The Best Coffee in Every State: How We Decided, and What We Learned

Everything is changing—again. That's the thing you need to know aboutcoffee in the United States， 现在。经过一个惊人的富有成效的十年之后，一个让景观完全改变，看起来我们就像我们进入另一轮一样。这真让人兴奋。

短短几年之后,很多美国的小镇s and cities were first finding themselves dazzled by the bells and whistles of what's been referred as第三波文化, by lighter, more balanced roasts, by the notion of sourcing, by the latest behind-the-counter gadgetry, the bar is once again being raised.

相当简单，现在我们几乎到处都有这些东西，挥舞着公众并不是那么容易。说话谈话不够。吸引人，简约的咖啡馆空间，定制围裙，科学实验室值得冷的啤酒厂 - 不够够了。这些天，你可以买nitro cold brewin your average supermarket. We haveconvenience store chains sourcing single-estate coffees。那里有一大匹竞争。越来越，伟大是必须的。

十年前，也许有点多，放在一起列表美国最好的咖啡might have taken a day or two, and it could have been done from behind a desk;our recently published list, where we chose a favorite in each of the 50 states, took months to compile. Standards were high, because in most cases, they could be; in some states, the choices are now overwhelming. Specifically, there were four important criteria for selection:

＃1理想情况下，我们正在寻找在工艺顶部或附近的烤炉，但是比这更好地推动事情，我们真的在寻找雄心勃勃，更新的烤肉，可能仍然瞄准理想，同时管理沿途拿起很多嗡嗡声（和一个奖项或两人）。

＃2订婚。雄心勃勃的采购努力和熟练的烘焙器 - 伟大的东西，但谁也与他们的社区成功搞？理想情况下，将有一个目的地值得的咖啡馆，或者一个家庭旅馆品尝实验室，一个为当地对话带来的企业，超越拿铁艺术技能和优化的Instagram美学。这些商店应该是欢迎的地方，温暖的地方。来到那些遇到这个理想的人中，很难不超过他们的偏见。（例如：康涅狄格州，在哪里Hartford's Story & Soil赢了。）

＃3Who are the innovators, and where are they working? Many states are quickly loading up with roasting talent—who's out there, taking the risks, trying new things, going the extra mile, moving out of the more cozier, major markets into new areas?

＃4In the end, it was mostly about the user experience. Food & Wine is not a trade publication, coffee has plenty of those—this list was not created for the benefit of the industry, but rather for the consumer. As such, a conscious decision was made to keep away from the technical. There are plenty of places you can go to read about who's got the latest equipment, or who is venturing furthest into the wilds for the best beans—our goal was remain relentlessly focused on the customer. That's why the final hurdle, and perhaps the most important one, was service. Treat the product with respect, absolutely, but always treat your customer with that same respect. As time goes on, as competition stiffens, this will only become more important.

Many otherwise excellent candidates fell down on at least one of these fronts, and that's understandable—there are so many things that can go wrong with coffee, even in the most capable hands. That said, it's thrilling to consider the fact that more than 40 states on our list hit most, if not all of their marks—no doubt in short order, we'll see all 50 performing on an even higher level. (Frankly, I can't wait for us to do this all over again.) In the meantime, here are a few interesting takeaways:

一些最好的工作是在一些中完成的the most unlikely places。From Northwest Arkansas (Onyx) to small-town Wisconsin (Ruby) to the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country (Passenger), some of the most exciting stuff is happening well outside of the big cities, and that's a trend that ought to continue. It's not just roasters, either—these days, you can find talented baristas just about anywhere. (Shout out, for example, to the team at Silver Grizzly Espresso, in Longview, Texas—there are many shops in major cities that should be taking lessons from you. Please keep up the good work.)

现代咖啡看起来越来越像现代美国。From the award-winning work Paul Bonds is doing at杰克逊，小姐，小姐。，前往像米歇尔Quirooz这样的新烤炉Reserva in South Texasand Alyza Bohbot's城市女孩咖啡在明尼苏达州从世界各地女性拥有的农场来源到一个不符合LikeAlike Anglo时髦的刻板印象的人造成的一系列优秀的咖啡糕，在场景中有一个多样化，而不是符合眼睛，而且到来的岁月，你可以期待更多。这值得庆祝。

Service is still lagging, but hopefully not for long。自我严重的咖啡师的陈词滥调告诉你“我们在这里做不同的事情”，“当然，现在每个人都几乎做了同样的事情，已经长大了。相反，仍然有太多烤肉让标准在其零售业务的路边落下 - 他们不知道，或者他们不在乎;无论哪种方式，不幸的是。时代已经改变了，咖啡不是普遍的刺激，并且普通客户只是聪明 - 守恒将不得不带它，或者离开。

We owe the old-timers.Intelligentsia（芝加哥，1995年），柜台文化（Durham，NC，1995），Stumptown（波特兰，1999年）和蓝瓶（奥克兰，加州，2002年）现在可以在新的所有权下落入老年人，其中三个但没有他们，我们永远不会这么快，这么快。许多人做得很好的努力，训练了一个或另一个，后来旋转了自己的东西。蓝色瓶子的一个位置 - 在东海岸，在威廉斯堡，布鲁克林，几年前开业 - 设法落后于我们列表中最终没有不少于三个企业的人才：宾夕法尼亚州兰开斯特的乘客咖啡，串联咖啡，在波特兰，缅因州和狐狸在雪中是现在海岸之间最令人印象深刻的咖啡馆/面包店设置之一Columbus, Ohio。这是下一波毕业生。