A dear friend sent this my way recently, and I couldn’t agree more.
Looking forward to the day when this becomes much more possible. Oh, and they forgot to mention one very important piece of guidance: remember to tip your barista. Generously.
Well that was a year, huh?
As we leave the train wreck of a dumpster fire that was 2020 in the rear view, here’s hoping for so many better things in 2021. A return to something approaching normal. Health, the ability to socialize, an improved business environment for cafes, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and other small businesses that are taking it on the chin. A return to travel, hugging friends and family outside those who live in your house. Going to the movies. Date night. Sporting events. Seeing live music, theater, ballet, museums. Not worrying about some random chucklehead who can’t figure out how to wear a mask properly, or refuses to wear one at all. To looking at a face covering as a relic of a time that we can’t quite believe actually happened. To a newer, better, more normal normal. And to more great coffee and mediocre blog posts.
also see my 2018 and 2019 guides
As terrible as the year 2020 has been, the holiday season gives us a chance to end on a positive note and get ready for better days ahead. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the coffee obsessive in your life, or want to treat yourself, here are a few ideas for you. All are available online for those unable or unwilling to do in-person shopping. I also encourage you to take a look through my previous gift guides (links above), as most everything in there is still available and still makes for great presents.
Shop Local
If your giftee’s favorite coffee shop is still open, you can bet they’re fighting for survival. Give a gift that will be appreciated by the recipient and the merchant. Look up the website of that favorite shop, there’s a good chance you can find electronic gift certificates, beans, and merch.
I’m a long-time fan of indie rock nerd gods They Might Be Giants. Most people know them for seminal albums like 1990’s Flood and for the earwig Boss of Me which served as the theme song for the late sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. They have a long and diverse catalog and continue putting out new material after 38 years together. They will always hold a special place in our family for their children’s album No!, which was the soundtrack for many a car trip when our kids were young and squirmy.
TMBG recently uploaded to the youtubes a compilation “Songs About Coffee.” 18 minutes of short tunes about everyone’s favorite brown beverage. No info behind it but you might be able to match up some of what you hear to this page from their wiki.
this came up during the vote count for the US presidential election. good god man, haven’t the American people suffered enough?
this would never actually happen, of course, but if it did we’d need to implement the 25th Amendment on Uncle Joe right quick.
I laughed.
NSFW.
New article from Bloomberg Business with the attention-getting headline “Say Goodbye to Your Local Coffee Shop in America’s Great Coffee Shake-Up“
I’d like to find the headline writer responsible for this and box their ears, but as for the article itself….. well, I’m afraid it’s all too true. The explosion in independent cafes has been a godsend for the coffee snob, but the reality is there that pre-COVID we had a lot of places that didn’t focus enough on quality and/or had shaky business models. My great fear is that the pandemic, rather than a needed correction to weed out the weaker shops, will cut far too close to the bone and wipe out the good places as well. And helping Starbucks and Dunkin is just insult to injury.
Please support your local purveyor of quality coffee, chances are they need it. Buy takeout, frequent their outdoor seating areas, order beans on line, get some merch, pick up some gift cards and give them to friends.
I apologized the other day for the lack of posting. Those of you who know me IRL and/or follow my personal social media accounts know that my Dad was in ill health this summer and passed away recently.
My Dad was the most devoted reader of this little folly. He always took an interest in my coffee adventures, would carefully cut out and mail to me articles about coffee from his beloved daily paper, some of which I shamelessly lifted. He always wanted to know if I had found a new place for coffee and how good it was, how I was making it at home. Even in his last days, when I would visit he’d rather talk about where I had gone for coffee that day than his health situation. I’m pretty sure he was happier for me to find a good coffee place had opened near his suburban home than I was.
I’d like to share a story about him. One time he took me to Fuddruckers (do they still exist?). I remembered this happening with my brothers when we were kids, but neither of them shared the recollection so perhaps it was just me. Anyway, as he placed the order he had me/us find a table. He sat down, and after a while we hear “JULIUS, YOUR ORDER IS READY.” Dad, whose name was Jonathan (he always went by Jon), gets up with just a hint of a smile on his face and saunters over to pick up our food. Found out from him later it was a tribute to Dr. J.
Dad spent his last days in the hospital in Philadelphia, and my brothers and I were fortunate enough to spend them with him. On my walk from the hotel to the hospital one morning I stopped for a coffee, and when it was time to leave my name I knew what to do.
