Coffee Obsession

Since starting to work in a coffee shop, my obsession with coffee has grown. Right now it's full blown obsession. I'm obviously partial to my store's coffee as that's what I get to drink and that's what I get to bring home with me. I do not have nearly as in depth tasting of other coffee shop coffee so this post is in no way meant to disparage any other coffee shop. It is not meant to declare superiority of one brand vs another. This post is also NOT intended to be an advertisement for my coffee shop. I'm not paid to blog. This is meant as a means for me to look back at the evolution of my coffee obsession and talk about some of my favorite coffees, specifically the ones I've encountered that give back to the local community.

I've gone through many phases with coffee, once I started actually drinking drip coffee.

I started out just drinking Maxwell House's master blend. At one point, I tried the Organic Coffee Company's zen blend and gorilla decaf and was in love. Then I got sick of paying $9.00/lb of coffee and returned to the days of Maxwell House.

Once again, I became sick of cheaping out on my coffee. So I found a local blend called CityKid Java, specifically the Sumatra Mandheling. My Cub foods didn't carry many varieties so that's kind of what I was stuck with anyway. I was in love with this coffee and still am. If you're willing to pay $8.99/lb per coffee and live in the Twin Cities metro, I'd recommend trying this brand out. I really like that they give their proceeds back to the community through the Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation.

Now, of course I'm a die hard Caribou Coffee fan. I love supporting a MN company and working there, I get my coffee for free. My top 3 are: Mocha Java, LaMinita, and Acacia. The Acacia blend is also organic so there isn't the pesticide exposure involved. After I go through my stockpile of Reindeer blend and Mocha Java beans, I will be getting some Acacia if we have it. Always being a fan of products that also give back to the community, I'm really starting to like their Pass the Goodness Blend. For each pound purchased, they donate 1 lb to food shelves (1/2 to a local one, 1/2 to a national one).

As I close this entry, I want to reiterate: This is not meant to be an advertisement. I am not a professional blogger. I was not paid to write about coffee or write this entry as a means to promote where I work. I just really like coffee.


Coffee is the top traded commodity in the world behind oil. Yet alot of it is grown in some of the poorest regions in the world.  For an eye opening look at the coffee trade check out the movie Black Gold. This movie is what prompted my renewed desire to spend more for coffee that either gives back to my local community, is from a company that values responsibly raised product (either Rainforest Alliance or Organic), or is Fair Trade.

As I always say, Life is too short to drink bad coffee.