Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

Vietnam, the next hot coffee origin?

*Ube Iced Latte at Cafe Phin in New York. Wall Street Journal photo by Nico Schinco*

Having lived in Southeast Asia and visited Vietnam a few times, when you say Vietnamese coffee I think of a sweet, delicious (but incredibly unhealthy) iced drink of instant coffee in sweetened condensed milk. Clearly I missed out on something very different.

So I loved reading this really interesting WSJ article on coffee from Vietnam – h/t to one of my ~~legion of~~ few regular readers (hi Dad!). And this post is an excuse to run the gorgeous picture which accompanied the article.

Lots to unpack here:

Salt & Pepper Diner Essential Song of the Day for 6/27

This song, sonically speaking, is haunting and beautiful and the best kind of earworm. But it’s the lyrics, I just can’t quite figure them out. Is the narrator someone to be admired, pitied, or despised? Listen to it 21x in a row and let me know what you think.

put me on the board!

I spent this week driving around New England, and visited some old favorite cafes and tried a few new ones. I also experienced a first, as I visited a coffee shop I will recommend in my guide – with the coveted asterisk! – even though I didn’t really like the coffee.

stopping by my favorite

I was passing through New York early this morning on my way north, so of course I stopped by La Casa.

While Anna was making my macchiato I noticed some donuts on the counter that looked pretty good, but I wasn’t sure of the filling so I asked if they were chocolate or jelly. She said some were Nutella, some were creme. I said no thanks, I prefer jelly. Anna shot me a look, let me know in no uncertain terms that they were Italian, not American, and told me I should try them. All done politely but in a manner that made things quite clear I had no choice.

That creme was delicious, and my son (who was asleep in the car at the time) enjoyed the Nutella.

Anna knows what she’s talking about.

survival instincts

I’m at an industry conference in the convention center of a large hotel/resort in central Florida. Long days of programming that I’m enjoying, but no access to coffee other than an on-site outlet of the evil empire and urns of questionable industrial drip coffee. Not ideal for an espresso addicted coffee snob.

Here’s how I’m making it through:

well what have we here

I was wandering around my neighborhood supermarket today when I came upon the coffee aisle. Much to my surprise, there was a very nice selection of coffee beans from high quality roasters.

Salt & Pepper Diner Essential Song o’ the Day for 5/27

Anyone who was over the age of 12 in 1998 is biologically incapable of singing along to this song. Go ahead, try it, even if it takes 21 plays in a row.

byootiful

spectacular milk art at Kittie’s in Bexley, OH

pardon me while I keep beating the drum

*Hana Kaneshige (L) and Jenna Gotthelf of Counter Culture. photo by* Sprudge

Continuing my one-man campaign for better awareness, appreciation and treatment of baristas…..

Please read this article from Sprudge, about the efforts of two Counter Culture educators to get data on a living wage for baristas.

…..and they’re always glad you came

One of the many benefits of frequenting independent cafes and smaller chains over the behemoths is that the warmth and sense of community you can find in those places is far better than the erzatz comfort and faux fellowship engendered by the layout of your local Starbucks.