On The Road: Morning Light Coffee Roasters

We are vacationing in Montana visiting our family.  Our first stop is Great Falls so of course we had to stop by local coffee refuge Morning Light Coffee Roasters.  This beloved local hangout is a must stop for Great Falls residents and tracks its roots in the state back to 1988. As you walk in the door, you are hit by an atmosphere that is at once western and friendly with a touch of the relaxed earthy feel most specialty coffee shops cherish.

Mrs. Darkroast, Tiny Roast and I were happy to be accompanied by my sister and brother-in-law.  I chose the triple shot cappuccino and found the brew good but a little watered down with milk (a common mistake I find with many baristas.) 

Mrs. Darkroast disagreed with me and felt it was just a medium roast unlike the dark intense roast I tend to prefer.  She's probably right, she usually is!  She had her usual vanilla cappuccino with caramel syrup, and tiny roast gave his vanilla milk a big smile and double nod.  Even so, the coffee had a nice earthy tone with low acidity and I still found myself enjoying it about an hour later. Mrs. Darkroast also purchased a cool mug made by Miam.Miam and we all devoured a light and fluffy berry muffin made at the shop.  Mrs. Darkroast wanted to sneak in the kitchen and steal the recipe.

Our real enjoyment at places like this comes in the atmosphere. Mrs. Darkroast feels I should give two ratings from now on -- one for the coffee and one for the atmosphere. I do feel like these are both critical components for a successful coffee shop. This place had a warm feel including a wall of coffee mugs where the regulars leave their personal cups.

Morning Light stakes its claim as the largest specialty coffee distributor in Montana with a variety of options for the western connoisseur. It was a nice spot and I am going to give it a B+ for it's coffee and an A- for atmosphere. We will be in Helena, Montana, later this week and will post from there when we check out Fireside Coffee.

Embedded Starbucks: Baby Steps from Diner Coffee?

Ahhhh, Christmas Eve. It is a time of great joy. As I jetted around town yesterday with my family getting last minute gifts, we arrived at our local Target store. Of course, this seemed like the perfect moment to double my shopping pleasure by visiting the Starbucks stand embedded in the front of the store.

Lately, Mrs. Darkroasted, another friend of mine from church and I have been having a running discussion about whether embedded Starbucks in hotels, bookstores, truck stops, grocery stores and your local Target produce the same quality of coffee as the stand-alone outlets.

So naturally I ordered my standard grande cappuccino and then we walked on while I let it cool. I have a picture of this drink below. Tell me if you can figure out what is wrong with this picture.

Notice the silky smooth texture and complete lack of actual coffee in the drink. LOL, I took two sips of the sweetest steamed milk you ever had. But sadly, there was no espresso in there. When I went back to Gwendolyn to request the coffee in my coffee, she seemed less than pleased. That makes two of us.

Mrs. Darkroasted also got her standard caramel macchiato and then rapidly declared it was baby steps from diner coffee. I am afraid this is just one more example of how the phrase,  "we proudly brew Starbucks," doesn't mean anything if the baristas behind the counter also work cash register nine when things get busy.

I rarely ever get a bad drink from a stand-alone Starbucks, but these in-store deals are a bit of a roller coaster ride. What's your experience? Give me your comments.

Merry Christmas everyone  and watch out for counterfeit Starbucks. :-)

Hilarious Self Stirring Mug

If you have never had a chance to visit Think Geek before and need a last second Christmas gift, this is always a great site to visit for that nerd in your life. Yesterday, I was perusing some other coffee blogs and came across the Think Geek self stirring coffee mug for lazy people on The Brewed Coffee blog.

The mug is available on www.thinkgeek.com at this link.  For only $18.99 you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are in fact the laziest person on the planet and enjoy a cup of joe while you do so.

Thanks to our friends over at the Brewed Coffee Blog for this critical find.

Surrounded by White/Talking Flat White

Now that the great Christmas snowstorm has passed us by here in the Northeast, I finally have a moment to write. The past few days have mainly been about shoveling, shoveling and then shoveling. Oh, and it's possible that I made a killer sled run for tiny roast and "others" to use.

