in a fog

original postcard from Caffe Trieste, SF

Daniel Webster described the Green Dragon

coffeehouse and tavern as

"the headquarters of the Revolution."

It was there that the unhappy patriots

brewed up the Boston Tea Party.

coffee break

(click to enlarge)

artist: norman quebedeau - 1983

chaen chan - 1993

The lithograph above was purchased from
the above artist who became a friend,
after meeting him at the Caffe Trieste.

He was at the time, an artist working on
the side. After many visits he invited me to his
house and studio. He studied in Europe in
his younger days and is very well known.

Last yr I wrote about my experience at
Starbucks, which can be read here.

It just so happened they opened a store 45 minutes
away from us, not long after we closed our
coffeehouse. Thinking it would be a good way
to get into management and be able to move
once again to a larger city, I hesitantly
applied. Although I was the only person who liked
and had coffee experience, it took me a yr to
become a shift manager.

I lasted 2 yrs and the rest is history.

It's with a bit of humor that I see McDonalds
getting ready to put espresso machines and
baristas in their stores. And with even more humor
that SB rehired Shultz to put it in order again.

After my experience and seeing that most people
who frequent SB go for the flavored, not real
coffee, I think McDs will effectively kick
SBs ass in their endeavor. There can
be no real difference in quality nor
appreciation of the coffee bean and
where it comes from.

Not the worker bee who makes the drink,
who doesn't know or care about coffee.