Other People’s Coffee: Columbia, MO – Kaldis Coffee
Coffee Shop: Kaldis Coffee
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Drink: Cappuccino
Drinkers: Chris Hess
Meant to write this one up the last time I was in the great town of Columbia. I took pictures. I drank multiple drinks. I simply never got around to it.
So a year later, while on a week-long family tour of the deep Midwest, our route from Missouri to Iowa took us again throughColumbia. We ate fine food. We drank fine brew (not the coffee kind). And before it was again time to hit the road with audiobooks to pass the time, it was determined I needed a fine cup of coffee.
Walking back into Kaldis a year later, most is the same. It is a large space. There is a focus on fine coffees with a food menu to please the college and business folk that populate the downtown area. A change I noticed: the menus are less cluttered, easier toread. Kaldis now offers french press (bonus) and chemex (double bonus). I had an idea of them brewing it directly into my mouth while I planked the coffee bar so I could become an internet sensation in certain circles.
Deeming this to be inappropriate and maybe impossible (reverse gravity pour?)…and deterred from either of these brew methods by not feeling confident in my ability to imbibe 32 oz. of coffee on my own while being behind the wheel…I went with a cappuccino. Triple bonus? Kaldis now offers their house espresso alongside a single-origin offering. Feeling special, I went with the S.O. – a promising Guatemala.
Whilst I waited for my capp, conversation ensued. The Kaldis baristas are talkative and pleasant. What’s more, they are genuine.
There is a difference between talking with a customer to pass the time while waiting for their beverage to be handed to them and truly engaging with someone. I was engaged with. My barista’s father is from Fort Collins and she wants to move West but needs a job. Kaldis is also in the process of getting their drip bar/by the cup system rolling (Quad Bonus). See what you learn when you actually meet people instead of “meeting” people?
Next, my drink arrived. It was quite good. Nice balance and texture. Some of the sweetest milk I’ve ever tasted, and the espresso held up very nicely as the drink cooled while I drove north.Well done, fellow behind the machine who I didn’t get to speak with much. You were pleasant as well, though. I have the feeling we might have spoken for some time.
Thank you, Kaldis, for being the official coffee sponsor of my Missouri-Iowa transition. I will return. I recommend you – reader – try it for at least the first time. If not in Columbia,
then one of their other locales.
Methinks you’ll dig it.
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