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SITE: Coffee-the secret backbone of the school system

Look, let’s be honest, coffee may be the most important item in a teacher’s arsenal. For those of you that do not enjoy coffee, or feel I am being hyperbolic, please consider what your school would be like if your colleagues didn’t have their daily dose. Terrifying, isn’t it? Even those of you who do not partake get to reap the benefit of a happily caffeinated work force.

In an effort to move forward on the SITE Food for Thought zine, I have started a thread on this magical elixir here. As we’ve not done a lesson on food just yet, this particular outline is a bit of an experiment. It’s definitely lighthearted, but also involves responsible shopping, buying locally when possible and the health benefits and risks of more-than-moderate consumption.

As I was both a coffee-jerk in college, and have also produced a documentary on a local coffee company with CET’s George “cup of” Joe Miller and his brother, Reid (full video in the thread, trailer below), I’ve got a lot of thoughts and ideas on the subject. However, for most coffee drinkers, their preferences and such are personal. I’d love to hear about your morning rituals, methods of making, and other means of intake.

Metropolis Doc. DEMO REEL from Flashback Color on Vimeo.

Cheers!
Faiz

5 Responses to "SITE: Coffee-the secret backbone of the school system"

Annie Frank says:

April 10, 2012 at 11:37 am

Wow, pretty serious stuff at Metropolis. I have seen it but will need to frequent it when we are down in Andersonville.
OK, for my coffee ritual, a bit of context. Grew up with my older sister and Mom after my father died when I was 7. My Mom drank a pot of coffee a day. I loved the smell of it and I would have to say it is aromatherapy for me. Drank coffee in high school at the local diner before school and never went to a college course without a cup. Glad to know it actually has antioxidant properties.
I make coffee and set the automatic coffee maker every night before I go to bed so we wake up to the sound of the coffee maker and smell every morning. I make the cups of coffee and my husband makes the oatmeal (you know I teach nutrition). We drink coffee, eat our oatmeal and read the Chicago Tribune quietly before our daily jog (you know I teach PE). I love the morning ritual and get upset when I teach early and miss out. But the worst is when we are out of town and need to find GOOD coffee-I HATE STARBUCKS.

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Faiz says:

April 10, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Hi Annie!

Thanks for the response! If you don’t mind, I’d love to copy and quote your response in the SITE thread. No worries if not, but I really liked what you wrote.

I’m a huge fan of the Metropolis folks. If you just saw the trailer above, the final doc can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/33520751 . Tony talks about the huge roasters at length. Hilarious fellow.

Joe and I had played a music festival with our band in their warehouse earlier last year, and they were so cool, we had to go in and get their story. The cupping event show above was so surreal–there were about ten people in a room just slurping and spitting coffee into countless cups. The audio track from that segment is hilarious. I guess it’s similar to wine-tastings, but I’ve never been.

I used to have one of those awesome automated machines, but then it just up and died one day. I’ve since switched over to the french press, which is a bit more time consuming, but makes a nice strong cup.

And yeah, not a huge fan of starbucks’ coffee. When you roast it as dark as they do, it tends to not only make it more bitter, but actually cooks a lot of the caffeine content out of the beans. My suggestion for traveling is to find one of those single-serve camping filters they carry at places like REI and bringing a container of your own. then all you need is a bit of boiling water and you’re good to go.

cheers,

Faiz

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James Bensdorf says:

April 10, 2012 at 10:56 pm

I love a cup of french press coffee in the morning. The first thing in the morning ritual is turning on the stove and heating water in the tea kettle. The hot water is then poured over Oren’s Coffee Special Blend, a New York City coffee roaster. This is amongst the very best coffee I have come across. I could mention a few others I like too, however, I order Oren’s three pounds at a time over the internet and so that is the morning jolt. Just before I teach a course, I love a cup of espresso. My kids bought me a Nespresso and I have it in my office. If you stop by, I will gladly serve you a shot.

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Jim Duignan says:

April 11, 2012 at 8:06 am

French press is my favorite coffee procedure and flavor in the morning. I have had my coffee everyway and for as long as I can remember. I use to have wonderful film editing meetings with Lisa Artgal, filmmaker who lived around the corner from Metropolis Coffee Co.. It stood and still stands as the finest cappucino I have ever tasted. Today I get my coffee from a host of sources albeit roasted and stay open to testing and tasting any newcomer’s drinks from coffee houses that cross my path. I was particularly fond of the coffee at Urbis Orbis in Wicker Park which is no longer around. Today I live near the Buzz Cafe in Oak Park which uses the best roasted coffees from Metropolis.

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Faiz says:

April 13, 2012 at 1:33 pm

Hi James and Jim!

thanks for the replies. (and thanks for the gigantic coffee mug in the office, Jim). I’ve never tried Oren beans before, but will investigate. I love metropolis coffee, but I find their espresso to be much more enjoyable than the rest of the stuff. New Wave in Logan Square uses Metropolis and is the only place I’ll get a latte instead of just a coffee, as it’s sublime.

That said, I like that there are a lot of local options for coffee in Chicago, as getting freshly roasted beans just beats all. We’ve also got the Coffee and Tea Exchange (where I worked in Lincoln Park when at DePaul–it’s now a Benetton) and Intelligentsia, who both have in town roasting. Both are exceptional.

Thanks for the input on your home brewing. I’m going to feed the SITE thread with a bit on French presses, as three of the four of us use them.

have a great weekend!

Faiz

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