Here I am at Starbucks Odéon in Paris drinking a Mokka Sanani, which I was happy to see was the coffee of the day at all the Starbucks in Paris this summer because of the lawsuit the town of Harrar, in Ethiopia, had mounted against Starbucks for stealing the copyright to its name in a coffee Starbucks was selling. Little do people know, in Paris, that they are getting a better coffee because of the dispute with Ethiopia. Of course Starbucks, like the cowboy tradition of the US, spoils the Yemeni coffee by only selling it as American dishwater, or "jus de chausettes," as some call American coffee. It should be served as "turkish coffee"--finely ground and boiled around the edges of the kanake three times, or, in a pinch, as an espresso.
Below, for are some interesting comments coffee bloggers made to the NYT Sept. 12, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
SEPTEMBER 11, 2007, 11:25 PM
Coffee’s Holy Grail
Coffee hunters around the country will go almost anywhere, do almost anything and pay almost any price in pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee.
Where did you have your best cup of coffee?
343 comments so far...
• 1.
• September 11th,
• 2007
• 11:50 pm
• My best cup was Esmeralda, roasted from green and pulled by my friend Ben Szobody on his Isomac in his Greenville, S.C. home. It was the most amazing cup of espresso I’ve ever experienced, with maybe the exception of my first real espresso in Italy during the seventies.
• By the way, Ben’s web site/coffee blog is great. http://www.chemicallyimbalanced.org/
• Check it out.
• Owen
• — Posted by Owen
• 2.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:28 am
• My best cup of coffee was Hawaiian Cona coffee. It was clear , but had arroma and little bit sour tast. I had it in big island of Hawaii IN 1984.
• — Posted by maetoyo mori
• 3.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:32 am
• In truth, I seldom drink coffee anymore, prefering white and green teas. However, I wonder how much these coffee entrepreneurs are paying these growers. One needs to remember that in countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Burundi and elsewhere, many growers are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Coffee growing is labor intensive. The beans are hand-picked according to ripeness. Not like coming in with a combine. Coffee grows on hilly locals. A wet season, mudslides etc. and the crop is a bust. Not like growing corn or soy or even tea.
• — Posted by c eisenhart
• 4.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:38 am
• I had my best cup of coffee in a small coffeehouse in Nairobi, Kenya nearly 25 years ago. I could smell the coffee brewing from outside on the street, and I walked in and ordered a cup of their house blend of Arabica. The aroma was intoxicating and the flavor rich and smooth with tangy overtones. I felt as if I were drinking a fine grand cru. My memory of that cup still persists and I have never come close to repeating it.
• — Posted by Gregory Orr
• 5.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:50 am
• For people living in southern california: 18th st cofee house in Santa Monica. Different brews from different countries. The Costa Rican Organic is my fave.
• — Posted by Ben
• 6.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:57 am
• My best cup of Coffee was in the subtropical rainforests of South India not far from the Palani hills. My friends and I were backpacking and came upon a small hut in the middle of nowhere. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a small old lady picking coffee beans from her small garden behind her house. She invited us in and made us local South Indian sweet coffee!
• — Posted by Donald Lyngdoh
• 7.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:57 am
• In any French brasserie. Just ask for a “petit noir”. 12 years of French living and counting… Charlie
• — Posted by Charlie
• 8.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:03 am
• On the Campo di Fiori, in Rome. Rich, creamy cappuccino. No one does coffee like the Italians.
• — Posted by Dan Kaempff
• 9.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:06 am
• Oh man you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted Red Tin Coffee in San Francisco, near the Ferry Building. Venezuelan-Pruzilian Beans are individually roasted in a mini oven, then expressed into single serving oversized retro ceramic cups heated to 112 degrees exactly. Divine. Employees quote Yeats and the two hour line is totally worth it.
• — Posted by TiagoSF
• 10.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:11 am
• Many years ago I had a great cup of coffee in a cafe in Lisbon Portugal, and I was soon to discover that it was quite difficult to find a bad cup of coffee anywhere. I have not been back in a very long time but I will always remember the coffee.
• — Posted by Barbara Seckler
• 11.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:12 am
• Melbourne.
• — Posted by Mike
• 12.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:15 am
• It’s hard to beat the standard brew at Tim Hortons - nothing fancy, just a good bean carefully brewed and dumped within minutes if not sold.
• — Posted by Darrell
• 13.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:16 am
• Yes, My best cup of cafe I ever tasted was at the Tarrazú region region in Costa Rica. Exactly at the Caraigres region. It was an organic coffee “Cerro de Fueego” (Fire Mountain)in a Moccha presentation. It was full of aroma and taste….
• — Posted by Eduardo Lopez (Bolivia)
• 14.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:17 am
• Northern California practically invented the good cup in this country (way before Seattle) and the best I’ve ever had is at Blue Bottle Coffee in the Hayes Valley section of San Francisco. It’s a little kiosk down an alleyway and they only do double shots, one cup size, one kind of milk, and that’s all you ever really need.
• — Posted by Bob Donlon, San Francisco CA
• 15.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:18 am
• The most perfect, and the first genuinely good, cup of coffee that anyone in Berkely probably ever drank, was at Albert Peet’s llittle shop on Vine. (The first cup I ever drank was Ethiopian.) Those of us raised on the diaphanous, sub-acid “percolated” Maxwell House sort of coffee regarded Peet’s with some of the same respect and gratitude that we later felt for Fritz Maytag’s locally brewed Anchor Steam beer. After that, the deluge of sometimes slightly absurd “foodiness.”
• — Posted by Matt Holdreith
• 16.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:21 am
• In Granada, a tiny little bar in the Sacromonte. But all the coffee in Spain is superb.
• — Posted by Robert
• 17.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:21 am
• Peet’s Peet’s Peet’s. That’s the best. I left New York in the late 80s to go to college in Berkeley. The coffee at Peet’s was such a revelation! These were also still the dark ages, when New York had little more than brown water to offer. After college I moved to Europe for years, but eventually came back, right to the same neighborhood near the very first branch (established 1967) on Vine Street. Peet’s was one of the things I most looked forward to. Alfred Peet, the founder, passed away just last week. Around here, it’s a topic of local conversation. Mister Peet made a great contribution to our coffee culture.
• — Posted by Jordan
• 18.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:22 am
• I agree with Charlie. French coffee is wonderful!
• — Posted by Cheryl
• 19.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:24 am
• The best coffee I have had is the French-style cafe filtre which the Greeks call “ena galliko” available from many coffee shops and pastry shops in Athens. The best was at Kafeneion Zonar Dionysios (now closed) on the corner of Panepistimio and Voucharesti. It is ambrosial with or without “gala” (milk). A second choice, in an entirely different taste palette, would be the Kilimanjaro coffee served in many coffee shops in Tokyo. It pleases with its mildness just as the “galliko” pleases with its strong character. The elegant cups used to serve coffee in Japan as well as the interiors of coffee shops in Japan also add to the coffee experience.
• — Posted by Michael Newton
• 20.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:25 am
• Starbucks is the MOST overrated coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts consistently serves a good brew, but the best cup of coffee I ever had was at the Rosedale Hotel in Guangzhou China. I went into the hotel dining room expecting dishwater, but boy was I wrong. I drink it black so it wasn’t the milk or sugar…maybe it was the lead. Singapore also has some fine stuff.
• — Posted by Paul
• 21.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:28 am
• Ibrik Resort, a charming hotel of just three rooms in Bangkok, serves one of the finest cups of coffee I have had. I guess the name is a give-away.
• — Posted by Julie
• 22.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:32 am
• The best coffee ever was recently at the Hotel Santa Fe in Puerto Escondido, on the coast of Oaxaca. The owner of the hotel is growing his own organic coffee on a farm in the mountains ( which I visited…it was like stepping back in time. Very beautiful , quiet and remote). I bought some to take home to San Francisco, and everyone seems to agree…it is the very best.
• — Posted by Maggie
• 23.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:33 am
• I’m lucky - my home town of Sydney, Australia has plenty of good coffee to choose from. There’s a tiny cafe near where I work that roasts their own, and they know what a ristretto is (always a good test of a barista). Their coffee’s very good. My favourite’s a single-origin bean from Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s sweet and leaves a faint chocolate aftertaste.
• — Posted by Phil H
• 24.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:37 am
• The best coffee I’ve ever had was at Durant’s on Centeral Avenue in Phoenix, AZ
• — Posted by Tom Downs
• 25.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:38 am
• In my mother’s kitchen, made in an old aluminum percolator, and served in a Fiestaware cup and saucer.
• — Posted by Patricia
• 26.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:38 am
• It may not be the *perfect* cup o’ coffee, but as an East Coast transplant to California, I miss my Dunkin’ Donuts coffee!
• First thing I do after landing at Logan is head straight for the Dunkin’ Donuts booth for a cuppa regulah. Last thing I purchase before boarding at Logan is the Dunkin’ Donuts #1 special. Ordinarily a purist (favoring European espresso), I will admit that this is my secret (snobless) indulgence…it’s a favorite among cops and cabbies throughout Boston, so how can anyone disagree?
• Will someone please open a franchise in Southern California!!
• — Posted by All American
• 27.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:41 am
• Without reservation, Cafe Au Lait from Cafe Du Monde, Jackson Square, New Orleans. I lived a block from there, and every morning would stand in line, the air damp with the scent of moss covered bricks. Get to the counter, watch them pour tar black chicory coffee into a cup, followed in equal proportion with caramelized milk. Too hot to drink for a few minutes, but kept you wanting the whole time.
• — Posted by Jay Wolford
• 28.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:44 am
• A French youth hostel, of all places. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I really needed it or I was too poor to afford anything else, but they served up a literal soup bowl of burnt-black coffee with a baguette at 6 am, and by 7 am they’d flush you out into the streets. Best coffee I ever had in my life.
• — Posted by Richard
• 29.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:47 am
• Brazilian Jacu Bird coffee, roasted at home. The Jacu bird eats the coffee cherries then excretes the beans, which are then cleaned, dried, and sold! Yum!
• — Posted by brad sugarman
• 30.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:48 am
• At a school in Cienfuegos for the most talented young artists in Cuba (free to the students of course). I could smell the beans roasting while we were in the next room. I have never, and may never again have a cup of espresso made with such freshly roasted beans. Think of a baguette straight out of the oven vs an hour old - that’s the difference. The atmosphere was wonderful: a sitting room in a former private school; decorated with student art; a tray of demitasse served by the dance teacher who looked like a young Eartha Kitt.
• — Posted by Steve
• 31.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:51 am
• I have been home roasting for fifty years now. I acquired a classic Jabez Burns sample roaster from the man who taught me coffee: Bud Bardill, in the late fifties a retiring coffee roaster and the last man standing at the former Northern Jobbing Company. Bud taught me to desire fine Arabica coffee, much of which was very difficult for me to obtain in my early days of roasting. He also taught me what to eschew. He once played a prank on me and served up the most vile, rank cup imaginable. Even the odour coming off the roast was vile. This turned out to be the dreaded Rio Rubusta coffee.
• Where, then, have I enjoyed my best cup? Right here, at home. I fancy true Mocha from Yemen, and I blend it with Indonesian coffee, usually a fine Sumatra. I also fancy Harrar coffee from Ethiopia: it has some of the mocha wildness. I often drink it as a self-cupper. The aftertaste is long on the finish and complex.
• Away from home and my own roasts, I have fond memories of coffee at a specialist coffee room in Amsterdam. And the redoubtable Monmouth Coffee Company not far from the British Museum, in Covent Garden, London. These people at Monmouth love coffee, and it tells in the cup. They will also give the interested a splendid tour of the roastery, an awe inspiring installation, complete with pneumamtic tubes and sealed hoppers. If memory serves, the roasts are checked with cold air, not water: best practice where possible.
• And now, my thirst aroused, I am off to my French press pot to brew 2 cups. I think this the best way to brew coffee: the oils and flavour elements are retained.
• In NYC, you are very well served by Peter and Alex of Porto Rico[sic]Coffee Roasters. They do fine teas, too, at phenomenally reasonable prices. [Disclosure: I have no commercial relations with Porto Rico, save as tea customer. I have considerable affection for them.]
• — Posted by Grahame Bartholomew
• 32.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:51 am
• It was 1994, in the morning, near the entrance to a train station in Rome. There was an older gentleman in a white collared shirt and a black vest manning an espresso bar cut into the wall of a tunnel. He would make two or three espresso drinks at a time, mostly cappucinos, in very precise movements. About 12 commuters were lined up along the wall. I joined them, and after five minutes said to the man, “cappucino per favore.” less than a minute later, I had a well-balanced blend of creamy milk and fresh espresso in a small cup. It was so good, I finished it in two gulps and moved on to the train. I’ve experienced nothing in New York that comes close. Tarralucci and Vino, on 10th and 1st or 18th and bway is good, though. Joe, on 12 near University is also good. A good espresso drink is beautiful, please seek one out.
• — Posted by ted
• 33.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:54 am
• I live in France. Every best cup of coffee I have ever had in my life has been in Italy! Usually consumed while standing at the bar of a café.
• — Posted by Anne Lechartier
• 34.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:54 am
• Here in my tiny little town of 1,200 people, we have a guy who roasts and does a lively e-business in dozens of different varieties, including organics and fair trades. I’ve sampled lots of his, and I’m always game to try a new cup, but the one I keep coming back to is his dark roast. If you’ve had Starbucks’ French roast, it’s close, except his has this almost sweet undertone in the aftertaste. I’m no connoisseur and never will be, but it’s my absolute favorite, and I could be perfectly happy if I never had anything else. I don’t know who grows it, or where, or how it finds its way to Delaware City. Point is, it’s hard for me to imagine a coffee so exquisite at $40 a pound that it would dislodge me from my good ol’ robust, flavorful, $7-a-pound dark roast. Isn’t that really what it’s all about anyway, that one about which you say, “This is MY coffee,” and that you’re pleased to serve to friends?
• — Posted by chris
• 35.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:54 am
• As a matter of fact, nothing can compare to a paper cup of any kind.
• — Posted by Crom (Kim Jeong-uk)
• 36.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:55 am
• As a matter of fact, nothing can compare to a paper cup~!!!!
• — Posted by Crom
• 37.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:56 am
• The cup in my house is pretty damn good. I get it shipped in from Peet’s Coffee out of Emeryville, CA and use only a french press. Peet’s has good shops too out west, but their shipping system is great. Such a joy to see a Peet’s box on my porch! Joe @ Alessi in Soho is also great.
• — Posted by John
• 38.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:57 am
• The best coffee in Israel is at the Coffee Mill on Emek Refaim in the German Colony, a place owned by two cousins from CHicago
• — Posted by Lisa Katz
• 39.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:58 am
• Hands down, the best cup of coffee [dark roasts] is served at Rock City Coffee in Rockland, ME. Try Jet or Darkstar blends.
