It is a wonderful thing to live in an era that has both great coffee and the boundless range of the Internet.

Having a daughter who works as a barista in Sacramento nicely complements my coffee interest. When we get together, we visit the capital city’s better coffee houses.

On this particular afternoon, it was a toss-up: Naked Lounge in mid-town or Temple in downtown. Since we’d done Naked Lounge three visits running, I opted for Temple.

Napa has nothing like Temple. It is to coffee houses what Opus One is to wineries. Higher prices, a conveyed sense that here is served the nectar of the gods.

Temple is the creation of Sean Kohmescher, an intense young man with a passion for java perfection. Two years ago he converted a former bookstore on a seedy block near the capitol into a gathering spot for those who worship the bean.

Temple’s coffees are organic, fair trade, ground to order. There’s always fresh art on the walls. The music tends toward jazz and world beats. Kohmescher, who heads the California chapter of the Barista Guild of America, watches over things with an eagle eye.

Jenny ordered for the two of us. Two single shot cappuccinos, please.

Temple had added a wrinkle since our last visit. Cappuccinos no longer came a standard way. We had to pick from a list of exotic beans.

The barista rattled off four or five choices. None of them registered on my unprepared brain.

Jenny asked the barista for a recommendation. He suggested the Brazil Camocin Peaberry. A hint of hibiscus sweetness, strong acidity, the intense flavor of dried fruit.

Was he serious? This sounded like wine speak.

When the barista delivered our cappuccinos, they were drop-dead gorgeous. Abstract images had been woven into the perfectly foamed milk.

Drink in hand, I began walking to the condiment counter to douse my cappuccino with sugar. A single packet of Sugar in the Raw normally does the trick.

Seeing what I was up to, the alarmed barista called out to me. My cappuccino needed no adulteration. It was perfect the way it was, he said.

I turned around. Excuse me?

The owner joined in. At least taste it first, he said. The milk and the peaberry bean were chosen to deliver a delicate natural sweetness.

This was surreal. Two horrified coffee purists were imploring me not to crack open a Sugar in the Raw. Is this what our national obsession with gourmet coffees has come to?

Not wanting to needlessly displease, I lifted the cup to my lips and took the smallest of sips. The Brazil Camocin Peaberry had the strangest flavor of any espresso I’d ever tasted. On first blush, more peculiar than pleasing.

Meanwhile, the barista and the owner continued staring at me. They were waiting for me to see the error of my ways and step away from the sugar.

I sipped a second time. They were right. This cappuccino was special. All it lacked was Sugar in the Raw. I cracked open a packet and let the brown granules pour.

The owner and the barista now averted their gaze. I had become a pariah, a philistine who insisted on having his $3 cappuccino his way.

I huddled on a black leather couch with Jenny. What the heck just happened? Do Kohmescher and his barista do this to all their customers?

Jenny said she would never ambush a customer this way, but Temple is different. Coffee is a religion here, she said.

Recalling the Soup Nazi episode of “Seinfeld,” we agreed that Temple had become a nest of coffee Nazis.

The ironic thing, Jenny said, is that a lot of savvy coffee people would have rejected the barista’s recommendation of Brazil Camocin Peaberry. The roast was too light for a traditional cappuccino, she said.

A little later Kohmescher walked by. He was still stewing. Some Temple aficionados drive 60 miles to drink one of his celestially wonderful cappuccinos, he said.

Later, when I disappeared to the bathroom, he continued to process my sugar faux paux with Jenny. He compared Temple to a four-star restaurant. If the chef serves the main course with the expectation that it be consumed as is, it would be churlish to ask for a salt shaker, he said.

Who knew? My barista thinks of himself as Thomas Keller.

I’ve been asking myself if I will go back to Temple. Sure I will. The coffees are generally spectacular, the ambiance is the best.

And best of all, they don’t charge extra for the attitude.

Kevin can be reached at 256-2217 or Napa Valley Register,  P.O. Box 150, Napa 94559 or kcourtney@napanews.com