Death of Coffee

It's hard to get good coffee.  The world's gone to pushbutton espresso machines.

Starbucks has a lot to answer for.  When Starbucks started appearing in Chicago in the early 90s, I remember espresso being a minor specialty.  The focus was on coffee -- filter coffee.  There were always multiple varieties on tap, each in a carafe, each carafe on a timer, purged at a certain age and rebrewed afresh.  Hot coffee, unoxidized, from specific beans -- a hitherto inaccessible pleasure at the Board of Trade -- became readily available and raised the bar for every caf pouring burnt sludge from brown & orange Bunn pots.

Sadly, Starbucks gave up on coffee and adopted an espresso-based, pushbutton model, becoming a factory for warm, sweet, milky drinks, each starting life at the espresso machine.  I do love espresso.  I have a rancilio machine and a grinder at home.  It took me months before I was consistently satisfied with my shots.  But I also love coffee.

Good filter coffee is not hard to make.  Drip brewers, percolators, and the beloved cafetieres are all capable of providing life-affirming brew. Tragically, I could not even get good coffee this past weekend in Paris. Good espresso? Yes, sometimes. Good coffee? No. Not even a true cafe au lait for breakfast! I hope I merely went to all the wrong cafes, but I fear even the Parisians are letting it drip away.