About

Coffee By The Mile is an expression of my tripartite passions of coffee, cycling, and writing.

Coffee

Coffee is a life bringer, a stimulant that wakes the weary from fugue and propels us into our days. It is a pause to be savored and enjoyed. Coffee is a ritual that starts the day or introduces a much-needed break for a moment of indulgence. Everything from selecting the right beans, to the grind, to the method of preparation, to decanting and finally enjoyment is an expression of its maker and its origin.

Coffee By The Mile is an outlet for my passions and a way for me to share my experiences with coffee, cycling, and writing. While I am by no means an expert in any of these subjects, I learn from each experience. I don’t present these reviews as a critic but simply as my observations based on my own biased tastes. I’ll qualify those up front; I prefer medium roasts with something of a nutty profile as an everyday drink, but I’m certainly open to trying a variety of flavors and can appreciate them for what they are. At the same time, I’m learning along the way and trying to give each coffee a fair shake while also developing my palette. 

I spent four years cooking professionally at several levels before hanging up the chef’s coat for the Navy and I developed an appreciation for the culinary arts in that time. It is both an art and a science, in that there are precise and measured ways to prepare food but there is a subjective quality to the taste, presentation, and ambiance of the experience. Coffee can be as complex as wine in this respect in the myriad flavor profiles possible in its cultivation and preparation. Just as wine is deeply tied to the terroir, or sense of place, of a wine growing region, so too is coffee tied to the circumstances of its cultivation. This is the confluence of climate, terrain, soil composition, and technique. In a sense, coffee and wine offer a vignette into the essence of a region of the world.

I’m here to offer my opinion and curate the coffee experience as I try different varieties. I rate the coffees, not the cafes, but I like to include an observation about the cafes because they can add to the experience and offer insight into the process. The ratings and opinions are my own subjective tastes, but I try to appreciate the origin, craftsmanship, and preparation that goes into each coffee. Please take this with a grain of salt and enjoy your coffee as you like it.

Cycling

I am also an avid long-distance cyclist. I used to compete in criterium and road races throughout high school and college, though never at a truly competitive level. I was always interested in the touring aspect of cycling to see the country using the bicycle as a conveyance. There is a certain satisfaction and romance to exerting your own energy to power a union between man and machine, and using that to explore the world.

Writing

This may end up the most neglected section of this blog. I minored in English-Creative Writing in college producing everything from poetry to short stories and long form writing. I have a head full of ideas and goals to publish my stories in some form. While obviously there is a good deal of writing that goes into a blog, this is a way for me to write about my passions in subjects that are relatively safe and uncontroversial. However, as inspiration strikes, I hope to express this side of my creativity and share it with the world.