I was so sad to see that the wonderful Jack's was left off the New York Times article this past Wednesday on the city's best coffee. Jack is a perfect example of a businessman sticking to his ethical guns: he uses solely organic, fair-trade, shade-grown coffee, and -- unlike a number of the cafes listed -- uses great milk!
Hudson Valley Fresh is a dairy cooperative drawing from the pool of dairy farmers in NY state's Dutchess and Columbia counties, so every latte purchased at Jack's provides much-needed support to the state's dairy industry. I'm often frustrated by the (OK, mostly-recent) flurry of attention paid to coffee-growing techniques, because those same people fretting over whether birds were harmed en route to their espresso are blithely drinking milk that a) directly supports the industrial veal industry, b) is full of hormones, and c) drives prices down so violently that small-scale dairy farmers are all but squeezed out.
And when I've calmed down from that tiny tirade, allow me to state, for the record, that Jack's coffee also happens to taste terrific. Boo, New York Times.
In other, less-fraught coffee news: if you're not familiar with the Toddy, get ready to be revolutionized. It works on a similar premise to Jack's stir-brew method, allowing the coffee to "brew" in room-temperature water for 12 + hours, producing a rich, dark concentrate. It's smooth, less acidic than brewed coffee, and works perfectly in spring and summer, when you can pop the toddy in the fridge and use it for iced coffee. Mere mortals water it down: I do not.
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