Showing posts with label Fill in the coffee map. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fill in the coffee map. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Weekend Coffee




Subject: Weekend Coffee
Location: Dallas, TX
WiFi?: yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

Weekends are usually the focal point of a person's week. Outings get planned, ideas become daydreams and recreation gets Grouponed. We are a culture that lives and dies by our weekends.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Drip N Scoop




Subject: Drip N Scoop
Location: Ocean City, NJ
WiFi?: yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

I have seen many attempts to bring good coffee to the NJ coast and sadly, only a few enterprises have succeeded. Whether it's an affinity for over-roasted beans, cutting corners, a disregard for training/quality, or any combination of the three, I've seen it all at the Jersey shore. Thus, when a shop does things right, they deserve their praise due. 

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Fill in the Coffee Map -Take 3



After a long run on the last Fill in the Coffee Map leg, the series will launch a third go! As one can observe from the many quality coffee establishments already mapped, there have been many places visited but still so many more places to herald.

Like the the past efforts, I will definitely need the aid of sponsors. To clearly designate their assistance, you will see their banners highlighted on the side bars of the blog and at the bottom of each post. These banners highlight their aid in helping fund the costs of acquiring/producing this content but never any influence on the content tone. As usual, I fully assure you that my posts are still 100% my own and remains completely uninfluenced by anyone. The sponsors only help me get to these coffeehouses, and no sponsor had any knowledge of or input on any content whatsoever (I say all of this as I am a huge proponent of transparency, and thus I wanted to emphasize the role of my sponsors and that the Pure Coffee Blog still only operates in the realm of objectivity).

Thus, if you are interested in coming on as a sponsor in the coming weeks, please let me know by shooting me a quick email at bill.purecoffee@gmail.com and stay tuned for new shops to add to the map!

Monday, February 22, 2016

4121 Main


Subject: 4121 Main
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
WiFi?: yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

Coffee is a lot like a flower: both are beautiful, regularly coveted and add a necessary spice to life. And like a great coffeehouse, one does not easily discover a great florist on every street corner. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, they can find both tremendous coffee and eye-catching floral arrangements in a small boutique called 4121 Main.

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Strange Matter Coffee


Subject: Strange Matter Coffee
Location: Lansing, MI
WiFi?: yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

A lot of capital cities have interesting histories, but not many possess one as strange as Lansing, Michigan. Originally settled by an assortment of families scammed into buying marshland in a nonexistent Biddle City, these swindled New Yorkers ended up settling a mile north of the marsh, naming their new town after their home village of Lansing. Some years later, when Michigan sought to move the state capital from Detroit, there was such furious competition by the other cities that it was thrown to little Lansing out of frustration. Today, the city has grown to house some great institutions, such as Michigan State University and a coffeehouse fittingly-named for the city, Strange Matter Coffee.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Fill in the Coffee Map - Next Leg


With the great response to the last Fill in the Coffee Map leg, the series is making its second go. We'll be heading out to new places and giving quality coffee establishments lots of limelight, adding bright, shiny pins to the coffee map.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Hebrews Coffee



Subject: Hebrews Coffee
Location: Springfield, MO
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

I am a tremendous fan of the noble pun. What better to insert into a conversation than a clever exploitation of different uses of similar sounding words? I trace my fervent love of witty word play to my days in Montana when I studied under a man who greatly regarded them as the highest form of communication. Forever my eyes have been o-punned.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Gralehaus



Subject: Gralehaus
Location: Louisville, KY
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

In traveling around, I have only had the fortune of staying at a handful of bed and breakfasts. Realistically, as much of my travel is either business or with small children, it's hard to get away to such digs, but when I do, I really try to find a place that's worth the experience.

Monday, November 03, 2014

Quills Coffee




Subject: Quills Coffee
Location: Louisville, KY
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

While I've been writing about my coffeehouse adventures since 2006, few places have sat on my list of "must visit" as long as Quills Coffee. Way back in the beginnings of my blog, they shot me a quick note and mentioned to stop by the next time I was in Louisville. And year after year they remained on that list solely because I could not get Louisville onto any of my itineraries. But when I was finally able to solidify recent plans to the Ville, I made a definitive plan to visit Quills.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Sump Coffee




Subject: Sump Coffee
Location: St. Louis, MO
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

In this glorious day and age, there exist numerous coffee operations doing a fantastic job with their product, truly showing great dedication and extreme zeal for well-crafted coffee. Yet few shops wear their hardcore nature as well as St. Louis' Sump Coffee, known far and wide by their bearded skull logo sitting atop a portafilter/coffee branch cross bones (rendered into animation, said skull even chuckles with deep laughter amidst the guitar pluckings of heavy metal).

Monday, October 06, 2014

Bloom Coffee and Tea




Subject: Bloom Coffee and Tea
Location: Northfield, NJ
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]

*Update 2.27.19*
This place has long since closed and the area still has not found a suitable replacement :(.

The wonder of summer often conjures up glorious images of sandy beaches, cerulean skies and refreshing ocean water. I know the mental slideshow well, as I have spent many a summer visiting the gorgeous towns of the southern NJ coast. Yet for all the summer magic that the coast brings, it still largely lacks great coffee.

Monday, September 08, 2014

Sunergos Coffee





Subject: Sunergos Coffee
Location: Louisville, KY
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]


Louisville is a city I have been longing to go back to since I last left. I had rolled into town one New Years holiday weekend back in 2004 and found the town almost completely shut down. I distinctly remember using all of my the power at my disposal to locate some decent coffee, but no matter where I looked or where I begged, I could not locate an open coffeehouse. It was a weekend of despair and anguish only eclipsed by the company of good friends and a great conference. And ever since I left town on a cold morning in early January, my ears have only filled to the brim with the great wonders of Louisville. 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Kingdom Coffee and Cycles





Subject: Kingdom Coffee and Cycles
Location: Springfield, MO
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]


The more I am around people who ride bicycles, the more I want to be a regular bicyclist. It's not because I want an excuse to regularly wear bib shorts, or because I relish the idea of sharing the road with easily distracted motorists, but simply because for all the driving I do in my regular commute, I don't get much worthwhile exercise from it (aka you can only do so many curls at a red light). With the busyness of life these days, to knock off exercise and commuting to work with the same action would be glorious. Yet such simplicity cannot be, as I often have to traverse great distances at a moments notice. For now, the bicycle and I cannot be commuting buddies. 

Monday, August 11, 2014

The Shop Cafe





Subject: The Shop Cafe
Location: Ithaca, NY
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]


Back when central New York was a regular stomping ground, Ithaca was one of my favorite haunts. Its lovely small town shops, independent culture and its array of good coffeehouses always made for a nice little day trip.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Fill in the Coffee Map!




Over the past 8 years of its life, the Pure Coffee Blog has existed to mine out and celebrate great coffee establishments all over the globe. In the beginning, much of my content was local, basically the Philadelphia area. Then I moved out west, and from there I used every opportunity no matter where I roamed to go out of my way and find as many great coffeehouses as possible. Today, I can claim to have visited tons of superb coffeehouses (check out the map), performing all of these expeditions as the efforts of fanatical passion and zeal, to not only experience it myself, but also to give some media attention, no matter how small, to coffee places doing things right.