Finding Good Coffee
The 4th day of my photo-blogging challenge and I have no photo, only a blog post.
I have discovered that the probability of finding good coffee at a coffee shop can be determined solely by the existence (or absence) of certain terms in their name.
- "espresso" (10%)
- an entirely Italian name, i.e. "Caffe Artigiano" or "Brazza" - as long as it doesn't include "espresso" (80%)
- something misspelled, i.e. "expresso" or "blenz" (0%)
- "java" (30%)
- "cafe" (0%)
- "coffee house" or just "coffee" (50/50)
- no coffee related terms at all (90%)
You can also reliably predict whether you will get a good cup of coffee simply based on whether or not you can find a brand name on the espresso machine they are using (bonus points if it sounds Italian like "La Marzocco"). This is somewhat less convenient and much more time consuming, but extremely effective.
Strangely, roasting their own beans does not seem to play a factor at all. I have had both terrible and extremely good coffee from a coffee shop/roaster. Although usually, if they are roasting at the same location as the actual coffee shop, that's a warning sign.
posted at 2011-06-30T04:55:20 by baerg