i know that Starbucks get a bad rap, but they have done a good job getting decent coffee available everywhere in the US. either you can find a Starbucks easily enough or they have raised the standard on what is minimally acceptable good coffee such that even the random roadside gas station has something decent.
i used to be regular Starbucks customer in NYC for many years until all the 3rd wave coffee joints have become ubiquitous.
I was surprised how many people I saw walking around Paris with Starbucks cups. I mean you're in Paris with so many good coffee places. Though I'm guessing they weren't just having regular espresso and lattes, but the pumpkin spice latte crap. All the flavored things that regular French cafes don't have.
In general, I like the nuances of third-wave medium roast coffees, which means their best is the best, but they'll have a lot of varieties that are not for me. 2nd wave roasters tended to get espresso roast down, but overroasted everything else in order to cater to the crowd that likes a lot of milk/sugar/ice in their coffee. And I am fine with 1st wave coffee makers that do a decent job for a really cheap price. Like Dunkin. Their house blend is perfectly cromulent and it's cheap as chips.
In terms of what I can get in my corner store, it's:
Counter Culture > La Colombe > Stumptown > Blue Bottle > Peet's > LaVazza > Dunkin > [almost all other brands] > Starbucks
And if you're travelling through Raleigh-Durham, try Black & White. I think they just opened up in RDU airport. They are exceptional, but aren't easily available in stores yet.
Peet's in grocery stores is lesser quality than Peet's beans available through Peet's coffeebars.
Also, if you buy your beans ground the quality of those grounds degrades much more quickly than beans ground as needed. Once you grind beans, they should have hot water on them within 10 minutes.
Which reminds me of the Cal Haka! Can't find the lyrics online anywhere, though Wikipedia is aware that it exists. I recall part of it sounds like 'Hopani, Kopani".
Just drove up to the 5-1-0 to square some things away with the money pit new house…meeting handyman in an hour….going to ‘Cuse tomorrow…gotta arrange for movers.
Tomorrow is game day. And then check in on Cal to see if DOOOOOM has struck or not.
Sunday, have to choose between the 49ers-Seahawks & Bills-Chiefs. Probably put 1 on the tv and the other on the computer. Could record 1 and watch in lieu of the Sunday night game.
Expected to be a wet and cool weekend, so focus on football seems reasonable.
What is the best way for an NBA team to develop a young player? Keep him with the big club, have him practice with the team, and be exposed to the practice habits and environment of NBA players in generally better facilities? Or, get him to the G-League, where he can get a lot more time on the court, let him play through mistakes that can’t be tolerated at the NBA level, and get him some focused coaching?
The Lakers are splitting the difference with Bronny James. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on an episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, he said that Bronny would only play home games with the South Bay Lakers. The Athletic has confirmed that. Windhorst was critical of the idea.
BERKELEY – California volleyball posted its second-consecutive sweep on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion, facing off with Virginia Tech for the first time in program history and coming out on top, 25-23, 25-12, 25-13.
SPOKANE – The California women's basketball team was relentless on both sides of the ball to come away with a wire-to-wire 86-65 win over Gonzaga at the McCarthy Athletics Center on Thursday night. The Golden Bears (4-0) had four players score at least 14 points led by Kayla Williams who had her best game as a Bear by far, posting season highs of 25 points (9-of-12) and four triples (4-of-6) to go along with six assists and four steals. Her biggest shot of the night came as the clock expired going into the half as she took an inbounds pass with six seconds to go and raced down the court to nail a 30-foot 3-pointer and put the Bears up 44-31 going into the break. The Bears forced the Zags (1-2) into a season-high 24 turnovers which led to 29 points. Ioanna Krimili and Marta Suárez added four and three steals respectively to add to Cal's season-high 15 takeaways.
CARY, N.C. – The California men's soccer team rallied after trailing 2-0 to No. 7 Clemson in the ACC Championship semifinals Thursday night at WakeMed Soccer Park, but despite second-half goals from Malcolm Zalayet and Adrian Jacobs, the Golden Bears fell 3-2 to the defending NCAA and ACC champion to end their run in the conference tournament.
PJ Moutzouridis' two-run single in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Blue squad to a 9-7 victory Thursday to complete a three-game sweep of the Gold team in Cal's annual Fall World Series. The Blue squad had won Games 1 and 2 last Friday and Saturday.
The Blue squad trailed 5-0 after six innings but scored five times in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 5-5 with Moutzaridis and Nico Button each coming up with two-run singles to get the Blue squad within one before Jacob French's RBI single tied the contest.
