Notes from the road. Roaster visits, coffee education, market recaps, and the stories behind every cup we pour.
Inside the roastery that started it all for us
We drove up to Libertyville on a Tuesday morning — the kind of morning where the fog sits low over the lake and the whole town smells like wet grass and possibility.
The small-batch revolution changing specialty coffee
You'll see the term on bags, on menus, in conversations between baristas who speak in a language that can feel like a secret code. But micro-lot coffee is simpler than it sounds.
What we learned pouring coffee for strangers
We showed up at 5:30 AM with a folding table, a hand grinder, two thermoses, and the kind of nervous energy that comes from doing something you've only ever talked about.