Tag: espresso

mini-review: Little Owl Coffee


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This small cafe in LoDo has a very high end, Scandinavian aesthetic. All the finishes feel expensive and cold. Gleaming white laminates, marble, wood in various shades, everything spare, the lighting is just so. I felt like I should have been much taller, much thinner, much blonder, wearing a turtleneck and plain, wire-rimmed glasses, not smiling because life is suffering and my turtleneck is very itchy and Ingmar Bergman is filming me in achingly beautiful yet incredibly depressing black and white.

Or something.

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mini-review: ink! Coffee (16th Street Mall)


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A local chain founded in Aspen in 1994, it feels a little more corporate than indie. This location was bright and airy, if a bit sterile. The barista was friendly enough but didn’t seem to have any level of expertise.  A Rancilio machine is used to make your espresso.

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the world’s best cup of coffee

No, not the one where the beans are plucked from the poop of civet cats.  I’ve had that! Yeah, it was good, but between the cost and the unpleasant mental images that can’t be avoided…… not the world’s best.

I’m not talking about this, either.

I have something else in mind. Continue reading the world’s best cup of coffee

mini-review: La Tabatiere

Some places are more about the coffee. Some are more about the food. This one falls into the latter category, but they get the coffee right as well.

Gorgeous small bakery in a suburban town in northern Bergen County, NJ. Founded by a baker with a formal French background, and the display case proves this in spades. Not a good place to visit if you’re trying to avoid sweets or breads, because everything looks amazing.

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how did I get here

Nothing in this blog is presented as gospel or truth. Taste by definition is subjective. I don’t pretend to be an expert, and I don’t pretend to have a definitive palate.  In fact, it was made very clear to me recently that I am still very much a dilettante when it comes to a coffee palate, but that will be the subject of another post sometime soon.

Let me try to explain what I like, and hopefully why.

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