All this flat white got me to thinking about a new coffee that appears to be all the rage in the United Kingdom right now. It's called the flat white. I first read about it on the jimseven blog. In the comments on the blog, it was described as a strong small latte. It was originally created in New Zealand and involves pouring the steamed milk from the bottom of the container to create a velvety smooth drink.

Even though I have yet to find this in the states, I believe that it is similar to the micro-steam systems used at shops like Bourbon Coffee and other small independents. Here is another explanation I found for the differences in your standard mainline coffee drinks and the flat white.

latte 4:1 textured milk to espresso
cappuccino 3:1 frothed milk to espresso
flat white 2:1 (minimally) textured milk to espresso
macchiato 1:1 milk to espresso

Sounds like an intriguing drink and I would like to find out how to make it at home. So now I have flat white in my back yard and flat white on my mind. I am going to make me a Nespresso as I ponder this.

Review: Bourbon Coffee D.C.

A colleague of mine suggested that I check out a new coffee shop near our office called Bourbon Coffee. If your reaction is the same as mine, you would of course wonder why it is called "Bourbon". It sounds more like a liquor store than a coffee joint. A quick Wikipedia search revealed the following:

Bourbon coffee is a type of coffee produced from the Bourbon cultivar of the Coffea arabica species of coffee plant. Bourbon coffee was first produced in Réunion, which was known as Île Bourbon before 1789. It was later taken by the French to mainland Africa and to Latin America, and is now one of the two most popular Arabica coffees grown worldwide^. Bourbon coffee is usually produced at heights between 3,500 and 6,500 feet.

The Bourbon Coffee shop at 2101 L Street NW in D.C took advantage of a recently shuttered Starbucks and used the same space to launch its first U.S. store after opening two successful stores in Rwanda. As I and a colleague visited today, we discussed how this store was going to be able to survive when the Starbucks in the same location could not. I think the answer is in the coffee.

My colleague tried a plain drip and I ordered an espresso machiato. True to the regional roots of this coffee maker, the brew was earthy with a slight acidity to give it a little bite, but not too much. Another friend at work mentioned that this earthy taste comes from the process used in this region of Africa. The coffee cherry is left on while the beans dry.

If you are looking for the same clean coffee house feel you get at a Starbucks,  with an African twist and a taste that settles some place in the middle of Starbucks and Illy, this is a great way to mix things up.

Calling All Dunkin Donuts Haters: This Ain't Right for the Holidays

Last night I sat with my family just enjoying a little TV when it happened -- I sat through that apocryphal commercial suggesting that Dunkin' Donuts coffee beans would be a good gift for that someone you love this Christmas. Seriously? This gift does not say love to me. It says, "Hey Uncle Frank, I realize you don't have any taste buds so here is some coffee you might enjoy."

If I want a tasty cruller or an old-fashioned, I am there with you Dunkin' Donuts. But guess what, you can't just grab some cruddy beans and pretend like you are providing a gourmet coffee experience. Dunkin Dark? Is this for real? It kind of reminds me of my hatred for the McCafe coffee experience. If your taste buds are shot, feel free to click here and order your Dunkin Dark today.

These businesses need to stick to what they do well. Ever tasted a Starbucks pastry? It is not very tasty. But you know what, the coffee is perfect every time. I know that many American's like their Dunkin coffee, I just do not know why.

NOTE: John C, I hope you are having your Christmas Party again this year. We will be there and I know you will be serving the very coffee I have just eviscerated. Please don't hold it against me. The truth is, I will drink any coffee that is brewed if there are no other options. I look forward to your response to this post.

Hasty Coffee Drinking Makes Waste

This morning started like any other Saturday. Ms. Darkroasted and I woke up Tiny Roast and got ready for a day out together. However, Tiny Roast was not interested in being overly cooperative today and so it took forever to get out of the house. In the process, I forgot to make myself a coffee with my nifty new Nespresso Coffee Maker. So of course, I needed my morning fix.