• If you really appreciate coffee you must watch Patrick Reilley roast some beans.
• Dave
• — Posted by Dave
• 40.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:00 am
• I tasted the best coffee ever in my life at my grandmother’s house, in a small town in Central Java. It was made of freshly harvested coffebeans, roasted on a traditional stove (cuisinier au feu de bois), and mixed with freshly chopped ginger. The javanese love drink this coffee during the cold and rainy days together with their family or friends and usually the coffee is accompanied by traditional snacks such as fried banana or steam yams.
• — Posted by Dyah Kusuma
• 41.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:02 am
• Dirt Cowboy Cafe in Hanover, NH. They know their stuff, and heavenly varieties to boot. Martha Brothers in Noe valley is a close second.
• — Posted by Mac
• 42.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:07 am
• My coffee epiphanies came to me at the Owl & Monkey Cafe in San Francisco in 1982. Double lattes & god were one in the same.
• — Posted by Alexander
• 43.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:08 am
• Best cup of coffee was at passeid de gracia resto in barcelona this past summer - espresso.
• Best in nyc - go and ask for a ‘Flat White’ at Dub Pie in red hook. ohh my god amazing. Its a new zealand/australian style espresso drink. EXCEPTIONAL Worth taking a trip to red hook brooklyn. Im going to def try a petit noir. thanks charlie.
• — Posted by peter
• 44.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:11 am
• The best coffee I have ever had was in Milan on Via Montenapoleone in a coffee house that has been open since the 19th century called Cova. Try the cappuccino and then write a book about it.
• — Posted by Mark Sandon
• 45.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:16 am
• I buy the best coffee, fresh ground, right here in Vietnam,,about 6 bucks a kilo, arabica beans, but Vietnam, the second largest producer on the planet, grows robusta and moka varieties also. Back in the war we drank robusta I’m sure, with Eagle Cream, and that was pretty darn good too.
• — Posted by RichardinVietnam
• 46.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:22 am
• Vivace on capitol hill in Seattle.
• — Posted by Laura Adrian
• 47.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:22 am
• My best cup of coffee is here on my desk. Sumatran green beans I roasted in my hot-air popcorn popper about 10 PM to a nice glossy black-brown. Cooled and ground fine, then drip brewed in my 40 year old one-cup Coffee Cone. I t actually tastes like it smells! Yum!
• — Posted by Gaylon Arnold
• 48.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:24 am
• Best cup of straight coffee I ever drank was Moka Sanaani bought green from Sweet Maria’s and home-roasted.
• Best cup ever served to me was a double espresso pulled at University Zoka in Seattle. A friend was up from California, and we did a “chocolate and espresso” tour of the city (It’s ironic that when you get famous for something, suddenly no one wants to believe the fame is justified, but Seattle offers coffee that can stand with any in the world). We tasted some mighty, mighty fine espressos, with Cafe Vivace making a strong effort, but that cup at UZ was something special.
• Best coffee in an emergency situation — Chock Full O’ Nuts.
• — Posted by Tod Harrick
• 49.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:25 am
• The best coffee is Oren’s in NYC!!! The daily roast’s got perfect temperature, intensity and aroma!! It’s the thing I missed the most when I’m away from America.
• — Posted by Xiao Li
• 50.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:27 am
• If you ever get to Mexico City skip the standard Starbucks but don’t you dare to avoid Cafe La Habana. Order a “Habana Especial en taza”. Judge for yourself, you will never forget such a religious experience. They have probably the BEST COFFEE IN TOWN. Another good choice is Cafe de la Selva (organic), which has several locations. Never ever order coffee at Sanborns, that stuff is very harmful.
• — Posted by JOSE
• 51.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:28 am
• no offence guys, but coffee in the US is dreadful. it’s not much better in the UK or canada. if you want decent coffee in the anglophonic world, go to australia or NZ.
• coffee should never need all the strange additives that you put it in it. it should also never come in an amount larger than a standard cup.
• if you’re in sydney try: - single origin in surry hills (they also supply to the book kitchen in surry hills and sonoma in glebe). single origin is also good for some sensational celebrity spotting - geoffrey rush and cate blanchett are regulars - campos in newtown
• — Posted by Gins and Tonic
• 52.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:32 am
• Agree with #33, I too live in France and the french don’t even come close to competing with the Italians when it comes to coffee. The best coffee I have ever had is in Italy. Also the french charge twice as much avg. 2.50 euros for a coffee cream while the in Italy a capuccino sets you back 1.20 standing at the bar. Viva l’Italia!
• — Posted by F. McAndrew
• 53.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:35 am
• in my home town there has been a recent joke by visitors, “how can you cope when there are less coffee shops than people?” Best coffee is in Degraves Lane Melbourne Australia, take your pick from the many other city lanes and each with their many shops. Thanks to the virtue of competition coffee is fab. As a regular visitor to Manhattan ( every 6 weeks) I would love to transplant what we have downunder to your fabulous metropolis.
• — Posted by Greg
• 54.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:35 am
• Best coffee I have ever had is one block from my house in Hayes Valley at a little shop called Blue Bottle Coffee. They are local. Roast once or twice a week, small batches only. True lovers of coffee made my people who enjoy the ritual of making a great espresso. True believers.
• — Posted by Scott Moore
• 55.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:37 am
• Best coffee:
• Espresso at Tazza d’Oro in Rome, right by the Pantheon.
• Best coffee in the United States:
• Cappuccino from Stumptown Coffee, three locations in Portland, Oregon.
• — Posted by jacqpot
• 56.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:45 am
• In the United States, the best cup can be found at Salt Lake Roasting Company in Salt Lake City. The espresso is exquisite. The owner travels the world and brings back the best beans. Outside the USA, you can’t go wrong anywhere in Italy, though the Italians say coffee gets better the further south you go!
• — Posted by Scott
• 57.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:52 am
• dunkin donuts. smile!
• — Posted by dan small
• 58.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:54 am
• My best coffee (well, in recent memory)was at Jack’s on Front Street. Was meeting s client, found Jack’s online, and went there expecting the Starbucks experience. Instead, my latte was served in a huge ceramic cup (remember when Starbucks had ceramic?). The coffee was so rich, the froth and temperature perfect. And they did all the work (”how much sugar do you want?”). God it was good. So the next time I had to meet my client in that area I suggested we meet at Jack’s again. I showed up early. So did my client.
• — Posted by Richard Newton
• 59.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:56 am
• The BEST coffee I have ever had, and still have today…is at Dunkin Donuts.
• — Posted by Bruce Lloyd
• 60.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:57 am
• The best coffee I’ve had is what my son mixes at his organic farm near Bangalore (India), using seeds supplied to him by various coffee growers in Coorg District of Karnataka state here. He gives is around to various friends of his as gifts when he visits or they visit.
• I’ve been urging him to start selling it (in small quantities), but he has thus far refused, on the grounds that it would then entail various responsibilities that he does not want to have on his mind. Maybe he is right, but I feel sorry for all the people who will not ever get to taste that coffee!
• — Posted by GS Chandy
• 61.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:58 am
• Ahhh, a kindred spirit in #20! Hooray for Dunkin’Donuts!! I agree wholeheartedly with Paul’s declarations (although I never had a cup at the Rosedale Hotel). I am impressed with the range of such aficionados — especially the notes by G. Bartholomew (#31)! Wow, now I want to learn how to roast at home.
• Like A. Larchartier (#33) and Charlie (#7),I, too, lived in France, and enjoyed “un espress” while standing at the brasserie counter. Back in the U.S. it’s seldom that I find such an authentic spot.
• Alas, my American tastebuds draw me to Dunkin’ Donuts brew for comfort. (For the unfamiliar: the prepackaged grounds disappoint and cannot compare with the freshly drawn cuppa ‘regular’ at the stand.)
• Will someone PLEASE open a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in Southern California!! Business is waiting…
• Now, I cannot wait to see the caffeinated responses in the a.m. when New Yorkers awaken…
• – All American (#26, above) awake in California
• — Posted by All American
• 62.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:59 am
• Burger Heaven, Lex and…69th (?); Tokyo, Japan (and most expensive); Jamaican Blue in Olesko, Poland. The now defunct Chock full o’Nuts, B’way and 116th.
• — Posted by Lisa Kramer Taruschio
• 63.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:08 am
• Colombian Supremo, French Press, Oberoi Hotel Restaurant, New Dehli, India.
• — Posted by Laszlo
• 64.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 am
• Coffee at the Wellsboro Diner in Wellsboro, PA. A most satisfying cup of American coffee that they take great pride in brewing; the taste actually comes close to the aroma of the beans. But the best? Perhaps circumstances and surroundings play as much a part as the flavor of the coffee. Morning coffee in Paris, afternoon coffee in Berlin, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on the road. The best for me is the coffee my husband makes for me every morning; coffee made with love is without compare.
• — Posted by Dorothy Taishoff
• 65.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 am
• My best cup was an espresso at Cafe Roza in Venice on my honeymoon. My husband had just bought me a hat and the proprietress told us to go there, the local cafe around the corner. It was everything a coffee should be, and as we stood at the bar in rushed all the eleven o’clock coffee breakers from the offices around, downing espressos, smoking, talking, and then just as quickly running out. We stood in the quiet and looked at the man behind the bar, who smiled at our bemused faces.
• — Posted by Yolanda Pupo-Thompson
• 66.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:13 am
• Caffe Calabria in San Diego has the best shot of espresso I have found. Several of the best baristas there can pull a revelatory shot, creamy and full-flavored, with only a touch of bitterness. The fresh coffee roasted on the premises makes the difference. Certainly, it is the best option on the South-West corner of the country.
• — Posted by Joseph Eisenberg
• 67.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:13 am
• Community Coffee, brewed in Baton Rouge, LA. There are people all over America who will drink nothing else.
• — Posted by Beverly Clark
• 68.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:15 am
• Bedouin tent, somewhere in the Egyptian Sinai desert, circa 1973, cooked over a fire of animal dung. Industrial strength caffine, enough to last all day.
• — Posted by Joe Zias
• 69.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:19 am
• The best coffee I ever had was at Tazza d’Oro in Rome: I went to Rome two summers in a row with my high school, and each time I visited this shop near the Pantheon for their granita di cafe, which is ice and espresso topped with whipped cream (perfect for the stifling hot summer in the city). You wouldn’t think it would be that strong, but MY GOD. I downed two of them and was up all night (and I’ve been an avid coffee drinker since I was 10 years old, no joke).
• I also thoroughly enjoyed the “black coffee” (filtered coffee with a shot of espresso) that I got at Lemon in Dublin, and the cappuccinos I sampled at the cafes in Vienna (in my opinion, Vienna gives Paris a run for its money in terms of its cafe culture). Also, surprisingly, I loved the “turkish coffee” I got in a little village along the Nile in Egypt–that may have been simply because I had been on a felucca for two nights and was desperate for a cup of coffee, but who knows.
• Stateside, I have fallen in love with the coffee at Le Stats in Hillcrest, San Diego, CA, and have always been a big fan of Peet’s Coffee wherever I happen to find it.
• — Posted by Shannon
• 70.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:20 am
• I get a good cup from Green Mountain’s Fair trade blends. Not to be missed is Chicago’s Metropolis blend(locally) and Beckmann Bakery’s selection of Java Joe in Santa Cruz, California(also fair trade and locally produced). Starbucks is almost everywhere. Why not try the many choices listed on this blog!!
• — Posted by Jane Sullivan
• 71.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:20 am
• South Indian Latte from the beans of Palani Hills.
• — Posted by Divyanka Iyer
• 72.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:21 am
• In 1994 I took a summer job at the Coffee Connection in Harvard Square. Every employee was required to take a few coffee “seminars” with the owner who attempted to hone the palate of his new employees. He was a buyer and he showed us the traditional method of “cupping” which meant steeping the grounds in a little three ounce glass. With an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe brew he told us to look for lemon. I expected it to be like looking for a distant galaxy with a pair of cheap binoculars. But instead the lemon was there, as close as the full moon. Zesty and round, the freshest cup I’ve ever had. I still thank him for that but moaned when I heard he had sold his twenty year old franchise to a then relatively new upstart-starbucks.
• — Posted by pete
• 73.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:23 am
• I roast my own, favoring Indonesian coffees, but if I have to buy roasted beans, I buy them from Peets. Their beans are roasted beautifully and are much fresher than what you can buy at most other places. They also serve coffee (stronger and better than any other coffee I’ve had anywhere), as well as espresso drinks. Cappucinos at Peets are good, but not quite what you want after you’ve understood the Italian cappucino. For this, I recommend La Colombe in center city, Philadelphia (19th St, just north of Walnut) — just like what I’ve had in Italy. The crowd there adds to the experience, as they are mostly European and South American, it seems.
• — Posted by Tandy Warnow
• 74.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:24 am
• Peets Peets Peets
• — Posted by Stephen Lou
• 75.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:25 am
• In the US: I have to agree with several other bloggers: Peet’s, Peet’s, Peet’s. Although I went to Berkeley I rarely had their coffee there; only later in San Francisco and now fortunately in Southern California as well.
• In Europe: First trip to Rome and Florence three years ago. Astounded that no matter how hard we tried, we never had a bad espresso (virtually the only coffee I drink). All were outstanding, some unbelievable.
• In Arabia: Arabic coffee (Gawa Arabia) is an excellent brew of beige-pale brown beans simmered long and slowly with cardommom until the liquid turns a semi-transparent yellow-gold. Drunk from very small cups, the fragrance and flavor are superb. No milk nor sugar and eaten with dates. Best place: Bayouni in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
• — Posted by Mitch Proctor
• 76.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:27 am
• Finally, great coffee in NYC. Cafe Grumpy at 224 West 20th St. Excellent, carefully roasted selections. Every cup individually brewed using some high-tech automated french press like machine. Great espresso and cappuccino, too.
• — Posted by TB
• 77.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:31 am
• It was on a train from Geneva to Athens in 1971. The sun was coming up along the Greek coast near Mt. Olympus. One of the conductors had a bunsen burner over which he prepared tiny thimbles of sweet coffee. The dawn, the anticipation of arrival, the beautiful woman with me–still with me–created a wonderful giddy happiness.
• — Posted by Dorsey
• 78.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:32 am
• The Ethiopia Kochere District Yirgacheffe I roast, grind, and brew myself. It has to be roasted for 4:05 on a sunny day, then sit in a tin for 48-72 hours. Bad beans must be picked out by hand. Water must be perfectly heated at 200F before it goes into the french press. Then I will fly like a kite for hours.
