A Pour Over at Dayglow Cafe

Mmm coffee. I’ve been into coffee since early college days, and have only grown more serious about it as time goes on. Scroll on for my latest coffee sourcing & prep recommendations—towards the bottom I’ll share my gear and #CoffeeJourney

Length Warning: This is probably my TOP passion. Please use the Table of Contents if you just want to see some specifics

Recommendations

These change over time, but I consistently look for top-tier consumer-level roasters, equipment, and techniques.
I (will) have other blog posts that probably go into more specific detail, so check those out too. But for now:

Types of Drinks

In order, these are my 3 favorite ways of preparing coffee:

Roasters

In no particular order:

• Proud Mary Melbourne, Austin TX, Portland OR - One of my first big finds. Great coffee, but they sell coffee in 250g (8.8oz) bags for the same price as you can get 12oz elsewhere.
• Olympia Roasters Olympia WA - Best quality for value. Best source I’ve found for 3rd-wave quality coffee but at approachable prices.
• Black & White Roasters South Carolina - They have the funkiest, most diverse offerings. They change up often though, so you likely won’t find the same thing twice.
• Dayglow Los Angeles CA - Highest quality on this list, but priced as such.

Best Chicago Coffee Shops

Might expand on this later, for now just a simple list w/ summary

• Dayglow: Insanely good coffee. High prices. Hard to get to by transit. Meh cafe layout.
• Caffe Umbria (Armitage): Above-average cofefe. Great space—they roast here weekday mornings, so can be noisy. Easy transit access.
• Gaslight Coffee Roasters: Best espresso in town. No pour-overs. Small, cozy shop. Easy transit access.
• Pedestrian Coffee (Lakeview): Great pour-overs. Cool folks. Nice space. Very easy to get to via L.
• Side Practice: Really good coffee. Chill underground ‘university coffee shop’ vibes. Tricky to get to via transit.
• Heritage Coffee & Bikes: Great coffee + cool bike store. Busy on weekends, but good seating and layout. Tricky to get to via transit, but not hard.

My Setup

I currently have a Wayfair baker’s table with all my coffee (and tea) things on it.

Partially co-opted by the gf’s newfound love for tea (i.e. ignore the honey and oreos)

Major Gear

• Lelit Victoria Espresso Machine - Single-boiler home espresso machine with PID temperature control
• Niche Zero Grinder - The original “what if home grinders were good” beast of a grinder
• Stagg EKG Eletric Kettle - Wworkhorse kettle with a design I’m embarrassed to like as much as I do
• Acaia Lunar Scale - Recent gift from the lovely gf. Crazy expensive for a scale but super nice
• GC Water - That 1-gal plastic pitcher is more than it appears. I buy distilled water and treat it with GC Water coffee treatment chemicals. I’m that level of serious lol

Coffee Journey

Auspicious Beginnings

Dual-major college nerd needs caffeine to stay up late; there’s a Starbucks inside the Student Memorial Union building…white mochas tasty!

The Crisis

Starbucks kinda sucked when it was made by minimum wage college students, but also it got real expensive real fast.

Salvation

I started venturing out into downtown, and testing out coffee shops there. Most of the shops were either chains or just kinda um. Bad. BUT one day I noticed a sign in an alleyway advertising a new shop: Shortwave Coffee…went inside, and met the then-owner Dale.

Dale was super cool. I actually recognised him from another coffee shop where he used to work bar (on the espresso machine). I explained that I was trying to get more serious about coffee, but didn’t know where to start. He said he’d help me out, and he poured 3 different fancy coffees for me to try.
At the time I didn’t like black coffee, and even then didn’t love those…but talking to him, I was able to taste the “notes” he talked about. It was the first time I’d actually tried multiple coffees together in a “flight” like this. This happened in 2013 or so. I asked about Dale the last time I visited, but he no longer owns the shop.
I’m grateful for his kindness and hope he’s doing well.

The Grind

Since then it has been a series of trials and error in finding the right equipment, techniques, coffee…etc.

The Equipment

I’m pretty pleased to say that I’ve stayed true to the “Buy Once Cry Once” mentality, and have bought high quality equipment just one time, and never had regrets.
I do have a bunch of ancillary coffee brewing equipment that I rarely use, like my Vietnamese Phin or my Bripe. But these are novelties, and if not a gift, they were reasonably cheap.

The Beans

This is the most active aspect of my coffee journey at the moment–I’m constantly finding new varietals and funky flavors to try. I’m especially searching for GOOD decaf because drinking caffeinated coffee late into the day is just impossible.

The Shops

Ask any of my close friends and they’ll tell you how crazy I am about going to coffeeshops. Although not a perkalurker, I like to plant myself down at a coffee shop for hours at a time to work, draw, and vibe.

A “Perkalurker” is one who sets at a coffee shop by spending the minimum requisite “buy-in” (usually just a cup of drip coffee) and stays there all day, taking space and spending little. ¹
I do not do this. I spend time conscious of how busy it is, and tip consistently etc. Treating the space as a the treasured Third Space it really is.

There’s just something so special about being surrounded by chill strangers having conversations, doing work, reading…all in our own little worlds, enjoying fun little drinks. Putting the rest of the world to the side for a bit just to truly Vibe.

The City Fabric

Even before moving to Chicago, Coffee Shops were my impetus for exploring the city. On vacation, they serve as oases to grab some wifi, get my bearings, and figure out where I’m going next.
My google map is completely packed with coffee shop lists and pins. If someone wants to “meet for coffee” I nearly have 10 questions ready just to narrow down the exact vibe and quality we need lol.

The Connections

I can’t begin to count how many friends I’ve made in or at coffeeshops. Online and offline, they’re a nexus of connection for me. A neutral space, food and drinks available, the casual anonymity of The Public™️ around you…it’s just a good place to make connections!

If you’re reading this and visiting Chicago in the near future, you’re 100% invited to hit me up for a coffee meetup! I love showing off my favorite spots to cool potential new friends :3