Coffee specialist Rob Ward reflects on the flourishing US coffee scene
The US consume a mind-blowing 400 million cups of coffee per day
Totalling 146 billion cups a year makes the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. With the average coffee cup size 9 ounces, and approximately 83% of adults drinking coffee, this represents 75% of all caffeine consumed in the United States.
Coffee lovers can get a great cup of coffee in almost any American city, but despite the ubiquity of quality coffee beans, some grounds are more hallowed than others. With the vast size of the US, coffee drinking and culture in cities can vary enormously. A recent study comparing the coffee drinking habits of different cities including the number of quality cafes, roasters, baristas and writers has revealed the eight US destinations that are leading the way with the coffee revolution, and are the best places for coffee enthusiasts to live and visit. They are; Kansas City, Austin Texas, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.
With several trips to the US this year already and a visit planned to the New York Coffee Festival in a few weeks’ time, La Cimbali’s coffee specialist Rob Ward reflects on his time spent at numbers one and two on the list – Seattle and Portland.
Rob says “From my experience of travelling in the US and drinking many cups of coffee – all of the cities that made the top eight list produced by thrillist.com deserve to be there. But my visits to both Seattle and Portland have particularly left me with fond memories and hopes of returning again soon. I was last in Seattle for the SCAA exhibition and World Barista Championships in April this year. My previous trip to the US west coast and Seattle and Portland had been nine years before and was the first time that I experienced the ‘west coast way’ of doing things. Then, I tried short amazingly sweet, caramel & chocolate style espressos, and a lot of different blends, showing how exciting and charismatic each shot could be away from the mainstream chains that we are all used to in the UK as well as the US.
Both Seattle and Portland inspired me to really look at what we did in the UK and how we could improve our offering. Returning to the US west coast made we wonder how the two cities could have improved. But they had, as I found that there were a great number of new coffee places that had sprung up, and most of them not just focussing on espresso but also exploring and developing new origins, their individuality, their processing techniques, roast heights and above all producing great new flavours!
Next stop for me is the New York Coffee Festival at the end of September where I will be popping in to see what is happening in the flourishing coffee scene in this great city.”
For more details about the eight US cities that made the list visit: www.thrillist.com
For more details about the New York Coffee Festival visit: www.newyorkcoffeefestival.com