• — Posted by Minyi Shen
• 79.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:32 am
• I do! I went out and bought a Bunn VPR double burner just like Dunkin Donuts uses. It’s reservoir holds 3 pots of steamy hot water and when you pour in a cold one, it pushes out a hot one. The heat is the secret. I am currently using Folgers Columbian, about 6.00 a tub when on sale. 6 cantalope scooper sized scoops and it tastes just like DD. It takes less than 2 minutes to brew a pot.
• — Posted by Keith
• 80.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:35 am
• The best single cup of coffee I’ve ever had was one I brewed for myself and some friends at Dunn Brothers’ Coffee in St. Paul, where I was the wholesaler/truck driver, a little over a decade ago. It didn’t come from there, however.
• A friend worked for an independent, small, coffee roaster nearby that was having a special tasting of the Sumatran coffee, Kopi Luwak, at the ridiculous price of $250/lb. He nabbed about a 10th of a pound for me from his roasting pan (enough for a good cup), and I gathered a few friends to try it out.
• The coffee is distinct, if not unique, in that it runs through the digestive tract of a small mammal, and is harvested in their droppings. Joking aside, the coffee apparently passes through the critter still in its cherry, and isn’t “improved” by the digestive tract at all (it’s just that these animals eat only perfectly ripe coffee cherries).
• I would never have paid $20 for a cup of coffee, but this coffee was remarkable, very full in body, not terribly acidic, but very round and singular in taste and mouth-feel. I, and everyone that took a sip with me, felt that it was the greatest coffee (at least from that region) that they’d ever tasted.
• That said, Dunn Brothers’ Coffee in Saint Paul roasts wonderful coffees…and to this day I have them ship to me in Brooklyn.
• Peter
• — Posted by Peter Knutson
• 81.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:41 am
• Caffe Kimbo Aroma Espresso, enough said.
• Charlie from Paris, France
• — Posted by Charlie Lyon
• 82.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:43 am
• Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope, Brooklyn. An extraordinary revelation and the kind of coffee that packs such a pop and a zing that deli coffee just cannot compare. Close second: La Colombe in Philly. Motor fuel for the soul.
• — Posted by Sheldon Yeager
• 83.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:45 am
• My best cuppa was at Peet’s at my breakfast table in Nova Scotia’
• — Posted by James Butt
• 84.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:46 am
• Anywhere in Portugal. Fabulous coffee without the over-burnt taste you get in Italy and, particularly, in France. Cost: a “bica” - small black coffee 60 cents.
• — Posted by Jaqui Martin
• 85.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:48 am
• the best cup i ever had was in the mtns. of potter county,pa.i was deer hunting way back in the black forest and ran into another hunter ..at the time i didnt like coffee but it was verry cold and snowing.he was having a steaming cup out of a thermos,he offered me a cup, i dont know what kind it was,but i have yet to beat it.
• — Posted by big kahuna
• 86.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:49 am
• Best coffee I ever had was at the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka, Papua New Guinea. This is the PNG highlands where they grow some of the best coffee in the world. This hotel makes the best cappuccino also!
• — Posted by Mark Spohr
• 87.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:50 am
• Tim Hortons in Montreal, QC and Mudd Coffee downtown on the East Side. Both simple and DARN good coffee.
• — Posted by angela
• 88.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:53 am
• the best? being from seattle, I am surprised there aren’t more boasts from the Northwest? B&O? Vivace? Macrina with a morningglory muffin? YES! BUT, without a doubt, the best cup I ever have had, or will have, is fresh from my mom’s stovetop in seattle, percolated in this large Revereware(sp?) pot with copper bottom and glass percolating doohickey on top(she found three more at some garage sale just in case one breaks). the smell and the taste trigger something in my brain that makes it seem like you are living in the moment, and reliving a particularly comfortable memory at the same time. plus she had drawer full of sugar. yeah. a drawer! she will bake anyone under the table! very few shops can do that.
• — Posted by tim
• 89.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:58 am
• I would be hard pressed to choose between the coffee I shared with my grandmother when I was 3 or 4 years old sitting with her around our oil cloth covered table too early in the morning for anyone but the two of us to be up or the hot black percolated coffee I drank with my father as he drove me to high school on his way to work in the ship yards in the late ’50s. I poured it from his Lifetime Guarantee thermos jug and it washed down those little cake donuts fresh out of a long white box with a cellophane window, some covered with white powdered sugar, some with maple frosting and some with no topping at all…my favorite.
• My grandmother probably doctored my coffee up with milk and sugar but it was delicious because she told me stories about her llife and passed along words of wisdom which have held up for all these 60 years since we sat together on those cold mornings next to the big enamel Monarch wood stove in La Grande, Oregon, in 1948, after the war, just the two of us. I listened to her stories and she listened to mine.
• My father and I sat alone side by side in his “union car”, the one he got to use to take him all over the Northwest as a union organizer in the 1950s. He would drive me to high school in Portland from our home in the suburbs. His coffee was boiled in an aluminum percolator and poured into that thremos, which I still have, doctored up with some milk or Pream and very hot…just the thing on a cold winter morning as we drove down Canyon Road to school and work. He told me about his life and I told him about parts of mine…I was a teen-ager after all.
• To this day I prefer a hot steaming cup of real coffee in a real mug with a good friend or one of my sons or a good book or the newspaper or the view of pleasant people strolling by on their way to work or school. Or with just my memories of my grandmother and my father, passing on their wisdom and humor over a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning.
• It’s only coffee, gentle readers. What goes on around it or over it is what really matters in life.
• Anne Hughes Portland, Oregon
• — Posted by Anne Hughes
• 90.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:05 am
• Believe it or not, the Alaska Coffee Roasting Company in Fairbanks, Alaska, has a great air roaster, made in Oregon, and roasts their estate-raised beans. They have a specialty in Ethopian Yirgacheffe that has an inherent sweetness that is lovely. Also—coffee from warm beans freshly roasted at Graffeo in San Francisco and Beverly Hills. Also a coffee that is roasted perfectly to have a well-balanced cup where you can taste the inherent sweetness (not sweet like a Mocha or cold-sugar drink), but more of a depth to the flavor that comes from beans being roasted to just the right point so that the flavor is not burnt out of the bean. And finally–really like the roast of Mocha Joe’s from Brattleboro, VT.
• — Posted by David Novak
• 91.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:12 am
• It may not be the most gourmet coffee, but waiting on line, on a cold winter’s saturday morning, on the sidwalk outside Tom’s Diner in Prospect Heights Brooklyn, the coffee that Gus or his assistants bring you is the best cup of Joe around.
• — Posted by frank vigorito torres
• 92.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:16 am
• There’s a little tourist café in Belem, just outside Lisbon, directly across from the entrance to the maritime museum that houses a naval history of Portugal from Henry the Navigator to the present day. The café sells coffee and croissants, postcards and stamps.
• The cappuccino is exquisite, and the smile from the people who work there is always as warm as the sun itself. I think that might impact on the flavour, which was memorable.
• — Posted by Anthony Behan
• 93.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:16 am
• The best cup of coffee I have ever had is from a small coffee shop in Fayetteville, Arkansas, called Baba Boudan’s. Their house blend is roasted in-house and is a perfectly balanced robust cup of coffee… the perfect start to any rough day.
• — Posted by Natalie Blair
• 94.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:19 am
• Veniero’s. 11th street and first ave. their double espresso is about as good as it gets. ciao,
• — Posted by John Chartier
• 95.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:20 am
• At Maria’s Cafe in the middle of coffee growing country in Cuba. With a shot of local liqueur on the side while watching Fidel on TV giving his annual New Year’s speech. OK so maybe the coffee wasn’t THE world’s best, but the combination of circumstances made it seem like it was and isn’t that what a good cup of coffee is really about?
• — Posted by cookie
• 96.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:22 am
• The best cup of coffee I ever had was four in the morning at the general staff’s mess in the field of the VII Corp when I was stationed in the US ARMY. It was raining and miserably cold. I snuck into the off-limits mess tent of the generals and enjoyed a cup of their java. A voice from behind said “good coffee?” I replied, “it ought to be, they make it for generals.” I turned around to stare into the face of the commanding general. He repied with, “I know,” and we shared a quiet, peaceful, predawn morning brew. Absolutely, the best cup of coffee I ever had.
• — Posted by R. Warren Meddoff
• 97.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:23 am
• Melbourne serves the best coffee, by far. I live in Sydney and love the coffee here, but somehow, Melbourne’s barristas makes lattes even better than Sydney’s.
• — Posted by sandra
• 98.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:24 am
• We drank our best coffee when we returned from climbing Blue Mountain to see the sun rise. Combine perfectly roasted Blue Mountain coffee with an incredibly great experience = best cup ever.
• — Posted by Sasha
• 99.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:27 am
• For filter coffee…nothing quite like the original Peet’s coffee on Walnut St. in Berkeley California…. across the bay, is perhaps the best espresso in the United States at Café Trieste on Grant and Vallejo.
• Then there is my home… where I make up a mean bit of espresso from a custom blend that I pick myself at Whole Foods and grind to extra fine.
• Otherwise…my best cup of coffee is any number of cafés in Tuscany. Pick any one, send me an air ticket… and I will send you a postcard about how damn good the coffee is.
• — Posted by norman scott
• 100.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:27 am
• They were beans purchased green in the market in San Pedro Sacatepequez, San Marcos, Guatemala, which we roasted in a cast-iron pan and ground in a hand mill at my home near Lake Atitlan. The beverage was so superb, even after re-using the grounds, that we decided to put the rest of the beans aside to take to my girlfriend’s home in Montreal. Alas, the beans did not travel well, and the brew that resulted up north was horrid, but more than 25 years later I with the same woman.
• — Posted by Paul Glassman
• 101.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:34 am
• I can’t believe no one has said Ethiopian. I’ve been to more than 50 countries - most in the last 10 years. A small cup of Harar or Sidamo coffee pounded, roasted and brewed in any traditional Ethiopian coffee house knocks the socks off of any coffee anywhere. And somehow knowing that you are drinking coffee made from the original coffee bean (coffee originated in Ethiopia)makes it taste even better.
• — Posted by Gord Cunningham
• 102.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:37 am
• On the morning of Sept. 12, 2001 I had the best cup of coffee of my life in a small bakery in Einseideln, Switzerland after my 14 hour re-directed flight from Zurich to Atlanta got sent back to Europe, and an all-night bus ride in to the mountains (long story, but it was the only place there were any hotel rooms left. Where we stayed stuck for eight days).
• They had one of those old Italian espresso machines that looks like an old locomotive. I had that coffee three times a day the whole time I was there, and have spent the last six years trying without success to replicate it.
• Honorable mention: Trelawny, Jamaica - Good Hope Plantation. Blue Mountain Coffe, straight from the french press, with fresh buns. Mmmmmm.
• — Posted by markham
• 103.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:40 am
• My best cup of coffee comes every morning,compliments of Baby’s Coffee from Key West FL. Having been a resident and then frequent visitor to Cayo Hueso I came across this local brewer and have been enjoying their coffee ever since. Seems that being the Southernmost brewer has some merit. They have many different blends, I enjoy “KillerJoe” and “Testarosa”. Smooth, not oily,low acid, and TASTY. A great “Cup-o-Joe”
• — Posted by Michael T
• 104.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:40 am
• I really enjoy Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf coffees. Its a chain out of Los Angeles. Sure its a chain, however I have had some of the best beans from there. They had a limited edition from Flores Island Indonesa which was great. I’ve been to Flores myself but I could barely drink the stuff I found; of course I didn’t go to the Bajawa highlands. Also the best Guatemalan Antigua that I’ve ever found.
• — Posted by Ken Morgan
• 105.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:42 am
• The best coffee in the world is Cafe Noir, black coffee,sold anywhere in any little cafe in Addis Ababa, where they call coffee Bunna(Boonah).I cannot get this flavour even in Starbucks.Go too Addis Ababa for your coffee. Did you know that you cannot take coffee bins fom southern Ethiopia to Addis Ababa. S.Divakaran once in Arba Minch 1991 1993.
• — Posted by s.divakaran
• 106.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:42 am
• The best cup of coffee in the world was had by my wife and I in Greece in May 2001. Directly under the Acropolis, in a section of Athens called Plaka, was, or maybe is, a restaurant called Dyonisus. The food was fantastic, and the double espressos (pur, no milk, no sugar, or anisette)were undoubtedly the best we have ever had. One would think a late-evening espresso, or for that matter, double espresso would hamper attempts for a good night’s sleep, however, after such a huge meal and coffees we both slept quite soundly. Caffeine isn’t everything when it comes to coffee…
• — Posted by Mike Ryan
• 107.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:55 am
• The espresso at Cafe Tommeseo in Trieste surpasses words. Simply ethereal.
• — Posted by Haim Chertok
• 108.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:55 am
• At any caffe bar in Italy. Period.
• — Posted by Peter Strzepa
• 109.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:00 am
• Best cup at home made by my husband with Peet’s coffee we’d had shipped to us in the Middle East. It was, I believe, an aged Arabian Mocha available in limited quantities. We still talk about that coffee and nothing has come close since. We almost cried when we ground the last beans. Best cup travelling - a cappuccino I enjoyed one morning while sitting on a sunken barstool in the swimming pool at the Beach Rotana hotel in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Sip, dunk, sip, dunk!! Also can’t go wrong with anything from a cafe/bar in Spain or Italy.
• — Posted by Abbie
• 110.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:01 am
• Benny’s on W89st and B’way. It was February, 1980 and about 20 degrees below zero. Walking up to his little luncheonette, the windows were fogged white and dripping with condensation - meaning it was a lot warmer inside than out. I asked for a coffee and he served it to me in a ceramic cup and soccer that must have been at least twenty years old. It was by far the best coffee I ever had then, or since.
• — Posted by Mark Sarfati
• 111.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:04 am
• In Italy any bar near Roma Termini While in NYC to get the same taste and at home feeling go to Villa Mosconi Restaurant in Greenwich Village and order the double espresso http://www.villamosconi.com
• — Posted by Chiara from Roma, Italy
• 112.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:06 am
• Peets coffee #1, Berkeley, CA
• — Posted by SB
• 113.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:07 am
• My husband and I have traveled to alot of places(Most countries in South America,Switzerland,Norway,Germany,Austria,Hungary,England,Scotland, Sweeden,France,Dominican Republic,Jamaica,Costa Rica,Spain and Japan but the best coffee in the world is right here in the USA-Peet’s in Berkeley,CA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• — Posted by Tammy Wenzel
• 114.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:11 am
• Intelligentsia in Chicago.
