I paid out the ass for Kopi Luak, which is a Sumatran coffee that is harvested by feeding the coffee cherry fruit to luak (palm civet) and waiting for it to shit. The luak turds are picked by the villagers. The odor kopi luak produces while roasting dramatically reminds us of its intestinal journey from fruit to bean, the taste in the cup does not. I'm not a fan of Sumatra, but I will always gladly partake in drinking some luak shit water! Yes! $300 a pound.
yeah someone bump that rat shit coffee thread we had some months back. that was a good thread.
I've been drinking coffee, professionally, for over twenty years
There's a way in which Bam says this that translates into: "all the rest of you are a bunch of Folgers-sipping-batches so STFU and learn you something."
You got it all fucked up. It was more like, "I could talk about this shit all day." I welcome 50 pages of heated coffee debate.
Here's one. World's Worst Coffee: Canada's Tim Horton.
I've been drinking coffee, professionally, for over twenty years
There's a way in which Bam says this that translates into: "all the rest of you are a bunch of Folgers-sipping-batches so STFU and learn you something."
You got it all fucked up. It was more like, "I could talk about this shit all day." I welcome 50 pages of heated coffee debate.
Here's one. World's Worst Coffee: Canada's Tim Horton.
(no offense Aser)
Sayin' Bam - your post was the coffee equivalent of:
"I use Stark Reality for beandip, Boscoes as trivets. You say you just heard an Alvin Cash 45 with a 'break'? Do tell."
Ya know, I messed around with the La Pavoni every morning for a year:
But to tell the truth, I never quite got the shots where I wanted them. By the time I got enough pressure up for a decent pull, the temperature would be too high and burn the shot. Switching beans/roasts helped but I couldn't ever nail it.
Any on what I was missing? My machine is still in storage somewhere.
I've been drinking coffee, professionally, for over twenty years
There's a way in which Bam says this that translates into: "all the rest of you are a bunch of Folgers-sipping-batches so STFU and learn you something."
You got it all fucked up. It was more like, "I could talk about this shit all day." I welcome 50 pages of heated coffee debate.
Here's one. World's Worst Coffee: Canada's Tim Horton.
(no offense Aser)
Sayin' Bam - your post was the coffee equivalent of:
"I use Stark Reality for beandip, Boscoes as trivets. You say you just heard an Alvin Cash 45 with a 'break'? Do tell."
Sayin' - you harping on it is the forum equivalent of: "Hey Dante.. Dante... Hey, it's me, that guy that PMed you about those funk 45s you played three years ago. I still need to identify 32 of the 38 tracks I asked about originally. Holler back, my nizzle!"
Perhaps it's time to look inward and see what's at the heart of your tepid taste in coffee.
Does anyone else roast their own coffee beans? I had a job as a coffee roaster for three months and became addicted to really fresh roasted coffee. I have a little machine that roasts enough to last us about three days. I get to experiment with all kinds of exotic coffee: Zimbabwean, Kenyan, Indian, all kinds of Central and South American. And the green (unroasted) coffee beans usually cost 4 or 5 dollars a pound. So far as brewing, french press or espresso machine seem the best, but I enjoy coffee made all kinds of ways. Sometimes I have a real craving for the Vietnamese style dripped into sweetened condensed milk, for which I roast up an extra dark roast and add a little bit of chicory when I grind.
This is the machine that I have. There are many other options available, but this works for me. I do wish that I could roast more at a time. I have a plan to convert my gas barbecue into a drum roaster by using a rotisserie attachment and a peforated metal drum. This would be able to do about four pounds at a time. The smell of coffee roasting is actually a little different than the smell of coffee brewing, there is an almost burnt toast smell, but I find it quite pleasant. There is some craft to roasting it right. Underoasted coffee will have a sour taste and overroasted coffee will taste like Starbucks.
A friend of mine has been telling me I need to throw out Mr. Coffee and get with one of these... that I am ruining perfectly good beans and H2O. The brewing process seems pretty involved for someone (myself) who does not teach total brain funtion until about 3PM though.
There seems to be a consensus amongst coffee snobs that most home coffee machines don't get the water hot enough to extract all of the flavor from the ground coffee. Therefore pour over coffee brewers (where the water is heated on the stove) or french press tend to be preferred. But if you like the coffee you make then who gives a fuck what coffee snobs think.
But if you like the coffee you make then who gives a fuck what coffee snobs think.