The California women's soccer team (12-5-2) is headed to Malibu for the first round of the NCAA Championship as the Golden Bears will face seventh-seeded and 22nd-ranked Pepperdine Saturday on ESPN+.
BERKELEY – California track & field has announced the signing of three pole vaulters in Sam Novak, Kai Anderson and Shelly Coates,, who will join the Golden Bears as incoming freshmen for the 2025-26 season.
BERKELEY – California men's gymnastics has announced the signing of three all-arounders to next season's squad, with Davide Comparin, Liam DeWeese and Nathan Underhill officially set to join the 2026 Golden Bears lineup.
Comparin, the 2023 Men's Development Program all-around national champion from Irving, Texas, that head coach JT Okada describes as a "strong competitor with a great work ethic." is also a three-time Region 3 champion and Texas State champion (2022-24) as well as a national podium finisher on rings (2023 – third place) and parallel bars (2022 – third place). At the 2024 Elite Team Cup, he posted four event scores to help Region 3 to the title, including a fifth-place finish on pommel horse. Comparin's top all-around score of 79.500 came at the 2023 Men's Dev National Championships, where he claimed victory in the all-around. He currently competes for Texas Dreams Gymnastics and is interested in studying civil engineering at Cal.
The No. 7 California men's water polo team (11-10, 1-4 MPSF) concludes the regular season Friday evening in a Big Splash rematch at No. 2 Stanford (18-3, 3-2). This will be the third and final regular-season meeting between the rival schools, which split their first two games in Berkeley. The last time they met on Oct. 19, the Golden Bears came away with their best win of the year, scoring the final three goals of the fourth quarter to defeat the then-No. 1 Cardinal 13-11.
In the course of my research for this feature I have come across three cases in which strong California football teams have been held to a tie by the University of Washington in crucial games (two of those games were alluded to earlier this week). The three contests were by remarkably similar scores: two ended 7-7 and one was 0-0 and all three were played in early November. Most significantly, all three games marred or help mar an otherwise stellar Golden Bear season and in all three cases these were not powerful Husky teams, indeed two of them were downright mediocre. Here’s a look at each.
November 8, 1924 The Bears were off to a 6-0 start when they traveled to Seattle for their annual clash with the Huskies. The resulting seven all tie along with a controversial tie in the Big Game were blemishes on what could have been a spotless 10-0 season. On paper this was a strong UW team with only one loss, but their wins had come against the likes of Willamette, West Seattle Athletic Club, the U.S.S. Oklahoma and Whitman, they’d been beaten the week before to Oregon, 7-3.
November 6, 1937 This one really hurt. Had the Bears won this one they almost certainly would have been named national champions. As it was they finished the season unbeaten with one tie. The same as Pitt which rode East Coast bias to the number one ranking. Washington entered the game sporting a 3-2-1 mark. The game, played in Memorial Stadium, ended scoreless. California’s star running back Vic Bottari missed most of the contest through injury, a costly loss.
November 2, 1968 As noted in yesterday’s entry the Bears were riding high after smashing nationally ranked Syracuse, 43-0 to raise their record to 5-1. Their momentum came to a sudden halt with this 7-7 tie in Seattle and the following week the Bears were soundly beaten by U$C. The Huskies started the game 2-3-1. California had the ball on the UW one-yard line late in the game but lost a fumble.
Oski Disciple’s Bear Facts appears Tuesday through Thursday on the DBD throughout the 2024 college football season.
Sorry. New league, new phone. Who dis? Washington? Did we go to high school together? Sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't remember the details of that terrible, awful moment perpetrated by a defector that I totally don't remember.
The Huskies have historically been pretty good at disrupting the hopes and plans of quite a few of the regions' teams. They are still working on it when in the central and eastern regions.
SICK
"Down with the Sickness" - Disturbed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09LTT0xwdfw
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE?
Starbucks with vanilla sweet cream, NOT the foam.
Like Heather Dinich with the SEC, I’m a Starbucks shill. Unlike Heather, I am ashamed of myself.
i know that Starbucks get a bad rap, but they have done a good job getting decent coffee available everywhere in the US. either you can find a Starbucks easily enough or they have raised the standard on what is minimally acceptable good coffee such that even the random roadside gas station has something decent.
i used to be regular Starbucks customer in NYC for many years until all the 3rd wave coffee joints have become ubiquitous.
I was surprised how many people I saw walking around Paris with Starbucks cups. I mean you're in Paris with so many good coffee places. Though I'm guessing they weren't just having regular espresso and lattes, but the pumpkin spice latte crap. All the flavored things that regular French cafes don't have.
there are a lot of good cafes, but also many places just serve coffee by pressing a button on their Nespresso machines.
also, i am sure there is a coolness factor of something American no?
