Everyone has to start someplace. You don’t however, have to start at the top of the coffee / coffee maker / coffee grinder list. My advice would be to start out by visiting some of your local coffee shops. Let’s say you lived in Salida, Colorado. If you do, you are very lucky. Not because there are tons of coffee places in Salida, but because Salida is a great place to live.

Salida Colorado does have a few coffee places where you can start your coffee journey. If it were me, I would start at the Salida Café also known as Bongo BIlly‘s. For you GPS fans they are at (latitude 38.537787, longitude -105.991749). They are located at 300 West Sackett Street 

and their phone number is 719-539-4261. Bongo BIlly‘s is a nice place and if you go there, ask them for a coffee card. (If you do go there, tell them that the Java Girl sent you. Maybe I can get a free cup the next time I am in town.) I am not sure if that is what they call it, but mine is yellow and has 10 cups running along the bottom of the card. They mark one cup off for each visit and after 10 cups have been marked, you get a free one.

Assuming this is your first trip, I would ask them for a “drip”. This is one of those buzz words that basically means you are asking for whatever they have brewing in the pot at the time you go there. Check out the sizes that they have for coffee – basically small, medium and large. I always get the biggest one I can get but then I am not a newbie either. 

You are going to “call” your coffee. What this means is that when it is your turn in line you are going to “call” out, “I’ll take a small drip, with room.” What you have just done is asked for a cup of whatever they are brewing in the coffee urn, in a small sized cup and you want room for cream. Now I am going to assume that since you are a newbie, you are going to start out like I did when I was a kid – having a little coffee with your cream and sugar.

Note – They may have a choice of drip first thing in the morning of bold and a regular blend. I would start out with regular whatever that is. You move up to bold as you gain more experience but don’t go there as a newbie. Start out with a sissy regular blend coffee and go from there. Take a look at the menu on the back board. See if you can get a copy of the coffee drinks that they serve. I am not sure if they have one but that way you can mark off what drink you have tried and make notes about the coffee and use it as a guide for when you start making your own at home.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment. I will answer you back. I hope you are enjoying a nice brew of coffee. Java Girl

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

2 Comments »