The Kansas In Him

Today's topic is coffee.  Growing up, my parents drank a lot of coffee.  My dad (a violin maker) probably went through 2 full pots a day at the height of it, and my mom (a violinist) had a few cups throughout the day.  When my brother (once a violinist, now an architect/engineer/acoustician/gourmet) started drinking coffee I thought it was the strangest thing.  It took me a long time to warm up to it; in high school it revolted me and I could hardly believe that my dad drank so much of the toxic sludge. In college, even, I was suspicious of this thing that even my friends drank and made into a social occasion. I would go with, but never buy.

AND THEN, about halfway through my college career, I tried it.

It wasn't exactly love at first slurp, but my first tastes of college cafeteria day-old coffee made me wonder why I didn't try this magical drink earlier.  I suddenly had no trouble at all finishing a paper at 4AM...my ideas were even good!  I could practice longer, harder, with more results!! This coffee thing was starting to take off.

It's gone through several stages: the "folgers is awesome so i'll drink 20 cups with my dad's 70's thermos" phase while practicing for grad school auditions, the "i'm too good for starbucks across the street so i'll drink a few cups in the morning and that's all" during actual grad school.  Now i'm in the unfortunate phase of "i'm too poor to have coffee out at all," so the one time a month I get coffee not from Costco had better be good.

And today was good.

I haven't been all that impressed with New York as a "coffee town" in the same way as Seattle, Portland, or even my own Kansas City.  Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope is good coffee, but the espresso was bitter and, actually, not all that strong.  Today we (Alyssa and I) ventured back to her former neighborhood of the East Village to give 9th St. Espresso a try.  It was out of the way and a long, chilly (read: underdressed) walk from the L, but worth it in all respects.  The minimalist take on the coffeeshop was comforting. The chalkboard sign listed only 3 or 4 drinks, and there were no options, no additions. What you see is what you get.  Taking away the power of choice and over-specialization of drink orders to the customer makes it easy for everyone.  The soccer moms who demand 10 pumps of caramel in their macchiato need not apply, and I feel good ordering a plain old macchiato.  Anyway, down to business.  I had a macchiato (as per usual) with 3 shots (that's all you get; no more, no less) and that was one helluva drink.  I've never drank one so fast nor have I wanted to get another (I opted not, as 6 shots at 6PM doesn't usually go well).  If only it were not a 45 min. train ride away. Sigh.

So this new coffee phase is good so far.  I'm looking forward to exploring new and hopefully many more  places like 9th St.