• — Posted by david z
• 115.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:13 am
• Misha’s in Alexandria, just outside DC. That first cup of Route 66 hit hard and stayed with me all day, and that made me a lifelong customer. Best after that was Cowboy Coffee in Hollister California.
• — Posted by Richard Campbell
• 116.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:18 am
• to this day, my favorite is blue mountain from jamaica. my first cup was sipped in 1971 on our first trip there. when we returned, i began ordering it from mcnulty’s on cristopher st.in nyc. it was a real indulgence on 2 teachers’ salaries, around $8. a pound in those days, but worth every penny.
• — Posted by paula rood
• 117.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:19 am
• The best cup of coffee is in my kitchen at 5:00 a.m.
• Freshly ground “Black Cat” espresso blend from Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago and a Pavoni lever machine.
• — Posted by Tony in Indiana
• 118.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:25 am
• The most startling and memorable cup of coffee I have ever had was at a little restaurant in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica in 2003. I was in Kingston on business and decided very early one Saturday morning to driving into the Blue Mountains which hover over the city. I didn’t give any thought to how much time I would be there or when I would return figuring that I would make out somehow. About noon, having driven past Newcastle military camp and having stopped in the nearby national park to hike for a couple of hours, I was hungry. I drove the short distance to the Gap Restaurant in Hardwar Gap, sat down in the open air veranda overlooking the mountains and ordered food. I was brought coffee in a french press device. Without thinking about it much, I filtered the coffee and poured a cup while concentrating on the scenery. Up to that time I had never given much thought about coffee other than it was the automatic thing to drink early in the morning and sometimes it was really bad. I took a sip and my attention to the mountains ended; the flavors in that coffee were amazing: complex, fruity, honest (unlike flavored “gourmet” coffees). From that day on my interest in coffee grew to the point where I buy green beans straight from the grower or colectivo and roast them myself. I enquired about the coffee and was told that it came from just down the road, Old Tavern Estate. After my lunch, I drove to the location marked only by an ancient Land Rover parked on the side of the road and climbed down the steps to a modest house set on a shelf overlooking a cliff and the valley below. I met the owner, Alex Twyman, bought some coffee, toured the Estate and commenced a new set of adventures into the world of coffee.
• — Posted by Phil Brault
• 119.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:26 am
• Gimme! Coffee is an amazing thing, a mini-franchise stretching between Trumansburg NY and Ithaca NY, with signature roasts that never fail to get the newcomer to say “wow!” and keep the old-timers going out of their way to get their next cup. I don’t know much about the technical coffee stuff, but they sell roasts called “Deep Disco” and “Platinum Blonde” and “Papua New Gimme!” that stand up to the best anywhere I’ve been. I miss the old aluminum coffee trailer they had set up in a hidden courtyard at Cornell University for a few years, a converted travel camper that looked ca. 1950 and a shock to come upon for the first time. Their storefronts are a little on the Bohemian side, but that suits Ithaca just fine.
• — Posted by Pierre F.
• 120.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:26 am
• In France in the wee hours of the morning. I can still smell and taste that cup of coffee.
• — Posted by Liliana
• 121.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:39 am
• My best cup of coffee is the cup that I drink with my close friends. The satisfaction received from socializing adds special additional flavour to the drink. Posted by Natalia Rakitina
• — Posted by Natalia
• 122.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:40 am
• Vienna, Vienna, Vienna (but I never learned how they do it)
• — Posted by John Reseska
• 123.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:54 am
• Believe it or not….Bagel World in Manalapan NJ. They brew strong, fresh hot coffee
• — Posted by Gideon Weingarten
• 124.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 6:58 am
• I get coffee from Gevalia. Every once in a while they send me special blends, mostly from Central America. Costa Rica comes to mind. I grind and brew myself, in a very precise way.
• — Posted by Garrett Wintergreen
• 125.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 7:35 am
• In my own kitchen here in France. Whole Skybury (Australian) beans from Vert-Tiges, an online store, ground 15 seconds, filter-dripped into a coffee thermos with a push-down serving mechanism.
• — Posted by Patricia
• 126.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 7:47 am
• After some 25 years of trying different whole beans (which I grind fresh every morning to put in my Melitta no. 2 manual single-cup cone), I have finally settled on Starbucks Sumatra. If you like good, flavorful, and above all bold coffee, nothing beats it.
• — Posted by James W.
• 127.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:09 am
• Peet’s in Cambridge, MA
• — Posted by Carolyn
• 128.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:09 am
• Drinking coffee is not just the coffee, but the atmosphere of the place where you have it… My best recollection of a well-enjoyed cup of coffee is from Café La Parroquia, in Veracruz, Mexico. Before that and since I have had many delicious cups of coffee (currently I have it at Kasalta, San Juan, Puerto Rico), but the memory of La Parroquia lingers…
• — Posted by Johanna
• 129.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:09 am
• On the Avenida Rio Branco in Rio De Janeiro in 1946
• — Posted by Paul
• 130.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:20 am
• Peets
• — Posted by Peter
• 131.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:22 am
• Its not the best. But its there when you need it. And as all coffee lovers know, when you need it, you need it bad. In Canada, most of us coffee lovers go to Tim Hortons. Around your corner, down your street, across from work, there is an outlet nearby. Its not the world’s most wonderful coffee. But its not the worst. What’s best about it, I guess, is that you can hook up to that old brown drip whenever and wherever that need strikes. That’s the thing about coffee. Most times, its all about need. As for the absolutely best coffee in the whole world, well, that’s a fine question. Its all about the love. The grower that cares, the cute server that really smiles, the grandmother struggling with the filters and beans, the wife or girl friend topping off a shoe string meal… it don’t matter if that brew is missing a few notes.. its the best.
• — Posted by Ted Amsden
• 132.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:23 am
• Any local NYC old fashioned coffee shop, deli or bodega that keeps a fresh and clean pot. 65 cents to a dollar a cup max. Everything else is pure pretention and another symbol of the unbridled quest by the self proclaimed elite for overpriced over-marketed faux luxury items and status symbols– and higher profits for the hucksters.
• — Posted by Ordinary Joe
• 133.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:25 am
• I first started drinking coffee with an elderly neighbor and it is something I still look forward to. She is now 87 years old and the drive to her home is now 90 miles instead of a walk across the street. I enjoy the taste of her coffee mainly because of the companionship. The coffee I enjoy the most is the first cup of the day, made with coffee my daughter introduced me to after a trip to Puerto Rico. It has a smooth, rich flavor, not bitter. Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, who needs them?
• — Posted by Abby
• 134.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:31 am
• My Fair Trade and Organic tasty cup, in a nice mug!
• — Posted by Elias
• 135.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:45 am
• Thanks to those kind words for Ethiopian coffee! As to a better cup there is none- fresh roasted, handpounded…with my Ethiopian husband when we regularly travel there.. nothing can top my morning cup…we keep kilos on hand at home, and can never find a cup as delightful until we go there and get some more…I just wonder how in Ethiopia the top grade cost only fifty cents a kilo…where is the money going for the forty dollar pound?…certainly not to the poverty stricken farm laborer…
• — Posted by S. Ismael
• 136.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:48 am
• The best Coffee you can get in India is natuarlly in the state of Karnataka where Coffee is grown at the right (1000-1200m)altitudes. Best Coffee used to be served in Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, MTR in short. Not any more. Over commercialised.
• Best to me is at home from roasted seeds (Plantation cherry blended with a touch of robusta)from Balaji Coffee works in Jayanagar. They roast to perfection with refined temperature controls and regularly analyse the distillate oils. Brewed at home using a medium pressure percolator and with cream skimmed fresh from milk just at the brink of boiling point,that is my cuppa.
• — Posted by Dr. M.Seshagiri Rao
• 137.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 8:58 am
• I had an absolutely incredible cup of “Joe” at a coffee shop called Orens Coffee in Morningside Heights, on Broadway between 112th & 113th Streets, located in Manhattan near Columbia University. It was months ago, but I can still remember the wonderful full bodied cup of “coffee of the day”. I admired the fact that the coffee tasted very fresh, was bold and strong without tasting burned or bitter. While I’m no coffee expert or afficionado, I find that Starbucks Coffee, which I also enjoy, frequently over roasts their beans causing an over powering, unpleasant flavor that can be described as “scorched”. It is the best coffee I’ve had since my stay in Paris.
• — Posted by Richard Reid
• 138.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:00 am
• The best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, was a recipe my parents gave me of a mixture of Folger’s and Cafe Du Monde from New Orleans.
• — Posted by Gayle
• 139.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:10 am
• I had the best cup of coffee while visiting an old friend on a beautiful sunny autumn day in San Francisco. We went to Philz Coffee, where they brew each cup individually, so it’s dark, thick, and strong. The coffee was great, but more importantly I got to spend an afternoon with someone I love.
• — Posted by Meme
• 140.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:11 am
• The best cup of coffee I ever had, was in the arrival air port building in Amsterdam, I can still taste it. No idea what brand it was, but it was brewed on cup at a time. European coffee appear to be better every where over there.
• — Posted by Ingrid Fetkoeter
• 141.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:17 am
• I was 17 or 18, finishing up boarding school in Lancaster, Lancashire, when I discovered real–as opposed to instant–coffee. Every Thursday I would buy a half pound of ground beans at Atkinson’s on China Street. I brewed my morning cup in a simple Melitta filter cone coffee maker. I had a daily ritual: out of bed very early, way before anyone else; once up in my study I would carefully measure out the coffee, pour in an inch or two of just-boiled water, let it drain, fill the filter cone to the top, and then, leaning over the cone, deeply breathe in the intoxicating aroma. That morning cup of coffee–the making of it, the fragrance of it brewing, the silently savoring of it in a still-sleeping building, still counts as my absolute favorite cup.
• — Posted by Marc G
• 142.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:24 am
• After seeing the workers’ conditions I’ve suddenly lost my taste for the stuff…
• — Posted by Maggie F.
• 143.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:42 am
• Any espresso in Italy for the reasonable prices (60 to 80 cents) and supreme quality. Especially in the south.
• — Posted by Roma
• 144.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:48 am
• My best cup of coffee was brewed from the first batch of beans roasted by a start-up called BuyWell International. Having seen two of my friends take and idea and turn it into a a fair trade coffee business, the cup tasted that much better because it was the product of a lot of hard work. www.buywell.org
• — Posted by Alex
• 145.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:50 am
• Stumptown in Portland. Nothing in NYC compares.
• — Posted by Laurie
• 146.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:51 am
• No one bothered to mention Miami, Florida, where a tiny shot of delicious cuban coffee will give you a great boost. For a little less than a dollar, they will sell you enough to share with a few others, thus a few extra little shotcups to go with it. Well, it has been mentioned now.
• — Posted by 11kap
• 147.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 9:58 am
• my best cup was in a small town in Columbie
• — Posted by Paulette Densmore
• 148.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:04 am
• Easy! I buy a can of Bustello in the supermarket or a 4 pak at one of the warehouse stores - one cup in the morning and I’m ready to face the day. Always delicious and has been since I started drinking coffee 47 years ago.
• — Posted by isabel
• 149.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:09 am
• Some posters here will be happy to learn that Dunkin’Donuts is moving west. 62 branches are about to be opened in Las Vegas, the first this October.
• — Posted by Dix Handley
• 150.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:32 am
• Dunkin Donuts. I too have sampled coffee around the world, and nothing compares to the pleasure of sipping a Dunkin.
• — Posted by Maureen
• 151.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:40 am
• Coffee should taste like coffee. Think of Columbia Supremo as the gold standard. “Designer” blends with overtones of peach, blueberries, strawberries, mangos, etc. are cute, but way off the baseline. If I want a banana, I can eat one. I do not want to drink a banana-flavored cup of coffee. Some years ago I learned that the favorite coffee in Columbia was Nestle’s instant coffee! If you wish to start the day in a vigorous manner (and want to quell a a wake-up headache) try Starbucks’ Komodo Dragon. Drink it barefoot because it can make your toenails flake off. One last tip: always use at least one more measure of coffee than usually recommended. Your nervous system will rejoice.
• — Posted by lorenzo Squarf
• 152.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:48 am
• In my mind, nothing will beat that simple espresso, ordered a bit on the strong side, from Cafe Solstice in (surprise surprise) Seattle, WA.
• — Posted by Ross
• 153.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:53 am
• Walt’s in Sunset Hill (Seattle)! Torrefazione Milano blend beans (distributed by Starbucks, but they don’t use them, too bad). Walt’s is the heart of the neighborhood, and the best double Americano in town. As good as anything I’ve had in Italy.
• — Posted by Lola
• 154.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 10:58 am
• The best non-espresso coffee I’ve ever had has been in the casino at the Holiday Inn in Aruba. Fresh from Columbia, of course, just across the channel. The best espresso coffee is in Europe, of course. And speaking of Cuban coffee..you can buy bags of coffee grown in Cuba at grocery stores in Paris! But don’t tell U.S. customs…
• — Posted by Jim in DC
• 155.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:04 am
• Bar Coluzzi in Sydney, Australia. If you’re lucky, you might even catch Luigi Coluzzi, the septuagenarian founder and ex champion boxer belt out a few bars of “O Sole Mio” on the sidewalk. Best two bucks you’ll ever spend.
• — Posted by Ant Ipodean
• 156.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:05 am
• i have my best cup of coffee every morning in my own kitchen, and while doing my morning web chores like looking at this article. After year of using multiple methods for making coffee, I have come to love the sensor experience using the very simple and inexpensive single cup coffee maker, the kind that sits on the top of your mug w/ a filter and you just pour in the hot water; also a freshly semi-course ground medium to light roast bean. A yummy religious experience. cheers
• — Posted by russel daniels
• 157.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:08 am
• I just returned from Kumamoto Japan. In Kumamoto, near the heart of the city, there is a hole in the wall coffee shop. The elderly owner imports unroasted beans from South America. He showed us the white coffee beans and asked us to taste it. He brews coffee using these beans, and the result is something that smells like coffee, looks like tea, and tasted heavenly. No cream or sugar. The owner says that it takes three times as many unroasted beans to brew coffee compared with roasted beans, implying that roasting is a gimmick to sell more cups of coffee from a given amount of beans. He claims that the bean growers in South America drink their coffee in this manner. I would be interested in other similar stories.
• — Posted by Edl Schamiloglu
• 158.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:09 am
• Either in…
• Belgrade: At the 5-star Aleksandar Palas Hotel’s cafe. It’s dark, grinds-in-the-cup, Balkan-style coffee that you usually find in tiny cups, but served in a huge mug.
• Berlin: Small euro-turkish bakery in Kreuzberg, on Oranienstrasse I believe…drink it.
