is COVID killing quality coffee?

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.