I STRIVE FOR TOTAL SNOBDOM IN LIFE
Seriously though, I have a friend that works in a coffee shop who visits a couple times a year and when he makes coffee using some fancy non-drip hoo-doo method it is magical. So, I have tasted the green green grass on the other side of the fence. I just fear I will burn down my apartment if I attempt to operate my stove that early in the morning.
I'm not a fan of Sumatra, but I will always gladly partake in drinking some luak shit water! Yes! $300 a pound.
Sitting in my living room, in the dark, I laughed my ass off at this. Thank you, sirrah.
At home, we go with the drip on the regular. Make it fairly strong, but with beans that are not roasted too heavily. The wife doesn't like the burnt/wild tastes that come from the dark roast. True confessions: We usually use 8 o clock coffee whole bean. It gets the job done, but it is not sublime. Wife likes it, and really, it's not something I want to fight with her about. I tend to get coffee that's more ethically sourced (organic, fair trade, farmer direct, etc.) when I get the coffee, but she never likes it as well.
And really, I have never been one to make much of a fetish out of my coffee, though - I just want a good, caffeinated, tasty cup most of the time. In fact, for many years, I was completely, ardently anti-fetish. Fastforward to January 2005. My wife is just barely pregnant with our daughter, and I travel to Seattle for MLK weekend to hang out with my stalwart digging partner, the likes of which you would go down coon dog cemetary road and back again with, and tell him the wonderful news.
Now seattle, well, you know Seattle. They take their coffee with a fetish. He takes me to his favorite coffee shop, the name of which I never knew, and I waltz in and order "large coffee for here please." Bepierced barrista behind the counter looks me dead in the eye, "We don't have drip coffee."
"Oh no? No drip coffee, eh?" And I'm thinking to myself that this is one of those crunchy-yuppie-faggoty (yes homo) coffee places that I just hate, where people don't want a cup of coffee they want a coffee experience which is not at all my steez. "What's the kind of average drink that I should order that is like your equivalent of drip coffee? Would that be a latte? Or something else?"
Dude is getting pissed at me, his piercings might pop. "Probably a latte." So that's what I order. And they do it up with the art foam on top and serve it to me with no more attitude than I put up when I ordered it. Maybe less.
And that latte changed my life. It was the single best cup of coffee I had ever had, with the steamed milk perfectly integrated together with the coffee, the foam resting lovingly atop the brew, providing a little insulation so it stays warmer than I would expect down to the last sip or two. I've been fiending for it ever since.
Starbucks: horrible, always always always tastes burnt to me. I'll order it from time to time, but I generally stay away on both taste and ethical grounds.
CHICAGO: Get yr asses up to Metropolis on Granville. Best baristas and espresso drinks in town. (And that includes intelligentsia.)
MISSOURI: Please don't do what I did the other week and order the coffee at the break time. I don't care how desperate you are. It tastes like I imagine the luak shit water tastes (though it and 2 stale krispy kremes from the case is only $2). Kaldi's is the best coffee locally, but if you want the turkish ish, go to coffee zone.
ITALY: Just get the espresso, or maybe the macchiato if you like a little milk. Perfection.
Fetish or no fetish, some coffee is definitely better than others. JRoot
Q: What's your favorite mass market coffee? (Not just for Bam, for whoever to answer)
I will say Starbucks deserves all the hate they get. Their coffee blows.
2nd Q: Peet's = overrated?
Discuss.
well what's "mass market"? in SF the only coffee spots that exist in volume are Starbucks, Pete's and Coffee Bean. And while there's maybe 50 Starbucks, there's prolly only 10-20 Pete's and only like 4-5 Coffee Bean (am I missing one?)
...so Peet's is just about as "mass market" as it gets in my city and I think for "mass market" it's damn good coffee. but I must qualify my remarks by saying I only ever get one item (double espresso black). so I don't have a whole lot to go on.
but yeah Starbucks has far better music than coffee. (yeah that just happened).
But if you like the coffee you make then who gives a fuck what coffee snobs think.
I STRIVE FOR TOTAL SNOBDOM IN LIFE
Seriously though, I have a friend that works in a coffee shop who visits a couple times a year and when he makes coffee using some fancy non-drip hoo-doo method it is magical. So, I have tasted the green green grass on the other side of the fence. I just fear I will burn down my apartment if I attempt to operate my stove that early in the morning.
