If there’s a stain on town of Houston—humidity and site visitors excluded—it’s the Astros. A metal drum band masquerading as knowledgeable baseball workforce, the Astros are a bunch of pusillanimous cheaters who’ve introduced nothing however disgrace (and ill-gotten championships) to what’s in any other case the best metropolis in Texas. Their timorous structure alone would implode the Astrodome had been cowards nonetheless allowed on such hallowed grounds. (Enjoyable truth: they didn’t put a roof on Minute Maid Park as a result of architects couldn’t give you a construction robust sufficient to resist the interior strain from how arduous the Astros suck.)

And so it’s with nice resignation—and honesty a degree of integrity that I wouldn’t count on a company as craven because the Astros to know—that I need to report that Houston Astros catcher César Salazar runs a extremely good espresso Instagram.

Now, to be truthful, to Salazar and to myself, the Sonoran-born catcher didn’t first be a part of the workforce till 2023, after the workforce’s dastardliest of deeds had been made public (and wrists slapped with essentially the most inflexible feather duster MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred may discover on the novelty store). So till knowledgeable in any other case, Salazar can nonetheless be thought-about among the many realm of Good Folks.

Having just lately been known as up from the Triple-A Sugar Land House Cowboys—which is an objectively good identify for a sports activities workforce, even when their emblem doesn’t maintain a candle to the Teddy Roosevelt theme of the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders—Salazar has spent fairly a little bit of time on the highway this season, the place he has been recording all his espresso stops on his account @Sally.Sips.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, his obsession with espresso is pretty latest although, beginning solely final yr after fellow (and former) House Cowboy Austin Davis took him to a neighborhood specialty cafe, the place Salazar had his aha second with a pour-over and “was shocked to style notes of orange and chocolate.”

“I believed, ‘Oh, that is how good espresso tastes,’ And [Davis] is like, ‘Yeah, you’ve acquired to go to completely different espresso retailers and take a look at completely different strategies. And also you’ll style the completely different notes. So I simply began paying loads of consideration to… this espresso has lemon citrus and caramel notes, or chocolate and almond notes, and sipping on it slowly to see if I can style that notice.”

 

In June, he began his Instagram account—that’s run by his sister again in Mexico—and it has already racked up a powerful listing of espresso retailers Salazar has visited in its three months of existence. Ghost Word in Seattle, Three Pines in Salt Lake Metropolis, Bluebeard in Tacoma, the recently-opened NYC by way of London export WatchHouse, Spyhouse in Minneapolis, and naturally BlendIn in Houston, house of US Brewers Cup champion Weihong Zhang, simply to call a couple of.

Salazar tells the Chronicle that’s favourite spot to date has been his first cease, at Caffe d’Bolla in Salt Lake. “I purchased a $50 shot of espresso that modified my life… I mentioned, ‘Hey, simply give me no matter, no matter you advocate.’ And he goes, ‘Do you want cigars? And do you want vanilla?’ I mentioned, ‘Certain.’ He whips the espresso shot and offers it to me and it actually tastes like a vanilla cigar.” (Regardless of my eyes eager to come out of my cranium on the considered a $50 espresso being the primary response to a buyer asking for a suggestion, it’s nonetheless promising that such a price ticket for a espresso isn’t handled as a punchline however as an affordable shorthand for one thing uncommon and worthwhile.)

And Salazar’s espresso obsession has taken over his countertop. Chasing down the right cortado—his favourite drinks—Salazar’s house setup has grown to incorporate a Breville espresso machine, a Varia VS3 grinder, a v60 for pour-over, and a hand grinder for good measure.

The 28 yr previous is the most recent, however definitely not the primary, Astros participant to let his espresso freak flag fly. Famous signal fanatic and co-owner of Houston’s nice board sport cafe Coral Sword Hunter Pence travelogued his espresso journeys along with his spouse Lexi on their YouTube channel close to the tail finish of his enjoying profession. (Pence wasn’t on the Astros throughout their extra livid rule-bending, so he’s cool too.)

Fortunately for Salazar and Salazar alone, the Astros have all however punched their ticket to the postseason, granting him extra journey time to discover new cafes. Future stops may doubtlessly embrace nice espresso cities like New York, Boston, or Kansas Metropolis. Perhaps even Philly or Los Angeles if there is no such thing as a god.

I’m rooting for you, Sally. Largely to play for a special workforce in order that I can root for you in earnest. However rooting nonetheless.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Community and a workers author primarily based in Dallas. Learn extra Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.