Home sweet home

I'm back from a week-long trip to Wyoming for work. These trips are fun and I'm so lucky I get to do them, but they're also seriously draining. They typically involve extremely early call times and super long hours. And it's a marathon. Selfishly, I also dread the coffee situation in these trips as we typically end up in small towns with old school mom and pop cafes.

Jackson isn't such a place. To say it's a wealthy town is an understatement. There were quite a few good options for coffee, but as always, the drinks were highly dependent on the barista on duty. I had one pretty good morning flat white at Snake River Roasting Company, but every other time I stopped by was pretty bad. At one visit, I was served coffee so hot, I couldn't even hold the glass (and they were using notNeutral Vero cups, which I love but they are NOT meant to hold overly hot drinks like that).

I also had high hopes for another cafe called Persephone Bakery, but I also got served a pretty burnt cup of coffee there. I don't necessarily think it's their fault. Americans looove their coffee piping hot, to their own detriment. I do think these two cafes were serving interesting roasts judging by the bags they were selling, but sadly, I didn't really get to experience them fully because of how burnt they served them.

So, I was extremely happy to get back to my own house and my own espresso machine to make my own flat whites exactly as I like them—perfect drinkable temp.

My friend texted me this recently, "I'm about to have the worst cup of coffee of my life." And then a few moments later, "Yup. Smells like burnt nuts." I was lamenting to the same friend about a recent visit to a cafe I used to love and how it's pretty easy to predict whether or not your coffee is going to be good based on the barista's demeanor. In Los Angeles, where both bad coffee incidents took place, this is a pretty common sight especially during the very busy morning rush. You'll see baristas, especially new hires, in a panicked state doing the best they can.

Real, good coffee prepared with thought and care just isn't meant for this world of go, go, go. When I make Bobby's and my coffee drinks in the morning, I take my sweet ass time. That's just not a luxury that service workers in the US, who also rely heavily on tips, can afford to do. It's such a shame.

It made me realize that if I ever do open up my own cafe, I would want it to be slow. But then it also wouldn't make any money. So I guess I'm not doing that.