Coffee Snobbery

We have been trying lots of different kinds of coffee since we moved to a new city. While there can be a lot of fun ways to explore a new town, having to find a new coffee has not been one of them for me.

Last year, at a conference in Florida, when we had gone from the hotel to the conference site without anything more than a bad cup of hotel coffee, we found that we kept complaining to people that we needed a "real" cup of coffee to get ourselves on track. We kept asking people we ran into where we could get a "real" cup of coffee, and finally got directions to the cafe all the way across the campus where the conference was taking place. Casey said something to me like, he never thought he would become one of those people who complained so much about bad coffee and needing a good cup of coffee. "A coffee snob," I said. "Yes, we are coffee snobs. There's nothing wrong with that."

Life's too short to drink bad coffee, if you can help it.

Our friend Dave told us he drinks coffee from a can, Folgers or whatever he can get at Big K where he works. Sometimes he just reheats a cup of coffee from the day before leftovers. That made my skin crawl.

Okay, yeah, hey now, wait a minute, it's not that I didn't used to do that too: make coffee from whatever was cheapest or on sale at the store, use a paper towel for a filter, run water through old grounds because we were totally out of coffee, depend on the corner gas station to be my morning coffee stop, etc. Been there, done that. I'm just saying I'd like to think I've graduated from that, just like I have a lot of other phases in my life. And I also understand that some people will spend their whole lives there, and that's fine for them. But, for now, I'm a coffee snob.

The best coffee? Higher Grounds

After years of trying lots of different kinds of coffees, these guys take the cake. Their best coffee of all time, unfortunately, is out of stock right now, the Mut Vit. It was one of the darkest, oiliest, full-bodied coffees we have ever had the pure pleasure of drinking each morning. Unfortunately, Higher Grounds' warehouse was located in New Orleans and, you guessed it, they lost their entire year's supply of this bean. Not something you can recoup from immediately. They have to wait until the next crop season to get this bean back in stock. For now, however, they have a Sumatran to take its place, and a great decaf blend. This is truly coffee that will knock your socks off, and is a great cause to support with your dollar power.

Second best coffee? Hubbard Lake Coffee Roasters

We met these roasters when we lived up north in Michigan. A doctor at the local hospital and her husband. He does most of the roasting and selling the coffee locally. We were skeptical of their beans at first. They didn't have any fair trade when they first started, although they do now. Where they get their other beans is a concern, and they don't say much about it on their web site, although this is a "trade secret." Still, if they were working directly with the growers, like Higher Grounds does, it would be an open selling point. Hubbard Lake went through a growing phase in which we weren't really thrilled with their coffee, but then, once we had to use it as a backup and tried it again, we were really pleased with their dark blends. Great stuff, local folks, so that matters too.

Third best? Starbucks

No kidding. Starbucks has come out with organic coffees and fair trade coffees to meet the demands of its socially conscious consumers. I've been drinking Starbucks for well over a decade now, and I really can't stand those people who whine about what a mega-corp they are with all their chains. Starbucks started as a small coffee shop. I actually think it's great they've become so large and well-known; they are a success story in business. I mean, seriously, if you started a business, wouldn't you want it to do well? That's what they did. There are still small coffee operations around that do just fine (unlike the WalMart model of business plundering). Not every coffee shop is a Starbucks, and that's great. I visit as many coffee shops in any given town as possible, and prefer the locals over Starbucks because I'm out for an adventure. But, given a need for caffiene in a strange town, I'm going for the first cafe I can find, and that's often times a Starbucks. Not to mention in the airports! THANK GOD for Starbucks in the airports!

So, as I sit here and type this, what am I drinking? Alas, Starbucks this morning, as I have an order in with Higher Grounds that is on its way: ten pounds of coffee winging its way across the state to come directly to my doorstep. Now that's heaven.