You should try french press, only burn danger is when you boil the water. Only way you can mess it up is if you let it steep for too long and make it bitter. French presses are really cheap when you consider the amazing cup of coffee that they make. Impress the ladies with the romance of making coffee french[/b] style. And when the family is over tell them its a "freedom" press and they will never know what a frou-frou you secretly are.
dollar_binI heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
Does anyone else roast their own coffee beans? I had a job as a coffee roaster for three months and became addicted to really fresh roasted coffee.
This is a dark road I've been meaning to travel for some time now. My issue is that I don't make coffee at home often enough so the half pound of roasted beans I keep around noticeably degrades in quality by the time I'm done. How well do green beans keep?
Allegro is nice, widely distributed, has a general population pleasing variety. But it depends on where you shop, as different stores tend to stick to one distributor.
2nd Q: Peet's = overrated?
Ross Hogg will feed you that shit about, "They're buying in, not selling out." But I say fuck 'em in the eye. Fuck 'em, that is, unless you're at the airport, then all bets are off. I would rather drink antifreeze before I drink airplane coffee. Very few things are worse than airplane coffee. And airport coffee is just as gross except you get to drink in on the ground. Peet's, in those cases, is a welcome relief.
I once shared a coffee with Walter Cronkite. 4am, JFK: me and the Cronk getting it done on Peet's.
I will say Starbucks deserves all the hate they get. Their coffee blows.
Fuck them as well. Use only in emergencies. I'd gladly go anywhere else (except Tim Hortons) before Starbucks.
Snapping: Bravo! I like this Weber-turned-roaster idea!
Crink: Which part of the hippie glass and tasseled wood vibe seems more complicated than operating a Mr. Coffee?
My father always made his coffee with Cona machines, with the little spirit burner under the reservoir. Beautiful machines and great coffee but what a pain in the arse it was.
These days I love the coffee that this thing makes. Best kitchen investment I ever made. I don't do breakfast in the morning, just coffee and I'm kind of fussy.
Foe everyday brews I use Lavazza gold.
billbradleyYou want BBQ sauce? Get the fuck out of my house. 2,914 Posts
I started brewing in my Bodum French Press every morning at work. This one has a rubber sleeve which is nice. I bought it to use while camping but use it at the office now. I like it because I can microwave the beaker of water to get it boiling before I brew.
The gaggia machines came highly recommended to me, the Carezza machine I posted above has basically the same guts as their more expensive units for about 2 bills, pretty nice if you can deal with the pseudo-modern plastic styling on the outside. I prefer the classic look, but I'm holding out until I can afford the twin....
The spot I mentioned above in NY, Joe, gets all their beans from here , and I grab some fresh roastd beans every 10 days or so when im grabbing a cup . Once you go for the fresh jawns, the vacuum packed just doesnt cut it. Got some illy beans from gf's parents for christmas, and they only made it out of th cupboard once....
french press all the way when it comes to non-espresso cups. i had the best french press experience with this dini who i had an all-night affair with. woke up, took shower, when i was done the coffee was just about ready. still only in a towel i got handed a cup, put on a shirt and grabbed a smoke and went for the balcony. maaaaaaaaad relaxing, the cool 8am air sitting there after a night of fun drinkin, coffee in hand, and a smoke in the other with the city bustling below. that my friend, is a mental vacation.
last coffee shop i went to was called Oslo in williamsburg. first off, i really hate that neighborhood with a passion and felt like an outsider. the patrons were what you expect from that backwards ass part of bk. as for the coffee, wasn't too bad of a taste. maybe their soy milk (nohomo, lactose-intol) is ice cold, cause the temp of the coffee was just "warm" so that had me disappointed. but whatever, it was recommened to me by my friend who's studio i was visiting. i think i shoulda gone to the coffee spot right on his corner (hope st) cause there were a couple dini's chillin in there.
i got so many good cups when i was in europe it's pointless to name.
funny i did get some really great tasting drip coffee at red ribbon in JC. their coffee goes great with an ensaimada. rtad...real talk all day
this thread's got some good info that i'm usually not too up on you know. i drink coffee everyday and have always been searchin for the perfect cup a la gaffler bambata. thanks for all the info some of you have dropped.
Ross Hogg will feed you that shit about, "They're buying in, not selling out." But I say fuck 'em in the eye.
Ha! Catch Bammers coppin' the two-pound pack on Bay visits.
And what, dude? You got no love for Philz? You were totally right about Oren's in Manhattan, by the way. That was a damn fine cup.
