Stopped by to visit Fabrice Moschetti hoping to catch him roasting a new delicious batch of fresh coffee at the only Vallejo Coffee Roasting company. Saturday is the open house for free coffee tasting. He always has a dozen or more freshing roasted and brewed coffees to sample. Many Saturday mornings, you will find live music, and a crowd of folks hankering for a couple pounds of Fresh Vallejo Coffee to take home with them. The coffee is excellent and the Saturday morning specials are nice on the wallet. Why go to Safeway or Raley’s for old stale coffee that’s been sitting on the shelf for weeks or months, when you can stop by Moschetti and get a pound or more of your favorite bean and roast. Want a blend for your espresso machine? Or a single origin organic coffee for your press pot or drip machine? You’ve found your supply.
Vallejo is in the North East San Francisco Bay and is called by some, the gateway to Napa, Sonoma and the Sacramento Vallejo. For me it was the final frontier in affordable housing in the SFBay area. It was affordable because of the big crash that came after the Navy left Mare Island Shipyard. You got a lot more for a lot less than more desirable areas such as Berkeley, Marin etc. Who would have thought we’d get a top notch coffee roaster in Vallejo to boot.
Fabrice and I talked politics and shop for a while as I sampled some new coffees he’d just roasted that day. There were two new Ethiopians, including a Harrar that had an amazing aroma. Fabrice’s right hand man Mario opened a bag for me and the fragrance of blueberries/cherries just about knocked me over. And it was a lighter roast like I prefer for espresso.
Had it the next morning for a couple of extraordinary shots. The first shot was a bit over extracted but it filled the kitchen with an intense bouquet. The flavor was super concentrated sweet blueberry / cherry with what I think was a hint of ripe fig, finishing with a lovely milk chocolate richness.
Amazing coffee, perfectly roasted.