• — Posted by John
• 159.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:10 am
• At a peat farm cafe in middle of Ireland.. Irish coffee so maybe that’s cheating!!…not super strong..or overly sweet…a perfect blend of coffee, whiskey, sugar and cream.
• — Posted by merle
• 160.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:13 am
• See? I rest my case.
• — Posted by chris
• 161.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:14 am
• My best cup of coffee was at the Hotel Panamericano in Bariloche, Argentina. I’m sure the overall experience was enhanced by the beautiful Andes location, ambience, and, oh yes, the chocolate cake.
• — Posted by Harvey Batleman
• 162.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:15 am
• I treasure my glass Melitta coffee carafe also. Wet the grounds in paper cone slightly, then pour in the amount of water needed. The fragrance and taste…wonderful…
• — Posted by merle
• 163.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:30 am
• Peets!
• — Posted by Mark
• 164.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:37 am
• OK, best expresso was on 19th June 2004, 9.30 am at a cafe next to the bus stop in Positano on the Amalfi coast Italy. But then I was on my honeymoon and my senses were heightened anyway! But the best coffee, the brew I prefer is a mug of filter, dark roast(roasted on the premises),organic Guatemalan bean, has to be at Monmouth Coffee (Monmouth Street in Covent Garden London). Undoubtedly the best coffee house in London and arguably anywhere!
• — Posted by Dave Martin
• 165.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:47 am
• Yeah, I remember that ‘best’ cup of coffee. Vintage 1974. I was 24 years old, tired and dirty from 20 days of intense backpacking, and on the road with a happy grubby load of paying clients ready to see civilized places and soft beds again- in another ten hours in distant eastern Missouri. Somewhere on the Texas plains 600 miles into a return, beat-up, dusty station wagon caravan cruise to St. Louis. Half of a 1250 mile ‘really gotta get there on time’ sort of drive. The hypnotic miles of dull early March prairie were taking their toll. Fighting off sleep I pulled into a gas station/cafe parking lot and grabbed the fourth cup of coffee I ever had in my life- handed to me by a non-driving friend who said, “drink this, it’s the magic potion that will get you there.” He was right. That Texas, side of the road, rotgut- a whole six ounces of burned, bitter nothingness with a mysterious hint of cheap, aromatic self-serve gas and roadside sage in a little styrofoam cup was coursing through my veins within minutes. Without another blink or nod toward sleep, the miles slipped by easily and St. Louis- which had seemed so impossibly distant and unattainable without immediate time-consuming sleep at that 600 mile mark- rushed into view with effortless ease.
• — Posted by rich stocker
• 166.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:50 am
• Seattle of course!!!
• — Posted by ac
• 167.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:53 am
• The best coffee in the world can be found at Fernando’s Kaffee in Antigua Guatemala. Fernando and his staff are just as excellent
• — Posted by zen321
• 168.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:56 am
• Well first off I’m a tea drinker. Its flavors and aromas are more subtle than coffee but there is no better sensation than deeply inhaling a steaming cup of Bromley green tea on a cold winter day just before taking your first sip. For a light refreshing drink I’ll go with Salada Earl Green, with its citrusy overtones of lemon-lime and heady, crisp aromatics. English Breakfast for its heartiness, Constant Comment for its explosion of spicy citrus flavors, just plain ol’ Lipton ice tea on a hot summer day…there’s something for everyone. And of course the health benefits are a matter of record.
• I’m no expert on coffee and to me Dunkin Donuts is as good as any. But then I see tea as a scapel, coffee as a dull butter knife.
• — Posted by Jason B.
• 169.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 11:58 am
• Ecuador. Hands down.
• — Posted by Jill
• 170.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:08 pm
• #89 told a story that resonates with me. I had a grandmother who made coffee in a percolator on a wood stove. My earliest memories are of the odor of baking biscuits and her coffee.
• I’ve not travelled as so many of the other posters have, but I believe that often the taste of coffee (or almost anything else) is deeply enhanced by one’s feelings at the moment and the company with which one is sharing the experience.
• I buy my coffee beans from a local A&E Roastery, and use a French press. Is it the best cup I’ve ever tasted? I have no memories of the best cup, other than there have been times in my long life that almost any cup of coffee first thing in the morning is probably going to be the highlight of that day.
• — Posted by Sajwert
• 171.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:12 pm
• My best 1st cup of coffee had to be the first cup of coffee made from beans just ground, water just boiled, and poured (clockwise or counter-clockwise, can’t remember which, but it WAS important)into a 1-cup plastic filter over the mug that was handed to me by someone who assured me that even though I didn’t like coffee, I would like this. He was right. That was in San Francisco in the early 70s. I immediately went out and bought a plastic 1-cup filter complete with a supply of paper filters and a hand-held grinder. (I didn’t want to forgo my morning cup in case the power went out at home in MN during one of our raging snow storms.) That was about 33 years ago and I’m still enjoying coffee today because of what that gentleman taught me.
• — Posted by Lynn
• 172.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:15 pm
• Best coffee I ever had was from the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
• — Posted by Frank Calabro
• 173.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:21 pm
• Philz in the Mission in San Francisco–a blend with a touch of cardamom. The second best is the stuff I make in my kitchen …
• — Posted by j. ross
• 174.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:28 pm
• My grandmother’s coffee. She was New Orleans born and bred, and her coffee, which she started serving my sister and I when we very young, was made from Luzianne Coffee, with chicory. She made it very strong, but she would add at least half steaming milk and sugar and serve it in rose china cups with saucers. I’ll never forget that fragrant aroma coming up into our room early in the morning. And I’ve never tasted coffee like that again.
• — Posted by Alex
• 175.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:30 pm
• Diedrich’s Coffee…may it rest in peace!
• I have been to 3 different Peets and was surprised at how terrible it was. I had always heard great things. I have also had great coffee in Vienna, Costa Rica, NZ, Spain, Paris, Rome, etc. but nothing has ever compared to Diedrich’s Coffee.
• Diedrich’s was a chain of coffee shops in Orange County, California that were all bought by Starbucks at the beginning of 07. The elder Diedrich started it all by transporting his beans from his farm in Guatamala to OC in his VW bus many years ago. He also developed his own roaster. It was the quality of the beans and the INCREDIBLE roast that made it special. I miss it everyday!!
• — Posted by Bob N.
• 176.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:31 pm
• Bar none; in Detroit, the best cup of joe is made at the DAC (Detroit Athletic Club). No cream or sugar necessary.
• — Posted by John Kelsey, III
• 177.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:37 pm
• Stumptown Coffee Rules! I no longer live in Portland, Oregon, so I have to order Stumptown by mail. I cannot be energetic without it.
• — Posted by Will Perkinson
• 178.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:42 pm
• I came across some Jamaican Blue Mountain some 15-20 years ago that was the best I ever tasted. It was expensive and very rare then. Later, I heard the Japanese bought it all. I haven’t seen it since. Is that what happened? Lately I’ve been buying cases of Costa Rican coffee from Britt, which is slightly cheaper than the slightly better Duran from Panama. I put a plastic vacuum bag of Britt in the freezer at my Tucson, Arizona, luxury vacation rental for my guests to enjoy.
• — Posted by Neal Savage
• 179.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:43 pm
• my house using whole beans ground fresh
• — Posted by s vecchione
• 180.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:43 pm
• All these coffee memories people have posted are most impressive and descriptive. And while, I, too have been fortunate enough to drink coffee in exotic places, I like to drink french pressed coffee at home with my husband while staring at Puget Sound. Fonte Roaster”s Double A is a favorite coffee bean to burr grind. But as much as I hate to admit it, the best bean I have ever tasted was Starbucks Pacamara. It was specialty offering two years ago. Wish they would bring it back. PS You can mail order Fonte’s Double A which is what I will have to do when I move Pocatello, Idaho. Now lets’ talk about Micro brew beer!!!
• — Posted by Rebecca
• 181.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:43 pm
• The Peet’s at the corner of Sansome, Bush and Market in San Francisco. I used to work nearby, and in the mornings there would be scores of Financial District types all waiting in line for their regular coffees, teas, espressos, etc. All of them serious about their coffee!
• — Posted by Rich
• 182.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:53 pm
• #89…what a great essay! I could use that as a writing model in teaching essay writing for the SAT.. also..my grandmother, like yours, was very dear to me and I think of her almost every day. My father also drove me to high school but it was stressfull..he never uttered a word to me! I envy your relationship with your dad.
• Best…merle in VA
• — Posted by merle
• 183.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 12:58 pm
• We just returned from an extended vacation in Scotland and Ireland. ALL of the four and five star hotels in the UK (as well as in Southern Ireland) serve OUTSTANDING coffee.
• No gimmicks, no Yuppie labels . . . just fine, rich, dark (and usually strong) coffee!
• Have never had a cup in the States that compares to theirs.
• — Posted by DocChuck
• 184.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:01 pm
• During an annual wander about Japan’s old capital, Kyoto, mid-’90s, I came across a gala coffee shop opening. Drawn in by the hypnotic aroma, surrounded by sparkling cups and decor, beneath a huge wall-mounted TV monitor that beamed the mountain-grown provenance of their exclusive beans, my reverie was momentarily derailed when I noted the stratospheric prices per 100 grams for various roastings. Calm was restored when a gracious young attendant offered me a cup, “tada” (free), and pointed to the cream and sugar. In a sip I was transported into a gustatory state of grace that caused this smart little shop of glass, brass, granite and gorgeous service staff to evaporate: ‘Buru Mountan Burendo.’ To this day, nothing I’ve been able to afford comes close to that Jamaican Blue Mountain brew that the Japanese monopolize like sushi-bound blue fin tuna. Natsukashii.. Yume da!
• — Posted by Walt Barker
• 185.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:02 pm
• The best coffee I have ever had I make at home, by hand, using whole Peet’s coffee beans. I use a method I invented (discovered by accident), which I call “fast pour.” My coffee maker had expired and, out of desperation, I took out the cone plastic unit, put a gold filter in it, ground the beans, heated the water to 190 degrees, and poured the water through directly into a stainless steel carafe. The water goes through relatively rapidly, and I believe this allows for a coffee with tremendous flavor, but no residual bitterness (which is apparently caused by allowing too prolonged a contact between the water and the beans). The first time I did this, I could not believe how good it was! You fellow coffee freaks out there might give this a try…..
• — Posted by Daniel Davy
• 186.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:02 pm
• Having served 22 years in the U.S. Navy I am not sure what all the fuss is about having to have all of this specialty coffee. The thick black eye opener I drank on many a mid watch at sea (7 ships) was as refreshing as any of the expensive swill sold today in the yuppie marts such as Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. More importantly if kept me awake so I could do my job. My daughter took me to a Starbucks one day. She said I should try a Hazelnut decaf. Yuck. All it was was regular decaf coffee with a squirt of hazel nut juice. Sweet as heck and $3.00. I’ll stay with my Postum at home or make a take out cup if I am going out in the early AM to work. Based on my one observation the yuppie coffee is as phony as the stores that sell it and the people who drink it.
• — Posted by Navy Coffee
• 187.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:06 pm
• The best coffee can be found at a restaurant next door to a huge disco on Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro.
• It’s called “cafe comun” because it is common coffee made by pouring boiling water into a pitcher with ground Brazilian coffee and sugar. This is mixed with a wooden spoon and more water is added until it is the right strength. The whole slushy mess is then poured into a sack made of cheesecloth and allowed to drip into the pot.
• Served from a metal pot into a nice cup, watch the waves roll onto the beach. Heaven.
• — Posted by DJ
• 188.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:11 pm
• Any Dunkin Donuts in Boston. They serve it in styrofoam cups and generously supply little pre-measured paper packets of sugar so you can sweeten your coffee exactly the same every time you have a cup.
• — Posted by J.V. Ballatore
• 189.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:13 pm
• Everybody disses Starbucks, but then they pull in what — a few billion $ a year? Something doesn’t add up. I wouldn’t call it the best cup of coffee in the world, but IMO Starbucks is in all reality for most people the standard by which they judge, and a pretty darn good cup of coffee.
• The best, however, would be the first time I ever had a cup of Kona Blue Mountain at Zarathustra’s Coffee Shop in Williamsburg VA. I’m sure it was just a regular ol’ cup o’ joe, but I distinctly remember in my freshman year of college it being the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. After all, since when is a really memorable cup of coffee just about the coffee?
• — Posted by Chris
• 190.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:13 pm
• The best latte I’ve had was at Orange Table in Scottsdale, AZ.
• — Posted by joe schmedlap
• 191.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:17 pm
• Havana, Cuba at a family guest house we stayed at…best yet. Unfortunately most Americans will never know the exquisite taste of a rich cup of Cuban beans brewed in a moka (Bialetti style pot) I like mine with a teaspoon of crunchy cane sugar. It has a beautiful rich crema, intoxicating smell and enough caffeine to get the worst morning person moving.
• — Posted by elian
• 192.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:18 pm
• Blue Bottle Coffee in Hayes Valley San Francisco. If you are visiting you must take time to stake out this very small cafe located in an alley in one of the city’s best neighborhoods. jennifer
• — Posted by jennifer minniti
• 193.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:21 pm
• Little City in Austin.
• — Posted by Allan
• 194.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:21 pm
• Any day of the week, the most delicious cup/glass of coffee (from a latte to a short black) comes from the barista at Cafe Bambina, Ponsonby Road, Auckland, New Zealand.
• — Posted by Maureen-Ann Farrimond
• 195.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:23 pm
• I agree with Jordan. I practically wrote my dissertation in a Peet’s in So Cal. My firstborn child’s first “outing” was to the same Peet’s. I miss it!
• — Posted by Laura
• 196.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:23 pm
• The best cup of coffee (non-espresso variety) was a Yirgacheffe from Sacred Grounds in Arcata, California. The best espresso comes from Coffee Klatch in unfashionable San Dimas, California–Belle Espresso. Both from California–how very strange. And I’ve had coffee from three of four companies named in in today’s very informative piece.
• B.L. Sherman Oaks, CA
• — Posted by Britt Leach
• 197.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:26 pm
• The White Raven Coffee & Tea Shop in the tiny town of Felton, CA. Try the cold brewed iced coffee–creamy and delicious, even without any sugar or cream. It will knock your socks off!
• — Posted by PDG
• 198.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:27 pm
• Cappuccino at Au Bon Pain anywhere in NY after a long day shopping
• — Posted by magdalena morelli
• 199.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:28 pm
• The best cups of coffee I’ve had have been at any coffee shop in any part of Spain. Cafe con leche is my favorite. Also, my corner cafe in Berkeley, CA. Cafe Roma, makes wonderful coffee, too. It’s a neighborhood hangout, very European in feeling, and they have good baked goods and breakfast items.
