My friend and fellow blogger, Jason, has been talking about this amazing coffee experience he had a few weeks ago. So much so that he not only wanted to go again (and again and again) but he also knew that I needed to go with him. Due to his excitement about this “experience”, I knew I needed to see what all the fuss was about.
It’s called Theorem at Portola Coffee Lab in Orange County and you have to make a 1 hour reservation, no cell phones or electronic devices of any kind are allowed in, the menu changes every single week, they won’t tell you what the menu will involve, there are NO substitutions on the menu, oh and it only seats 6!
WHAT?!?!
I was excited, intriqued and honestly really didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
Once inside Jason and I realized that we had Theorem to ourselves. The other group of 4 had cancelled leaving just Jason, me and our Barista Truman for a private and more intimate experience. I had to ask Truman about Theorem’s ban on electronic devices and he said that Theorem wanted their costumers to fully experience their coffee and not be distracted by their cell phones or by the cell phones of others. Which completely makes sense on so many levels. It was very refreshing to go to this place and have wonderful conversation and learn a whole bunch about the coffee without be completely and utterly distracted.
Because phones or electronic devices of any kind were not allowed inside Theorem I snapped the picture above as to document our new adventure
So with that out of the way we began our adventure…
This week the menu consisted of 4 beverages: Kyoto, the Siphon, a Don Pachi and an Iced Mocha.
The Kyoto was served as an iced coffee in a chilled tall shot glass. What made this drink special is that the beans had sat in a whiskey barrel for a few months giving it a smokey whiskey taste. It also had a hint of the taste of chocolate covered raisens.
The Siphon was a hot cup of black coffee brewed in the contraption below
It was like watching something out of a science experiment. Now I normally do not like black coffee. Usually I have to add sugar or creamer to my coffee to give it some flavor other then the usual bitterness. When the barista served the coffee I was a little hesitant that I wouldn’t like it. I was glad to be proven wrong though! Truman informed Jason and I that drinking coffee at different temperatures of cooling would give us different tastes or flavor notes of the coffee. The coffee brewed in the siphon was fruity and tasted like it was a fruit or rhubarb pie.
The Don Pachi was by far my favorite. Truman gave us a brief history lesson before serving each of the drinks on where the beans came from, how they were produced and how he was going to be brewing/serving them. This type of coffee was the most interesting to me. Apparently big coffee chains usually purchase their coffee beans for about $.25-$.35 a pound, for Portola it’s about $3-$5 a pound, for this branch of coffee beans (because it is SO RARE) Portolo had to purchase the coffee beans AT AUCTION for $125 a pound!!!! The coffee drink that he was going to serve was no bigger then a normal sized shot glass and it was equal parts coffee and steamed milk. Oh and it was also a $12 “cup” of coffee! But oh my goodness it was completely and 100% worth it. As Truman said “It’s not good because it’s expensive, it’s expensive because it’s good”
The final drink was Truman’s take on the iced mocha which was served in a chilled champagne glass.. What was interesting about his version was that he used Barista milk. Apparently it’s a special type of organic milk where each cow has an acre of land for themselves to roam and graze. I am a human and I don’t even have that much space! Also he didn’t use 2% or even whole milk, Truman used half and half. Yes you read that correctly…HALF AND HALF! I was again very hesitant that I wouldn’t like it but it was by far the best iced mocha I had ever tasted!
Overall I loved Theorem and highly recommend it! I loved the unknown of what we would be drinking, I loved how knowledgeable and passionate Truman was about coffee, and I loved how you had to put 100% faith in Truman and just drink whatever he concocted. He definitely knew best!
To check out Jason’s blog and all of his amazing adventures, click here
To check out his rave review of Theorem, click here
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