Serrano Social Club - Modesto CA

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lm1azgs7wy1qzx47co1_400.png" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; width: 357px; height: 461px; float: left; margin: 5px 10px;" />One of the most exciting trends in coffee for me is the unexpected and one of those is little shops popping up in places you would normally not expect to get good coffee. Serrano Social Club is part of this growing trend being located in Modesto CA, which if you don't know is located in California's Central Valley right along the Highway 99 that divides the valley into two. This past weekend I had the chance to visit this little shop and if you happen to be passing through over the holidays and need a good pick me up I would suggest a stop. (The shop is about 5 minutes off the freeway)

I first became aware of the Serrano Social Club by a feature that was done on the shop's owner Tony Serrano in Barista Magazine about six months ago. The feature largely talks about Tony's personal experiences with coffee and his past experience opening a shop in Arizona that he was eventually forced out due to a difference of opinion over the coffee. And of course his relationship with the primary roaster for Serrano Social Club, Barefoot Coffee Roasters out of San Jose CA.

As you may have gleamed the Serrano Social Club does not roast their own beans, rather they source them from Barefoot and then have a rotating roaster. I like this set-up as a customer, I can have what I normally expect from them and then on the other hand can try something new when the mood strikes. On my recent visit they had Temple Coffee from Sacramento as their guest roaster for their pour over station I believe. On this visit I focused in on the espresso side of things.

My order was an espresso and a latte to go. I believe that Barefoots Malacara 7 was being used as a single origin espresso that day and my espresso was that of bright citrus. The citrus was all I could taste, however not in the bad way that you might think of an overbearing citrus but rather exciting. I can only describe the shot as fizzing down my throat like pop rocks, rather amazing really.

The latte on the other hand was not my favorite. The espresso was swallowed up in the milk of a 12 oz to go cup. All I could taste was butter, none of the citrus of the espresso that I got in the straight shot. However as far as milk goes it was really good and silky.

As far as the shop itself, it's rather small located on a downtown street however there is a loft above the main floor that allowsfor additional seating and there were quite a few people that were there when I came to visit on that mild Sunday afternoon.

Also be sure to admire the customized La Marzocco GS2 done by Espresso Part for the store, it's a beauty!