• — Posted by Michele Givenda
• 200.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:29 pm
• Do you people have any idea how pretentious you sound? Seriously.
• — Posted by K
• 201.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:33 pm
• To #72 if you’re still reading, the owner of the Coffee Connection that you mention was George Howell - one of the people mentioned in the article connected to this comment list. The good news is that he’s still in the coffee industry, but now on the roasting side.
• — Posted by hiwatt owner
• 202.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:34 pm
• Best cup of coffee was in a tiny cafe in Rome on a cold rainy morning.
• Best coffee drink was at In Fusion, a small coffee shop a block from the Italian Market in Philadelphia. Generally I don’t put anything in my coffee, but I was intrigued by their Loco Batidos- 2 shots of espresso blended with a banana and sweetened condensed milk on ice. It was like a heavenly dessert with a caffine kick!
• I agree with the other Dunkin’ Donuts fans, and also with the person who said Starbucks was overrated. They’re coffee is too acidic.
• — Posted by Tina
• 203.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:35 pm
• Most memorable cup was in the center of Puerto Rico, at a “parador” (hotel/B&B) that was a former coffee plantation: a huge cup of thick, black, intense local Puerto Rican coffee (most of which never gets off the island for export). Otherwise, I’ve had awesome coffee in Paris (cafe noir) and in Portsmouth/Durham NH, where a local small roaster called Breaking New Grounds, travels the world, buys s variety of green beans by the sack and roasts onsite daily, not selling beans more than a week or two past the roast date !
• — Posted by Bob Adamczyk
• 204.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:36 pm
• Lets just settle this once and for all. Only in Italy can you get a great cup. 2. It has to be esspresso. 3. In the states Peet’s comes close (best in packaged coffee. 4. End of discussion.
• — Posted by David Rosenfeld
• 205.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:40 pm
• In a town full of “Bean’s and Barista’s” (Boulder, Colorado) the very best cup of coffee is available @ “Organica Cafe.”
• Mark does a quiet, terrific job of making the very best cup in the nicest shop @ the loveliest location @ 16th and Walnut.
• The “Peruvian” rules!!!
• — Posted by David Butler
• 206.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:42 pm
• Forward Foods on Main St. in Norman, OK. Great care taken and no cream or sugar required.
• — Posted by Penny Love
• 207.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:43 pm
• I grow up drinking coffee. The best coffee was made by my mom using the old style percolator and boiled water. But, last month, after few years of American style coffee, I went to Puerto Rico and had the BEST coffee of the past 6 years… Strong, rich, and fresh coffee. A good coffee is all about the richness of the flavor and we do not get it on a watery, weak, coffee.
• — Posted by Valeria
• 208.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:43 pm
• Brighton, England. I lived there for a year after college with my best friend Alison. We had no money and lived in a youth hostel, eating on the uber-cheap. I washed dishes for work. We discovered a little gothic cafe that sold coffee by the Bodum. It was dark and sensual, rich and full, a lovely escape from the youth hostel crowds and the blustery Brighton February.
• — Posted by lucile
• 209.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:49 pm
• Kona coffee in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, Hawaii. The worlds best coffee, served everywhere on the Kona coast from fancy hotels to roadside shacks. Bring some beans back home and put ‘em in the French press. Nothing better.
• — Posted by charlesbois
• 210.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:50 pm
• At home of course - only way I seem to be able to get a fresh brew! Why is the coffee so disrespected in this city? Irving Coffee has a Brazilain blend Daterra that is fantastic - rich smooth flavor AND it’s Rainforest Alliance Certified too! What a bonus, great tasting coffee that is also great for the environment and coffee workers - a winner all round!
• — Posted by BCos
• 211.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:51 pm
• After travelling in France and Italy, we developed some universal truths: in France, it was “no bad bread” in Italy, it was “no bad cofee.” I agree with earlier posts, Campo de Fiore for a capuccino in the morning and I remember a small cafe with standing tables only on Julia with fantastic espresso.
• Pacific Coffee Roasters in Walnut Creek, California has the best domestic espresso or capuccino I’ve had in the United States.
• — Posted by Doug
• 212.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:53 pm
• Where? The Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans
• — Posted by S. G. Jordan
• 213.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:54 pm
• A chilly November morning at a cafe across Place de la Bastille from the Paris Opera. The hot cafe noir with a small slice of dark chocolate melted deep within. Branded into my memory, the steamy wisps tickle my senses and still, years later, pull me back to the small table and chair, the monument wrapped delicately in misty fog, the unexpected thrill of recognizing a defning moment. One I can never hope to recreate, but will always emulate.
• — Posted by Joe
• 214.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:54 pm
• The best was Jamaica Blue Mountain, when I worked at Willoughby’s in New Haven. We roasted all of the coffee in the store so we drank great coffee everyday, but the Blue Mountain was the best. There had been a big hurricane in Jamaica that destroyed the coffee crop which made it especially hard to find.
• Runner up is a cappuccino in a cafe on the far side of Capri. I was traveling through Italy with my BF at the time and we slept out in sleeping bags in the woods because we couldn’t afford any of the hotels on Capri. After that night the cappuccino could not be beat.
• — Posted by elvette
• 215.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 1:55 pm
• The best cup of coffee I’ve ever had was brewed at home in a regular drip coffee-maker. The beans: Cafe Habitat Organic Fair-Trade Mexican blend. So smooth, round, and full, very little bitterness, with a rich medium-body flavor. I’ve never tasted better (though The Haymarket in Northampton, MA brews up a mean French Roast).
• — Posted by K. Kranz
• 216.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:00 pm
• At Tartine, San Francisco’s mecca of a French bakery in the Mission district. They serve organic Mr. Espresso brewed coffee, rich, flavorful, and dark without being over roasted. It’s worth the 20 minute wait in line, and the pastries are sublime as well.
• — Posted by CJ
• 217.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:01 pm
• We grow our own coffee in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. The plants stem from all over the world, i.e. from Kona, Panama, Cuba,Mexico, Yemen, Liberia and the CapeVerde Islands. That gives a zesty mixture roasted to a dark roast, that can ´t be beat. Harvested and processed semi-dry by our own hands, it gives a terrific quality. We can compare it at least to the Jamaica blue mountain; thats why we call our unpolished coffee LaMatanza Green Mountain. Tenerife, the stepstone for the early discoverers of America was a fomous place to grow coffee until the competition from Central America wiped out the entire culture. After sugar cane before and bananas afterwards, the farmers are undecided what to do now without the subsidies of the European union.
• — Posted by Peter Dittrich
• 218.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:03 pm
• I recommend everyone to try a cup of Turkish coffee at least once in their lifetime. Best!
• — Posted by guldan K.
• 219.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:09 pm
• I had not one but two best cups of coffee — In Brussels, Belgium and in Bologna, Italy. Maybe the atmosphere plays a role on the way I was tasting the delicious “beverages”.
• — Posted by Armella
• 220.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:09 pm
• St. Cyprien, France, early morning bistro coffee, 2005. Marked me for life!
• — Posted by Th in Seattle
• 221.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:11 pm
• I had my best cup of coffe at the Cool Spot in Staunton, Virginia. It’s no longer there but Lester Bowers, who ran the coffee shop still roasts coffee beans for area restaurants. His business is called LESTER’S BEST. It’ll make you smarter, just like it says on the label.
• — Posted by wanda dawson
• 222.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:11 pm
• Don’t know that I’ve had the best, but I have memories: Cafe du Monde in the middle of the night with my daughter on a road trip, Peet’s regularly delivered for our office coffee, seeking out Espresso Vivace in Seattle on the advice of friends, the daily espressos on board a cruise, and a small roastery below my office in Vinings, GA. Such an aroma! It was called San Francisco Roasting Co., and the owners were a young couple. The husband was justifiably proud of his training in the art of roasting. The roaster sat in the front room, next to a fireplace. I think they have moved since then. It had to be over 15 years ago. Best movie coffee moment: Tom Hanks’ search for some residue of coffee in the burned out French cafe in Private Ryan. Our local Whole Foods does a nice job, too.
• — Posted by paul
• 223.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:12 pm
• Cafe Grumpy serves the best cappuccino’s that I have ever had!
• — Posted by Christian
• 224.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:13 pm
• #1 - Munich, Germany #2 - Feldkirchen, Germany #3 - In my kitchen - a Kenya triple A coffee bean
• — Posted by William Marcy
• 225.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:15 pm
• The Tamilians in southern India make at home the best coffee in the world.
• — Posted by Stephen B Gomes
• 226.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:15 pm
• ANY good Italian restaurant after a satisfying meal followed by Capuccino, which I drink while finishing my red wine. Sounds silly but it’s really good. Been doing it for 3 decades. It’s a ritual that my husband and kids make fun of me for but I don’t care as it pleases!! Other than this experience with the infamous bean…I’m not a coffee drinker at all…actually tote tea.
• Kim
• — Posted by Kim
• 227.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:19 pm
• Graffeo’s in San Francisco. 60’s-70’s. He was a roaster and would invite you in for a cup of his espresso once in a while.
• Yemen Cafe in Brooklyn.
• Home. Brazilian espresso from Porto Rico Importers in a small press pot.
• Stephen
• — Posted by Stephen Morse
• 228.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:20 pm
• Best cup o’ coffee I ever had was in a hotel in Honduras. I have yet to find a better cup.
• — Posted by Geoff
• 229.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:25 pm
• I was happy to be reminded of Peet’s in Berkeley. It was not only great coffee but there was a nice outdoor deck where you could hang out in the California sun and talk to others. I was sorry to hear that Mr. Peet passed on last week. He was a very sweet man!
• Another nice Berkeley coffee hang out was Cafe Roma which had (maybe still has?) a great cappucino for cheap and the fastest service I’ve ever seen. Then you could sit outside in their terrific huge patio for hours.
• I also enjoyed Blue Mountain coffee grown in Jamaica. I had it a friend’s father’s house in Kingston with the tree branches coming in the windows–no glass.
• It seems there are memories associated with these great coffee places. For me, nothing beats a cup of “noir” at a Parisian cafe at one of those tiny tables outside where you can sit for hours, undisturbed.
• However, recently diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion I have switched to tea…argh.
• — Posted by Sophie
• 230.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:27 pm
• Best cup of coffee I ever had was when I was 14 years old: at the Plaza Hotel. I’ve been hooked ever since, but rarely had such a rich and creamy cup.
• — Posted by Ellen Aragon
• 231.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:28 pm
• The absolute best coffee on the planet is single vineyard private label Kona coffee from Honaunau on the Big Island of Hawaii. Two brands in particular stand out: Kona Rain Forest Farms - freshly roasted on Monday, shipped Tuesday, organic, and amazing. www.konarainforestcoffee.com 808-328-1941; and Terry Fitzgerald’s Da Kine Coffee, a true Kona coffee pioneer, rakes the beans on the roof of his house in the hills of Honaunau, winner of the Gavalia Cup, astounding, authentic, and found nowhere else. www.dakinecoffeebean.com 808-328-1941
• There are numerous other fantastic single vineyard, proprietor owned and operated coffee farms in Kona, including Pau Hana Estates, Lafayette Farms, and Long Mountain. All of these growers do mail order internet sales. If its truly great world class coffee you want, its Kona coffee. Accept no substitutes. For a complete list of the best coffee growers check out www.konacoffeefest.com for the Gavalia Cup annual competition list, this and previous years winners, and links to over 100 farms.
• — Posted by Joel Berliner
• 232.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:31 pm
• Peet’s coffee.
• — Posted by Myra Agostino
• 233.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:32 pm
• The Parador Hacienda Gripinas in Jayuya, PR roasts, grinds, and brews locally harvested beans within minutes of harvesting. None so fine, anywhere. Don t you agree Bob Adamczyk?
• — Posted by Gary Greer
• 234.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:35 pm
• A “cortadito” in Versailles, Cuban Restaurant in Miami, Florida. Ah, Divine!!!
• — Posted by Isamar
• 235.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:36 pm
• the best cafe’ latte ever was in Kings Coffee a block from the bell tower in Xian China..
• — Posted by P Spence
• 236.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:37 pm
• Organic 365 Pleasant Morning Buzz beans from Whole Foods, at home. Perfection every morning. Beyond perfection with good company.
• — Posted by Deborah
• 237.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:40 pm
• Had a cup of fresh brewed coffee sitting on the veranda of the UCC coffee plantation on top of the Jamaican Blue Mountains. I’ll never forget the taste of that amazing joe sipped from a beaten and chipped enamel cup.
• — Posted by Ted Kim
• 238.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:42 pm
• In bed. coffee in bed is always the best.
• — Posted by nic bottero
• 239.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:43 pm
• Runaway Bay, Jamaica….Jamaica’s Blue Mountain Coffee is the best in the world…Bar None….I bring back a few pounds for family and friends everytime I get down to Kingston….Tip…Buy in a supermarket, much cheaper than at the airports….
• — Posted by Barbara Book
• 240.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:44 pm
• I have two bests (apologies to Allan Siegel). First, the espresso at Les Deux Magots in Paris, second the Dark Magic at the Mobil station on the Hutch near Harrison. No kidding.
• — Posted by jtiebout
• 241.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:46 pm
• Dunkin’ Donuts… anyplace… any time… For me, it’s the best thing since sitting at the counter at Chock Full O’ Nuts in Manhattan and getting served the best (at that time) coffee in the world… One request: We need more Dunkin’ Donuts along I-75 in Florida…!!
• — Posted by David Rubin
• 242.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:49 pm
• Budapest, Hungary, fall 2003. The Ottoman Empire had its problems, but the coffee of the formerly-occupied places is amazing.
• — Posted by Griffin
• 243.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:52 pm
• “El Jarocho” in Coyoacan, Mexico. On a rainy afternoon in your birth country, it is heaven.
• — Posted by belia
• 244.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:53 pm
• Even better than any café in France, that from my little Krups 99 Euro special is super yuminess. French or Italian coffee is key, though. Commercial grade Lavazza Il Perfetto Espresso is good stuff. Folger’s what?
• — Posted by R.A. McLauchlin
• 245.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:54 pm
• At my home, with Peets Italian Roast made in a french press. ‘nuf said.
• — Posted by CC
• 246.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:56 pm
• Best cup of coffee ever - N.Y.C. - “Chock Full of Nuts”
• — Posted by Colleen Laureno
• 247.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:56 pm
• I have it at home almost every day. I use a combination of three beans including a dark Continental and it is magnificent. I use a Cuisinart bean grinder-coffee maker combination so the coffee is always freshly ground and immediately brewed.
• I had two this morning.
