10 Useful Tips For The Modern Coffee Drinker

假设您是Clear的成员大多数美国人choosing to drink咖啡每天，而且已经很长时间了 - 在这个国家，在这个国家的男人和男人现在已经足够大了（主要是）喝东西，甚至是天生的，在这个国家，比非常好的咖啡要多得多。。今天的明亮经常美丽的咖啡风景can be, well, the tiniest bit overwhelming. In your day, you got out of bed in the morning, and you drank the stuff. Suddenly, it’s a lifestyle.

在很多时候，可能会鼓励对新的怀疑主义 - 这不是其中之一。No matter how unnecessary recent developments may appear, take it from a fellow old-timer, someone who has been fanatical about coffee since my very first shot of espresso at Intelligentsia in Chicago, back in the mid-1990’s—it's all so much better now, better than many Americans can even imagine. Like others, I grew up in a coffee-from-a-can household, and never imagined I'd end up hooked—turned out, all I needed was a taste of the really good stuff.

While I have been an enthusiastic fan of咖啡and coffee culture from that first moment of awakening, I came to Food & Wine's每个州最好的咖啡项目在2017年作为一个温和的困惑consumer, my nose somewhat out of joint over the way things had evolved—coffee suddenly seemed so complex, and everything was moving so quickly; one by one, the places that were supposedly the best were being absorbed into major corporations, while others appeared content to slouch into mediocrity. I had watched the retail price of coffee in the United States climb ever higher, to the point where it was starting to feel more like an occasional luxury than a daily essential. Was I finally over the thing I had loved the most? Two memorable, highly educational years—I read some great books, I sat with some of the best and brightest in the industry, I tasted a ton of quality product—radically changed the way I look at coffee, the way I think about coffee, and the way I talk about coffee. The journey began quite simply, with a history lesson, and then lots more learning, about where coffee comes from, how it gets here, just how delicate the process can be, and how easily that beautiful chain can be broken.

Ultimately, I’ve come away with so much respect for the people who make coffee possible, from the underpaid farmers, all the way up to the best, often underpaid baristas who have turned preparation into an art form. And while most coffee drinkers don't have the luxury of sending themselves back to school for a crash course, I can only recommend doing the best you can, because the less you see coffee as a commodity, the more you begin to look at the whole picture, the deeper you drill down, and start to understand just how delicate the process can be, the more you will appreciate this beautiful thing. So much of your life revolves around coffee; why not get to know it better? Besides, your country needs you—in too many states and cities, enthusiasm for the new coffee culture still tends to outpace roaster expertise, or consumer knowledge;越聪明的咖啡饮酒者变得越了解，我们的行业就会越好。从长远来看，那个好杯子将是一个更好的杯子。我们可以开始吗？这里有十件重要的知识。

请记住，回到当天的方式，餐桌上的问题是red or white? Now, we know all about terroir, and our favorite varietals, and which country or appellation is strongest at what—coffee might not be quite there yet, but it's getting close. There's so much lingo to learn now—there arenatural咖啡，高海拔咖啡，阴影成长，单庄园，小地块。然后有品种，你Geshas, your Pacamaras, your Bourbons. The temptation to turn tail and walk out of the coffee shop is understandable, but in the long run, the industry's turn toward the terribly specific should be celebrated—just think of a coffee bean the way you'd think of a certain wine grape, and watch it all open up. The more information you have, the easier it will ultimately be for you to zero in on the exact kind of coffee that you like best—a worthy effort, considering that these days, good coffee will not come cheap. Where to begin? Borders and regions tend to matter less these days, but geography can still be a fine indicator—taste your way around the globe, and figure out which countries, and then which regions in those countries really speak to you—many coffee roasters deal directly with specific farmers, or coffee-growing cooperatives; with the finest coffees, the finished product will now be nearly as specific (and memorable) as a bottle of wine. A caveat: Just because your local roaster knows the words, and has the buying power, does not guarantee greatness, at least not yet; the more coffees you taste, and the more you know, the more you’ll begin to trust yourself, and the faster you’ll be able to sniff out the average operators, or the straight up imposters. Want to speed up the process? Find out which shops or roasters near you are hosting public cuppings or tastings—these entertaining (all that slurping!) and informative experiences are is sometimes even offered free of charge. (TheFriday morning tastingsoffered at反文化咖啡training centers around the country are a fantastic jumping off point.)

