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The $9 coffee comes to Pittsburgh
Published on April 30 2011
“The 9$ cup of coffee has finally made it to Pittsburgh,” Christina warned. Of course I had to see it for myself.
Rewind approximately 20 years: Arabica Café (Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh) Throughout college I was a non-coffee drinker. Earl Grey tea bore singular responsibility for many a journey through Hegel, the Tokugawa period, Don DeLillo, and Chemistry for Poets. But as we all know, a good solid liberal arts education leads directly work in coffee houses. It was not long before I held the keys to the kingdom of the Squirrel Hill Arabica Café and I decided I should have some idea what I’m pushing. Granted, this was an era unlike today when serving a good cappuccino did not require you to produce a convincing image of Abraham Lincoln in foam. Properly speaking, coffee houses were a place where the over-educated could slack at a generous $5.75 an hour plus tips. But we cared about the product. We roasted our own. Each batch was small, dated, and if it didn’t sell it got tossed. We owed our paychecks to Andy Stewart and Leonard Silk, a couple of (very smart) real estate developers who saw a chance to bring something to Pittsburgh early. At that time only Sam of LaPrima Espresso was doing it well. Selling premium quality anything in Pittsburgh required a certain amount of fortitude at the time. We made a practice most days of brewing a choice of coffees with different flavor profiles. If there was a clean bright Costa Rica, we’d always offer a counterpoint in the form of a full city roasted Sumatra. But in 1991 we were well out ahead of the tasts of the city. As a result I had the following conversation 1000 times if I ever had it once:Customer: I’d like a coffee.
Me: Great, what kind would you like?
Customer: Huh?
Me: Today we’ve got a Kenya AA…
Customer: (cutting me off) Can’t I just have a regular American coffee?
Me: (not saying it’s all imported, even your Foldgers at home) Coming right up.
For those of us who watched the mills close, the implications of this simple visual run deep--iterations of stupid we could not have imagined.
1) Dude, it’s hot out. Take off the hat.
2) If you were ever broke, you wouldn’t choose to dress like a vagrant.
3) And what am I doing waiting in line with you? I’ve occasionally found myself on the wrong side of the line between quality and consumer fetish. Abbott Kinney does that to me. I love the coffee, but the customers bring me to a bad place. This past weekend: 21st Street Coffee (Strip District, Pittsburgh) It turns out this is something of a Goldilocks story. The Strip in Pittsburgh is filled with good things and 21St Street Coffee is one of them. Yeah, you still have to pay north of $3 for a cappuccino— I was lying about the $9—but it’s really good. 21st Street Coffee serves Intelligentsia. They serve their drinks with an attention to detail but appear to have no interest in creating the museum of coffee atmosphere that sometimes comes with the good stuff. It's just one of the many places you can get top quality in the strip. We sat down at a little table and wondered at the sight of a man safely leaving his laptop unattended at an outdoor table. It's a different kind of place with the best elements of an attitude that comes from another time. As my host Christina said, Pittsburghers have a sensitive BS meter and don’t have much tolerance for pretension. But change has come to my city in many good ways. Pittsburgh is more open and curious than it once was. On a sunny spring morning it was nice to sit quietly at a table and enjoy. As it happens, the day after I sat down to gather my thoughts on my trip back to San Francisco, my friend Dave wrote this:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11114/1141290-294-0.stm?cmpid=MOSTEMAILEDBOX It covers some of the same ground on both coasts from a very different angle.
Me: Great, what kind would you like?
Customer: Huh?
Me: Today we’ve got a Kenya AA…
Customer: (cutting me off) Can’t I just have a regular American coffee?
Me: (not saying it’s all imported, even your Foldgers at home) Coming right up.
One cup at a time we made our converts. It was a hard slog.
Some time in the last year: Intelligentsia Coffee (on Abbott Kinney, Venice Beach) There was a time when I dreamed of a customer who sought out quality and would be willing to pay for it. But if ever there were a real life manifestation of the adage “be careful what you wish for” this is it. I didn’t fully understand the notion of accessorizing with quality. The whole street is a horror show with Intelligentsia is the epicenter. I’ll personally send one dollar to any person who can walk the length of Abbot Kinney on a Saturday afternoon and not be run off the sidewalk by some indigent looking trustafari with a pound of Black Cat Espresso in his hemp shopping bag. There’s nothing quite like waiting in line for 20 minutes with a full grown man wearing a knit winter cap on a hot day to cure you of the desire for a premium cup of jo.For those of us who watched the mills close, the implications of this simple visual run deep--iterations of stupid we could not have imagined.
1) Dude, it’s hot out. Take off the hat.
2) If you were ever broke, you wouldn’t choose to dress like a vagrant.
3) And what am I doing waiting in line with you? I’ve occasionally found myself on the wrong side of the line between quality and consumer fetish. Abbott Kinney does that to me. I love the coffee, but the customers bring me to a bad place. This past weekend: 21st Street Coffee (Strip District, Pittsburgh) It turns out this is something of a Goldilocks story. The Strip in Pittsburgh is filled with good things and 21St Street Coffee is one of them. Yeah, you still have to pay north of $3 for a cappuccino— I was lying about the $9—but it’s really good. 21st Street Coffee serves Intelligentsia. They serve their drinks with an attention to detail but appear to have no interest in creating the museum of coffee atmosphere that sometimes comes with the good stuff. It's just one of the many places you can get top quality in the strip. We sat down at a little table and wondered at the sight of a man safely leaving his laptop unattended at an outdoor table. It's a different kind of place with the best elements of an attitude that comes from another time. As my host Christina said, Pittsburghers have a sensitive BS meter and don’t have much tolerance for pretension. But change has come to my city in many good ways. Pittsburgh is more open and curious than it once was. On a sunny spring morning it was nice to sit quietly at a table and enjoy. As it happens, the day after I sat down to gather my thoughts on my trip back to San Francisco, my friend Dave wrote this:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11114/1141290-294-0.stm?cmpid=MOSTEMAILEDBOX It covers some of the same ground on both coasts from a very different angle.
