Local Coffee

The love of my life. I am hard pressed to find something I love more than coffee. I am coffee obsessed. And I am pretentious about it, which doesn't help. I started drinking coffee when I was 19, and I hated it. But my friends seemed so happy when they drank it that I knew, that if I just kept trying it, eventually I would see that heavenly light of happiness looking back at me from the bottom of a mug. I now bask in that heavenly light every day, but it took me spending a summer in Brazil to learn how to drink and appreciate coffee.

Now I spend my days drinking coffee and hanging out at my favorite coffee shop, Cartel Coffee Lab with friends and a book. I recently went on a road trip with a close friend and we hit up 10 states, heading from Louisiana in the south, all the way to New York and over to Connecticut. We tried out a different local coffee shop in every city or town we stopped in. It was exciting for us, we are big on local coffee but now we have tasted a plethora of houses across the United States and now feel enriched with a broader array of tastes and sights.

I should probably state that in my pretentious state, I house a strong dislike for, and judgement against Starbucks. If you are looking to pour automated sludge down your throat, look no further, you've found it at your "local" Starbucks. They will kindly oblige and charge you $5 per cup. If however, you find that you actually have taste buds, I encourage you to try a local and original coffee house.

Something I've always enjoyed about hanging around coffee houses all the time is the latte art. I am fascinated with watching baristas pour out their creations and then using milk, draw in your latte. It's captivating.