If you knew me in college, chances are you knew that each of my days was divided thusly:• 1/4th asleep.
• 1/4th in classes.
• 1/4th working at student newspaper.
• 1/4th hanging out at Lakota Coffee Co.
Lakota was almost solely responsible for both my epic love of coffee and my unshakable desire to open a coffee shop. It was relaxing, warm and quiet — a combination that's just about impossible to come by in a college town.
Sure, it was the preferred hangout of professors and grad students, not undergrads like myself, but that's probably what has kept Lakota alive while countless other coffee shops in Columbia have failed.
Anyway, getting to the point, I was working on an AdFreak item today about NOSO, a somewhat-serious effort to break people away from social networking. You can read more about it on their site, but basically they recommend you find a nice quiet place to relax and invite other NOSO users to show up as well — but not ever join you or talk to you.
I was instantly reminded of Lakota, where I saw the same people every day but never talked to any of them. Even the staff didn't know my name after four years of daily visits, but that's just the kind of vibe it is. Friends would join me there on occasion, but most times it was just a nice introverted break from the daily chaos of college.
But I'm still not getting to the point. After reading about NOSO, I decided to Google Lakota and make sure it was still there. Not only is it alive and well, but they've even started a separate Web site to teach people about coffee.
The site — Specialty-Coffee-Advisor.com — reads like an ad for a book. But in fact, they just put all the info out there for anyone who's willing to read.
It's a virtual encyclopedia of coffee learnin', with tips for the daily coffee drinker and the professional roaster alike. (I hope to be both someday.)
You can read about:
• How to grind beans properly.
• How to store coffee.
• The real meaning of "organic" and "fair trade."
• A thorough definition of coffee types.
• Brewing tips that justify my own preferences. (See mom? I told you you're not supposed to be able to see the bottom of the cup.)
I don't mean to sound so blatantly promotional, but I know that several of you share my zeal for coffee, and it can be difficult to find one reliable source of information about this stuff. In the end, the site is likely aimed at getting potential coffee shop owners to hire Lakota's operators as consultants. In that respect, I'm sold as well.
Now I just need a Web site with tips on how to raise $250,000 in a few short years. Hey, what a coincidence, I just got an e-mail from a kind-hearted bank president in Nigeria...
