Dogwood Coffee Co. in Calhoun Square

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

“With the momentum we have at Calhoun Square, we will be opening another shop,” says Greg Hoyt, owner of the newly opened Dogwood Coffee Co., which features state-of-the-art equipment and competition-level baristas. The November 4th opening of his first retail store inside Rustica Bakery was the catalyst that led Hoyt to sell Bull Run Roasting Company and enter into the new direct-to-consumer coffee company.

“Dogwood was borne from the baristas that were present at the beginning of the Rustica shop,” says Hoyt. Relying on key people like Stephanie Ratanas, formerly of Metropolis Coffee Company, Hoyt and his partner Dan Anderson have been able to provide a coffee experience that can only be found at high-end, quality-focused shops like Black Sheep Coffee Cafe or Kopplin’s Coffee.

Pour over coffee
Kate N.G. Sommers/Heavy Table

Competition-level baristas combined with high-quality green beans and progressive roasting techniques have created the high-end specialty coffee that is Dogwood Coffee Co. Baristas brew regular coffee on a Clover — the most expensive coffee brewer in the world — and make espresso drinks using a Nuova Simonelli Aurelia. The Aurelia is the official espresso machine of the World Barista Championship, giving Dogwood Coffee Co. baristas the opportunity to hone their skills on the same machine that they will use in competition.

Espresso Pull
Kate N.G. Sommers/The Heavy Table

Drinks created at Dogwood are made with extra care as the beans used are sourced from high-end importers like Ninety Plus Coffee and Exclusive Coffees. A premium is paid for these beans due to the care that is taken at the origin and in the transportation of the beans. Espresso brewed from this top-notch coffee is served with side of sparkling water drawn from a tap in the counter. The sparkling water is meant to cleanse your palate, allowing you to taste the intricate flavors and nuances. The espresso ($2) has a heavy and syrupy body with a bright caramel and floral taste.

Dogwood Cappuccino
Kate N.G. Sommers/Heavy Table

The coffee is roasted light, a technique used by progressive specialty roasters to allow the natural taste of the coffee to come out in the cup rather than the taste of the roast. The Ethiopia Nekisse brewed on the Clover has a clean taste — the sweet fruit and chamomile flavors that are natural to the cup are prominent and easily recognizable. From the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, the Nekisse is a coffee that is dried naturally under the supervision of Ninety Plus Coffee, one of the premier green bean importers in the country. The natural processing allows the skins of the coffee cherries to dry on the bean before being removed, causing the tastes of the fruit to be transferred to the bean and, inevitably, into the cup.

Dogwood Coffee Pour Over
Kate N.G. Sommers/Heavy Table

The altitude, soil type, and green bean storage method are also included under a small description of the coffee. For Hoyt this isn’t meant to overwhelm his customers, but rather to encourage them to ask questions and to look deeper into the coffee they are drinking. With restaurants like Heartland, Alma, and Corner Table now carrying Dogwood coffee, there is no question that Hoyt has started a discussion about coffee that is on the cutting edge.

Kate N.G. Sommers/Heavy Table

Dogwood Coffee Co.

3001 Hennepin Ave S [inside Calhoun Square, across from Kitchen Window]
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612.202.8986
HOURS:
Sun 9am-6pm
Mon-Fri 6:30am-9pm
Sat 9am-6pm
OWNER: Greg Hoyt and Dan Anderson

12 Comments

  1. Shawn Person

    **I work at “high-end specialty coffee” shop in St. Paul. I like Dogwood and think very highly of the baristas who work there. The tone of this blog entry is unsettling to me.**

    This whole blog entry reeks of a press release. Was this sponsored?

    The baristas are all fantastic and deserving of high-fives though “competition-level barista” is a meaningless term for the following reasons: Starbucks baristas have competed in the past, all you have to do is sign-up and pay a fee, and Dogwood baristas have yet to compete (though I’m positive they’ll do well when they do).

