My latest coffee meeting was with my middle son, Philip. He is seven years old, he takes his coffee with a little milk, and he does not waste words.
We sat down at the Magazine Street shop with two mugs of hot black drip. It was the Streetcar Blend, the same one we brew at home every morning. Philip is a morning coffee guy, and he brought his credentials: "I drink it every morning, so it's good."
Asked to describe the taste, he thought about it and said it "tastes like morning." I have spent twenty years in this business trying to describe coffee, and I have done more than a hundred episodes of Coffee With Kevin, and nobody has ever summed up a cup that fast. He went further: "It tastes like hot and just a tiny bit cold, and that's all." If you've ever sipped a mug that's been sitting for exactly four minutes, you know that's dead-on reporting.
He also testified that coffee "makes me stay awake for a long time," followed shortly by "all night." So, for the record: I am not a pediatrician and none of this is health advice. This is a dad having a cup with his kid and letting the tape roll.
Then we got to his real expertise. What does he like in his coffee? "Milk, and that's all." Why? "It makes it colder and just a little tidy bit better." That's the entire philosophy, and honestly it holds up. The temperature comes down. The cup gets a tidy bit better. There are trained baristas who can't explain their milk program that cleanly.
The Streetcar Blend is our house medium roast. It's brewing at all four shops and you can take a bag home. Come get a cup. It tastes like morning. You heard it from Philip.