Maybe that's what it is. But I bet most of the good places in Paris grind the beans and have a good espresso maker, not a Nespresso.
though, maybe American isnt cool anymore?
coffee art .. self portrait as a coffee pot.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZNuBN99ZvSUMxjuu7
3 ways
- cortado most mornings (1/2 espresso 1/2 milk)
- straight espresso anytime after noon
- black coffee if am not having an espresso drink
black, like my heart.
Black.
But sometimes try with milk. Never sugar.
With milk, not creamer/half&half. Something about the taste of creamer ruins the whole thing for me.
Check the ingredients list on non-dairy creamer. It often includes HFCS.
Cortado really the only time I drink sweetened coffee.
i make my cortados w/o anything sweet. the Cuban cortadito is what i like as sweet as i can get it.
Never. Coffee has always tasted disgusting to me.
I like the aroma, but agree about the taste.
Usually with 2 packs of sugar and 1 mini-moo (half & half).
I brew Peet's Major Dickason's Blend at work in my Keurig.
When I'm out , it's Philz>Peet's>Dunkin>Starbucks
I am a pour-over fan. I prefer to spend the extra time and effort over using a Keurig or any other coffeemaker.
generally any sort of coffee w/ some effort is worth it.
when i am not using my espresso machine - which also takes considerable time and effort - i like the old school Moka pot or the Aeropress for coffee.
the Aeropress is great to take along on trip to vacation rental because you never know what you will find
had Philz last couple mornings in Lafayette. nothing like that out in NY even though there are perfectly good espresso-based cafes.
I tried Philz and didn't like it. Weird flavor combos.
In general, I like the nuances of third-wave medium roast coffees, which means their best is the best, but they'll have a lot of varieties that are not for me. 2nd wave roasters tended to get espresso roast down, but overroasted everything else in order to cater to the crowd that likes a lot of milk/sugar/ice in their coffee. And I am fine with 1st wave coffee makers that do a decent job for a really cheap price. Like Dunkin. Their house blend is perfectly cromulent and it's cheap as chips.
In terms of what I can get in my corner store, it's:
Counter Culture > La Colombe > Stumptown > Blue Bottle > Peet's > LaVazza > Dunkin > [almost all other brands] > Starbucks
And if you're travelling through Raleigh-Durham, try Black & White. I think they just opened up in RDU airport. They are exceptional, but aren't easily available in stores yet.
Peet's in grocery stores is lesser quality than Peet's beans available through Peet's coffeebars.
Also, if you buy your beans ground the quality of those grounds degrades much more quickly than beans ground as needed. Once you grind beans, they should have hot water on them within 10 minutes.
I'll be there in Jan and Feb so I'll definitely try them.
trip to Cal-Duke game is in jeopardy since we are having a company event in LA Disneyland at the same time.
i might skip it though since i really dont care to go to Disney again ..
I don't like the taste of coffee, so usually something like a mocha or a latte with oat milk and sugar.
that's what they all say .. and then you have mochas and lattes for a while and start to get used to the taste.
those are the gateway drugs to full coffee addiction
I'll never get used to the taste of plain coffee/espresso. In an average month I have it maybe twice.
Although it's a good thing I don't live near Cole's Coffee on College with their Mexican Mocha, or Red Whale in San Rafael with their great Mocha.
Hot and unadulterated.
On occasion, I'll have it with half-and-half and sweetener, but that's by far not the usual.
Like my women
.
At home from a source that I love that has many year track record of consistency and quality. I can't imagine ever switching.
Hot, but not scalding, so that when I add some Hazelnut or similar creamer and some sugar, its still warm to drink.
THE ZANZY MADCAP WORLD OF POLITICS
Can't miss this news video!
Moment MP leads haka to disrupt New Zealand parliament
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cg4ln6ddgy9o
Which reminds me of the Cal Haka! Can't find the lyrics online anywhere, though Wikipedia is aware that it exists. I recall part of it sounds like 'Hopani, Kopani".
Answering my own question:
Cal Haka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27kEo6BvRJs
Removed for cultural sensitivity reasons https://247sports.com/college/california/article/current-and-former-players-and-cal-program-stakeholders-disheartened-to-see-ken-montgomery-will-n-74946246/
That's the first time I've seen this. Rightfully removed. That's disrespectful and was during a time that they should have known better.
