Sambalatte by Max Jacobson

By Max Jacobsen

I live in Green Valley, and begin most mornings with a coffee klatsch at the local Starbucks. The only other choice around here is the Coffee Bean at the District. Call me a captive audience.

But now, I’ve had Luiz Oliveira’s coffee at Sambalatte, so I’m actually going to Summerlin once a week to drink it. It may be the only serious coffee in Las Vegas. The twenty plus mile drive is worth it.

Starbucks over roasts; I’ve never quite gotten used to the burned taste. Their CEO, Howard Schultz, boasted at a lifestyles meeting that “milk is profit”, in the coffee business. Ever since, I’ve been doing their tall coffee for $1.62, diluting the hell out of it with soy milk or Half and Half. They charge $3.50 for a Grande cappuccino. I pass, thank you.

But consider what you get at Sambalatte, located at 750 S. Rampart, for $2. They grind and brew your coffee to order, 100% Arabica beans from Rio Verde, in Brazil, or ones from Guatemala, Colombia, Sumatra or Ethiopia. Order to go and it will be served in a paper cup. If you are going to drink it on premises, you get a porcelain one.

This is delicious coffee, intelligently roasted. Beans are roasted locally by Colorado River Coffee Roasters, some of which is available at Mario Batali’s Farmers Market. If you haven’t tried them, you should.

It gets even better. Sambalatte’s Flat White is halfway between latte and cappuccino, with a perfect swirl of foam, and a bargain at $2.75. The espresso used is a blend of Ethopian Harrar for boldness, Brazilian for creaminess, and Colombian for balance.

There’s lots more. Like iced coffee? Sambalatte is using a 24-hour drip to increase the intensity while reducing the acidity. Are you in the mood for tea? The store slow brews various choices.

As you enter, you’ll see a map of the world with the coffee countries highlighted in red on the main wall. Oliveira is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to coffee. Did you know Colombia is the only country in the world that has two coffee harvests per year? That’s because of the equatorial climate and high altitude at which the beans are grown.

Brazil, he tells me, produces 55 percent of the world crop. “All our beans are Rain Forest Alliance Certified”, he says. “We do almost everything we can locally as well”, he says, “from pastries (Andreas World Cake) and gelati (Desert Ice Boutique) to where we roast. This way we contribute to traceability and sustainability, and have less of a carbon footprint.”

The pastries, I’d like to point out, are terrific. I sample a mini-croissant that is buttery and flaky, and a small, streusel topped blueberry muffin. They are both a quantum leap above what you can get at Starbucks.

Now, the real show begins. As Brazilian jazz plays softly on the sound system, tiny thimbles of sparkling water are given as palate cleansers, and the head Barista, Paul, arrives at the table with a coffee siphon.

If you’ve never had coffee brewed this way, now is the time to start. The Japanese do it this way in many of their high-end coffee bars, and the method is fascinating and fun to watch. When done correctly, and that’s critical, it produces the best coffee of any brewing method.

And it’s done correctly-and vigilantly-here. At $10, you get 16 ounces of impeccable Joe, enough, says Paul, for four “European” sixed cups.  The process is old. It was patented back in 1830. Here’s how it works.

Water is heated in the bubble shaped lower vessel, and boiled until it reached what Paul refers to as the “extraction temperature”. This step is critical, lest the coffee be weak if the water isn’t properly hot. Then, the ground beans are placed in the top vessel, which has a permeable filter separating it from the lower vessel.

The water expands as steam, and as it has no place to go, it siphons into the top vessel, mixing with the coffee. An airtight seal is created. Once the heat is removed, the coffee filters back down into the lower vessel, or round globe, creating a clean, intense brew. Whew! I hope I got this right. My physics professor always liked you better.

This is really one of two places in Vegas to have siphoned coffee. The other one is Social House at Crystals, where it is $14, and where it will only serve two, at most. So this is a good deal.

Furthermore, Sambalatte serves a delicious Black Forest Ham and Brie sandwich, terrific smoothies, and wonderful desserts by Praml such as mini-Napoleons, cream puffs and éclairs. (They are, incidentally, as the boss points out, the only things in the store not bought locally.)

We told you he was serious.

For more information, visit their Website, www.sambalatte.com, or call them directly, at 272-2333. Gotta go. I’m off, unfortunately, to Starbucks.

Sambalatte Torrefazione
750 South Rampart Boulevard
Suite 9
Las Vegas, Nevada 89145Tel: [702] 272-2333