Announcing This Week’s Theme: Coffee

It’s pretty pathetic that I’m sitting in a hotel room in San Francisco, trying to get cleaned up to go down to the lobby to get some crap drip brew—or at best take a run over to a Peet’s—yet we’re about to be schooled in the ways of the bean by my friend and professional coffee nerd Tonx.

Tonx began his coffee journeys with a barista gig slinging espresso at Victrola on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. What was intended to be just an easy job while he “found himself” turned into a deep obsession when he was handed the keys to their coffee roasting operation. (I’ll never forget the first time I heard Tonx say “coffee beans” and “afterburner” in the same sentence.) Victrola soon got a rep as Seattle’s must-visit coffee shop and through his writing and popular coffee (and mushroom) photos Tonx ascended to coffee nerd micro-stardom. When he walks past a Starbucks, the lights dim.^*

Recently Tonx said goodbye to Seattle, signed on with the progressive Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee and moved to Los Angeles where he is working on what he hopes will be the next big thing in coffee, set to unveil in the spring. (Because what LA needs is more drugs.)

This week Tonx will debunk some myths, give some tips for tricking out your home coffee set up, and help us navigate the snark infested waters of the online coffeegeek world. He’s also going to put to shame any other theme week we’ve done before, so you might want to down a cup or two just to be primed and ready.

_{* Hey, might as well get the Starbucks crack out of the way first thing. Besides, Tonx may be too classy to do it—but I can make up for him.}