Arbor Lodge

Part of the Fill in the Coffee Map Series

Subject: The Arbor Lodge
Location: Portland, OR
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

Not every city neighborhood has a name that also works perfectly as a coffeehouse name. But Arbor Lodge, Portland is such a neighborhood with such a coffeehouse.

Mugged: The Coffee Dispatch

Coffee Subscription Service: The Coffee Dispatch
Roasters / Coffees / Rating [see key]:
- Messenger Coffee Co: Papua New Guinea Waghi Valley 5+
- Thou Mayest: Ethiopia Kochere 5+
- Broadway Roasting Co: Ethiopia Sidamo 5+
- City Market Coffee Roasters: A Brewed Awakening 4+
- Parisi Coffee - omitted (see below)
- The Roasterie - omitted (see below)

Kansas City is the one Missourian city I have not had a chance to tour. Due to family and Missouri's central location, I've been to the other major metropolitan centers of the Show Me State, some of them multiple times. Yet even though I've flown into Kansas City, I still anticipate the day when I can roam her streets and sample her wares firsthand.

The Mud House

Part of the Fill in the Coffee Map Series

Subject: The Mud House
Location: St. Louis, MO
WiFi?: Yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

Every neighborhood should aspire to have a great eatery that issues forth great food and tremendous coffee. So often the equation is split (at best) in most towns, with a great coffeehouse offering a decent bagel and soup menu, while down the street you have a restaurant churning wondrous culinary feats paired with lackluster coffee. Yet in the few instances when you put a talented chef and a skilled barista together (even in the same person), you get a force akin to collecting all of the dragon balls.

Hebrews Coffee

Part of the Fill in the Coffee Map Series

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.

Mugged: Peru La Convencion [Caffe Vita]

Subject: Caffe Vita
Coffee Mugged: Peru La Convencion
Rating [see key]: 4+

For a brief time in my life, I lived walking distance from a good coffeehouse called Rockford Coffee. Ironically it was also the poorest time in my life, so regular visits were not as regular as I would have liked, but when I could justify it, this coffeehouse was a pleasant haven for quality coffee and enjoying some downtime. Rockford was also my first exposure to Caffe Vita, and in the almost ten years since I first sipped a Vita coffee, I've always had my eye on company developments such as new locations (in 5 cities now) as well as their ever-evolving list of coffees.