咖啡遇到麻烦的事实没有脚尖。生长条件受到越来越气质的气候的异想天开，当然，咖啡仍然是一种商品 - 市场部队寒冷而持久，大多数投入最艰难的劳动力的人仍然长期付费不足。您会听到很多人在谈论这个问题，以及他们对此的关注程度，但是业务是业务，最后，许多咖啡烘焙商会尽可能低地购买，因为这就是资本主义的运作方式。世界上所有的关心都无法阻止咖啡期货暴跌，温暖的想法与气候变化无关，但是您当地的烘焙机可以通过多种方式来竭尽所能，使咖啡农和地球的生活更轻松。有些人不懈地致力于减少咖啡生产对本来已经脆弱的环境的影响，很多措施正在采取实际措施来支付更公平的价格，而另一些人则在原产地积极投资。您可以通过从烘焙师那里购买具有持续负责任的记录的烘焙机来帮助速度加快事情的速度，例如奥林匹亚咖啡在西北太平洋或赤道咖啡和茶in Northern California. Certainly, top quality, ethical coffees can cost good money, but you're still getting a deal—consider recent developments in Southern California, the lone growing region on the American mainland—a public cupping was held recently at San Diego’s鸟岩咖啡烘焙机，为了支付费用，参与者每人收取100美元的费用，其中包括200克可带回家。该活动在几个小时内售罄。

Does it feel like your favorite roaster is starting to spend more and more time in far away places? Origin travel, it's so hot right now, but it's not just for the Instagram content, typically—many roasters are working hard to develop closer relationships with cooperatives and individual farmers overseas. There are excellent reasons for this, both ethical and delicious—for all the effort poured into relationship building, coffee buyers can end up ensuring that farmers see more of the money they deserve, but they might also wind up with exclusive access to some of the world’s most interesting coffees. Not that your roaster has to be in Colombia or Kenya every other month, to be good, or ethical—no matter how it was purchased, nearly all (if not all) of the green coffee being bought in the United States still comes here through an importer, for logistics reasons; some top roasters choose to leave the entire process to the likes ofRed Fox Coffee Merchantsout of Northern California, orCollaborative Coffee Source，建立在奥斯陆，列举两个以额外英里而闻名的进口商。

So your local shop just announced they’re going to start roasting. Great news, right? Possibly! Check back in two years. Ask anybody in the industry who’s been at it for more than ten minutes, and while most of them will be very polite and encouraging, because that's just how coffee people tend to be when speaking about each other, there seems to be a general consensus among the truly experienced: it takes roughly two years for a new roaster to reach their full potential. Certainly, go ahead and try new things, certainly support your local businesses, but even the most capable operations can sometimes struggle with the transition from making coffee to roasting coffee—with rare exception, only time can tell just how good they really are.

更多的被人轻的趋势uch roasting, and it will not surprise you to learn that many roasters have rushed into things without knowing exactly what they are doing. Coffee is extraordinarily delicate; one missed or wrong turn, and everything’s pretty much ruined, whether it’s a light roast that goes down like battery acid, or a deeper coffee that didn’t have to end up charred and lifeless, but somehow did. Even the brightest citrus sparkler from Colombia will meet your palate right where it's supposed to, when handled correctly; the fruitiest Ethiopian will never wind up murky or muddy, retaining a thrilling kind of clarity. If you want to know, for once and for all, what these very fashionable lighter roasts are all about, a good idea is to go directly to one of the genre all-stars, like Denmark’sLa Cabra, or, here at home,甜美的绽放咖啡烘焙机在科罗拉多州 - 准备好的是该行业必须提供的最好的咖啡，并且将几乎转换出任何法国烤迷。底线：不要愚弄您认为自己不喜欢较轻的咖啡 - 直到您品尝好东西之前。

