Quest For Coffee

Laila and the not so very good coffee.

Being a professional barista constantly leaves me in the odd and sometimes uncomfortable position of not being able to share the same enthusiasm of my friends and associates for their favorite coffees and coffee places. People always ask me what I think of this coffee or that coffee shop and regardless of what I really think, I hate to disparage their favorites.

Compounding the situation is that I have the rare luxury of working with some of the finest coffees available and brewing those coffees to very specific standards to produce specific and consistent results. Which makes it personally difficult for me when friends ask my opinion on coffee.


Our Chariot to the Stars

So, after buying a coffee across the street, Laila asks me what I think of the coffee. It's bland because they didn't use enough coffee to brew and the coffee itself is over roasted because I can taste the faint carbon char. Overall, it's watery and not very good and I'm hesitant to say that to Laila until she starts describing it similar to the way I'm tasting.

Ah, relief! I hate coming off as some sort of coffee geek or coffee snob. Since her palate is sensitive enough to describe the coffee in that way, I'm comfortable talking about my interpretation. It's not very good.


Arriving at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

After a quick conference, we decide to head over to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for better coffee. At the very least, Coffee Bean will have better and consistent brewing standards - and their coffee is somewhat decent as far as the chains go.

A few minutes later, I have a coffee in hand (with cream and sugar, please) and a crispy rice square. The Colombian is decent and has a nice flavor to it. The crispy rice is sweet, soft and artificially disgusting.

At least the company is enjoyable.


Crispy Rice Square (why?) and a 12z Colombia.