Coffee Feature

I wrote an article reviewing a passel of coffee shops in Chicago and it recently went up on The Real Chicago website. I'm super excited about it and wanted to mention it on my blog. This is an excerpt. Read the whole piece here.

Coffee craze: Exploring the best, most unique independent coffee shops Chicago has to offer

Whether hip, quirky or comfy, these favorite coffee destinations are worth visiting on a Saturday morning

By Corey O’Day


I love the coffee house culture in Chicago, especially when the weather turns cold. Chicagoans are not content to hide in their homes and wish away the winter. We bundle up, hunker down and brave the elements to commune over a warm cup of something delicious and caffeinated.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in my routine and forget what new and exciting offerings this city has for a coffee enthusiast like myself. So, I accepted the challenge this winter of exploring about a dozen unique and independent coffee shops that came highly recommended to us by our readers.

Of course, we couldn’t include every great coffee shop in a city like Chicago, so if you’re particularly fond of a place that didn’t make our list, shoot us a line.

Asado Coffee Company
1432 W. Irving Park (Lakeview)
www.AsadoCoffee.com

The vibe: The rich blue interior of this cozy café greets you as warmly as the staff. Seating and décor is sparse because it’s all about the beans. The focal point of the facility is the roaster looming importantly in the back corner. Asado is not only a café, but also an artisan coffee roaster that has been turning out a quality, cared-for product since 2009. A second location at Chicago Ave. and Paulina was set to open mid-March.

What I ordered: Pour-over coffee in two varieties: meru bourbon and Tanzania peaberry. The meru bourbon was rich and full and seemed to me that it would be an excellent after-dinner coffee. The peaberry was a bit brighter and more energetic — the perfect morning brew.

What keeps ’em coming back: The friendly staff and Asado’s commitment to a quality product. On their website they describe themselves as “forever students of the fine art of coffee,” and this is clear in the care and craft they exhibit.

...

Read about these other cafes at The Real Chicago website:

Bourgeois Pig Cafe
Bridgeport Coffee Company
Cafe Mustache
Fabcakes
Filter Cafe
Jupiter Outpost
Sip Coffeehouse
Star Lounge Coffee Bar
The Wormhole

Confessions of a Coffee Snob

This is my beautiful latte from Star Lounge on Chicago Avenue. They serve Dark Matter Coffee which they roast themselves at their small facility on the West side of the city (right by my apartment!).

Living in Chicago has launched my coffee snobbery into the stratosphere. And I have no shame about that. 

Alright, sometimes I'm a little ashamed. 

I feel bad bugging the servers in all the restaurants about where they get their coffee beans. But I'm curious. And I know what I like. When we live in a city that has no fewer than five local coffee roasters, why would you get your coffee beans shipped in from anywhere else? It only makes sense to support your local economy and get the freshest product available for your customers.

I recently had some family come to stay with me and while we were downtown, we happened upon this little bakery on State Street. Their sign said "Magnolia Bakery, New York City" so, naturally, they got their coffee beans from the Big Apple. While I understand that they are going for a theme, here, I still walked the block and a half to Intelligentsia to get my local Chicago coffee fix. Partly because I know that I love their product, and partly because their storefront at Randolph and Wabash is so hip it hurts.

There are a few other local roasters that I have yet to explore:

Big Shoulders

A new, no-nonsense roaster in the River West neighborhood as of June 2012

Passion House

Another new roaster that popped up this spring. They don't have a storefront, but have made their way into many local cafes and bakeries already.

Ipsento 

Local cafe and small roaster on N. Western Ave. that has been around for a while but I have yet to become acquainted with.

Before your write me off as irredeemable, there's an exception to my coffee snobbery! 

Dive diners. They get a free pass.

I still have a special place in my heart for crappy diner coffee. It really doesn't matter where those beans come from, they always tend to taste like they've been filtered twice through an old gym sock. And that's the way I like it. It makes me feel connected to the generations of impoverished artists and travelers who have gone before me.