Just to chime in on earlier comments: Mrs. Hogg and I just returned from Italy, where we had 3-4 espresso drinks a day. I'd have a straight espresso, sometimes a macchiato (Italian for "spotted" because of the "spot" of milk), but more often than not, I'd order a doppio cappuccino, which was always perfect:
But it was more than just the fact that all those folks just knew how to make a good cup; it was all the little things. Namely, that you get it in a porcelain coffee cup with a little metal spoon, not a paper cup and a wooden stick. I never realized how much that bummed me out until I came back to the States, although it was nice to come home to large mugs of regular coffee, something I grew to miss in my two weeks away.
Nothing, however, compares to the perfection of a caf?? con leche from pretty much any place in Spain. I'd fly back just for 6 of those a day.
The gaggia machines came highly recommended to me, the Carezza machine I posted above has basically the same guts as their more expensive units for about 2 bills, pretty nice if you can deal with the pseudo-modern plastic styling on the outside. I prefer the classic look, but I'm holding out until I can afford the twin....
The spot I mentioned above in NY, Joe, gets all their beans from here , and I grab some fresh roastd beans every 10 days or so when im grabbing a cup . Once you go for the fresh jawns, the vacuum packed just doesnt cut it. Got some illy beans from gf's parents for christmas, and they only made it out of th cupboard once....
Fresh ground is where it's at but since I'm banned from using the grinder at 6.30am I have to go with the ready-ground. I generally buy beans about once a month and keep em freezy.
i dont think peets is overrated. i do however think the quality decreases as the shops move further out from berkeley. for example, the larchmont peets, closest peets to me in LA, waters their coffee down in the afternoon and the service is really really slow.
there are a couple of coffee spots in LA that i love. and they are not foofie bongwater shots or whatever that shit is.
antigua coffee, which is a local coffee spot in el sereno. they are family owned and operated. they own their own coffee plantation in guatemala. they have recently expanded into highland park i believe and i really like how they are a part of the community that they are in. this is my favorite spot and i will ride for these folks til i die.
milk. its on beverly in weho i think. but its good. and they make their own bonbons and drumstick ice cream things which are ok. but the coffee is excellent.
urth. its alright. not worth the trouble though. if i go, its at like 7am cuz i really really hate that part of town. i saw theyre opening yet another one downtown. in the "loft" area. go figure!
here's my question. VN coffee. discuss. sometimes its just too sweet and burnt for me.
Comments
this stuff to be exact:
it's all we had handy at the time.
yeah someone bump that rat shit coffee thread we had some months back. that was a good thread.
You got it all fucked up. It was more like, "I could talk about this shit all day." I welcome 50 pages of heated coffee debate.
Here's one. World's Worst Coffee: Canada's Tim Horton.
(no offense Aser)
cosign on the bodum. i swear by it as well.
also down with this coffee:
Asbury Park Roastery
good coffee, good price, good people.
Every morning....
Also, New York heads get familiar...
Sayin' Bam - your post was the coffee equivalent of:
"I use Stark Reality for beandip, Boscoes as trivets. You say you just heard an Alvin Cash 45 with a 'break'? Do tell."
But to tell the truth, I never quite got the shots where I wanted them. By the time I got enough pressure up for a decent pull, the temperature would be too high and burn the shot. Switching beans/roasts helped but I couldn't ever nail it.
Any on what I was missing? My machine is still in storage somewhere.
Sayin' - you harping on it is the forum equivalent of:
"Hey Dante.. Dante... Hey, it's me, that guy that PMed you about those funk 45s you played three years ago. I still need to identify 32 of the 38 tracks I asked about originally. Holler back, my nizzle!"
Perhaps it's time to look inward and see what's at the heart of your tepid taste in coffee.
:mad pedestrian graemlin:
http://espressoporn.blogspot.com/
Nothing wrong with that. A co-worker swears by Joe, and I quite like when he's in charge of bringing the morning coffee.
My mom had one of these when I was a kid.
frothy!
and yes, boulange's croissants are tops, tartine's is good too though
dude poast a link or picture. that sounds awesome. how much/big is it?
This is the machine that I have. There are many other options available, but this works for me. I do wish that I could roast more at a time. I have a plan to convert my gas barbecue into a drum roaster by using a rotisserie attachment and a peforated metal drum. This would be able to do about four pounds at a time.
The smell of coffee roasting is actually a little different than the smell of coffee brewing, there is an almost burnt toast smell, but I find it quite pleasant. There is some craft to roasting it right. Underoasted coffee will have a sour taste and overroasted coffee will taste like Starbucks.
A friend of mine has been telling me I need to throw out Mr. Coffee and get with one of these... that I am ruining perfectly good beans and H2O. The brewing process seems pretty involved for someone (myself) who does not teach total brain funtion until about 3PM though.
