The Best Coffee I've Ever Had-and I've had a lot...

If you love coffee like me, you've had it everywhere, every way, and every day.  Starbucks, Peets, Mr Coffee, Denny's, mom's peculated and cowboy coffee in the great outdoors while camping or herding cows.  I consider myself a connoisseur of coffee-not by design, but by attrition.  When you do something everyday, you get good.  

   Coffee is part of the Urban Life, much like pigeons but more like traffic.  Its everywhere and it keeps you moving.  It gets the day started right and it can be the center of a million social funtions.  Its great for first dates too.  I brew it for sake of ease and simplicity in a Mr Coffee, the fancy kind, black and stainless, but upon occasion I'll use the French Press.  I'll do this on weekends and when I want to impress somebody.  A good cup of joe sets the mood for so many things and calms any number of situations.  

   Most people in the city go to Starbucks.  I'm not sure if its because they like it, or because there's one on every corner.  For myself, I stopped drinking Starbucks a long time ago.  I found it bitter, too hot and prone to give me heartburn.  I don't know why, perhaps because its too hot and too bitter!  I feel the same about most commercial coffee houses, from Peets to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  Too bitter, too hot.  My favorite places are the little coffee houses that serve off brands and have eclectic things like old magazines and yesterday's paper hanging around.  Where you might get a real croissant and not one that was baked last week, frozen, and shipped half way across the country.  

   It was at one of these little shops in The Original Farmers Market on Farfax in Los Angeles that I came across the best coffee I've ever tasted.  And so I bought a pound, coarse ground for the French Press.  The name of this coffee is Puerta Verde from Guatemala and it comes from a little coffee roasting company in Santa Cruz CA- Verve Coffee Roasters.  

   This coffee is the smoothest blend I have ever tasted.  Its strong, but not overpowering.  Its nutty with just a hint of sweetness.  If to me, a cup of Starbucks coffee can be compared to a $2 stogie you might pick up at a newsstand, or a bar, sufficient to satisfy a craving but hanging around a little too long, Verve's Puerta Verde is a Dominican Grand Corona- warm, toasty, flavorful and leaving you with no after taste other than the beauty it gave you in the beginning and a soft kiss to send you on your way.  

   And don't get me wrong.  I like a strong coffee.  I love the slick oily-ness of beans roasted black for French or Italian Roast.  I like the way they feel.  I like they way they taste and look and how they smell. I just don't like what the commercial coffee houses do to them.  I think flavors from such a magic bean need to be coaxed, not bludgeoned out.  And to be honest, when I saw this blend, the beans, I had my doubts.  They weren't oily nor were they black.  Just a nutty brown.  And the aroma was very seductive. Not in a blatant, lush way like in a French Roast, but more in a coquettish way.  Like a flirt with glasses that promises much more.   

   From Verve's website:

"Verve Coffee Roasters supports the producers and exporters, roasters and baristas who are paying attention—who are invested in making each cup an authentic, quality experience. They wake up our palates every day to what is possible.

 It’s important to us to forge genuine connections to place: Our beachfront neighborhood, where roasting and cupping have joined surfing as daily communal rituals. San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, where coffee culture has come barreling into its own. Places further a field, like Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and Manhattan that have tasted Verve Coffee and come back for more. And of course, coffee farms in remote villages from Costa Rica to Kenya.

 Wherever a farmer is bent on growing the best green coffee ever, that’s where Verve Coffee comes from. Everything we do—sourcing, roasting, brewing, educating—is about bringing you that place in a cup. Because coffee should be true."

   I love that- "Because coffee should be true".  I might add, The coffee doesn't lie.  You know after the first sip.  I would highly recommend their coffee.  Verve has many different blends from Africa to Latin America and although I have tried only one blend, I am confident that all the others will show the same attention to detail and quality.  I can't wait to continue the adventure and try another one!  You can too, here's their website.  http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/

   Try them, I promise you, you won't be disappointed!