When the North Euclid Pi launches its coffee bar next Monday, Feb. 8, bravura barista Alex Brooks will helm the operation – and Brooks is jazzed about the new gig.
“The thing that excites me the most is bringing proper coffee and espresso preparation to the Central West End,” he told us by phone from Wyoming. (He’s driving back to St. Louis from a stint at Coffeehouse-Five in Portland, Ore.)
Brooks, who previously won acclaim here at Goshen Coffee, said he looks forward to “being back among all the friends I’ve got there, and … being in a little bit more approachable position to educate consumers is gonna be nice.”
“I’m really excited about being in that neighborhood,” he added. “I think that neighborhood has a lot of potential – it just hasn’t been tapped yet. Traditional espresso drinks aren’t something that the Central West End has seen in a while, if it’s ever been there.”
On his first day on the road, Brooks covered roughly 1,000 miles – so he himself may need an espresso or two when he hits town.
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2010.