You realize I'm funnin' with you, right? I'm all about these kinds of convos. I just like the way you came into the convo.
Q: What's your favorite mass market coffee? (Not just for Bam, for whoever to answer)
I will say Starbucks deserves all the hate they get. Their coffee blows.
2nd Q: Peet's = overrated?
Discuss.
I STRIVE FOR TOTAL SNOBDOM IN LIFE
Seriously though, I have a friend that works in a coffee shop who visits a couple times a year and when he makes coffee using some fancy non-drip hoo-doo method it is magical. So, I have tasted the green green grass on the other side of the fence. I just fear I will burn down my apartment if I attempt to operate my stove that early in the morning.
Sitting in my living room, in the dark, I laughed my ass off at this. Thank you, sirrah.
At home, we go with the drip on the regular. Make it fairly strong, but with beans that are not roasted too heavily. The wife doesn't like the burnt/wild tastes that come from the dark roast. True confessions: We usually use 8 o clock coffee whole bean. It gets the job done, but it is not sublime. Wife likes it, and really, it's not something I want to fight with her about. I tend to get coffee that's more ethically sourced (organic, fair trade, farmer direct, etc.) when I get the coffee, but she never likes it as well.
And really, I have never been one to make much of a fetish out of my coffee, though - I just want a good, caffeinated, tasty cup most of the time. In fact, for many years, I was completely, ardently anti-fetish. Fastforward to January 2005. My wife is just barely pregnant with our daughter, and I travel to Seattle for MLK weekend to hang out with my stalwart digging partner, the likes of which you would go down coon dog cemetary road and back again with, and tell him the wonderful news.
Now seattle, well, you know Seattle. They take their coffee with a fetish. He takes me to his favorite coffee shop, the name of which I never knew, and I waltz in and order "large coffee for here please." Bepierced barrista behind the counter looks me dead in the eye, "We don't have drip coffee."
"Oh no? No drip coffee, eh?" And I'm thinking to myself that this is one of those crunchy-yuppie-faggoty (yes homo) coffee places that I just hate, where people don't want a cup of coffee they want a coffee experience which is not at all my steez. "What's the kind of average drink that I should order that is like your equivalent of drip coffee? Would that be a latte? Or something else?"
Dude is getting pissed at me, his piercings might pop. "Probably a latte." So that's what I order. And they do it up with the art foam on top and serve it to me with no more attitude than I put up when I ordered it. Maybe less.
And that latte changed my life. It was the single best cup of coffee I had ever had, with the steamed milk perfectly integrated together with the coffee, the foam resting lovingly atop the brew, providing a little insulation so it stays warmer than I would expect down to the last sip or two. I've been fiending for it ever since.
Starbucks: horrible, always always always tastes burnt to me. I'll order it from time to time, but I generally stay away on both taste and ethical grounds.
CHICAGO: Get yr asses up to Metropolis on Granville. Best baristas and espresso drinks in town. (And that includes intelligentsia.)
MISSOURI: Please don't do what I did the other week and order the coffee at the break time. I don't care how desperate you are. It tastes like I imagine the luak shit water tastes (though it and 2 stale krispy kremes from the case is only $2). Kaldi's is the best coffee locally, but if you want the turkish ish, go to coffee zone.
ITALY: Just get the espresso, or maybe the macchiato if you like a little milk. Perfection.
Fetish or no fetish, some coffee is definitely better than others.
JRoot
well what's "mass market"? in SF the only coffee spots that exist in volume are Starbucks, Pete's and Coffee Bean. And while there's maybe 50 Starbucks, there's prolly only 10-20 Pete's and only like 4-5 Coffee Bean (am I missing one?)
...so Peet's is just about as "mass market" as it gets in my city and I think for "mass market" it's damn good coffee. but I must qualify my remarks by saying I only ever get one item (double espresso black). so I don't have a whole lot to go on.
but yeah Starbucks has far better music than coffee. (yeah that just happened).
You should try french press, only burn danger is when you boil the water. Only way you can mess it up is if you let it steep for too long and make it bitter. French presses are really cheap when you consider the amazing cup of coffee that they make. Impress the ladies with the romance of making coffee french[/b] style. And when the family is over tell them its a "freedom" press and they will never know what a frou-frou you secretly are.
This is a dark road I've been meaning to travel for some time now. My issue is that I don't make coffee at home often enough so the half pound of roasted beans I keep around noticeably degrades in quality by the time I'm done. How well do green beans keep?
