In the folds of one of Newton's 13 villages, coffee connoisseurs have discovered a tiny shop where coffee making has become an art form.
Behind the yellow stenciled windows, and past the crowded seating, a staff drizzles cream in heart shapes on lattes and balances the ingredients of the store's cappuccinos.
"At Newtonville's Taste (Coffee House), there are some of the best baristas in town," said Ben Kaminsky, who runs a small batch roaster in Arlington and works as a consultant for local coffee shops. "There is always someone on hand that can talk your ear off about coffee."
Nikolas Krankl, the 24-year-old owner of Taste Coffee House, has carefully studied and measured every step of the process, beginning with the bean, which is handpicked from dozens of taste trials. With an espresso machine imported from Seattle, he carefully balances temperature and flavor for coffee-based drinks that evolve into more than a caffeine shot.
For Krankl selling coffee is more than pressing a button.
"It's like a skillfully crafted wine," said Krankl, a California native who moved to Jamaica Plain two years ago. "Except with coffee, you can't just bottle it and leave it on the shelf. It takes a lot more preparation."
Krankl bought the shop on Walnut Street last March, and is working to transform it into the birthplace of the nation's best coffee.
To get there, he's put himself through a rigorous training program, partnered with coffee consultants at Barismo on Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, and enrolled in a national competition to see where he ranks.
"I would say we have the best in terms of product (in) Newton," said Krankl, whose shop has seen a doubling of coffee sales since he purchased it. "But how do you prove you're the best? You try to win this competition."
Krankl will load a few suitcases with coffee mugs, espresso glasses and a coffee grinder this weekend for the Northeast Barista Competition in Cranberry, Pa.
"I'm a little nervous," he said, after finishing a training round in a practice facility for baristas. "There's still a long way to go before I am ready."
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon in mid-January, Krankl poured small shots of espresso, layered cream on wide-rimmed mugs of coffee and dropped flakes of granita on a small bed of his signature drink.
"I think decadent is the perfect word to describe this coffee," Krankl said in between grinding the coffee and setting the small grains in the machine. "It's rich and lush with a strong emphasis on the fruit ... (it has a) very focused acidity ... brown spices, cinnamon and cocoa and hints of vanilla on the nose. "
Two coffee consultants looked on, judging the consistency and flavor of each drink and dissecting his every movement.
"A lot of practice and preparation goes into these competitions," said Kaminsky, a regular judge in such competitions, as he studied Krankl's every motion that afternoon. "People take them very seriously."
Krankl will be one of more than 50 baristas from 11 states competing in this weekend's event, where his drinks will be judged on taste, appearance and temperature, among other things.
Stumbled into a career
Two years ago, Krankl may have envisioned a career in restaurant ownership, but he fell into coffee almost by accident. After graduating from the University of Arizona, Krankl followed his fiancee to Boston, where she enrolled in medical school. Several months of working the espresso machines at JP Licks led Krankl to open his own shop.
"I came to the conclusion I wanted to be my own boss," he said, adding that he began collecting information on coffee making, training as a home barista before he pursued his own shop.
He discovered Newtonville's Taste through a restaurant broker, who called it a "diamond in the rough." The location promised potential, but Krankl would have to restore the reputation, which he said was hurt by a largely absentee owner and a staff that didn't speak English.
Krankl enjoys the variety of people who enter his shop, from a morning crowd of academics and professionals, to a mid-morning clientele of mothers and nannies to the after-school rush of students.
"Everyone is very friendly," he said. "And sometimes you get conversations going between many tables ... In some ways, Taste is the 'Cheers' of coffee shops."
Joanne Rosenthal has made a habit of stopping by Taste, where she enjoys watching customers sail through a N.Y. Times crossword puzzle over a cappuccino and often finds herself "talking coffee" with the staff. "It's really interesting to see the different people come in here," she said.
For Jonathan Walker, who sat at a table reading through a book on Einstein, going back to machine-made coffee is not an option, after experiencing the drinks made manually at Taste. Because baristas at Taste do more then press a button, the temperature, pressure and flavor comes out in perfect balance, he said.
Chrissie Long can be reached at clong@cnc.com.
