Comments on: bean fiending confession

By: Robbie M

Robbie M — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:35:08 +0000

I’m counting myself lucky that I live in NZ right now…
Starbucks are far outnumbered here by other boutique coffee shops and most of them serve something that is reasonably passable as coffee…

“the simple joy of a cup of hot generic brew surely isn’t a bad thing, right? Wrong. Bad coffee is just bad.”

I have to agree… I generally think that those who don’t like coffee have never had really good coffee, or have had too much bad coffee to ever recover…
Cheers,
Robbie.

By: dominik

dominik — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:27:33 +0000

Hey Tonx, long time no see or hear! How is life? I was wanting to discuss coffee with you. I landed a job on the big island as a espresso trainer, I actually have a whole crew of people I am training. I hate it so much. I hope the end result will be a coffeehouse similar to an old victrola/vivace/herkemer/diva type place. The main downer…it’s a drive thru.

It’s like the 50’s here in general, and it’s no different in coffee, lot of misconceptions and old views of coffee. So, i am trying my best to train a few like kyle and you and daniel used to train me…it’s quite challenging…:) I am having lots of fun doing what I have come to love!! so it’s got it’s advantages.

Please respond with your personal email address so I can email you. I hope you are well. Maybe you want to come visit the big island sometime and stay with me and my wife…maybe wow people here with you roasting finesse!…keep the offer on the shelf..:) The owner here is buying a 3lb. roaster for small batches of microgrown hawaiian coffee. Gotta go now, hope this email finds you in a good place.

Respectful regards,

Dom

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:38:03 +0000

Jo’s Coffee in Austin has some nice info on the local scene in this Texas city and has some videos on how to make a mocha. http://joscoffee.com/blog

By: k.d.

k.d. — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:12:01 +0000

…if i can’t have a decent cup of coffee and need a shot of caffeine, sadly, its sugar-free redbull for me…at least it doesn’t put me in a bad mood for drinking terrible coffee and shaking my head as i toss it in the trash can…

By: scottlucey

scottlucey — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:52:02 +0000

i would have killed for the timing and positioning to snap a few undercover photos exposing green and arches. f.
the best photos are never taken.

By: Mr.phelps

Mr.phelps — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:32:31 +0000

In all fairness to the Mermaid’s coffee, many if not all Starbucks stores that are in Airports or Supermarkets are franchises. This means that the level of quality falls drastically (i.e. not under the supervision of SBUX). When I go to Starbucks (which is necessary sometimes) all I get is drip coffee which can be quite tolerable at times. Here in Seattle I give the northwest Starbucks’ stores a steady rank of decent. Neither drive-thru quality nor Specialty quality.

[As a side note when in Seattle, for a taste of Starbucks that goes relatively above and beyond go to either (a) Pike Place Market (their first store) (b) 2nd and Wall (reportedly their first espresso bar location) (c ) Madison Park (Howard’s store) or (d) Corporate headquarters on first.]

-Mp

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:33:33 +0000

I meant I could drive you around…

By: who

who — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:44:50 +0000

Too bad you weren’t in Seattle. You could have contributed to Chris and Jen’s “Addison College Fund” blend that resides ten inches away from the baristi’s tip jar. The roast supposedly tastes like dark chocolate and shortbread, and only two dollars of it supposedly goes to pay for their kid’s eighteen-years-from-now education. Worthy cause.

By: t o n x

t o n x — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 22:08:17 +0000

good point.

By: smoovebcoffee

smoovebcoffee — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 21:36:43 +0000

Yeah, the “price to farmers”, “fair trade” bit is definitely a two way street that has been talked to death in other forums.

What if we just talk about airport coffee in general? I can’t remember the name, but I saw a chain of restaurants in an airport a while back that was using Intelligentsia. By “chain of restaurants” I of course mean “another series of restaurants constructed, staffed, and run by HMS Host with someone else’s sign overhead.”

I’d challenge you to taste that cup of “airport Intelligentsia coffee” and describe whether you feel it was the best (or even a great) expression of the beans and roast that your colleagues (and perhaps even your own hands) were capable of producing. If it’s not, why could that be?