Left Lane
Life, web, and caffeine. By Pat Collins.
Amateur Coffee Reviews
Published February 14th, 2006Many of you may not know the tagline of this web site if you do not subscribe to the feed: “Life, web, and caffeine. By Pat Collins.” If you know me then you know that is really in the wrong order: caffeine, then life, then web, because my productivity cycle is almost exclusively driven by some sort of caffeine. Sad, but true.
Just last week I got a large 8-cup coffee machine for home. It is the successor to the 4-cupper that made its way from home to work only to become drenched by a flood that soaked my computer, desk and the rest of my belongings in dark, dirty water. The new machine is a worthy heir. It produced from its sleek silver body the best drip coffee I have had in a long time, thereby bringing peace, justice, and java to an apartment previously desolated by coffee drought.
In fact, these events inspired me to write about the coffee experiences I’ve had while in Pittsburgh. I say “coffee experiences” because drinking java is about the atmosphere in addition to the product. You may have excellent coffee in a place where the people are horribly rude. Conversely, you may have subpar coffee where the people are quite nice. (Starbucks comes to mind.) The people can make your experience with each particular coffee better or worse. It is safe to say I am looking for the complete package, and I’m not afraid to base my apartment search on the locations of these seemingly elusive and superior coffee houses.
A quick list of places I need to try:
Other suggestions are welcome. I’ll be posting some reviews soon, so stay tuned.
As soon as I saw the word “coffee”, I was going to suggest Starbucks. But I guess you want to make your own at home.
Starbucks is OK, they don’t do everything right. Once in a while I find a person behind the counter there who knows what they are doing.
The coffee tends to be of higher quality in other, smaller coffee shops that aren’t chains. That’s what my reviews will be about — finding good coffee in Pittsburgh, whether its to-go or getting it and making it at home.
The key ingredient to a great cup of joe is an experienced barista.
Found this post from a referrer - hope you do stop by Aldo Coffee soon. Let us know.
On La Prima, will be interested to see what you think. We love the Strip location, not so much the others. We think that’s because they use a different espresso blend in the Strip due to they make mostly straight espressos and cappys there, no frou-frou drinks. Plus you can’t beat the atmosphere in the Strip - really as close to a corner joint in Piazza Novana as you’ll get around here.
Was up at the Vault in Brighton Heights yesterday. It’s a great space in a neighborhood that may or may not be enough to support the place, but the folks there seem sincere and dedicated to a good cup. They use Orinoco roasters. Had a macchiato and decaf latte from Drew. Both were good. So you might want to try them.