I’m sitting here drinking the perfect cup of coffee. My husband Ric, still over the moon with his new mega espresso maker, is keeping me well caffeinated. He has been pouring over the endless sources of coffee porn on the internet, perfecting his technique and it has paid off. We are becoming obsessed with our morning cappuccinos, mid-day lattes and evening wine choices (more about wine on another day).

Latte-web

First we bought a little Krups machine, which I thought was fine, little did I know that Ric’s coffee passion was swirling out of control into a heated froth. Unbeknownst to me, he was scouring the web for the perfect machine in hot pursuit of the ultimate “God shot” of espresso. Our new and beautiful slick Italian made Vibiemme machine (I call her, Vivianne) has enough shiny dials, switches and wands to keep my coffee nerd entertained for the moment while he begins his search for a home coffee bean roaster and water filtration systems.

As a result of Ric’s boundless thirst to learn everything there is to know about the bean, roasting, crema, the size of the bubble in the steamed milk (seriously) and the temperature and pressure of the steam, I believe I have become a spoiled, over-indulged coffee snob. While I’m really all about the taste, feel, texture and aroma of what passes by my lips, he is educating me on what to look for in the perfect cup of Joe. The truth is, he has raised the bar so high that a simple Starbuck’s latte now tastes like watered down warm milk with a hint of coffee. Not swill, but definitely not the satisfying sip that greets me every morning when Ric hands me my first cup of the day and I swoon…over the coffee, yes, but mostly over my handsome barista.

If you can’t/don’t want to brew your own, here are our favorite coffee houses and sources for freshly roasted beans:

BOULDER

OZO Coffee
5340 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder, CO 80303 – 303.440.0233

1015 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 – 303.645.4885

Boxcar Coffee Roasters

1825 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO. 80302

SAN ANTONIO

Olmos Perk
5223 McCullough Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78212

Brown Coffee Company
1702 West Kings Highway, San Antonio, TX 78201

FREDERICK, MD

Cafe Nola
4 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701

Dublin Roasters
75B W Main St, New Market  MD  21774

LOS ANGELES

Urth Caffé
8565 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA

2327 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90407

451 S Hewitt St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Intelligentsia

1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

3922 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

NEWPORT BEACH

Haute Cakes
1807 Westcliff Dr, Newport Beach, CA 9266