Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Caffeine Crawl
I must admit that good quality coffee was not something I expected to find in Kansas City (Missouri!). Oh, gosh, let’s be honest; good quality coffee is not something I ever expect to find in America, but that’s a topic for another day.
After attending the two-day, 14-stop Kansas City Caffeine Crawl back in September with Amber, I will humbly admit that there are some brilliant baristas in this country dedicated to making great coffee. You simply have to know where to find them.
Day one started at Parisi Artisan Coffee, where we tried pulped and natural versions of two different coffee beans. From memory, we preferred the pulped, but both were delicious.
Our transport both days were Honest To Goodness Yellow American School Buses, which made me rather excited. I was less excited, however, to find that inside said buses exist “Bodily Fluid Cleanup Kits”. Ick.
At Crossroads Coffeehouse, we were shown the basics of making coffee in the home, using either a French Press or Chemex.
In contrast, the folk at Benetti’s Coffee Experience demonstrated how to make coffee over a campfire with nothing more than a saucepan and strainer. This demonstration delighted me, less because of the coffee itself than because I love fire deeply, deeply, deeply, and adore the smell of campfire smoke.
Amber would like you to think that I let her borrow my shawl as protection from the sun, but really it was because I wanted to see what she’d look like as a nun.
One More Cup talked us through the ethics of sourcing locally and working with the community, but Amber and I focused predominately on the fact that they offered us gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies. (I just wish it had been a peanut butter cookie. Signed, Looking A Gift Horse In The Mouth.)
Broadway Roasting Company offered a multitude of coffee-flavoured treats and drinks, including three types of fruit-infused coffee toddies (the cherry one was nice), coffee beer (so good!), oatmeal toddy stout ice cream (could’ve been punchier in flavour), and coffee-batter French Toast with coffee-infused cream and coffee-soaked cherries.
At Oddly Correct Coffee Roasters, I whispered to Amber that there seems to be a strikingly high correlation between baristas and very consciously manicured facial hair. Side note: I think the fellow below is doing some sort of hip hop move in this photo.
Work it, mister! I liked him.
Oh, their coffee was mighty fine, too. I keep forgetting to talk about the coffee, don’t I?
Our last stop for the day was not, in fact, a coffee shop, but Annedore’s Fine Chocolates, which Amber and I had visited previously.
At Annedore’s we were given samples of milk or dark truffles upon entry, and then chocolate covered popcorn as we left.
Chocolate covered popcorn makes me happy indeed, and I think I’d finished off almost the entire bag by the time our bus dropped us back at Parisi.
That said, no matter how delicious coffee and popcorn may be, neither compares to the joy that is spending time with Amber.
(P.S. Speaking of, catch Amber’s take on the first day of our Caffeine Crawl here.)
Excellent summary! Better than mine, I think
See, I thought we preferred the natural over the pulped at Parisi…I suppose this means they were both pretty great.
Come on now, you already knew what I looked like as a nun. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=60431016200&set=a.60429211200.80371.500111200
Darnit, I totally couldn’t remember and decided I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. *shakes fist at sky* Ooh, but hey, wasn’t it that we liked one better at the store, then another better at home? Oh wait, no, that’s because I kept nagging you to add mesquite to the latter…
Yeah, but I hadn’t seen it IN PERSON. And now I’ve fallen in love with you too
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*bounce* oooh dear, day three would have been… sleep deprived
You know, I was worried about that, but we actually ended up drinking less coffee on these days than we did on our normal mornings sharing a full French Press!
It all looks utterly delicious and to finish with chocolate at the end …. perfection. How did you SLEEP later on that night??
I was honestly scared about how caffeinated I’d be after these days, but we had less coffee on the crawls than we usually drank in the mornings! We generally only got 2-3 ounces of coffee (and not shots, just little tastes of coffee) at each place, and I didn’t finish many of them. After the second day, I walked in the door in the afternoon and crashed for a nap on the couch
So much caffeine! Looks like fun, though!
In truth, very little caffeine! We only got tiny tasters at each place
A coffee crawl sounds like the best fun!!! It wouldn’t work so well in Melbourne though – I guess that’s both good and bad :p
Shhh…. you didn’t hear it from me, but apparently Melbourne is not out of the question for this in future
You keep forgetting to talk about the coffee! Ha ha
I actually love it when you go off on a tangent with your stories.
It’s nice to see a bit of blue sky in a photo – it’s ridiculously cold and wet here. There has been heavy snow near Goulburn!
Not going to lie; my favourite stop of both days was the vegan bakery with its wealth of sweets
I adore coffee, but I don’t think I’ll ever care enough to start weighing my water in grams before pouring it over the beans to brew!
Whaaaaa?! That makes me feel so much better about having heard it’s already snowing in Canada! At least we’re all going to be miserable!
