Musings

While I was in New York, I had the best cup of coffee I have had in my entire life. Ever. I kid you not.

The open-brick walls, the coffee-stacked bookcases, the vegan-only, yes, vegan-only cake selection and the staff that reminded me of Soho’s own Flat White – friendly, but not so friendly you’d mistake the service-provider/ consumer relationship for actual friendship – all provided the perfect backdrop for the perfect cup of coffee.

Yes, I appreciate I have been known to crave a Starbucks every now and then and, until last year, I’d never made a “proper” cup of coffee (instant was my world) – but I’m serious. The best cup of coffee. Ever.

It was the middle of the day, and they were playing instrumental piano jazz – which is why I’ve picked Gonzales for this post. I came across his 2004 album Solo Piano on mflow a while back and this is a pick from that release:

Gonzales – Overnight (Instrumental)

I only connected the dots today – but this is Jason Beck, a.k.a. Chilly Gonzales who, incidentally, got a mention tonight at 229 for writing one of the tracks performed by Jamie Lidell. A most awesome coincidence.

I mentioned it was the daytime – if it had been night, I think it would have been dark, smokey (before the days of the smoking ban) and I would have soundtracked it with grunge. So here’s a great one of that too:

Alice In Chains – Down In A Hole (unplugged)

The picture to the right is my partially consumed, perfect cup of coffee.

There are 3 locations, but the one I went to was:

Café Grumpy
Chelsea
224 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (212) 255-5511
Web: www.cafegrumpy.com