    The WBC-spec Nuova Simonelli is a top of the line machine but they had the best SPONSORSHIP package for the World Barista Championship. It’s no better or worse than the Synesso at Jack’s Cafe or La Marzocco at People’s Organic Coffee.

    Progressive roasting techniques? That’s a new one.

    I could go on and on and on.

    (I’m super thrilled that Eddie was around for the photos. He doesn’t get enough credit for what Dogwood does well. Eddie is mos def “cutting edge”.)

  2. artsy

    any mention of fair trade here or organic or sustainability? doesn’t seem like it, I agree there is a lot of ego in this writeup.

  3. Eric Faust

    The article was not a press release, but rather a passionate rant in praise of a company that is progressive. Yes, it is easy to enter the WBC, but Dogwood Coffee Co. is training baristas that understand how to brew espresso and steam milk in a way that will do well in competition. I am a certified United States Barista Competition Judge and am impressed with technique of the baristas and the quality of their product.

    The Simonelli machine is much more than a sponsorship package. While at the WBC head judge training at the Counter Culture Headquarters in Atlanta I had the opportunity to brew on the Simonelli, take it apart and grill representatives flown in from Italy. The Simonelli has group head temperature stabilization that is cutting edge and pre infusion technique that is extremely progressive. Their competitors like Synesso and La Marzocco are certainly well deserving, but the Simonelli machine should not be seen as inferior.

    Dogwood has also done a great job of discovering roasting techniques that are progressive. Stephanie has trained with Marty Curtis who is one of the leading experts on roasters and roasting. She has traveled to origin and in tasting her coffee is obviously searching after well process coffees that perform well with a lighter roast finishing shortly after the first crack.

    As for Fair Trade and Organic, Ninety-Plus Coffee speaks for itself. Joseph Brodsky one of the founders of Ninety-Plus Coffee has led the industry in Ethiopian coffee traveling to Ethiopia more than any one in the industry and working closely with specific farms to develop processing and growing techniques. His understanding of soil type, terroir, processing and importing is some of the most progressive in the industry and the price paid to the farmer is far greater than fair trade.

    I do not work for these companies and my intention was not to write a press release. It is simply important to me that the story is told for the people who are bringing great coffee to Minnesota.

  4. J

    This article seems just like one of those MSP Mag “Best Of Awards”. We all know what those are. Must of been a slow week around the Heavy Table. As for the Aurelia, can someone say SCAA kickback. Now, if you were talking about an Elektra Sixties or Faema e61 Legend, or how about a Arduino Athena Lever machine. Now that’s sexy! You know something… unique.

  5. pH

    Dogwood is one of the newest examples of how far coffee artistry has come in the past few years. I am an enormous fan of what they do there. I ALSO love Black Sheep, Quixotic, Angry Catfish and of course Kopplin’s. There are many choices for coffee lovers today.

    But is it too much to allow someone to be enthusiastically praised without jealous hating and accusations of conspiracy?

  6. Rachel

    As a barista at Dogwood, just want to throw out the following:

    If I had a dime for every time we raved about/sent people to Kopplins, The Angry Catfish, Quixotic, or The Blacksheep, or chatted people’s ears off about origin and the hard work done by the talented farms we are lucky enough to work with, I could probably buy my own Simonelli. If anything, we do all we can to support coffee knowledge and other coffee shops in Mpls/St Paul. As far as I’m concerned, anything nice said about one of the specialty shops anywhere in the area is a great boost for everybody. We all share in a more informed/enlightened population.

    There’s no snobbery happening at Dogwood. We just love coffee and love to talk about it. One of the things that enriches the coffee world is a variety of experiences/opinions. It doesn’t seem to me like a nice article about Dogwood needs to bring anybody else down.

    Also, nothing spreads coffee awareness like all those dreamy pics of Eddie. ;)

  7. John

    Stopped in for a cup of their la illusion finally, high expectations. Expensive, brewed weak and don’t see what all the hype was for here?? not impressed at all.

Comments are closed.