Nebraska sucks less than you might think
Last week I had the pleasure of spending a few days with Jon Ferguson of recently minted microroaster Cultiva Coffee. “Nebraska isn’t quite HELL…” he told me during our email exchange about the possibility of my coming to Lincoln for a meeting of the minds and some roast profiling jujitsu. From the favorably edited version of it I experienced, Lincoln actually seems pretty great.
By “Hell” Jon might have been referring to the weather. I arrived in the middle of an intense heat wave that broke with a severe storm. Five years in Seattle and one in L.A. and I’ve all but forgotten what real weather feels like. Hail, lightning, ominous green clouds… I love it.
I’ve posted some pics from my trip over on flickr.
Jon is doing really great things with his coffee and his ace barista Tamara served me one of the sweetest shots of espresso I’ve had in ages, rendering me momentarily speechless. The quality of his single origin coffees will dispel any notion that you can’t achieve excellence with a strictly fairtrade/organic offering list. “Passionate” is a word that gets thrown around a lot to describe the zeal that infects coffee geeks, but its a fitting term for Jon, who (having done time in the Peace Corps) has his long-term sights set on deepening the definition of “sustainability” within our industry.
So in addition to thriving farmers markets and community supported agriculture, great music venues, good microbrew beers, awesome record stores and bookstores - Lincoln can also chalk up some world class coffee roasting.
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September 2nd, 2007 at 8:32 am
Thanks for checking out Lincoln.
September 6th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Jasmine got stuck in a tornado when passing through Lincoln week before last.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Those of us who live in Lincoln, NE are fortunate to enjoy Jon’s passion for coffee.
I am from the inland Northwest (Spokane, WA) and had really been missing some supreme beans. Cultiva has them! My daughter and I head to Cultiva whenever we can.
Thanks for the good vibes on Nebraska, too. I really dig it here!
November 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I moved out to the west coast from Lincoln in 2002, but come back every so often to visit family. I’ve been mournfully ancitipating the drought of good espresso that comes with my end-of-year holiday trip back to Nebraska (I’m so spoiled to live near Ritual in SF.) Thanks for the pointer and fascinating link to coffee in my hometown. I will have to check this place out!
December 1st, 2007 at 8:30 pm
I’ve become a regular patron of Cultiva over the past several months. My step-daughter and her fiance live a few blocks from the original Stumptown in Portland, and I think Jon’s work at Cultiva is a least the equal of what Stumptown has to offer. He coaxes some amazing, varietal flavors from his beans. It’s always a treat to see what he has roasted.
January 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Nebraska Sucks period! Nebraska is a police state where you can’t wipe your ass without getting pulled over. The state patrol is the worst; all they give a shit about is generating revenue. I think they need to change there saying from “to protect and serve” to “harass and molest.” All Nebraska State Troopers are ASS HOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 13th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I just read the previous comment about this “police state” and I just wanted to make it clear that I (Jon F.) didn’t leave this comment, and it sounds like ‘Jon X’ was pulled over on I-80 (the major interstate across the U.S.). A ticket sucks no matter which state you speed through, and it also has nothing to do with coffee, so why post the insult here?