Best cup of espresso in Riyadh

I will start by writing, I am a coffeeholic to say the least. I love Coffee, every type of coffee, from American brewed, to Jordanian, and Saudi Arabian coffee. Coffee in all its forms is a piece of heaven for me. This time i am only talking about one specific type and it is :espresso.
I always thought i will never have a better cup of espresso than the one that the illy trained baristas in Java Time (used to be Coffee Time) make.

I will be boring for a bit, but I think it is necessary to describe what goes into making an excellent cup of espresso:

An excellent cup of espresso depends on many factors including the coffee that is being used. U can get the best espresso coffee and give it to an untrained person, and they will make you the worst cup of espresso you probably ever tasted. An excellent shot of espresso is made by the perfect adjustment of : the grinder, the amount of coffee, the tamping pressure, the amount of time a shot takes to get pulled, the water pressure, and the water temperature (the last two being the advantage of better machines) It takes weeks and lots of practice for a person to be able to pull a great espresso shot. An excellent espresso shot can be noticed as soon as it is served, usually from the crema on the top. The thickness of the crema as well as the color of it. I have seen baristas pulling shots that were half coffee and half crema, with crema that is lasting in the cup for more than 45 seconds at that thickness. A great shot of espresso should have dark reddish brown crema, not the light creamy one we usually see at cafes like Starbucks or the ones we see in many if not most restaurants all over the world .

Under Extracted espresso	Good Espresso

This was until I was invited to Anthurium for lunch. Anthurium is located on 'Satellite rd', in the same strip as Roma cafe. it is a California cuisine restaurant if i were to describe the food, with a new addition of sushi to the menu. I will not rate the food in this article, but will leave this to a later issue. at the beginning of our lunch and while we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive, i decided i needed a cup of coffee. An espresso is what i ordered. it took some time to come. As i saw the waiter carrying the cup, I thought to myself this is going to be one of these one shot espresso's that i will have to swallow just to get my caffeine fix. But as it laid in front of me, my facial expression completely changed. An uncontrollable huge smile was setting on my face. I stopped the conversation at the table, and i said 'OH MY GOD, this must be an amazing espresso, it has been ages since i saw something like this' and i was only describing the look of crema the espresso had. It had tiger stripes.

Tiger Stripes can been seen on one of the pictures above. This means not only is the crema a dark reddish brown color, but it also has stripes of a darker shade. Hence the cup i got was as good as i can ever expect from the bean they were brewing. There were a couple of light spots on the crema, but i was willing to try that cup of espresso with no sugar at all. Something i forgot how to do after my last visit to Rome, where almost every other cup of espresso is an excellent cup of espresso. Everyone on the table was watching me, for i am not the type that compliments things easily. My first sip... no bitterness at all... It was superb. the smile on my face just got bigger... It was a heavenly moment. The rest of the cup was as completion of an outstanding shot of espresso. By far i am recommending giving Anthurium the emblem of "Artofdining's best espresso shot in riyadh', better than Jave Time, and better than any other cafe or restaurant i have tried in Riyadh.

By: Layth Sudairy

To reserve: Anthorium Riyadh