Neighbor Coffee & Friends

“They serve wine and beer at Starbucks?”

After a couple of weeks in coffee, I started paying more attention.

I was lucky enough to work at a store that served an elevated experience to our customers. It was a part of the fascinating yet short-lived Starbucks Evenings program.

Espresso Cloud IPA. Chai-Spiced Mulled Wine. Truffle Mac and Cheese. Bacon-Wrapped Dates.

But my store was also a Starbucks Reserve store, which meant we carried specialty micro-lot coffees you couldn’t find anywhere else, and brewed them on a special machine called the Clover Brewer.

You’ll want to look that one up on YouTube if you're into coffee equipment.

I was learning a lot, and not just how to make drinks — but how different coffees could taste.

There was more going on than I had ever noticed before with coffee, and being in this special store gave me the tools to experiment as my curiosity grew.

I still didn’t fully understand it — but I knew there was something special happening.

If I really wanted to understand, I had to dig deeper.