- Since I was a little
kid my dad has always had
an espresso machine in the house.
If I go to a house and they
don't have an espresso machine
I feel like it's weird.
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I was born in Rome.
I would drink fresh-squeezed juice, my dad
would have an espresso.
If I would have a sandwich,
he would have an espresso.
And it was always like,
low pastry and espresso.
My dad has moved our family
through different countries
multiple times, and, without
knowing the language,
without having any kind
of real career path
of what he wanted to
do or what he could do,
and it didn't matter what was
going on, we were always first
for each other.
All it took was her to say,
"Hey, listen, I'm moving
"to the U.S. and there's an
opportunity with school.",
and my dad just dropped
everything, sold whatever we had,
got our stuff, came here.
I heard about specialty coffee
kind of having this traction.
You know what, I think that
this is the next step, and
I think we can do it.
Dialog Cafe started in 2007.
Every single morning there's a routine.
We open up the shop, but
before the door opens, always,
me and the barista that's on
the bar, we actually taste
espresso together.
Could you imagine getting
somebody else's palate to be
kind of like yours.
We'll tweak the fineness,
we'll get everything going,
and finally, this is our
shot, this is what's good.
And that's what we'll
start pulling on the bar
until my dad comes.
When he walks in the door,
you better pull his espresso.
He'll look at it, he'll look
at the cream, 'cause still have
toothpaste in your mouth, drink
some orange juice, what're
you guys doing, because this
espresso is not what we want.
They'll look at my dad and
like, "Yo, this old man's crazy,
"like, he doesn't know
what he's talking about."
And it's very frustrating
and I see a lot of baristas
struggle with this because,
you know, it's that love
and that passion that kinda
says, "Okay, like don't get
"frustrated, what do we
need to do, let's adjust it,
"let's tweak it, let's get
it so we're all happy."
It's like clockwork every
single morning, it's the exact
same thing, like, the routine,
he looks at the color,
he goes, "Okay, good job."
And because that's Italian,
that's the way it has to be,
there's no other way of doing it.
There's a wider selection
of flavor notes in coffee
than there is in wine.
I have some really talented
baristas that literally,
we can pull five espressos,
side-by-side, different times,
different second, different
dose, different extractions,
we'll count to three, and we'll point
to the same espresso cup.
And when you're pulling
a shot, it's kind-of like
a science experiment every single time.
Depending on the temperature,
the humidity, the timing
of the day, the roast of
the coffee, the freshness,
will change the flavor of your coffee.
If you put your love
in what you do, really,
that's what makes it so delicious.
I feel like a cafe or you
coffee shop is a reflection
of the character of who's in it.
Every single one of our staff,
you will know that they're
super, super passionate
about what they do.
My cooks, when they're
cooking, Sunday morning,
they're singing.
They're singing whatever
song in whatever language,
they're singing.
And my baristas, they geek
out, they take pictures
of their lattes, and I think
that just kind-of is contagious
to everybody around you.
And I think that really
comes back to the roots
of how we started as a family.
Bringing people together or
just making people feel happy
and comfortable, I think
that's what coffee really gives
everybody, and just having
good espresso is awesome.
But you know the day that
you have a great espresso
just makes your day.
I don't know what in your life
you can do so much and still
surprise yourself on certain
days when it's amazing.
Espresso does that for me.
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