Palpung Institute, Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India

Setting:

The cafe in the hotel ground floor is equipped with a La Scala dual head espresso machine, accompanied by a La Scala grinder. The espresso bar itself is elevated within a spacious, marble-floored room with very comfortable chairs.

While happily kept warm, the cups are unfortunately of a single size- large. While this may suit the Americano drinker, it is unfortunate for espresso, cordato, flat white, macchiato....etc.

Coffee:

Upon entering the cafe, we found the grind to be excessively coarse. The friendly staff allowed us to adjust the setting and test several shots to become familiar with the espresso machine. A superb cordato was produced upon the third experimental iteration and was declared syrupey and chocalatey- a great result from Devan's blend.

We hope that if we return, the steam wand will be clean and free of caked milk.