We went to the Metro Diner in Annapolis for breakfast. I love this chain that has about 20 locations throughout the region. I had a mind-blowing Belgian waffle with a vanilla, powdered sugar and maple syrup glaze.  Two minutes into the meal, Tiny Roast dumped a full glass of milk all over the floor and the servers at the diner fell all over themselves to clean it up and make sure we were not inconvenienced.  We caused the problem, but they were ready to serve. This brings me to the coffee.

If their coffee was half as good as the food and the service, how could I go wrong. So I stepped up to the counter for a cappuccino.

I took a quick drink and I told my wife, it's not bad. Who was I kidding, it wasn't so great. Ms. Darkroasted took one sip and then dared me to finish it. I could not. No offense Metro Diner, but diner coffee is the one constant in this world. I knew I was going to the mall next and could easily make it to Starbucks. Why did I jump the gun with bad coffee? This story was not over.

We drove over to the Annapolis mall to do some shopping and as we entered Macy's, I noticed a Keurig display where they were giving away free cups of coffee. We have one of these machines in our office and I figured it was better than nothing. As I started to make my cup, a rude woman who was doing demos on the machine informed me that only she could touch the coffee maker. I tried to remain polite as she told me the boring story of the Keurig single cup maker. (I just wanted the coffee)

This cup wasn't that great either. When I asked the saleswoman about the cost per cup, she told me a price point that is only nominally lower than Nespresso with a quarter of the taste. Now I was into my second bad cup of coffee of the day. When we finally got to Starbucks I didn't need any more coffee and Tiny Roast is the only one who got anything he wanted (his standard vanilla milk.)  He didn't settle for anything but the best and got just what he wanted.

The moral of this story is simple. Never, never, never settle for a bad cup of coffee and diner coffee will always be diner coffee. Keep it dark roasted.

On The Road: Rock N Joe

So I spent last weekend in Bethlehem, Pa., and our friends asked me to check out  a new coffee joint they have enjoyed lately called Rock N Joe.  Although I am generally a Starbucks guy all the way, I figured...when in Rome.

Rock N Joe is a small coffee franchise with a handful of cafes in New Jersey and one in Pennsylvania.  They seem to be aggressively franchising. While the rock-theme interior and music are appealing, this is a tough niche to break into.

I ordered the spinach quiche and my friends also ordered a variety of salads and sandwiches. In addition, I had a double espresso and Ms. Darkroasted had a caramel macchiato.

The food was well presented and had great taste. Even so, for me the real test would be the coffee. The espresso was better than I have had at many establishments. It was strong and smooth. The macchiato was well presented - as you can see - and Ms. Darkroasted said it was superior to the Starbuck's drink she normally enjoys.

While the food and coffee were excellent, it was the customer service where this shop shined the brightest. In an era when coffee houses sometime grind customer after customer through the door, this small franchise was polite, patient and consistently attentive as the employees made sure we enjoyed the visit.

If they keep up this combination of service and quality product, they may just make it.

An Old Friend Saves Thanksgiving

My wife and I left for Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Like the other 10 million drivers who decided they would take 95 north from the Baltimore area to Philadelphia, we quickly realized this would be one of those painful East Coast trips. There are simply too many people, too many cars and too few roads on this side of the country. The red lights stretched for as far as the eye could see.

What is a family to do but soldier on? Then it happened, my three year old, Tiny Roast, innocently declared, "my throat hurts." Then he frantically blurted, "I think I am going to throw up." Four upchucks later, his job was complete. The lights ran on as far as the eye could see and our car was beginning to smell rather pungent. So we pulled into the parking lot of a Weis Market and bought two rolls of paper towels, two gallons of water and garbage bags.  We washed the child, the seat and everything else the best we could and then wrapped the seat in black heavy-duty garbage bags for the remainder of the trip (it didn't look very comfortable).

We were now more tired than ever. In two hours we really hadn't made very good progress. Ms. Darkroasted and I both needed a pick-me up and we knew we could find one at the Chesapeake House Service Area only a few miles ahead.

