Latté art fascinates me. I’m one of those nerdy types who will pull out my camera and exclaim excitedly, “I want to videotape this!” right as it begins to happen, watching in rapt attention to see the artistry unfold right before my eyes.
The process is the same every time: A few taps of the silver milk jug on the counter to get rid of the air bubbles, followed by a slow, controlled pour punctuated with just a few twirls and flicks of the wrist and voilà! In a matter of seconds, the coffee and milk are manipulated to form a white and brown heart or chain of leaves or whatever.
And nowhere is that more true than at Montrose’s newest coffee bar, Blacksmith, which officially opened yesterday, January 21.
Located at the corner of Westheimer at Yoakum, Blacksmith Coffee Bar occupies the space that used to be Mary’s Naturally, a famous gay bar. It’s the second venture for Buehrer and partner Ecky Prabanto, who own Greenway Coffee, and the fourth for Bobby Heugel and company, who also own Anvil, Hay Merchant and Underbelly.
The formidable team have created something that Houston, and this section of Montrose, really needed. You feel it when you step through the doors and hear the clack-clack of your shoes on the wooden floor. The smell of freshly brewed coffee immediately envelopes you, drawing you in further. Yet, it’s not until you receive your first cup of perfectly formed cappuccino or latté, with the milk and coffee poured carefully and just right so that it forms what looks almost like a puff pastry crust on top of the cup, that you realize you’re not just here to drink coffee, but to experience the artful execution of a craft.
It’s when you take a sip of that exceptionally smooth and creamy coffee that you understand what Blacksmith is all about and why they named it Blacksmith in the first place.
Blacksmith is meant to signify the “kindred spirit among baristas and the antiquated laborers who sought to craft something by hand with uncompromising quality and attention to detail.”
And it’s all there. All that uncompromising quality is there for you to taste in the coffee. All that attention to detail is there for you to see in the beautiful latté art. It extends itself to the 11-seat Enthusiast Bar, where coffee enthusiasts can sit, drink and watch baristas prepare coffee in a variety of ways with a rotating mix of beans.
It’s there in the food menu, in the form of homemade yogurt with house-made granola and fruit topping and scratch-made biscuits with house-made apricot marmalade created by consulting chef Erin Smith (second from left, photo below).
Yes, Montrose needed a place like Blacksmith. It’s one of those places that’s worth going out of your way to get to, where you can stop by for coffee to-go, or hang out the entire afternoon to chitchat with a barista like John Letoto (right in photo), who was headhunted away from Louisville, Kentucky, just so he could come to Houston and create a cup of coffee that you’ll take one sip of and think: “So this is what coffee is supposed to taste like.”
Blacksmith Coffee Bar 1018 Westheimer Road at Yoakum, 832-360-7470, www.blacksmithhouston.com (check them out on Facebook because their website isn’t quite finished) and twitter: @BL4CKSMITH