Me as well. I don't like beef in my coffee.
Allegro is nice, widely distributed, has a general population pleasing variety. But it depends on where you shop, as different stores tend to stick to one distributor.
Ross Hogg will feed you that shit about, "They're buying in, not selling out." But I say fuck 'em in the eye. Fuck 'em, that is, unless you're at the airport, then all bets are off. I would rather drink antifreeze before I drink airplane coffee. Very few things are worse than airplane coffee. And airport coffee is just as gross except you get to drink in on the ground. Peet's, in those cases, is a welcome relief.
I once shared a coffee with Walter Cronkite. 4am, JFK: me and the Cronk getting it done on Peet's.
Fuck them as well. Use only in emergencies. I'd gladly go anywhere else (except Tim Hortons) before Starbucks.
Snapping: Bravo! I like this Weber-turned-roaster idea!
Crink: Which part of the hippie glass and tasseled wood vibe seems more complicated than operating a Mr. Coffee?
These days I love the coffee that this thing makes. Best kitchen investment I ever made. I don't do breakfast in the morning, just coffee and I'm kind of fussy.
Foe everyday brews I use Lavazza gold.
I started brewing in my Bodum French Press every morning at work. This one has a rubber sleeve which is nice. I bought it to use while camping but use it at the office now. I like it because I can microwave the beaker of water to get it boiling before I brew.
The spot I mentioned above in NY, Joe, gets all their beans from here , and I grab some fresh roastd beans every 10 days or so when im grabbing a cup . Once you go for the fresh jawns, the vacuum packed just doesnt cut it. Got some illy beans from gf's parents for christmas, and they only made it out of th cupboard once....
last coffee shop i went to was called Oslo in williamsburg. first off, i really hate that neighborhood with a passion and felt like an outsider. the patrons were what you expect from that backwards ass part of bk. as for the coffee, wasn't too bad of a taste. maybe their soy milk (nohomo, lactose-intol) is ice cold, cause the temp of the coffee was just "warm" so that had me disappointed. but whatever, it was recommened to me by my friend who's studio i was visiting. i think i shoulda gone to the coffee spot right on his corner (hope st) cause there were a couple dini's chillin in there.
i got so many good cups when i was in europe it's pointless to name.
funny i did get some really great tasting drip coffee at red ribbon in JC. their coffee goes great with an ensaimada. rtad...real talk all day
this thread's got some good info that i'm usually not too up on you know. i drink coffee everyday and have always been searchin for the perfect cup a la gaffler bambata. thanks for all the info some of you have dropped.
today i did switch it up, yerba mate tea
Ha! Catch Bammers coppin' the two-pound pack on Bay visits.
And what, dude? You got no love for Philz? You were totally right about Oren's in Manhattan, by the way. That was a damn fine cup.
Just to chime in on earlier comments: Mrs. Hogg and I just returned from Italy, where we had 3-4 espresso drinks a day. I'd have a straight espresso, sometimes a macchiato (Italian for "spotted" because of the "spot" of milk), but more often than not, I'd order a doppio cappuccino, which was always perfect:
But it was more than just the fact that all those folks just knew how to make a good cup; it was all the little things. Namely, that you get it in a porcelain coffee cup with a little metal spoon, not a paper cup and a wooden stick. I never realized how much that bummed me out until I came back to the States, although it was nice to come home to large mugs of regular coffee, something I grew to miss in my two weeks away.
Nothing, however, compares to the perfection of a caf?? con leche from pretty much any place in Spain. I'd fly back just for 6 of those a day.
Fresh ground is where it's at but since I'm banned from using the grinder at 6.30am I have to go with the ready-ground. I generally buy beans about once a month and keep em freezy.
there are a couple of coffee spots in LA that i love. and they are not foofie bongwater shots or whatever that shit is.
antigua coffee, which is a local coffee spot in el sereno. they are family owned and operated. they own their own coffee plantation in guatemala. they have recently expanded into highland park i believe and i really like how they are a part of the community that they are in. this is my favorite spot and i will ride for these folks til i die.
milk. its on beverly in weho i think. but its good. and they make their own bonbons and drumstick ice cream things which are ok. but the coffee is excellent.
urth. its alright. not worth the trouble though. if i go, its at like 7am cuz i really really hate that part of town. i saw theyre opening yet another one downtown. in the "loft" area. go figure!
here's my question. VN coffee. discuss. sometimes its just too sweet and burnt for me.