Same with Ken. /snark
True. Although if we ever have any Cal Maori athletes, it'd be cool if they did a haka.
WEEKEND PLANS
Just drove up to the 5-1-0 to square some things away with the money pit new house…meeting handyman in an hour….going to ‘Cuse tomorrow…gotta arrange for movers.
HAG and I are meeting up for tailgate and game tomorrow.
dinner at "home" w/ my mom and then red eye back to NYC on Sat night.
Going to see the Bears on Saturday. To a movie on Sunday.
Tomorrow is game day. And then check in on Cal to see if DOOOOOM has struck or not.
Sunday, have to choose between the 49ers-Seahawks & Bills-Chiefs. Probably put 1 on the tv and the other on the computer. Could record 1 and watch in lieu of the Sunday night game.
Expected to be a wet and cool weekend, so focus on football seems reasonable.
DBD AV CLUB
Finished the last few episodes of The Diplomat last night. I really liked the end of the season. Twists and turns. 18/19 WB (Netflix)
PRO
Bronny James is only playing in South Bay Lakers home games in G-League
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/bronny-james-is-only-playing-in-south-bay-lakers-home-games-in-g-league#:~:text=They%20made%20a%20bet%20he,Bay%20Lakers%20are%20at%20home.
What is the best way for an NBA team to develop a young player? Keep him with the big club, have him practice with the team, and be exposed to the practice habits and environment of NBA players in generally better facilities? Or, get him to the G-League, where he can get a lot more time on the court, let him play through mistakes that can’t be tolerated at the NBA level, and get him some focused coaching?
The Lakers are splitting the difference with Bronny James. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on an episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, he said that Bronny would only play home games with the South Bay Lakers. The Athletic has confirmed that. Windhorst was critical of the idea.
How quickly will they dump him if Lebron blows out his achilles?
@His G-league teammates must love him...@
Sharks lose to the Rangers, 3-2
ELSEWHERE IN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
ECU beats Tulsa 38-31 by scoring with 2 minutes to go and then withstands a 1st and goal with 1:32 to go. Arrrrr!
https://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay/_/gameId/401645365
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahbvtCtmOI4&t=805s
CAL
[VB] Cal Defeats Virginia Tech With Second-Straight Sweep
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/volleyball-cal-defeats-virginia-tech-with-second-straight-sweep.aspx
BERKELEY – California volleyball posted its second-consecutive sweep on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion, facing off with Virginia Tech for the first time in program history and coming out on top, 25-23, 25-12, 25-13.
[WBB] Cal Conquers Gonzaga
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/womens-basketball-cal-conquers-gonzaga.aspx
SPOKANE – The California women's basketball team was relentless on both sides of the ball to come away with a wire-to-wire 86-65 win over Gonzaga at the McCarthy Athletics Center on Thursday night. The Golden Bears (4-0) had four players score at least 14 points led by Kayla Williams who had her best game as a Bear by far, posting season highs of 25 points (9-of-12) and four triples (4-of-6) to go along with six assists and four steals. Her biggest shot of the night came as the clock expired going into the half as she took an inbounds pass with six seconds to go and raced down the court to nail a 30-foot 3-pointer and put the Bears up 44-31 going into the break. The Bears forced the Zags (1-2) into a season-high 24 turnovers which led to 29 points. Ioanna Krimili and Marta Suárez added four and three steals respectively to add to Cal's season-high 15 takeaways.
Hella nice. This is a statement win.
[MSOC] Cal Rally Falls Short In ACC Semifinals
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/mens-soccer-cal-rally-falls-short-in-acc-semifinals.aspx
CARY, N.C. – The California men's soccer team rallied after trailing 2-0 to No. 7 Clemson in the ACC Championship semifinals Thursday night at WakeMed Soccer Park, but despite second-half goals from Malcolm Zalayet and Adrian Jacobs, the Golden Bears fell 3-2 to the defending NCAA and ACC champion to end their run in the conference tournament.
[BASE] Blue Comes From Behind To Finish Fall World Series Sweep
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/baseball-blue-comes-from-behind-to-finish-fall-world-series-sweep.aspx
PJ Moutzouridis' two-run single in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Blue squad to a 9-7 victory Thursday to complete a three-game sweep of the Gold team in Cal's annual Fall World Series. The Blue squad had won Games 1 and 2 last Friday and Saturday.
The Blue squad trailed 5-0 after six innings but scored five times in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 5-5 with Moutzaridis and Nico Button each coming up with two-run singles to get the Blue squad within one before Jacob French's RBI single tied the contest.
