Corner of Alder and 9th, Millbrook. Open till 4, every day.
The roaster is a five-kilo drum in the back room, and it runs every Tuesday from six until the week's coffee is done. We roast light, and not out of fashion. A coffee grown at two thousand metres and washed by hand tastes like where it came from; roast it dark and it tastes like the roaster. We would rather you tasted the farm. Everything rests a week before it reaches the bar, because coffee straight from the drum is loud, and not in a good way.
Two origins at a time, never more. One is always the house espresso. The other rotates monthly, and when it is gone, it is gone.
Kilo bags of any of these, 52. Ask at the counter, or text ahead and we will have it wrapped.
We grind for your brewer. Tell us what is at home: a cone dripper, a moka pot, a French press, the drip machine in the office kitchen. We dial the grind to it. Whole bean keeps better, and we will still never judge.
Morning light comes in low off Alder Street and lands on the bar around eight. The room is small on purpose: close enough to the machine to hear the shot pull, far enough to talk over it. Water is on the counter, the dog bowl is by the door, and the plants are Tom's problem.
We roast for a handful of accounts and intend to keep it that way. Fresh every Tuesday, delivered Wednesday inside the city, and we come by with the kettle to train your team on the espresso until it tastes like ours. Whole bean, or ground for your machine.
Write to wholesaleBefore we open, we put this month's Ethiopia on the table beside next month's Colombia, slurp loudly, and talk about why two coffees can taste nothing alike. No experience needed and nothing to pay. You leave knowing what you like, and with ten percent off a bag if you want one.
Text to hold a seat
They met on the bar of somebody else's cafe, arguing about grind size before the doors opened. In 2021 they bought a secondhand five-kilo roaster, put it in Nadia's garage, and sold bags off a folding table at the Saturday market until the neighbours asked, politely, about the smell.
The corner at Alder and 9th came up in 2023. Tom's father built the walnut bar. The roaster came out of the garage and into the back room, where you can see it from the pass. They still argue about grind size. You are welcome to weigh in.
"We named it after the shortest shot because that is the whole idea. Less of it, and more of what is actually there."
On Tuesdays the whole block smells like it. Come early; the first batch is cooling by eight.
212 Alder Street, at 9th
Millbrook
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Bike rack out front. Two-hour parking on 9th, free before nine.
Text (555) 555-0184 with your name and your drink. It will be on the pass in the time it takes you to cross the street.
Everything else: hello@ristretto.example
Gift cards live at the counter, in any amount.