Anne Marie Panoringan

While folks are hardcore about their lattes, we mildly obsess over Seventh Tea Bar's newest contraption: Alpha Dominche's Steampunk 4.0. It's got brains and beauty, like many of our Weekly counterparts.

Admittedly, some of the terminology is over our heads. Owner/Mad ScientistJeff Duggan got all Alton Brown with us as he discussed negative pressure, ultra-consistent profiled agitation and temperature stability. What we took away was the idea that up to four teas could be brewed simultaneously, all under different controlled temperatures. The process began with pre-heating our water, and ended with aforementioned negative pressure flushing our scalding liquid through a piston, straining the flavors of a first (and second, or even third) extraction.
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Anderson: Nice beard!

Every second and fourth Wednesday night of the month, legendary bartender/chef/restaurant insider Dave Mau hosts Dinner with Dave at Memphis at the Santora, where he treats drinkers to a free meal and live music as the evening progresses. To remind ustedes of this great night, Dave treats us every Wednesday morning that he's on to a random OC food or drink musing of his choice. Enjoy!!

I'll freely admit I don't know a goddamn thing about coffee. I'm not totally oblivious: I can tell the difference between that over-roasted Starbuck's crap and the watered-down Farmer Brothers stuff from the corner gas station that tastes like someone stirred a twig in a cup of hot water and handed it off to me. I've also experienced what is called "campfire coffee" on the trail with the High Sierra Pack Station crew which entails adding more grounds to an institutional-sized pot each day as the trip progresses and by day five or six is literally as thick as mud and potent enough to jump-start a bulldozer. Aside from that, however, I'm fairly oblivious to its finer aspects (and surprisingly at ease with my lack of knowledge). In fact I'm the kind of guy that makes a half pot of coffee and leaves it sit for a few days, nuking one cup at a time, much to the chagrin of my more erudite friends. Blasphemy indeed.

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Dave Lieberman

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Photo courtesy CBTL

We used to be addicted to their Malibu Dream Ice Blendeds. But lately, free is our beverage of choice. Wednesday is not only National Crossiant Day, but Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL for those texting) will toast their 50 year anniversary with one hot deal: FREE coffee or tea!

In addition to the special, their Director of Tea (We want that job!), David Decandia, will conduct a live chat on their Facebook page at 11 a.m., PST. What scorching questions will folks ask him? We want to know how they plan to counter Starbucks' plans to open a chain of tea shops. If you're more focused on the prize, we've got the all-important disclaimer coming up.
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Yes, East Coast expatriates, you read that right. Dunkin' Donuts, pretty much the doughnut monopoly in the East Coast, is coming to California.

According to a statement issued by CEO and Head Donuteer Nigel Travis, the huge chain is actively recruiting franchisees in SoCal, with the intent of opening the first Dunkin Donuts' in 2015. In just two years, you'll be able to order your large, light and sweet and French cruller.

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Six weeks ago, we told you that the coffee nerds at Portola Coffee Lab in Costa Mesa's OC Mart Mix were going to open a tea bar called Seventh Tea Bar. They were hoping to open this year, but it looks like the holidays are going to intervene; instead, the tea bar, adjacent to the coffee lab, will open Jan. 2, 2013. There will be crowds, so you'll want to make a reservation (à la Theorem) if you have large parties or special requests.

The space has been substantially complete for a little while and there have been sneak peeks here and there, but the full experience will have to wait a little while. Expect the same attention to be paid to the most widely consumed beverage (besides water) in the world that is paid to coffee; don't expect a lot of "one lump or two", because artisanal tea doesn't need sugar.

Seventh Tea Bar is located in the OC Mart Mix at 3313 Hyland Ave., Costa Mesa; their website is seventhtea.com.

Image Courtesy of Starbucks

When a regular old Starbucks gift card just won't do, there's the Starbucks Metal Card--the coffee gift card to end all coffee gift cards. It will be available for sale for $450 starting this Friday at the luxury goods site gilt.com and will be preloaded with $400 of Starbucks credit on it. The extra $50 you pay is for the stainless steel card itself.

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Courtesy of Portola Coffee Lab

The mad scientists--and we are required to call them mad scientists on first reference, check the AP Stylebook if you don't believe me--at Portola Coffee Lab have always had a few tins of tea sitting at the far end of the bar, near the espresso machine and on the other side of the glass from their limited concessions to the popular demand for substances (sugar, for example) to put into coffee.

It's never been a focus, though; you can order it, and they'll make you a great cup of tea, but the name of the place is Portola Coffee Lab, and they geek out over coffee. They even opened a coffee tasting bar named Theorem. Tea was an afterthought...

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Courtesy Portola Coffee Lab

Liquid Nitrogen Affogato

Michelle reported last month about Portola Coffee Lab's plans to open Theorem, a small coffee bar next door to their roasting / brewing / alchemy business at Costa Mesa's SoCo Collection. And when I say coffee bar, I mean that in the sense of a craft cocktail bar (minus alcohol) fused with equal parts science lab and coffee theater.

The day has come - Theorem opens its doors Tuesday, September 18th. What can you expect from the mad scientists at the Coffee Lab? You'll get an advanced lesson in the nuances of coffee through a flight of coffee drinks and desserts. No matter what level of expertise you already have, you'll leave appreciating the master-class.

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