• — Posted by Robert Harper
• 248.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:57 pm
• I don’t remember the beans, but the best coffee I ever had was in a cabin on Vallecito Lake, Colorado, after their disastrous fire season had burned off half the tree-cover three or four years ago. The cabin provided an old stove-top percolator just like the one my Mom used to make coffee in. Best coffee to be had can be had in a percolator!
• — Posted by P Stice
• 249.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:58 pm
• Winchester Mansions in Cape Town, South Africa
• Heaven in a cup.
• — Posted by DemRow
• 250.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 2:58 pm
• Believe it or not, at the Waldorf=Astoria, here in New York! I don’t know where they get it from, but they serve a really great one.
• — Posted by Caroline
• 251.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:00 pm
• My best cup was in my bed in Coventry CT reading the Sunday Times and the kids were still sleeping.
• — Posted by N. Sharp
• 252.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:01 pm
• Mudd Truck @Astor Place.
• — Posted by Malifano
• 253.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:02 pm
• an iced mocha from bauhaus made by gracie, while the sun sets behind the mountains and space needle in seattle.
• — Posted by j. mystkowski
• 254.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:02 pm
• I really don’t understand this article and many of the comments. It would seem that it is at least as important to discuss the type of roasting and brewing as the coffee itself. American, New Orleans, French, Viennese, Italian espresso, Turkish, and other types of brews and roasts are so different from each other that to speak about “coffee” in general seems to make very little sense. Also, it would seem that some types of coffee work better in some roasts and brews than they do in others. Moreover, I, for one, dislike American coffee so much that for me, even coffee beans from the Garden of Eden wouldn’t make much of a difference.
• I live in Italy and strongly prefer Italian coffee to any other type. But even here, it’s dangerous to generalize. Coffee in Naples, Palermo, Milan, Rome and Venice vary widely from each other. But I guess you could say that the coffee gets better the further south in Italy you go. You haven’t tasted a good cup of espresso until you had one in Naples or Palermo. And it isn’t the beans or the water; it’s the roast and the care with which the coffee is brewed.
• — Posted by Bruce
• 255.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:04 pm
• FRENCH HOTEL in Berkeley, CA makes a deliciously creamy, rich latte. And they make it fast. Although PEET’S is a religion in this town, I find it over-roasted and too acidic, even their “low-acid” roasts and blends. PICANTE in Berkeley makes a tasty Mexican cup, rich and cinnamonny tones. And yes, surprise! DUNKIN’DONUTS makes a reliably good cup of coffee.
• — Posted by Olga Paredes
• 256.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:05 pm
• Country Style Donut Shop in Buffalo, NY. It was a chain in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area. They had darned good donuts, too. I haven’t been back in years. They’re probably gone now.
• — Posted by Miles
• 257.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:05 pm
• Place in the Castro district of San Francisco, with a dumb name — something like “Bean There, Done That.” They roast their own, and brew cups one at a time through some sort of simple gravity-powered paper filter system. Must be how they grind it, or the filter, or something, but it comes out with this beautiful frothy, foamy texture that’s somewhat like a cappucino, and beautifully fresh and complex. Costs three bucks, which I gladly pay.
• — Posted by Matt Clifford
• 258.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:07 pm
• Peets? The strength and acidity is similar to drain cleaner. Visit Italy for a truly beautiful roast. In the US, my favorite shot came from Espresso Vivace in Seattle.
• — Posted by David P
• 259.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:07 pm
• Venice, Italy. I live in San Francisco, but still have not tasted an espresso as smooth and heady as that demicup from an ordinary cafe bar in a small campo (vs. the posh places in the Piazza).
• — Posted by C. Silva
• 260.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:08 pm
• The best cup was in Kauai, Hawaii. It tasted so good that I asked the owner what type it was and was told peaberry. Addtionally, it was grown on Kauai so we went to the vineyard[??] and brought some home. Since I finished that batch, I haven’t thought about it. Thanks to this exercise, I will order some more.
• — Posted by Robert L
• 261.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:09 pm
• At home made by my grandmother in her battered Wearever drip pot.
• — Posted by Rosalie
• 262.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:11 pm
• Best coffee I’ve ever had was at the Chapter 11 wine and coffee bar in Seoul, South Korea. /ak
• — Posted by Anne Kelly
• 263.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:12 pm
• To the people who are complaining that these posts and their posters are “pretentious” –
• A great cup of coffee is one of life’s lovely little luxuries. For just a few more bucks…or a little bit of attention to handmade detail…you can get something with aroma, taste, and body to pause and really enjoy, instead of some weak or bitter brownish brew serving mainly as a way to ingest some reviving caffeine. People on this message board aren’t talking about the wonders of thousand dollar watches or 75,000 cars… they’re talking about memorable cups of coffee or espresso, enjoyed at home or purchased for a handful of dollars around the corner or during some trip abroad. It’s not pretentious, no more so than recalling a beautiful sunset or a great ballgame or a lovely walk on the beach. It’s all about enjoying the special little things, little moments, and little memories that add beauty and sweetness to life.
• — Posted by jz
• 264.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:13 pm
• Murky Coffee in Washington, DC on a chilly day last november.
• — Posted by krista
• 265.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:16 pm
• Peets. I’m impressed how vocal the Peetniks are about their coffee. I thought, I was the only one.
• Peace and thanks to Alfred Peet: http://peets.typepad.com/?cm_re=hp-_-feature4-_-Image
• Had some great coffee traveling in south India, with chuntey sandwiches…mmmm. At home, in San Francisco, honorable mention to Blue Bottle, and Ritual, but my heart’s still with Peets.
• Can’t wait to try what Italy and Melbourne have to offer, someday.
• — Posted by Rajiv
• 266.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:18 pm
• i see stumptown (portland oregon) got 3 mentions. somewhere they got voted best in the world i think. their espressos are my favorite outside of italy. for brewed it’s peet’s french roast all the way (which is sacrelige for the hardcore stumptown coffee modernists who claim peet’s just burns the coffee by overroasting it. i beg to differ and retain freedom to assess what tastes good to my own tastebuds. stumptown is opening in seattle in a couple of weeks!!!
• — Posted by stuart wylen
• 267.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:18 pm
• I had my best cup of coffee in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in the 60s. Naturally, it was Jamaican Blue Mountain. It has no aftertaste, and there is no residue in the bottom of the pot. Incredibly good!
• — Posted by Albert Berry
• 268.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:21 pm
• In Kansas City, Missouri there is a small coffee shop on Broadway and 41st street appropriately named ‘Broadway Cafe’ which serves the best cup of coffee that i’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. Not only does the shop roast their own coffee and espresso beans, but they also run a delivery service that provides coffee to many of the locally owned restaurants in Kansas City.
• — Posted by Caitlin D
• 269.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:23 pm
• Albina Press in Portland, Oregon. Some others may be as good, but none are better.
• — Posted by steve nemirow
• 270.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:24 pm
• It was the late 1970’s in Greenwich Village while a student at NYU when I had my introductions to espresso, cappucinno and lattes at landmark cafes like Le Figaro. This marked the beginning of a life long love and addiction. Today I cannot be certain if the coffee I had thiry years ago was the best, but that’s the way I will always remember it.
• — Posted by Juliane
• 271.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:24 pm
• The best coffee came from Chock Full O’Nuts in New York City on Lexington Avenue across from the Graybar building in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I have switched to tea from those days on.
• — Posted by Sandra Chace
• 272.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:24 pm
• Italy. Any train station. Hands down better than anywhere else in the world. Sorry.
• — Posted by Corbin Poticha
• 273.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:27 pm
• I agree with Beverly Clark: Community Coffee, brewed in Baton Rouge, LA., but sold in stores in Mississippi, Louisiana and surrounding areas. Good stuff.
• — Posted by T G
• 274.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:27 pm
• Any vegetarian restaurant in Chennai, South India. A cup of strong, strong, and sweet Tamil coffee with masala dosai. Paradise!
• — Posted by ViscaBarca!
• 275.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:30 pm
• The best cup in Rome (and therefore the world), no small feat that, can be had at Tazza D’Oro, spittin’ distance from the Pantheon. If you’re in Rome, DON’T MISS IT.
• — Posted by Dale
• 276.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:30 pm
• In New York — Joe: the Art of Coffee (the one in the Village) and Dean & Deluca in SoHo.
• In SF — Caffe Trieste in North Beach or Marin.
• In LA — Caffe Luxxe in Santa Monica.
• — Posted by Christina
• 277.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:32 pm
• I’ve been drinking coffee for 45 years and I’ve liked all of it, even the stuff I used to get from vending machines in the 60s and 70s. Burnt coffee is the only bad variety you can drink.
• — Posted by Butch Dillon
• 278.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:34 pm
• Cant’remember the name of the place but it was a little coffee shop (the type with chinese roots) around the corner from the Zocalo in mexico city. Every morning my son and I went for desayuno and cafe con leche. The waitress would ask us how much coffee to put in the glass, we’d point and then she would pour the hot steamed milk filling it the rest of the way…. ahhhh heaven!
• — Posted by Lorraine
• 279.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:35 pm
• 25-cent coffee machine at Page Communications Engineers, Inc, Chillum Place Md, circa 1962, while working on AF manuals for Vietnam.
• With powdered cream.
• Mike
• — Posted by Michael Rutkaus
• 280.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:36 pm
• I agree with #117, 5 am in my own kitchen tastes best by far. The beans are roasted locally, by Small World Coffee in Princeton NJ. I also agree that Starbucks is way overrated. You can’t beat local!
• — Posted by princetonian
• 281.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:38 pm
• In December, 1973, I was hitch hiking from California to NJ and got stuck without a ride just east of the Mississippi River. I spent the night crouching under an overpass trying to avoid frostbite froma a bitter winter wind. When the morning broke it started sleeting. But my luck was with me and one of the first cars to come by pulled over to let me in. It was a 57 Ford Fairlane and the heater was not working but the driver gave me his coffee and I never tasted anything better since. It was with milk and sugar - light and sweet - and it was hot and aromatic and flavorful. Years later I had a cup of coffee with beignets in New Orleans and it tasted the same but I never found out what the brew or bean was…
• — Posted by Steve
• 282.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:39 pm
• The “Sufi Cafe” in Mountainview, California. It is served up by the coffee equivalent of Seinfeld’s soup nazi — and worth it! P.S. don’t tell him I sent you or he’ll yell at me for trying to do the impossible, namely, communicate the unique essence his coffee. It can’t be done, he says. I beg to differ, but I keep my mouth shut in order to drink his coffee. (As for the second best, I agree with the fans of Kauai coffee!)
• — Posted by B. Johnson
• 283.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:44 pm
• Best cup: Sardi’s. Just perfect…never tasted any coffee that was so good.
• Worst cup: Starbucks… burnt roast, overbrewed, too strong, over rated and over priced.
• — Posted by Chet Cutick
• 284.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:45 pm
• turns out freshness of bean does make difference - best coffee we have come across anywhere in world available for small pittance in any restaurant or sidewalk vendor in Ethiopia (origin of coffee) — e.g. Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Lalibela, Aksum, et. al. (the coffee and the fresh pepper make the trip to Ethiopia worthwhile on their own — with Lucy, the Blue Nile, the sunken churches and mysterious final resting place (alleged) of the actual Ark of The Covenant thrown in as extras).
• — Posted by ithejury
• 285.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:46 pm
• Many caffes in Rome serve wonderful espresso but THE BEST is at Caffe St Eustachio, just behind the Pantheon were Romans line up for the coffee.
• — Posted by Mariana
• 286.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:50 pm
• My best cup of coffee was in Maui at a coffee store called Honolulu Coffee Company. They make a range of blends using the best KONA beans, from 10% to 100% Kona. I liked it so much that I now have them ship me 3-4 lbs of unground beans from Honolulu to L.A. (I drink the 25% Kona because I like the balance–and price–better.)
• — Posted by Michael S.
• 287.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:53 pm
• Having returned recently from a month in Paris, I can say that the coffee (cafe) was better than any I’ve had here in the US.
• — Posted by Sy Friedman
• 288.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:54 pm
• As so many of the comments suggest, our recollections of that perfect something have much to do with our state of mind at the time (or our nostalgia for it). The rush that comes from a peak experience in a far corner of this great world can make dishwater taste exquisite.
• — Posted by David Laverty
• 289.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:54 pm
• When I was in Brooklyn Law School in the early 1970’s there was a Chock-Full-of-Nuts near the northeast corner of Joralemon and Court Streets. It didn’t last long, and in fact there are no stores that last long at that part of Brooklyn, but a cup of that rich coffee and a nutted cheese sandwich was as good a breakfast as I have had then or since.
• — Posted by Joel L. Friedlander
• 290.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:55 pm
• This is real, though it may sound pretentious (and why not?): my wife, Rose, insists that the best coffee we had was in Florence, Italy, about thirty years ago; but I insist that the Japanese, anywhere, brew the best, cup by cup, each taking several minutes, with the server dancing through the preparation with his hands, coaxing the aroma into a breath that kissed the air, and placing cup on saucer in a delicacy that welcomed the vigor of the pour, and the eagerness of our lips, all brought to a taste-full coffee climax.
• — Posted by george and rose sebouhian
• 291.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:57 pm
• in my kitchen - this morning. living for today!
• — Posted by tony tuna
• 292.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 3:57 pm
• Touro Infirmary in New Orleans– Enough to make me want to stay awhile longer.
• — Posted by Katherine H
• 293.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:02 pm
• Dynasty’s Cafe, East 14th Street and Avenue B.
• I’ve been going there for years, and it never changes.
• Hooray for good, old-fashioned Greek coffeeshops.
• :)
• — Posted by Pickle
• 294.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:04 pm
• The best cup of coffee I’ve ever had was at the espresso bar in the hotel I was staying at in Naples, Italy.
• — Posted by liz
• 295.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:05 pm
• About 50 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam, on the highway to Denmark, a country gasthaus serves the best coffee in the world. Served hot, poured simultaneously with hot milk. So good that we didn’t want to leave, just move in and enjoy more.
• — Posted by LARRY MAXWELL
• 296.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:05 pm
• Stumptown, Portland, Oregon
• So much depends on your emotions at the time.
• Early morning. Beautiful morning
• With my lady whom I loved.
• — Posted by Terrence Brennan
• 297.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:06 pm
• I drink a lot of coffee and a travel a great deal in the US, Ireland and UK. The best cup of coffee I’va had so far was a Guatemala Dark Roast served in The Chanango Coffee Roasters, a small, friendly cafe in South Otselic, NY. The freshly roasted and ground brew offered, as Bill McCurry, the roaster/owner promised, a full body, rich acidity, with floral, fruit and spice overtones. Unbelievably, it cost a buck and a quarter for a bottomless cup.