Oh yes yes yes. Coffeecoffeecoffee. I am being so restrained at the moment, and allowing myself just the 1 cup of Joe per day – good thing in Christchurch there is an AWESOME coffee scene, and SO MUCH good coffee around. Seriously, it’s on par with Melbourne I reckon.
Chocolate popcorn = YES.
I usually only allow myself one cup of coffee per day, and not after 2-3pm. However, the coffees in America are often enormous, so my “one cup” here is quite different to my “one cup” in Australia… also, I’ve changed from a long-black-no-sugar girl to a coffee with hemp milk/coconut creamer and stevia lover. So. Fricking. Good.
Ha, same
I used to be unsweetened STRONG long black…. now I have discovered vanilla stevia + almond milk – SOLD. I’ve never actually had hemp milk!
Yeah, that’s because Australia is a pile of bollocks when it comes to non-dairy milk (and ice cream). Ugh.
On reading your reply to Lou above, I have had to completely re-think my mental image of you and caffeine. In my mind, you were a several cups a day girl. In reality, it seems you are what I was a year ago when I coped with just one hit of caffeine a day and only in the morning. Now (and by now I mean pre-holiday ‘cos the last month has almost needed no caffeine at all
) I generally need a morning and a mid-afternoon cup. I feel a bit worse for realising that I’m alone in this.
On other matters, not relating to my possibly growing caffeine addiction, this day sounds super fun
Really?! Heavens, no, from about age 14 to last year I never drank anything but decaf, because of my insomniac tendencies. I got back into real coffee when I started full time work and needed it on what came to be my standard 5-6 hours of sleep a night, but I’m still careful with it.
Darling, I know so many people who have 3-4 cups of coffee a day. And you know how I feel about people comparing their eating/drinking habits to others and feeling guilty! STOP IT.
I think every outing should end in chocolate. No?
And begin, and continue with.
Any special tricks for the French Press/Plunger that we should know? Love that you learnt about a variety of ways to make coffee, not just espresso. (And I too am impressed that you could find good coffee! Aussie coffee snobs that we are!)
Not going to lie, still one of the best cups I’ve had all trip came from Toby’s Estate Coffee in Williamsburg, which is, of course, and Australian company
And actually, yes! Some of the tips (like weighing the water) weren’t ones I’ll pay attention too, but with the French Press, one tip I liked was that when you pour in the water and are beginning the brewing process, press the plunger down just a tiny bit so that all the ground beans are in contact with the water. Probably just half-to-one centimetre? I’ll be doing that in future
I’d love to buy a Chemex, but only because they look wicked cool. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I love the paraphernalia surrounding it!
How sweet of you to nunnify Amber and protect her pale skin. Do you think you two get along so well in part because she is your long lost Whitey McWhiteness Paleface Von Alabaster Twin, or whatever it was you referred to yourself as way back when?
Bahaha! That may indeed be yet another reason we were meant for each other.
Yes, all signs point to soulsisters. It’s undeniable at this point.
I love the sound of doing a coffee crawl! I must admit, working where I do, I miss good coffee, I need to find some in this city!! I am now going to go exploring, using you and Amber as my inspiration
Oh dear heavens, I had Starbucks in New York the other day. It really needs the syrups to make it drinkable!
Ooooh this looks like heaps of fun!
I don’t think I would be able to stomach all that caffeine though, as one cup of coffee is usually enough to make me jittery (yeah, I know, weak)
Actually, the funny thing is it really wasn’t much coffee at all! We got 2, maybe 3 cups of about one ounce of brewed coffee (not shots) at each place, and a lot of the time some of it was badly brewed to show us differences in techniques, so you didn’t drink it all anyway!
I’ve heard there’s good coffee in the US as long as you know where to find it – and that’s not at Starbucks! Since growing up watching US family TV shows where all the kids get on the yellow school bus, I’ve always wanted to ride on one – but not one with bodily fluids! I don’t think Amber looks like she’d fit in well at a nunnery – something about the vow of silence has me worried xx
Me too, but you know what? Aussie school buses are SO MUCH BETTER. These had almost no room, both in terms of seat space and leg space, and a very narrow “aisle”. Makes you wonder how the, erm, “average-sized” American kids fit on them these days…
Caffeine, chocolate truffles, and chocolate covered popcorn! Triple yummy!!!
So much to catch up on! Woweee…. all I saw was a sea of chocolate and fun times as scrolling down your page. Those choccie truffles are so shiny and pretty!!! I want some!
Teehee! You know life has gotta be good when it’s a sea of chocolate and fun times
I rather loathe coffee as I’m sure you remember. So the tour doesn’t appeal in the slightest to me. That is a gorgeous photo of you two ladies at the end though. Lovely.
Thank you Louise
But yes, this would not have been a day of fun for you!