COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / AT LAST: A SATISFYING DECAF

Café Moto decaf coffee aficionado, Barrio Logan, San Diego. 
Cafe Moto photo.

Coffee aficionados understand moderation is a good thing when consuming caffeinated brews.  That’s why it’s good to have a decaf back up.

But there’s no getting around the situation: decaf isn’t as satisfying and industrial strength coffee with caffeine.

With apologies to songwriter Mentor Williams, who penned “Drift Away” made famous by the Doobie Brothers, we offer when it comes to coffee “...gimme the caffeine and free my soul...I wanna get lost in my newspaper and a sweet roll and drift away...”

But, if you have to go on the wagon for whatever reason and bolt the jolt here’s Pillar to Post Daily Online Magazine’s decaf roaster of choice:  Café Moto in San Diego’s venerable Barrio Logan neighborhood.

Upfront Café Moto, 2619 National Avenue (take the 28^th street north/National Avenue exit off of I-5 then go west) is the real deal.  It’s a full bore coffee operation that specializes in all things coffee (and tea).  It is one of the few coffee houses in San Diego with its own 20-space parking lot.

Especially if you love bolder beans, Café Moto’s mothership roaster in South San Diego creates sublime noirs.

Café Moto has been around for a long time in San Diego and it has become a big supplier in San Diego with many national restaurant/coffee house clients.  For its clients, Café Mechanica, and inhouse Espresso Service (Barrio Logan location), is open seven days operating as a repair/service/equipment shop/installation center and showroom.  It provides loaners, too.

A bit of steampunk design carries through the front café and the back of the store roastery and big bean store.

The mothership, as we call it, is a low key steampunk design complete with roaster operation in the back along with a huge warehouse of product, plus a popular retail coffee house up front.

On this day, we purchased ($16 per pound) powerful decaf and regular roasted beans: decaf Espresso and a rocket roast from the Cesmach Co-op growers in Chiapas, Mexico.

Our choices of decaf from Café Moto are the French Roast or the dark, moody, screw the rainy day Espresso Moto whole bean Dark Roast.   At the counter, we ordered 3 shot (decaf Espresso) Macchiato in an 8 ounce cup for as close to the full Monty as we can get and still be able to drive home.   OK, cool the drama.  Bottom line is load up Café Moto’s decaf beans and you will have big flavor and no jitters.

But, if you’re a wuss, Café Moto stout roasts may not be your cup of java—decaf or regular.

The retail side of Cafe Moto

Another beauty shot from the Internet.

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