As you can see, we were not alone. Fifteen minutes later, we drove down the road with a tall caramel macchiato and a venti cappuccino in tow. This old friend perked us up instantly (side note: if you hold a cup of Starbucks under your nose you can barely smell your child's vomit in the backseat.) Our sweet little son finally fell asleep and there was peace in the car again. Coffee coincidence...No such thing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

McDonalds Coffee? I Think Not

These pictures are a snapshot of coffee from McDonald's in the old days and the premium roast brew that you can purchase fast-food style today. Can you see the difference between the two?

That's right, they put a semi-fancy cup on one. I love McDonalds, or Old McDonalds as my son calls it. You want good fries? It's the place to go. Care for a heart-attack burger with a mystery sauce that I am pretty sure is Thousand Island dressing? This is the spot. This is where my love ends and my disdain is ever growing for a coffee abomination that should not continue.

Calling this fast-food icon a destination spot for good coffee is like me suggesting H&R Block is a great place to get your tires rotated.

In a recent article, the new CEO of Starbucks Howard Shultz said, "McDonald's made us better." See story here. Howard, you have to stop it. You cannot compare your beloved chain with McDonald's. It cheapens us all. Just calling coffee a premium roast and putting it in a McCafe doesn't make it good. Unfortunately, the masses don't necessarily agree with me.

A recent Chicago Tribune story reports:

"Year to date through October, McDonald's overall U.S. coffee sales are up 28 percent over the same time a year ago, and more than 90 percent of that gain stems from McCafe drinks, Thompson said. Those drinks include all hot and iced espresso-based beverages, as well as hot chocolate."


Come on America, this is not premium. Please stop the madness and make it all go back to the way it used to be where coffee didn't come with a side of fries -- unless you were really desperate. 


What's your opinion? Drop me a comment. 

Roasted in D.C. -- Barack Obama Dips Below 50%

This week's choice for roasted in D.C. is this top guy himself:

I continue to be amazed that there is simply no person bigger than the system in Washington D.C.  Barack Obama came into office with nearly 70% approval ratings and an aggressive agenda he was determined to accomplish. Even if you don't agree with his agenda, it seemed he had the political juice to get some of it done. This week's Gallup Poll revelation that his numbers have now dipped below 50 percent is proof that that everyone is vulnerable to the Washington system no matter how great an orator and leader.

The healthcare debate, the economy and a Democratic-controlled congress that doesn't exactly follow his lead all the time have all contributed to this fall from public favor. The Politico has a great article this week about the President's public image challenge and its influencing factors. Check out that article here.

Now some of my more liberal friends would suggest that poor Mr. Obama is suffering from the economy that George Bush gave him. These people would also suggest that the economy was booming when Bush took over all because of a certain former president named Clinton.

I have two things to say to all of this. First, no one man, not even the president, can so affect financial markets as to cause them to rise or fall this significantly. Our own greed got us here. So enough with the Bush-bashing on this one. Bushy had other issues, but this simply is not his fault. Unfortunately for Obama, everyone thought of him as the chosen one who could fix any problem. Guess what, no one can single handedly fix a problem this big.

Second, Obama is also suffering because he didn't learn from the past. When the Clinton's, who were wildly popular as well, took on healthcare it turned into a rotten egg they would not soon forget. Maybe the Senate will take some positive action on this healthcare bill today. Who knows, they may even eventually pass Obama's bill. But the political cost has been heavy and the poll numbers show it.

Obama's got an uphill climb and he continues to find the D.C. machine beating him down. That's why he is my choice for this week's Roasted in D.C.  

The Perfect Coffee Maker

This is my new toy:

I realize that for many people this may not be the most exciting thing to hit the market. But for someone who is willing to spend his time writing a blog that is primarily about coffee, this is manufacturing perfection.

It is Nespresso's Citiz espresso maker, a slimline unit that utilizes pods to crank out out between 1.5 and 1.85 ounce shots of cremalicious espresso. The quality is top notch and the price point per shot is somewhere around $0.50 a pull.

