen this method anywhere else in the city. Because the eggs are steamed, there is no oil or butter used, making them healthier, but also lacking much flavor on their own. Throw some cheddar cheese and salsa on them and they taste pretty good.

Brew Options: Not a lot of variety. They offer toddy cold brew, V60 pour overs and standard autodrip.

Most interesting drink: Iced coconut water americano. It's exactly as it sounds – espresso and coconut water. It's refreshing and richer than a standard iced americano.

Espresso Machine: Manual La Marzocco

Roasting style: Medium

Review — pandemic edition:

There are two reasons to go to Northwest Coffee: they’re open in the evenings (a rarity in St Louis) and have a sizable patio. It’s one of the few coffee shops where I feel comfortable staying for a while to enjoy my drink without fear of breaking social distancing guidelines.

Located in a former auto body shop near the Cortex district, Northwest is set back from the street with a covered walkway to the front door on one side and open gravel yard on the other. Even in cold weather, the patio is comfortable thanks to a couple fire pits and space heaters. The tables are spaced out fairly well, so you can keep away from fellow patrons.

The café doubles as a roastery with a 1957 Probat in the back but still in view of the main seating area. When indoor dining is allowed, roasting days (usually Tuesdays and Fridays) are the best times to visit if you want to watch the process from start to finish. In the fall and winter, the roaster warms the whole building and fills it with the rich, nutty aroma of roasting beans. It’s something to look forward to when stay at home orders lift. In the meantime, you’ll have to enjoy the roasting smell from the patio.

While I love this coffee shop, I'm sad to say the drinks are inconsistent. On my most recent visit, I ordered a double espresso and a caramel latte. The espresso was great – smooth with low acidity and a chocolaty flavor. This is one of the few coffee shops where I can drink the espresso on its own because they do a full city roast, which reduces the acidity and takes out the bite that's common in light-roast coffees. It's a good thing the espresso is good on it's own because the latte was disappointing. The milk was not steamed properly, so instead of microfoam (textured milk with very small bubbles), I got a thin layer of foam on top of hot, thin milk. I asked the barista to remake my drink and requested more foam, but the second latte was exactly the same as the first. The only reason to get steamed milk in an espresso drink is for the foam. If the drink isn't thick and velvety, it's not worth drinking. 

If you’re looking for a nice patio or a late afternoon coffee, this shop is a great option. I recommend getting black drip coffee, a double espresso, or an iced latte.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

Drink Menu: Wide variety of drinks with an emphasis on flavored lattes, mochas and frappes though you can find more traditional coffeehouse drinks, including traditional cappuccinos and americanos. They also serve coffee cocktails — my favorite is a bourbon and cold brew cocktail. For tea drinkers, they carry Hugo Tea, a Kansas-City-based company.

Food Menu: Breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads, smoothies, pastries and more.

Brew Options: Pour over, toddy cold brew, nitro cold brew and autodrip.

Most interesting drink: Monk's Head Cappuccino — an extra foamy six-ounce cappuccino that's perfect for foam lovers (hello, that's me!)

Espresso Machine: Manual Victoria Arduino Eagle One

Roasting style: Medium to dark roast under the name Muse, roasted by Picasso's baristas

Review — pandemic edition:

Like many businesses this year, Picasso’s has experimented with ways to adapt to the pandemic. They offered online ordering and curb-side pickup during lockdown and then reopened with limited dine-in seating. They also started selling growlers of some beverages, including cold brew and chai. They’re a great example of creativity in response to challenging times.

Silo Coffee + Goods will soon close its cafe in the lobby of Techartista and focus only on whole sale, catering and coffee subscription business. While this CWE shop offers a buzzy and artistic atmosphere for enjoying a cup of joe, the truth is, this company will probably be better off without the physical location. The seating is limited and uncomfortable, and the limited hours (closed by 4:30 pm and only open Monday through Friday!) makes it almost impossible to visit. What's intriguing about this young company is the mission.

            Silo was created to support Solea Water, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing clean water to communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The founders of Solea decided they needed a sustainable source of funding for the nonprofit to supplement grants and donations. Since a lot of specialty coffee beans are grown in the same regions in which Solea implements clean water initiatives, a coffee shop is a natural fit. Silo works to ethically source its beans to ensure fair business practices. It also invests 10% of its profits in clean water projects in those same coffee farming communities. 

            This mission is a great way for this coffee shop to differentiate itself from the other shops in St Louis. Linking Silo with this non-profit that gives back to coffee growing communities helps coffee drinkers be more mindful about where their coffee comes from. It's also great to give back to and support the farmers who grow the coffee we are lucky to enjoy.

             The cause isn’t the only enjoyable quality about Silo. The space, while it won't be open much longer, is worth mentioning. There’s a creative energy in the air. A large sculpture hangs from the ceiling and fills the open space above the espresso bar. The second floor is open and visible from the lobby, showing the little offices that ring the upper floor. The sounds of soft music and animated conversation filter down, hinting at the hard work these startups are putting in. Young people wander in and out, some walking their dogs, others bringing their animated conversations out of the office and onto the street. It’s a peek at the flexible, fast-paced lifestyle that people idealize about startup life.

            It’s not clear at this point whether closing the cafe is the first step toward full closure, but I hope not. It’s an interesting company with a good product – not my favorite, but certainly good quality. Silo sources great beans, partners with Blueprint for skilled roasting, and prepares great drinks (based off the nice foam on my macchiato when I visited). Hopefully the catering business will do well enough to keep Silo afloat.