Even the most rigorous training can’t turn a barista into a robot—humans make mistakes,surprise, surprise，甚至最好的烘焙机常常被零售水平的管理不善而失望。Whether it’s a shot of espresso with notes of ashtray, or a $5 pourover served with all the body of a cup of hastily-steeped Lipton's, it’s all out there, it's being served every day, and too often, consumers lack the information needed to be able to ask for better. Even the most trusted shops in the country let themselves down, time and again, with a lack of attention to detail—one day heaven, the next day hell, depending on who’s behind the bar, how much sleep they’ve had, how much coffee they’ve been drinking, how much talking they’re doing, while they’re prepping that shot—you get the idea. There are some extremely dependable providers out there—Methodical Coffee在南卡罗来纳州，乘客咖啡in Pennsylvania,好咖啡in Portland come to mind—but most retail operations suffer from a chronic lack of quality control, and this will have to change in the long run, as markets become more crowded. In many cities, making coffee at home remains the best solution; good thing there areso many cool new toys to play with， 现在。（最好的method, as ever, is the one that's right for you.)

Wasn’t it just yesterday that everyone was making fun of dark roast? (Fact check: Yes.) Apparently, we're done with that now, because some of the top professionals in the industry are working hard at reimagining the 1990’s style for the 21st century (which is to say, not burning the coffee), and they’re doing a pretty bang-up job. You’ve gotTandem Coffeein Maine selling their Stoker blend, which they refer to as “kinda dark,” Louisville’sGood Folks Coffee引入了他们的无判断力深空混合物，而Coffee Manufactoryin California doesn’t even beat around the bush—they’ve got a Dark in their lineup, and they’re constantly tinkering with it to make it better, as are other smaller roasters, like载体在佛蒙特州，Blanchard’sin Virginia, and街机咖啡这是南加州的杰出人物之一，最近提供了一流的浓缩咖啡 - 富有，饱满，但仍然几乎是微妙的。就目前而言，不要跳入当地的咖啡店，要求深色烤仍然是一个很好的主意 - 最终可能会遭受整个味道。有些烘焙机根本不想在光或黑暗方面思考，而是谈论他们希望如何单独使用每种咖啡。很公平。Avoid long, drawn-out interactions by reading the now-popular tasting notes, which so many roasters are printing straight on the bags of coffee that they sell—you’ll want to go for something with caramel, or chocolate, or brown sugar, over anything citrus-related. Of course, you could always just grab something from Ethiopia—even when handled super delicately, that naturally fruity quality—not to generalize too much—tends to satisfy pretty much anyone who can’t wrap their head around the idea that their coffee is supposed to taste like a bowl full of lemons.

With the exception of shops willing to install, say, the fashionable Poursteady equipment, the clock is ticking on the whole idea of the pourover-to-order, not because pourovers aren't great, but because they take too long, there’s too much room for error, and the labor costs are too high. These days, many of the best shops will have the upgraded brewing technology needed to make sure that each cup is a good cup, without the long wait. Don’t be disappointed—instead, embrace the economy of it all. If it helps, even the best places that have committed to batch brew are often charging roughly half of what inexperienced roasters are still charging for a pourover—$2.50 for a small cup of coffee instead of $4, or sometimes $5? Obviously, this means you can drink twice as much.

我去年尝试过的最好的咖啡之一来自豆子在冰箱中保存了几个月，没有道歉，在我期望从冰箱里送咖啡的最后一个地方。虽然他们可能不想公开吹捧这种行业，但有些行业内部人士承认，对直接咖啡的痴迷越来越有些误导 - 甚至几天后，有些人甚至觉得咖啡在不断发展，甚至有所改善被烤。没有人提倡陈旧的咖啡，但是您如何制作它对于过程仍然比三天或三个星期更重要，或者如果正确存储在三个月大的冰箱中。除了准备好之前，除了没有磨碎之外，这仍然是理想的放松。

咖啡势利小人的陈词滥调就是这样 - 陈词滥调和一个非常疲倦的人。在任何遥不可及的城市中，所有这些胡说八道都很好。如今，最好的地方是款待，即为客户提供他们想要的东西，即使这意味着旋转的季节性调味拿铁菜单。（您不敢相信去年秋天我遇到了多少个高档南瓜香料创作。这个地方不像您可能习惯的其他地方，很有可能在错误的咖啡店里遇到。

Looking for the best coffee near you? Read Food & Wine's2019年每个州最好的咖啡。