This is the longest article I’ll ever post, so please bear with me.

Coffee changed my life. Not in a “I had caffeine for the first time and it opened my eyes” kind of way – it actually shaped my whole young adult life.

Let me explain.

First, we have to go back a few years. I’ve been eating coffee ice cream since I was barely tall enough to reach it in the freezer, and I got hooked on CBTL mocha ice blended by age 14. (If you’re concerned about caffeine stunting my growth, it didn’t. Or if it did, then I might have missed my calling as a model or a professional basketball player because I’m already 5’8″.)

My interest in coffee actually started with Spanish. I grew up in LA and had a pretty bomb AP Spanish class that met at CBTL once a week to drink coffee and pretend to be learning Spanish. The teacher recommended a service trip to Guatemala as a great way to practice speaking and to learn more about Latin American culture. I signed up for the trip in December of 2010.

Two days after Christmas, I boarded a plane with my brand new passport and flew to Guatemala City with 15 of my teachers and classmates. The trip itself was a disaster: everybody got sick from the water, our bus broke down, and we got thousands of bug bites. But it changed my life.

We spent seven days in Santa Anita, a small farming community whose livelihood depends on their coffee crop. We picked the coffee, sorted it, roasted it, and bagged it. We learned that the children could not be educated during coffee season because they were needed in the hills for the harvest. I had my first real cup of coffee: black coffee made from beans that had been freshly picked and roasted by the community.

They accepted us with open arms. I had never met people so happy or so welcoming, yet they had few of the comforts I was accustomed to. The coffee tasted like the land and filled me with a warmth that was both physical and emotional.

The next year, I left for the University of Michigan feeling like a lost puppy. The only thing I knew was that I loved Spanish and that I was good at it. I declared my Spanish major first semester freshman year and left for a semester in Spain two years later. 

In Madrid, I drank more coffee than I ever had before. I still crave the rich and creamy café con leche that came with a piece of dark chocolate as its perfect complement. The semester opened my eyes to the different flavors and brews of coffee around the world and the unique cultures that go along with them in each place.  Being away from home also made me appreciate the familiar comfort of holing up in a coffee shop with my journal or a book that feels the same almost anywhere in the world.

Fast forward two years, and I found myself driving a giant peanut around the country for a year (more in another blog post). In every city, I found my happy place at the local coffee shop. “Coffee & Chocolate” in Knoxville, TN (pictured below) was my absolute favorite. After my year of driving, I was determined to find my next job in the coffee industry. Spoiler alert: I failed.

Now, I’m living in New York City, where there is a coffee shop on every corner. While my job in PR is definitely not coffee-related (except for the three mediocre cups a day I drink at the office), my free time can be.

Which brings me to why I’m starting this blog. This is an expression of my passion for Spanish, coffee, and the cultures that come with them. It is an excuse to explore this incredible city that I just moved to and learn more about my favorite beverage. Once a week, I will try a new coffee shop – sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. I will report back on the quality of their coffee, the story behind it, and the culture of the shop. I will give them ratings with the hope that you will try them, love them, and share the buzz.

J