The image is here. The place is in the tawny side of what was, at one time, the seedy underbelly of San Antonio. Any place with a $7 cup of coffee isn’t “seedy,” or even remotely “dive-like” in ambience.
What was good, the coffee was a mild roast, the espresso was frothy, with a decent head, and the lemon peel was replaced by a lemon wedge.
- “What’s the lemon for?”
In its finest form, espresso — a single shot of espresso — should be served with a lemon twist. That’s a piece of lemon rind, carefully carved off a fresh lemon. No lemon juice, just oil from the lemon’s skin.
The purpose of the lemon oil is to cut the old-school espresso’s bitter edge.
I ran the lemon wedge, skin-side down, around the espresso cup, demonstrating.
- “Oh, that’s good.”
Really.