You can get beans from all over the world here, I’m not sure the transit time makes a lot of difference when places are roasting their own beans etc. In any case the key word was “average”. You can walk into any random place in Melbourne and it’s unusual not to get at least a reasonable coffee. The same is not true of anywhere in the US in my experience. Where the best “peak” experience is to be found, I have no idea. I’m not a coffee connoisseur on that level.
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imo Indonesian and African coffees >>>>> Central and South American coffees.
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Kopi luwak?
Sure, I’d try it.
I’ve had it. To be honest, it didn’t seem that special.
So IMO there are IPAs, then there’s NEIPAs.
Here in Boston we have Trillium and Treehouse in reasonable proximity (Treehouse ~90m away) - these IPAs are unlike anything else out there. I acknowledge they’re highly unique and difficult to source outside of a 100 mile radius 
Once you have one of these, IPAs will never be the same. Heady Topper and Sip o Sunshine same deal, although the new gen of beers out-hops these trailblazers.
My thought is that the IPA dissenters ITT are using beers like Lagunitas or Sam Adams as their IPA barometer. I wish you could try a Julius or The Substance - beer drinking would never be the same.
Just my $0.02.
I’ve had Ethopian coffee at the cafe in my old city. I preferred the Americas coffee. Maybe it was just because length of transportation and what not affecting flavor, or my just not being used to it.
“A (deep-fried) chicken in every pot, and a Starbucks on every street corner.”
When I was in downtown Chicago a couple years ago, I walked past the Starbucks in the hotel lobby thinking there must be some great coffee just around the corner. I passed famous restaurants, landmarks, boutiques, the Rolex store, and more Starbucks before finally giving up. It’s too bad their coffee sucks because the CEO seems like a really swell guy.
Ethiopian coffees are probably the widest range of all coffee profiles. I still think Kenya AA is the GOAT on average but the best coffee I’ve ever had was a highly-acidic Colombian.
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Y’all are so out of touch it’s sad. Super-heavy IPAs were the annoying beer trend of 2017, right now the annoying beers are these sour Gose beers that all the hipsters are drinking. Good lord, I can’t stand them. Who the fuck asked for a sour beer?
Honestly the source isn’t even that critical, it’s how fresh the beans are, that’s the real key to excellent coffee.
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Sour beer sounds more interesting than bitter beer. I googled it and now places are making sour IPAs for the best/worst of both worlds.
Has anyone else had Moon Man No Coast Pale Ale?
The coffee trade is seriously fucked up. The farmers make almost nothing, yet their product gets flipped to rich people in developed countries for bigly profits captured by delusional billionaires. If you want more reasons to hate Starbucks, they tried to trademark names of Ethiopian coffee types (named by regions of origin) and then tried to block Ethiopia from acquiring those trademarks.
Part of the joke here is it’s all just a big fucking game to them. Let’s trademark “Ethiopian Sidamo” because market research suggests our dumb-as-nails customers will pay a 30x premium despite it tasting nothing like Sidamo since we roast all the flavor off and store it in a warehouse for six months. Can almost imagine an Onion article entitled “We Tried Coffee. It Sucked” that explains how world coffee farmers are dying of starvation because no one likes coffee anymore.
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Starbucks has made unfathomably horrible coffee for so long it’s just absurd. For real, I’ll take Mickey D’s or Tim Hortons over Statbucks any time.
Yeah when people were saying how much they hate IPAs, I just assumed they meant NEIPAs because that’s basically all that exists now. Apparently they did in fact mean old school hyper bitter IPAs from back in the day.
I guess I assume West Coast style when people talk about IPAs (this thread is where I first learned there was such a thing as a NEIPA), but I spend more time in the Pacific Time Zone than I do the Eastern.
One thing I know for certain is that when future historians write about the collapse of post-war western democracy there will be more than passing mention of middle class white dudes and their fucking beer obsessions as indicators of a society that has gone to seed.
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All the beer talk is well and good but I hope none of you West Coast folk say “Pliny” like rhymes with tiny, because if you do I call for justice.
Don’t know tbh. Grew up in a family of coffee drinkers too and while the aroma is really nice, the taste never agreed with me the few times I tried some.
Havent drank coffee in 2 years and to be honest i havent missed it. I like tea a lot more and it gives you less shitty breath.