• — Posted by Bob Townes
• 298.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:07 pm
• Seattle. At the Baci Cafe in the Henry Gallery, the University of Washington’s art museum.
• — Posted by Carolyn Shea
• 299.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:08 pm
• At the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Canada
• — Posted by Laurie J.
• 300.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:10 pm
• The best cup of coffee I ever had was back in December 1976 while I was standing outside of London’s Covent Garden waiting to buy tickets to The Nutcracker. I still dream about it. It was a rainy, cold day and the coffee completely warmed me up.
• — Posted by Melanie King
• 301.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:10 pm
• Waffle House!
• — Posted by Katherine
• 302.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:10 pm
• Florence. On a rainy Christmas morning. Unforgettable.
• — Posted by TOM
• 303.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:11 pm
• I think McDonald’s makes one of the best cups of coffee. I have one every morning on my way to work. It’s Newman’s coffee. But Starbucks makes the best Cafe Mochas.
• — Posted by Sally L.
• 304.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 pm
• Ritual Roasters in San Francisco (The Mission). 3 Cups in Chapel Hill, NC.
• — Posted by Brian Hogan
• 305.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 pm
• I’m Italian, so I’m partial: La Rosetta in Perugia, Italy is probably the best I ever tasted. My daughter would agree. HOWEVER, Amin-era Uganda also had some amazingly good coffee, never had anything like it before or since. I get nostalgic everytime I see Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, or Mariska Hargitay holding one of those blue paper cups on “Lawn Order”. Around here, in San Francisco, I vote for Blue Bottle, walking distance from my work, and The Beanery’s organic French blend in the Inner Sunset.
• — Posted by Lucia, San Francisco
• 306.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 pm
• “Dunkin’ Donuts… anyplace… any time… For me, it’s the best thing since sitting at the counter at Chock Full O’ Nuts in Manhattan and getting served the best (at that time) coffee in the world… One request: We need more Dunkin’ Donuts along I-75 in Florida…!!”
• I agree, except I don’t really care about I-75 in Florida.
• — Posted by John Tkach
• 307.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:12 pm
• We were staying at Sandals in Jamaica and found our baggage damager wghen leaving. Not only did thet arrange to make repairs and thre in a high amount of Blue Mountain coffee which was Ambrosia to us. Smart man–we got hooked and developed withdrawl symptons
• — Posted by joe battista
• 308.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:13 pm
• I would have to say my most positive memory of a great cup of coffee was at Cafe Campagne in Seattle, WA and surprisingly it was a coffee from Starbuck’s Coffee Company that they only sell through high end restaurants. It was so good that I called the company and ordered some for my wedding. Don’t know if they still have it. It was so smooth with a great body and you could just drink straight no sugar or cream.
• — Posted by Kathy
• 309.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:16 pm
• I have only worked in the coffee industry - owned coffeehouses, lived and exported coffee in Kenya, worked at a coffee roastery and now trade and import coffee as well as grade beans for the New York Board of Trade. I get to cup it all. In my opinion, if one origin has to be put above all others, it is Ethiopia. No question. The beans are native cultivars, untouched by cross-breeding for disease resistence, higher yields or heartiness in direct sunlight as in all other countries with the exception of Yemen. The range of flavors of the coffees from Ethiopia is unmatched. There is no substitute. Fully Washed Yirgacheffe Grade 1 (from a secret village) and Natural Harrar Grade 4 from the Oromia cooperative are the best I have experienced. Second place depends on your mood; Kenyas from Nyeri auctioned in March, Triple Picked Sumatra Mandheling from Pondok Gajah for January shipment from Belawan, Guatemala from the Asobagri cooperative in Huehuetenango for April shipment and Colombians from Huila. Find them and nirvana is not far off..if the shipping container recently arrived, the roaster knows what they are doing, you get it fresh, use pure water, brew at a temperature near boiling and don’t over-extract!
• — Posted by Trader
• 310.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:17 pm
• I’m not an expert, but to my taste, the best coffee I have ever had was at a small bar near the Pantheon in Rome, Italy. Next to that, I regularly drink Starbucks “espresso roast” daily. The best of the regular American coffees is Folger’s.
• — Posted by Roman Vanasse
• 311.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:18 pm
• Coffee for me is 1 part Kenya Nyeri, 1 part Colombia Supremo and 2 parts Brazil Organic. All Arabica coffees. Italian roasted in a small shop in Cannes (near the little market down from the Martinez).
• I have a Gaggia Orione coffee machine from the 1940s- pump handle style with its own grinder. Requires a bit of maintenance but the coffee is wonderful.
• Fresh coffee, fresh croissant and fresh juice on the terrace overlooking Antibes on a wonderful fall morning. Oohuhuh. Another Cappuccino in the afternoon. Devine.
• — Posted by Shiela MacQuerey
• 312.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:22 pm
• PHILZ One cup at a Time. He has three or four one at a time cafe’s in San Francisco. Just like the name each cup is brewed as you order so it is not a quickie place like Starbucks. Delicious!!!
• — Posted by Mazzy
• 313.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:26 pm
• At the Borders Books and Music Store in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. They use Seattle’s Best brand and I get a good cup every time. Starbucks coffee is very much overrated (way too strong) and Tim Horton’s coffee tastes like dishwater. Waffle House and Dunkin’ Donuts coffees are pretty good also!
• — Posted by Gina
• 314.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:28 pm
• Best coffee was at Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland Oregon (Hair Bender Blend).
• — Posted by Fran
• 315.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:29 pm
• train station in monterotundo, italy (north of roma)
• — Posted by aaron
• 316.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:30 pm
• JJ Beans in Vancouver Canada. All their stores are great but the one at Powel and Victoria is the best. They are a small (but growing fast)local roaster. They rock. Also,.. a very close second is Brazza on Lonsdale AVE in North Vancouver always a perfect brew! They rock too!
• — Posted by Rick
• 317.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:31 pm
• the tasting room in the east village.
• — Posted by rosella
• 318.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:31 pm
• Hands down, any of the Kaladi Brothers locations in Anchorage, Alaska. I even order my coffee beans from them because I can’t find any as good in NYC.
• — Posted by Scott
• 319.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:31 pm
• Barista Gill’s
• — Posted by Chip
• 320.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:36 pm
• The best place for an authentic and consistently divine continental brew is Cafe 217 in old-town Oakland, CA. Heading there for a coffee break is really a little trip to Italy, where the Italian owners treat you like family and prepare each drink with elegance and quality.
• — Posted by Tessie S.
• 321.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:37 pm
• The best cup of coffee east of the Rockies (and west of Italy) is at Cranberry’s in Staunton Virginia. “Lester’s Best” is roasted daily in small batches– his crema di espresso roast is strong yet smooth.. and his well-trained staff really know how to make a capuccino! Lester says it makes you smarter — just wish he would ship to DC.
• — Posted by Mary H
• 322.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:38 pm
• Ragin’ Sage coffee house in Tucson, Arizona roasts the best coffee bean ever.
• — Posted by karlin
• 323.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:39 pm
• Last year, Peet’s imported a wonderful, full-bodied coffee, Ethopian Super Natural. I grind beans daily, and the combination of freshly ground beans and excellent beans led to best cup of coffee.
• Peet’s Arabian Mocha Sanani, while very good, is not nearly as flavorful as the Ethopian Super Natural.
• Please, Peet’s, bring in more of the ESN!
• — Posted by Michael T
• 324.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:42 pm
• If ever in Halifax,Nova Scotia- You can savour a delicious cappuccino at either Steve- o reno’s or the Trident cafe…we were especially impressed by the perfect little fern leaf that lasted in the foam all the way to the bottom of the cup at the Trident..both a tasty and aesthetic experience…
• — Posted by Robyn
• 325.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:45 pm
• The best coffee in the Boston area is in a coffeeshop called Diesel in Davis Square. Perfect.
• — Posted by Dave-O
• 326.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:46 pm
• At most cafes in Rome or Milan, plus they have GELATO! The French are a close second though.
• Starbucks just doesn’t have a clue.
• — Posted by Pat
• 327.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:46 pm
• Kingston, Jamaica 1974…Blue Mountain coffee when it was still authentic
• — Posted by gerald forlano
• 328.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:47 pm
• Soon. A co-worker has a full-blown espresso machine here in the office. He keeps us all going with wonderful, intense cups of your favorites made from Intelligentsia coffee. Now, I’m off to have Matt Smith make one for me.
• — Posted by kathleen
• 329.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:49 pm
• Besides the one I make for myself at home, Rocco’s on Bleeker Street in the Village….. The double expresso with steamed milk on the side is in my opinion, close to perfect. With the right amount of sugar and milk, stirred gently, and sipped while still piping hot, one will notice a distinct creamy smooth texture and after taste. It works for me !
• — Posted by Max
• 330.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:49 pm
• My best was an iced Americano at Cafe Allegro in Seattle (near the U district). I’ve been told this was the original coffee place Howard Schultz owned before he had the first StarBucks
• Best latte by far (and I’ve had a lot) is Max Espresso in Boulder CO.
• — Posted by Cathy S.
• 331.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:52 pm
• The best coffee I’ve had was in the parking lot of Primal Surf Shop in Brigantine, NJ. It was a free cup to introduce Brigantine Surf Coffee. There were two kinds, I chose the Moka Java and listened to the lady tell me all about the beans bla, bla ,bla. A delicious medium roast with a hint of chocolate and full bodied it was like the perfect surfing beverage ever. Wow! I had the best surf session, I went back to the store and bought a bag.
• — Posted by Barbara
• 332.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:53 pm
• I am a big fan of coffee from Peets, espresso from New York, Paris, etc ….but I’d recommend your favorite blend in a percolator brewed over a camp fire in a tin cup every now and again.
• Good stuff
• — Posted by Brian Dobson-Totten
• 333.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:54 pm
• Bst espresso in the world: Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
• Go there and you will not be disappointed. I’ve lived in almost a dozen countries and several major U.S. cities. I spend most of my time in cafes and I have 6 different types of coffee makers in my home.
• Gorilla Coffee’s roast its own coffee and blends its beans for perfection. The flavor is dark and intense, but not bitter - almost like eating a bite of a high-end 97% cacao chocolate bar. They pulls espresso with precision as well.
• My favorite place to have coffee however - is the silky, un-filtered Bosnian/Turkish coffee in the old Turkish quarter of Sarajevo. You are served a tray with an old-syle Turkish coffee pot, a small Turksih glass, water, a sugar cube, and a Turkish delight. The coffee has dark flavors but no bitterness and its silky, unfiltered texture is unlike espresso or normal coffee. The ceremony of imbibing it is wonderful.
• -colin
• — Posted by Colin Hughes
• 334.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:55 pm
• The best coffee I’ve ever had was served to me 30 years at a small diner on the corner of Grove and Central streets in Winchendon, MA. The owner was a former professor of archeology at Harvard. He remained involved in various projects, which took him to various exotic locales throughout the world. Upon returning from east Africa with a small satchel of beans he’d smuggled into the U.S. inside of a stuffed monkey, he served the rare brew to a few early-morning regulars at the diner. It was nearly narcotic in its effect, repeatedly sending ripples of delight from tongue to toe whilst my eyes rolled back in my head like a cartoon character. The professor wouldn’t tell us where he scored the beans quite literally until his dying days. Unable to restrain myself, I managed to squeeze a confession from him moments before he passed. He whispered, “The Village of Zintadibar, west of Lake Tanganyika.” It took months for me to actually find the place, but it was worth the effort. I now reside in Zintadibar and continue to enjoy the best coffee in the world.
• — Posted by Livingston Occam
• 335.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:56 pm
• From the looks of the farmers in the photos, it appears they are treated very miserably. This should be changed very, very soon.
• — Posted by Thomas Hirsch
• 336.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:56 pm
• At a campsite, under a tree, about 40miles west of nowhere. Used looseleaf paper for the filter over the mug…cowboy coffee. That blessed sip of civilization!
• — Posted by Ed
• 337.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 4:57 pm
• Small World Coffee in Princeton, NJ has the best coffee on earth.
• — Posted by John Sanders
• 338.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:01 pm
• my house. Dark Brasilian in a Bodum French Press. Mmmmm………..
• — Posted by Gene Brady
• 339.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:01 pm
• I have my best coffee every morning in my home. For years I have been buying green coffee beans and even the least expensive ones taste great if properly roasted and used within a week.
• I refuse to pay some $3 for Starbucks coffee - we have quite few Starbucks in our small town. Starbucks (and, of course, the small places people write about here) brought the awareness of how good a coffee can be to the ‘masses’.
• A thrifty person can achieve the same by buying green coffee beans for some $6 a pound, roasting them in a little machine for some $150 (I have a third one - they last about 2 - 3 years) and enjoy a good (if not exquisite, I admit) cup of coffee every day.
• Highly recommended.
• — Posted by Ladislav Nemec
• 340.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:03 pm
• The Fan House B&B in Barnard, VT, serves a freshly ground French roast (from BJs) that guests love.
• — Posted by Sallie Forth
• 341.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:04 pm
• The best coffee I have tasted comes from Williams Coffee Pub in Toronto, Ontario (Canada).
• I have been there many times and the coffee is always good. It is made from Arabica beans and has a pleasant wine-flavour to it. Subtle, full and not overpowering.
• On the other side of the coin, the worst coffee I have had, always came from Starbucks. Over-roasted, too strong, and way overpriced. Never again. My opinions here.
• — Posted by Steve
• 342.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:04 pm
• At a roadside stand in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, sipping freshly ground Jamaica Blue Mountain with condensed milk. THIS close to Paradise!!! On the other hand, my husband roasts his own coffee at home - in a cast iron skillet - and that has the advantage of being always available and is pretty awesome as well!
• — Posted by ninjavixen
• 343.
• September 12th,
• 2007
• 5:08 pm
• In the basement of Midway Lutheran Church, built by Norwegian and German immigrants, on the South Dakota Prairie where I grew up. It was called “egg coffee” and made by one farm wife who was famous for her abilities. I still remember the wonderful smell and rich flavor.
• — Posted by Jan G.
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1 commentaire:
I get my Arabic coffee at Hashem's Nuts and Coffee Gallery on Warren Avenue in Dearborn, on the web at http://www.hashems.com/
I get half dark and half light beans, with extra spices (cardamom) which they grind in. I make it in a brass Turkish pot from Natasha's.
http://www.natashascafe.com/html/ibrik.html
Natasha is a "communist Russian Jew", now in Kentucky via Israel. probably. See
http://www.natashascafe.com/html/inthebeg.html
My coffee pot stood under a fruit basket which had a ripening tomato which rotted and dripped on the pot, pitting part of the surface from the acidity, presumably. I think you can lacquer brass to protect it.
Friend of Denis in Ann Arbor
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