Places I have to try

Here's a list of best coffee shops in the Twin Cities that I've gathered from the internet. I can't wait to try them all and cross them off this list.

Kopplins
Blue Ox Coffee Co
Dogwood
Urban Bean
J&S Bean Factory
Coffee and Tea
Linden Hills
Peace Coffee

Day one

Here's the start of my coffee blog.

Let me just begin by saying I know little about coffee making and the beans that make them so good. I love coffee, but have a hard time explaining why. Deep inside I know it's because the coffee is fresh and the beans are of high quality. But there are so many more reasons why coffee tastes so good, which I hope to learn about and capture in this blog. This blog will be more of a review of various coffees and how they are brewed. Over time I hope to share my leanings about brewing techniques and what regions in the world have the best beans. We have all know beans come from Columbia, Sumatra, Costa Rica, Java, etc., but I hope to be able to tell you why through what I can taste versus regurgitate what I read on wikipedia.

The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) is not known for it's great culinary or good coffee, but if you look hard enough there are few great restaurants and coffee shops. The main coffee shop here is Carribou Coffee, and it's terrible. So many people go to Carribou because they a large chain, with more stores than Starbucks in the Twin cities.

Joann and I frequent Carribous only cecause it's right across the street from our apartment and is a comfortable plaace to study.

Today I did some research and found that Kopplin's Coffee has been voted the best in the Twin Cities. Located in a small neighborhood in St. Paul. So to pursue my quest to find THE coffee shop in the Twin Cities, I drove across the river on a beautiful Saturday morning.

I got the Sumatra coffee, which they said is an estate coffee, meaning from a particular farm vs. a region. I read reviews that they do Clover coffee, which I need to research more on. They pour hot water into a tall skinny glass and put in the coffee grinds after and let it seap, kind of like one would do in a French press. But after a certain amount of time, they pour the coffee through a cloth filter attached to a cup. (I have to find out what this process is called because the barista who sounded unsure and said that they "made up" this process.

This Sumatra Mandheling Lake Tawar is very bold with an earthy taste. The coffee is of high quality with a strong disctint and fresh taste, but leaves a aftertaste kind of what I imagine weed to taste like (I promise I've never tried weed before). This large cup cost me $4.75.