I realize that some purists would find this type of machine an afront to the coffee process. I too spent years carefully grinding my coffee and seeking the perfect froth. Unfortunately, I just don't have time to do this all the time and I still want good coffee. This machine delivers both good coffee and efficient preparation. Even espresso purists agree that Nespresso's line of pod-based coffee makers hit the mark (see this review by Top 100 Espresso Makers blog).

Along with the quality of the coffee, I was also more than pleasantly surprised by the frothing carafe that you buy with the base espresso machine.

At the touch of a button you can froth milk either cold or hot and the whole process is nearly silent. Gone is the time spent sitting over a steaming pipe that makes so much noise you can't even speak with anyone around you. And the quality of the froth? Take a look for yourself. I took this shot from my kitchen this morning.

The entire package is an excellent alternative for home baristas who want all the taste of quality coffee but don't have the time to whip it up the old fashioned way. Don't take my word for it, crawl over to your local Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma  for a taste test or test drive of this machine. You will not be disappointed.

The search for a Starbucks in rural America

(A businessman's lament)

This morning I had the great pleasure of driving up the Delmarva Peninsula from Annapolis to Newark, Delaware for a meeting with a client. The bucolic rolling landscape was perfect as I cruised along with my Nespresso cappuccino in one hand and George Winston on the stereo.

That was this morning. This afternoon on my return, there was no Nespresso from home. So I had to find my afternoon coffee. Bucolic + Winston - Coffee = esta no bueno.

So there I was, vainly searching for a Starbucks in a land devoid of this heavenly pleasure. I frantically scanned strip mall signs much like the one below. I am sure you have been there. You look from sign to sign and everything that is green raises your spirits only to have them dashed again.



Alas, the Glendale Plaza had no Bucks and I feared that the company's slashing of more than 600 stores made it a virtual guarantee that there would be no grande cap for the way home.

As I began to work my way back to the highway, an image appeared before me as if it was a mirage in a dry barren desert. My car then willed itself to a place of sanctuary. I was here.



And even better it had a drive-thru:



The equation was complete again. Bucolic + Winston + Starbucks = tranquilidad

It's the little things in life we should all enjoy. Like an unexpected Starbucks...with a drive-thru.

Roasted in D.C.

Each weekend, I will be posting a write-up called "Roasted in D.C." While coffee is the main focus of my posts, I love politics as well. So why not take a little space to highlight a politician who got a little burnt recently? This week's victim -- RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

In an interview last weekend on a program called Washington Watch, Steele agreed with a statement by the host who said, "white Republicans are scared of black folks." Steele's response to this statement was:

"You're absolutely right. I mean I've been in the room and they've been scared of me and I'm like, 'I'm on your side,' so I can imagine going out there talking to someone like you," he said, referring to the host's liberal credentials.

I personally had a chance to meet Mr. Steele at a fundraiser when he was running for the U.S. Senate against Ben Cardin. I found him charming and well spoken. Yes, he was the only African American in the room. And we weren't scared.

I guess even smart men, sometimes just say the wrong things. And for that, Steele is my choice for "Roasted in D.C."

If you want to watch it for yourself, here you go.

The VIA Challenge

I don't know how most people feel about Starbucks attempt to push instant coffee through its Via brand, but I am going to have to give it a lukewarm response.

I am an avid Starbucks devotee and probably always will be. The reason I love their coffee is because it is always bold (some would say burnt). I go there for this strong taste. So when you suggest instant coffee can give me the same taste I am instantly suspicious.

Instant coffee brings up images of what my non-coffee drinking parents kept around the house when we were kids for those who would come over and need a caffeine fix. It looked a lot like this:

I shutter every time I see this image. So this image is what I carried into my "Via Challenge". Needless to say, they were behind the ball from the get go. So I took their Pepsiesque challenge. At first I wasn't sure of the difference, but then I sensed something that deeply disturbed me, it was the watered down coffee taste I feared from the start.

Starbucks does so many things well. I am not calling Via a tragedy, but I just don't see how this fits the Starbucks business model of a high-end coffee experience with top quality coffee that you can't always get at home.

What do you think? Did you take the challenge?