An Open Letter to all Coffee Shops

Dear Coffee Shops and Other Purveyors of Coffee,

I write this letter to encourage, nay demand, that if you charge a dollar or more for a cup of regular coffee--and in reality, the average price is closer to two dollars-- that you serve coffee worthy of the price, and of the ridiculously high profit margin.

By way of introduction, I do not claim to be a coffee expert, or really even an aficionado, but I do drink quite a bit of coffee--two or three "cups" (12 or 16 ounce servings, really) per day--and buy many of those at various local coffee shops. In fact, off the top of my head I count at least ten coffee shops at which I've purchased coffee in the past month or so. I enjoy, maybe even love, a good cup of coffee.  A bad cup, however, really puts me in a sour mood.  And its not just the briny, muddy taste, or feeling cheated at paying big bucks for a gas-station quality product.  It's that it's really not that hard to make a good cup of coffee.  I do it at home for about a quarter's worth of ingredients in a garage-sale drip coffeemaker. There's just no excuse that a business that styles itself a coffee shop, and purports to trade in "fine" or "gourmet" coffee, can't seem to get it right.

Even if you've heard this before, a refresher may, for some of you coffee peddlers, be due. There are five  things you need to make a good cup of coffee:

(1) Whole beans that were roasted relatively recently, like within the last two weeks. Such beans aren't all that difficult to come by.  In my own little city, not particularly known for its coffee, there are no fewer than five local coffee roasters. If you're starting with pre-ground coffee in heat-sealed plastic packages shipped to you from three states away, you're already off to a bad start.

(2) Freshly ground beans. Grind the beans just before you brew the pot of coffee; not at the beginning of the week, or even before opening each morning.  It takes all of 10 seconds, but makes a huge difference in taste.

(3) Filtered water. It makes a big difference.  You know what your local tap water tastes like.  Mine tastes like a swimming pool. Starbucks, to its credit, uses filtered water. If you're not set up with a commercial water filtration system, use a Brita pitcher or the like.

(4) Airpots. Take the coffee off of any heat source as soon as it is done brewing. Do not let it sit on a burner.  After just a few minutes it will taste like hot sea water. Put it in an insulated pot.

(5) Even if the coffee is in an insulated pot, dump it every thirty minutes or so.  The single greatest sin committed by coffee shops is to brew coffee and then let it sit in an airpot for hours. I've had more than a few baristas say, "I brewed it a couple of hours ago, but it hasn't been on a burner or anything, it's been in an airpot."  It doesn't matter where it's been if it's old. I can hardly count the number of times that I've gone for a cup of coffee at 10:30 in the morning, to discover an airpot full of lukewarm dishwater that was brewed at 7:30.

There are other considerations such as cleanliness of equipment, quality of the beans, water temperature, brew time, etc., which I'll put off addressing till another day.  But there is one one more thing upon which I must insist.  Coffee shop owners: make it your, and your baristas', job to know whether your coffee meets the above five criteria.  Let customers know what they're getting: satisfaction is relative to expectation.  If customer asks when the coffee was brewed, know the answer and tell the truth. If you do not know the answer, or you know that it is more than a half-hour old, offer to brew a fresh pot.  Do not under any circumstances say something like, "yeah, it's pretty fresh, I'm pretty sure he just brewed it" when you are not, in fact, sure of when it was brewed.  For my part, I won't be mad that the coffee's not fresh; I will simply order something else, like an Americano.  I  will never come to your coffee shop again, though, if you tell me it's fresh, I pay a couple of bucks for it, and it tastes like salty mud. (Sorry Spinn.)

There are plenty of places where awful coffee can be had for eighty-nine cents.  Coffee shops: please don't charge a buck eighty-nine for it.  If you insist on doing so, however, please at least have the courtesy to install a couple of gas pumps and place a bucket of Slim Jims next to the register.  Then we'll at least know what we're in for.

Sincerely,

Anjan K. Ganguly
Coffee Drinker