[WSOC] Cal Set For First-Round Battle With No. 22 Pepperdine
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/womens-soccer-cal-set-for-first-round-battle-with-no-22-pepperdine.aspx
The California women's soccer team (12-5-2) is headed to Malibu for the first round of the NCAA Championship as the Golden Bears will face seventh-seeded and 22nd-ranked Pepperdine Saturday on ESPN+.
[T&F] Cal Signs 3 Pole Vaulters To 2026 Squad
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/track-field-cal-signs-3-pole-vaulters-to-2026-squad.aspx
BERKELEY – California track & field has announced the signing of three pole vaulters in Sam Novak, Kai Anderson and Shelly Coates,, who will join the Golden Bears as incoming freshmen for the 2025-26 season.
[MGYM] Cal Men’s Gymnastics Signs 3 For 2026
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/cal-mens-gymnastics-signs-3-for-2026.aspx
BERKELEY – California men's gymnastics has announced the signing of three all-arounders to next season's squad, with Davide Comparin, Liam DeWeese and Nathan Underhill officially set to join the 2026 Golden Bears lineup.
Comparin, the 2023 Men's Development Program all-around national champion from Irving, Texas, that head coach JT Okada describes as a "strong competitor with a great work ethic." is also a three-time Region 3 champion and Texas State champion (2022-24) as well as a national podium finisher on rings (2023 – third place) and parallel bars (2022 – third place). At the 2024 Elite Team Cup, he posted four event scores to help Region 3 to the title, including a fifth-place finish on pommel horse. Comparin's top all-around score of 79.500 came at the 2023 Men's Dev National Championships, where he claimed victory in the all-around. He currently competes for Texas Dreams Gymnastics and is interested in studying civil engineering at Cal.
[MPOLO] Bears Close Regular Season At Stanford
https://calbears.com/news/2024/11/14/mens-water-polo-bears-close-regular-season-at-stanford.aspx
The No. 7 California men's water polo team (11-10, 1-4 MPSF) concludes the regular season Friday evening in a Big Splash rematch at No. 2 Stanford (18-3, 3-2). This will be the third and final regular-season meeting between the rival schools, which split their first two games in Berkeley. The last time they met on Oct. 19, the Golden Bears came away with their best win of the year, scoring the final three goals of the fourth quarter to defeat the then-No. 1 Cardinal 13-11.
It’s time for an Oski Disciple BONUS Bear Fact.
In the course of my research for this feature I have come across three cases in which strong California football teams have been held to a tie by the University of Washington in crucial games (two of those games were alluded to earlier this week). The three contests were by remarkably similar scores: two ended 7-7 and one was 0-0 and all three were played in early November. Most significantly, all three games marred or help mar an otherwise stellar Golden Bear season and in all three cases these were not powerful Husky teams, indeed two of them were downright mediocre. Here’s a look at each.
November 8, 1924 The Bears were off to a 6-0 start when they traveled to Seattle for their annual clash with the Huskies. The resulting seven all tie along with a controversial tie in the Big Game were blemishes on what could have been a spotless 10-0 season. On paper this was a strong UW team with only one loss, but their wins had come against the likes of Willamette, West Seattle Athletic Club, the U.S.S. Oklahoma and Whitman, they’d been beaten the week before to Oregon, 7-3.
November 6, 1937 This one really hurt. Had the Bears won this one they almost certainly would have been named national champions. As it was they finished the season unbeaten with one tie. The same as Pitt which rode East Coast bias to the number one ranking. Washington entered the game sporting a 3-2-1 mark. The game, played in Memorial Stadium, ended scoreless. California’s star running back Vic Bottari missed most of the contest through injury, a costly loss.
November 2, 1968 As noted in yesterday’s entry the Bears were riding high after smashing nationally ranked Syracuse, 43-0 to raise their record to 5-1. Their momentum came to a sudden halt with this 7-7 tie in Seattle and the following week the Bears were soundly beaten by U$C. The Huskies started the game 2-3-1. California had the ball on the UW one-yard line late in the game but lost a fumble.
Oski Disciple’s Bear Facts appears Tuesday through Thursday on the DBD throughout the 2024 college football season.
California had the ball on the UW one-yard line late in the game but lost a fumble.
Why does this always happen in the state of Washington?
Sorry. New league, new phone. Who dis? Washington? Did we go to high school together? Sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't remember the details of that terrible, awful moment perpetrated by a defector that I totally don't remember.
The Huskies have historically been pretty good at disrupting the hopes and plans of quite a few of the regions' teams. They are still working on it when in the central and eastern regions.
Tell me about it...