Cafe con leche...

I am a total coffee freak - It was muy difícil for me to quit while pregnant yet, I switched to decaf in order to appease the taste buds. There are a couple of amazing roasters here in sunny CA that I would love to quickly give a shout out to.

First, Verve Coffee Roasters, located in my old stomping ground of Santa Cruz - my all time favorite.  Verve has won a ton of awards not only for their coffee but also for having extremely talented baristas. Some in which have placed high in national competitions. Did you even know that baristas compete? My go to roast is the Street Level Espresso - so, so good.

The second player is Intelligentsia Coffee - also award winning for their beans AND in 2010 one of their barista's took home the world title. Intelligenstia started in Chicago and has expanded to three facilities nationwide {Chicago, LA and NYC}. My favorite blend : Agua Preta. If you are a coffee nerd like myself and have not been fortunate enough to try either of these - do it now. Order up a lb. or two and break out that French press.

And to get to where I wanted to be {the true force behind this post}...the great debate: Filtered vs. Unfiltered...which way do you brew? First, you must throw out that ridiculous 'coffee maker' and invest in the real deal - hand drip that cup of joe!

The contenders...

Beauty - Chemex : shown sans filter

Classic - Bodum French Press : unfiltered

Elegance - Donut Coffee Dripper : Japanese - so you know it's cool.

I always go Classic but it is always nice to venture out into not so familiar territory...which do you prefer?

p.s. images via flickr