by Mike Hurst

In all honesty, throughout the greater portion of my life, coffee had not even remotely been considered a “luxury item.”

Remembering my childhood, coffee was considered an “adults only” drink.  That mysterious taboo shaped my early perception of coffee as “pretty gnarly stuff.”  To reinforce that, as a young adult I repeatedly saw people drink it simply to “kick-start” their day, to pull off double-shifts, to keep from running off the highway on long road trips.

After working a graveyard shift for a couple years myself (drinking the vending machine stuff), I pretty much wrote off coffee as a “non-food item.”  Actually, for the last twenty-something years, the only hot beverage I really enjoyed was organic or exotic (usually green) tea.

As the “flavored-coffee movement” rolled in, I watched unflinching (ok, I chuckled a bit too) as the conventional 8 oz “cup of coffee” antiquated, the 20 oz “Venti” moved in, and a whole new “coffee lingo” emerged.

As better quality coffees became more common fare, I’d have a cup if my wife and I were in (1) an extremely high-end restaurant, or (2) an “all organic, super healthy” restaurant.  All truth told, I’ve never really been “captured by coffee” until I tasted North Star Fine Coffees.

My wife and I are in the hospitality industry and have dined in high-end restaurants from Seattle, to Pismo Beach, to Dallas, to Chicago… we’ve had opportunities to be “wowed” by coffee, but it honestly hasn’t happened til now. 

And I won’t say we’ve turned “coffee addicts” or “connoisseurs”. We don’t have to stop at a coffee shop for “our morning fix.”  I’ll still pass on coffee unless we’re at a super-nice restaurant. 

But North Star Fine Coffees have changed our perspective.  We can start off our day now, right from our home, with a truly luxury item.  There’s nothing better than starting our day knowing we’ve got the best there is at hand.  It actually sets a higher tone for the day.  Thank’s North Star!

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