Saturday, October 10, 2009

Bottomless Joy

There are not many things in this world better than a bottomless cup of gourmet coffee. I'm telling you, if you find a great coffee shop, a shop that brews great black gold, cherish it. Finding a place that just nails black coffee seems to be so rare lately. I suppose that goes for many items, not just black coffee; finding a place that is spectacular is a lot of work. The fact that the bottomless is a never-ending purchase highlights the greatness of good coffee or the awfulness of bad. A great bottomless cup means that over a few hours of work, my beverage never goes empty, but beyond that, I never get tired of it! Conversely, if the brew is terrible, I just purchased a ball and chain, a key to Pandora's box of coffee terror. Choose wisely.

Today's purchase, as you may have guessed was a bottomless cup. I have my choice of a very lightly roasted Costa Rican coffee and a Sumatra Gayo Mountain (they also offer a flavored coffee and a decaf everyday, but I refuse to waste my time on those- I will address that issue some other time). Of course, I've tried both. The Sumatra, with its volcanic earthy soil taste is best roasted darker, for a heavier body and rich woody taste. This Sumatra at Kaldi's is roasted a bit too lightly. It allows for all the volcanic earthiness, but without any of the increased body, resulting in an overly flowery taste and lighter feel- it competes with the natural heaviness of the volcanic soil too much for comfort.

The Costa Rican coffee is lightly roasted as well, but due to the higher elevation growing conditions and different soil makeup, this coffee is deliciously prepared as a light roast. Kaldi's is a light roaster though, so it's hard to expect them to adjust greatly for the Sumatra. I bellieve their typical roast is closer to a City or even Cinnamon in some cases than the Full City roast most popular in America. The self-serve is nice here- I'm up refilling my mug every 20 minutes or so.

All-in-all, I'm satisfied. A great Costa Rican in peak season with a bottomless cup. Fantastic.

Lord, thank you for the great coffee. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go.

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